CHAP. 62.—PIPERITIS, LIBANOTIS, AND SMYRNIUM.
To come to a full understanding, too, both here as elsewhere, how unfounded are the notions which are generally entertained, I shall take this opportunity of remarking that panax1 has the flavour of pepper, and siliquastrum even more so, a circum- stance to which it owes its name of piperitis:2 libanotis3 again, has just the odour of frankincense, and smyrnium4 of myrrh. As to panax, we have spoken of it at sufficient length already.5 Libanotis grows in a thin, crumbly soil, and is generally sown in spots exposed to the falling dews; the root, which is just like that of olusatrum,6 has a smell in no way differing from that of frankincense; when a year old, it is extremely wholesome for the stomach; some persons give it the name of rosmarinum.7 Smyrnium is a garden herb that grows in similar soils, and has a root which smells like myrrh: siliquastrum, too, is grown in a similar manner.Other plants, again, differ from the preceding ones, both in smell and taste, anise8 for example; indeed, so great is the difference in this respect, and in their relative virtues, that not only are the properties of each modified by the other, but quite neutralized even. It is in this way that our cooks correct the flavour of vinegar in their dishes with parsley, and our butlers employ the same plant, enclosed in sachets, for removing a bad odour in wine.
9Thus far, then, we have treated of the garden plants, viewed as articles of food only; it remains for us now (for up to the present we have only spoken of their various methods of culti- vation, with some succinct details relative thereto), to enlarge upon the more elaborate operations of Nature in this respect; it being quite impossible to come to a full understanding as to the true characteristics of each individual plant, without a knowledge of its medicinal effects, a sublime and truly mysterious manifestation of the wisdom of the Deity, than which nothing can possibly be found of a nature more elevated. It is upon principle that we have thought proper not to enlarge upon the medicinal properties of each plant when treating of it; for it is a quite different class of persons that is interested in knowing their curative properties, and there is no doubt that both classes of readers would have been inconvenienced in a very material degree, if these two points of view had engaged our attention at the same moment. As it is, each class will have its own portion to refer to, while those who desire to do so, will experience no difficulty in uniting them, with reference to any subject of which we may happen to treat.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, one thousand one hundred and forty-four.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Maccius Plautus,10. M. Varro,11 D. Silanus,12 Cato the Censor,13 Hyginus,14 Virgil,15 Mucianus,16 Celsus,17 Columella,18 Calpurnius Bassus,19 Mamilius Sura,20 Sabinus Tiro,21 Licinius Macer,22 Quintus Hirtius,23 Vibius Rufus,24 Cæsennius25 who wrote the Cepurica, Castritius26 who wrote on the same subject, Firmus27 who wrote on the same subject, Petrichus28 who wrote on the same subject.
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Herodotus,29 Theophrastus,30 Democritus,31 Aristomachus,32 Menander33 who wrote the Biochresta, Anaxiläus.34
