54 CULINARY HERBS 



once more. Seven of these plants were formerly so 

 prominent in medicine that they were designated 

 ''official" and nearly all the others were extensively 

 used by physicians. At the present day there are 

 very few that have not passed entirely out of official 

 medicine and even out of domestic practice, at least 

 so far as their intrinsic qualities are concerned. 

 Some, to be sure, are still employed because of their 

 pleasant flavors, which disguise the disagreeable 

 taste of other drugs. But this is a very different 

 matter. 



One of the most notable of these is fennel. What 

 wonders could that plant not perform 300 years ago ! 

 In Parkinson's "Theatricum Botanicum" (1640) its 

 "vertues" are recorded. Apart from its use as food, 

 for which, then, as now, it was highly esteemed, 

 without the attachment of any medicinal qualities as 

 an esculent, it was considered efficacious in cases of 

 gout, jaundice, cramps, shortness of breath, wheez- 

 ing of the lungs ; for cleansing of the blood and im- 

 proving the complexion ; to use as an eye-water or 

 to increase the flow of milk ; as a remedy for serpent 

 bites or an antidote for poisonous herbs and mush- 

 rooms ; and for people who ''are growen fat to abate 

 their unwieldinesse and make them more gaunt and 

 lanke." 



But let us peep into the 19th edition of the United 

 States Dispensatory. Can this be the same fennel 

 which "is one of our most grateful aromatics," and 

 which, because of "the absence of any highly ex- 

 citant property," is recommended for mixing with 

 unpleasant medicines? Ask any druggist, and he 



