42 DIVI BOTANICI. 



little nutriment ; that it tends to generate an excess of bile and 

 phlegm ; and that, although it disturbs the stomach, it does good in 

 inflammation of the chest and lungs, and excites renewed activity of 

 the kidneys when these have become inert : Rhazes* expresses the 

 like sentiments, and adds that it moderates appetency, proves laxa- 

 tive, and assuages irritation of the throat : and, by Serapion,f it is 

 pronounced to be one of the best calefacient and diluent remedies in 

 existence, while he maintains the importance of all the properties as- 

 cribed to musaceous fruits, by his medical compatriots. These were 

 followed by the latinists, arabists, herbalists, phytologists, and others, 

 who essayed to make the advantages of foreign travel conducive to the 

 " philosophy of plants." Hence proceeded many descriptive and gra- 

 phic representations of the chief Musacese, and thus their alimentary 

 and medicinal energies have been methodically discriminated. 



Regarding the magnificent plant, Musa paradisiaca, it grows na- 

 turally and is cultivated extensively throughout the tropical regions of 

 Asia, Africa and America, for the beauty of its umbrageous foliage 

 and the abundance of its excellent fruit. From a fanciful notion, 

 that the terrestrial Paradise was stocked with the Plantain-tree, its 

 specific name, paradisiaca, was originally devised ; and, for the sake 

 of its euphony, let no reason arise to require its discontinuance. 



From times untold by history, the gymnosophists or " wise men of 

 the east" have been accustomed to seek retirement in solemn groves, 

 overshaded and scented by the banana, whose fruitage yielded full 

 subsistence to these recluses, while they engaged unseen in their feats 

 of self-inflicted severity or in the contemplation of artifices for secur- 



in which the simples are arranged in alphabetical order. After experiencing 

 many vicissitudes of fortune, this celebrated person died in A.I>. 1036, at 

 Hamadan, where the ruins of his tomb are still pointed out to inquisitive 

 strangers. 



" Mohammed Ebn Secharajah Abubeker Abrasi (Rhazes J acquired a high 

 reputation at Bagdat, both as a teacher of the medical sciences and as a 

 physician. His observations on the Musa are given in the twentieth chapter 

 of the third book of his w< rk, intituled Almansor ; hoc est, Ad Regem Corassani 

 Mansorem Libri decern ; folio, Venetiis, 1510. He visited many foreign coun- 

 tries, and died in the eightieth year of his age, about the beginning of the 

 tenth century. 



f John Serapion was an eminent Arabian physician, who flourished during 

 the last half of the tenth century. He treats of the medicinal properties of 

 the Musa, in the eighty-fourth chapter of his collection, having the title, 

 Praclica sive breviarium ; folio, Venetiis, 1479. This is a composition from 

 the Greek and Arabian physicians, upon the natural history and virtues of 

 medicines. 



