PHARMACOPCEIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS.

characteristic thoroughness Dr. Rice gives in the body of his workand in numerous foot notes a world of information concerning thederivation of the name of each member of the citrus family used incommerce, together with the record of its products. From his paperwe quote, as follows:

Lemon is from the Arabic limün and this, by way of the Persian, is re-lated to the Hindu limu, limbu, or nimbu. Adam already in his Hindi-Kos ha,(Calcutta, 1829), translates the Sanskrit nimbu into Hindi limu. This trans-lation is no doubt correct, but the Sanskrit has evidently coined or adoptedthe word from the North Indian vernaculars. In Cashmeer it is still callednimbu. There are many names in Sanskrit for the Citrus-fruits, a number ofthem Standing for lemon. The Madanavinoda (explained on p. 231, New Rem-edies, August, 1878) (399a) mentions two kinds of nimbu (or nimbüka), oneof which is sour, and the other sweet. Another native term is nisbu, according tothe Sabdakalpadruma. The Medievo-Greek is leimönion lemöne. The lemon isfirst mentioned in the book on Nabathasan Agriculture, under the name hasia (seeMeyer, Gesch. d. Bot. III., 68).

Dr. Charles Rice, New Remedies, Sept., 1878.

LINUM

Flaxseed, or linseed (Linum usitatissimum) has been cultivatedfrom all times in the Old World. From the dropping of its seedsit may become a weed, and thus is found wild in more or less favoredlocations throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe.Flax as a fibrous plant has been utilized throughout the journey ofhuman civilization. The Egyptian tombs carry paintings illustratingthe weaving of flax into cloth ; the grave-clothes. of the early Egyptianswere made from flax, its record having been traced back to at least2300 B. C. The seeds of the plant have ever been employed, both asa food and as a medicine. All the early historians, such as the GreekAlcman of the seventh century B. C, Thucydides and Pliny (514),refer to. its qualities as a food, reciting that the seeds were used bythe people, both externally and internally, as medianes. Charlemagnepromoted its growth in Northern Europe. The plant reached Swedenand Norway from its native land before the twelfth century.

LOBELIA

Lobelia, or Indian tobacco, Lobelia inflata, was conspicuouslyintroduced by Samuel Thomson (638) in the beginning of the nine-teenth century. It has been, in domestic medication, in the practiceof the Thomsonians, and also of the Eclectics, one of the most valuedremedial agents of the American flora (388b). Following its empiricaluse, the first printed record concerning its emetic properties is thatby the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL. D. (178), who in the AmericanAcademy of Science, 1785, under the title "Account of IndigenousVegetables," mentions it under the name 'Emetic Weed. Followingthis, Schöpf (582), 1787, incorrectly ascribed to it astringent proper-ties, stating erroneously that it was used in Ophthalmia, evidently con-fusing the properties of Lobelia inflata with those of its relative, Lo-belia syphilitica. The Indians of North America employed lobelia,

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