Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
It was customary at one time, for the bride and groom to plant rosemary near the door of their new home on their wedding day.
However, the old saying
"where rosemary flourished, the woman ruled"
may have seen more than a few husbands uprooting the plant, after all, it was he who was wearing the trousers, wasn't it?
"boyle them in fayre water and drinke that water for it is much worthe against all manner of evils in the body."
Is there something in what Banckes suggests?
Maybe rosemary could be used to help those suffering with Alzheimer's? At long last today's medical practitioners are picking up on the benefits of herbs. Northumbria University is running an experiment to test whether essential oil, extracted from Rosemary, could benefit memory. They recruited sixty older volunteers to test the effects of, not only rosemary oil, but also lavender oil. They placed these volunteers in rooms infused with either rosemary essential oil, lavender essential oil or in one with no aroma.
At the start, objects were hidden around the room in places that had to be remembered at end of the test. The volunteers then were distracted with assorted puzzles and then they were asked what they remembered. The results were astonishing. The scientists running the test said
"volunteers in the room with the rosemary infusion did statistically significantly better than those in the control room but lavender caused a significant decrease in performance."
Maybe I will place an extra sprig of Rosemary on the top of my lamb joint in the hope that I won't forget how many people are coming for dinner.