364 M. Link on the Ancient History of 
like that of* the French bean, black and white : the leaf is also 
like that of the French bean, as is also the pod. In the East 
they are cultivated in the gardens, and are eaten. They grow 
in the southern regions: in Yemen, they are also called Short- 
pods, (Hiilse ? They have a good taste. After that fol- 
lows a translation of what Galen says respecting It 
thus appears, that Ebn Baithar speaks of a dolichos or 
phaseolus , and not of our pea. From all this it is evi- 
dent to me, that our pease were altogether unknown to the 
ancients, and that their Trtcrog or pisum belonged to the Lathyrus. 
Hence we see the reason of the uncertainties of the modern 
tongues. The German word Erbse comes from orobus; the ervilla 
and ervilha of the Spaniards and Portugueze from ervum ; the 
pois and pisello of the French and Italians from pisum. In the 
new Greek dialect pease are called xvKog, by a quite new name ; 
and in the same manner we have gorochi in the Russian dialect. 
Pease belong to northern countries, and are cultivated through- 
out the whole of Europe, and in Asia as far as China, and nor- 
thern India. According to later botanists, the pea grows wild 
in the fields of Europe, with which account what I have already 
said corresponds. 
Phaselus. 
The notices which the ancients have left us respecting Pha- 
selus or Pliasiolus are few. Theophrastus and the an- 
cient Greeks do not mention it. Columella says, (1. ii. c. 20.) 
phaselus must be sown early in harvest, in a rich soil, four modii 
on an jugerum ; the seed also is smaller than that of field 
beans, and resembles the grains of *icrbs and a H e places 
them among the leguminous fruits which are eaten by man. 
Hioscorides (1. ii. c. 130.) speaks only of their medicinal proper- 
ties. Pliny says, (1. xviii. c. 12.) the grains are eat along with 
the pod. This agrees exactly with our French beans. But 
from Galen’s information, (De Alimentor facult. 1. ii. c. 25, 28.) 
we see what mistakes have prevailed respecting the names of the 
leguminous fruits. He mentions q>x<r vXo? along with the small 
lathyrus as a bad fruit ; and then says, some consider <pxa-vXc$ 
and AaS-y^e? as the same ; some regard it as a variety of the lat- 
ter ; some distinguish between (pxwoXog and (px^Xo?, and give the 
former name to the French bean (^a<^). There is also no 
