76 CUMMIN. 



mentioned, it is more generally applied to wounds, ulcers, and 

 sores in cattle. These sores often arise from the bites and stings 

 of flies, and are also caused by an insect which deposits its eggs 

 in the skin of the cattle. For these troubles, as both preventive 

 and remedy, the cummin has been used for a long time, and was 

 probably one of the most important, as it seems to have been 

 one of the most common, plants and seeds of the Jews. Com 

 mon and important, however, as it might have been, it was an 

 unattractive shrub, of insignificantly small white flowers in 

 clusters. Its associations, to a Jew, were with wounds and 

 sores, and it might well have been called &quot;an unclean plant.&quot; 

 Yet such was the strictness of Jewish observance that even this 

 was tithed; and herein appeared the inconsistency of the Jewish 

 forms, for, whilst they thus obeyed the law in its letter re 

 quiring the tithing, they neglected &quot; the weightier matters of 

 that law, namely, judgment, mercy, and faith.&quot; 



In the scriptural mention of this plant, allusion is made to 

 its commonness; and, inasmuch as even cummin was tithed, we 

 see the strong tendency of Jewish ceremony to degenerate into 

 mere formality. It may be called the &quot;legal plant&quot; rather than 

 the &quot;holy plant,&quot; which seems to indicate the sentiment of 

 Linnaeus in his nomenclature. The middle plant in Plate II. is 

 a blue variety of cummin and most common, that referred to 

 above being the same in form but of a whiter blossom. 



