[1630] See B. xiv. c. 28.
[1631] See B. xix. cc. [48] and [62]: also B. xxvii. c. 97.
[1632] This and the next statement are utterly fabulous.
[1633] “Unconquerable,” from the Greek ἀ, “not,” and νικάω, “to conquer.” Fée thinks that the word is a diminutive of “anisum,” which, according to some persons, is a derivative from “anysun,” the Arabic name of the plant. Dioscorides gives the name “anicetum” to dill, and not to anise.
[1634] A mere fable, as Fée remarks.
[1635] A fiction, without any foundation in truth.
[1636] See B. viii. c. 47, and B. xxxii. cc. 13, 23, 24, and 28.
[1637] Fée evidently mistakes the meaning of this passage, and censures Pliny for speaking of anise as an emetic. On the contrary, he here prescribes it to counteract vomiting, and he has previously stated, in this Chapter, that it arrests vomiting.
[1638] The Anethum graveolens of Linnæus: originally a native of the hot climates. Its properties are very similar to those of anise.
[1639] Or Sagapenum. This is a fetid gum-resin, imported from Persia and Alexandria, and supposed, though without sufficient proof, Fée says, to be the produce of the Ferula Persica. It is occasionally used in medicine as a stimulating expectorant. In odour it somewhat resembles assafœtida, only it is much weaker. Galen speaks of it as the produce of a Ferula. It acts also as a purgative and a vermifuge.