MUSTARD. 379 



use of mustard-seed became known to man 

 through iEsculapius, for the eating of so bit- 

 ing and penetrating a seed in food must have 

 required long habit to have made it familiar 

 and agreeable. 



Mustard seems to have been cultivated in 

 Syria when Christ was upon earth, as he 

 mentions it in parable as being the least seed 

 which was sown in the field, " but when it is 

 grown it is the greatest among herbs."* 



The Romans made great use of mustard- 

 seed in medicine, and they thought it one of 

 the best of remedies for the complaints of the 

 stomach and the lungs. From the milky 

 juice of the plant they formed a gum that was 

 used for the tooth-ache, and the oil which 

 they drew from the seed was used with olive 

 oil after the bath, by those who had stiffness 

 occasioned by cold. 



The ancients ate the young plants stewed, 

 and the leaves of the older plants were used 

 boiled as other pot-herbs. Pliny informs us 

 that it grew in Italy without sowing, but that 

 the most esteemed mustard-seed was brought 

 from Egypt. The Romans cultivated three 

 varieties in this author's time.-f 



* Matt. c. xiii. v. 31. and Mark c. iv. v. 31. 

 t Bookxix. c. 8. and book xx. c.22. 



