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In olden times it was highly reputed for seasoning and for medicine among the Greeks and the Romans. In Pliny's time it was considered to be effectual for 84 maladies! Today it "hangs only by its eyelids" to our pharmacopoeia. Apicus notes it among the condiments in the third century, and Magnus eleven centuries later praises it among the garden esculents.
The influence of moral effect in war is indisputable, and often tremendous; but like some drugs in the pharmacopoeia, it is very uncertain in its action. The other party may not, as the boys say, "scare worth a cent;" whereas material forces can be closely measured beforehand, and their results reasonably predicted.
The "Antidotarium" of Nicolaus Salernitanus, about 1100, became the popular pharmacopoeia of the Middle Ages, and many modern preparations may be traced to it. The most prominent man of the school is Constantinus Africanus, a native of Carthage, who, after numerous journeys, reached Salernum about the middle of the eleventh century.
It has now long since ceased to be a recognised member of the British Pharmacopoeia, but, having overrun our lanes and thickets in its flush period, it remains to this day a visible botanical and etymological memento of the past twinges of episcopal remorse. Taken as a whole, one may fairly say that the total population of the British Isles consists mainly of three great elements.
Nature's kindly anodyne is telling upon us more and more with every year. Our old doctors used to give an opiate which they called "the black drop." It was stronger than laudanum, and, in fact, a dangerously powerful narcotic. Something like this is that potent drug in Nature's pharmacopoeia which she reserves for the time of need, the later stages of life.
I have always thought we limited our pharmacopoeia. We prescribe pills enough for the body, while we leave the mind to look after itself. Why should not the spirit also have its draughts and mixtures, properly labeled and dispensed! For example, angling appears to be a strong mental opiate. I have seen otherwise normal people stupefied beyond expression when at the butt of a rod and line.
Cephas L. Bard, who, besides extolling their temescals, or sweat-baths, their surgical abilities, as displayed in the operations that were performed upon skulls that have since been exhumed; their hygienic customs, which he declares "are not only commendable, but worthy of the consideration of an advanced civilization," states further: "It has been reserved for the California Indian to furnish three of the most valuable vegetable additions which have been made to the Pharmacopoeia during the last twenty years.
But, remember, after all that can be said about the treatment, there is nothing like change of air, of fresh air, of cold, dry pure air, and of plenty of it the more the little fellow can inhale, during the day, the better it will be for him, it will be far better than any drug contained in the pharmacopoeia.
I observed that my cook showed a faint blue stain in her eyes, but that the other servants showed no signs as yet of the Blue Disease. I went into my study and counted the books; I opened one of them. It was the British Pharmacopoeia. I began mechanically to count the number of drugs it contained. I was still counting them when the breakfast gong sounded.
These legendary and gracious beasts, that inspired poets and artists and glyptic engravers these things of beauty have now descended into the realm of mere usefulness, into the pharmacopoeia. The debasement is quite intelligible, when one remembers what accumulated miseries these provinces have undergone.
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