COMMENTARY. Several species of the _Salix_ are described by Theophrastus and other ancient authors. Milligan refers that of Celsus to _S. alba_, _fragilis_, and _purpurea_; but to define the species, which are so numerous in this genus, is futile. But that the _Alba_ was _one_ of the medicinal willows of the ancients, can admit of no doubt. See Parkinson (1430.) Dioscorides says the fruit and leaves, and bark and juice of the willow tree are possessed of an astringent power, and accordingly he recommends them both externally and internally in various complaints for which astringents are indicated, such as hæmoptysis, and as a fomentation in arthritic complaints. He also mentions the ley of it when prepared with vinegar for the removal of callus and corns. (i, 35.) Galen also gives a very elaborate statement of its medicinal virtues; he says it is desiccative without pungency, and has some astringency; and he recommends it strongly in the same cases as Dioscorides and our author; indeed, the latter merely abridges Galen. Aëtius copies from Galen almost word for word. The Arabians treat fully of it; but in the same terms as their Grecian masters. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 2, 250); Avicenna (ii, 2, 319, 677); Serapion (De Simpl. 136); Ebn Baithar (i, 122.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia both the _Salix fragilis_ and _alba_ stand for the ancient ἰτέα. Ἰχθυοκόλλα, Ichthyocolla, _Fish-glue_; its powers are emplastic and desiccant. It answers well for the composition of cephalic and agglutinative plasters, and of those which are prepared for leprosy; also for removing wrinkles from the face. * * * * * COMMENTARY. That described by Dioscorides and our author was got from the _Acipenser Huso_. The large fish described by Herodotus, and Eustathius, in his commentary on the work of Dionysius the geographer, under the name of Antacæus, was, most probably, nearly the same as the Huso. See the modern Greek Pharmacopœia (83.) Artedi makes the _Huso_, _Ichthyocolla_ and _Antacæus_ to be varieties of the species of _Acipenser_, which he calls _Acipenser tuberculis carens_. It would appear to be the ὀξυρύγχος of Ælian. (H. A. xvii, 32.) He makes mention of its gluten or isinglass. Our author’s account of its medicinal virtues is mostly copied from Dioscorides. The others supply no additional information. The Arabians treat of it under the general head of gluten, and recommend it in the same cases as the Greeks, quoting Dioscorides, Galen, and Paulus. Serapion and Rhases recommend it in hæmoptysis. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 202); Serapion (c. 138); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 336.) Κάκανος, Cacanus; its root is moderately desiccative and not pungent, also emplastic, and hence it relieves roughness of the windpipe in a linctus with wine, and when chewed like tragacanth and liquorice. * * * * *