ASPIDIUM 23 



of circular basin. When the stem begins to grow it is 

 cut off, and the upper part of the root being wounded, 

 a small quantity of very choice gum is collected, which 

 seldom finds its way into the market. Afterwards a 

 slice of the root, about % inch thick, is removed every 

 two or three days with the exudation adhering to it, 

 until the root is exhausted. The collected mass, con- 

 sisting of alternate layers of root and gum resin, when 

 packed in skins (in quantities of about 100 Ibs.), forms 

 the Ring of Indian commerce." 



ASPIDIUM (Male Fern) 



Introduced in 1830 under the name Fttix Mas, (Aspidium 

 Filix mas), this substance appears in both editions of the 1830 

 U. S. P., (Philadelphia and New York), but is mentioned in the 

 Secondary List, only, until 1860, when it was transferred to the 

 Primary List. In 1880 it became official under its present title, 

 (Aspidium), which it holds in all subsequent editions. The species 

 of aspidium official in the 1910 edition is Dryopteris Filix-mas, 

 (Linne) Schott, or Dryopteris marginalis, (Linn6) Asa Gray. 



The root of aspidium, Dryopteris Filix-mas, was used 

 by the ancients as a vermifuge. Theophrastus (633), 

 Dioscorides (194) and Pliny (514) all described it. It 

 passed through the Middle Ages as a domestic remedy, 

 was noticed, 1535, by Valerius Cordus (169), and had a 

 place as a drug to be taxed in Germany hi the 16th 

 century. Neglected then, it was subsequently revived 

 as a chief constituent, combined with purgatives, hi a 

 secret remedy for tape-worm, one of the promoters 

 being Daniel Mathieu, an apothecary of Berlin. His 

 treatment was so successful that Frederick the Great 

 purchased the formula for an annuity of thirty pounds, 

 and conferred on its originator the dignity of "Aulic 

 Councillor." Madame Nouffer, the widow of a surgeon 

 at Murten, Switzerland, was also paid 18,000 livres by 



