30 
GELSEMINUM  VS.  JASMINUM. 
to  whom  the  siveet  taste  (of  the  lead  salt)  and  the  crystallized  appearance  will 
form  an  attraction,  thereby  producing  obscure  cases  of  illness  and 
poisoning.  The  inventors  of  such  deleterious  articles  deserve,  if  not 
punishment,  public  censure  for  thus  placing  the  health  of  human  beings 
in  jeopardy. 
The  manufacture  and  sale  of  these  cards  in  this  city  has  been  forbidden 
by  law. 
Yours  most  respectfully, 
Albert  E.  Ebert. 
GELSEMINUM,  versus  JASMINUM. 
By  the  Editor. 
In  the  Chicago  Medical  Journal,  Dr.  Jonathan  W.  Brooks, 
after  referring  to  the  notice  of  the  yellow  jasmin  in  the  United 
States  Dispensatory,  12th  edition,  by  Dr.  Wood,  gravely  enume- 
rates a  list  of  works  from  Dioscorides  down  to  the  London  Dis- 
pensatory of  1811  as  authorities  on  the  subject,  calls  in  question 
the  authorities  of  Dr.  Wood,  and  winds  up  with  the  following 
paragraph  : 
"  The  apparent  nec  essity  of  thus  noticing  the  above  article  in 
the  writings  of  so  indefatigable,  excellent  and  earnest  a  worker 
in  the  cause  of  medical  science  is  to  be  regretted  "  (!). 
The  learning  of  Dr.  Brooks  has  for  this  once,  at  least,  proven 
false  to  him.  The  learned  old  Greek  wrote  about  many  things, 
some  of  which  it  is  difficult  now  to  recognize,  but  he  never  wrote 
about  or  heard  of  the  Greheminum  sempervireyis  of  our  Southern 
States,  which  no  doubt  flowered  and  evolved  its  fragrance  in  the 
days  of  Nero,  as  it  does  now ;  but  Nero's  galleys  never  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  bring  that  wise  physician  this  valuable  American 
plant.  The  fact  is,  Dr.  Brooks  confounds  the  so-called  yellow 
jasmin,  which  is  not  a  jasmin  at-  all,  with  the  Jasminum  officinale, 
and  in  this  he  has  been  misled  by  the  fact  that  the  generic  name 
given  to  the  yellow  jasmin — Gelseminum — is  one  of  the  ancient' 
names  for  the  true  jasmin,  and  possibly  that  under  which  Diosco- 
rides described  it. 
The  yellow  jasmin  of  the  South,  though  long  known  to  botan- 
ists as  a  beautiful  and  fragrant  climber,  only  recently  became 
known  as  a  powerful  medicinal  agent,  used  in  irregular  practice 
before  it  was  employed  by  physicians. 
