COMMENTARY. All the authorities agree in giving this article, which evidently is the _Malva Alcæa_, Vervain-mallow, the general characters of the mallow. See particularly Dioscorides (iii, 154.) It does not occur in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus, nor, as far as we know, in those of the Arabians. Ἁλκυονία, Alcyonia; they are detergent and discutient of all matters, being possessed of an acrid quality; but the kind called milesium (it is vermiform and purple) is the best: wherefore, when burnt, it cures alopecia, and cleanses lichen and alphos. That which has a smooth surface is most acrid, proving not only detergent, but likewise excoriating; but that which resembles unwashed wool is the weakest of all. * * * * * COMMENTARY. For an account of the alcyonia, see Aristot. (Hist. Anim. ix, 15); Pliny (N. H. x, 47, and xxxii, 27.) According to Sprengel, the A. consisted of the bones of fishes which the kingfishers had swallowed and vomited up. The term, however, was also applied to a kind of zoophytes, five species of which are described by Dioscorides and Pliny. The 1st species is the _Alcyonium cotoneum_, Pall.; the 2d, the _A. papillosum_; the 3d, the _A. palmatum_; the 4th, the _Spongia stuposa_, Ellis, or _Spongia panicea_, Pall.; and the 5th, the _A. aurantium_, Pall. (Mat. Med. v, 135.) Geoffroy says that the alcyonia “are of a substance much like gum tragacanth, and when mixed in broth of warm milk they swell and make a rich soup.” The zoophytes called alcyonia are a kind of spongy substances, containing a sort of living jelly in their interior. Our author abridges Dioscorides’ account of the _alcyonia_, as likewise do Avicenna (ii, 2, 605) and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 1, 677.) Celsus prescribes it several times as a corrosive, caustic, and cleansing medicine. (v, 6, 7, 18.) We believe it does not occur in the Hippocratic treatises. Ἅλμη, Muria, _Brine_; that which is unmixed with other matter has properties like salts, only weaker from the mixture with water. But the brine of pickled fish and of pickled olives is possessed of very detergent powers, and therefore is injected in ischiatic and dysenteric complaints. * * * * * COMMENTARY. Regarding the nature of this article, there can be no doubt. Galen recommends the brine from pickled fish as a wash for putrid ulcers both of the mouth and rectum. Dioscorides, in addition, recommends it for such cases as sea-water is useful in, when poured upon the part. (v, 126.) Ἀλόη, Aloe, _Aloes_, is heating in the first degree, and desiccative in the third. It is stomachic, detergent, discutient, and eccoprotic. When washed it is less detergent, but more stomachic; it is anti-inflammatory, and promotes the cicatrization of ulcers, especially those about the anus and pudendum. * * * * *