40 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



Notwithstanding the fact that camphor was considered 

 by the Oriental nations as a rare and precious perfume, 

 being mentioned in connection with musk, ambergris, 

 and sandalwood as treasures of the Sassanian dynasty 

 of the kings of Persia, it did not, so far as has been de- 

 termined, reach Europe during the classical days of 

 Greece and Rome. It was probably first mentioned as 

 a European medicine by the Abbatissa Hildegarde 

 (316), in the 12th century. Since its introduction into 

 Europe, it has always been held in high esteem in do- 

 mestic medication, and as a perfume constituent. 



CANNABIS INDICA (Cannabis, Indian Hemp) 



First mentioned in the U. S. P. in 1870, two varieties being 

 described, named according to their origin, Cannabis Americana 

 and Cannabis Indica. The 1880 edition continues this classifica- 

 tion. Later editions drop the American variety, confining the 

 drug to the Asiatic plant, until the edition of 1910, which makes no 

 distinction between Cannabis saliva (American Hemp) and Can- 

 nabis Indica, mentioning the latter as a "variety." 



Cannabis saliva, Linne, (or the variety indica, La- 

 marck), is an Oriental product whose beginnings are 

 lost. Both Waring and Dymock state that cannabis 

 is native to Persia and cultivated in India. Its history, 

 as given by Dyrnock's Pharmacographia Indica, is. so 

 instructively interesting, as to lead us to give a por- 

 tion, verbatim: 



"The hemp plant, in Sanskrit Bhanga and Indra- 

 sana, 'Indra's hemp/ has been known in the East as a 

 fibre plant from prehistoric times. It is mentioned 

 along with the Vedic plant Janjida, which has magic 

 and medicinal properties, and is described in the Atha- 

 vaveda as a protector, and is supplicated to protect all 

 animals and properties. The gods are said to have three 

 times created this herb (oshadhi). Indra has given it a 



