199 LAVANDULA VERA 



The essential constituent of lavender flowers is the volatile oil 

 (Oleum Lavandula), which is described below. 



Medical Properties and Uses. The flowers are canimmtivr, 

 mildly stimulant, and tonic, but they are not now employed 

 crude state in medicine, at least, in this country, and but very 

 little elsewhere. The flowers and leaves were formerly used as a 

 sternutatory ; and probably still enter into the composition of some 

 cephalic snuffs. Burnett says, " The ancients employed the 

 flowers and the leaves to aromatise their baths, and to give a 

 sweet scent to water in which they washed ; hence the generic 

 name of the plant." They are still used to some extent to 

 perfume linen, <fec., and as a preventive to the access of moth; 

 and also when powdered, as an ingredient in sachets, &c. ; their 

 principal use is, however, as the source of the volatile oil. 



2. OLEUM LAVANDUL^E, Oil of Lavender. Preparation. The 

 oil is usually distilled from the flowers and flower-stalks conjointly, 

 as gathered and brought from the fields, and either fresh or in a 

 more or less dried state ; some distil the flowering part only, 

 while a few distil the flowers alone after they have been stripped 

 entirely from the stalks. The finest oil is obtained by the latter 

 process ; that derived from the stalks is small in quantity and of 

 inferior quality, and its admixture with the former therefore 

 deteriorates its quality. When distilled with the stalks, it is said 

 that the finest oil is drawn during the first two hours and a half, 

 and is considered to come from the flowers ; that which comes 

 afterwards is second or third quality. The amount of oil, 

 according to Bell, obtained from the flowers deprived of 

 stalks, afforded on an average of three years, li per cent.; 

 and at Hitchin, according to Perks, 60 Ibs. of good flowers 

 yield on an average 16 fluid ounces of oil. Mr. Perks has also 

 informed us that an acre of land will yield " about 6 Winchester 



quarts " of oil. 



General Characters and Composition. Oil of Lavender is pale 

 yellow, with the very fragrant odour of the flowers, and a hot, 

 bitter, aromatic taste. It is Isevo gyrate ; and has a specific 

 gravity which varies according to Zeller, from 0'87 to 0'94. It is 



