SCANDIX. 
741 
some adventure that might be productive of glory and spoil. 
The father applauding such an inclination in his son, as 
Indicating a rising courage and heroic mind, gave him 
ships, the commander and crew of which mutually engaged 
not to return, unless adorned with laurels and loaded with 
plunder. That nation became the first object of their resent¬ 
ment, from which they had received any injury; and fre¬ 
quently their principal aim was to make reprisals on some 
province which served for the retreat of other corsairs. If 
the fleets of two different nations met by chance in their 
voyage, this was also an occasion of fighting which they 
' never neglected. 
The vanquished party was commonly put to death, though 
sometimes the conquerors were contented to make them 
slaves; and often, by a singular strain of generosity, which 
the love of glory was able to produce in minds in other 
respects so ferocious, if the enemy that fell in their way had 
fewer ships than themselves, they set aside part of their own 
vessels, so that, engaging upon equal terms, the victory might 
not be attributed to superiority of numbers. 
While the attention of these people was engrossed by 
their passion for arms, and the pleasures of the table, we may 
"conclude that love held no violent dominion over them. It 
is besides well known, that the inhabitants of the North, are 
not of very quick sensibility. The ideas and modes of 
thinking of the Scandinavians were in this respect very dif¬ 
ferent from those of the Asiatics and more southern nations; 
who by a contrast as remarkable as it is common, have ever 
felt for the female sex the warm passion of love, devoid of any 
real esteem. Being at the same time tyrants and slaves; 
laying aside their own reason, and requiring none in the 
object, they have ever made a quick transition from adoration 
to contempt, and from sentiments of the most extravagant 
and violent love, to those of the most cruel jealousy, or of an 
indifference still more insulting. We find the reverse of all 
this among the northern nations, who did not so much con¬ 
sider the other sex as made for their pleasure, as to be their 
equals and companions, whose esteem, as valuable as their 
other favours, could only be obtained by constant attentions, 
by generous services, and by a proper exertion of virtue and 
courage. 
The matrimonial ceremonies were very simple, and chiefly 
consisted in feasting. The bridegroom having obtained the 
maiden’s consent, together with that of her parents and 
guardians, appointed the day ; and having assembled his own 
relations and friends, sent some of them to receive in his 
name the bride and her portion from her father. The friends 
were answerable for the charge that was committed to them, 
and if they abused their trust, the law amerced them in a sum 
treble to what was paid for murder. The father or guardian 
of the young woman attended her also to the husband’s 
house, and there gave her into his hands. After this, the 
new-married pair sat down to table with their guests, who 
drank to their healths along with those of the Gods and 
heroes. The bride’s friends then took her up and bore her on 
their shoulders, which was a mark of esteem among the 
Goths; her father afterwards led her to the nuptial bed, a 
great number of lights being carried before her; a custom 
known to the Greeks and Romans, and still in use in some 
paits of the north. The marriage being consummated, the 
husband made his wife several presents; such as a pair of 
oxen for the plough, an harnessed horse, a buckler, together 
with a lance and a sword. 
; A numerous offspring was commonly produced from 
these marriages; but neither the rich nor the poor scrupled 
• to expose such of their children as they did not chuse to 
bring up. 
SCANDIX [of Pliny, SfcavSif of Theophrastus and Dios- 
corides], in Botany, a genus of the class pentandria, order 
digynia, natural order of umbellate or uinbelliferse.—Generic 
Character. Calyx: umbel universal long, with few rays; 
artial more abundant. Involucre universal none; partial 
ve-leaved, length of the umbellet. Perianth proper, obso¬ 
lete. Corolla -. universal difform, radiate; florets of the 
Vox. XXII. No. 1537. 
disk abortive. Proper petals five, inflex-emarginate; the 
inner ones smaller; outmost, larger. Stamina: filaments 
five, capillary. Anthers roundish. Pistil: germ oblong, 
inferior. Styles two, awl-shaped, length of the least petal, 
distant, permanent Stigmas in the radiant florets obtuse. 
Pericarp none. Fruit very long, awl->haped, bipartite 
Seeds two, awl-shaped, convex and grooved on one side, 
flat on the other; but they are not alike in all the species. 
—Essential Character. Florets of the disk most com¬ 
monly male. Corolla radiate. Petals emarginate. Fruit 
awl-shaped. 
1. Scandix odorata, or sweet Cicely or great chervil.— 
Root perennial, very thick. Leaves large, branching, some¬ 
what like those of fern. Stems four or five feet high, hairy. 
Flowers white, with a sweet aromatic scent.—Native of Ger¬ 
many, Switzerland, Austria, the South of France, and the 
north part of Italy. This was one of the old medicinal 
plants, but it is now di-used. Formerly the young leaves 
were put into salads; and the roots were boiled and eaten 
cold or in tarts, and in a variety of sauces. In Germany, it 
is said to be still used in soups. 
2. Scandix pecten Veneris, or needle chervil, shepherd’s 
needle, or Venus’s comb.—'Root annual, small. Stem from 
six inches to a foot in height, branched, spreading, round, 
and scarcely thickened at the joints, villose, at bottom pur¬ 
ple or striped with purple lines. Leaves finely cut, spring¬ 
ing from a sheath and tripinnate. The universal umbel 
generally consists of two rays, sometimes three : the partial 
of about seven to ten. Flowers white. Seeds cylindrical, 
running out into a very long beak.—Native of Europe. 
3. Scandix Chilensis, or Chili chervil.—Native of Chili. 
4. Scandix cerefolium, or garden chervil.—Root annual. 
Leaves of an exceedingly delicate texture, smooth, shining, 
tripinnate; with the segments deeply semi-pinnate: and the 
lobules lanceolate, shortly two-toothed or three-toothed. 
Stem smooth, hairy only under the origin of the branches. 
Umbels sometimes from the forks of the stem; often on 
peduncles. Rays woolly, generally four, but sometimes 
three or five: those of the umbellets ten or twelve. Leaf of 
the involucret linear, red; sometimes there are two leaflets. 
Flowers white: those in the ray difform; petals emarginate, 
the outmost very large, the two inmost very small: those of 
the disk almost regular, most of them male. Fruit from an 
ovate and transversely thicker base extending to an awl- 
shaped beak terminated by the two short clawed styles, 
elongated, smooth, blackish. Seeds smooth, very obscurely 
angular.—Native of many parts of Europe, 
5. Scandix anthriscus, or rough chervil.—Root annual. 
Stem commonly a foot or eighteen inches in height; but 
higher in moist situations, upright, branching. Leaves tri- 
innate, soft and tender. Petioles channelled, villose, em- 
racing with a large sheath; shortening as the leaves are 
higher up the stem. Peduncles axillary, opposite to a leaf. 
The general umbel has commonly four or five rays; the um¬ 
bellets five (or from two to six or seven.) Flowers small, 
regular, almost all fertile; petals white, heart-shaped and 
bent in. Seeds ovate or lanceolate, dark brown, with stiff 
hairs or prickles curved upwards on the convex side, and a 
very short smooth beak. 
Mr. Miller relates, that there have been some instances of 
the ill effects of this plant when taken inwardly; some, who 
have eaten this herb in soups, by mistaking it for garden 
chervil, having narrowly escaped with their lives. 
6. Scandix Australis, or radiated chervil.—This is an 
annual plant, with long spreading stalks, and very narrow, 
fine-cut leaves, placed thinly. The flowers are small, white, 
in terminating umbels. Seeds awl-shaped and rough.— 
Native of the South of France, Italy, and Candia. 
7. Scandix nodosa, or knobbed chervil.—Root annual. 
Stem rugged, with soft prickles. Leaves triternate, gashed, 
patulous. Umbel of two or three rays: umbellet of five or 
six. Involucre none : involucrets two or three-leaved, awl- 
shaped, small. Fruits long, cylindrical, blunt at both ends, 
rugged, hispid, with ascending hairs.—Native of Sicily. 
9 C 8. Scandix 
