SINAPIS ALBA 319 



familiar domestic cathartic. Its native use introduced 

 the drug to medicine, and antedates historical record. 



SERPENT ARIA (Serpentaria, Virginia Snakeroot) 



Official in every edition of the U. S. P., from 1820 to 1910. 

 The U. S. P., 1910, directs the use of the rhizome and roots of 

 Aristolochia Serpentaria (Virginia Snakeroot of commerce), or of 

 Aristolochia reticulata (Texas Snakeroot). 



Aristolochia Serpentaria is a perennial herb found in 

 woodlands of the temperate parts of the United States, 

 especially in the Allegheny and Cumberland Moun- 

 tains, though it seldom prevails abundantly. It is by 

 some believed to have been first mentioned in 1636 

 by Thomas Johnson, an apothecary of London, who 

 issued an edition of Gerarde's (262) Herbal, which it is 

 commonly believed was its introduction to England. 

 Others, however, question whether the "snakeweed" 

 mentioned in this work was not a species of Aristolochia 

 from Crete. The early use of Serpentaria in America 

 was as a remedy for snakebite, which gave it the name 

 Virginia Snakeroot, but in this direction it has not, to 

 our knowledge, been used in recent times anywhere in 

 America. The domestic use of Serpentaria has been in 

 the direction of a stimulant to the organs of digestion, 

 and in the form of a tincture as a stomachic, it being 

 one of the ingredients of the old-time popular "stomach 

 bitters" of American home medication. 



SINAPIS ALBA (White Mustard) 



Not mentioned in U. S. P. of 1820 or 1828. Official in all 

 other editions, including 1910. 



White mustard, Sinapis alba, seems to be indigenous 

 to the southern countries of Europe and western Asia, 

 from which, according to Chinese authors, it was intro- 

 duced into China. Formerly it was not distinguished 



