“Verbenasque adole pingues, et Mascula Thura.”—Virg. Eclog. viii.
“Ex Ara hac sume Verbenas tibi.”—Terent. Andria.
“ara castis
vincta Verbenis.”——Hor. Od. xi. Lib. iv.
It is a curious fact that in Tuscany the word Vervena is applied to denote any kind of slips, shoots, suckers, or bundles of plants, at this very day.
[80]. Amlyum, the Starch of wheat, originally denoted a powder that was obtained without the application of a mill, from α, not, and μυλος, a mill; thus Dioscorides “Αμυλον ὡνόμασται δἷα τὸ χωρὶς μυλου κατασκευαζεσθαὶ”—i. e. because it is prepared without a mill.
[81]. Gerard in his Herbal (1597) denominates it, by way of distinction, Potatoe of Virginia, and he recommends it to be eaten as a delicate dish, not as common food; indeed some time elapsed after its introduction before it became general, and it was cultivated as an article of diet in Ireland several years before it was common in England.
[82]. The inhalation of the fumes of Orpiment is a practice attributed to Galen; and one of the most distinguished of his disciples, Rhazes, recommends it to be inhaled by consumptive patients, in combination with stimulant and resinous substances, such as Storax, Myrrh, Galbanum, and Aristolochia root. Bennet recommends the same practice in such cases. Willis informs us that a similar custom prevailed among certain empirics of his day, and asserts that they took such pieces of carpet as were dyed with Orpiment, and having cut them into small pieces, exposed them to heat, and, by means of an inverted funnel, made the patients inhale the vapour. Sir Alexander Crichton seems disposed to believe that such applications might prove useful by changing the action of any ulcer to which they were applied.
[83]. Calomel.—There is some doubt respecting the original meaning of this word, it literally signifies, fair, black, καλος, μελας. Sir Theodore Mayerne is said to have given the name to it, in consequence of his having had a favourite black servant who prepared it; but is it not more probable, that its name was derived from the change of colour which it undergoes from black to white, during its preparation? Another explanation has been also given, viz. quòd nigro humori sit bonum—a good (καλος) remedy for black (μελας) bile. This Theory derives much support from the black appearance of the stools, which is usually produced by the use of Calomel, and which was erroneously attributed to the searching and efficacious nature of the purgative. The Calomel of Riverius was a compound of Hydrargyri Sub-muriat: ℈j and Scammoneæ gr. vij, and Mr. Gray thinks that the term Calomel was first applied to this remedy, as being a mixture of a white and dark coloured powder.
[84]. For further information upon this subject the reader may consult my work on “the Elements of Medical Chemistry.”