the plant is grown to some extent. It is propagated by separating the young plants which are developed at the end of runners emitted from the rootstock.

The wild plant, according to the situation it inhabits, exhibits several divergent forms. Among eight or more varieties noticed by botanists,' we may especially distinguish a. major with a comparatively tall stem and all the leaves toothed, and B. minor (V. angustifolia Tausch) with entire or slightly dentate leaves.

History-The plant which the Greeks and Romans called poû or Phu, and which Dioscorides and Pliny describe as a sort of wild nard, is usually held to be some species of valerian.2

The word Valeriana is not found in the classical authors. We first meet with it in the 9th or 10th century, at which period and for long afterwards, it was used as synonymous with Phu or Fu.

Thus in the writings of Isaac Judæus3 an Egyptian physician, who died at an advanced age, A.D. 932 occurs the following:-"Fu id est valeriana, melior rubea et tenuis et quæ venit de Armenia et est diversa in sua complexione...."

Constantinus Africanus5 who ended his life in 1087, as a monk at Monte Casino where he taught medicine, says-“Fu, id est valeriana. Naturam habet sicut spica nardi. . . ."

The word Valeriane occurs in the recipes of the Anglo-Saxon leeches written as early as the 11th century. Valeriana, Amantilla and Fu are used as synonymous in the Alphita, a inediæval vocabulary of the school of Salernum.7

Saladinus of Ascoli in Italy, directs (circa A.D. 1450) the collection in the month of August of "radices fu id est valerianæ."

Valerian was anciently called in English Setwall, a name properly applied to Zedoary; and the root was so much valued for its medicinal virtues, that as Gerarde (1567) remarks, the poorer classes in the north of England esteemed "no broths, pottage, or physicall meats" to be worth anything without it. Its odour now considered intolerable, was not so regarded in the 16th century, when it was absolutely the custom to lay the root among clothes as a perfume 10 in the same way as those of Valeriana Celtica L. and the Himalayan valerians are still used in the East.

Some of the names applied to valerian in Northern and Central Europe are remarkable. Thus in Scandinavia we find Velandsrot, Velamsrot, Vändelrot (Swedish); Vendelród, Venderód, Vendingsród (Norwegian); and Velandsurt (Danish)—names all signifying Vandals' root." Valerian is also called in Danish Danmarks græs. Among the German-speaking population of Switzerland, a similar word to the last, namely Tannmark,

1 Regel, Tentamen Flora Ussuriensis, 1862 (Mém. de l'Académie de St. Pétersbourg). 2 V. officinalis L. and nine other species, occur in Asia Minor (Tchihatcheff).

3 Opera Omnia, Lugd. 1515, cap. 45.-It must be remembered that this is a translation from the Arabic. How the word in question stands in the original we have no means of knowing.

4 Choulant, Handb. der Bücherkunde für die ältere Medicin, Leipz. 1841. 347.

5 De Omnibus medico cognitu necessariis, Basil. 1539. 348.

Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of early England, iii. (1866) 6. 136.

S. de Renzi, Collectio Saternitana, iii. (1854) 271-322.

8 Compendium Aromatarorium, Bonon. 1488.

9 Herball, 1636, 1078.

10 Turner's Herball, part (1568) 76 Langham, Garden of Health, 1633. 598. 11 H. Jenssen-Tusch, Nordiske Plantenavne, Kjöbenhavn, 1867. 258.

is applied to valerian. The Denemarcha mentioned by St. Hildegard,1 about A.D. 1160, is the same. These names seem to point to some connexion with Northern Europe which we are wholly unable to explain.

Description-The valerian root of the shops consists of an upright rhizome of the thickness of the little finger, emitting a few short horizontal branches, besides numerous slender rootlets. The rhizome is naturally very short, and is rendered still more so by the practice of cutting it in order to facilitate drying. The rootlets which are generally 3 to 4 inches long, attain of an inch in diameter, tapering and dividing into slender fibres towards their extremities. They are shrivelled, very brittle, and, as well as the rhizome, of a dull, earthy brown. When broken transversely, they display a dark epidermis forming part of a thick white bark which surrounds a slender woody column. The interior of the rhizome is compact, firm and horny, but when old becomes hollow, a portion of the tissue remaining however in the form of transverse septa.

The drug has a peculiar, somewhat terebinthinous and camphor-like odour, and a bitterish, aromatic taste. The root when just taken from the ground has no distinctive smell, but acquires its characteristic odour as it dries.

Microscopic Structure2-In the rhizome as well as in the rootlets, the cortical part is separated from the central column by a dark cambial zone; the medullary rays are not distinctly obvious. In old rootstocks, sclerenchymatous cells are met with in the cortical tissue.

The parenchyme of the drug is loaded with small starch granules, brownish grains of tannic matter and drops of essential oil.

Chemical Composition-Volatile oil is contained in the dry root to the extent of to 2 per cent. This variation in quantity is partly explained by the influence of locality, a dry, stony soil yielding a root richer in oil than one that is moist and fertile. According to Zeller, the oil appears to be more abundant in autumn than in spring. But Schoonbroodt has shown that the most important influence is the recent condition of the root. He states that if the root is submitted to distillation while perfectly fresh, it yields a neutral water and a large quantity of essential oil. The latter has but a very faint odour, but by exposure to the air it slowly acidifies, especially if a little alkali is added, and acquires a strong smell. Valerianic Acid which is thus formed, amounts to 6 per mille of the fresh root. The dried root yields a distillate of decided valerian odour, containing valerianic acid, but in proportion not exceeding 4 per mille of the root calculated as fresh. Thus, by the operation of drying, the essential oil is oxidized in the root itself, and furnishes the acid and resinoid secondary products. Bouchardat is of opinion that even the essential oil does not exist in the living plant, but that it is formed by a reaction similar to that which takes place in the production of oil of bitter almonds.

1 Physica, Argent. 1533. 62.

2 The structure of the rhizomes and roots of the different species of valerian has recently been discussed by Joannes Chatin in his Etudes sur les Valérianées, Paris, 1872, illustrated by 14 beautiful plates.

3 Journ. de Médecine de Bruxelles, 1867 and 1868; Wittstein's Vierteljahresschrift f. prakt. Pharm. xviii. (1869) 73.

4 Manuel de Matière Médicale, i. (1865) 290.

Oil of valerian as obtained from the dried root, is a mixture of valerianic acid (about 5 per cent.), Valerene or Borneene C10H16 (about 25 per cent.) and 70 per cent. of oxygenated compounds, partly crystallizing at 0°C., and easily resinifying. The nature of these compounds has not yet been distinctly made out; among them have been found Valerol, CH1oO, and a camphor, C10H180, identical with Borneol or Dryobalanops Camphor. Valerene much resembles oil of turpentine. The composition of the neutral oil yielded by the fresh root is doubtless simpler, and ought to be ascertained.

Valerianic Acid, C5H10O2, was discovered in valerian root by Pentz in 1819, and more fully examined by Grote in 1830. In composition and most of its properties, it is the same as the valerianic acid produced by the oxidation of amylic alcohol; but in certain other points, these acids do not agree.1

After distillation of the oil, there is found a strongly acid residue containing malic acid, resin, and sugar,―the last capable, according to Schoonbroodt, of reducing cupric oxide.

Uses-Valerian is employed as a stimulant and antispasmodic.

Substitute-The less aromatic and now disused root of Valeriana Phu L, consists of a thicker rhizome which lies in the earth obliquely; it is less closely annulated and rooted at the bottom only.

2

Radix Enula, Radix Helenii; Elecampane; F. Racine d'Aunée; G. Alantwurzel.

Botanical Origin-Inula Helenium L.-This stately perennial plant is very widely distributed, occurring scattered throughout the whole of central and southern Europe, and extending eastward to the Caucasus, Southern Siberia and the Himalaya. It is found here and there apparently wild in the south of England and Ireland, as well as in Southern Norway and in Finland (Schübeler).

Elecampane was formerly cultivated in gardens as a medicinal and culinary plant, and in this manner has wandered to North America. In Holland and some parts of England and Switzerland, it is cultivated on a somewhat larger scale.

History-The plant was known to the ancients as Celsus, Columella, Dioscorides, and Pliny, in whose time it was used both as a medicine and a condiment. Marcellus Empiricus in the 5th century, and St. Isidore in the beginning of the 7th, name it as Inula, the latter adding quam Alam rustici vocant." It is frequently mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon writings on medicine, current in England prior to the Norman Conquest; and was generally well known during the middle ages. Not only was its root much employed as a medicine, but it was also candied and eaten as a sweetmeat.

1 Schorlemmer, Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds, 1874. pp. 162-165.

2 A corruption of Enula Campana, the latter word referring to the growth of the plant in Campania (Italy).

Description-For pharmaceutical use, the root is taken from plants two or three years old; when more advanced, it becomes too woody. The principal mass of the root is a very thick short crown, dividing below into several fleshy branches of which the larger are an inch or two in diameter, covered with a pale yellow bark, internally whitish and juicy. The smaller roots are dried entire; the larger are variously sliced, which occasions them to curl up irregularly. When dried, they are of a light grey, brittle, horny, smooth-fractured. Cut transversely, the young root exhibits an indistinct radiate structure, with a somewhat darker cambial zone separating the thick bark from the woody nucleus. The pith is not sharply defined, and is often porous and hollow. In the older roots the bark is relatively much thinner, and the internal substance is nearly uniform. Elecampane root has a weak aromatic odour suggestive of orris and camphor, and a slightly bitter, not unpleasant, aromatic taste.

Microscopic Structure-The medullary rays, both of the woody column and the inner part of the bark (endophlæum), exhibit large balsam-ducts. In the fresh root they contain an aromatic liquid, which as it dries deposits crystals of helenin, probably derived from the essential oil. The parenchymatous cells of the drug are loaded with inulin in the form of splinter-like fragments, devoid of any peculiar structure.

Chemical Composition-It was observed by Le Fèbvre1 as early as 1660, that when the root of elecampane is subjected to distillation with water, a colourless crystallizable substance collects in the head of the receiver, from which it speedily passes on as the operation proceeds. The same substance may also be observed after carefully heating a thin slice of the root, and it is even found as a natural efflorescence on the surface of root that has been long kept. It has a faint odour and aromatic taste, is fusible at 72° C., and readily soluble in alcohol, but not in water. Until recently it has been considered a distinct body under the name of Helenin; 2 but from the investigations of Kallen,3 it would appear to be a compound of two substances, both crystallizable, the one of which he calls Helenin and the other Alantcamphor. Kallen assigns to his helenin the formula CHSO; and describes the substance as fusible at 110° C. and devoid of odour and taste. Alantcamphor (i.e. elecampane-camphor) has probably the formula C10H160; it melts at 64° C., and in taste and smell is suggestive of peppermint. It is very difficult entirely to remove helenin from alantcamphor, these substances being soluble to nearly the same extent in alcohol or ether. By distilling the second of them with pentasulphide of phosphorus, Cymol, (10H14, was obtained. Volatile oil appears to be present in elecampane.

The substance most abundantly contained in elecampane root is Inulin, discovered in it by Valentine Rose in 1804. It has the same composition as starch, C10H20O10, but stands to a certain extent in opposition to that substance, which it replaces in the root-system of Composita. Inulin has not yet been detected with certainty in plants of any other tribe.

1

Apoticaire ordinaire du Roy, distillateur

chymique de sa Majesté -Traité de la

Chymic, Paris, i. (1660) 375-377.

2 Gmelin, Chemistry, xvii. (1866) 522.

3 Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 1874. 1506.

In living plants, inulin is dissolved in the watery juice, and on drying is deposited within the cells in amorphous masses, which in polarized light are inactive, and are not coloured by iodine. There are various other characters, by which inulin differs from starch. Thus for instance, inulin readily dissolves in about 3 parts of boiling water; the solution is perfectly clear and fluid, not paste-like; but on cooling deposits nearly all the inulin. The solution is levogyre and is easily transformed into uncrystallizable sugar. With nitric acid, inulin affords no explosive compound as starch does.

Sachs showed in 1864, that by immersing the roots of elecampane or Dahlia variabilis or of many other perennial Composita, in alcohol or glycerin, inulin may be precipitated in a crystalline form. Its globular aggregates of needle-shaped crystals ("sphæro-crystals") then exhibit under the polarizing microscope, a cross similar to that displayed by starch grains.

The amount of inulin varies according to the season, but is most abundant in the autumn. Of the various sources for it, the richest appears to be elecampane; Dragendorff, who has made it the subject of a very exhaustive treatise, obtained from the root in October not less than 44 per cent., but in spring only 19 per cent.

1

In the roots of the Composita, inulin is accompanied according to Popp, by two closely allied substances, Synanthrose, C12H22O11 + H20, and Inuloid, C6H1005+ H2O. Synanthrose is soluble in dilute alcohol, devoid of any rotatory power, and deliquescent. Inuloïd is much more readily soluble in water than inulin. Both these substances are probably present in elecampane.

Uses-Elecampane is an aromatic tonic, but as a medicine is now obsolete. It is chiefly sold for veterinary practice. In France and Switzerland (Neuchâtel), it is employed in the distillation of Absinthe.

RADIX PYRETHRI.

Pellitory Root, Pellitory of Spain; F. Pyrèthre salivaire; G. Bertramwurzel.

Botanical Origin-Anacyclus Pyrethrum DC. (Anthemis Pyrethrum L.), a low perennial plant with small, much divided leaves, and a radiate flower resembling a large daisy. It is a native of Algeria, growing on the high plateaux that intervene between the fertile coast regions and the desert.

History The Túpe@pov of Dioscorides was an umbelliferous plant. the determination of which must be left to conjecture. The pellitory of modern times was familiar to the Arabian writers on medicine, one of whom, Ibn Baytar (ob. A.D. 1248), describes it very correctly from specimens gathered by himself near the city of Constantine in Algeria. The plant, says he, called by the Berbers sandasab, is found nowhere but in Western Africa, from which region it is carried to other countries.3 Pellitory root is a favourite remedy in the East, and has long been 1 Materialien zu einer Monographie des Inulins, St. Petersburg, 1870. 141 pages.-See also Prantl's paper on Inulin, as abstracted in Pharm. Journ. Sept. 1871. 262.

Wiggers and Husemann, Jahresbericht for 1870. 68.

3 Sontheimer's translation, ii. (1842) 179