On the spikenard of the ancients / By Charles Hatchett.

  • Charles Hatchett
Date:
[1836]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the spikenard of the ancients / By Charles Hatchett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/36 page 5
    a thin fragrant liquid variously prepared, but in which Spikenard was always the principal ingredient. Whether the plant Spikenard was digested in any sort of expressed oil like that of olives or whether the distilled oil was employed cannot at this distance of time be determined, but which ever might have been the oil, it appears to have been formed into the ointment by the addition of other fragrant substances such as Costus Orientalis, Amomum, Myrrh, and Balsam of Gilead. It seems that the Ointment was prepared at few places, chiefly Tarsus and Laodicea, the knowledge of the ingredients and of the process being probably confined to a small number of persons, which will account (the high price of the Oil being also considered) for the great value of the Ointment, which indeed was such as Horace observes, that as much as could be contained in a small box of Onyx or Agate was considered as equivalent to a large vessel of wine* and regarded as a handsome quota for a guest to contribute at an entertainment according to the custom of antiquity ; larger quantities were kept in boxes or vases of Alabaster. The Oil of Spikenard was not only in great request as an article of luxury amongst those who could afford to purchase it, but was also in great estimation on account of its valuable medicinal properties. All the ancient writers on medicine and surgery such as Hippo- crates, Celsus, and Galen recommend the internal and external use of it for pains in the stomach and bowels; but Sir Gilbert Blane when he wrote his valuable paper, was evidently unacquainted with any essential Oil of Spikenard, such as Mr. Swinton has ascertained had so long been known and prepared in India ; for Sir Gilbert observes “ It may here be remarked, that as its sensible qualities do not depend on a principle so volatile as essential oil like most * —“ Nardo vina merebere. Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum.”
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