Calamus aromaticus " the Sweet cane from a far coun- 

 try," is allied to our sweet vernal grass. 



Cassia and Cinnamon, well known spices, were in the 

 time of Ezekiel common articles of trade with the mer- 

 chants of Tyre. They belong to a family of which our 

 Sassafras and Laurus benzoin are examples. Camphor of 

 commerce is from a tree of the same tribe. 



The Hyssoj) and Mustard of Scriptures, around which 

 mauy inquiries cluster, are not so satisftictorily identified 

 by modern investigation as would seem reasonable to ex- 

 pect. The former is declared by the best authorities to 

 be the Capparis Egyptica, or Caper plant, and not the 

 officinal herb. Hyssop ; the latter, the Salvadora Persica, 

 a tree-like plant, sufficiently large for birds generally to 

 lodge in its branches. Some still adhere to the common 

 Mustard as that alluded to on two occasions by our Sa- 

 viour. The uses of Mustard were well understood and 

 described by Pliny, who was nearly cotemporary. 



The Fruits were identified and described. Among 

 them the Palm tribe, a family acknowledged by botan- 

 ists to be the princes of the vegetable kingdom, and to 

 Avhich, in Scripture, the righteous are most fitly com- 

 pared. " They shall flourish like the Palm tree ; they 

 shall bring forth fruit in old age." The whole Palm tribe 

 are of immense importance to the countries in which 

 they grow. The Date Palm yields, year by year, an even 

 crop of perhaps three or four hundred pounds, and that 

 for a century together, scarcely ever materially failing. 



The Apple of Scripture is, without doubt, the Citron, 

 Citrus medica. " A word fitly spoken is like apples of 

 gold in pictures of silver," might be rendered, " like 

 golden citrons in silver baskets," in allusion to a custom 

 of the Jews of presenting that fruit in this manner at 

 their sacred feasts. 



