SEMEN SINAPIS NIGRiE. 



65 



B. alba Hook. f. et Th., and to a South European species, Dvplotaxis 



erucoicles JJU. {i^mapis eritcoicies JL.). The use of mustard seems up to 

 this period to have been more medicinal than dietetic. But from an 

 edict of Diocletian, a.d, 301 ^ in which it is mentioned along with 

 alimentary substances, we must suppose it was then regarded as a con- 

 diment at least in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire. 



In Europe during the middle ages mustard was a valued accom- 

 paniment to food, especially to the salted meat which constituted a large 

 portion of the diet of our ancestors during the winter.^ In the Welsh 

 "Meddj^gon Myddvai," of the 13th century, a paragraph is devoted to 

 the ** Virtues of Mustard." In household accounts of the 13th and 



um 



occurrence. 



\ 



Mustard was then cultivated in England, but not as it would seem 

 'ery extensively. The price of the seed between A.D. 1285 and 1395 

 varied from Is. 3d to Qs, 8d. per quarter, but in 1347 and 137G it was 

 as high as 15s. and 16s.^ In the accounts of the abbey of St. Germain- 

 des-Pres in Paris, commencing a.d. 800, mustard is specifically men- 

 tioned as a regular part of the revenue of the convent lands.'* 



The essential oil of mustard was, apparentl}^ noticed about the year 

 16G0 by Nicolas Lc Febvre (see in the article Rad. Inulae), more dis- 

 tinctly in 1732 by Boerhaave. Its acridit}^ and high specific gravity 

 were pointed out by Murray,^ Thibierge in 1819 observed that sulphur 

 ^vas one of the constituents of the oil, and Guibourt' stated that it is 

 not pre-existing in the seed. 



P^'^duction — Mustard is grown in England only on the richest 

 pluvial soils, and chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. 

 Ve^y good seed is produced in Holland, 



Description — The pod ofBrassica nigra is smooth, erect, and closely 

 P^^ssed against the axis of the long slender raceme. It has a strong 

 erve^ on each of its two valves and contains in each cell from 4 to 6 



The seeds are about -V of an inch in 

 ght ; they are of a dark reddish-brown. 



spherical or slightly oval seeds. ^ 



:j,iameterand_-.Vof agrainin wei^„., ...^, ^ 



co-^ .^'J^^'^.^'^ i'^ reticulated with minute pits, and often more or less 

 ^^ered with a whitish pellicle which gives to some seeds a grey colour/ 

 no^ 1^ which is thin, brittle and translucent encloses an exalbumi- 

 us embryo having two short cotyledons folded together longitudinally 

 emK ^^'^V^S a sort of trough in which the radicle lies bent up. Tlie 



cotvl^T • ^^'^^^'^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^ completely fills the testa; the outer 

 _ .' eclon is thicker than the inner, which viewed in transverse section 



e radicle as a pair of forceps. The seeds when pul- 



seems 



'^'•e, and tt ^'^^^''^ ^and in England Mas 

 ^^^ Presennr.^^^ x^'"^,* ^^* ^^^^ty provision 

 ^t «om f '^"""^ *h^«"gh the winter, 

 ^'^vembe?^v,^^'"S unknown. Hence ik 

 *** "^een .IT^^ ^'^^ "" general slaughtering 

 •^Ited for \. T""^ ^^^ fl^sh of which wal 

 '^<>"rn. viii ill-f use.— See also Pharm. 

 . 'RogeJi ^H^'^' April 27) 852. 



* Gu^rard, Polypttque de VAhU Irminon, 



Paris, i. (1844) 715. 



* Ai^pdratus medicammum , ii. (1794) 399. 

 ^Jonrn. de Pharm. xvii. (1831) 360. 

 ^The grey colour of the seed, -which is 



attrihuted to rain during the ripening, is 

 very detrimental to its value. The great 

 aim of the grower is to produce seed of a 

 bright reddish brown, with no grey seed 

 intermixed. 



E 



