106 
Comacum, which has not, I believe, been hitherto ascer- 
tained : but two kinds of it are described, one a fruit, and 
the other employed for mixing with the most precious 
ointments. This seems to me to be the substance of which 
we have only in recent times acquired any correct know- 
ledge, and that is, the fruit of the cinnamon plant ; and 
the fatty oil expressed from it, of which there are 
specimens in the College Museum of Materia Medica. 
As Theophrastus treats of plants as a philosopher, and 
not with respect to their medical properties, many are 
necessarily omitted which must in his time have been well 
known. But for this very reason, several are particularly 
noticed, which are entirely overlooked by Dioscorides. 
These are frequently grouped according to general view 
as those which grow in mountains or in plains, wild c 
cultivated, &c, as well as such as are found in Africa, 
especially in Egypt ; and with reference to our purpose it 
is interesting to find those enumerated which are peculiar 
to India. 
Among these we find Ficus indica ; and the plant, with 
leaves like those of the mulberry or vine (Gossypium), 
from which cloth is made, more particularly described as 
a produce of the island of Tylos, now Bahrein, in the 
Persian Gulf. Among the fruits also, is one remarkable 
for sweetness, serving as food for the Sapientes Indi, and 
of which one is enough for four men ; the plant having 
long leaves, similar to ostrich feathers. Pliny, evidently 
describing the same plant, informs us, that its name is 
pala, though Arrian calls it tala. This there is little 
doubt must be the plantain (Musa sapientum), of which 
one bunch of the fruit frequently weighs many pounds ; 
the long leaves also with their parallel veins at right 
angles to the midrib, becoming when blown about by 
the winds, divided into innumerable narrow shreds, 
