PHARMACOPGIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
characteristic thoroughness Dr. Rice gives in the body of his work 
and in numerous foot notes a world of information concerning the 
derivation of the name of each member of the citrus family used in 
commerce, together with the record of its products. From his paper 
we quote, as follows: 
Lemon is from the Arabic limin and this, by way of the Persian, is re- 
lated to the Hindu limu, limbu, or nimbu. Adam already in his Hindi-Kosha, 
(Calcutta, 1829), translates the Sanskrit mimbu into Hindi limu. ‘This trans- 
lation is no doubt correct, but the Sanskrit has evidently coined or adopted 
the word from the North Indian vernaculars. In Cashmeer it is still called 
nimbu, ‘There are many names in Sanskrit for the Citrus-fruits, a number of 
them standing for lemon. The Madanavinoda (explained on p. 231, New Rem- 
edies, August, 1878) (399a) mentions two kinds of nimbu (or nimbika), one 
of which is sour, and the other sweet. Another native term is nisbu, according to 
the Sabdakalpadruma. The Medievo-Greek is leiménion leméné. The lemon is 
first mentioned in the book on Nabathean Agriculture, under the name hasia (see 
Meyer, Gesch. d. Bot. III., 68). 
Dr. Charles Rice, New Remedies, Sept., 1878. 
LINUM 
Flaxseed, or linseed (Linum usitatissimum) has been cultivated 
from all times in the Old World. From the dropping of its seeds 
it may become a weed, and thus is found wild in more or less favored 
locations throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe. 
Flax as a fibrous plant has been utilized throughout the journey of 
human civilization. The Egyptian tombs carry paintings illustrating 
the weaving of flax into cloth; the grave-clothes of the early Egyptians 
were made from flax, its record having been traced back to at least 
2300 B. C. The seeds of the plant have ever been employed, both as 
a food and as a medicine. All the early historians, such as the Greek 
Alcman of the seventh century B. C., Thucydides and Pliny (514), 
refer to its qualities as a food, reciting that the seeds were used by 
the people, both externally and internally, as medicines. Charlemagne 
promoted its growth in Northern Europe. The plant reached Sweden 
and Norway from its native land before the twelfth century. 
LOBELIA 
Lobelia, or Indian tobacco, Lobelia inflata, was conspicuously 
introduced by Samuel Thomson (638) in the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century. It has been, in domestic medication, in the practice 
of the Thomsonians, and also of the Eclectics, one of the most valued 
remedial agents of the American flora (388b). Following its empirical 
use, the first printed record concerning its emetic properties is that 
by the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. (178), who in the American 
Academy of Science, 1785, under the title “Account of Indigenous 
Vegetables,” mentions it under the name Emetic Weed. Following 
this, Schépf (582), 1787, incorrectly ascribed to it astringent proper- 
ties, stating erroneously that it was used in ophthalmia, evidently con- 
fusing the properties of Lobelia inflata with those of its relative, Lo- 
belia syphilitica. The Indians of North America employed lobelia, 
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