in the materia medica, a root, the several pieces of which differ so much from one another in shape, that they have been divided into two kinds, as if two different things, under the names of the long and round zedoary, being only the several parts of the same root.

Zedoary is to be chosen fresh, found, and hard, in large pieces; it matters not as to shape, whether long or round; of a smooth surface, and of a sort of fatty appearance within, too hard to be bitten by the teeth, and of the briskest smell that may be; such as is friable, dusty, and worm eaten, is to be rejected.

Zedoary, both of the long and round kind, is brought us from China; and we find by the Arabians, that they also had it from the same place. The round tubers are less frequent than the long, and some of them have therefore supposed them the produce of a different and more rare plant; but this is not so probable as that the general form of the root is long, and the round tubers are only lusus naturae, and less frequent in it.

Zedoary, distilled with common water, affords a thick and dense essential oil, which soon concretes of itself into a kind of camphor, and on this oil its virtues principally depend. It is a sudorific, and is much recommended by some in fevers, especially of the malignant kinds. It is also given with success as an expectorant in all disorders of the breast, arising from a tough phlegm, which it powerfully incides and attenuates; it is also good against flatulences, and in the cholic; it strengthens the stomach, and assists digestion; and, finally, is given with success in nervous cases of all kinds.