CHAP. 73.—WHERE THE BEST ANISE IS FOUND: VARIOUS REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THIS PLANT.
The most esteemed anise is that of Crete, and, next to it,
that of Egypt. This plant is employed in seasonings to supply the
place of lovage; and the perfume of it, when burnt
and inhaled, alleviates headache. Evenor prescribes an application of
the root, pounded, for defluxions of the eyes; and
lollas employs it in a similar manner, in combination with
saffron and wine, or else beaten up by itself and mixed with
polenta, for violent defluxions and the extraction of such ob-
jects as have got into the eyes: applied, too, as a liniment in
water, it arrests cancer of the nose. Mixed with hyssop and
oxymel, and employed as a gargle, it is a cure for quinsy;
and, in combination with rose oil, it is used as an injection for
the ears. Parched anise purges off phlegm from the chest, and,
if taken with honey, it is better still.
For a cough, beat up fifty bitter almonds, shelled, in honey,
with one acetabulum of anise. Another very easy remedy,
too, is to mix three drachmæ of anise with two of poppies and
some honey, a piece the size of a bean being taken three times
a-day. Its main excellence, however, is as a carminative;
hence it is that it is so good for flatulency of the stomach,
griping pains of the intestines, and cœliac affections. A decoction
of it, smelt at and drunk, arrests hiccup, and a decoction of the
leaves removes indigestion. A decoction of it with
parsley, if applied to the nostrils, will arrest sneezing. Taken
in drink, anise promotes sleep, disperses calculi of the bladder,
arrests vomiting and swelling of the viscera, and acts as an
excellent pectoral for affections of the chest, and of the dia-
phragm, where the body is tightly laced. It is beneficial, also,
to pour a decoction of it, in oil, upon the head for head-ache.
It is generally thought that there is nothing in existence
more beneficial to the abdomen and intestines than anise; for
which reason it is given, parched, for dysentery and tenesmus.
Some persons add opium to these ingredients, and prescribe
three pills a-day, the size of a bean, with one cyathus of wine.
Dieuches has employed the juice of this plant for lumbago,
and prescribes the seed of it, pounded with mint, for dropsy
and cœliac affections: Evenor recommends the root, also, for
affections of the kidneys. Dalion, the herbalist, employed it,
with parsley, as a cataplasm for women in labour, as also for
pains of the uterus; and, for women in labour, he prescribes a
decoction of anise and dill to be taken in drink. It
is used as a liniment also in cases of phrenitis, or else applied
fresh gathered and mixed with polenta; in which form it is
used also for infants attacked with epilepsy
1 or convulsions.
Pythagoras, indeed, assures us that persons, so long as they
hold this plant in the hand, will never be attacked with epilepsy,
for which reason, as much of it as possible should be
planted near the house; he says, too, that women who inhale
the odour of it have a more easy delivery, it being his advice
also, that, immediately after they are delivered, it should be
given them to drink, with a sprinkling of polenta.
Sosimenes employed this plant, in combination with vinegar,
for all kinds of indurations, and for lassitude he prescribes a
decoction of it in oil, with the addition of nitre. The same
writer pledges his word to all wayfarers, that, if they take
aniseed in their drink, they will be comparatively exempt
from fatigue
2 on their journey. Heraclides prescribes a pinch
of aniseed with three fingers, for inflations of the stomach, to
be taken with two oboli of castoreum
3 in honied wine; and he
recommends a similar preparation for inflations of the abdomen
and intestines. In cases of orthopnœa, he recommends a pinch
of aniseed with three fingers, and the same quantity of henbane, to
be mixed in asses'-milk. It is the advice of many to
those who are liable to vomit,
4 to take, at dinner, one ace-
tabulum of aniseed and ten laurel-leaves, the whole to be
beaten up and drunk in water.
Anise, chewed and applied warm, or else taken with castoreum in
oxymel, allays suffocations of the uterus. It also
dispels vertigo after child-birth, taken with a pinch of cucumber
seed in three fingers and the same quantity of linseed, in
three cyathi of white wine. Tlepolemus has employed a pinch
of aniseed and fennel in three fingers, mixed with vinegar
and one cyathus of honey, for the cure of quartan fever. Applied
topically with bitter almonds, aniseed is beneficial for
maladies of the joints. There are some persons who look upon
it as, by nature, an antidote to the venom of the asp. It is a
diuretic, assuages thirst, and acts as an aphrodisiac. Taken in
wine, it promotes a gentle perspiration, and it has the property
of protecting cloth from the ravages of moths. The more
recently it has been gathered, and the darker its colour, the
greater are its virtues: still, however, it is injurious to the
stomach, except when suffering from flatulency.