That the Latin word _crocus_ signified the same plant which we at
present call saffron, and which, in botany, still retains the ancient
name, has, as far as I know, never been doubted; and indeed I know no
reason why it should, however mistrustful I may be when natural objects
are given out for those which formerly had the like names. The moderns
often apply ancient names to things very different from those which
were known under them by the Greeks and the Romans: but what we read in
ancient authors concerning _crocus_ agrees in every respect with our
saffron, and can scarcely be applied to any other vegetable production.
_Crocus_ was a bulbous plant, which grew wild in the mountains. There
were two species of it, one of which flowered in spring, and the other
in autumn. The flowers of the latter, which appeared earlier than the
green leaves that remained through the winter, contained those small
threads or filaments[471] which were used as a medicine and a paint,
and employed also for seasoning various kinds of food[472].
It appears that the medicinal use, as well as the name of this
plant, has always continued among the Orientals; and the Europeans,
who adopted the medicine of the Greeks, sent to the Levant for
saffron[473], until they learned the art of rearing it themselves; and
employed it very much until they were made acquainted with the use of
more beneficial articles, which they substituted in its stead. Those
who are desirous of knowing the older opinions on the pharmaceutical
preparation of saffron, and the diseases in the curing of which it was
employed, may read Hertodt’s Crocologia, where the author has collected
all the receipts, and even the simplest, for preparing it[474].
What in the ancient use of saffron is most discordant with our
taste at present, is the employing it as a perfume. Not only were
halls, theatres, and courts, through which one wished to diffuse an
agreeable smell, strewed with this plant[475], but it entered into the
composition of many spirituous extracts, which retained the same scent;
and these costly smelling waters were often made to flow in small
streams, which spread abroad their much-admired odour[476]. Luxurious
people even moistened or filled with them all those things with
which they were desirous of surprising their guests in an agreeable
manner[477], or with which they ornamented their apartments. From
saffron, with the addition of wax and other ingredients, the Greeks as
well as the Romans prepared also scented salves, which they used in the
same manner as our ancestors their balsams[478].
Notwithstanding the fondness which the ancients showed for the smell
of saffron, it does not appear that in modern times it was ever much
esteemed. As a perfume, it would undoubtedly be as little relished at
present as the greater part of the dishes of Apicius, fricassees of
sucking puppies[479], sausages, and other parts of swine, which one
could not even mention with decency in genteel company[480]; though
it certainly has the same scent which it had in the time of Ovid,
and although our organs of smelling are in nothing different from
those of the Greeks and the Romans. From parts of the world to them
unknown, we have, however, obtained perfumes which far excel any with
which they were acquainted. We have new flowers, or, at least, more
perfect kinds of flowers long known, which, improved either by art or
by accident, are superior in smell to all those in the gardens of the
Hesperides, of Adonis and Alcinous, so much celebrated. We have learned
the art of mixing perfumes with oils and salts, in such a manner as to
render them more volatile, stronger, and more pleasant; and we know
how to obtain essences such as the ancient voluptuaries never smelt,
and for which they would undoubtedly have given up their saffron.
The smelling-bottles and perfumes which are often presented to our
beauties, certainly far excel that promised by Catullus to a friend,
with the assurance that his mistress had received it from Venus and her
Cupids, and that when he smelt it he would wish to become all nose:
Nam unguentum dabo quod meæ puellæ
Donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque,
Quod tu quom olfacies, deos rogabis,
Totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum.
It cannot, however, be denied that both taste and smell depend very
much on imagination. We know that many articles of food, as well as
spices, are more valued on account of their scarcity and costliness
than they would otherwise be. Hence things of less value, which
approach near to them in quality, are sought after by those who cannot
afford to purchase them; and thus a particular taste or smell becomes
fashionable. Brandy and tobacco were at first recommended as medicines;
they were therefore much used, and by continual habit people at length
found a pleasure in these potent and almost nauseating articles of
luxury. Substances which gratify the smell become, nevertheless, like
the colour of clothes, oft unfashionable when they grow too common.
Certain spiceries, in which our ancestors delighted, are insupportable
to their descendants, whose nerves are weak, and more delicate; and yet
many of the present generation have accustomed themselves to strong
smells of various kinds, by gradually using them more and more, till
they have at length become indispensable wants. Some have taken snuff
rendered so sharp by powdered glass, salts, antimony, sugar of lead,
and other poisonous drugs, that the olfactory nerves have been rendered
callous, and entirely destroyed by it.
That saffron was as much employed in seasoning dishes as for a perfume,
appears from the oldest work on cookery which has been handed down to
us, and which is ascribed to Apicius. Its use in this respect has been
long continued, and in many countries is still more prevalent than
physicians wish it to be. Henry Stephen says, “Saffron must be put into
all Lent soups, sauces, and dishes: without saffron we cannot have
well-cooked peas[481].”
It may readily be supposed that the great use made of this plant
in cookery must have induced people to attempt to cultivate it in
Europe; and, in my opinion, it was first introduced into Spain by
the Arabs, as may be conjectured from its name, which is Arabic, or
rather Persian[482]. From Spain it was, according to every appearance,
carried afterwards to France, perhaps to Albigeois, and thence
dispersed into various other parts[483]. Some travellers also may,
perhaps, have brought bulbs of this plant from the Levant. We are at
least assured that a pilgrim brought from the Levant to England, under
the reign of Edward III., the first root of saffron, which he had found
means to conceal in his staff, made hollow for that purpose[484]. At
what period this plant began to be cultivated in Germany I do not know;
but that this was first done in Austria, in 1579, is certainly false.
Some say that Stephen von Hausen, a native of Nuremberg, who about that
time accompanied the imperial ambassador to Constantinople, brought the
first bulbs to Vienna, from the neighbourhood of Belgrade. This opinion
is founded on the account of Clusius, who, however, does not speak of
the autumnal saffron used as a spice, but of an early sort, esteemed on
account of the beauty of its flowers[485]. Clusius has collected more
species of this plant than any of his predecessors; and has given an
account by whom each of them was first made known.
In the fifteenth and following century, the cultivation of saffron
was so important an article in the European husbandry, that it was
omitted by no writer on that subject; and an account of it is to be
found in Crescentio, Serres, Heresbach, Von Hohberg, Florinus, and
others. In those periods, when it was an important object of trade,
it was adulterated with various and in part noxious substances; and
attempts were made in several countries to prevent this imposition
by severe penalties. In the year 1550, Henry II., king of France,
issued an order for the express purpose of preventing such frauds, the
following extract from which will show some of the methods employed
to impose on the public in the sale of this article[486]: “For some
time past,” says the order, “a certain quantity of the said saffron
has been found altered, disguised and sophisticated, by being mixed
with oil, honey, and other mixtures, in order that the said saffron,
which is sold by weight, may be rendered heavier; and some add to it
other herbs, similar in colour and substance to beef over-boiled, and
reduced to threads, which saffron, thus mixed and adulterated, cannot
be long kept, and is highly prejudicial to the human body; which,
besides the said injury, may prevent the above-said foreign merchants
from purchasing it, to the great diminution of our revenues, and to the
great detriment of foreign nations, against which we ought to provide,”
&c.
[The high price demanded for saffron offers considerable temptation
to adulteration, and this is not uncommonly taken advantage of. The
stigmata of other plants, besides the true saffron crocus (_Crocus
sativus_), are frequently mixed with those which are genuine; moreover,
many other foreign substances are added, such as the florets of the
safflower (_Carthamus tinctorius_), those of the marigold (_Calendula
officinalis_), slices of the flower of the pomegranate, saffron from
which the colouring has been previously extracted, and even fibres of
smoked beef. Most of these adulterations may be detected by the action
of boiling water, which softens and expands the fibres, thus exposing
their true shape and nature. The cake saffron of commerce appears
entirely composed of foreign substances. Great medicinal virtues were
formerly attributed to saffron. Its principal use is now as a colouring
matter.]