THE VIOLET

Press, Volume L, Issue 15063, 3 September 1914, Page 8

THE VIOLET

NAPOLEON'S FLOWEB;#,i^ ' V|'J- ■ ■ ■■>sf v .

(SPECTALLT WRITTEN FOTI "XHK TOUBS»V. It is fitting that the flower djojaj,:to aid tho families of soldiers rendered destitute through the war ehoylA-be tho violet —the emblem of fidelity., is through faithfulness to duty tbW* - ■ war fund has become imperative.

The violet has played an imporUni ■ part in tho history of our honoot«d allies, tho French. It was Napoleon's chosen symbol, and during his exile Hα adherents used this flower to - each other. To the question 'Do T<n . like violets?" tie reply would prt>. - bably be "yea." If. however, a Bon*. partist had been addressed, he wonki reply, "Oh! very well" ("Eh Bieal"), and hie questioner would give tho counter-sign, "It will appear again in i tho spring. ,, .

The Bonapartists also used the vioisfc ■ ; to name a toast. As it was d&ngerots ' to mention Napoleon's nanio durhu* hit' exile, his health was always dnmfc ' under the toast "Corporal Violet. ,, ' -, \ On Napoleon's escape the frieoda -j who mot to welcomo hhn back, to . j France all wore bunches of violets. At ' Frejus, the actual spot where Xapo, leon landed, large numbers of wontea assembled selling violets. The proceeds probably had a similar object as the violets sold in the streets to-moN row —tho War Fnnd.

GRECIAN ESTEEM.

The ancient Greeks held the violet in the greatest honour, and ■Wβ read that - their favourite garlands consisted of these flowers. The violet was dedicated to their capital city, Athens; and as the fernleaf is the emblem of Jfewv... Zealand,.so the Tiolet used to bo the isymbol of Athens. Macaulay refers to . Athens as the "city of the violtt crown"; but the reference may be .to.' the violet haze that so frequently hung in the Athens eky. - '

MYTHICAL ORIGIN.

Two Biories describe this flower , *" origin on earth. The ono relates to Jupiter, who admired a. wood nymph called 10. This aroused Juno's jealousy, •- so Jupiter, to protect 10, transformed the unfortunate girl into a. coir. Wishing her to have dainty faro, Jupv tor ordered the earth to bring forth ■' the choicest of plants to fcod "the . erstwhile beautiful nymph. The plant thus produced received the name of lon, from which our English word vio- . i let has been derived. ' I

Tim other legend tells of the same uymph 10, wiho, on being pursued by - Apollo, the sun-god, ran into a wood; There sho met IHana, who transformed the frightened nymph into a violet plant. The explanation of this legend is that violets grow in woods and mossy glades to escape tho heat of tin sun. Wordsworth's description is typical of their usual retired haunt:—

' "A violet by the mossy atone Half hidden from the eye." ! Leigh Hunt refers, too, to their shade- * loving proclivities:—<: . _ -, ! "Wβ are violets blue, For our ewectneee found; Careless in the mossy shades *■ Looking on tk» ground. - j HERBAL USES. , Our forefathers' made a eyrup from ' violets, eaid to be beneficial for lung troubles, such as pleurisy and coughs; and in addition they claimed its efficacy in cases of foyer. Our great-grandmothers also macfe ' use of violets, which were soaked fa rain water. Tho-water thus tr'oatW•was stated to have a. beneficial effecfcba tho complexion, and to whiten the skin. Apart from those uses, - the violet was in much request as "a comforter oE the heart." Ridiculous as the modem 1 chemical analyst would consider this . claim, yet there may be some truth in it. Katherine Tynan may havo felfc - this when ehe wrote: — - «■ \ "O little flowers, that blow »nd bud, , , That danoe *nd plsy by oroft and wood,; Your breath makes sweet a vrorld o{ p»in. r COMMERCIAL USES. Apart from, the great salo of tbo actual flowers, the. violet is of groat ■ commercial importance in the manufacture of scent. Grasse, in the South of France, is the headquarters of thiairi-"'" dustry. Maeterlinck—tho famous BoX . gian writer, fighting at present "with iiw heroic countrymen—gives a vivid account of the production of the pertuino at a Grasso violet factory. /; - ■ . , A bed of lard two fingers thick w ' spread upon large, fiat glass receptacree," heated by a hot-water apparatus. Afoit- ; ed lai-d has the power of extracting scent from the violets, and llaeten»Uc. i thus describes the entire proceßi ¥*, - gimiing at the moment when J™"* ' are first brought into contact with tna ~ i liquid lard. "She yields, she surrenr dors, and her liquid exercutioner is «qfc- i satiated until rfc has absorbed- foM- „ times its own weight in petals. . /"••• i But the tragedy is not ended. It now becomes > matter of making the w« , mieer disgorge; for the fat,.be or cold, means, with all its and evasive energy to retain the absorbed treasure. The fat has ■; sions, which are its own undoing. It • is plied with alcohol,, is intoxicated) /, and ends by quitting its hold. Th«f % alcohol new possesses theinystery. . --- - It is-attacked in its turn, tortured," evaporated, condensed, and after all ,- tbeso idvantures the liquid pearl, pore» \ essential, inexhaustible, almost \ iahable, is at' la/ft , gathered into a cry-.', eta! iar." '-,-*-' Long'lias the scent of this flower been famcrae. Shakespeare says that to , paint the lily is on "wasteful and ndKculous excess" as "to throw a per*..< fume on the xiolct." . -ft'" : Chemists use eyrup of violets in in*-, preparation of a test paper, used for.detecting acids and alkalies. **U*,.syrup has been tbo moans of detew ing poison, an instance of which oc , ' curs in Dumas's exciting romance 'T«e,, Count of Monte Cristo." When the.' violet syrup was poured into the.-'. glass of le.nonado under suspicion, w..r contents turned green, thus pronnjT 1 the presence of poison, t, HABITAT. Ji'-< Violets belong to a large faroel-. , whose members aro found in tho t«n£, perate parts of both hemapheres. ■*»•=<• though many species aro found ».; America and" Asia, one associatee wK violets with Englatd aboro ail oiaercountries. _" "'. •■ Tho commonest wild violet in vo&*~\ land is fcho dog violet. V. canine, wita.:. charming deep bluo iiower, but unfor- _ tunatdy without scent, whilo- »• . odorata, on the other hand, is dauß- - Rmshed by its sweet powerful frar. ranco. " . . . It is this eweet scent whirh gires urn. violet such a high position anM J?!r flowers. Tho poet must have though' of its exquisite perfumo besides Wh beauty of colour and form when e<? \ wrote: — v, { "The violet in h?r greenwood bawtr. •'•.„*--' May boast iteelf the fairest flor.-£r In b!* 11 or «>pse or ibieat dinsle. v . New Zealand possesses three specWpof native violets. Tho preittiest » j these is V. cunninghami, a dchca»A white violet, with pencilled la™W»sh lines, and slender purple red is retiring, like its English cousin, *W; has a similar partiality for and shade. ; V %T Thus is their home described:—; ,'££ "Here in this bend of the creek ». *£*. rushes and long lush gTaasce ?.£;.''. Wild white Tiokt* neetle.' -".-3*=

.At Kowhai Bush in Norombcr, these *™»rs aro lesion. Innumerable shy v Site facos fWm to peer from the tm'wis and tho lons s>as« eoging the mm, while ono knows that the ma- • ieritv of;their wst-srs remain modestly .hidden. EMBLEMATIC MEANING. • &ii flowers of trae-blne colour are ■regarded iv flower language as the evnibol of faithfulness, but amongst •'• all 3o iTors ' tno v i°'ot is pro- ' eminent as" the emblem of fidelity. 'These lines of Browning's relate to their" faithfulness in lovo: — "Dc-cp vio'a's ~nn liken to The "kindest even tb«l look on you Wiibout a thought disloyal.' Napoleon regarded this flower with tho eaoie symbolic meaning as Bron-n-------in? bat. usod. it for a much sterner purpose. Ho adopted it as the f>mblom of faithfnlnois to the Bonapar■tist cause. . "We have rcen how Iruo the&o lines ■ of WordsTTorth havo been in tho past; sorely they will provo equally true ia fjje future. *'Lonj »* th«."C ire r;o"ct» Tc-*7 fc«.""o » place in E'.or;-."