COMMENTARY. We have treated of the olive as an article of food in another place. (Vol. I, 135.) The Ethiopian or wild olive comprehended several species of the _Elæagnus_. The tears of it, mentioned by Dioscorides and our author, and likened to gum ammoniac, are now unknown. Some, as Parkinson remarks, have supposed it our gum elemi, but that is probably a mistake. All the authorities, Greek, Latin, and Arabian, mention it as a sour, astringent medicine. Samonicus calls it “succis oleaster acerbis.” Abu l’Fadli calls it a powerful astringent. (Apud Celsii Hierobot.) The leaves of the cultivated olive Dioscorides says have the same kind of powers as the wild, but in an inferior degree, and hence, from their greater mildness, they are more suitable for ophthalmic remedies; he also recommends the juice of the green olive in pityriasis, psora, and other cutaneous diseases. (i, 136.) We need not follow out what has been written by the others on this subject. Ἔλαιον. For an account of the oils used by the ancients in the practice of medicine, see in particular Dioscorides (i, 29 et seq.), Galen (De Simpl. vi), and Mesue (De Oleis.) The _Oleum Cicinum_, i. e. oil of the palma christi, now called _castor oil_, is often mentioned by the ancient authors. Dioscorides states that it is purgative and anthelminthic. Aëtius states that _linseed oil_ may often be used instead of it. _Almond oil_ he particularly commends in complaints of the ears. The _oil of Sesame_, he says, resembles common oil, being a gentle purgative; it is the _gingilie_ oil of the modern Hindoos. Serapion recommends the oil of olives as an astringent application to stop profuse perspiration, to remove scabies and other cutaneous complaints on the head, to cure aphthæ and ulcers of the mouth, and for various other complaints. He, however, merely copies from Dioscorides, (i, 136.) But of all the ancient authorities, Mesue is the one who gives the fullest account of the composition and medicinal powers of the oils. Some of them are not described by the Greeks before his time, as far as we know. We shall give a specimen of a few of his prescriptions. His _oil of mandragora_, which he recommends for extinguishing inflammation and procuring sleep, is prepared from equal parts of the juice of its berries and oil of sesame boiled in a double vessel until the juice be evaporated. Add, he says, a little juice and boil again, do so a third time, and lay it aside. For the oil of mandrake a much more complicated receipt is given by Myrepsus (xvi, 50), which held its place in our Pharmacopœia down to the days of Quincy. (Complete Dispensatory, 527.) The _oil of eggs_, which Mesue commends strongly from experience for cleansing the skin, curing cutaneous eruptions, making hair grow, and curing malignant ulcers, he directs to be prepared thus: about thirty yelks of eggs hardened by boiling, and broken down into pieces, are to be fried in an earthen