COMMENTARY. Sprengel confidently pronounces it to be the _Thalictrum minus_, L., that is to say, the lesser meadow rue of our herbalists. See Parkinson (265.) Dioscorides and Galen state its medicinal properties in the same terms as our author. It is the Thalitruum of Pliny, who likewise praises it as an application to ulcers. (H. N. xxvii, 112.) We have not been able to find it described by any of the Arabian authorities on the Mat. Med. except Ebn Baithar, and it has had no place in our English Dispensatory for many ages past. Θαψία, Thapsia, _Deadly Carrot_, is acrid and strongly calefacient, with some humidity. It therefore attracts strongly the deep-seated fluids, and dispels them when attracted. * * * * * COMMENTARY. The authorities are divided between the _Thapsia Garganica_ and the _Thapsia Asclepium_. Old Gerard gives it the name of deadly carrot, but Parkinson that of scorching fennel. Theophrastus mentions that it purges upwards and downwards. (P. ix, 10, 24.) Pliny describes it as a very acrid poison. (H. N. xxiii, 43.) See Dioscorides (iv, 154.) Serapion states that it is a violent emetic and cathartic, and operates powerfully as an external application. The thapsia has long ceased to be employed in medicine; even old Culpeper calls it “a venomous foreign root, and therefore no more of it.” Θεῖον, _Sulphur_; it likewise is possessed of attractive powers, is hot, and consists of subtile particles, so as to be an antidote against many poisonous animals, more especially the sea-turtle and dragon, either sprinkled dry or mixed with saliva, or with the urine of a child, or oil, or honey. It is also a wonderful remedy for scabious complaints. * * * * *