it at some length. It is well known to be a secretion procured from
several trees of the genus Laurus in the East; but more particularly
from the tree which has been named _Camphora officinarum_. Serapion is
the ancient authority who gives the fullest account of Camphor. In the
first place, owing no doubt to his using some interpolated translation
of Dioscorides into Syriac, he quotes him as stating that it is procured
from India and China and is produced in most abundance during seasons
when there is much thunder. One of his Arabian authorities, Isaac
Ebn Amram, gives a distinct account of the origin of camphor and a
description of the qualities of the different kinds of it, with a brief
notice of the mode of clarifying it by sublimation, which is the process
by which it is still produced. As to its medicinal virtues, he holds it
to be cold and dry in the second degree, and says it is applicable in
cases of inflammations, vertigo, and cholera; in fumigations with myrrh,
rose-oil, and sandal-wood; that it is anaphrodisiac, induces premature
hoariness of the hair; that in a masticatory with lettuce, it cures the
hot intemperament of the brain and induces sleep; removes vertigo; stops
hemorrhages from the nose and all fluxes in general; and, in short, that
it is a common ingredient in all fumigations and ointments. Rhases, as
quoted by him, pronounces camphor to be cold and attenuate (volatile?);
says it is calculated to remove hot intemperaments in the head and the
whole body; when too much used that it induces insomnolency; that it
brings on coldness of the kidneys and bladder; coagulates the semen, and
engenders coldness, and principally in the colder members of the body.
Another Arabian authority, Meseab, calls it cold and dry in the third
degree, and recommends it in epistaxis as a masticatory with raisins.
Mesarugie, another authority, says, in large doses it induces indigestion
and stops the formation of semen. Another of his Arabian authorities,
Aben Mesuai (Mesue the elder?) says, it is astringent of the bowels,
induces premature hoariness of the hair, and is useful in hot apostemes.
Aben Amram, as quoted by him, says, Camphor is cold in the third degree,
and is useful when applied to inflamed parts with rose-water, and
comforts the members of the body and the senses; and is useful in cholera
along with other astringents. He gives a quotation from the ‘Medicina
Antiqua’ to this effect, that camphor is an astringent of the bowels,
and that its use induces hoariness of the hairs. (De Simplicibus, 344.)
Avicenna’s account of it is much more succinct; he describes several
species of it; says it is procured from a very large tree capable of
giving shelter to a multitude of animals; that he had often seen the wood
of it, and that it was white, brittle, light, and contained in its pores
some vestiges of camphor. He holds that its nature is cold and dry in the
second degree. He recommends it in exactly the same cases as Serapion
does, namely, in inflammatory complaints, epistaxis, hot vertigo, and
acute ophthalmy. He also, like Serapion’s authorities, holds that it is
anaphrodisiac and represses fluxes. (ii, 2, 130.) Rhases gives a brief
account of camphor upon the authority of Misib, Mesarguil, and Bimasui;
the first of whom merely recommends it in fluxes; the next relates of
it that an acquaintance of his took six drachms of camphor at one dose,
which impaired his digestion and brought on impotence without inducing
any other complaint; the third, like some of Serapion’s authorities,
represents it to be cold and dry in the third degree, and recommends it
for fluxes, and further says that it induces premature hoariness of the
hair. (Contin. l. ult. i, 147.) In another work he calls it cold, humid,
and subtile (volatile?), and gives it the same characters as the other
authorities. (Ad Mansor. iii, 22.) Mesue gives a formula for troches
of camphor, which he recommends in ardent fevers, heat of the bile and
of the blood, hot intemperaments of the stomach and of the liver, for
intense thirst, jaundice, phthisis, and hectic. (De Trochiscis. i.) Haly
Abbas frequently recommends camphor in the course of his works, but we
have not been able to discover any distinct account of it in the very
barbarous translation of his Materia Medica. Ebn Baithar gives a very
circumstantial account of the formation of camphor on the tree which
produces it, and describes its characters very accurately. He says it is
cold and dry in the second degree, and is useful in hot intemperaments
and bilious headaches. Like some of the others quoted above, he says
it is produced most abundantly in times of thunder. In an over-dose,
he says, it is anaphrodisiac, and induces sleeplessness, and relates
a case in which it destroyed the tone of the stomach, and occasioned
impotence. He says it is used in collyria, and as a sternutatory, and
to stop the hole in a carious tooth. Symeon Seth is the only one of the
Greek authorities that treats fully of camphor (_caphura_.) He says it is
cold and dry in the third degree; that it is the gum or tear of a tree
growing in India; that the tree which produces it is said to be very
large, so that a hundred men could be sheltered by its shade; that it is
produced on the mountains near the sea; and that the wood of the tree is
light and fistulous. He recommends camphor as being most useful in acute
diseases, in headaches from heat, and in inflammations, especially those
of the liver; says that it induces coldness of the kidneys and spermatic
vessels, and coagulates the blood. He mentions a test of its purity. (De
Alimentis.) Myrepsus in one place mentions the herb camphor, but it is
doubtful whether he means the substance we are treating of;—most probably
not. (De Unguent, iii, 46.)
_Cassia Fistula._
Serapion, in the first place, gives a pretty accurate description of
it, and states the localities from which it is procured, namely, India,
Babylonia, and Arabia. Upon the authority of Aben Mesuai he states it to
be of a sweet taste, and laxative of the bowels, and says it has virtues
to extinguish the sharpness of the blood, that it relieves apostemes and
boils in the mouth, and is useful in jaundice and pains of the liver. In
a dose of three to ten drachms he says it is cholagogue and laxative.
Abengnefit, as quoted by him, says it purifies the nerves. Rhases,
as quoted by him, says it is laxative and efficacious in apostemes,
especially those of the throat. (De Simpl. xii.) Avicenna’s account of
it is but little different from that of Serapion. Having described it,
he says it is of an equal temperament as to heat and cold, but is of a
moistening nature, and that in action it is resolvent and laxative. It is
useful, he says, in hot apostemes of the bowels, and especially of the
throat when a gargle of it is prepared with a decoction of nightshade. He
praises it in a liniment for gout and arthritic pains. He speaks well of
it in dyspnœa. He says it cleanses the liver, and is of use in jaundice
and pain of the liver. He says it is a gentle laxative, bringing away
heated bile and phlegm, and opens the bowels safely without griping. (ii,
2, 192.) Badagorius, as quoted by Rhases, says of cassia fistula, that
it is alterative, an evacuant of bile, and a cleanser of the blood. The
son of Mesue, as quoted by the same, recommends it, like Serapion, in
jaundice, pain of the liver, of the throat, &c. Priscianus, as quoted
by Rhases, says it is a safe purgative to pregnant women, brings away
bile, clears away jaundice, and is efficacious in pain of the liver and
throat. Marsenuce (?) recommends it in the same affections of the throat
as the others. (Contin. l. ult. i, 187.) Of all the ancient authorities,
Mesue the younger gives the fullest account of it, but it is in nearly
the same terms as Serapion’s. His description of it is full and accurate.
Any injurious action which it has, he says, may be removed by the mixture
of myrobalans, rhubarb, the water of mastich, and spikenard; and in
dryness of the bowels by mixing almond oil with it. Diuretics also are
said to determine it to the urinary passages. He says it is useful to add
some laxative to it. As to its virtues, he says it cleanses the blood,
allays all sharpness in it, assuages thirst, with the juice of endive,
&c., clears the stomach, brings away yellow bile and phlegm, and that
safely, also purges the breast and throat, and is useful in heat of the
kidneys, when taken with diuretics and the infusion of liquorice, that
it prevents the formation of stones, and is useful in ardent fevers. (De
Simpl. vi.) Ebn Baithar also gives a very elaborate and correct account
of this article, but as it is nearly the same as that of Mesue, we need
not say much about it. He calls it a well-known tree growing in Egypt;
says in moderate doses it is a safe purgative, even to pregnant women,
but in large doses occasions hypercatharsis. If the root is not sound, it
is apt to produce disturbance of the bowels. He says it purges hot bile,
softens the breast, and cleanses the nerves, &c. (i, 401.) Actuarius
describes it by the name of the Black Cassia, and recommends it as a
gentle purgative both alone and with other medicines. (Meth. Med. v,
2.) It occurs among the ingredients in the antidotes of Myrepsus. See
Antidot. (i, xi.) Of course the article we have been treating of will be
recognised as being the _Cassia fistula_ L., the pudding-pipe tree, or
purging cassia. The pulp of the pods is still sometimes used in medicine
as a gentle purgative. See Paris (Pharmacol. i, 271); Pereira (M. M.
1172); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 150); Royle (M. M. 355.)
_Senna._
If the work of Serapion (De Simplicibus) which we possess, be the
production of the elder Serapion (and after being long familiarly
acquainted with it we are inclined to think so), he is undoubtedly
the first author who has described senna as an article of the Materia
Medica. First on his own authority he describes very accurately the pods,
stalks, and seeds of the plant. On the authority of Isaac Ebn Amram he
recommends it for removing the inquietude accompanying melancholy, for
aches and disturbances of the nerves, for alopecia, phthiriasis, chronic
headache, scabies, pustulæ parvæ, pruritus, and epilepsy. Abix, another
authority, declares it to have great power of purging black and yellow
bile, and of acting as a cordial when mixed with suitable medicines such
as violets. His last authority under this head is Rhases, who says that
senna and fumitory purge adust humours, and prove useful in scabies and
pruritus. (De Simpl. 58.) Under the head of _sahane_ Avicenna briefly
notices an article which he recommends as being abstergent and desiccant
in pruritus and scabies, in pain of the neck, fetid breath, and watery
stomach (waterbrash?). This account we are inclined to think must refer
to senna. (ii, 2, 651.) Rhases gives almost exactly the same description
of the _sahane_. (Contin. l. ult. i, 596.) In his work ‘Ad Mansor.’
(viii, 54), he gives the account of _Sene_ quoted above from Serapion,
and again at ‘Divis.’ (i, 144.) Haly Abbas describes it accurately
in his chapter on Purgatives. (Pract. ii, 54.) He recommends it as a
medicine which purges both yellow and black bile, and is useful in gout
and rheumatism, and in colics when mixed with raisins, oil of almonds,
&c. Mesue describes senna as the folliculus of a plant resembling the
tare. The best part of the plant, he says, is the folliculus (legume?),
and next the leaves; and both these parts are said to be best when of
a green colour. As senna has a tendency to weaken the stomach by its
operation, he recommends it to be mixed with ginger, sal gem, Indian
salt (sugar?), and cordials. He quotes Galen (through some mistake, as
is generally supposed) as recommending it boiled in the soup of fowls.
He also speaks of giving it in whey, or in milk, or in must, that is to
say, the fresh juice of the grape. The last of these preparations he
praises as cleansing the brain and senses, and creating joy. He also
speaks favorably of a decoction of it with prunes and spikenard. As to
its virtues, he says it readily purges black and adust bile, cleanses the
brain, heart, liver, spleen, the senses, and lungs, proves deobstruent
and dispels sorrow. He also speaks favorably of the leaves when applied
to the head in the bath as improving the senses of sight and hearing, and
as proving a remedy to fevers arising from black bile, and to chronic
fevers. (De Simpl. xv.) Ebn Baithar gives an interesting description
of it. He says in Arabia it is used as a dye, and that its leaves are
mixed with those of the plant now called _Lawsonia inermis_. He calls it
cholagogue and melanogogue, says it penetrates the inferior extremities,
and purges them in cases of gout. He also praises it in scabies,
epilepsy, and a great many other diseases. By some mistake he quotes
Paulus. He says it is better in decoction than in powder. The dose of the
latter is from two to three drachms, of the former from four to seven
drachms. (i, 57.) Actuarius says of _sene_, that it purges moderately in
doses of one drachm. (Meth. Med. v, 8.) _Sene_ occurs as an ingredient in
several of the antidotes of Myrepsus, as c. 112, 465, 472. Under this
head we would beg, before concluding, to refer the reader to Ainslie’s
Mat. Ind. (i, 205). It will be there seen that in Æthiopia senna is still
used as a dye.
_Berberis._
Rhases gives extracts from Badigorius, Oribasius, Mesue, and others
on the virtues of this substance, which he represents as being
lithontriptic, styptic, and alexipharmic. He says it is called _calmuris_
in Greek. (Contin. l. ult. i, 121.) Serapion gives extracts from
Dioscorides and Galen under this head, but there seems no reason to
suppose that they were at all acquainted with this article. He recommends
it as being cooling and incisive, and a strengthener of the stomach and
liver. He also praises it in all fluxes. (De Simpl. 229.) Ebn Baithar
calls it astringent, stomachic, and hepatic, and says it binds the bowels
and quenches thirst. He recommends it in diarrhœa connected with weakness
of the liver, and in diseases of the stomach and uterus. See also
Avicenna (vi, 9.) The berberry (_Berberis vulgaris_) is recommended by
Gerard, Parkinson, and all our old herbalists as an astringent medicine
in diseases of the stomach and liver. Even at the present day it is
admitted to possess these virtues. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 102)
and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 438.) The former of these seems to acknowledge
it as the _Oxyacantha_ of the Greeks, but we think incorrectly. Dr. Royle
supposes the _Lycium Indicum_ of Dioscorides to be the berberry. It seems
to us more probable, however, that the berberry was but the succedaneum
of the lycium. See Schröder (Chemical Dispensatory, 475.)
_Galanga._
Rhases calls it stomachic. (Antid. iii.) Serapion having described it,
upon the authority of Isaac ebn Amram says of it, that it is hot and dry
in the third degree, is useful to phlegmatic persons, and in humidity
of the stomach (waterbrash?); promotes digestion by its heat and the
solution which it occasions in the stomach, and thus relieves colic,
gives fragrance to the breath, and warms the kidneys; it sets the semen
in commotion, and when a piece of it is held in the mouth, it occasions
erections of the _membrum virile_. The same virtues in the same cases are
assigned to it by Aben Mesuai, and also Aben Mesabah, who recommends it
in flatulent colic and eructations. (De Simpl. 332.) Avicenna, having
described it, delivers the same account of its medicinal powers as
Serapion, that is to say, he holds it to be hot and dry in the second
degree, of subtile parts and carminative, says that it renders the breath
fragrant, is good for the stomach, promotes digestion, is useful in colic
and pains of the kidneys, and is aphrodisiacal. (ii, 2, 314; v, 2, 6.)
The same account of it is given by “the Son of Mesue,” in the ‘Continens’
of Rhases (l. ult. i, 323.) In the pharmaceutical work of Myrepsus there
is an “antidotus a Galanga,” which is said to be beneficial in affections
of the stomach and spleen, and in indigestion; also for singultus,
acidity of the food in the stomach, cachexia, dropsy, and coldness of
the whole body: it contains cloves, ginger, cinnamon, galangal, &c. (i,
63; also, 222.) Ebn Baithar ascribes the same virtues to it as Serapion;
thus he says it is a wonderful aphrodisiac, promotes digestion, cures
colic, is carminative, and so forth. Although now little used, galangal
root is not yet wholly unknown to the writers on the Materia Medica. Dr.
Pereira says of “_radix galangæ officinalis_; its odour is agreeably
aromatic, its taste peppery and aromatic. It is the rhizome of the
_Alpinia Galanga_ Roxb.” (Mat. Med. 698.) See also Lewis (Mat. Med. 452);
Hill (Mat. Med. i, 447); Quincy (72); Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. 26);
Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 166.) There are two species of galangal, which Dr.
Lindley refers to the _alpinia racemosa_ and _galanga_. He says of them,
“the warm and pungent roots of the greater and lesser galangals are not
only used by the Indian doctors, but are considered useful in coughs,
given in infusion.” (Ibid.) On the Galangal see further Ainslie (Mat.
Ind., i, 140.)
_Zeduaria_ and _Zerumbeth_.
In order to understand this subject it will be necessary in the first
place to see the descriptions of these substances given by modern
authorities. Dr. Pereira says of the former of these: “The Zeduary root
(_Radix Zeduariæ officinalis_) of English druggists appears to me to
agree with Professor Guibourt’s description of _round Zeduary_ (Zeduaria
rotunda). It is the sliced tuber of _Curcuma Zeduaria_ Rox. It has
a warm, aromatic, bitter taste, and an aromatic odour.” (Mat. Med.
698.) And of the Zerumbet the same author says: “_Cassamunar root_ is
considered by English druggests to be identical with _Zerumbet root_.
(Private information; also, Gray, Pharmacop.) It appears to me to be
the _Turmeric-coloured Zeduary_ of Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 490.) Is it
the product of _Zinziber Cassamuniar_ Roxb.? The Zerumbet root which I
received from my friend Dr. Royle is very similar in shape to a curved
and arched piece of long turmeric.” (Mat. Med. 698.) Dr. Ainslie gives
an interesting disquisition on the Zeduary of which he describes three
species: 1. Zeduary Kæmpferian (_Kæmpferia rotunda_.) 2. Zeduary Zerumbet
(_Curcuma Zerumbet_.) 3. Zeduary turmeric-coloured (_Curcuma_ and _Amomum
Zeduaria_.) We shall now be better able to ascertain the meaning of the
ancient descriptions of these substances. Serapion describes separately
the _Zerumbet Zeduaria_ and _Zerumbet_, but in such terms that one is
at a loss to see any real distinction between them. (De Simpl. 172,
271.) He calls Zeduary an odoriferous tree for which cinnamon is often
substituted. He refers to Galen and Paulus, but what passages in their
works he alludes to it is not easy to discover. He describes it as
being a great tree which grows on Mount Lebanon, and produces no fruit,
but has the odour of citron, and is hot and dry in its nature, and is
astringent so as both to open and astringe the bowels. Mesarugie, one
of his authorities, compares its virtues to those of nutmeg; praises it
as being sternutatory, and also stomachic and hepatic. This, without
doubt, is the Zeduary, and the _Zarnabum_ of Avicenna, who describes it
separately from the Zerumbet, but mentions that the latter is much the
same as the Zeduary. (ii, 2, 736, 738.) Rhases, in like manner, compares
the Zerumbet to the Zeduary as being possessed of similar powers. He
treats most fully of the former, recommending it as being alexipharmic, a
good application to apostemes, &c. (Contin. l. ult. ii, 765.) Ebn Baithar
treats fully of the Zerumbeth, which he describes minutely, and compares
it to the great Cyperus. He says it is called camphor-root in the West.
He calls it alexipharmical, cordial, intoxicating; an excellent medicine
in inflation of the uterus, and possessed of emmenagogue and diuretic
powers. He says it is good in affections of the liver and surrounding
parts. It is said to determine downwards when applied to the soles of
the feet in complaints of the head, to prove useful in leprosy when
rubbed into the part affected, and to remove impotence. He also treats
separately, and at considerable length, of the _Zeduaria nigra_. (ii,
95.) From the above account it will be seen that these two substances
were nearly allied to one another, and in fact there is no doubt that
the one was often taken for the other. See further Moses Charras (Royal
Pharmacop. 68); Gray (Pharmacop. 26.) The Zeduary was often used as
a succedaneum for the costus (Pemberton, Dispensatory, 340) in the
composition of the Mithridate, and hence these two substances have been
sometimes erroneously taken for the same. See also Manardus ad Mesue (De
Trochiscis, 154); and Quincy (English Dispensatory, 483.)
_Amomum Grana Paradisi._
There seems to be no doubt that this is the article which Ebn Baithar
means to describe (i, 272). He calls it a spicy plant which comes out
of Yemen and India. He describes two kinds, and says of them that
they are hot, fragrant, and astringent, and hence prove stomachic and
promote digestion. He says they are useful in epilepsy and faintings,
and cure headaches in a sternutatory. He describes the smaller kind as
being weaker but more attenuant than the larger. We are not aware of
the grains of paradise, or Guinea grains, as they are sometimes called,
being described by any other of the ancient authorities. We need scarcely
remark that they are now well known, and occasionally used in the
practice of medicine. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 27); Pereira (Mat. Med.
697); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 167.)
_Macis_ and _Nux moschata_.
We have shown in the proper place that the _Macer_ of the Greeks and
Romans was not mace. The Arabian authorities, it is true, in describing
_Mace_ quote what the Greeks had written on _Macer_, but this does not
prove their identity, for many such instances of confused reference occur
in their works. Avicenna says, upon the authority of Mesue, that mace
is the cortex (meaning, of course, the involucre) of nux moschata. He
recommends it as a good stomachic, hepatic, and uterine medicine, and
says it proves an astringent in fluxes of the bowels and in dysentery
(ii, 2, 448.) The nutmeg, or nucleus of the _myristica officinalis_, he
says, is of the size of a gall, brittle, having a fine rind (involucre),
and a sharp smell. He recommends it as a styptic in complaints of the
liver, spleen, and stomach, and in difficulty of urine. In oils he says
it is a sedative of pain, and also in pessaries, and it stops vomiting.
(ii, 2, 495.) He quotes no Greek authorities under this head. Rhases,
in his ‘Continens,’ says briefly of the nux moschata, that it resembles
cloves, and is good for the stomach and liver. (l. ult. 507.) In his
other work (Ad Mansor. iii, 30,) he calls it hot and dry, and recommends
it as an astringent in coldness of the stomach and liver. Mesue, in his
electuary of lignum aloes, which he recommends for affections of the
heart, stomach, and coldness of the liver, mentions nutmeg and mace as
two of its ingredients. (De Electariis, i.) The ancient writer, however,
who gives the fullest account of these articles is Serapion, who under
this head quotes only from Arabian authorities, namely, Aaron, Isaac ebn
Amram, Aben Mesuai, Miseaben, Albasari, and Rhases. They all agree in
representing them to be aromatic and astringent, useful in flatulence
and other complaints of the stomach, in fetid breath, indigestion, and
enlargements of the spleen and liver. (De Simpl. 161.) Ebn Baithar’s
extracts under this head are principally from Rhases and Avicenna. He
evidently disapproves of the opinion of those that held _Macer_ and
_Mace_ to be identical. On the nutmeg and mace we would beg to refer to
Ainslie (Mat. Ind. 202, 249.) It will be there seen that the Hindoos
still use these articles as cardiac, hepatic, and stomachic medicines.
It appears doubtful to us whether the Greeks and Romans were at all
acquainted with the nutmeg. For we have always suspected the genuineness
of the last chapter but one of Aëtius, which contains a number of
Indian aromatics not to be found elsewhere in the works of the Greek
authorities. Our suspicions, which are of old date, have been much
strengthened by the discovery that many of the formulæ contained in that
chapter as given in the Latin translation are wanting in the two MSS.
of Aëtius in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. This we have positively
ascertained through the kindness of Dr. Greenhill, who examined this
part of these MSS. at our request to ascertain the fact. It may be well
to take this opportunity of stating that with the original of the last
eight books of Aëtius we have no personal acquaintance further than from
a cursory examination of these MSS. during a very brief visit to Oxford
in 1845. In the MS. named ‘Canon. Gr.’ (109), the nuces Indicæ are called
κάρυα Ινδικά. From what we have stated above, it must now be obvious that
we have arrived at the positive conclusion that the νάσκαφθον of the
Greek Mat. Med. was not mace. (See the Commentary on this article.)
_Nux Indica._