38 VEGETABLE DRUGS WITHOUT ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



part of this group of oils, resins, and balsams, has been 

 prepared in purer and better conditions. 



VOLATILE OILS. 



Of the plant products, the spices and aromatics have 

 from the very beginning ministered to the needs and 

 welfare of man, and have, therefore, been appreciated 

 by him in a special degree. As a result, they have 

 been a prominent and influential factor in the inter- 

 course of nations, as well as in the world's com- 

 merce. After several thousand years of study and actual 

 use of the spices in their original form, their essential 

 constituents — the volatile oils — have, since the middle 

 ages, and more particularly in modern times, been 

 successfully isolated in their natural freshness and entire 

 efficiency. 



A historical retrospect of the part played in history 

 in the commerce of these same spices would prove very 

 interesting, but hardly profitable for present needs, but 

 the trade in spices is as old as civilization and had its 

 early beginnings in the land of Adam and Eve, and 

 much of the exploration of eastern countries was carried 

 on by the spice hunter, the ancient analogue of the gold 

 hunter of to-day. 



It has been only within recent years, however, that a 

 true knowledge of the volatile oils has been gained, but 

 it is a most interesting chapter in medicine — that of the 

 use of this class of compounds as incense, cosmetics, and 

 for sanitary purposes. The ancient Egyptians knew 

 that the volatile oils were good antiseptics, even if they 

 did not appreciate that they contained phenols; and 

 it may be well doubted if the embalming art of to-day, 

 with its formaldehyde, carbolic acid, etc., can approach 

 that of the time of the Pharaohs. The Greeks used the 

 spices very widely in medicine — sandal being one of the 

 favorites. The Arabians fostered the process of dis- 

 tilling handed down from the Egyptians. 



