BOOK XIX. Lxii. 187-189 



rosemary. Alexanders is a garden herb that grows 

 in the same places, and its root has the taste of myrrh. 

 Pepper%vort grows in the same way. The remaining 

 plants are peculiar in both sccnt and taste, for example 

 anise ; and so great is their diversity and their potency 

 that not only is one of them modified by another but 

 it is entirely counteracted : cooks use parsley to 

 remove the tang of vinegar from their dislies, and 

 parsley enclosed in bags is also employed by butlers 

 to rid Avine of disagreeable odour. 



And so far we have spoken about garden plants MedUaiwei 

 merely as providing articles of diet. There still/o^tow"* 

 remains indeed a most important operation of nature 

 in the same department, inasmuch as hitherto we 

 have only treated of their produce and given cer- 

 tain summary outlines ; wliereas the true natui-e of 

 each plant can only be fully understood by studying 

 its medicinal effect, that vast and recondite work of 

 divine power, and the greatest subject that can 

 possibly be found. Due regard for method has led 

 us not to combine with each object in succcssion the 

 question of its medicinal value, because a different 

 set of people are concerned with the requiremcnts of 

 medical practice, and either topic would have met 

 with long interruptions if we had mixed the two 

 together. As it is, each subject will occupy its own 

 section, and any who wish will be able to combine 

 them. 



541 



