FRUCTUS CUMIXL 



331 



when examined in a column 50 mm. long. The oil distilled by us from 

 ripe commercial fruit deviated 5-1'' to the right. 



Production and Commerce — Coriander is cultivated in various 

 parts of Continental Europe, and, as already stated, to a small extent 

 in England. It is also produced in Northern Africa and in India. In 

 1872-73, the export of coriander from the province of Sind^ was 948 

 cwt.; from Bombay^ in the same year 619 cwt. From Calcutta'^ there 

 were shipped in 1870-71, 16,347 cwt. 



Uses— Coriander fruits are reputed stimulant and carminative, yet 

 are but little employed in medicine. They are however used in veteri- 

 nary practice, and by the distillers of gin, also in some countries in 

 cookery. 



FRUCTUS CUMINL 



FriLctits vel Semen Cymini ; Cumin or Cummin'^ Fruits , Cummin 

 Seeds ; F, Graines de Cumin ; G. M wtterkummel , Kreuzhilmmd, 

 Langer oder Romischer Kummel, 3Iohrenkilmmel. 



miniim 



Botanical Origin. — Cuminum Cy , ^^ , 



mdigenous to the upper regions of the Nile, but carried at an early 

 period by cultivation to Arabia, India and China, as well as to the 



[-anean. The fruits of the plant ripen 



countries borderino- 



/I _ O 



Meditei 



Nor 



alone produce them in quantity. 



History — Cumin was well known to the ancients; it is alluded to 

 oy the Hebrew prophet Isaiah/ and is mentioned in the gospel of Mat- 

 thew" as one of the minor titheable productions of the Holy Land. 

 Under the name Kvfxivov, it is commended for its agreeable taste by 

 Dioscorides, in whose day it was produced on the coasts of Asia Minor 

 and Southern Italy. It is named as Cuminum by Horace and Pei-sius; 

 Scribonius Largus, in the first century of our era, mentions Cuminum 

 ffifchiopicum, silvaticum and theba* 



icum. 



During the middle ages, cumin was one of the spices in most common 

 use. Thus in a.d. 716, an annual provision of 150 lb. of cumin for the 

 monastery of Corbie in Normandy, was not thought too lar^e a supply.^ 

 ^drisi mentioned cumin as a product of Morocco (see article Fructus 

 !;^arui, p. 305), Algeria and Tunisia. It was in frequent use in England, 

 Its average price between 1264 and 1400 being a little over 2d per Ib.^ 

 ^«min is enumerated in the Liher albus'' of the city of London, 

 compiled in 1419, among the merchandize on which the king levied the 



It is mentioned" in 1453 as one of the articles 



called 



J f.^'-^mm of the Trade and Navigation 

 1S73 36 ' ^^^ ^'^"^ 1S72-73, Karachi, 



\ Ditto for Bombay, 1872-73. ii. 90. 

 Brr^.T^"'^ T^o;«7ne of Trade, etc. for the 

 '^'ml Pre^dency, ISlO-lh 121. 



^omj/ne m ^Yicklif' s Bible (13S0), Com- 



Ss (S^Q^'^'^ (^^34). Commyn in Cran- 

 Vp' • ^ ,;^^). Cuvimine in the Authorised 



(S^ ^\^^^^' ^«»"" in Gerarde's Hcrhcd 

 ^^"^^ and Paris's Plmrmacolooia (1822), 



Cummin, Eay (1693) and in modern trade- 

 lists and price-currents. 

 5 Ch. xxviii. 25-27. 



« Ch. xxiii. 23. 



■ Pardessus, Diplomala, etc., Paris, 1849. 



ii. 309. , , „ . 



8Ro<'crs, Hist, of AijrlcuUure and Frices 



in England, 1876. J. 031, ii. 643-547. 



>Muiilmenta GUdhcdl(v. Londoniensis, 



edited by Riley, i. (1S59) 224. 



i» Herbert, Hist, of (he Great Livery 

 Companie-i, of London, 1834. 114. 



