454 



OPEHATIOKS SUBSIDIARY TO iJ^DtTCTlON. 



which the word Arsenic is derived, 

 was an ancient epithet applied to 

 those natural substances which pos- 

 sessed strong and acrimonious pro- 

 perties, and as the poisonous quality 

 of arsenic was found to be remark- 

 ably powerful, the term was especi- 

 ally applied to Orpiment, the form in 

 which this metal most usually occurred. 

 So the term Verbena (quasi Herb'na) 

 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 Ver- 

 bena 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 medical reputa- 

 tion which its sacred origin conferred 

 upon it, for it was worn suspended 

 around the neck as an amulet. Vit7'iol, 

 in the original application of the word, 

 denoted any crystalline body with a 

 certain degree of transparency {vit- 

 rum); it is hardly necessary to ob- 

 serve that the term is now appropri- 

 ated 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 v^dll apply to 

 the word Opium, which, in its primi- 

 tive sense, signifies any juice {dirbs, 

 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 iXavvu), agito, moveo, stimulo), 

 but by succeeding authors it was ex- 

 clusively applied to denote the active 

 matter which subsides from the juice 

 of the wild c^vjumber. The word 

 Fecvla, again, originally meant to 

 imply any substance which was de- 

 rived by spontaneous subsidence from 

 a liquid (from fcex, the grounds or 

 settlement of any liquor) ; afterwards 

 it was applied to Starch, which is de- 



posited in this manner by agitating 

 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 in boiling water, with which 

 it forms a gelatinous solution. This 

 indefinite meaning of the word fecvla^ 

 has created numerous mistakes in 

 pharmaceutic chemistry. Elaterium, 

 for instance, is said to be fecula, and, 

 in the original sense of the word, it 

 is properly so called, inasmuch as it 

 is procured from a vegetable juice by 

 spontaneous subsidence, but in the 

 limited and modern acceptation of the 

 term it conveys an erroneous idea ; 

 for instead of the active principle of 

 the juice residing in fecula, it is a 

 peculiar proximate principle, sui gen- 

 eHs, to which I have ventured to 

 bestow the name of Elatin. For the 

 same reason, much doubt and ob- 

 scurity involve the meaning of the 

 word Extract, because it is applied 

 generally to any substance obtained 

 by the evaporation of a vegetable 

 solution, and specifically to a peculiar 

 proximate principle, possessed of cer- 

 tain characters, by which it is dis- 

 tinguished from every other elemen- 

 tary body." 



A generic term is always liable to 

 become thus limited to a single species, 

 or even individual, if people have oc- 

 casion to think and speak of that indi- 

 vidual or species much oftener than of 

 anything else which is contained in 

 the genus. Thus by cattle, a stage- 

 coachman will understand horses ; 

 beasts, in the language of agricultu- 

 rists, stands for oxen ; and birds, 

 with some sportsmen, for partridges 

 only. The law of language which 

 operates in these trivial instances is 

 the very same in conformity to which 

 the terms 9e6j, Dens, and God were 

 adopted from Polytheism by Christi- 

 anity, to express the single object of 

 its own adoration. Almost all the 

 terminology of the Christian Church 

 is made up of words originally used in 

 a much more general acceptation : 

 Ecclesia, Assembly ; Bishop, Episco- 



