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Roses

66 CERTAIN curative properties, which may be rendered in culinary forms, are possessed by both the wild Dog Rose of our country hedges, and by the cultivated varieties of this queen of flowers in our Rose gardens. The fruit of the wild Rose, which is the common progenitor of all the Roses, bears the name Hips." Gerarde has told that "Heps maketh most pleasant meats, or banquetting dishes, as tarts, and such like, the concoction whereof I commit to the cunning cook, and teeth to eat them in the rich man's mouth." The woolly down which is formed inside the hips serves usefully as a medicine for expelling round worms from the intestines, on the lining membrane of which it acts mechanically without irritating this mucous coat. A sauce Eglantine (from the Briar Rose) was frequently served at Balmoral in Queen Victoria's time. This was made from the hips which grow so abundantly on the wild rose trees (in the autumn) by the roadsides on the Balmoral estate, the hairy seeds having been first removed from within these hips, and a sweet purée being then made of the red berries in pulp, with a little lemon juice, or other acid, added. The hairs which line each Rose hip inside around the achene, will, if swallowed, being insoluble, cause an itching of the fundament. Petals of red Roses are found to contain a volatile oil, colouring matter, tannin, gallic acid, fatty elements, albumen, soluble potash salts, insoluble calcareous salts, silica, and oxide of iron. At Mitcham Rose-petals are dried in a stove, because slow spontaneous desiccation by mere exposure to the sun and air impairs both their astringency, and their colour; the petals of the unexpanded flowers are chosen for drying. The poet Pope has told about the rude savage who "Restrained by none but nature's lenient laws, Quaffs the clear stream, and feeds on hips, and haws." Rose-leaf jam was a favourite preserve with Queen Natalie, of Servia. Two sorts of this confection are provided, one from Turkey (the land of Rose attar), and a superior kind from France : for this latter the petals of pink roses are placed in a small glass pot, which is then filled with pure sugar syrup; the petals merely curl up, but do not become crushed.

When fully ripe and softened by frost, the hips, after removal of their hard seeds, and when plenty of sugar is added, make an excellent confection, which has special curative virtues, and which apothecaries employ in preparing electuaries; also as a basis for several sorts of pills. From Roses the Romans formerly concocted wine, and confections, also subtle scents, a sweetsmelling oil, and certain medicines. The petals of the crimson French Rose, which is grown freely in our gardens, have been esteemed of signal efficacy as remedial for consumption of the lungs, since the time of Avicenna (A.D. 1020), who states that he cured many patients by prescribing as much of the conserve thereof as they could manage to swallow daily; it was combined with milk, or with some other light nutriment, and generally from thirty to forty pounds of this pleasant medicament had to be consumed before the cure was complete. Take," says an old MS. recipe of Lady Somerset's, "Red Rose buds, and chyp of the tops, and put them in a mortar with ye waight of double refined sugar, beat them very small together, then put it up; it must rest three full months, stirring onces a day. This is good likewise against ye falling sickness." 66 The conserve of Red Roses is also helpful for irritability of the bladder with scalding urine, if eaten freely as a jam on bread, or with warm milk. Our grandmothers were given to place fragrant Rose petals over cherry pies before laying on the upper crust. The British Pharmacopœia of to-day orders a confection to be made of hips, the ripe fruit of the Dog Rose (Rosa canina); and another conserve of Red Rose petals (Gallica) whilst still unexpanded, these petals being beaten to a pulp in a stone mortar, and then rubbed well together with refined sugar. A small teaspoonful of the conserve is a dose. The petals of the Cabbage Rose (Centifolia), which are closely folded over each other like the leaves of a cabbage, have a gentle laxative action, and are used for making Rose-water by distillation, either when freshly gathered, or after being preserved by admixture with common salt. This fragrant water has long enjoyed a reputation for the cure of inflamed eyes (sometimes with sulphate of zinc, or sugar of lead, added in quite small quantities). Attar of Roses is a costly product, because consisting of the comparatively few oil globules found floating on the surface of a considerable volume of Rose-water thrice distilled. It takes five hundredweight of fresh Rose petals to produce one drachm by weight of the finest Attar, this being preserved in tiny bottles made of rock crystal. The scent of the most minute particle of the genuine essence is very powerful, and enduring. 66 Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem, testa diu," said Horace; which Moore has delightfully rendered thus :- "You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, But the scent of the Roses will hang round it still." Tennyson has most suggestively propounded the query :- "Oh, to what uses shall we put The bind-weed flower that simply blows ?

And is there any moral shut Within the bosom of the Rose?" "Rose-water" (so called) was at one time the only approved flavour for pound cake; and this "water” was really good old brandy (often of home distillation), or peach, or cherry brandy, in which the petals of Damask Roses had been macerated. To make a conserve of Red Roses, according to the Compleat Housewife : "Take Rosebuds, and pick them, and cut off the white part from the red, and choose the red flowers, and sift them through a sieve to take out the seeds; then weigh them, and to every pound of flowers take two pounds and a half of loaf sugar; beat the flowers pretty fine in a stone mortar, then by degrees put the sugar to them, and beat it very well till it is incorporated together, then put it into gallipots, and tie it over with paper, and over that with leather; it will keep for seven years." Again, in Adam's Luxury, and Eve's Cookery (London, 1744): "To make conserve of Red Roses, as designed for the use of all who would live cheap, and preserve their health to old age: Take one pound of Red Rosebuds, and bruise them with a wooden pestle in a marble mortar, adding by degrees of white loaf sugar, powdered, and sifted, three pounds; continue beating them till no particles of the Roses can be seen, and till the mass is all alike." Concerning Rosa gallica (the Red French Rose), its full-blown flowers are as laxative as those of the Cabbage Rose (Centifolia). Poterius relates that "he found a drachm of powdered Red Roses occasion three, or four stools; and this not in a few instances, but constantly during an extensive practice for several years." The Cabbage Rose contains a sweet extractive matter which is the laxative principle; and a crystalline volatile oil may be obtained therefrom, which is the English Attar of Roses. To smell at a fragrant Rose will often soothe a nervous headache; or to have the scalp gently rubbed, and kneaded with finger-tips first dipped in genuine Rose-water; also by spraying essence of Roses over the scalp with an atomizer. Red Rose leaves, if over-dried (for Pot pourri, and other uses), become resinous, and then acquire an unpleasant smell. The French perfumers manage to dry the Rose petals so that they will remain sweet, and good even in damp weather; whereas English dried petals "go back" when encountering any damp. Probably the resin which becomes formed in the dried petals makes them somewhat laxative when employed in the confection, and likewise antiseptic. Resin is common in vegetables, existing in combination with some volatile oil. Some resins seem to be oxidized essential oils; if combined with a food any such resin is beneficial because acting as a tonic to the mucous lining of the intestines, thus preventing the exudation therefrom of serum, and mucus. The rosined wine of Italy (see " Alcohol ") is antiseptic, and as being resinous promotes intestinal digestion without relaxing the bowels. On tasting the Vino Vermuth at a Tuscan farm, or rustic Inn, the British pedestrian is apt to exclaim that the landlord has drawn the wine in a varnish pot. But without doubt the wholesomeness of many Greek, and Italian native drinks is due to their preservation from decay, and from secondary fermentation, by the rosin, in place of fiery, and fuselly spirit. دو 66 a Rare Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery (1653) orders as gentle purge to "take one ounce of Damask Roses, eat it all at one time; fast for three-quarters of an hour after, then take a draught of broth, and dine." A syrup of Red Roses is dispensed by our chemists, which is slightly astringent, and esteemed for its rich colour "As the Roose in hys Redness is Richest of Fleures," is a quaint old maxim. itself," sang Keats, - "has got Perfume which on earth is not." "And the Rose But that "there is no Rose without a thorn" is an adage as old as the hills. "Ave, Rosa, spinis puncta, Ave spina Rosæ juncta, Spinas poenæ non peccati Portas Jesu, volens pati.

HYMN (Fifteenth Century).

Our main business here with Roses is how to use them for remedial purposes, such as recovery from sickness, and the maintenance of life. But in times long past the wealthy Greeks, and Romans, strewed these fragrant flowers on the tombs of departed friends, whilst poorer persons could only afford a small supplicatory tablet at the grave, bearing the pious prayer :- 66 Sparge, precor, Rosas super mea busta, Viator!"

Nowadays most persons have an aversion to throwing a Rose into a newly-made grave, or even letting one fall in. However, Matthew Arnold was more sensible than this, and pathetically exclaimed respecting the funeral rites of a girl untimely dead :- "Strew on her Roses, Roses, And never a spray of Yew!

In quiet she reposes:

Ah! would that I did too!" 66 "The Rose,” said a Roman, in times long ago, was a harbinger of spring" - "Cum Rosam viderat tum incipere ver arbitrabatur."

American physicians, notably Dr. Winternitz, find that a combination of the essence of Red Roses with birch-buds (powdered) is admirably remedial against dysentery; this has commanded quite a big price per pot through acquiring such a curative fame. Likewise Birch tea, made from the dried leaves, is remarkably helpful in relieving dropsy from obstructed kidneys; the leaves should be gathered, and dried in the early summer. Birch wine, concocted (Compleat Housewife, 1736) with the sap of the tree, adding honey, cloves, and lemon-peel, is fully discussed in Kitchen Physic. Another excellent method for making this is: After cutting an incision through the bark of a Birch tree, insert a small stone therein to act as a seton. Then suspend a bottle, or jar, so as to catch the juice which escapes from the wound. When enough has been collected, this is to be boiled for an hour, with a quarter of its volume of honey, adding a few cloves, some cinnamon, mace, and lemonpeel. The liquid is then to be fermented with yeast on toast R in a tub covered lightly for three days, afterwards strained, and poured into bottles, which are to be kept uncorked until manifest fermentation has ceased; each bottle must be full before it is corked. The infusion of Birch leaves is a reliable solvent of stone in the kidneys, even where other treatment by mineral waters, and drugs, has failed, so that a surgical operation seemed imperative. After taking the Birch tea for some while the stone has in each case begun to be dissolved, and has been passed by fragments in the urine. A teaspoonful of the powdered leaves is brewed in half a pint of boiling water for half an hour, this quantity being taken twice a day for six months continuously. Both the buds, and the young Twigs yield a volatile empyreumatic oil which is colourless, and volatile, having a pungent balsamic odour, the oil possessing a persistent fragrance of Russia leather; the bark affords "betulin." The fresh leaves are used to form a bed on which rheumatic patients lie, and which excites profuse perspiration. The oil is curative for skin eruptions, and for itch. putandi pruritus fit ecclesiæ scabies."

ROSEMARY. (See HERBS). "Dis- It has been already stated that an infusion of the dried Rosemary plant, (leaves, and flowers), being used when cold, makes one of the best hair-washes known; its volatile oil specially stimulates the hair-bulbs to renewed activity. Physiologists (particularly M. Metchnikoff, of the Pasteur Institute,) now tell us why the hair becomes white as old age supervenes. Its pigment colour lies scattered, during early and middle life, between the two layers of each hair; whilst the hostile cells, or phagocytes, are all the time in subjection, because of the physical strength, and endurance then personally possessed. But in old age these hostile cells, which occupy the hairs' central cylinder, gain the ascendency, and proceed to devour all the pigment within their reach, afterwards ejecting it from the body, and leaving the hair grey, or white. In like manner, as the years approach senility the higher nerve cells of the brain, which subserve intellectuality, sensation, memory, and control of movements, tend to disappear, and are replaced by elements of a lower kind, the superior nervous cells being devoured by these "macrophags." But the higher cells of the spinal marrow are much less subject RYE. to such ravages of senile decay than those of the brain. Nevertheless, in old age generally the dominant cells of the various vital organs suffer gradual inanition, whilst the activity of the consuming phagocytes, or white corpuscles, is enormously increased; they batten, for lack of other food, upon the nobler organs of the human frame. But here steps in the modern physiologist with a new theory, and a saving promise for the future. "In a few years," boasts he, "at the Pasteur Institute, or elsewhere, we shall find out a sustaining serum (or soup,) which will keep these phagocytes still supplied with their necessary nourishment, and will thus prolong the vitality of heart, and brain, and lungs in the human individual. It will then come about that from twenty to twenty-five years a man shall live for himself, and his family; from fifty to a hundred for science, and humanity; and after a hundred for the State. Honoured, useful, in full possession of all his faculties at six score years and ten, the greybeard of the approaching future will be among the most enviable of mankind. We ought to reach one hundred and forty years of age. A man who expires at seventy, or eighty, is actually cut off prematurely in the flower of his days."

RUE. (See HERBS).

THE herb Rue was termed of old "serving men's joy," because of its curing so many common ailments. Its juice is of great efficacy in some forms of epilepsy, operating for the most part insensibly, though sometimes purging. Concerning its use for this distressing infirmity, Julius Cæsar Baricellus said, "I gave to my own children two scruples of the juice of Rue, and a small matter of gold, and by the blessing of God, they were freed from their fits."

RUM (See CORDIALS, Punch.) RYE (See BREAD).

NEXT to Wheat, which is the great bread-making grain of the world, comes Rye, but it contains less gluten than wheat, and of a chemically different kind, so that the bread made therefrom is moist, and heavy; moreover, fine Rye flour possesses much less proteid than wheat flour. Rye meal, which is the basis of the dark, sour breads of Northern Europe, and Holland, is of nearly the same chemical composition as barley meal. Rye grain is subject to a fungus producing "ergot," and which makes it poisonous.