272 PLINy's KATUllAL niSTOllY. [Book XX 



suspended to the pillow, so as to be smelt by a person when 

 asleep, it will prevent all disagreeable dreams. It has the 

 effect of promoting the appetite, also — for this, too, has been 

 made by luxury one of the objects of art, ever since labour has 

 ceased to stimulate it. It is for these various reasons that it 

 has received the name of '' anicetum,"*^ given to it by some. 



CHAP. 73. WHERE THE BEST AXISE IS FOUND: VAUIOIJS REMEDIES 



DERIVED FROM THIS PLANT. 



The most esteemed anise is that of Crete, and, next to it, 

 that of Egypt. This plant is employed in seasonings to sup- 

 ply the place of lovage ; and the perfume of it, when burnt 

 and inhaled, alleviates headache. Evenor prescribes an appli- 

 cation of the root, pounded, for delluxions of the eyes ; and 

 lollas emploj^s it in a similar manner, in combination with 

 saffron and wine, or else beaten up by itself and mixed with 

 polenta, for violent defluxions and the extraction of such ob- 

 jects as have got into tlie eyes : applied, too, as a liniment in 

 water, it arrests cancer of the nose. Mixed with hyssop and 

 oxymel, and employed as a gargle, it is a cure for quinsy ; 

 and, in combination with rose oil, it is used as an injection for 

 the ears. Parclied anise purges off plilegm from the chest, and, 

 if taken with honey, it is better still. 



For a cough, beat up fifty bitter almonds, shelled, in honey, 

 with one acetabulum of anise. Another very easy remedy, 

 too, is to mix three drachmae of anise with two of poppies and 

 some honey, a piece the size of a bean being taken three times 

 a-day. Its main excellence, however, is as a carminative; 

 hence it is that it is so good for flatulency of the stomach, 

 griping pains of the intestines, and coeliac affections. A de- 

 coction of it, smelt at and drunk, arrests hiccup, and a decoc- 

 tion of the leaves removes indigestion. A decoction of it with 

 parsley, if applied to the nostrils, will arrest sneezing. Taken 

 in drink, anise promotes sleep, disperses calculi of the bladder, 

 arrests vomiting and swelling of the viscera, and acts as an 

 excellent pectoral for affections of the chest, and of the dia- 



^5 "Unconquerable," from tlie Greek a, "not," and vncdo), "to con- 

 quer." Fee thinks that the word is a diminutive of "anisum," which, 

 according to some persons, is a derivative from " anysuny the Arabic name 

 of the plant. Dioscorides gives the name " anicetum" to dill, and ik^t to 

 anise. 



