*4 
A Treatise 
on 
The ancient Arabians , as Serapio and Avicenna, 
in regard of the Diftindlion of this Drug into the 
Jweet and bitter Coftus, which at this Time pre- 
vails, are entirely filent *, having • taken whatever 
they have delivered concerning it from Diofcorides, 
as if the Coftus then made ufe of were the fame 
with that of the ancient Greeks . Serapio, in par- 
ticular, has nothing relating to it, but what he 
tranferibed from that Author *, though Avicenna in- 
deed adds fo nothing of his own. He fays, for 
Inflance, that the Arabian Coflus is white, but 
withal has a Tendency to a red or Citron-Colour ; 
that the Indian is lighter than the Arabian , of a 
bitter .Tafle, with a ftrong clove-like Smell, ‘and a 
Colour inclining to black. The Syrian Coflus of 
Diofcorides he calls Roman Coflus, and fays it has a 
Colour like Box, and a ftrong Smell. 
The Greek and Latin Authors, who have wrote 
any Thing on the Materia Medica for five hundred 
Years pafl and upwards, mention two Kinds (viz.) 
Cojius dulcis and Coftus amarus, the fweet and the 
bitter Coflus*. Thus Aftuarius and the modem 
Grecians diflinguifh the xorog yAujtu? and the xo- 
fo\ -mxgog ; and Macer the Poet, de Speciebus exoti - 
cis 9 has the following Lines. 
Cofti funt gemma Species ; gravis una rubenfque. 
Eft et amara nimis : hac Indica dicitur efte. 
Altera vero levis, nec amara , colore fed albo. 
Whence it appears, that the Root which at prefent 
in the Shops is called Coftus, and which alone has 
* Thefe are now generally believed to be the fame Root, 
only growing bitter with Age, and acquiring a blackifh Colour; 
and even Garcias ab Horto , Bontzus , Acofta, and Cluftus , were 
of this Opinion. See Chomd, Abrege de iHiJioire des Plantes* 
Tome ii. p. 550. 
been 
