a 
SINAPIS NIGRA, ORD. XXIII. Siliquose. A05 
by Haller, that the use of Mustard disposes the humours to putres- 
cency ;* an opinion which he was probably led to entertain from a 
supposition that it contained volatile alkali: for it is well known 
that some of these pungent plants, when in a state of putre- 
faction, give out this alkali by distillation, and hence have been 
termed alkalescent plants; but the fermentation of these vegetable 
substances may be so directed as to be of the acescent kind,* and 
the alkali obtained from them seems not to have existed in the vege- 
table in a separate state.f The great pungency of these plants is 
not therefore to be ascribed to the volatile alkali, but to the essential 
oil which they contain. Bergius informs us, that he found Mustard 
of great efficacy in curing vernal intermittents; for this purpose he 
directed a spoonful of the whole seeds to be taken three or four 
times a day, during the apyrexia; and when the disease was obsti- 
nate, he added flower of Mustard to the bark.’ Externally these 
seeds are frequently used as a stimulant or sinapism.£ Mustard 
seed may be most conveniently given entire or unbruised, and to 
the quantity of a spoonful or half an ounce for a | dose. 
P4 ¢ ee 4 4 
nem, dentium nigritiem & vacillationem, 
unde multi moriebantur, donec tandem Sinapi in fossis ake urbem copiose in. 
ventum, & quodictum est modo adhibitum omnes liberavit.” Vide Radi Hist. p. 803, 
4 ¢¢ Ut denique dicam que sentio, & ipse vidi, frequentem Sinapi usum credo hu. 
mores ad naiuram putredinosam disponere, morbos que acutos redere peruiciosiores, 
si in mustarda amantes hominens inciderint. Neque ventriculo mustardam pro. 
desse putem, que vix ipsa coguatur, & plusculis horis ructus putridos cieat.” 
Hist. Stirp. Helv. n. 465. 
Cullen, tl. c. f Mat. Med. vol. ti. p. 581, 
s “ The fresh powder of Mustard shews little pungency and much bitterness ; 
but when it has been moistened with vinegar, and kept for a day, the essential oil 
is evolved, and it becomes considerably more acrid, as is well known to those who 
prepare Mustard for the ng a circumstance which should be age to when 
designed for external use.” Cullen, t. c. 
+ We have good reason to suppose, that Boerhaave was mistaken in asserting, 
© Semen optimum Sinapis, solum contritum affuso acerrimo aceto etiervescere 
memini,” Chem. vol. ii. p. 142. as it has since been denied by the most respectable 
authorities. 
No, 34.—vol. 3. 5K 
