326 PHYSICAL HERBS. 



grateful smell, with a moderately warm and slightly 

 pungent taste. They are carminative (soothing or 

 softening) and stomachic ; and are commonly sold 

 by the confectioners encrusted with sugar. 



10. CUMIN. CUMINUM. 



A native of Egypt and Syria. It is cultivated for 

 sale in Sicily and Malta, whence the rest of Europe 

 is supplied with the seeds. They have an aromatic, 

 warm, and bitterish taste, with a strong, but not 

 disagreeable, smell ; and contain a large quantity of 

 essential oil, and are supposed to possess a car- 

 minative and stomachic power. The Dutch are said 

 to put them into their cheese, and the Germans into 

 their bread. In England this herb is a hardy an- 

 nual, and but little cultivated for use. 



11. DILL ANETHUM 



Grows wild among the corn in Spain and Portugal. 

 It was first cultivated in this country in 1597 ; and 

 may be produced by sowing the seeds soon after 

 they are ripe, in any light soil. 



The seeds of dill have a moderately warm pun- 

 gent taste, and an aromatic smell, but not of the 

 most agreeable kind : they were formerly much used 

 in medicine, but are now seldom employed. They 

 are sometimes put into pickles to heighten the fla- 

 vour, particularly of cucumbers. 



12. FENUGREEK. FCENUM GIUECUM. 



Native of the south of Europe. A hardy annual ; 

 and propagated from seed, which may be sown any 



