Avicenna gives a description of it which appears to us very unsatisfactory, but which determines Sprengel to refer it to the Tamarix orientalis. He calls it hot and dry in the second degree, and attenuant. (ii, 2, 371.)
Nefrin, or Nerfin.
See Avicenna (ii, 2, 506); Serapion (De Simpl. 187.) Avicenna compares it to the narcissus, and says it resembles the jasmine in virtue, but is weaker than it. He recommends it in coldness of the nerves, and as a cure in noises and pains of the ears, and in toothache. He also recommends it externally in headache, inflammations of the throat and tonsils, and for stopping vomiting and hiccup. Serapion compares it to the rose and jasmine, and recommends it in pleurisy and pains of the womb. Rhases, as quoted by him, says that in Chorasan he had seen it given to the extent of two drachms as a purgative. It seems highly probable that it is the Narcissus orientalis.
Muluchia.
Avicenna (ii, 2, 194); Serapion (De Simpl. 149); Ebn Baithar (ii, 537.) Avicenna’s description of this article, which he also calls “Olus Judaicum,” would seem to decide that it is the Corchorus olitorius or Jews’ mallow. The other two authorities quoted above are not so precise in their description of it. It is more properly an article of food than of medicine. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 372), and Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 387.)
Moschus.
Musk, the inspissated secretion of the follicle in the prepuce of the Moschus moschiferus L., would appear to be first mentioned in the works of Aëtius (xvi, 122), who gives formulæ for various fumigations (suffumigia) containing a great many aromatics, and among them musk. But as we have already had occasion to state, we entertain strong suspicions that the concluding chapters of this author may be spurious. Indeed, as this important article is not noticed by authors subsequent to Aëtius, such as Oribasius, it would appear to us that this circumstance is the strongest possible presumption, that the passage in Aëtius had been added after the Arabian period of medicine. There is one notice of it also by our author, but it also has a suspicious appearance. (p. 292, ed. Basil. See also 296.) Serapion gives a long account of it, first upon the authority of Abuhanifa, who calls the animal the musk gazelle, and says its habitat is in the countries of Tumbasci and Sini, by which he probably means Thibet and China. Of these the better kind, he says, is that procured from Thibet, as the animal in that country lives on fragrant herbs, and the inhabitants are better acquainted with the process of extracting it from its follicles. And, moreover, he says, the Sinenses (Chinese?) are apt to adulterate their musk. The animal which produces musk, he adds, does not differ in figure, colour, nor horns from other gazelles, and the best musk is procured after it is full grown. He then gives an anatomical description of its canine teeth, and of the modes of catching it by snares, gins, and by shooting it with arrows; and also the manner of extracting the musk from the animal after its death. But the best musk, he says, is procured from the animal when it is in a state of orgasm, and rubs its follicles against a rock until the musk drops out of them. The inhabitants of Thibet (homines de Thebeth) know the places where the animal feeds, and collect the musk thus procured from them. This, he remarks, is the finest musk of all, and is reserved for royal personages and held in high esteem. This authority concludes by saying that in the region of Thebeth there are many cities, but that the one, from which musk is procured, is that city which is properly called Thebeth. His next authority is Alcholabama, who calls musk hot in the second degree, and dry in the third. The following one, Aben Mesuai, says of it, that it comforts the heart and internal viscera, both when drunk and when applied externally in plasters. His next authority is Honain, who recommends musk in diseases of the eyes. The others supply little additional information on it, but in general recommend it in diseases of the brain. He says the Persian doctors applied the oil to the member as an aphrodisiac. (De Simpl. 185.) Rhases recommends musk in headache, and all cold affections of the head, and also as a stomachic. (Ad Mansor. iii, 22.) In his ‘Continens’ he quotes from several Arabian authorities, all of whom give it the characters already stated, and recommend it most especially in diseases of the brain and eyes. (l. ult. i, 483.) Avicenna gives an accurate description of it, as far as we can judge from the wretched translation of his works. He recommends it in errhines with saffron, and with a little camphor for vertigo, and other affections of the brain. He also thinks favorably of it as a cordial in affections of the heart, and in melancholy. He concludes by saying of it that it is alexipharmic, especially in cases of poisoning with napellus. (ii, 2, 452.) See also his treatise (de Med. cordial., ii.) There does not appear any distinct mention of it in the works of Mesue the younger. It occurs frequently as an ingredient in the antidotes of Myrepsus. Ebn Baithar gives a very full description of it and its medicinal virtues, but it agrees so well with the description of it by Serapion, that we need not enter much into particulars. He recommends it particularly in diseases of the eyes, and says that the oil of it is a useful application to piles, and when rubbed into the genital member, is strongly aphrodisiac. It is, moreover, said to be an excellent cordial. Of the Greek authorities Symeon Seth is the only one that gives anything like a distinct account of musk. He describes three kinds, of which the best is procured from a city east of Chorasan called Trepet (Thibet?). The next in quality is the Indian, and the worst is that which is procured from the Sines (Chinese?). All the kinds, he says, are formed in the umbilicus of an animal with one horn, resembling the gazelle. Like Serapion he states that it is got from the animal while in a state of sexual orgasm. Musk, he says, is hot and dry in the third degree, and of a volatile nature. As to its medicinal powers, it strengthens weak parts, and is beneficial in cold intemperaments of the head, but injurious in hot. It is adapted for the recovery of persons in a fainting fit, in loss of strength, and in affections of the heart. (De Alimentis.) An antidote of musk occurs in Actuarius. (Meth. Med. v, 6.)
Volubilis.
This name is loosely applied by the Arabian authorities to several genera of the climbing plants. For example under this head Serapion describes the lebleb or cussus, the acfin, the atthin, and lebleb maju. Of these the first is unquestionably the κισσὸς or ivy, and is described in extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. Of the acfin he says that it is laxative, and quotes Dioscorides as saying that it loosens the bowels. He says the atthin is styptic, and quotes Dioscorides and Galen as recommending it in rheums of the eyes, and fluxes of the bowels. The last or lebleb he describes upon the authority of Aben Mesuai, who says it is hot in the middle of the first degree, dry in the beginning of the same, of a cutting nature with some saline properties, and purges adust bile. Afterwards he describes its medicinal powers in the same terms as Dioscorides and Galen describe the cissus, that is to say, he represents it as being rather a medicine than an article of food; says it purges bile in doses of from one third to two thirds of a pound, when clarified without boiling, by means of ten drachms of sugar or penidia. His next authority, Isaac ebn Amram, says it is deobstruent. Alkanzi says it is cold and dry, is purgative and useful in indurations. His last authority, Abix, says the lebleb is cold and moistening, cholagogue, and along with cassia fistula and oil of almonds it proves useful in clearing out the bowels, and relieves coughs. (De Simpl. 42.) Avicenna under the head of Volubilis, i. e. hedera (ii, 2, 724), and under Cussus (ib. 169), describes the κισσὸς of Dioscorides, but the former of these rather confusedly so as to create suspicions that he used the term in rather a lax manner. Mesue is the ancient author who treats most elaborately of the volubilis, applying the term to five distinct species, or rather genera, of which the first is probably the Hedera, the second the Helxine, and the third the Clematis of the Greeks; the fourth, which he calls lupulus, is acknowledged to be the Humulus lupulus, and the fifth the Convolvulus scammonium. See his learned commentator Costa (c. 24.) As all the others have been already treated of, we shall confine our attention at present to the account which he gives of the medicinal powers of the hops. He says the lupulus brings away some yellow bile, clears the blood, allays its inflammation, and that its infusion or whey is of great use for this purpose, and its syrup, he adds, cures jaundice. He says it was little used by the physicians of his time. He recommends it as a deobstruent of the liver, and of other internal viscera, as a remedy in asthma, and protracted fevers; and as a plaster to the head with rose oil or oil of chamomile, &c. (i, 24.) He treats of scammony separately in the next chapter. The character thus drawn of the lupulus does not seem at first sight to agree well with the acknowledged virtues of the Humulus Lupulus. But, as Rutty remarks, he probably alludes to the stem and not to the flowers of the plant, as being a medicine which purges yellow bile. (M. M. 296.) The Humulus Lupulus is not noticed by any Greek writer, nor by any Roman, with the exception of Pliny. (H. N. xxi, 50.)