(15.) The cummin of Æthiopia,[1584] more particularly, is given in vinegar and water, or else as an electuary with honey. It is thought, too, that the cummin of Africa has the peculiar property of arresting incontinence of urine. The cultivated plant is given, parched and beaten up in vinegar, for affections of the liver, as also for vertigo. Beaten up in sweet wine, it is taken in cases, also, where the urine is too acrid; and for affections of the uterus, it is administered in wine, the leaves of it being employed topically as well, in layers of wool. Parched and beaten up with honey, it is used as an application for swellings of the testes, or else with rose oil and wax. For all the purposes above-mentioned, wild cummin[1585] is more efficacious than cultivated; as also, in combination with oil, for the stings of serpents, scorpions, and scolopendræ. A pinch of it with three fingers, taken in wine, has the effect of arresting vomiting and nausea; it is used, too, both as a drink and a liniment for the colic, or else it is applied hot, in dossils of lint,[1586] to the part affected, bandages being employed to keep it in its place. Taken in wine, it dispels hysterical affections, the proportions being three drachmæ of cummin to three cyathi of wine. It is used as an injection, too, for the ears, when affected with tingling and singing, being mixed for the purpose with veal suet or honey. For contusions, it is applied as a liniment, with honey, raisins, and vinegar, and for dark freckles on the skin with vinegar. CHAP. 58.—AMMI: TEN REMEDIES. There is another plant, which bears a very strong resemblance to cummin, known to the Greeks as “ammi;”[1587] some persons are of opinion, that it is the same as the Æthiopian cummin. Hippocrates gives it[1588] the epithet of “royal;” no doubt, because he looks upon it as possessed of greater virtues than Egyptian cummin. Many persons, however, consider it to be of a totally different nature from cummin, as it is so very much thinner, and of a much whiter colour. Still, it is employed for just the same purposes as cummin, for we find it used at Alexandria for putting under loaves of bread, and forming an ingredient in various sauces. It has the effect of dispelling flatulency and gripings of the bowels, and of promoting the secretion of the urine and the menstrual discharge. It is employed, also, for the cure of bruises, and to assuage defluxions of the eyes. Taken in wine with linseed, in doses of two drachmæ, it is a cure for the stings of scorpions; and, used with an equal proportion of myrrh, it is particularly good for the bite of the cerastes.[1589] Like cummin, too, it imparts paleness of complexion to those who drink of it. Used as a fumigation, with raisins or with resin, it acts as a purgative upon the uterus. It is said, too, that if women smell at this plant during the sexual congress, the chances of conception will be greatly promoted thereby.