PHARMACOPCGIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
beverage made of whisky, known as mint julep. This should be made 
by inverting in the sweetened diluted whisky a small bunch of young 
mint sprouts, thus getting the delicate aroma of the leaves, but not the 
bitterness of the broken stems. 
MENTHA VIRIDIS 
Spearmint is common throughout Europe, Asia, and North Amer- 
ica, and, escaping from cultivation, is found wild throughout most of 
the temperate regions of the world. Parkinson, 1640, speaks of it as 
a garden plant only (492), and its mention in early medizeval lists of 
plants demonstrates that it was cultivated in the convent gardens of 
the ninth century. Turner’s Herball (656), 1568, calls it Spere Mynte. 
Its use is largely that of a domestic and popular flavor in confectionery 
and as a perfume. In the form of an aromatic tea it has been a great 
favorite in domestic medicine, as is true also of its harsher relative, 
peppermint. 
MEZEREUM 
Daphne mezereum is an acrid shrub familiar to persons con- 
versant with domestic medicine in medieval English times, being em- 
ployed by the herbalists, and also, somewhat, by the medical profession 
of that day. It was recognized in Culpeper (175) as an acrid sub- 
stance, generally applied externally, although it was given internally 
in dropsy and some other affections, about a dram of the dried bark 
of the tree being mixed with three parts of water, and taken inter- 
nally. Hooper (325) in his Medical Dictionary states that a prevailing 
method of preparation was to macerate thin slices of the bark of the 
fresh root in vinegar and apply it externally. In Stephenson and 
Churchill’s Medical Botany (614a) a Mr. Pierson serves as authority 
for a Dr. Russel, who, as did Mr. Pierson, reviewed the uses of the 
drug as a substitute for mercury and as an application in scrofulous 
and cutaneous affections, but with decided opposition to its use, on ac- 
count of its — acridity, a refreshing innovation in former or- 
thodox medication. This imported, disagreeable drug crept into the 
United States Pharmacopeia and American practice by reason of the 
fact that it was made a constituent of the Compound Syrup of Sarsa- 
parilla. 
MOSCHUS 
Musk, Moschus moschiferus, was described by Aétius (6), who 
lived about the middle of the sixth century A. D. Benjamin de Tudela 
(55a), who traveled through the East about 1160-1 173 A.D., also 
mentions musk, stating that its native home is in Thibet. Its sale in 
Egypt was mentioned by Leo Africanus (378b), 1526. Its introduc- 
tion to medicine, however, came at a much earlier period, its employ- 
ment in that direction following the commendation of Aétius (6). Its 
therapeutic use was due to its introduction from the Arabians. Taver- 
nier (1676), asserted (627) by Eugene Rimmel (552) to be the first 
European traveler to mention this drug, reports that he bought 7,673 
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