AOA ORD. XXII. Siliquose. SINAPIS NIGRA, 
branches, and are long, smooth, protuberant at the base, two-celled, 
two-valved, and contain many globular shining dark seeds, | It is 
common in corn fields, and banks of ditches; but it is cultivated 
for use, and flowers in June. 
The seeds of this species of Mustard, which are directed by the 
London College, and those of the S. alba, which are preferred by 
that of Edinburgh, manifest no remarkable difference to the taste, 
nor in their general effects, and therefore answer equally well for 
the uses of the table, and for the purposes of medicine. They 
have an acrid pungent taste, and when bruised this pungency 
shews its volatility by powerfully affecting the organs of smell; 
they readily impart these qualities to aqueous liquors, and by dis- 
tilation with water yield an essential oil of great acrimony. To 
rectified spirit these seeds give out very little either of their smell 
or taste. Subjected to the press, they yield a considerable quantity 
of mild insipid oil, which is as free from acrimony as that of al- 
monds. &: 
By writers on the Materia Medica, Mustard is considered to pro- 
mote appetite, assist digestion, attenuate viscid juices, and by 
stimulating the fibres, to _ prove a general remedy in paralytic and 
rheumatic affections. Joined to its stimulant qualities, it fre- 
quently, if taken in considerable quantity, opens the body,* and 
increases the urinary discharge, and hence has been found useful 
in dropsical complaints.’ In its medicinal character it is nearly 
allied to the last mentioned plant, and, like all the other Siliquose, 
has been recommended as an antiscorbutic;‘ though we are told 
* As much of the unbruised seeds as an ordinary table-spoon will contain does 
not prove heating to the stomach, but stimulates the intestinal canal, and commonly 
proves laxative. Cullen, M, M. vol, i. p. 171. 
» See Mead and others. 
* << Semen Sinapeos in mortario tritum & cum vino albo mixtum, multas centurias 
Scorbuticorum & languentium hominum in ebsidione Rupellensi sanitati restituit. 
Plerique enim obsessorum & urbe inclusoram fame & inedia pressi, multa sordida 
& qu natura abhorret esitare coacti, respirandi difficultatem, gingivarum putredi- 
a a 
