COMMENTARY. It appears to be the _Peucedanum officinale_, Angl. Hog’s-fennel, or Sulphur-wort. Dioscorides gives a very correct account of this plant, and of the well-known gum, or rather resin, which exudes from it. He says the gum is possessed of a strong smell, is of a tawny colour, and heats the taste, and when rubbed in along with vinegar and rose oil proves beneficial in cases of lethargy, phrenitis, vertigo, epilepsy, chronic headaches, paralytic attacks, sciatica, and convulsions, and in all nervous affections when rubbed in with oil and vinegar; that when smelled to it rouses from hysteric convulsions, and from catalepsy, &c. He speaks also of its being efficacious in coughs, dyspnœa and tormina; says that it loosens the belly gently, reduces swelling of the spleen, and greatly assists in cases of difficult labour; that it is useful in pains of the kidneys and in those of the bladder, and that its root is useful for the same purposes, but is less energetic. (iii, 182.) Galen also has a very interesting section on this article in his work ‘On Simples,’ explaining its action upon the principles of his system. Aëtius, like our author, follows Galen. Celsus recommends it in pains of the joints as an external application. (211, ed. Milligan.) The Arabians give it the same characters as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 86); Serapion (c. 286.) The root and gum resin of _peucedanum_, although now rejected from our Dispensatory, are still to be found in the shops of the apothecaries, where they retain their ancient characters. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 80.) Πεύκη, Picea, _the Pitch Tree_, has similar powers to the pine, but more moderate. * * * * * COMMENTARY. We think there is no doubt that it is the _Pinus Cembro_, L., or Aphernousli pine. The fruit of it, namely, the Cembro nuts, are called στρόβιλοι by the Greek authorities. Dioscorides says when drunk with must or the seed of cucumber they are diuretic, and allay irritation of the bladder, kidneys, and stomach. Taken fresh from the tree and bruised, and boiled in must, he says, they suit old and consumptive coughs. (See further under πίτυς.) Πήγανον, Ruta, _Rue_; the wild belongs to the fourth order of calefacients and desiccants; but the cultivated to the third, dividing and discussing the thick and viscid humours. It also promotes the urinary discharge, and is composed of subtile parts and carminative; hence it restrains venereal appetites. * * * * *