320 
London  Botanic  Gardens. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1906. 
"Botanicum  Officinale  ;  or  a  Compendious  Herbal  giving  An  Account 
of  all  such  Plants  as  are  now  used  in  the  Practice  of  Physick.  With 
their  Descriptions  and  Virtues  "  (London,  1722),  be  regarded  as  the 
first  text-book  of  vegetable  Materia  Medica,  worthy  of  the  name,  in 
the  English  language.  Although  Joseph  Miller's  Botanicum  Offici- 
nale is  a  smaller  work  than  Dale's,  it  is  better  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  beginner, 'for  it  is  written  in  English,  and  in  place  of  Dale's 
copious  synonymy,  which  is  more  particularly  of  value  to  the 
advanced  student,  the  author  has  given  longer  description  of  the 
plants,  which  he  hopes,  "  will  not  be  thought  too  particular  y  or  un- 
necessary, since  they  are  written  with  a  Design  to  render  this  Treatise 
as  informing  as  possible;  and  in  Order  to  it"  he  has  "■  not  only  con- 
sidted  Authors  of  the  greatest  Name  in  Botany,"  but  has  "  had 
Recourse  to  most  of  the  Simples  themselves  in  their  natural  Produc- 
tions. All  the  Materials  are  disposed  in  alphabetical  Order,  and  under 
the  same  Names  they  bear  in  the  Catalogue  of  Simples  in  the  last 
Edition  of  the  College  Dispensatory,  together  with  those  given  them 
by  Caspar  Bauhin,  Gerard,  and  Parkinson,  Authors  easiest  to  be  met 
ivith!'  The  following  abstract  from  the  Botanicum  Officinale  will 
show  more  clearly  than  any  description  would  do,  the  difference 
between  the  two  works : — 
Gentiana,  Gentian,  Off.  major,  great  Felwort,  Ger.  major  lutea, 
great  Gentian,  or  Felwort,  C.  B.  Park. 
The  Root  of  the  Great  Gentian  is  large,  thick,  and  woody,  pretty  much  divided, 
of  a  yellow  brown  Colour,  and  a  very  Bitter  Taste ;  the  lower  Leaves  are  pretty 
long  and  broad,  somewhat  roundish,  but  pointed  at  the  Knds,  stiff,  and  pretty 
much  of  the  Shape  of  the  Leaves  of  white  Hellebore  [compare  Plates  XIX  and 
XX,1],  but  of  a  yellow  green  Colour, with  five  large  Veins  on  the  Back  of  each. 
The  Stalk  arises  to  be  a  Yard  or  more  high,  having  two  smaller  and  shorter  Leaves 
growing  opposite  at  each  Joint,  which  are  at  some  Distance.  Among  these,  on 
the  upper  Part  of  the  Stalk,  the  Flowers  grow  verticillatim,  or  are  set  round  it; 
they  are  monopetalous,  or  of  one  Leaf  divided  almost  to  the  Bottom,  into  five 
Segments  laid  open  like  a  Star,  with  a  green  Umbo  in  the  Middle,  beset  with 
yellow  Stamina  and  Apices.  The  Seed  is  small  and  brown,  growing  in  longish 
round  Seed- Vessels.  It  grows  wild  in  the  Alps,  and  in  several  Mountainous 
Parts  of  Germany;  flowering  in  July.    The  Roots  are  used. 
The  virtues  are  described  by  Joseph  Miller  in  inverted  commas, 
and,  according  to  Pulteney,2  they  were  taken  from  [one  of  the  earlier 
1  The  plant  represented  on  Plate  XX  is  Veratrum  viride,  and  not  Veratrum 
album,  but  it  will  serve  just  as  well. 
2  Loc.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  103. 
