COMMENTARY. It has been supposed to be the _Mentha arvensis_, but nothing is known of it for certain. Nicander notices it in two places. (Alex. 57, and Theriac. 359.) Dioscorides calls it a vulnerary herb, and a remedy for strangury and inward bruises. (iii, 98.) Galen gives the same account of it as our author. The Arabians do not appear to have treated of it. Πολυπόδιον, Polypodium, _Polypody_, is possessed of considerably desiccative powers without pungency. When drunk it purges downwards. * * * * * COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of the root of the π. (_Polypodium vulgare_), that it is purgative, and is given to evacuate phlegm and bile; that it makes a good application to sprains and fissures in the hands. (iv, 185.) Galen and the other Greek authorities merely state its properties in general terms, like our author, with the exception of Ruffus, who treats of it more elaborately. He says it evacuates phlegm, bile, and water; that it should be taken in mulse or water before a meal, when it will purge gently, and thus prove an excellent laxative, especially to children; but that in disease it is not a purgative possessed of much efficacy. (Opera, 14.) The Arabians, and especially Mesue, seem to have attached more importance to it. See Mesue (De Simpl. 5); Serapion (c. 248); Avicenna (ii, 2, 535); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 227.) Mesue recommends it in joint diseases, colic, hardness of the spleen, fevers connected with black bile, and fissures of the hands. The polypody retained its place in the Dispensatory with its ancient characters as late as the time of Quincy (137), and even in the age of Lewis it had not been wholly rejected. (ii, 244.) There seems no good ground for questioning its efficacy as a gentle laxative. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 13.) Πομφόλυξ, Pompholyx, is desiccative without pungency, so that it is useful for carcinomatous and other ill-conditioned ulcers. It is also an ingredient in ophthalmic remedies. * * * * *