FRUCTUS ANISI 311 



from 1453/ By the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV., A.D. 1480,^ it 

 appears that the royal linen was perfumed by means of "lytill bagges 

 of fustian stuffed with ireos and anneys!' 



Anise seems to have been grown in England as a potherb prior to 

 1542, for Boorde in his Dyetary of Helth, printed in that year,^ says of 



it and fennel, — " these herbes be seldom vsed, but theyr seedes be greatly 

 occupyde." 



In common with all other foreign commodities, anise was enormously 



taxed during the reign of Charles L, the duties levied upon it amounting 

 to 758. per 112 ib.^ 



Description — Anise fruits, which have the usual characters ot the 

 order, are about -j-^^ of an inch in length, mostly undivided and attached 

 to a slender pedicel They are of ovoid form, tapering towards the 

 summit, which is crowned by a pair of short styles rising from a thick 

 stylopode; they are nearly cylindrical, but a little constricted towards the 

 commissure. Each fruit is marked by 10 light-coloured ridges which 

 give it a prismatic form ; these as well as the rest of the surface of the 

 iruit, are clothed with short rou2:h hairs. The drug has a greyish brown 

 Que, a spicy saccharine taste, and an agreeable aromatic smell, 



Microscopic Structure — The most striking peculiarity of anise 

 iruit is the large number of oil-ducts or vittse it contains; each half of 

 the fruit exhibits in transverse section nearly 80 oil-ducts, of which the 

 ^ to 6 in the commissure are by far the largest. The hairs display 

 a simple structure, inasmuch as they are the elongated cells of the 

 epidermis a little rounded at the end. 



, Chemical Composition — The only important constituent of anise 



(Oleum Anisi) 



a the best Mor; 



per 



J^quid, having an agreeable odour of anise and a sweetish aromatic 

 taste ; its sp. gr. varies from 0977 to 01)83. At 10' to 15" C, it solidi- 

 Jies to a hard crystalline mass, which does not resume its fluidity till 

 the temperature rises to about 17° C. 



yi} of anise resembles the oils of fennel, star-anise, and tarragon, in 

 pnat it consists almost wholly of Anethol or Amse-cam2?hor described 

 in the previous article (p. 809). This fact explains the rotatory power 

 °t oil of anise being inferior to that of fennel. Oil of German anise, 

 aistiUed by one of us, examined under the conditions stated, page 310, 

 deviated only l°-7, but to the left. Franck (1868) found oil of Saxon 

 anise deviating 1°-1 to the ridit. 



55 - a. uv^ ^"^ '■'6 



Malta 



*-ioQuction and Commerce— Anise is proaucea m , 



^iicante in Spain, in Touraine and Guienne in France, m Puglia 

 l^outhern Italy), in several parts of Northern and Central Germany, 

 ^hemia and Moravia. The Russian provinces of Orel, Tula and 

 "'oronesh, south of Moscow, also produce excellent anise, and in 

 •southern Russia, Charkow is likewise known for the production of 



cl^^''^^^'^^"'^^- ^f i^^<i twdve Great Lkcry Society, 1S70.2S1. 

 2 Prl f i London, 1834, 310. * Rates oj JJarchandizes, 163o. 



igj^^ited ly N. H.' Nicolas, Lond. 1830. 



furnish 



3 



'^ > ' * ^^^ Messrs. Schinunel & Co., Leipzig, 



^epnnted for the Early English Text (1878), 



