MINT. 343 



powerful remedies. We are informed, thai 



a boy who was found in a forest, where his 

 diet must have been very simple and his 

 exercise strong, had a most acute sense of 

 smell, by which he could distinguish all herbs 

 and plants ; but this delicacy soon wore off 

 when he lived and fed like other men. 



It appears by Ovid's story of Baucis and 

 Philemon, that rustics perfumed or scoured 

 their tables with this herb before serving 

 their suppers. 



" Then rubb'd it o'er with newly gather'd mint, 

 A wholesome herb, that breathed a grateful scent." 



Pliny says, " You will not see a husband- 

 man's board in the country, but all the meats 

 from one end to the other, are seasoned witli 

 mint. As for the garden mint," says this 

 author, " the very smell of it alone recovers 

 and refreshes the spirits, as the taste stirs up 

 the appetite for meat, which is the cause 4 that 

 it is so general in our acid sauces, wherein 

 we are accustomed to dip our meat." 



The Romans were well acquainted witli 

 its medicinal virtues, as the same writer in- 

 forms us, that mint being put into milk would 

 keep it from turning sour, or curdling; and 

 for this reason, he says, "those \n!h> gene- 



