COMMENTARY. Sprengel makes the two species described by Dioscorides to be the _Pæonia officinalis_ and _Corallina_. We have mentioned in the Third Book that it has been much celebrated both in ancient and modern times as a cure for epilepsy when appended as an amulet. See Andreas Laurentius (De Mir. Strumar. Curat. pp. 40, 63), and Macer (De Viribus Herb.) Quincy, in his ‘Complete English Dispensatory’ (London 1769), says of the root of peony, “the good women highly esteem necklaces made of it to hang about their children’s necks for convulsions and difficult breeding of the teeth.” Considering the faith which many _educated_ persons now repose in the virtues of galvanic rings and garters, the present generation has little ground for laughing at the credulity of our forefathers, with respect to amulets and other phylacteries. On the Pæonia, see particularly Dioscorides (iii, 147); Galen (De Simpl. v); Serapion (c. 61); Ebn Baithar (ii, 240.) The _Pæonia officinalis_ is still retained in the Greek Pharmacopœia (p. 121.) Γναφάλιον, Gnaphalium, _Cudweed_, is so called because its soft leaves have been used in place of combed wool (gnaphalum.) They are white and moderately astringent, and are, therefore, drunk with austere wine for dysentery. * * * * * COMMENTARY. There has been a great shifting of names by botanical authorities of late, with regard to the _Gnaphalia_ and the cognate genera. It seems now agreed that the medicinal cotton-weed of the ancients shall be called _Otanthus maritimus_, Link. Our author borrows from Dioscorides and Galen, who both give exactly the same character of this plant, and this it retained down to a very recent period. See Quincy. Γογγυλὶς, Rapum, _Turnip_; the root and seed are flatulent, promote the formation of semen, and rouse to venery. * * * * *