used as a sweetmeat, when candied, by the confectioners. The Laplanders extol the utility of this herb for coughs and other disorders of the chest, but in this country it is seldom employed for that purpose, as many other simples surpass it in aromatic and carminative powers.
ANISE-SEED.
Pimpinélla Anìsum.—Boucage, Fr.—Anis, Ger.
A native of Egypt and some other eastern countries. The seeds are annually imported from Malta and Spain. The plant is annual, and propagated by sowing the seed in a light, dry soil, in Spring. Anise-seeds have a warm, aromatic smell, and a pleasant, warm taste, accompanied with a degree of sweetness; they have been useful in many complaints, but none more so than in flatulent colics and obstructions of the breast, for diarrhœas, and for strengthening the tone of the stomach in general.
BALM.
Melíssa officinàlis—Melisse, Fr.—Melisse, Ger.
So called from the Greek word signifying honey, because of the abundant and excellent honey of its flowers, for which bees greatly frequent it. The Garden Balm is a native of the mountains of Geneva, Savoy, and Italy. It is perennial, and may be readily propagated by parting the roots in Spring or Autumn, and planting them in beds of common garden mould. The herb, in its recent state, has a weak, aromatic taste, and a pleasant smell, somewhat of the lemon kind. Balm was formerly esteemed of great use in all complaints supposed to proceed from a disordered state of the nervous system. As tea,
