CUMMIN. 



UMBELLIFERJE. Cuminum Sanctivum. Linn. 



and Cuminum Cymiorum. 



is a plant bearing a resemblance to the coriander, 

 commonly called the fennel and caraway, both in its 

 growth and in the general properties of the seed. It 

 is a native of all the countries bordering on the Medi 

 terranean, of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and is also 

 found in Ethiopia. The seeds are warm and bitter in taste, 

 but aromatic and rather agreeable ; and it seems to have served 

 among the ancients for purposes similar to those for which the 

 coriander was used. The Jews sowed it broadcast in their 

 fields and thrashed it out with a rod when ripe. To this custom 

 Isaiah refers in his description of the method of separating 

 the seed: &quot;Neither is the cart-wheel turned about upon the 

 cummin, but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the 

 cummin with a rod,&quot; (xxviii. 27.) In countries where circum 

 cision is a usual rite, cummin-seed mingled with wine is used 

 as a styptic after any cut or wound. For this purpose it is 

 thoroughly mashed in wine and applied by the officiating priest; 

 and this seems to have been the use to which the plant was 

 put anciently, the leaves perhaps, as well as the seeds, having 

 been employed. In those countries where the healing pro 

 perty of the seeds and plants is still valued for the purposes just 



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