HYSSOPUS OFFICINALIS. 
251 
knobbed, wootly, and furnished with many long fibres; the stalk 
shrubby, much branched, and rises about two feet in height; the 
leaves are about an inch in length, narrow, entire, and obtusely 
pointed, and stand sessile in pairs upon the branches ; the flowers 
are produced in short verticillated spikes, chiefly on one side, and 
terminating the branches ; the calyx is tubular, striated, and divided 
at the brim into five pointed segments; the corolla is of a violet 
colour, monopetalous, and consists of a narrow tube, which divides 
at the limb into two expanded lips; the upper is short, roundish, and 
notched at the apex ; the lower lip is divided into three segments of 
which the undermost is large and inversely heart-shaped ; the fila- 
ments are crowned with simple anthers ; the style is slender, and 
supports a double stigma ; the germen becomes four seeds, situated 
at the bottom of the persistent calyx. 
The hvssop mentioned in sacred history, \s supposed to be the 
Ztife or Cyfe of the Arabians, and not the plant here described ; nor 
is it satisfactorily ascertained whether the oflicinal hyssop be either 
the £so/ of the Hebrews, or the Ofl-frw^ro? of the Greeks; but it is 
senerally considered to be neither one nor the other. 
Sensible Qualities, &c. The leaves of hyssop have an 
aromatic odour, and a moderately warm and slightly bitter taste ; 
these qualities depend upon a small portion of volatile oil which they 
contain, and which may be obtained by distillation with water; the 
oil is of a pale yellow colour, and very pungent, with the odour ot 
the plant; the alcoholic tincture where inspissated, leaves a very 
warm, pungent bitter extract, with the odour of camphor. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Hyssop is both tonic and 
stimulant, hence it has been considered emmenagogue and anti- 
bysteric ; it has also been recommended as a vermifuge, but it has 
chiefly been employed as a pectoral in humeral asthma, coughs, and 
other catarrhal aiiections. In modern practice, however, it is 
seldom or never employed, its stimulant properties rendermg it a 
doubtful remedy in the last named diseases, and its tonic powers 
being scarcely worthy of notice. Formerly it was much used as an 
external application,^ in the form of fomentation, in contusion and 
for removing the blackness occasioned by bruises ; for these pur- 
poses it is still held in great repute by the uninformed country 
people. 
0&\ The Herb. 
