FAMILY HERBAL. 103 



appearance. There are many species of it. Hut 

 that used in medicine is the kind called the middle 

 cudweed., a herb impious. It has this last name 

 from the whimsical observation of the young flow- 

 ers rising above the old ones, which is called the 

 son's growing above the father. This cudweed, 

 is a little low plant, it seldom rises to a foot high. 

 The stalks are tough, firm, white, slender, and up- 

 right ; they are very thick, set with leaves, which 

 are small, oblong, white, and pointed at the ends, and 

 seldom lie xery even. The flowers are a kind of 

 brown or yellowish heads, standing at the tops, and 

 in the divisions of the stalks. 



The herb bruised, and applied to a fresh wound, 

 stops the bleeding ; it may be also dried and given in 

 decoction, in which form it is good against the 

 whites, and will often stop violent purging?. 



Cummin. Cuminum. 



A PLANT of the umbelliferous kind, cultivated 

 in every part of the East, for the value of the seed. 

 It grows a foot and a half high. The staik is 

 round, striated, green, and hollow. The leaves are 

 large, and very finely divided in the manner of 

 those of fennel. The flowers stand in larjre clus- 

 ters, at the tops of the branches, and they arc small 

 and white, with a blush of red. The seeds are long 

 and striated. 



The seeds are used. Our druggists keep them. 

 They are of a very disagreeable flavour, but 01 

 excellent virtues ; they are good against the colic 

 and wind in the stomach, and, applied outwardly, 

 they will often remove pains in the side. Tbey must 

 be bruised, and a large quantity laid on. 



