PHARMACOPGIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
The Eclectic literature of America for nearly a hundred years has been 
prolific in the praises of this remedy. (Drug Treatise by Lloyd Broth- 
ers, now in process. ) 
ARNICA 
All parts of this plant, (Arnica montana,) were popular remedies 
in Germany at a very early period. The early botanists, such as Mat- 
thiolus (414), Gesner (264), and Clusius (153) had a knowledge of 
its medicinal qualities, as used by the common people. — Franz Joel 
(341), of Greifswald, Germany, expressly recommended it in the six- 
teenth century. During 1678-’79 arnica experienced an enthusiastic 
crusade as a “new remedy” in the cure of fevers, the hope being to sup- 
plant Peruvian bark by this domestic drug. Collin (162), of Vienna, 
reported a thousand patients in the Pazman Hospital cured of intermit- 
tents by the flowers, whilst other physicians were scarcely less enthusi- 
astic. The herb was thus recognized in the London Pharmacopeia 
(1788) but fell into disuse, regaining in later years a position as an ap- 
plication in the form of a tincture for bruises, sprains, etc., in this di- 
rection being now commended in modern medical and domestic litera- 
ture. 
ASAFCETIDA 
Under the name “Laser,” a substance supposed to have been asa- 
foetida, (Ferula foetida), has from all time been used in India and 
Persia, and thence long exported, a duty being levied thereon at the 
Roman Custom House of Alexandria. Under the name Hingu it is 
mentioned in Sanscrit works, as well as in Susruta (622). Arabian and 
Persian travelers of the Middle Ages knew it. Ali Istakhri (337), of 
ancient Persepolis, in the tenth century, states that it was abundantly 
produced between Sistan and Makran of Beluchistan, and was used by 
the people as a condiment. It has ever been employed in Arabic therapy. 
Matthzus Platearius (513), nearly a thousand years ago, mentioned it 
in his work on simple medicines, “Circa instans.” Otho of Cremona, 
near that period, states that the more fetid the drug, the better its quali- 
ties. The “Physicians of Myddvai” (507)* valued it highly. Briefly, 
this drug drifted into European conspicuity from the Orient, where it 
had been empirically used from the remotest antiquity. 
ASPIDIUM 
_ The root of Aspidium, Dryopteris filix-mas, was used by the an- 
cients as a vermifuge. Theophrastus (633), Dioscorides (194), and 
Pliny (514) all describe it. It passed as a domestic remedy through 
the Middle Ages, was noticed, 1790, by Valerius Cordus ( 169), and 
had a place as a drug to be taxed in Germany, in the sixteenth century. 
Neglected then, it was subsequently revived as a chief constituent, com- 
bined with purgatives, in a secret remedy for tape-worm, one of the 
promoters being Daniel Mathieu, an apothecary of Berlin. His treat- 
*(See Footnote to Aconitum.) 
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