Mentha, _Mint_, is hot, consists of subtile particles; its powers are acrid in the third order, with some half-concocted fluids; it therefore provokes to venery. It has, likewise, some bitterness, by which means it kills intestinal worms; and by its sourness its restrains recent discharges of blood. * * * * * COMMENTARY. We need have no hesitation in referring it with all the best commentators to the _Mentha sativa_, L. Dioscorides says it has calefacient, astringent, and desiccative powers; and hence, he adds, it stops the discharge of blood when drunk with vinegar, and kills the round worms. (iii, 36.) According to him, it stimulates the male to venery, but prevents conception in the female when applied on a pessary before coition. He further says of it, that it stops hiccup, vomiting, and cholera, when taken in a draught along with the juice of an acid pomegranate. He also recommends it, in the form of an external application, for headache, complaints of the breast, and other cases. Galen pronounces mint to be one of the most attenuate articles in the Mat. Med. He agrees with Dioscorides that it is useful in hæmoptysis; and that it is anthelminthic and aphrodisiac. The author of the Hippocratic treatise ‘_De Diætâ_,’ while, like Dioscorides, he gives mint the credit of promoting the urinary discharge and stopping vomiting, says, that taken in great quantity it weakens the semen and stops erections. Aristotle likewise holds the opinion that mint is anaphrodisiac. (Bibl. ii, 20.) Aëtius, seemingly with the desire of reconciling these great authorities, maintains that mint indeed generates much semen, but of a feeble nature. (Tetr. iv, 4, 26.) Ludovicus Nonnius, by the way, also attempts to account for the difference among the professional authorities on this point. (De re Cib. i, 15.) See also Rutty, (Mat. Med. 323), and Parkinson (35.) The Arabians in treating of it follow Dioscorides and Galen closely, and add little or nothing of their own. They all agree with Dioscorides, that it is aphrodisiac and stops vomiting. See in particular Serapion (290), and Avicenna (ii, 2, 188.) We need scarcely mention that this species of _Mentha_ is now rejected from our Mat. Med., but that three other species of it are still retained. Ἡδύσαρον ἢ Πελέκινος, Hedysarum, _French Honeysuckle_, is bitter and subastringent. It is therefore stomachic, when taken in a liquid form, and clears away visceral obstructions. * * * * *