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PHARMACOPCEIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS.

Gerarde's (262) Herbai, and it is commonly believed that this was itsintroduction to England. Others, however, question whether the"snakeweed" mentioned in this work was not a species of aristolochia,from Crete. The early use of serpentaria in America was as a remedyfor snakebite, which gave it the name Virginia snakeroot, but in thisdirection it has not, to our knowledge, been used in recent times any-where in America. The domestic use of this drug has been in thedirection of a stimulant to the organs of digestion, and in the formof a tincture as a stomachic, it being one of the ingredients of theold-time populär stomach bitters of American home medication.

SINAPIS ALBA

White mustard (Sinapis alba) seems to be indigenous to thesouthern countries of Europe and Western Asia, from which, accord-ing to Chinese authors, it was introduced into China. Formerly itwas not distinguished from black mustard. Its cultivation in Englandis quite recent, but it is now an abundant weed in many sections.White mustard, in common with black mustard, is an exceedingly pop-ulär, stimulating condiment, and is preferred, on account of its coloras well as its mildness, to the black mustard. The "mustard seed"of the Bible is the product of a tree (Salvadora persica), and is notthe same as the plant now known under that name. (J. H. Balfour,Plants of the Bible.)

SINAPIS NIGRA

Black mustard (Sinapis nigra) is an herb found over the wholeof Europe, excepting the extreme north. It also abounds in NorthernAfrica, Asia Minor, the Caucasian region, Western India, SouthernSiberia, and China, as well as in North and South America, where itis now naturalized. It was known to the ancients, Theophrastus (633),Dioscorides (194), Pliny (514), and others noticing the plant. Inearly times it seems to have been used more as a medicine than as acondiment; but 300 B. C, Diocletian speaks of it as a substance usedas a condiment in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. During theMiddle Ages, Europeans esteemed it as an accompaniment to saltedmeats. The Welsh "Meddygon Myddfai" (see Note, page 1) (507),of the thirteenth Century, commends the "Virtues of Mustard."Household recipes of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries constantlymention mustard under the name senapium. The convent lands ofFrance produced it as a part of their revenues, A. D. 800. Blackmustard is naturally of great importance, the credit of its introductionbeing, as with other substances of a similar nature, due to the observ-ing "empiricists." The Bible reference (see Sinapis alba) applies aliketo Sinapis nigra.

SPIGELIA

Spigelia marilandica is an American plant, indigenous to thetemperate regions and thick woods of this country. The Indians ern-ployed a decoction of the root as a vermifuge, thus introducing it at

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