4ii 
, 
putrefcency 
& 
opinion which he was probably led to 
rtai 
■ 
from a fuppofition that it contained volatile alkali : for it is well 
known that fome of thefe pungent plants, when in a Hate of putrefa 
give out this alkali by diftill 
and hence h 
d 
alkalefcent plants; but the fermentation of thefe vegetable fubftanees 
may be fo dire&ed as to be of the acefcent kind, 6 and the alkali 
obtained from them feems not to have exifted in the vegetable in a 
feparate ftate.f The great pungency of thefe plants is not therefore 
to be afcribed to the volatile alkali, but to the effential oil which they 
contain. Bergius informs us, that he found Muftard of great efficacy 
in curing vernal intermittents ; for this purpofe he directed a fpoonfui 
of the whole feeds to be taken three or four times a day, during the 
apyrexia ; and when the difeafe was obftinate, he added flower of 
Muftard to the bark/ Externally thefe feeds are frequently ufed as a 
ftimulant or fmapifm. g Muftard-feed may be moft conveniently given 
entire or unbruifed, and to the quantity of a fpoonfui or half an ounce 
for a dofe, 
* " Ut denique dicam quae fentio, & ipfe vidi, frequentem Sinapi ufum credo humores 
ad naturam putredinofam difponere, morbos que acutos redere perniciofiores, fi in muf- 
tardas amantes homines inciderint. Neque ventriculo muftardam prodefie 
ruclus 
quae 
Hi/}. Stirp. Helv. n* 465 
p. 58; 
The frefli powder of Muftard fhews little'pungency and much bitternefs j but when 
Cullen 
Mat. Med. 
Cullen 
and kept for a day, the effential 
nliderably more acrid, as is well known to thofe who pr 
ircumftance which fhould be attended to when defigned 
M 
t We have good reafon to fuppofe, that B ..„„ _.„ . 
Semen optimum Sinapis, folum contritum affufo acerrimo aceto effervefcere 
was mi {lake n 
afterting. 
Chem 
11. p. 142, as it has fmce been denied by the moft refpeaable authorities 
, < 
PISTACIA LENTISCUS 
