(X)RfANDER» 219 



information from Avicenna *, tells us that " the juice of the 

 greene Coriander leaues, taken in the quantitie of foure dragmes, 

 killeth and poisoneth the body." Matthiolus and Tragus advise 

 it never to be used without previous maceration in vinegar. 

 Oilibert states that he experienced head-ache, nausea, and car- 

 dialgia, from the emanations of the recent herb- On the other 

 hand, Alpinus t, J. Bauhin, Zvvelfer, Lobel, and others, deny 

 that it possesses any noxious quahties ; and they instance the 

 daily use of it among the Egyptians, Spaniards, and Dutch, who 

 mix it with their food and drink. It would be unjust to accuse 

 the former party with falsehood, as the state of the herb, 

 the mode of cooking it, and not less the power of habit, 

 may have a great influence on the effects produced in dif- 

 ferent individuals ; but the assertion of Dioscorides ^, as to the 

 hurtful consequences of taking the seeds, we know to be er- 

 roneous. 



The seeds have been long known as carminative, stomachic, 

 and diaphoretic, and successfully employed in debility of the 

 stomach and intestinal canal, and in flatulence. Terzagus com- 

 mended an infusion of half an ounce of the seeds in five ounces of 

 wine, as a remedy in quartan agues, to be taken before the pa- 

 roxysm. They have also been found useful in the hysterical 

 disorders and head-ache of females, and in some cases of scro- 

 fula. Dr. CuUen esteemed the Coriander seeds as the best 

 adjunct with which he was acquainted to prevent the griping 

 effects of senna, and their aroma serves well to mask the nau- 

 seous taste and odour of various purgatives. The dose is from 

 a scruple to a drachm in substance, and from a drachm to a 

 drachm and a half in infusion. They enter into a carminative 

 water, or rather spirit, with other aromatic seeds §, — a simple 

 distilled water, — and form one of the principal ingredients in 

 the compound called honey-water. 



* Quum ex succo bibitur circiter. unc iiij. interficit, quoniam facit homi- 

 nem possidere tristitiam, et syncopim, et non oportet universaliter, ut de 

 eo multum sumatur. — Canon Medicinm, vol. i. p. 294. 



■f- See the work already quoted. 



+ Si largius sumptum fuerit semen, raentem nou sine periculo, e sua 

 sede et statu demovet. — Alexiphann. c. 9. 



§ Viz. Seeds of Fennel, Carrot, Anise, Caraway, and Dill ; these are 

 digested for some days in brandy and then sweetened with sugar. 



R 2 



