GOURD. 



CUCURBITACE.E. Cucumis PropJietarum, 



Colocynihj or little gourd. 

 EUPHORBIACE^E. Ricinus Communis, 



Palma Christi } or Castor-oil. 



IE word &quot;gourd&quot; in the English version occurs in two 

 distinct passages of Scripture, in 2 Kings iv. 39 and in 

 Jonah iv. 6, 7, 9, 10. In the original the words are dif 

 ferent, though in both places translated &quot;gourd.&quot; When 

 the sons of the prophets, in the time of Elisha, prepared 

 for a dinner, &quot;one went into the field to gather herbs, and found 

 a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and 

 came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them 

 not. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to 

 pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out 

 and said, thou man of God! there is death in the pot.&quot; 

 From this description we infer that the gourd here spoken of 

 is the cucumis proplietarum, a very bitter and poisonous plant, 

 well known in Palestine, from which an extract is made, 

 frequently used as a medicine, called colocynth. This is the 

 gourd the name of which stands first in order at the head of 

 this section. 



What has been said of the gourd of Jonah, however, seems 

 to be descriptive of another plant at present growing abun 

 dantly in the Holy Land. This plant is the castor-oil-bush, or 



