part n. Materia Medica. — Valeriana officinalis. S4S

to be erroneous, and has described the real valerian of theancients as a distinct species under the name of ValerianaDioscoridis.' The roots of valerian are long and slender fibres;issuing from heads the stems rise three or four feet in height;are round, grooving, hollow, and terminated with floweringbranches disposed crosswise; the leaves are larger at the baseof the stem, decreasing in size towards the summit; opposite,connate, and bearded at the base below; pinnate, with a ter-minal leaflet a little larger than the rest; all the leaflets deeplyveined and serrated, of a dark green colour on the upper sur-face, and paler underneath : the flowers are small, in corymbs,odorous, and interspersed with lanceolate, connate, bearded,waved, pale bractes: the calyx is a slight margin at the topof the germen: the corolla tubular, white, with a shade ofpink, divided at the margin into five reflected obtuse segments:the filaments are spreading with the corolla, and supportround yellowish anthers : the style is shorter, with a trifidstigma; and the capsule is crowned with a feathery pappus,purplish at the base, and contains one oblong, ovate, com-pressed seed.

The roots should be dug up in autumn when the leavesdecay, or in spring, before they expand ; and be preserved ina dry place. Those which grow wild on a calcareous soil arepreferable to those that are cultivated. They lose three-fourthsof their weight by drying. Cats are allured and delighted withthe odour. 9

Qualities. — Valerian root has a strong peculiar unpleasantodour, and a warm bitter subacrid taste. Trommsdorff' haschemically examined it. Its virtues appear to depend on avery liquid greenish white-coloured volatile oil, which from itsodour and taste seems to contain much camphor. Its specificgravity at 77° of Fah. is 0.9340; when exposed to light it be-comes yellow; a small portion of nitric acid converts it intoresin, and a larger dose into oxalic acid. The expressed juiceof the root contains starch, extractive, and gum; while theroots deprived of this juice yield a portion of black-colouredresin, but consist chiefly of woody fibre. 3 The active matter

1 Sibtkorp, Flora Grcecu, p. 24. t. 33. Dr. Smith, the learned editor of Sib-thorp's Work, says, " Usee est vere cpov Dioscoridis, a nemine botanicorum re-ccntiorum ante Sibthorp detecta." Willdenow's 7th species, V. phu, which wassupposed to be the plant of Dioscoridis, does not accord with lus description,whereas that of Sibthorp corresponds with it in every particular.

2 Mr. Lambert, has endeavoured to prove, that the Valeriana iatamansi, a Ne-palese alpine plant, is identical with the spikenard of the ancients. This root isfusiform, about the thickness of the human finger, and bearing on the upper part,articulations covered with dense fibres, which give them somewhat of the ap-pearance of the tails of animals. Vide Illustrations of the genus Cinchona, &c.4to. Lond. 1821. 177.

3 Awialcs de Chimie, lxx. 95. Thomson's Chem. 5th ed. iv. 225.