MALTUM 191 



LYCOPODIUM (Lycopodium) 



Introduced into U. S. P. 1860. Official in all later editions, in- 

 cluding 1910. 



From the beginning of recorded time the minute 

 spores of Lycopodium clavatum (and other species), 

 known also to the early botanists as Muscus terrestris, 

 or Muscus clavatus, have been commended for their 

 therapeutic virtues. This plant, the common club 

 moss, is found throughout Central and Northern Eu- 

 rope, Russian Asia, Japan, North and South America, 

 the Falkland Islands, and even to the Cape of Good 

 Hope, being so widely distributed as to have led, nat- 

 urally, to its therapeutic use in common life, in all parts 

 of the world. The spores of lycopodium have been 

 used in domestic therapy as an application to fresh 

 wounds, and have thus a reputation as an absorbent 

 styptic. Official in pharmacy in the middle of the 17th 

 century, the English druggists seem not to have in- 

 cluded the powder in their list of drugs before 1692, nor 

 has it been official in any of the London Pharmacopeias. 

 Lycopodium is much employed in Homeopathic and 

 Eclectic medication. In connection with shellac and 

 earthy salts, it is also used in large quantities in the 

 making of different colored signal fires, as well as for 

 color displays for evening celebrations. 



MALTUM (Malt) 



Official only in 1880, 1900 and 1910. Malt is derived from 

 the grain of one or more varieties of Hordeum sativum ( Hordeum 

 distichon, U. S. P. 1900) or Barley. 



The time of the introduction of malt ante- 

 dates the lore of systematic medication. Germi- 

 nated barley, kiln-dried, has been used in the mak- 



