Note 590 — PHARMACOLOGIA. (continued 5)

It has been stated in the Historical Introduction to this work, (page 8) that the nepenthe, which Helen mixed with wine, and gave to the guests of Menelaus, was probably opium; such was the opinion of Sprengel, expressed in his History of Botany. Other authors have entertained a different belief. Delile, in his “Flora Egyptiaca,” considers it to have been a preparation of hyoscyamus albus. Dr. Christen, in his late elaborate Dissertation on Opium, agrees with Forbes, who states, in his Oriental Memoirs, that in Hindostan Bendsch, i. e. nepenthe is prepared from the cannabis sativa of Linnæus. Linder informs us that bangue is prepared from the dried leaves of the wild cannabis, the smoke of which is said to be more narcotic than even that of opium. There seems, however, to be good reason for supposing that Indian bangue is a compound of several ingredients. Ray says that he learned from Sir Hans Sloane, that the principal ingredient was not hemp, but a plant somewhat like it.