Lavender, True

Lavender has a well-established tradition as a folk remedy, and its scent is still familiar to almost everyone. It was used to ‘comfort the stomach’ but above all as a cosmetic water, an insect repellent, to scent linen, and as a reviving yet soothing oil ‘The essential oil, or a spirit of lavender made from it, proves admirably restorative and tonic against faintness, palpitations of a nervous sort, weak giddiness, spasms and colic … Outwardly applied, it relieves toothache, neuralgia, sprains and rheumatism. In hysteria, palsy and similar disorders and lack of nerve power, lavender will act as a powerful stimulant.’