'Tis indeed contested among the Learned _Botanosophists_,
whether this Plant was not the same with _Laserpitium_, and the Laser it
yields, the odoriferous [45]_Benzoin_? But doubtless had we the true and
genuine _Silphium_ (for it appears to have been often sophisticated, and
a spurious sort brought into _Italy_) it would soon recover its pristine
Reputation, and that it was not celebrated so for nothing extraordinary;
since bessides its Medicinal Vertue; it was a wonderful Corroborater of
the Stomach, a Restorer of lost Appetite, and Masculine Vigour, _&c._
and that they made use of it almost in every thing they eat.
But should we now really tell the World, that this precious Juice is,
by many, thought to be no other than the [46]_Faetid Assa_ our nicer
_Sallet-Eaters_ (who yet bestow as odious an Epithet on the vulgar
_Garlick_) would cry out upon it as intolerable, and perhaps hardly
believe it: But as _Aristophanes_ has brought it in, and sufficiently
describ'd it; so the _Scholiast_ upon the place, puts it out of
Controversy: And that they made use both of the _Leaves_, _Stalk_, (and
_Extract_ especially) as we now do _Garlick_, and other _Hautgouts_ as
nauseous altogether.
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