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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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JU'NIPER, n. [L. juniperus.] A tree or shrub bearing berries of a bluish color, of a warm, pungent, sweet taste, yielding when fresh, by expression, a rich, sweet, aromatic juice. They are useful carminatives and stomachics. The wood of the tree is of a reddish color, hard and durable, and is used in cabinet work and veneering. The oil of juniper mixed with that of nuts makes an excellent varnish; and the resin powdered is used under the name of pounce.
Any evergreen shrub or
tree, of the genus Juniperus and order
Coniferæ.
* The common juniper (J. communis) is a shrub of a low, spreading form, having awl-shaped, rigid leaves in whorls of threes, and bearing small purplish blue berries (or galbuli), of a warm, pungent taste, used as diuretic and in flavoring gin. A resin exudes from the bark, which has erroneously been considered identical with sandarach, and is used as pounce. The oil of juniper is acrid, and used for various purposes, as in medicine, for making varnish, etc. The wood of several species is of a reddish color, hard and durable, and is used in cabinetwork under the names of red cedar, Bermuda cedar, etc. Juniper worm (Zoöl.), the larva of a geometrid moth (Drepanodes varus). It feeds upon the leaves of the juniper, and mimics the small twigs both in form and color, in a remarkable manner. | ||||||||