322 PHYSICAL HERBS. 



The stalks of angelica were formerly blanched, 

 and eaten as celery, but they are now only used as 

 a sweetmeat, when candied, by the confectioners. 

 The Laplanders extol the utility of this herb for 

 coughs and other disorders of the chest, but in this 

 country it is seldom employed for that purpose, as 

 many other simples surpass it in aromatic and car- 

 minative powers. 



2. ANISE-SEED. ANISUM. 



A native of Egypt, and some other eastern 

 countries. It was first cultivated here in 1551, but 

 our summers are seldom warm enough to bring 

 it to perfection. The seeds are annually imported 

 from Malta and Spain. The plant is annual, and 

 propagated by sowing the seed in a light dry soil 

 n spring. 



Anise-seeds have a warm aromatic smell, and a 

 pleasant warm taste, accompanied with a degree of 

 sweetness ; they have been esteemed useful in many 

 complaints, but none more so than in flatulent 

 colics and obstructions of the breast, in diarrhoeas, 

 and for strengthening the tone of the stomach in 

 general. 



3. BALM. MELISSA. 



So called from the Greek word signifying honey, 

 because of the abundant and excellent honey of its 

 flowers, for which bees greatly frequent it. 



The garden balm is a native of the mountains of 

 Geneva, Savoy, and Italy, and was first cultivated 

 in this country about the year 1573. It is peren- 



