ANGLESEY ANISE SEED. 



231 



tons, is never felt ; but, on the contrary, a heavy 

 dyspnoea, or difficulty of breathing, wheezing, and 

 cough, which never, or very rarely indeed, ever 

 accompanies the paroxysms of this disease. 



When the disease has been preceded by other 

 diseases of a violent kind, or when from improper 

 treatment it has been allowed to remain unre- 

 strained, and there is reason to fear that organic 

 lisions exist, a very unfavourable opinion may be 

 formed of the result. In those, however, of an 

 otherwise sound constitution, and whose health 

 has not been impaired by intemperance, a recovery 

 under judicious treatment may be anticipated. 



Those who are subject to this and indeed to 

 every other affection of the heart, should studiously 

 avoid violent exercises, mental emotion, especially 

 anger and sudden gusts of passion, long fasting, 

 and what is equally injurious, too full meals. Ex- 

 posure of the extremities to cold, and a sudden 

 transition from a heated to a cold atmosphere, 

 especially after indulging in spirituous, vinous, or 

 heating liquids, are extremely hurtful. Indeed 

 warm punch, or toddy, are liquors that should 

 never be swallowed in the intervals of the parox- 

 ysms of this disease. The patient should use no li- 

 quors stronger than small, spruce, treacle, or ginger 

 beer. 



As to medical treatment, especially during the 

 fit, if the patient is of a full plethoric habit, it may 

 be necessary to draw a large quantity of blood. 

 A large sinapism should be applied over the whole 

 chest, and the bowels opened by a warm carmina- 

 tive purgative, such as six drams of the compound 

 tincture of senna, in a wine glass of senna tea, 

 while at the same time an enema of assafetida, 

 combined with half an ounce of the compound tinc- 

 ture of camphor, should be administered. In this 

 case four ounces of the enema will suffice, as it 

 should remain in the bowels till expelled by the 

 purgatives. 



In other cases where the pulse is weak, the 

 countenance pale, and the patient of a more deli- 

 cate constitution, or, it may be, the victim of in- 

 temperance, hard study, or long continued mental 

 emotion ; or if the fit is attended with a tendency 

 to syncope or fainting, blood-letting should be 

 avoided, but the other medical treatment recom- 

 mended above, may be employed. The use of 

 anti-spasmodics, especially valerian in the form of 

 a mix'ture of half a pint of the infusion and two 

 ounces of the tincture, may be given in doses of a 

 fourth part daily. See Valerian. 



ANGLESEY (a). The form of the island of 

 Anglesey in North Wales is triangular, but the 

 shores are irregular, being indented with numerous 

 small bays and creeks. In length it extends about 

 twenty miles from north-west to south-east ; its 

 breadth is about seventeen miles, and its superficial 

 area is estimated at 402 square miles. This county 

 was originally divided into three cantreds, but since 

 the junction with England, the division into hun- 

 dreds has been adopted. These are six in number, 

 Llyfon, Maltraeth, Menai, Talybolion, Twerclyn, 

 and Tyndaethway. These are subdivided into 

 seventy-thre.- pariihes, the population of which, in 

 1831, was 48,300; and in 1841,50,891. The. 

 town is Beaumaris, a seaport and borough, with 1 

 the market-towns of Llangefni, Newborougn, 

 Llanerchymedd, Holyhead, and Amlwch. There 

 are several ports, as Beaumaris, Amlwch, Cremyln, 

 Dulas, Red Wharf, Maltraeth, and Holyhead. A 

 number of small streams descend from the higher 



grounds, the most important of which are the Cefni, 

 Alan, Fraw, and Dulas. 



The climate of Anglesey is mild, but the vicinity 

 of the sea renders it liable to fogs in autumn, when 

 intermittent fevers are not uncommon. The gene- 

 ral aspect of the country is level. The most im- 

 portant productions of the island, next to the agri- 

 cultural, are the minerals. The rich copper and 

 lead veins in the Parys mountain, have been a source 

 of increasing wealth and prosperity to the island, 

 giving employment to a large number of miners. 

 Little coal is found here, so that fuel is dear, and 

 the expense of working the mines considerable. A 

 sort of green marble is found here, resembling the 

 verda antica of the ancients. Besides lead and 

 copper, silver, calamine, sulphur, zinc, and alum, 

 are among the mineral productions. In addition to 

 the above-mentioned sources of occupation, many 

 persons are employed in fisheries on the coast, 

 and in the catching of wild fowl. The herring- 

 fishery is lucrative, though uncertain : among other 

 fishes, the cod, turbot, sole, plaices and whiting, 

 are abundant. Many plants, considered rare by 

 botanists, have been found in Anglesey. Anglesey 

 lies on the great line of communication between 

 London and Dublin, and the packets for the latter 

 start from Holyhead. The ferry over the Menai 

 strait was found to be often a serious impediment to 

 travellers, and in 1820, plans for the amelioration 

 of the communication were proposed to a parlia- 

 mentary committee. The consequence of this was 

 the erection of a magnificent suspension bridge over 

 the strait at Bangor-ferry, and a new line of road 

 from thence to Holyhead. 



ANISE SEED, (a.) Anisum Vulgare, or the 

 Pimpinella of Linnaeus. The seeds of this plant 

 have a warm, sweetish, grateful taste, with an aro- 

 matic odour. They are carminative and aromatic, 

 and peculiarly adapted to the case of children who 

 are subject to flatulent colic, with pain in the 

 bowels. Anise seeds are very effectual for reliev- 

 ing these troublesome affections in infants, as they 

 act in a small dose, and are not in any hazard of 

 inducing bad habits, or stimulating too much, as 

 many other medicines prescribed for relieving 

 children are almost certain to do, such as syrup of 

 poppies, laudanum, Dalby's carminative, Godfrey's 

 cordial, and even strong punch. Nay, all these 

 compositions may be justly charged with the high 

 crime of shortening the lives of infants, and some 

 of them, even of directly poisoning them. Indeed, 

 none of them should ever be employed without 

 regular advice. Punch, it is true, will intoxicate the 

 child, and cause it to sleep ; but it will increase the 

 disease, and facilitate its recurrence. The size of 

 a pinch of snuff, or four or five grains of the finely 

 powdered anise seed, or even as much as can be 

 lifted on a silver fourpence or sixpence piece, may 

 be given the child when it cries much, in a tea 

 spoonful of breast or cow's milk, and a warm flan- 

 nel applied to the abdomen. Or ten drops of the 

 essential oil of anise seed may be dropped on two 

 drams of refined sugar, and the sugar and oil inti 

 mately incorporated by rubbing them into a very 

 fine powder, in a stone mortar, (or a tea cup, 

 using a smooth-bottomed vial for a pestle) then 

 gradually adding, while the rubbing is continued, 

 two drams of calcined magnesia. This powder, 

 which may be named or labelled Suyar of Anise, 

 should be kept in a close-corked vial, and as much 

 given the child as can be lifted on a sixpence, when 

 it cries or complains of flatulence or pain in the 



