MEN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MEN 



116 



be hung up to dry in a shady place, where it may remain 

 until it be used. If the soil in which they are planted be 

 good, it will afford three crops every year : but after July, 

 Mint seldom proves good, therefore the shoots produced after 

 that time should be permitted to remain till Michaelmas, 

 when they must be cut down close; and after having cleared 

 the bed from weeds, you should spread a little fine rich earth 

 all over them, which will greatly forward them against the 

 next spring. The species are, 



1. Mentha Auricularia; Ear Mint. Spikes cylindrical; 

 leaves oblong, acute, serrate, hairy, subsessile ; stem strigose ; 

 stamina longer than the corolla. This herb is celebrated as 

 a powerful remedy for deafness. Native of the East Indies. 



2. Mentha Niliaca; Egyptian Mint. Tomentose-hoary : 

 spikes oblong; leaves ovate-lanceolate, serrate, sessile; stems 

 villose, branched, weak, a foot high. Native of Egypt. 



3. Mentha G\&bra.ta.; Smooth-spiked Mint. Flowers racem- 

 ed, verticillate ; leaves petioled, ovate-lanceolate, serrate, 

 smooth; peduncle terminating. Native of Egypt. 



4. Mentha Stellata; Stellated Cluster-spiked Mint. Spikes 

 heaped, terminating; leaves stellate, serrate; stem herbaceous, 

 upright, four-grooved, one foot high. This is the ran ngu 

 hoang of the Cochin-chinese. Native of Cochin-china. 



5. Mentha Sylvestris; Horse Mint. Spikes hairy, slightly 

 interrupted ; leaves oblong, serrate, tomentose, sessile ; sta- 

 mina longer than the corolla. Stem upright, four-grooved, 

 branched at top, smooth at bottom; calix hardly a line long, 

 lioary; corolla twice as long, pale purple; filamenta twice or 

 thrice as long as the corolla. It varies with filamenta equal 

 only to the corolla. Native of many parts of Europe, Den- 

 mark, Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, in hedges, 

 ditches, and watery places. It is common in Lincolnshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk, and Kent. 



6. Mentha Viridis ; Spear Mint. Spikes oblong ; leaves 

 lanceolate, naked, serrate, sessile ; stamina longer than the 

 corolla. This is very nearly allied to the preceding, but is 

 smaller and smoother; the corolla is purplish red. Native of 

 Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, in watery places, 

 and on the banks of rivers, as on the Thames, and near Ex- 

 mouth in Devonshire. This species is not so hot to the taste 

 as Peppermint, and, having a more agreeable flavour than 

 most of the others, is generally preferred for culinary and 

 medical purposes. The leaves or tops are used in spring 

 salads, and eaten dried as sauce with Iamb, and in soups. 

 The preparations of Spearmint are more pleasant than those 

 of Peppermint, but perhaps less efficacious. This herb, and 

 indeed all the species, contains much essential oil, but of 

 a less agreeable odour than that of Lavender or Marjoram. 

 It is less employed as a cephalic; but it acts very powerfully 

 on parts to which it is immediately applied, and therefore con- 

 siderably on the stomach; and as it operates especially as an 

 antispasmodic, and therefore relieves pains and colics arising 

 from spasm, it will also put a stop to vomiting, arising from 

 the same cause; but if it arise from inflammation in the sto- 

 mach itself, or in other parts of the body, it aggravates the 

 disease. The infusion of Mint in warm water agrees better 

 with the stomach than the distilled water. The officinal pre- 

 parations are, an essential oil; a conserve, very grateful; and 

 the distilled waters, both simple and spirituous, which are 

 generally thought pleasant. Lewis observes, that Mint is 

 said to prevent the coagulation of milk ; and hence it has 

 been recommended to be used with milk diets, and even in 

 cataplasms and fomentations for resolving coagulated milk 

 in the breasts : upon experiment, the curd of milk, digested 

 in a strong infusion of Mint, could not be perceived to be any 

 otherwise affected than by common water; but milk in which 



VOL. ii. 75. 



Mint leaves were set to macerate, did not coagulate near so 

 soon as an equal quantity of the same milk kept by itself. 

 Dried Mint, digested in rectified spirits of wine, gives out a 

 tincture, which appears by day-light of a fine dark green, but 

 by candle-light of a bright red colour. The fact is, that a 

 small quantity of this tincture is green, either by day-light or 

 candle-light, but a large quantity seems impervious to com- 

 mon day-light; however, when held between the eye and a 

 candle, or between the eye and the sun, it appears red : so 

 that, if put into a flat bottle, it appears green ; but when 

 viewed edgewise, red. The distilled water, or infusion, is 

 much used in crudities and weaknesses of the stomach, 

 heaving or retchings, hiccup, windiness, and burning heat. 

 It is likewise good in griping pains of the stomach and bowels, 

 and in giddiness and swimmings of the head. Applied ex- 

 ternally, it takes away hardness of the breasts, and cures the 

 head-ach. A stong decoction is an excellent wash for erup- 

 tions on the skin, chaps, and sore heads. 



7. Mentha Rotundifolia ; Round-leaved Mint. Spikes 

 long; leaves roundish, rugged, shagged, sharply crenate, 

 sessile ; bractes lanceolate ; stamina longer than the corolla. 

 Stems from two to three feet high, erect, hairy, or shaggy, 

 the hairs pointing more or less downwards. Native of several 

 parts of Europe. It is rather rare in England ; but is found 

 at Shingham in Norfolk; near Faulkburn Hall in Essex; in 

 Cambridgeshire; near Ross in Herefordshire; and in Hornsey 

 and Harefield church-yards, Middlesex. 



8. Mentha Crispa ; Curled Mint. Flowers in heads ; leaves 

 cordate, toothed, waved, sessile ; stamina equalling the corolla. 

 Stems hairy, about the same height with common Spearmint. 

 Native of Siberia, China, and Cochin-china. 



9. Mentha Hirsuta ; Round-headed Mint, or Hairy fater 

 Mint. Flowers in dense, compound, terminating heads; leaves 

 ovate, serrate, subsessile, pubescent; stamina longer than 

 the corolla. Roots long, branched, creeping under water ; 

 stem branched, very generally purplish, rough, with deflex 

 hairs scattered all over it; flowers lilac-coloured. The degree 

 of hairiness throughout the whole plant varies very much. 

 When out of the water, it grows much smaller, more purple, 

 and with a simple head of flowers. It flowers in August, and 

 is very common in clear ditches, rivulets, and other watery 

 places, growing sometimes among large grasses and reeds, 

 sometimes by itself. 



1 0. Mentha Aquatica ; Water Mint. Flowers in heads ; 

 leaves ovate, serrate, petioled ; stamina longer than the co- 

 rolla. Corolla pale red. This is not a rough-haired plant. 



11. Mentha Piperita; Pepper Mint. Flowers Jn heads; 

 leaves ovate, petioled ; stamina shorter than the corolla. 

 This species has smooth purple stalks. The stem and leaves 

 are beset with many very minute glands, containing the essen- 

 tial oil, which rises plentifully in distillation. It has the most 

 penetrating smell of any of its genus, and also the strongest 

 taste, pungent and glowing like pepper, sinking as it were 

 into the tongue, and followed by a sensation of coldness. Its 

 stomachic, antispasmodic, and carminative qualities, render 

 it useful in flatulent colics, hysterical affections, retchings, 

 and other dyspeptic symptoms, acting as a cordial, and 

 often producing immediate relief. The officinal preparations 

 are an essential oil, a simple water, and a spirit. The essence 

 of Peppermint is an elegant medicine, and seems to be the 

 rectified oil dissolved in spirits of wine. Meyrick observes, 

 it is a valuable medicine in flatulent colics, hysteric de- 

 pressions, and other complaints of a similar nature ; exert- 

 ing its salutary effects as soon as it arrives in the stomach, 

 and diffusing a glowing warmth throughout the whole body, 

 and yet without heating the body near so much as might be 



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