198 



PAESOXS ON THE ROSE. 



and be more valuable in a dried state than those grown 

 under the tropics. The Provence and Damask Rose are 

 both known to succeed well here, and to produce abund- 

 ant flowers. Their fragrance is unsurpassed, and our 

 summer's sun would be abundantly sufficient to dry the 

 petals without any artificial heat. It is not too much to 

 hope that the attention of our cultivators may yet be di- 

 rected to this subject, and that the manufacture of rose- 

 water and the preparation of dried petals may yet be an 

 important branch of domestic industry, and form an im- 

 portant addition to the list of exported articles. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE MEDICAL PliOPERTIES OF THE ROSE. 



We have hitherto viewed the Rose as the chief orna- 

 ment of our gardens, and if we have found it abounding 

 with charms of fragrance and beauty, we shall now find 

 it occupying a prominent place in Materia Medica. Some 

 authors have, with a degree of exaggeration, endeavored 

 to make its medical as brilliant as its floral reputation. 

 Rosenberg, in his work on the Rose, makes it a specific in 

 every disease, and even attributes to it supernatural 

 virtues. 



In the opinion of most medical men, the medicinal proper- 

 ties of the Rose are about the same in all the kinds, while 

 some writers assert that the Rosa Gallica is superior to 

 all others in a greater or less degree. We will mention 

 those principally used in medicine, and the properties 

 which are ^specially attributed to each. 



The most valuable properties of the Rose reside in its 



