COMMENTARY. It would appear to be either the _Œnothera Onagra_, Tournefort, or the _Epilobium angustifolium_ L., Narrow-leaved Willow-herb, as Sprengel supposes. Dioscorides describes it minutely, but, like our author, merely recommends it in malignant sores. (iv, 116.) Galen strangely, as we would suppose, says of it, that its juice is of a venous nature, and of the same power as wine. As far as we have been able to discover, it is not to be found in the works of Hippocrates, Celsus, or any of the Arabians. It is worthy of remark that the _Epilobium angustifolium_, although it does not hold a place in our Mat. Med., is still known to the vendors of medicines, and retains the characters which it obtained from the ancients. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 84.) This confirms the conjecture that the onagra is this plant. We would further mention, as confirmatory of this opinion, that the _E. angust._ has been cultivated about gardens in this country from time immemorial, so that there is every reason to believe that it had been introduced by the Romans, no doubt on account of its supposed efficacy in medicine. Ὄνομα ἢ Ὀνομὶς, Onosma, or Onomis, _Stone Bugloss_ (called also Phlomitis or Ononis), is acrid and bitter, and hence the leaves of it when drunk with wine kill and expel the fœtus. * * * * * COMMENTARY. That it was a species of _Anchusa_, or one of its congeners, is obvious, from the description of it given by Dioscorides, who says, the stalk, the fruit, and the flower, are very like to the anchusa. It seems probable, then, that it was some species either of _Anchusa_ or _Lithospermum_. The _Onosma_ of Linnæus, as Sprengel justly remarks (Ad Dioscor. iii, 137), is altogether a plant of a different character. Dioscorides, like our author, says it has great powers in procuring abortion; nay, that it was alleged that if a pregnant woman walked upon the plant she would miscarry. (l. c.) It is said that Aretæus recommends it in nephritic complaints. Pseudo-Dioscor. (Euporist. ii, 112.) Galen and the other authorities who notice it, do so in nearly the same language as our author. We have not been able to discover any traces of it in the works of the Arabians. Ὀνόβρυχις, Onobrychis, _Cockshead_, is possessed of aromatic and discutient powers. It therefore discusses phymata, cures strangury, and proves sudorific. * * * * *