COMMENTARY. Pliny gives the following account of it: “Siræum quod alii hepsema, nostri sapam appellant, ingenii, non naturæ opus est, musto usque ad tertiam partem mensuræ decocto: quod ubi factum ad dimidiam est, defrutum vocamus.” (H. N. xiv, 11.) Harduin states that the Hepsema is called _Rob_ or _Sapa semplex_. (l. c.) Moses Charras gives the following directions for preparing it: “℞. Of the new juice of white grapes perfectly ripe, lb. xxx; boil it over a gentle fire in an earthen glazed vessel, or a copper vessel tinned within, until a third part of the juice only remains. But if you desire a _defrutum_, boil it only to the consumption of the third part.” (Roy. Phar. p. 70.) The following prescription, taken from a still later writer, will further be useful in illustrating the meaning of a term which often occurs in the course of this work, but which has now fallen into disuse. “The Simple Rob or Sapa. Take of juice newly expressed from generous and white grapes any quantity, and boil it over a slow fire, until one pint of it only remains out of three, or it becomes of a honey consistence.” Quincy’s Dispensatory (432.) Few of the other authorities treat of this article at all, and those that do, despatch their notice of it in few words. Thus, for example, Avicenna says of rob, that it is expectorant, and hence it is made an ingredient in the syrup of poppies; and that it is useful in pain of the kidneys and bladder. (ii, 2, 570.) Ζέια, Far, _Spelt_, has powers like the kinds of wheat, holding an intermediate place as to heating and cooling; it is also gently desiccative and emplastic. * * * * * COMMENTARY. This, as we have explained elsewhere (Vol. I, 123), is the _Triticum Spelta_, to which our older herbalists give the names Greek Wheat, Spelt Wheat, or Spelt Corn. That the _Zeia_ of the Greeks was identical with the _Far_ of the Romans, is proved beyond all dispute from a passage of Asclepiades preserved by Galen. (De Locis Affectis, ix.) The term _spelta_ is derived from the latino-barbarous translations of the Arabians. See Serapion (122), who quotes under this head the chapter of Dioscorides on _tragus_, which was spelt deprived of its hull. The other authorities say little of spelt as a medicine; but commend it highly as an article of food. (See Vol. I, l. c.) Avicenna describes it by the name of _harcoman_ (ii, 2, 323); and Rhases by that of _haratinam_ (Cont. l. ult. i, 352.) Ζιγγιβὲρ, Zingiber, _Ginger_; its root is powerfully heating, but not on its first application, as it contains some crude and thick juice, on which account it readily becomes carious, but it preserves the heat. * * * * *