104 LABIATM, 



Chemical composition. — The most important constituent is the 

 volatile oil,wliicli has the same composition as oil of peppermint, 

 but differs from it in odour and flavour (see p. 107). 



The plant contains a little tannin. 



Commerce,— Ihe dried plant of M. si/lcestns is a regular 

 article of import from Persia into Bombay. Yalue about 

 2 annas j)er lb* 



J 



MENTHA ARVENSIS, Li'vi, vixv, inpemscens. 



Hab. — China and Japan. The essential oil, and Menthol 

 or Peppermint camphor. 



Veniacular.—'Ihe oil.~Liu-tsao [Ohm.), Ilakano Abura 

 {Japan), Pddine-ka-tel or atar {Hind., Bcmj.), Vatiilau- 

 cha-t^l (J/rtr.), Phudino-nu-tel {Guz.), Pudina attar (?/' taibm 

 {Tarn.), Pudina-attaru or taihunu [Tel), Pudiua-attar or 

 yanne {Can.), Menthol— Po-ho-yo {Chin.), Hatsca {Japd") 

 Pudine-ke- jphul [Lid. Bazars). 



History, Uses, &c. — Peppermint was in use m 

 China and Japan at least 2,000 years ago. The Fudanaj- 

 cl-tays, "Mentha hircina," of Ibn Sina apjiears to have been 

 peppermint ; he describes it as a very efficacious kind of mnit 



^ood diuretic. Ilaji Zein el-attar (1368) mentions a 

 kind of mint called Filfilmdn, i.e., "having the qualities of 

 pepper," also known a« Pudinch-i-kohi or " hill mint." Both 

 the Arabs and Persians appear to have been well acquainted with 

 the value of this mint in neuralgic affections. It is interesting 

 to observe that in Hull's Z?;7Y/«/<2^^o/w, Manchester, 1799, pepper- 

 mint is^ named Mentha hircina. Peppermint is not mentioned by 

 Sanskrit writers ou :iLjtf,-la Medica. From the Pharmacographia 

 we learn that pepa-mi)it was fii-«t observed by Dr. Eales and 

 coimniinicatcd to Ray, who noticed it in his Si/nopsis in 1 606. 

 Dale, m 1705, states in his rharmacohgim Supjy^cnmdnm that it 

 is esteemed a specific in renal and vesical calculus ; and Ray, in 

 the third edition of his S>/nop.v\ declares it superior to all other 

 mints as a remedy for weakness of the stomach and for diarrhea. 



o 



