264 plint's natural history. [Book XX. 



blance to cummin, known to the Greeks as "ammi ;" °^ some 

 persons are of opinion, that it is the same as the Ethiopian 

 cummin. Hippocrates gives it^^ the epithet of " royal ;" no 

 doubt, because he looks upon it as possessed of greater virtues 

 than Egyptian cummin. Many persons, however, consider it 

 to be of a totally different nature from cummin, as it is so very 

 much thinner, and of a much whiter colour. Still, it is em- 

 ployed for just the same purposes as cummin, for we find it 

 used at Alexandria for i)utting under loaves of bread, and form- 

 ing an ingredient in various sauces. It has the effect of dispel- 

 ling flatulency and gri pings of the bowels, and of promoting 

 the secretion of the urine and the menstrual discharge. It is 

 employed, also, for the cure of bruises, and to assuage defluxions 

 of the eyes. Taken in wine with linseed, in doses of two 

 drachmse, it is a cure for the stings of scorpions ; and, used 

 with an equal proportion of mjTrh, it is particularly good for 

 the bite of the cerastes.^ 



Like cummin, too, it imparts paleness of complexion to those 

 ■who drink of it. Used as a fumigation, with raisins or with 

 resin, it acts as a purgative upon the uterus. It is said, too, 

 that if women smell at this plant during the sexual congress, 

 the chances of conception will be greatly promoted thereby. 



CHAP. 59. THE CAPPAEIS OR CAPER : EIGHTEEN REMEDIES. 



"We have already spoken^ of the caper at sufficient length 

 when treating of the exotic plants. The caper which comes^ 

 from beyond sea should never be used ; that of Italy* is not so 

 dangerous. It is said, that persons who eat this plant daily, 

 are never attacked by paralysis or pains in the spleen. The 

 root of it, pounded, removes white eruptions of the skin, if 



"8 The Ammi Copticum of modern botany. 



99 The iEthiopian cummin, namely, which Pliny himself seems inclined 

 to confound Avith ammi. 



1 Or " horned" serpent. See B. viii. c. 35, and B. xi. c. 4.5. 



2 In B. xiii. c. 44. 



3 It is not improbable that under this name he alludes to the carpels of 

 some kind of Euphorbiacea, which bear a resemblance to the fruit of the 

 caper. Indeed, there is one variety of the Euphorbia with an acrid juice, 

 known in this country by the name of the " caper-phint." 



^ The Capparis spinosa, probably, on which the capers used in our 

 sauces are ;'rown. 



