320 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



from black mustard. Its cultivation in England is 

 quite recent, but it is now an abundant weed in many 

 sections. White mustard, in common with black mus- 

 tard, is an exceedingly popular, stimulating condiment. 

 It is preferred, on account of its color as well as its 

 mildness, to the black mustard. The "mustard seed" 

 of the Bible (Matt. XIII: 32) is the product of a tree, 

 Salvadora persica, and is not the same as the plant now 

 known under the name mustard. (See J. H. Balfour, 

 Plants of the Bible.} (35) 



SINAPIS NIGRA (Black Mustard) 



Mustard is mentioned in every edition of the U. S. P. The 

 edition of 1820, (2d ed. 1828), mentions Sinapis nigra only. 

 All later editions include Sinapis alba, as well as S. nigra. 



Black mustard, Sinapis nigra, is an herb found over 

 the whole of Europe, excepting the extreme north. It 

 also abounds in northern Africa, Asia Minor, the Cau- 

 casian region, western India, southern Siberia and 

 China, as well as in North and South America, where 

 it is now naturalized. It was known by the ancients, 

 Theophrastus (633), Pliny (514) and others noticing the 

 plant. In early times it seems to have been used more 

 as a medicine than as a condiment; but Diocletian, 

 300 B. C., speaks of it as a substance used as a condi- 

 ment in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. During 

 the Middle Ages, Europeans esteemed it as an accom- 

 paniment to salted meats. The Welsh "Meddygon 

 Myddfai," (507 and Note to Aconite), of the 13th cen- 

 tury, commends the "Virtues of Mustard." Household 

 recipes of the 13th and 14th centuries constantly men- 

 tion mustard under the name senapium. The convent 

 lands of France produced it as a part of their revenues, 

 800 A. D. Black mustard is naturally of great impor- 



