we have hitherto viewed the rose as the chief ornament 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 properties 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 especially attributed to each.
the most valuable properties of the rose reside in its[pg 199] petals, and in order to preserve these properties, it is highly essential that the petals should be quickly and perfectly dried. those of the provence rose (rosa gallica) have an astringent and somewhat bitter taste, and are tonic and astringent in their effects.
according to an analysis recently made in france, they contain, besides vegetable matter and essential oil, a portion of gallic acid, coloring matter, albumen, tannin, some salts, with a base of potash or of chalk, silex, and oxide of iron. a small dose in powder strengthens the stomach and assists digestion. their prolonged use will sometimes cause a slight constipation of the bowels, while in a much stronger dose they act as purgatives.
the conserve of the provence rose has much reputation in france for the treatment of all chronic affections of the bowels, caused by weakness and inactivity of the digestive organs; it is also employed in colic, in diarrh?a, in cases of hemorrhage and leucorrh?a.
the conserve of any variety of roses is considered excellent in cases of cold or catarrh. it is prepared by bruising in a mortar the petals with their weight in sugar, and moistening them with a little rose-water, until the whole forms a homogeneous mass. some receipts prescribe powdered petals mixed with an equal part of sugar; others direct to use two layers of sugar, and only one layer of pulverized petals.
opoix, a physician of provence, states that the true rose of provence has a more sweet and penetrating fragrance than the same rose grown elsewhere, and even goes so far as to say that it has acquired properties which it does not possess in its native country, the caucasus. on account of the supposed superior qualities of this rose, the citizens of provence, in 1807, addressed a petition to government to encourage in their territory the cultivation of the true provence rose, by giving it the preference in all the hospitals and military dispensaries. this gave rise to a[pg 200] discussion between two french chemists, but without deciding the fact whether the rosa gallica was superior in medical properties to any other rose. it seems to be acknowledged that those cultivated at provence were superior to the same kind grown elsewhere, and this superiority is attributed by some to the presence of iron in the soil about that city. it was probably owing, also, to the very careful cultivation practiced there. the petals are used extensively in several medical preparations, as the sugar of roses, the ointment of roses, the treacle of roses, etc. rose-water is, however, more extensively used in medicine than any other preparation of the rose. this water, when manufactured from rosa gallica, or any other of the section of centifoli?, is employed internally as an astringent, and is sometimes mixed with other medicines to destroy their disagreeable smell and taste. in external applications, it is used principally for affections of the eyes, either alone or with some ointment.
the alcoholic tincture of roses, or spirit of roses, before mentioned, which was formerly given as a stimulus in many cases, has now fallen very much into disuse, medical opinion being very much against the employment of any alcoholic medicines excepting in very rare cases.
the syrup of roses, manufactured from the pale or damask rose, is sometimes employed as a purgative, and was once highly esteemed and recommended as a mild laxative. it is now, however, scarcely considered purgative, and its laxative properties are probably owing in a great measure to the senna and other articles which enter into its preparation.
the electuary of roses, which is now no longer used, was also probably indebted for its medical qualities to the addition of scammony, a very strong purgative.
vinegar of roses is made by simply infusing dried rose-petals in the best distilled vinegar, to which they communicate their perfume. it is used for cooking and[pg 201] for the toilet, and for headaches, when applied in the same way as common vinegar. the ancients prepared this vinegar, and also the wine and oil of roses, which are no longer used.
honey of roses is made by beating up rose-petals with a very small portion of boiling water; the liquid, after being filtered, is boiled with honey. this is esteemed for sore throats, for ulcers in the mouth, and for anything that is benefited by the use of honey.
the fruit of the rose is said also to possess some astringent properties; the pulp of the fruit of the wild varieties, particularly of the dog rose, after being separated from the seeds and beaten up in a mortar with sugar, makes a sort of conserve, formerly known in medicine under the name of cynorrhodon.
children in the country sometimes eat these fruits after they have attained perfect maturity, and have been somewhat mellowed by the frost; they then lose their pungent taste, and become a little sweet. belanger, a french writer, who traveled in persia in 1825, found in that country a rose whose fruit was very agreeably flavored. the apple-bearing rose (r. villosa pomifera) produces the largest fruit of all, and is the best adapted for preserving; but an english writer remarks that the fruit of r. systyla and r. arvensis, although of a smaller size, bears a higher flavor than that of any other species. rose-buds, like the fruit, are also frequently preserved in sugar, and pickled in vinegar. tea is sometimes made of the leaves of the rose, which are also eaten readily by the domestic animals.
the ends of the young shoots of the sweet-brier, deprived of their bark and foliage, and cut into short pieces, are sometimes candied and sold by the confectioners.
the dog rose takes its name from the virtue which the ancients attributed to its root as a cure for hydrophobia. the heathen deities themselves, according to pliny,[pg 202] revealed this marvelous property, in dream, to a mother whose son had been bitten by a dog affected with this terrible disease.
the excrescences frequently found on the branches of the rose, and particularly on those of the wild varieties, known to druggists by the arabic name of bédeguar, and which resemble in form a little bunch of moss, partake equally of the astringent properties of the rose. these excrescences are caused by the puncture of a little insect, known to naturalists as the cynips ros?, and, occasionally, nearly the same effects are produced by other insects.
