very beautiful plant, very different in character from the genuine Aloe; from one species of Agave the Mexicans prepare an intoxicating liquor. The long leaves, like those of the true Aloe, have a firm straight fibre, which, on steeping and beating, becomes fit for rope-making or the loom. But the chief praise of the true Aloe now, as in the days of King David, is, that it is a precious medicine. ANISE. Pimpinella Anisum, or Anisum officinale, called also Anicetum or Anise, and by Dioscorides Anison. Linnæan class and order, PENtandria DigynNIA. ANISE. St. Matthew, xxiii. 23. ANISE is named but once in Scripture, and that in the New Testament, where St. Matthew, relating our Saviour's reproof of the outward righteousness and inward corruption of the Pharisees, tells us, that his words were, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and Anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." Among the ancients Anise seems to have been a common pot-herb in every garden; for Pliny says of Anise, "be it green or dry, it serveth as well for seasoning all viands as making all sauces, inasmuch as the kitchen cannot be without it." * Anise grows wild in Egypt, in Syria, Palestine, and all parts of the Levant; but the Romans considered the Egyptian and Cretan Anise to be the best, especially for medicinal purposes. We look upon the Anise seed of Malta as equally good, and although it is less * Holland's translation, b. xx. chap. 17. used in medicine by the moderns than by the ancients, it retains its place in the Pharmacopoeia as an excellent stomachic, particularly for delicate women and young children. The Romans chewed it in order to keep up an agreeable moisture in the mouth, and to sweeten the breath; and some Oriental nations still do the same. Some of the Persian poets have sung the agreeable qualities of the Anise, and I possess a modern street ballad of Rome in which the slender grace of a young girl is compared to the Anise. A large species of Anise grows wild in England; but neither that, nor the Eastern Anise when cultivated here, are much esteemed, and a great quantity is annually imported for the apothecary and distiller's use. |