It is used in cookery for flavouring dishes. Dill water is obtained from its seeds by distillation, and it contains an ethereal oil, used in medicine. It is found wild or is cultivated in many parts of the South of Europe, Egypt, and Palestine.

The other plant, Pimpinella Anisum, known in our gardens by the name of anise, is closely allied to dill both in appearance and properties. It is a native of Egypt, and is cultivated in the Levant and South of Europe for the sake of its seeds, which are used in confectionery A wellknown cordial, called aniseed, is also made from them.

MINT (Heb., becaim).

"For ye pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin."-Matt. xxiii., 23; also Luke xi., 42; 33 A.D.

Mint, Mentha, is a sweet-smelling plant, an extensive genus of herbaceous perennials, belonging to the family Labiata. The genus is represented in most countries throughout the North Temperate Zone, about a dozen species being natives of this country. They are all highly aromatic, Mentha piperita, peppermint, and M. viridis, spear-mint, being the most cultivated. The first yields, by distillation, peppermint water and oil of peppermint; the second being mostly used for culinary purposes.

M. sylvestris, the horse mint, is common in Palestine, and is probably the mint spoken of in the text.

FITCHES (Heb., ketyaeh).

"When he hath made plain the face thereof (the ground), doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin? " "For

the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod." -Isa. xxviii., 25, 27; 725 B.c.

The plant considered to be the fitches spoken of in the above verse, Nigella sativa, belongs to the Ranunculus family. It is an annual, a foot or more in height, having finely-cut fennellike leaves, with white or light blue ranunculuslike flowers, and a five-celled capsule containing numerous black seeds.

It grows wild in the South of Europe, Egypt, and Syria, in which countries it is also cultivated for its seeds, which have a strong, pungent, aromatic taste. In Palestine and Egypt they are greatly used for flavouring curries and other dishes, and spread over cakes like comfits. The Egyptian ladies use them to produce stoutness, considered by them a point of beauty.

The explanation of the text in Isaiah, which says, "but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod," is, that on account of the seeds of fitches being contained in a capsule, it requires a stronger staff to get out the seeds than the cummin, in which the seeds grow looser, and are readily separated. The seeds of both being small would be likely to be crushed if beaten out by any stronger instrument.

Besides N. sativa there are other species of the genus; N. damascena and N. arvensis, being cultivated in gardens. They are annuals, known by the vulgar name of "Devil in a Bush."

RUE (Greek, peganon).

"Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God.”—Luke xi., 42; 33 A.D.

There seems no reason for doubting that the plant of the text is the well-known rue of the present day, Ruta graveolens. It, as well as several other species of Ruta, is wild in Palestine, and abundant on Mount Tabor. It is also common in many parts of the South of Europe, and is cultivated in gardens for its virtues. It was held in high favour as a medicinal plant