VARIATIONS IN MEANING OF TERMS. 271 



Verbena (quasi Herbena) originally denoted all those 

 herbs that were held sacred on account of their being 

 employed in the rites of sacrifice, as we learn from 

 the poets ; but as one herb was usually adopted upon 

 these occasions, the word Verbena came to denote 

 that particular herb only, and it is transmitted to us 

 to this day under the same title, viz. Verbena or 

 Vervain, and indeed until lately it enjoyed the me- 

 dical reputation which its sacred origin conferred upon 

 it, for it was worn suspended around the neck as an 

 amulet. Vitriol, in the original application of the 

 word, denoted any crystalline body with a certain 

 degree of transparency (vitrum); it is hardly neces- 

 sary to observe that the term is now appropriated to 

 a particular species : in the same manner, Bark, 

 which is a general term, is applied to express one 

 genus, and by way of eminence, it has the article The 

 prefixed, as The bark : the same observation will apply 

 to the word Opium, which, in its primitive sense, 

 signifies any juice (OTTOS, Succus), while it now only 

 denotes one species, viz. that of the poppy. So, 

 again, Elaterium was used by Hippocrates to signify 

 various internal applications, especially purgatives, of 

 a violent and drastic nature (from the word E\avvw, 

 agito, moveo, stimulo), but by succeeding authors it 

 was exclusively applied to denote the active matter 

 which subsides from the juice of the wild cucumber. 

 The word Fecula, again, originally meant to imply 

 any substance which was derived by spontaneous 

 subsidence from a liquid (from fax, the grounds or 

 settlement of any liquor) ; afterwards it was applied 

 to Starch, which is deposited in this manner by agi- 

 tating the flour of wheat in water; and lastly, it has 

 been applied to a peculiar vegetable principle, which, 

 like starch, is insoluble in cold, but completely soluble 



