164 
NAT. ORDER. POMACES. 
the United States. The form of the fruit approaches to that of the 
pear or apple, according to the different varieties of the species of 
tree from which it is produced, and which we have already no- 
ticed. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The Quince has a very pleasant 
odor, and quite an austere taste ; its expressed juice, repeatedly 
taken in small quantities, is said to be cooling, astringent, and 
stomachic, and may be considered very useful in nausea, vomiting, 
nidorous eructations, and some kinds of alvine fluxes. Formerly, 
this juice was ordered in the Lond. Pharm.to be made into a sirup; 
but the only preparation of the Quince which is now directed, 
is a mucilage of the seeds, made by boiling a drachm of the seeds 
in eight ounces of water until it acquires a proper consistence. 
This has been recommended in apthous affections, and excoriations 
of the mouth and fauces. It may be a more pleasant mucilage, but 
is certainly a much less efficacious one, than that of simple gums. 
Decoctum CydonicB. Lond. Decoction of Quince seeds. Take of 
Quince seeds, two drachms; distilled water a pint. Boil over a slow 
fire for ten minutes ; then strain, or filter through paper. This de- 
coction is viscid, nearly colorless, insipid, and inodorous, and con- 
sists chieffy of the mucilaginous principle of the Quince seeds dis- 
solved in water. The decoction is only employed externally, as it 
speedily undergoes decomposition, and it should be used immedi- 
ately after being prepared. 
The cultivation of the Quince has been, within the last few cen- 
turies, extended to almost every part of the civilized Globe. Among 
the farmers, both in Europe and the United States, the Quince is 
universally planted in their gardens, and considered as the most de- 
licious luxury of the fruit kind. The most important purposes for 
which they were employed was that of making Quince sauce. This 
was done by quartering and coreing the fruit, and gently stewing it 
in sugar and molasses. The Quince is found in all the markets, 
where they command a ready sale, averaging from 75 cents to $1 50 
per hundred in number. 
