SEMEN LIXI. 97 



probably an acid of the same series richer in carbon, — perhaps arachic 

 acid, C^H^O-, or " theobromic acid," G^ff^O", as suggested in 1877 by 

 Kingzett. 



Uses — Cacao butter, which is remarkable for having but little ten- 

 dency to rancidity, has long been used in continental pharmacy ; it was 

 introduced into England a few years ago as a convenient basis for 

 suppositories and pessaries. 



Adulteration — The description given of the drug sufficiently indi- 

 cates the means of ascertaining its purity. 



LINE^. 



SEMEN LINI. 



Linseed, Flax Seed ; F. Semence de Lin; G. Leinsamen, Flachssavieii . 



Botanical Origin — Linum tisitaiissimuTn L., Common Flax, is an 

 annual plant, native of the Old World, where it has been cultivated from 

 the remotest times. It sows itself as a weed in tilled ground, and is 

 now found in all temperate and tropical regions of the globe. Heer 

 regards it as a variety evolved by cultivation from the perennial L. 

 angustifoliurn Huds. 



History — The history of flax, its textile fibre and seed, is intimately 

 connected with that of human civilization. The whole process of con- 

 verting the plant into a fibre fit for weaving into cloth is frequently 

 depicted on the wall-paintings of the Egyptian tombs.^ The grave- 

 clothes of the old Egj-ptians were made of flax, and the use of the fibre 

 in Egypt may be traced back, according to linger,' as far as the 23rd 

 century B.C. The old literature of the Hebrews^ and Greeks contains 

 frequent reference to tissues of flax; and fabrics woven of flax have 

 actually been discovered together with fruits and seeds of the plant 

 in the remains of the ancient pile-dwellings bordering the lakes of 

 Switzerland.* 



The seed in ancient times played an important part in the alimenta- 

 tion of man. Among the Greeks, Alcman in the 7th century B.C., and 

 the historian Thucydides, and among the Romans Pliny, mention linseed 

 as employed for human food. The roasted seed is still eaten by the 

 Abyssinians.' 



Theophi-astiLS expressly alludes to the mucilaginous and oily 

 properties of the seed. Pliny and Dioscorides were acquainted with 

 its medical application both external and internal. The latter, as 

 well as Columella, exhaustively describes flax under its agricultural 

 aspect. In an edict of the Emperor Diocletian De pretiis reriun vena- 

 liuTn^ dating A.D. 301, linseed is quoted 150 deiiaini, sesame seed 200, 



^WiVkinson, Ancient Egi/ptians,m.{l8yi) ■'Heer in Trimen's Journ. of Bot. i. 



138, &c. (1872) 87. 



^ Siizungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, *A. de Candolle, Geogr. Botanique, 835. 



Juni 1866. —A. Braun, Flora, 1848. 94. 



3Exod. ix. 31 ; Lev. xiii, 47, 48 ; Isaiah • See p. 65, note 1. 

 xix. 9. 



