PRESERVATION  OF  ROSES  AND  ORANGE  FLOWERS. 
259 
Paris,  monopolize  all  the  sweet  flowers  which  are  brought  to 
market,  and  leave  none  to  supply  the  wants  of  Pharmacy ;  the 
consequence  is,  that  the  commercial  value  of  such  flowers  almost 
always  attains  to  a  very  high  price.  Roses  are  sold  for  from 
fifty  to  sixty  francs  the  hundred-weight ;  the  same  quantity  of 
orange-flowers  brings  from  250  to  300  francs ;  so  that  the  Phar- 
maciens  are  obliged  to  purchase  in  the  south  of  France  distilled 
waters,  which  never  possess  the  sweetness  of  perfume  presented 
by  those  manufactured  in  Paris. 
I  am  certain  that  this  inconvenience  may  be  obviated.  Five 
years  of  trial  and  experiment  have  proved  to  me  that  provincial 
Pharmaciens  may  preserve  odoriferous  flowers  for  several  years, 
or  send  them  from  one  part  of  France  to  another,  without  their 
losing  their  perfume.  The  preservative  agent  is  sea-salt,  that 
corpus  divinum  of  Homer  and  Plato. 
The  Hebrews  were  acquainted  with  the  antiseptic  properties 
of  common  salt ;  they  employed  it  in  the  preservation  of  their 
meats.  This  substance  likewise  played  an  important  part  in  the 
sacrifices  of  paganism ;  it  was  thrown  on  the  flesh  of  the  victims, 
to  retard  their  putrefaction. 
In  the  middle  ages,  the  alchemists  said,  cum  sole  et  sale  omnia 
fiunt.  It  was  surely  this  thought  that  suggested  to  Wilhelm- 
bulkels  the  idea  of  making  use  of  chloride  of  sodium  in  the  cur- 
ing of  fish.  The  plan  succeeded  so  well  with  him,  that  Charles 
the  Fifth,  being  in  the  Low  Countries,  went  to  Bier-Vliet  to  see 
the  tomb  of  the  humble  fisherman,  wishing  thereby  to  honor 
the  memory  of  one  who  had  rendered  so  great  a  service  to  his 
country. 
The  use  of  kitchen  salt  has  already  been  applied  to  the  pre- 
servation of  medicinal  plants.  Trouvain,  in  his  Apothecaire 
Charitable,  Baume,  Morlot,  Lemery,  Guibourt,  and  several  other 
Pharmacologists,  speak  of  it — only  the  directions  have  been  for- 
gotten. However,  it  would  be  rendering  an  immense  benefit  to 
revive  the  plan,  particularly  as  the  mode  of  operating  is  very 
simple.  It  is  sufficient  to  arrange  the  rose-leaves  or  orange- 
flowers  in  vessels  of  stone-ware  or  glass,  interposing  a  stratum 
of  salt  between  each  layer  of  flowers,  until  the  vessel  is  quite 
full.  Care  must  be  taken  to  choose  the  driest  flowers,  and  to 
avoid  bruising  them ;  otherwise  they  would  ferment,  and  the 
