NON-POISONOUS DRUGS 173 
however, that in spite of its odor asafetida is highly valued 
as a’ condiment and extensively used for that purpose in 
Persia and other oriental countries. Nor is its use as a food- 
adjunct confined to eastern peoples. Many of us have often 
relished it in gravies and sauces, little suspecting that the 
Fic. 165, 11.—Castor-oil Plant. A, staminate flower, just opening. B, same, 
fully open. C, branching stamens. D, pistillate flower, entire. 2, 
same, cut vertically. F, fruit. G, seed, entire, and cut vertically. 
H, Embryo. (Baillon.) 
flavor we were enjoying was due to a substance which is 
ordinarily most repulsive. The volatile oil upon which the 
odor and flavor of asafetida depend is chemically very sim- 
ilar to the oil of mustard, which as we know is pleasant to 
eat only in minute quantity. Indeed it is almost always 
true of food-adjuncts that “‘a little more than a little is by 
