f breathing, which most dangerously and suddenly happeneth."

In Westphalia, an apple mixed with Saffron, on the doctrine of
signatures, is given on Easter Monday, against jaundice. Evelyn
tells us: "The German [489] housewives have a way of forming
Saffron into balls; by mingling it with a little honey, which, when
thoroughly dried, they reduce to powder, and sprinkle it over their
sallets for a noble cordial." Those of Spain and Italy, we know,
generally make use of this flower, mingling its golden tincture with
almost everything they eat. But, an excessive use of Saffron proves
harmful. It will produce an intense pain in the head, and imperil the
reason. Half-a-scruple, _i.e._, ten grains, should be the largest dose.
In fuller doses this tincture will provoke a determination of blood to
the head, with bleeding from the nose, and sometimes with a
disposition to immoderate laughter. Small doses, therefore, of the
diluted tincture, ought to relieve these symptoms when they occur as
spontaneous illness. The inhabitants of Eastern countries regard
Saffron as a fine restorative, and nuptial invitations are often
powdered by them with this medicament.

In Ireland women dye their sheets with Saffron to preserve them
from vermin, and to strengthen their own limbs.

"Green herbs, red pepper, mussels, _Saffron_,
Soles, onions, garlic, roach and dace;
All these you eat at Ferre's tavern
In that one dish of bouillabaisse."
--_Thackeray_.

SAGE.

Our garden Sage, a familiar occupant of the English herb bed, was
formerly celebrated as a medicine of great virtue. This was the
_Elalisphakos_ of the Greeks, so called from its dry and withered
looking leaves. It grows wild in the South of Europe, but is a
cultivated Simple in England, France, and Germany. Like other
labiate herbs [490] it is aromatic and fragrant, because containing a
volatile, camphoraceous, essential oil.

All parts of the plant have a strong-scented odour, and a warm,
bitter, astringent taste. The Latin name, _Salvia_, has become
corrupted through _Sauja_, _sauge_, to Sage, and is derived from
_salvere_, "to be sound," in reference to the medicinally curative
properties of the plant.

A well-known monkish line about it ran to this effect: _Cur moriatur
homo cui Salvia crescit in horto_? "Why should a man die whilst
Sage grows in his garden?" And even at this time, in many parts of
England, the follow