/ 



362 



'-ports a flyle, wliicli is about the length of the tube, furnllhed with a 

 folded roundifh ftigma : the capfule is triangular, divided into three 

 cells, and as many valves, and contains numerous fmall feeds. 



On the authority of L 



Colleges of London and Edin 



burgh have referred the officinal Zedoary to this plant, v^hich is a 

 native of the Eaft Indies. But Bergius informs us, that he received 

 a fpecimen of the Zedoary plant from India, v/hich, upon examina- 

 tion, was found to be a fpecies of Amomum ;^ and it is obferved by 

 Murray, that this opinion receives additional weight by the defcrip- 



of Zedoary, or the Indoriim Tamogca?ifi, given by Camellus. 



It feems no eafy tafk to dlfcover with any tolerable probability, 

 whether this drug was ufed by the ancients or not ; fome have fup- 

 pofed it to be the Coflus of Diofcorides, the Guiduar of Avicenna, 

 the Zerumbet of Serapion."^ . But this we leave to thofe who are 

 ready to decide upon w^hat is merely conJe£turaL 



The roots of Zedoaria, longa and rotunda, are both produced by 

 the fame ipecies of plant, and are indifcriminately ufed in the Ihops ; 

 the former are brought to us in oblone pieces, about the thicknefs of 



■% 



J? c 



the little finger, two or three inches in length, bent, rough, and 

 angular ; the latter are roundifh, about an inch in diameter, of an 

 afli colour on the outfide, and white within. 



" This root has an agreeable camphoraceous fmell, and a bitterifli 

 aroniatic tafte. ;It impregnates water wdth its fmell, a flight bitternefs, 

 a confiderable warmth and pungency, and ayellowifh brown colour: 

 the reddiih yellow fpirituous tindure is in tafte ftronger, and in fmell 

 weaker, than the watery. In diftillation with water it yields a thick 

 ponderous effential oil, fmelling ftrongly of the Zedoary, in tafte very 

 hot and pungent 



Cartheufer, who afcribes the virtues of Zedoary to a camphoraceous 

 volatile oil, confiders it as a general remedy for moft of the chronic 



.' ■ ' - 



a " Plantam babul ex Cochinchina, figurce Rheedeanse, convenientem, lc6lam a CI. 

 Joanne de Loureyro oc comparatam fub itinere Chlnenfi, CL Car. G. Exeberg, Centurione 

 & navis Gubernatore, de fcientia botanices bene merito/* 2lfat. Med. p. 5. He calls it, 

 ^J. fcapo nudo^fpica laxa truncata ; and makes its lynonyma to be, Kua. Rheed. Malab. 

 II. p. 13, t. 7. Tommon itarn* "Rumph Jmb. 5. p. 169. Zedoarla CamelL Sttrp. Lu%. 

 /. 23. ** See Rmu^ Hijt. plant, vol. 3. in Jpp. « Lewis^ M. M.p. 684. 



* See pa this fubjedl, S/G. Manitiiis.' De^tatlbm Zedmics relatio, Drefd. 1691. 



difeafes 



