Aconitum, _Wolfsbane_, is possessed of septic and deleterious properties; it is, therefore, not to be taken internally, but externally it may be applied to flesh requiring erosion. The lycoctonon, being possessed of the same properties as the former, is particularly fatal to wolves, as the other is to panthers. * * * * * COMMENTARY. The two species of aconite described by Dioscorides (iv, 77), and the other authorities, are generally supposed to be the _Doronicum Pardalianches_ and the _Aconitum Napellus_. In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia, the _Neomontanum_ is substituted for the former of these. The κάμμαρον of Hippocrates would seem to be the latter. It has been already treated of among the poisonous substances in the Fifth Book (§ 45.) It was used only as an anodyne, and principally in complaints of the eyes. Avicenna in treating of the aconites, borrows closely from Dioscorides (ii, 2, 361, 676.) He says of the lycoctonon, that it is not administered either internally or externally. Rhases says of the aconite, that it was used to relieve pains of the eyes. (Cont. l. ult. i, 20.) Ἄκορον, Acorum, _Sweet Flag_, heats and dries in the third degree. We use its root for a diuretic, and for scirrhus of the spleen. It also attenuates a thickened cornea. * * * * * COMMENTARY. It appears indisputably to be the _Acorus pseudacorus_, as even Gerarde the old herbalist has clearly stated, and not the _Acorus verus_, as Dr. Hill and others have maintained. All the ancient authorities ascribe much the same virtues to it as our author. See particularly Dioscorides (i, 2); Avicenna (ii, 2, 45); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 21); Serapion (c. 269.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia it is identified with the κάλαμος ἁρωματικός (p. 32.) Ἀκρίδες, Locustæ, _Grasshoppers_, in fumigations relieve dysuria, especially of women. The wingless grasshopper, when drunk in wine, relieves the bite of scorpions. * * * * * COMMENTARY. It is quite certain that the Ἀκρὶς of the Greeks, and the _Locusta_ of the Romans was a species of locust or grasshopper. See Harduin (ad Plin. H. N. xi, 35.) Without doubt, then, it was the _Gryllus migratorius L._ The wingless locusta mentioned by our author is the insect in its larvous state. Our author copies from, and abridges, Dioscorides (ii, 56); and Avicenna does the same (ii, 2, 388.) Celsus treats of the locusta only as an article of food (ii, 28.) In this way, as is well known, the locusts were much used by the ancients. They are not noticed, however, either as an article of food or of medicine in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia. Ἄκτη μεγάλη, Sambucus, _the Elder-tree_, and Χαμαιάκτη, Sambucus humilis _vel_ Ebulus, _Dwarf-elder_, are possessed of desiccative, moderately discutient and agglutinative powers. When eaten or drunk they occasion a discharge of water from the bowels. * * * * *