HORTICULTURE IN RELATION TO .MEDICINE. 47 



The camphire of the old version of the Scriptures, now more correctly 

 translated " henna " in the Revised Version,* has fragrant flowers somewhat 

 resembling in odour those of the tea rose. The leaves of the plant, which 

 is not unlike the common privet in habit, are still used in the East to 

 stain the nails and eyebrows, &e. Of recent years henna has been im- 

 ported into this country and is sold by herbalists and chemists, probably 

 for use as a brown hair dye. Several of these plants, if really cultivated 

 in Solomon's gardens, must have been brought from the East Indies at 

 considerable expense. It is true that a garden of herbs is mentioned 

 in Deut. xi. 10, and again when Ahab wanted to turn Naboth's 

 vineyard into one (1 Kings xxi. 1-2), but these herb gardens probably 

 contained pot-herbs and aromatic plants used as condiments or savoury 

 additions to food, since Solomon speaks of "a dinner of herbs." It seems 

 probable that the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover (Ex. xii. 8) were 

 herbs growing wild that were gathered for the purpose. Several of the 

 aromatic herbs are mentioned* here and there throughout the Sacred Books. 

 Such were coriander, mint, anise, cummin, and fitches (Isaiah xxviii. 27). 

 The last named is a small aromatic black seed, the produce of Nigella 

 sativa, L., which was used by the Jews to scatter on the surface of bread 

 and cakes somewhat in the manner that caraway seed is used in this 

 country in Abernethy biscuits. The Jews now substitute poppy seed for 

 this purpose. So far, therefore, none of these plants appear to have 

 any claim to consideration as cultivated medicinal plants. There is no 

 evidence that the hyssop used in the sacerdotal cleansing of leprosy and 

 in the sprinkling of blood was a cultivated plant. A specimen of the 

 plant brought to me by the Rev. Arthur Hall (brother of the late Newman 

 Hall) from Sinai, where it was given to him by the Arabs as the hyssop 

 of Scripture, proved to be a species of Origanum, the Arab name for 

 which (' Zatar ') has given rise to the generic names Satitreia&nd. Zataria. 

 The plant has nothing to do with the plant now called hyssop (Hyssojms 

 officinalis), nor can the plant mentioned by David (Pealm li. 7) be the 

 purging or hedge hyssop (Gratiola officinalis) of the present day, the 

 word " purge " being used rather in the sense of cleansing, probably in 

 allusion to the use of hyssop in the ceremonial cleansing of leprosy. It is 

 interesting to note that the origanum given to Mr. Hall by the Arabs 

 contained, like many of the genus, the substance thymol, which of recent 

 years has been employed as an antiseptic. 



In the application of figs to Hezekiah's boil (2 Kings xx. 7) we 

 have an illustration of the fact that it is very difficult to draw the line 

 between edible and medicinal plants, or even between them and fragrant 

 plants ; for example, oil of almonds and syrup of violets are at the present 

 day used as a domestic remedy for children's cough. It is interesting also 

 as indicating a knowledge, at a very early period, of the solvent action 

 exerted upon animal tissue which has been shown in recent times to exist 

 in the papaw's fruit and leaves as well as in the fig. 



Theophrastus Eresius, a native of Lesbos, who lived between 370- 

 285 b.c. and was the earliest botanical author in Europe, refers to about 

 330 plants or plant-products known in his time, including about forty 

 plants still used in medicine at the present day. This list, as given by 



* Cant. i. 14 ; iv. 13. 



