f §) 
It is found in various parts of England, affeCting a dry gravelly 
foil, Its flowers appear in May and June, ity 
This plant, according to Haller,* poffeffes narcotic powers ; but its 
feeds only have been employed for medical purpofes. Thefe feeds, 
which we have defcribed above, by their exquifitely polithed furface, 
and ftony hardnefs, (from which latter cireumftance the name Litho- 
 fpermum is taken,). have long excited the attention of naturalifts. 
Pliny confidered them as the greateft curiofity in the vegetable world : 
* Nec quicquam inter herbas majore quidem miraculo afpexi. Tantus 
eft decor, velut aurificum arte alternis inter folia candicantibus mar- 
garitis: tam exquifita difficultas lapidis ex herba nafcentis.” ° 
Grew relates, that the hard ‘cruftaceous part effervefces with acids;° 
but the experiment has been fince tried by others without effe&: the 
internal fubftance of the feed is fofter, and feems to confift of a fari- 
naceous, {fweet, and oily matter, becoming rancid on being long kept. 
Formerly, when medicine was under the dominion of fuperftition 
and abfurd conceits, a notion prevailed, that nature pointed out 
remedies for different complaints, by bearing a certain refemblance 
and fign of the difeafe or part affeted: hence the ftony appearance 
of thefe feeds was deemed a certain indication of their efficacy in 
calculous and gravelly diforders. And though modern writets on the 
Materia Medica give no credit to the lithontriptic charafter of fem. 
milii folis, yet they generally afcribe to them a diuretic quality, a 
power of cleanfing the urinary paflages, and of obviating ftranguary, 
efpecially when employed in the form of an emulfion ;* but probably 
the free ufe of any bland diluent would anfwer thefe purpofes 
equally .well. e 
The abforbent virtue attributed tp thefe feeds is wholly without 
foundation, being irreconcileable to the principles of chemiftry. 
+ * Hift. Stirp. Helv, n. 595+ 
» Pling Uiln-27: ts, 11. © Grew. Mixt. corp. p. 22. 
¢ Lotum movere hifce quidem credo, et in ftranguria efficere aliquid pofle, quum ob 
nucleum emulfive nature fit, Adurray, 1. ¢. See others alfo of this opinion. 
$ 
ANCHUSA 
