12 COMMON JASMINE. 

moistened with boiling water, and the mass is again 
pressed. This done, the remaining oil is drawn from 
the surface of the water, but it contains some impurities 
from which it cannot, without difficulty, be cleared. 
What remains of the pulp is squeezed into lumps or 
balls, and dried for fuel. If the olives be indiscrimi- 
nately gathered and heaped together, sound and un- 
sound, without selection, the oil is always bad. The 
wild trees yield a very small kind of fruit, which fur- 
nishes, though in less quantity, a peculiarly excellent oil. 
The olive tree has ever been considered the symbol 
of peace; and the ancient poets have asserted that Mi- 
nerva well merited the honour of giving her name to 
the city of Athens for having planted it in Attica. As a 
wood, this tree is in considerable request by cabinet 
makers, from its being beautifully veined, and taking an 
excellent polish. In some parts of Spain, ornamental 
boxes are made of the roots of the olive tree. 
Olive oil is employed in various branches of culinary 
and domestic economy. When united with soda, it is 
manufactured into soap. It is likewise used in medi- 
cine ; is adopted as a softening ingredient in almost all 
kinds of ointments and plasters, and is supposed to be 
efficacious as a remedy against the poison of the viper. 
Persons copiously anointed with oil are said to have 
escaped the infection of the plague and yellow fever. 
TRIGYNIA. 
19. THE COMMON JASMINE (Jasminum officinale) 
is a well known shrub, with white, salver- shaped flowers, and 
opposite, winged leaves, the leaflets somewhat pointed ; and is a 
native of Malabar and other parts of the East. 
As an ornamental shrub, jasmine has long been cul- 
tivated in Europe. It is chiefly trained against walls 
and trellis-work, and is interesting, not only from the 
elegance of its foliage, but also from the number of 
beau'iful white flowers with which it is adorned through- 
out the summer and autumn. These exhale a sweet 
