s. The fresh tops have a balsamic odour, and a
carminative, bitterish taste. The berries afford a yellow aromatic oil,
which acts on the kidneys, and gives cordial warmth to the stomach.
Forty berries should yield an ounce of the oil. Steeped in alcohol the
berries make a capital _ratafia_; they are used in several
confections, as well as for flavouring gin, being put into a spirit
more common than the true geneva of Holland. The French obtain
from these berries the _Genievre_ (_Anglice_ "geneva"), from
which we have taken our English word "gin." In France, Savoy, and
Italy, the berries are largely collected, and are sometimes eaten as
such, fifteen or twenty at a time, to stimulate the kidneys; or they
are taken in powder for the same [292] purpose. Being fragrant of
smell, they have a warm, sweet, pungent flavour, which becomes
bitter on further mastication.

Our British _Pharmacopoeia_ orders a spirit of Juniper to be made
for producing the like diuretic action in some forms of dropsy, so as
to carry off the effused fluid by the kidneys. A teaspoonful of this
spirit may be taken, well diluted with water, several times in the
day. Of the essential oil the dose is from two to three drops on
sugar, or with a tablespoonful of milk. These remedies are of service
also in catarrh of the urinary passages; and if applied externally to
painful local swellings, whether rheumatic, or neuralgic, the bruised
berries afford prompt and lasting relief.

An infusion or decoction of the Juniper wood is sometimes given
for the same affections, but less usefully, because the volatile oil
becomes dissipated by the boiling heat. A "rob," or inspissated juice
of the berries, is likewise often employed. Gerard said: "A decoction
thereof is singular against an old cough." Gin is an ordinary malt
spirit distilled a second time, with the addition of some Juniper
berries. Formerly these berries were added to the malt in grinding,
so that the spirit obtained therefrom was flavoured with the berries
from the first, and surpassed all that could be made by any other
method. At present gin is cheaply manufactured by leaving out the
berries altogether, and giving the spirit a flavour by distilling it
with a proportion of oil of turpentine, which resembles the Juniper
berries in taste; and as this sophistication is less practised in
Holland than elsewhere, it is best to order "Hollands," with water,
as a drink for dropsical persons. By the use of Jun