340 PHARMACOPEIA!, DRUGS 



cially is cultivated as a drug plant. It was known to 

 the Greeks and Romans, and the wild nard described by 

 Dioscorides (194) and Pliny (514) is supposed to be a 

 species of valerian, of which nine species are found in 

 Asia Minor, in addition to Valeriana officinalis. The 

 name Valerian, however, was not used by the classical 

 writers, occurring first in the 9th and 10th centuries 

 A. D. It is found in the Anglo-Saxon names of home 

 remedies, and in domestic books, as early as the llth 

 century. Saladinus (570) of Ascoli, 1450, directed that 

 the root be collected in the month of August. In medi- 

 eval days in England, the flavor of valerian was con- 

 sidered by the common people a delightful addition to 

 broths and pottages, Gerarde (262) in his Herbatt, 

 1567, remarking that the poorer classes of people in the 

 north of England did not consider such forms of food 

 worth anything without it. Strangely enough, the odor 

 of valerian, now considered exceedingly disagreeable, 

 was in the 16th century accepted as a perfume, and as 

 a perfume it is still used in the Orient. In this connec- 

 tion we will add that we have known valerian to be a 

 constituent of an American perfume very popular 

 with some ladies, but exceedingly unpleasant to some 

 others. In domestic medicine, a tea from the root of 

 valerian has been employed as a stimulant and anti- 

 spasmodic in nervous diseases peculiar to females. 



VANILLA (Vanilla) 



Introduced into the U. S. P. in 1860. Official in all subse- 

 quent editions, through 1900. It was dropped in 1910, Vanti- 

 linum (Vanillin) taking its place. Vanillin was first mentioned 

 in the edition of 1900. 



The plant that produces vanilla is an orchid, native 

 of the tropical forests of Mexico, but now grown in 



