MYRTACEZ. 21 
as a remedy for colds. A clove roasted in the flame of a 
lamp and held in the mouth is a popular remedy for sore 
throat. ‘The early Arabian writers call them Karanfal, a 
name evidently derived from the Indian languages of the 
Malabar Coast, Ceylon, and the Straits*; this name appears 
to us to have been the source from whence the Greeks have 
derived the name xapvopvdAov which we meet with in Galen and 
Pliny; the latter writer speaks of Caryophyllon as resembling 
pepper but longer and more brittle and imported forthe sake of 
itsodour. We do not think it possible thata spice in such ” 
common use in the Hast can have escaped their notice. 
Paulus describes cloves as the flowers of a tree, and Kxapqroeidy 
(like a nail). Myrepsicus in a prescription calls mother 
cloves yapeépaXdov ro péya To Neydpevov map “IraXots avGopadov, In the 
debased Greek of the later Greek physicians, the name 
takes various forms more nearly corresponding to the Arabic. 
Later Arabian and Persian authors of treatises on Materia 
Medica describe cloves as the fruit of a tree growing in 
Java or Batavia, a territory belonging to the Dutch Chris- 
tians. In the Makhzan-el-Adwiya, a work written about one 
hundred years ago, it is distinctly stated that they are only 
_ produced in the Dutch possessions, and that they are of two- 
_ kinds, male and female. The fruit of the clove is called Nar- 
laung (male clove) in India, a strange mistake but a common 
one among Asiatics, who argue that the seed-bearing organ or 
plant must be the male. Mahometan writers describe cloves 
as hot and dry, and consider them to be alexipharmic and 
cephalic, whether taken internally or applied externally ; they 
_ also recommend them for strengthening the gums and per- 
a fuming the breath, and on account of their pectoral, cardiacal, — 
tonic, and digestive qualities. They have a curious supersti- 
tion to the effect that one male clove eaten daily will prevent 
conception. On the other hand, they tell us that the saliva 
after Cloves have been chewed, if applied to the orifice of the : 
male urethra before connection, increases the sexual orgasm 
in both parties. In modern medicine cloves are used as a 
> * Kirambu, Tamil; Karaémpu, Malay; Karambu, Cingalese 
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