Latin Texts & Translations

THE face of man has recently been sensible of new forms of disease, unknown ^[Note] in ancient times, not only to Italy, but to almost the whole of Europe. Still, however, they have not as yet extended to the whole of Italy, nor have they made any very great inroads in Illyricum, Gaul, or Spain, or indeed any other parts, to so great an extent as in Rome and its environs. Though unattended with pain, and not dangerous to life, these diseases are of so loathsome a nature, that any form of death would be preferable to them.

The most insupportable of all these diseases is the one which, after its Greek appellation, is known to us as "lichen." ^[Note] In consequence, however, of its generally making its first appearance at the chin, the Latin's, by way of joke, originally—so prone are mankind to make a jest of the misfortunes of others —gave it the name of "mentagra;" ^[Note] an appellation which has since become established in general use. In many cases, however, this disease spreads over the interior of the mouth, and takes possession of the whole face, with the sole exception of the eyes; after which, it passes downwards to the neck, breast, and hands, covering them with foul furfuraceous eruptions.

This curse was unknown to the ancients, ^[Note] and in the times of our fathers even, having first entered Italy in the middle of

the reign of the Emperor Tiberius ^[Note] Claudius Cæsar; where it was introduced from Asia, ^[Note] in which country it had lately made ^[Note] its appearance, by a member of the equestrian order at Rome, a native of Perusiun, secretary to the quæstor. The disease, however, did not attack either females or slaves, ^[Note] nor yet the lower orders, or, indeed, the middle classes, but only the nobles, being communicated even by the momentary contact requisite for the act of salutation. ^[Note] Many of those who persevered in undergoing a course of remedial treatment, though cured of the disease, retained scars upon the body more hideous even than the malady itself; it being treated with cauteries, as it was certain to break out afresh, unless means were adopted for burning it out of the body by cauterizing to the very bone.

Upon this occasion several physicians repaired to Rome from Egypt, that fruitful parent of maladies of this nature, men who devoted themselves solely to this branch of medical practice; and very considerable were the profits they made. At all events, it is a well-known fact that Manilius Cornutus, a personage of prætorian rank, and legatus of the province of Aquitania, expended no less a sum than two hundred thousand ^[Note] sesterces upon his cure.

It is much more frequently, on the other hand, that we hear of new forms of diseases attacking the lower orders; a singular fact, and one quite unequalled for the marvellous phænomena which sometimes attend these outbreaks. Thus, for instance, we find an epidemic suddenly making its appearance in a certain country, and then confining itself, as though it had made its election so to do, to certain parts of the body, certain ages, and even certain pursuits in life. In the same way, too, while

one class of diseases attacks the young, another confines itself to adults; while one malady extends itself only to the higher classes, another is felt exclusively by the poor.

We find it stated in the Annals, that it was in the censorship ^[Note] of L. Paulus and Q. Marcius that carbuncle ^[Note] was first introduced into Italy, a malady which till then had confined itself solely to the province of Gallia Narbonensis. In the year in which I am writing these lines, two persons of consular rank have died of this disease, Julius Rufus ^[Note] and Q. Lecanius Bassus; ^[Note] the former in consequence of an incision unskilfully made by his medical attendants, the latter through a wound upon the thumb of the left hand by pricking a carbuncle with a needle, a wound so small originally as to be hardly perceptible.

This disease makes its appearance in the more hidden ^[Note] parts of the human body, and mostly beneath the tongue. It originally has the form of a hard, red, pimple, with a blackish head mostly, though sometimes of a livid colour. It produces tension of the flesh, but unattended with swelling, pain, or any itching sensation; indeed, the only symptom that accompanies it is a confirmed drowsiness, which overpowers the patient, and carries him off in the course of three days. Sometimes, however, it is accompanied with shuddering, and small pustules about the sore; and occasionally, though but rarely, with fever. When these symptoms extend to the fauces and œsophagus, death ensues with the greatest rapidity.

We have already ^[Note] stated that elephantiasis ^[Note] was unknown

in Italy before the time of Pompeius Magnus. This malady, too, like those already mentioned, mostly makes its first appearance in the face. In its primary form it bears a considerable resemblance to a small lentil upon the nose; the skin gradually dries up all over the body, is marked with spots of various colours, and presents an unequal surface, being thick in one place, thin in another, indurated every here and there, and covered with a sort of rough scab. At a later period, the skin assumes a black hue, and compresses the flesh upon the bones, the fingers and toes becoming swollen.

This disease was originally peculiar to Egypt. Whenever it attacked the kings of that country, it was attended with peculiarly fatal effects to the people, it being the practice to temper their sitting-baths with human blood, for the treatment of the disease. As for Italy, however, its career was very soon cut short: the same was the case, too, with the disease known as "gemursa" Fée thinks that this may have been a sort of abscess similar to those between the fingers which are known as fourches by the French, and by medical men as "Aposthema phalangum." Gruner considers it to be a sort of Elephantiasis, and Triller identifies it with the disease called Gumretha by the Talmudists. to the ancients, a malady which made its appearance between the toes, and the very name of which is now buried in oblivion.

It is a remarkable fact that some diseases should disappear from among us, while others, again, should continue to prevail, colic ^[Note] for example. It was only in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar that this malady made its appearance in Italy, the emperor himself being the first to be attacked by it; a circumstance which produced considerable mystification throughout the City, when it read the edict issued by that prince excusing his inattention to public business, on the ground of his being laid up with a disease, the very name of which was till then unknown. To what cause are we to attribute these various diseases, or how is it that we have thus incurred the anger of the gods? Was it deemed too little for man to be exposed to

fixed and determinate classes of maladies, already more than three hundred in number, that he must have new forms of disease to alarm him as well? And then, in addition to all these, not less in number are the troubles and misfortunes which man brings upon himself!

The remedies which I am here describing, are those which were universally employed in ancient times, Nature herself, so to say, making up the medicines: indeed, for a long time these were the only medicines employed.

(2.) Hippocrates, ^[Note] it is well known, was the first to compile a code of medical precepts, a thing which he did with the greatest perspicuity, as his treatises, we find, are replete with information upon the various plants. No less is the information which we gain from the works of Diocles ^[Note] of Carystus, second only in reputation, as well as date, to Hippocrates. The same, too, with reference to the works of Praxagoras, Chrysippus, and, at a later period, Erasistratus ^[Note] of Cos. Herophilus ^[Note] too, though himself the founder of a more refined system of medicine, was extremely profuse of his commendations of the use of simples. At a later period, however, experience, our most efficient instructor in all things, medicine in particular, gradually began to be lost sight of in mere words and verbiage: it being found, in fact, much more agreeable to sit in schools, and to listen to the talk of a professor, than to go a simpling in the deserts, and to be searching for this plant or that at all the various seasons of the year.

Still, however, the ancient theories remained unshaken, based as they were upon the still existing grounds of universally acknowledged experience; until, in the time of Pom- peius Magnus, Asclepiades, ^[Note] a professor of rhetoric, who considered himself not sufficiently repaid by that pursuit, and whose readiness and sagacity rendered him better adapted for any other than forensic practice, suddenly turned his attention to the medical art. Having never practised medicine, and being totally unacquainted with the nature of remedies—a

knowledge only to be acquired by personal examination and actual experience—as a matter of course, he was obliged to renounce all previously-established theories, and to trust rather to his flowing periods and his well-studied discourses, for gaining an influence upon the minds of his audience.

Reducing the whole art of medicine to an estimation solely of primary causes, he made it nothing but a merely col- jectural art, and established it as his creed, that there are five great principles of' treatment for all diseases in common; diet, use or non-use of wine, frictions, exercise on foot, and ex- ercise ^[Note] in a carriage or on horseback. As every one perceived that each of these methods of treatment lay quite within his own reach, all, of course, with the greatest readiness gave their assent, willing as they were to believe that to be true which was so easy of acquisition; and hence it was that he attracted nearly all the world about him, as though he had been sent among mankind on a special mission from heaven.

In addition to this, he had a wonderful tact in gaining the full confidence of his patients: sometimes he would make then a promise of wine, and then seize the opportune moment for administering it, while on other occasions, again, he would prescribe cold water: indeed, as Herophilus, among the ancients, had been the first to enquire into the primary causes of disease, and Cleophantus had brought into notice the treat- ment of diseases by wine, so did Asclepiades, as we learn from M. Varro, prefer to be indebted for his surname and repute to the extensive use made by him of cold water as a remedy. He employed also various other soothing remedies for his patients; thus, for instance, it was he that introduced swinging beds, the motion of which might either lull the malady, or induce sleep, as deemed desirable. It was he, too, that brought baths into such general use,—a method of treatment that was adopted with the greatest avidity—in addition to numerous other modes of treatment of a pleasant and soothing nature. By these means he acquired a great professional reputation, and a no less extended fame; which

was very considerably enhanced by the following incident: meeting the funeral procession of a person unknown to him, he ordered the body to be removed from the funeral pile ^[Note] and carried home, and was thus the means of saving his life. This circumstance I am the more desirous to mention, that it may not be imagined that it was on slight grounds only that so extensive a revolution was effected in the medical art.

There is, however, one thing, and one thing only, at which we have any ground for indignation,-the fact, that a single individual, and he belonging to the most frivolous nation ^[Note] in the world, a man born in utter indigence, should all on a sudden, and that, too, for the sole purpose of increasing his income, give a new code of medical laws to mankind; laws, however, be it remembered, which have been annulled by numerous authorities since his day. The success of Asclepiades was considerably promoted by many of the usages of ancient medicine, repulsive in their nature, and attended with far too much anxiety: thus, for instance, it was the practice to cover up the patient with vast numbers of clothes, and to adopt every possible method of promoting the perspiration; to order the body to be roasted before a fire; or else to be continually sending the patient on a search for sunshine, a thing hardly to be found in a showery climate like that of this city of ours; or rather, so to say, of the whole of Italy, so prolific ^[Note] as it is of fogs and rain. ^[Note] It was to remedy these inconveniences, that he introduced the use of hanging baths, ^[Note] an invention that was found grateful to invalids in the very highest degree.

In addition to this, he modified the tortures which had hitherto attended the treatment of certain maltdies; as in quinzy for instance, the cure of which before his time had been usually effected by the introduction of an instrument ^[Note] into the throat. He condemned, and with good reason, the indiscriminate use of emetics, which till then had been resorted to in;

most extraordinary degree. He disapproved also of the practice of administering internally potions that are naturally injurious to the stomach, a thing that may truthfully be pronounced of the greater part of them. Indeed it will be as well to take an early opportunity of stating what are the medicaments which act beneficially upon the stomach.

But above all things, it was the follies of magic more particularly that contributed so essentially to his success—follies which had been carried to such a pitch as to destroy all confidence in the remedial virtues of plants. Thus, for instance, it was stoutly maintained that by the agency of the plant aethiopis ^[Note] rivers and standing waters could be dried up, and that by the very touch ^[Note] * * * * all bars and doors might be opened: that if the plant achænis ^[Note] were thrown into the ranks of the enemy it would be certain to create a panic and put them to flight: that latace ^[Note] was given by the Persian kings to their ambassadors, to ensure them an abundant supply of everything wherever they might happen to be: with numerous other reveries of a similar nature. Where, I should like to know, were all these plants, when the Cimbri and Teutones brought upon us the horrors of warfare with their terrific yells? or when Lucullus defeated, with a few legions, so many kings who ruled over the Magi? ^[Note] Why is it too that the Roman generals have always made it their first care in warfare to make provision for the victualling of their troops? And how was it that at Pharsalia the troops of Cæsar were suffering from famine, if an abundance of everything could have been ensured by the fortunate possession of a single plant? Would it not have been better too for Scipio Æmilianus to have opened the gates of Carthage by touching them with a herb, than to have taken so many years to batter down its bulwarks with his engines of war?

Turning to the present moment, let them, by the agency of the herb meroïs, ^[Note] dry up the Pomptine ^[Note] Marshes, if they can,

and by these means restore so much territory to the regions of Italy in the neighbourhood of our city. In the works, too, of Democritus, already mentioned, ^[Note] we find a recipe for the composition of a medicament which will ensure the procreation of issue, both sure to be good and fortunate.—What king of Persia, pray, ever obtained that blessing? It really would be a marvellous fact that human credulity, taking its rise originally in the very soundest of notions, should have ultimately arrived at such a pitch as this, if the mind of man understood, under any circumstances, how to keep within the bounds of moderation; and if the very system of medicine thus introduced by Asclepiades, had not been carried to a greater pitch of extravagance than the follies of magic even, an assertion which I shall prove on a more appropriate occasion. ^[Note]

Such, however, is the natural constitution of the human mind, that, be the circumstances what they may, commencing with what is necessary it speedily arrives at the point of launching out in excess.

We will now resume our account of the medicinal properties of the plants mentioned in the preceding Book, adding to our description such others as the necessities of the case may seem to require.

As to the treatment of lichen, so noisome a disease as it is, we shall here give a number of additional remedies for it, gathered from all quarters, although those already described are by no means few in number. For the cure of lichen plantago is used, pounded, cinquefoil also, root of albucus ^[Note] in combination with vinegar, the young shoots of the fig-tree boiled in vinegar, or roots of marsh-mallow boiled down to one-fourth with glue and vinegar. The sores are rubbed also with pumice, and then fomented with root of rumex ^[Note] bruised in vinegar, or with scum of viscus ^[Note] kneaded up with lime. A decoction, too, of tithymalos ^[Note] with resin is highly esteemed for the same purpose.

But to all these remedies the plant known as "lichen," from

its efficacy as a cure, is held in preference. It is found growing among rocks, and has a single broad leaf ^[Note] near the root. and a single long stem, with small leaves hanging from it. This plant has the property also of effacing brand marks, being beaten up with honey for that purpose. There is another kind ^[Note] of lichen also, which adheres entirely to rocks, like moss, and which is equally used as a topical application. The juice of it, dropt into wounds, or applied to abscesses, has the property of arresting hæmorrhage: mixed with honey, it is curative of jaundice, the face and tongue being rubbed with it. Under this mode of treatment, the patient is recommended to wash in salt water, to anoint himself with oil of almonds, and to abstain from garden vegetables. For the cure of lichen, root of thapsia ^[Note] is also used, bruised in honey.

For the treatment of quinzy, we find argemonia ^[Note] recommended, in wine; a decoction of hyssop, boiled with figs, used as a gargle; peucedanum, ^[Note] with an equal proportion of sea-calf's rennet; proserpinaca, ^[Note] beaten up in the pickle of the mæna ^[Note] and oil, or else placed beneath the tongue; as also juice of cinquefoil, taken in doses of three cyathi. Used as a gargle, juice of cinquefoil is good for the cure of all affections of the fauces: verbascum, ^[Note] too, taken in wine, is particularly useful for diseases of the tonsillary glands.

For the cure of scrofula ^[Note] plantago is employed, chelidonia ^[Note] mixed with honey and axle-grease, cinquefoil, and root of per-

solata ^[Note]—this last being applied topically, and covered with the leaf of the plant—artemisia, ^[Note] also, and an infusion of the root of mandragora ^[Note] in water. The large-leaved sideritis, ^[Note] cleft by the left hand with a nail, is worn attached as an amulet: but after the cure has been effected, due care must be taken to preserve the plant, in order that it may not be set again, to promote the wicked designs of the herbalists and so cause the disease to break out afresh; as sometimes happens in the cases already mentioned, ^[Note] and others which I find stated, in reference to persons cured by the agency of artemisia or plantago.

Damasonion, ^[Note] also known as alcea, is gathered at the summer solstice, and applied with rain-water, the leaves being beaten up, or the root pounded, with axle-grease, so as to admit, when applied, of being covered with a leaf of the plant. The same plan is adopted also for the cure of all pains in the neck, and tumours on all parts of the body.

Bellis ^[Note] is the name of a plant that grows in the fields, with a white flower somewhat inclining to red; if this is applied with artemisia, ^[Note] it is said, the remedy is still more efficacious.

The condurdum, ^[Note] too, is a plant with a red blossom, which flowers at the summer solstice. Suspended from the neck, it

arrests scrofula, they say: the same being the case also with vervain, in combination with plantago. For the cure of all diseases of the fingers, hangnails in particular, cinquefoil is used.

Of all diseases of the chest, cough is the one that is the most oppressive. For the cure of this malady, root of panaces ^[Note] in sweet wine is used, and in cases where it is attended with spitting of blood, juice of henbane. Henbane, too, used as a fumigation, is good for cough; and the same with scordotis, ^[Note] mixed with nasturtium and dry resin, beaten up with honey: employed by itself also, scordotis facilitates expectoration, a property which is equally possessed by the greater centaury, even where the patient is troubled with spitting of blood; for which last juice of plantago is very beneficial. Betony, taken in doses of three oboli in water, is useful for purulent or bloody expectorations: root also of persolata, ^[Note] in doses of one drachma, taken with eleven pine-nuts; and juice of peu- cedanum. ^[Note]

For pains in the chest, acoron ^[Note] is remarkably useful; hence it is that it is so much used an ingredient in antidotes. For cough, daucus ^[Note] and the plant scythice ^[Note] are much employed, this last being good, in fact, for all affections of the chest, coughs, and purulent expectorations, taken in doses of three oboli, with the same proportion of raisin wine. The verbascum ^[Note] too, with a flower like gold, is similarly employed.

(6.) This last-named plant is so remarkably energetic, that an infusion of it, administered in their drink, will relieve beasts of burden, not only when troubled with cough, but when broken-winded even—a property which I find attributed to gentian also. Root of cacalia ^[Note] chewed, or steeped in wine, is good for cough as well as all affections of the throat. Five sprigs of hyssop, with two of rue and three figs, act detergently upon the thoracic organs and allay cough,

Bechion ^[Note] is known also as tussilago: there are two kinds of it. Wherever it is found growing wild, it is generally thought that there is a spring of water below, and it is looked upon as a sure sign that such is the case, by persons in search ^[Note] of water. The leaves are somewhat larger than those of ivy, and are some five or seven in number, of a whitish hue beneath, and a pale green on the upper surface, The plant is destitute of stem, blossom, and seed, and the root is very diminutive. Some persons are of opinion that this bechion is identical with the arcion, known also as the "chamæleuce." ^[Note] The smoke ^[Note] of this plant in a dry state, inhaled by the aid of a reed and swallowed, is curative, they say, of chronic cough; it is necessary, however, at each inhalation to take a draught of raisin wine.

There is another bechion ^[Note] also, known to some persons as "salvia," ^[Note] and bearing a strong resemblance to verbascum. This plant is triturated, and the juice strained off and taken warm for cough and for pains in the side: it is considered very beneficial also for the stings of scorpions and sea- dragons. ^[Note] It is a good plan, too, to rub the body with this juice, mixed with oil, as a preservative against the stings of serpents. A bunch of hyssop is sometimes boiled down with a quarter of a pound of honey, for the cure of cough.

For the cure of pains in the side and chest, verbascum ^[Note] is used in water, with rue; powdered betony is also taken in warm water. Juice of scordotis ^[Note] is used as a stomachic,

centaury also, gentian taken in water, and plantago, either eaten with the food, or mixed with lentils or a pottage of alica. ^[Note] Betony, which is in general prejudicial to the stomach, is remedial for some stomachic affections, taken in drink or chewed, the leaves being used for the purpose. In a similar manner too, aristolochia ^[Note] is taken in drink, or dried agaric is chewed, a draught of undiluted wine being taken every now and then. Nymphæa heraclia ^[Note] is also applied topically in these cases, and juice of peucedanum. ^[Note] For burning pains in the stomach psyllion ^[Note] is applied, or else cotyledon ^[Note] beaten up with polenta, or aizoüm. ^[Note]

Molon ^[Note] is a plant with a striated stem, a soft diminutive leaf, and a root four fingers in length, at the extremity of which there is a head like that of garlic; by some persons it is known as "syron." Taken in wine, it is curative of affections of the stomach, and of hardness of breathing. For similar purposes the greater centaury is used, in an electuary; juice also of plantago, or else the plant itself, eaten with the food; pounded betony, in the proportion of one pound to half an ounce of Attic honey, taken daily in warm water; and aristolochia ^[Note] or agaric, taken in doses of three oboli, in warm water or asses' milk.

For hardness of breathing an infusion of cissanthemos ^[Note] is taken in drink, and for the same complaint, as also for asthma, hyssop. For pains in the liver, chest, and side, if unattended with fever, juice of peucedanum is used. For spitting of blood agaric is employed, in doses of one victoriatus, ^[Note] bruised and administered in five cyathi of honied. wine: amomum, ^[Note] too, is equally useful for that purpose. For liver diseases in

particular, teucria ^[Note] is taken fresh, in doses of four drachme to one hemina of oxycrate; or else betony, in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of warm water. For diseases or the heart, betony is recommended, in doses of one drachma to two cyathi of cold water. Juice of cinquefoil is remedial for diseases of the liver and lungs, and for spitting of blood as well as all internal affections of the blood. The two varieties of anagallis ^[Note] are wonderfully efficacious for liver complaints. Patients who eat the plant called "capnos" ^[Note] discharge the bile by urine. Acoron ^[Note] is also remedial for diseases of the liver, and daucus ^[Note] is useful for the thorax and the pectoral organs.

The ephedra, ^[Note] by some persons called "anabasis," mostly grows in localities exposed to the wind. It climbs the trunks of trees, and hangs down from the branches, is destitute of leaves, but has numerous suckers, jointed like a bulrush; the root is of a pale colour. This plant is given, pounded, in astringent red wine, for cough, asthma, and gripings in the bowels. It is administered also in the form of a pottage, to which some wine should be added. For these complaints, gentian is also used, being steeped in water the day before, and then pounded and given in doses of one denarius, in three cyathi of wine.

Geum ^[Note] is a plant with thin, diminutive roots, black, and aromatic. ^[Note] It is curative not only of pains in the chest and sides, but is useful also for dispelling crudities, owing to its agreeable flavour. Vervain, too, is good for all affections of the viscera, and for diseases of the sides, lungs, liver, and

thorax. But one invaluable remedy for diseases of the lungs, and for cases of incipient phthisis, is the root of consiligo, a plant only very recently discovered, as already ^[Note] mentioned. It is a most efficient remedy also for pulmonary diseases in swine and cattle, even though only passed through the ear of the animal. When used, it should he taken in water, and kept for a considerable time in the mouth, beneath the tongue. Whether the part of this plant which grows above ground is useful or not for any purpose, is at present unknown. Ilantago, eaten with the food, betony taken in drink, and agaric taken in the way prescribed for cough, are useful, all of them, for diseases of the kidneys.

Tripolium ^[Note] is a plant found growing upon cliffs on the sea-shore against which the waves break, springing up, so to say, neither upon dry land nor in the sea. The leaves are like those of isatis, ^[Note] only thicker; the stem is a palm in height and divided at the extremity, and the root white, thick, and odoriferous, with a warm flavour; it is recommended for diseases of the liver, boiled with spelt. This plant is thought by some to be identical with polium, of which we have already spoken in the appropriate place. ^[Note]

Gromphæna ^[Note] is the name of a plant, the stem of which is covered with leaves of a green and rose colour, arranged alter- nately. The leaves of it are administered in oxycrate, in cases of spitting of blood.

For diseases of the liver the malundrum ^[Note] is prescribed, a

plant which grows in meadows and corn-fields, with a white odoriferous flower. The stem is diminutive, and is beaten up in old wine.

Chalcetum ^[Note] also is the name of a plant, which is pounded with grape husks and applied topically, for the cure of liver complaints. Root of betony acts as a gentle emetic, taken in the same way as hellebore, in doses of four drachmæ in raisin wine or honied wine. Hyssop, too, is beaten up with honey for similar purposes; but it is more efficacious if nasturtium or irio ^[Note] is taken first.

Molemonium ^[Note] is used as an emetic, being taken in doses of one denarius; the same, too, with sillybum. ^[Note] Both of these plants have a milky juice, which thickens like gum, and is taken with honey in the proportions above-mentioned, being particularly good for carrying off bile. On the other hand, vomiting is arrested by the use of wild cummin or powdered betony, taken in water. Crudities and distaste for food are dispelled, and the digestion promoted by employing daucus, ^[Note] powdered betony ^[Note] taken in hydromel, or else plantago boiled like greens. Hiccup is arrested by taking hemionium ^[Note] or aristolochia, ^[Note] and asthma by the use of clymenus. ^[Note] For pleurisy and peripneumony, the greater centaury is used, or else hyssop, taken in drink. Juice of peucedanum ^[Note] is also good for pleurisy.

The plant halus, ^[Note] by the people of Gaul called "sil," and by the Veneti "cotonea," is curative of pains in the side, affections of the kidneys, ruptures, and convulsions. It resembles cunila bubula ^[Note] in appearance, and the tops of it are like those of thyme. It is of a sweet flavour, and allays thirst; the roots of it are sometimes white, sometimes black.

The chamærops, ^[Note] also, is similarly efficacious for pains in the side. It is a plant with leaves like those of myrtle, arranged in pairs around the stem, the heads of it resembling those of the Greek rose: it is taken in wine. Agaric, administered in drink, in the same manner ^[Note] as for cough, assuages sciatica and pains in the vertebræ: the same, too, with powdered stœchas ^[Note] or betony, taken in hydromel.

But it is the belly, for the gratification of which the greater part of mankind exist, that causes the most suffering to man. Thus, for instance, at one time it will not allow the aliments to pass, while at another it is unable to retain them. Sometimes, again, it either cannot receive the food, or, if it can, cannot digest it; indeed, such are the excesses practised at the present day, that it is through his aliment, more than anything else, that man hastens his end. This receptacle, ^[Note] more troublesome to us than any other part of the body, is ever craving, like some importunate creditor, and makes its calls repeatedly in the day. It is for its sake, more particularly, that avarice is so insatiate, for its sake that luxury is so refined, ^[Note] for its sake that men voyage to the shores even of the Phasis, for its sake that the very depths of the ocean are ransacked. And yet, with all this, no one ever gives a thought how abject is the condition of this part of our body, how disgusting the results of its action upon what it has received! No wonder then,

that the belly should have to be indebted to the aid of medicine in the very highest degree

Scordotis, ^[Note] fresh-gathered and beaten up, in doses of one drachma, with wine, arrests flux of the bowels; an effect equally produced by a decoction of it taken in drink. Polemonia, ^[Note] too, is given in wine for dysentery, or two fingers' length of root of verbascum, ^[Note] in water; seed of nymlphæa heraclia, ^[Note] in wine; the upper root of xiphion, ^[Note] in (loses of one drachma, in vinegar; seed of plantago, beaten up in wine ; plantago itself boiled in vinegar, or else a pottage of alica ^[Note] mixed with the juice of the plant; plantago boiled with lentils ; plantago dried and powdered, and sprinkled in drink, with parched poppies pounded; juice of plantago, used as an injection, or taken in drink ; or betony taken in wine heated with a red-hot iron. For cœliac affections, betony is taken in astringent wine, or iberis is applied topically, as alrealdy ^[Note] stated. For tenesmus, root of nymphæa heraclia is taken in wine, or else psyllion ^[Note] in water, or a decoction of root of acoron. ^[Note] Juice of aizoüm ^[Note] arrests diarrhœa and dysentery, and expels round tape-worm. Root of symphytum, ^[Note] taken in wine, arrests diarrhœa and dysentery, and daucus ^[Note] has a similar effect. Leaves of aizoüm ^[Note] beaten up in wine, and dried alcea ^[Note] powdered and taken in wine, are curative of griping pains in the bowels.

Astragalus ^[Note] is the name of a plant which has long leaves. with numerous incisions, and running aslant near the root. The stems are three or four in number, and covered with leaves: the flower is like that of the hyacinth, and the roots are red, hairy, matted, and remarkably hard. It grows on stony local-

ities, equally exposed to the sun and to falls of snow, those in the vicinity of Pheneus in Arcadia, for instance. Its properties are highly astringent; the root of it, taken in wine, arrests looseness of the bowels, having the additional effect of throw- ing downward the aqueous humours, and so acting as a diuretic; a property, in fact, which belongs to most substances which act astringently upon the bowels.

Bruised in red ^[Note] wine, this plant is curative of dysentery; it is only bruised, however, with the greatest difficulty. It is extremely useful, also, as a fomentation for gum-boils. The end of autumn is the time for gathering it, after the leaves are off; it being then. left to dry in the shade.

Diarrhœa may be also arrested by the use of either kind of ladanum. ^[Note] The kind which is found in corn-fields is pounded for this purpose, and then passed through a sieve, being taken either in hydromel, or in wine of the highest quality. "Ledon" is the name of the plant from which ladanum ^[Note] is obtained in Cyprus, it being found adhering to the beard of the goats there; the most esteemed, however, is that of Arabia. ^[Note] At the present day, it is prepared in Syria and Africa also, being known as "toxicum," from the circumstance that in gathering it, they pass over the plant a bow, ^[Note] with the string stretched, and covered with wool, to which the dewlike flocks of lada- num adhere. We have described it at further length, when treating of the perfumes. ^[Note]

This substance has a very powerful odour, and is hard in the extreme; for, in fact, there is a considerable quantity of earth adhering to it: it is most esteemed when in a pure state, aromatic, soft, green, and resinous. It is of an emollient, desiccative, and ripening nature, and acts as a narcotic: it prevents the hair from falling off, and preserves its dark colour. In combination with hydromel or oil of roses, it is used as an

injection for the ears; with the addition of salt, it is employed for the cure of furfuraceous eruptions of the skin, and for running ulcers. Taken with storax, it is good for chronic cough; it is also extremely efficacious as a carminative.

Chondris, too, or pseudodictamnon, ^[Note] acts astringently on the bowels. Hypocisthis, ^[Note] by some known also as "orobethron," is similar to an unripe pomegranate in appearance; it grows, as already stated, ^[Note] beneath the cisthus, whence its name. Dried in the shade, and taken in astringent, red wine, these plants arrest diarrhœa—for there are two kinds of hypocisthis, it must be remembered, the white and the red. It is the juice of the plant that is used, being of an astringent, desiccative, nature: that of the red kind, however, is the best for fluxes of the stomach. Taken in drink, in doses of three oboli, with amylum, ^[Note] it arrests spitting of blood; and, employed either as a potion or as an injection, it is useful for dysentery. Vervain, too, is good for similar complaints, either taken in water, or, when there are no symptoms of fever, in Aminean ^[Note] wine, the proportion being five spoonfuls to three cyathi of wine.

Laver, ^[Note] too, a plant which grows in streams, preserved and boiled, is curative of griping pains in the bowels.

Potamogeton, ^[Note] too, taken in wine, is useful for dysentery and cœliac affections: it is a plant similar to beet in the leaves, but smaller and more hairy, and rising but little above the surface of the water. It is the leaves that are used, being of a refreshing, astringent nature, and particularly good for diseases of the legs, and, with honey or vinegar, for corrosive ulcers.

Castor has given a different description of this plant. According to him, it has a smaller leaf, ^[Note] like horse-hair, ^[Note] with a long, smooth, stem, and grows in watery localities. With the root of it he used to treat scrofulous sores and indurations. Potamogiton neutralizes the effects of the bite of the crocodile; hence it is that those who go in pursuit of that animal, are in the habit of carrying it about them.

Achillea ^[Note] also arrests looseness of the bowels; an effect equally produced by the statice, ^[Note] a plant with seven heads, like those of the rose, upon as many stems.

The ceratia ^[Note] is a plant with a single ^[Note] leaf, and a large knotted root: taken with the food, it is curative of cœliac affections and dysentery.

Leontopodion, ^[Note] a plant known also as "leuceoron," "doripetron," or "thorybethron," has a root which acts astringently upon the bowels and carries off bile, being taken in doses of two denarii in hydromel. It grows in champaign localities with a poor soil: the seed, taken in drink, produces night-mare, ^[Note] it is said, in the sleep.

Lagopus ^[Note] arrests diarrhœa, taken in wine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water. This plant is attached to the groin, for tumours in that part of the body: it grows in cornfields. Many persons recommend, in preference to anything else,

for desperate cases of dysentery, a decoction of roots of cinquefoil in milk, or else aristolochia, ^[Note] in the proportion of one victoriatus ^[Note] to three cyathi of wine. In the case of the preparations above-mentioned, which are recommended to be taken warm, it will be the best plan to heat them with a red-hot iron.

On the other hand, again, the juice of the smaller centaury acts as a purgative upon the bowels, and carries off bile, taken, in doses of one drachma, in one hemina of water with a little salt and vinegar. The greater centaury is curative of griping pains in the bowels. Betony, also, has a laxative effect, taken in the proportion of four drachmæ to nine cyathi of hydromel: the same, too, with euphorbia ^[Note] or agaric, taken, in doses of two drachmæ, with a little salt, in water, or else in three oboli of honied wine. Cyclaminos, ^[Note] also, is a purgative, either taken in water or used as a suppository; the same, too, with chamæ- cissos, ^[Note] employed as a suppository. A handful of hyssop, boiled down to one third with salt, or beaten up with oxymel and salt, and applied to the abdomen, promotes pituitous evacuations, and expels intestinal worms. Root also of peu- cedanum ^[Note] carries off pituitous humours and bile.

The two kinds of anagallis, taken in hydromel, are purgative; the same, too, with epithymon, ^[Note] which is the blossom of a sort ^[Note] of thyme similar to savory; the only difference being that the flower of this plant is nearer grass green, while that of the other thyme is white. Some persons call it "hippopheos." ^[Note] This plant is by no means wholesome to the stomach, as it is apt to cause vomiting, but at the same time it disperses

flatulency and gripings of the bowels. It is taken also, in the form of an electuary, for affections of the chest, with honey, or in some cases, with iris. ^[Note] Taken in doses of from four to six drachmæ, with honey and a little salt and vinegar, it relaxes the bowels.

Some persons, again, give a different description of epithymon: according to them, it is a plant without ^[Note] a root, diminutive, and bearing a flower resembling a small hood, and of a red colour. They tell us, too, that it is dried in the shade and taken in water, in doses of half an acetabulum; and that it has a slightly laxative effect upon the bowels, and carries off the pituitous humours and bile. Nymphæa ^[Note] is taken for similar purposes, in astringent wine.

Pycnocomon, ^[Note] too, is a purgative. It is a plant with leaves like those of rocket, only thicker and more acrid; the root is round, of a yellow colour, and with an earthy smell. The stem is quadrangular, of a moderate length, thin, and surmounted with a flower like that of ocimum. ^[Note] It is found growing in rough stony soils. The root, taken in doses of two denarii in hydromel, acts as a purgative upon the bowels, and effectually carries off bile and pituitous humours. The seed, taken in doses of one drachma in wine, is productive of dreams and restlessness. Capnos, ^[Note] too, carries off bile by the urine.

Polypodion, ^[Note] known to us by the name of "filicula," bears some resemblance to fern. The root of it is used medicinally;

being fibrous, and of a grass green colour within, about the thickness of the little finger, and covered with cavernous suckers like those on the arms of the polypus. This plant is of a sweetish ^[Note] taste, and is found growing among rocks and under trees. The root is steeped in water, and the juice extracted; sometimes, too, it is cut in small pieces and sprinkled upon cabbage, beet, mallows, or salt meat; or else it is boiled with pap, ^[Note] as a gentle aperient for the bowels, in cases of fever even. It carries off bile also and the pituitous humours, but acts injuriously upon the stomach. Dried and powdered and applied to the nostrils, it cauterizes polypus ^[Note] of the nose. It has neither seed ^[Note] nor flower.

Scammony, ^[Note] also, is productive of derangement of the stomach. It carries off bile, and acts strongly as a purgative upon the bowels; unless, indeed, aloes are added, in the proportion of two drachmæ of aloes to two oboli of scammony. The drug thus called is the juice of a plant that is branchy from the root, and has unctuous, white, triangular, leaves, with a solid, moist root, of a nauseous flavour: it grows in rich white soils. About the period of the rising of the Dogstar, an excavation is made about the root, to let the juice collect: which done. it is dried in the sun and divided into tablets. The root itself, too, or the outer coat of it, is sometimes dried. The scammony most esteemed is that of Colophon, Mysia, and Priene. In appearance it ought to he smooth and shiny, and as much like bull glue as possible: it should present a fungous surface also, covered with minute holes; should melt with the greatest rapidity, have a powerful smell, and be sticky like gum. When touched with the tongue, it should give out a white milky liquid; it ought also to be extremely light, and to turn white when melted.

This last feature is recognized in the spurious scammony also, a compound of meal of fitches and juice of marine tithy- malos, ^[Note] which is mostly imported from Judea, and is very apt to choke those who use it. The difference may be easily detected, however, by the taste, as tithymalos imparts a burning sensation to the tongue. To be fully efficacious, scammony should be two ^[Note] years old; before or after that age it is useless. It has been prescribed to be taken by itself also, in doses of four oboli, with hydromel and salt: but the most advantageous mode of using it is in combination with aloes, care being taken to drink honied wine the moment it begins to operate. The root, too, is boiled down in vinegar to the consistency of honey, and the decoction used as a liniment for leprosy. The head is also rubbed with this decoction, mixed with oil, for head-ache.

The tithymalos is called by our people the "milk plant," ^[Note] and by some persons the "goat lettuce." ^[Note] They say, that if characters are traced upon the body with the milky juice of this plant, and powdered with ashes, when dry, the letters will be perfectly visible; an expedient which has been adopted before now by intriguers, for the purpose of communicating with their mistresses, in preference to a correspondence by letter. There are numerous varieties of this plant. ^[Note] The first kind has the additional name of "characias," ^[Note] and is generally looked upon as the male plant. Its branches are about a finger in thickness, red and full of juice, five or six in number, and a cubit in length. The leaves near the root are almost exactly those of the olive, and the extremity of the stem is surmounted with a tuft like that of the bulrush: it is found growing in rugged localities near the sea-shore. The seed is gathered in autumn, together with the tufts, and after being dried in the sun, is beaten out and put by for keeping.

As to the juice, the moment the down begins to appear upon the fruit, the branches are broken off and the juice of them is received upon either meal of fitches or else figs, and left to dry therewith. Five drops are as much as each fig ought to receive; and the story is, that if a dropsically patient eats one of these figs he will have as many motions as the fig has received drops. While the juice is being collected, due care must be taken not to let it touch the eyes. From the leaves, pounded, a juice is also extracted, but not of so useful a nature as the other kind: a decoction, too, is made from the branches.

The seed also is used, being boiled with honey and made up into purgative ^[Note] pills. These seeds are sometimes inserted in hollow teeth with wax: the teeth are rinsed too, with a decoction of the root in wine or oil. The juice is used externally for lichens, and is taken internally both as an emetic and to promote alpine evacuation: in other respects, it is prejudicial to the stomach. Taken in drink, with the addition of salt, it carries off pituitous humours; and in combination with saltpeter, ^[Note] removes bile. In cases where it is desirable that it should purge by stool, it is taken with oxycrate, but where it is wanted to act as an emetic, with raisin wine or hydromel; three oboli being a middling dose. The best method, however, of using it, is to eat the prepared figs above-mentioned, just after taking food. In taste, it is slightly burning to the throat; indeed it is of so heating a nature, that, applied externally by itself, it raises blisters on the flesh, like those caused by the action of fire. Hence it is that it is sometimes employed as a cautery.

A second kind of tithymalos is called "myrtites" ^[Note] by some persons, and "caryites" by others. It has leaves like those of myrtle, pointed and prickly, but with a softer surface, and grows, like the one already mentioned, in rugged soils. The tufted heads of it are gathered just as barley is beginning to swell in the ear, and, after being left for nine days in the shade, are thoroughly dried in the sun. The fruit does not ripen all at

once, some, indeed, not till the ensuing year. The name given to this fruit is the "nut," whence the Greek appellation "caryites." ^[Note] It is gathered at harvest, and is washed and dried, being given with twice the quantity of black poppy, in doses of one acetabulum in all.

As an emetic, this kind is not so efficacious as the preceding one, and, indeed, the same may be said of all the others. Some physicians recommend the leaf to be taken in the manner already mentioned, but say that the nut should either be taken in honied wine or raisin wine, or else with sesame. It carries off pituitous humours and bile by stool, and is curative of ulcerations of the mouth. For corrosive sores of the mouth, the leaf is eaten with honey.

A third kind of tithymalos is known by the additional name of "paralios," ^[Note] or else as "tithymalis." ^[Note] The leaf is round, the stem a palm in height, the branches red, and the seed white. This seed is gathered just as the grape is beginning to form, and is dried and pounded; being taken as a purgative, in doses of one acetabulum.

A fourth kind of tithymalos ^[Note] is known by the additional name of "helioscopios." ^[Note] It has leaves like those of purslain, ^[Note] and some four or five small branches standing out from the root, of a red colour, half a foot in height, and full of juice. This plant grows in the vicinity of towns: the seed is white, and pigeons ^[Note] are remarkably fond of it. It receives its additional name of "helioscopios" from the fact that the heads of it turn ^[Note] with the sun. Taken in doses of half an acetabulum, in oxymel, it carries off bile by stool: in other respects it has the same properties as the characias, above-mentioned.

In the fifth place we have the tithymalos known as "cyparissias," ^[Note] from the resemblance of its leaves to those of the cypress. It has a double or triple stem, and grows in champaign localities. Its properties are exactly similar to those of the helioscopios and characias.

The sixth kind is called "platyphyllos" ^[Note] by some, and "corymbites" or "amygdalites" by others, from its resemblance to the almond-tree. The leaves of this kind are the largest of all: it has a fatal effect upon fish. An infusion of the root or leaves, or the juice, taken in doses of four drachmæ, in honied wine, or hydromel, acts as a purgative. It is particularly useful also for carrying off the aqueous humours.

The seventh kind has the additional name of "dendroïdes," ^[Note] and is known by some persons as "cobios," and by others as "leptophyllos." ^[Note] It grows among rocks, and is by far the most shrubby of all the varieties of the tithymalos. The stems of it are small and red, and the seed is remarkably abun- dant. Its properties are the same as those of the characias. ^[Note]

The apios ischas or raphanos agria, ^[Note] throws out two or three rush-like branches of a red colour, creeping upon the ground, and bearing leaves like those of rue. The root resembles that of an onion, only that it is larger, for which

reason some have called it the "wild radish." The interior of this root is composed of a mammose substance, containing a white juice: the outer coat is black. It grows in rugged, mountainous spots, and sometimes in pasture lands. It is taken up in spring, and pounded and put into an earthen vessel, that portion of it being removed which floats upon the surface. The part which remains acts purgatively, taken in doses of an obolus and a half in hydromel, both as an emetic and by stool. This juice is administered also, in doses of one acetabulum, for dropsy.

The root of this plant is dried and powdered, and taken in drink: the upper part of it, they say, carries off bile by acting as an emetic, the lower part, by promoting alvine evacuation.

Every kind of panaces ^[Note] is curative of gripings in the bowels; as also betony, except in those cases where they arise from indigestion. Juice of peucedanum ^[Note] is good for flatulency, acting powerfully as a carminative: the same is the case, also, with root of acoron ^[Note] and with daucus, ^[Note] eaten like lettuce as a salad. Ladanum ^[Note] of Cyprus, taken in drink, is curative of intestinal affections; and a similar effect is produced by powdered gentian, taken in warm water, in quantities about as large as a bean. For the same purpose, plantago ^[Note] is taken in the morning, in doses of two spoonfuls, with one spoonful of poppy in four cyathi of wine, due care being taken that it is not old wine. It is given, too, at the last moment before going to sleep, and with the addition of nitre or polenta, ^[Note] if a considerable time has elapsed since the last meal. For colic, an injection of the juice is used, one hemina at a time, even in cases where fever has supervened.

Agaric, taken in doses of three oboli in one cyathus of old wine, is curative of diseases of the spleen. The same, too, with the root of every kind of panaces, ^[Note] taken in honied wine: teucria, ^[Note] also, is particularly useful for the same purpose,

taken in a dry state, or boiled down in the proportion of one handful to three heminæ of vinegar. Teucria, too, is applied with vinegar to wounds of the spleen, or, if the patient cannot bear the application of vinegar, with figs or water. Polemo- nia ^[Note] is taken in wine, and betony, in doses of one drachma, in three cyathi of oxymel: aristolochia, too, is used in the same manner as for injuries inflicted by serpents. ^[Note] Argemonia, ^[Note] it is said, taken with the food for seven consecutive days, diminishes the volume of the spleen; and a similar effect is attributed to agaric, taken in doses of two oboli, in oxymel. Root, too, of nymphæa heraclia, ^[Note] taken in wine, or by itself, diminishes the spleen.

Cissanthemos, ^[Note] taken twice a day, in doses of one drachma in two cyathi of white wine, for forty consecutive days, gradually carries off the spleen, it is said, by urine. Hyssop, boiled with figs, is very useful for the same purpose: root of lonchitis, ^[Note] also, boiled before it has shed its seed. A decoction of root of peucedanum ^[Note] is good for the spleen and kidneys. Acoron, ^[Note] taken in drink, diminishes the spleen; and the roots of it are very beneficial for the viscera and iliac regions. For similar purposes, seed of clymenus ^[Note] is taken, for thirty consecutive days, in doses of one denarius, in white wine. Powdered betony is also used, taken in a potion with honey and squill vinegar; root too of lonchitis is taken in water. Tourism ^[Note] is used externally for diseases of the spleen; sodium, ^[Note] also, in combination with wax: and agaric, mixed with powdered fenugreek.

For diseases of the bladder and calculi (affections which, as :already observed, ^[Note] produce the most excruciating torments), palimonies ^[Note] is highly efficacious, taken in wine; agaric also, and leaves or root of plantago, taken in raisin wine. Betony,

too, is very good, as already observed, when speaking ^[Note] of diseases of the liver. This last plant is used also for hernia, applied topically or taken in drink: it is remarkably efficacious too for stranger. For calculi some persons recommend betony, vervain, and milfoil, in equal proportions in water, as a sovereign remedy. It is universally agreed that dittany is curative of strangury, and that the same is the case with ainquefoil, boiled down to one third in wine: this last plant is very useful, too, taken internally and applied topically, for rupture of the groin.

The upper part of the root of xiphion ^[Note] has a diuretic effect upon infants; it is administered also in water for rupture of the groin, and is applied topically for diseases of the bladder. Juice of peucedanumn ^[Note] is employed for hernia in infants, and psyllion ^[Note] is used as an application in cases of umbilical bernia. The two kinds of anagallis ^[Note] are diuretic, and a similar effect is produced by a decoction of root of acoron, ^[Note] or the plant itself bruised and taken in drink; this last is good too for all affections of the bladder. Both the stem and root of cotyledon ^[Note] are used for the cure of calculi; and for all inflammations of the genitals, myrrh is mixed in equal proportions with the stem and seed. The more tender leaves of ebulum, ^[Note] beaten up and taken with wine, expel calculi of the bladder, and an application of them is curative of diseases of the testes. Erigeron, ^[Note] with powdered frankincense and sweet wine, is curative of inflammation of the testes; and root of symphytum, ^[Note] applied topically, reduces rupture of the groin. The white hypocisthis ^[Note] is curative of corroding ulcers of the genitals. Artemisia ^[Note] is prescribed also in sweet wine for the cure of calculi and of strangury; and root of nymphæa heraclia, ^[Note] taken in wine, allays pains in the bladder.

A similar property belongs also to crethmos, ^[Note] a plant highly

praised by Hippocrates. ^[Note] This is one of the wild plants that are commonly eaten—at all events, we find Callimachus mentioning it as one of the viands set on table by the peasant Hecale. ^[Note] It is a species of garden batis, ^[Note] with a stem a paln in height, and a hot seed, odoriferous like that of libanotis, ^[Note] and round. When dried, the seed bursts asunder, and discloses in the interior a white kernel, known as "cachry" to some The leaf is unctuous and of a whitish colour, like that of the olive, only thicker and of a saltish taste. The roots are three or four in number, and about a finger in thickness: the plant grows in rocky localities, upon the sea-shore. It is eaten raw or else boiled with cabbage, and has a pleasant, aromatic flavour; it is preserved also in brine.

This plant is particularly useful for strangury, the leaves, stem, or root being taken in wine. It improves the complexion of the skin also, but if taken in excess is very apt to produce flatulency. Used in the form of a decoction it relaxes the bowels, has a diuretic effect, and carries off the humours from the kidneys. The same is the case also with alcea: ^[Note] dried and powdered and taken in wine, it removes strangury, and, with the addition of daucus, ^[Note] is still more efficacious: it is good too for the spleen, and is taken in drink as an antidote to the venom of serpents. Mixed with their barley it is remarkably beneficial for beasts of burden, when suffering from pituitous defluxions or strangury.

The anthyllion ^[Note] is a plant very like the lentil. Taken in wine, it is remedial for diseases of the bladder, and arrests hæmorrhage. Another variety of it is the anthyllis, a plant resembling the chamæpitys, ^[Note] with a purple flower, a powerful smell, and a root like that of endive.

The plant known as "cepæa" ^[Note] is even more efficacious. It

resembles purslain in appearance, but has a darker root, that is never used: it grows upon the sands of the sea-shore, and has a bitter taste. Taken in wine with root of asparagus, it is remarkably useful for diseases of the bladder.

Hypericon, ^[Note] otherwise known as the "chamæpitys" ^[Note] or "orison," ^[Note] is possessed of similar properties. It is a plant ^[Note] with a stem like that ^[Note] of a garden vegetable, thin, red, and a cubit in length. The leaf is similar to that of rue, and has an acrid smell: the seed is enclosed in a swarthy pod, and ripens at the same time as barley. This seed is of an astringent nature, arrests diarrhœa, and acts as a diuretic: it is taken also for diseases of the bladder, in wine.

There is another hypericon also, known as "caros" ^[Note] by some. The leaves of it resemble those of the tamarix, ^[Note] beneath ^[Note] which it grows, but are more unctuous ^[Note] and not so red. It is an odoriferous plant, somewhat more than a palm ^[Note] in height, of a sweet flavour, and slightly pungent. The seed is of a warming nature, and is consequently productive of eructations; it is not, however, injurious to the stomach. This plant is particularly useful for strangury, provided the bladder

be not ulcerated; taken in wine, it is curative of pleurisy also.

Callithrix, ^[Note] beaten up with cummin seed, and administered in white wine, is useful also for diseases of the bladder. Leaves of vervain, boiled down to one third, or root of vervain, in warm honied wine, expel calculi of the bladder.

Perpressa, ^[Note] a plant which grows in the vicinity of Arretium and in Illyricum, is boiled down to one third in three heminæ of water, and the decoction taken in drink: the same too with trefoil, ^[Note] which is administered in wine; and the same with the chrysanthemum. ^[Note] The anthemis ^[Note] also is an expellent of calculi. It is a plant with five small leaves running from the root, two long stems, and a flower like a rose. The roots of it are pounded and administered alone, in the same way as raw laver. ^[Note]

Silaus ^[Note] is a plant which grows in running streams with a gravelly bed. It bears some resemblance to parsley, and is a cubit in height. It is cooked in the same manner as the acid vegetables, ^[Note] and is of great utility for affections of the bladder. In cases where that organ is affected with eruptions, ^[Note] it is used in combination with root of panaces, ^[Note] a plant which is otherwise bad for the bladder.

The erratic apple, ^[Note] too, is an expellent of calculi. For this purpose, a pound of the root is boiled down to one half in a congius of wine, and one hemina of the decoction is taken for three consecutive days, the remainder being taken in wine with sium. ^[Note] Sea-nettle ^[Note] is employed too for the same purpose, daucus, ^[Note] and seed of plantago in wine.

The plant of Fulvius ^[Note] too—so called from the first discoverer of it, and well known ^[Note] to herbalists—bruised in wine, acts as a diuretic.

Scordion ^[Note] reduces swellings of the testes. Henbane is curative of diseases of the generative organs. Strangury is cured by juice of peucedanum, ^[Note] taken with honey; as also by the seed of that plant. Agaric is also used for the same purpose, taken in doses of three oboli in one cyathus of old wine; root of trefoil, in doses of two drachmæ in wine; and root or seed of daucus, ^[Note] in doses of one drachma. For the cure of sciatica, the seed and leaves of erythrodanum ^[Note] are used, pounded; panaces, ^[Note] taken in drink; polemonia, ^[Note] employed as a friction; and leaves of aristolochia, ^[Note] in the form of a decoction. Agaric, taken in doses of three oboli in one cyathus of old wine, is curative of affections of the tendon known as "platys" ^[Note] and of pains in the shoulders. Cinquefoil is either taken in drink or applied topically for the cure of sciatica; a decoction of scammony is used also, with barley meal; and the seed of either kind of hypericon ^[Note] is taken in wine.

For diseases of the fundament and for excoriations plantago is remarkably efficacious; for condylomata, cinquefoil; and for procidence of the rectum, root of cyclaminos, ^[Note] applied in vinegar. The blue anagallis ^[Note] reduces procidence of the rectum, while, on the contrary, that with a red flower has a tendency to bear it down. Cotyledons ^[Note] is a marvellous cure for condylomatous affections and piles; and root of acoron, ^[Note] boiled in wine and beaten up, is a good application for swelling of the testes. According to what Cato ^[Note] says, those who carry about them Pontic ^[Note] wormwood, will never experience chafing between the thighs.

(9.) Some persons add pennyroyal to the number of these plants: gathered fasting, they say, and attached to the hinder part of the body, it will be an effectual preservative against all pains in the groin, and will allay them in cases where they already exist.

Inguinalis ^[Note] again, or, as some persons call it, "argemo," a plant commonly found growing in bushes and thickets, needs only to be held in the hand to be productive of beneficial effects upon the groin.

Panaces, ^[Note] applied with honey, heals inflammatory tumours; an effect which is equally produced by plantago applied with salt, cinquefoil, root of persolata ^[Note] used in the same way as for scrofula; damasonium ^[Note] also, and verbascum ^[Note] pounded with the root, and then sprinkled with wine, and wrapped in a leaf warmed upon ashes, and applied hot. Persons of experience in these matters have asserted that it is of primary importance that the application should be made by a maiden, as also that she must be naked at the time, and fasting. The patient must

be fasting too, and the damsel must say, touching him with the back of her hand, ^[Note] "Apollo forbids that a disease shall increase which a naked virgin restrains." So saying, she must withdraw her hand, and repeat to the above effect three times, both of them spitting upon the ground each time.

Root, too, of mandragora ^[Note] is used for this purpose, with water; a decoction of root of scammony with honey; sideritis ^[Note] beaten up with stale grease; horehound with stale axlegrease; or chrysippios, ^[Note] a plant which owes its name to its discoverer—with pulpy figs.

Nymphæa heraclia, used as already stated, ^[Note] acts most powerfully as an ant aphrodisiac; the same too if taken once every forty days in drink. Taken in drink fasting, or eaten with the food, it effectually prevents the recurrence of libidinous dreams. The root too, used in the form of a liniment and applied to the generative organs, not only represses all prurient desires, but arrests the seminal secretions as well; for which reason, it is said to have a tendency to make flesh and to improve the voice. ^[Note]

The upper part of the root of xiphion, ^[Note] taken in wine, acts as an aphrodisiac. The same is the case too with the wild crethmos, ^[Note] or agrees as it is called, and with holmium, ^[Note] beaten up with polenta. ^[Note]

But there are few plants of so marvellous a nature as the orchids ^[Note] or serapias, a vegetable production with leaves like

those of the leek, a stem a palm in height, a purple flower, and a twofold root, formed of tuberosities which resemble the testes in appearance. The larger of these tuberosities, or, as some say, the harder of the two. taken in water, is provocative of lust; while the smaller, or, in other words, the softer one, taken in goat's milk, acts as an antaphrodisiac. Some persons describe this plant as having a leaf like that of the squill, only smoother and softer, and a prickly stem. The roots heal ulcerations of the mouth, and are curative of pituitous discharges from the chest; taken in wine they act astringently upon the bowels.

Satyrion is also a powerful stimulant. There are two kinds of it: the first ^[Note] has leaves like those of the olive, but longer, a stem four fingers in length, a purple flower, and a double root, resembling the human testes in shape. This root swells and increases in volume one year, and resumes its original size the next. The other kind is known as the "satyrios orchis," ^[Note] and is supposed to be the female plant. It is distinguished from the former one by the distance between its joints, and its more branchy and shrublike form. The root is employed in philtres: it is mostly found growing near the sea. Beaten up and applied with polenta, ^[Note] or by itself, it heals tumours and various other affections of the generative organs. The root of the first kind, administered in the milk of a colonic ^[Note] sheep, causes tentigo; taken in water it produces a contrary effect.

The Greeks give the name of "satyrion" ^[Note] to a plant with

red leaves like those of the lily, but smaller, not more than three of them making their appearance above ground. The stem, they say, is smooth and bare and a cubit in length, and the root double; the lower part, which is also the larger, pro- moting the conception of male issue, the upper or smaller part, that of female.

They distinguish also another kind of satyrion, by the name of "erythraïcon" ^[Note] it has seed like that of the vitex, ^[Note] only larger, smooth, and hard; the root, they say, is covered with a red rind, and is white within and of a sweetish taste: it is mostly found in mountainous districts. The root, we are told, if only held in the hand, acts as a powerful aphrodisiac, and even more so, if it is taken in rough, astringent wine. It is administered in drink, they say, to rams and he-goats when inactive and sluggish; and the people of Sarmatia are in the habit of giving it to their stallions when fatigued with covering, a defect to which they give the name of "prosedamum." The effects of this plant are neutralized by the use of hydromel or lettuces. ^[Note]

The Greeks, however, give the general name of "satyrion" to all substances of a stimulating tendency, to the cratægis ^[Note] for example, the thelygonon, ^[Note] and the arrenogonon, plants, the seed of which bears a resemblance to the testes. ^[Note] Persons who carry the pith of branches of tithymalos ^[Note] about them, are rendered more amorous thereby, it is said. The statements are really incredible, which Theophrastus, ^[Note] in most cases an author of high authority, makes in relation to this subject; thus, for instance, he says that by the contact only of a cer-

tain plant, a man has been enabled, in the sexual congress, to repeat his embraces as many as seventy times even! The name and genus, however, of this plant, he has omitted to mention.

Sideritis, ^[Note] attached to the body as an amulet, reduces varicose veins, and effects a painless cure. Gout used to be an extremely rare disease, not in the times of our fathers and grandfathers only, but within my own memory even. Indeed, it may justly be considered a foreign complaint; for if it had been formerly known in Italy, it would surely have found a Latin name. It should, however, by no means be looked upon as an incurable malady; for before now, in many instances, it has quitted the patient all at once, and still more frequently, a cure has been effected by proper treatment.

For the cure of gout, roots of panaces ^[Note] are used, mixed with raisins; juice of henbane, or the seed, combined with meal; scordion, ^[Note] taken in vinegar; iberis, as already mentioned; ^[Note] vervain, beaten up with axle-greaseor root of cyclaminos, ^[Note] a decoction of which is good also for chilblains.

As cooling applications for gout, root of xiphion ^[Note] is used; seed of psyllion; ^[Note] hemlock, with litharge or axle-grease; and, at the first symptoms of red gout, or, in other words, hot gout, the plant aizoüm. ^[Note] For either kind of gout, erigeron, ^[Note] with axle-grease, is very useful; leaves of plantago, beaten up with a little salt; or argemonia, ^[Note] pounded with honey. An. application of vervain is also remedial, and it is a good plan to soak the feet in a decoction of that plant in water.

Lappago ^[Note] is employed also for this disease; a plant similar to the anagallis, ^[Note] were it not that it is more branchy,

bristling with a greater number of leaves, covered with rugosities, full of a more acrid juice, and possessed of a powerful smell. The kind that resembles anagallis most closely, is known as mollugo. ^[Note] Asperugo ^[Note] is a similar plant, only with a more prickly leaf. The juice of the first is taken daily, in doses of one denarius, in two cyathi of wine.

But it is the phycos thalassion, or sea-weed, ^[Note] more particularly, that is so excellent a remedy for the gout. It resembles the lettuce in appearance, and is used as the basis in dyeing tissues with the purple of the murex. ^[Note] Used before it becomes dry, it is efficacious as a topical application not only for gout, but for all diseases of the joints. There are three kinds of it; one with a broad leaf, another with a longer leaf of a reddish hue, and a third with a crisped leaf, and used in Crete for dyeing cloths. ^[Note] All these kinds have similar properties; and we find Nicander prescribing them in wine as an antidote to the venom of serpents even. The seed also of the plant which we have spoken of as "psyllion," ^[Note] is useful for the cure of gout: it is first steeped in water, and one hemina of the seed is then mixed with two spoonfuls of resin of Colophon, and one spoonful of frankincense. Leaves of mandragora, ^[Note] too, are highly esteemed for this purpose, beaten up with polenta.

(11.) For swellings of the ankles, slime, ^[Note] kneaded up with oil, is wonderfully useful, and for swellings of the joints the juice of the smaller centaury; this last being remarkably good also for diseases of the sinews. Centauris, ^[Note] too, is very useful; and for pains in the sinews of the shoulder-blades, shoulders,

vertebræ, and loins, an infusion of betony is taken in drink in the same way as for diseases of the liver. ^[Note] Cinquefoil is applied topically to the joints, and a similar use is made of the leaves of mandragora, mixed with polenta, ^[Note] or else the root, beaten up fresh with wild cucumber ^[Note] or boiled in water. For chaps upon the toes, root of polypodion ^[Note] is used; and for diseases of the joints, juice of henbane with axle-grease; amomum, ^[Note] with a decoction of the plant; centunculus, ^[Note] boiled; or fresh moss steeped in water, and attached to the part till it is quite dry.

The root, too, of lappa boaria, ^[Note] taken in wine, is productive of similar effects. A decoction of cyclaminos ^[Note] in water, is curative of chilblains, and all other affections resulting from cold. For chilblains, cotyledon ^[Note] is also employed with axle-grease, leaves of batrachion, ^[Note] and juice of epithymum. ^[Note] Ladanum, ^[Note] mixed with castoreum, ^[Note] and vervain applied with wine, extract corns from the feet.

Having now finished the detail of the diseases which are perceptible in individual parts of the body, we shall proceed to speak of those which attack the whole of the body. The following I find mentioned as general remedies: in preference to anything else, an infusion of dodecatheos, ^[Note] a plant already described, should be taken in drink, and then the roots of the several kinds ^[Note] of panaces, in maladies of long standing more particularly: seed, too, of panaces should be used for intestinal complaints. For all painful affections of the body we find juice of scordium ^[Note] recommended, as also that of betony: this last, taken in a potion, is particularly excellent for removing a wan and leaden hue of the skin, and for improving its gene- ral appearance.

The plant geranion has the additional names of "myrrhis" ^[Note] and "myrtis." It is similar to hemlock in appearance, but has a smaller leaf and a shorter stem, rounded, and of a pleasant taste and odour. Such, at all events, is the description given of it by our herbalists; but the Greeks speak of it as bearing leaves a little whiter than those of the mallow, thin downy stems, and branches at intervals some two palms in length, with small heads at their extremities, in the midst of the leaves, resembling the bill ^[Note] of a crane. ^[Note] There is also another ^[Note] variety of this plant, with leaves like those of the anemone, but with deeper incisions, and a root rounded like an apple, sweet, and extremely useful and refreshing ^[Note] for invalids when recovering their strength; this last would a- most seem to be the true geranion.

For phthisis this plant is taken, in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of wine, twice a day; as also for flatulency. Eaten raw, it is productive of similar effects. The juice of the root is remedial for diseases of the ear; and for opisthotony the seed is taken in drink, in doses of four drachmæ, with pepper and myrrh. Juice of plantago, ^[Note] taken in drink is curative of phthisis, and a decoction of it is equally good for the purpose. Plantago taken as a food with oil and salt immediately after rising in the morning, is extremely refreshing; it is prescribed, too, in cases of atrophy, on alternate day. Betony is given with honey, in the form of an electuary, for phthisis, in pieces the size of a bean; agaric, too, is taken in doses of two oboli in raisin wine, or else daucus ^[Note] with the greater centaury in wine. For the cure of phagedæna.a

<*>une given in common to bulimia ^[Note] and to a corrosive kind of ulcer, tithymalos ^[Note] is taken in combination with sesame.

Among the various evils by which the whole of the body in common is afflicted, that of wakefulness is the most common. Among the remedies for it we find panaces ^[Note] mentioned, clymenus, ^[Note] and aristolochia, ^[Note] the odour of the plant being inhaled and the head rubbed with it. Aizoü, or houseleek, is beneficial, wrapped in black cloth and placed beneath the pillow, without the patient being aware of it. The onotheras ^[Note] too, or onear, taken in wine, has certain exhilarating pro- properties; it has leaves like those of the almond tree, a rose-coloured flower, numerous branches, and a long root, with a xinous smell when dried: n infusion of this root has a soothing effect upon wild beasts even.

For fits of indigestion ^[Note] attended with nausea, betony is taken in drink: used similarly after the evening meal, it faci- litates the digestion. Taken in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of oxymel, it dispels crapulence. The same is the case, too, with agaric, taken in warm water after eating. Betony is curative of paralysis, it is said; the same, too, with brais, as already stated. ^[Note] This last is good, too, for numbness of the limbs : the same being the case with argemonia, ^[Note] a plant which disperses those affections which might otherwise necessitate the application of the knife.

Epilepsy is cured by the root of the panaces which we have spoken ^[Note] of as the "heraclion," taken in drink with sea-calf's rennet, the proportions being three parts of panaces and one of rennet. For the same purpose an infusion of plantago ^[Note] is taken, or else betony or agaric, with oxymel, the former in doses of one drachma, the latter in doses of three oboli; leaves

of cinquefoil are taken, also, in water. Archezostis ^[Note] is also curative of epilepsy, but it must be taken constantly for a year; root of bacchar, ^[Note] too, dried and powdered, and taken in warm water, in the proportion of three cyathi to one cyathus of coriander; centunculus ^[Note] also, bruised in vinegar, warn water, or honey; vervain, taken in wine; hyssop ^[Note] berries, three in number, pounded and taken in water, for sixteen days consecutively; peucedanum, ^[Note] taken in drink with sea-calf's rennet, in equal proportions; leaves of cinquefoil, bruised is wine and taken for thirty days; powdered betony, in doses of three denarii, with one cyathus of squill vinegar and an ounce of Attic honey; as also scammony, in the proportion of two oboli to four drachmæ of castoreum.

Agaric, taken in warm water, alleviates cold fevers: sideritis, in combination with oil, is good for tertian fevers; bruised ladanum ^[Note] also, which is found in corn fields; plantago, ^[Note] taken in doses of two drachmæ, in hydromel, a couple of hours before the paroxysms come on; juice of the root of plantago made warm or subjected to pressure; or else the root itself beaten up in water made warm with a hot iron. Some medical men prescribe three roots of plantago, in three cyathi of water; and in a similar manner, four roots for quartan fevers. When buglossos ^[Note] is beginning to wither, if a person takes the pith out of the stem, and says while so doing, that it is for the cure of such and such a person suffering from fever, and then attaches seven leaves to the patient, just before the paroxysms come on, he will experience a cure, they say.

Fevers too, those which are attended with recurrent cold shiverings more particularly, are cured by administering one drachma of betony, or else agaric, in three cyathi of hydromel. Some medical men recommend three leaves of cinquefoil for tertian, four for quartan, and an increased number for other fevers; while others again prescribe in all cases three oboli of cinquefoil, with pepper, in hydromel.

Vervain, administered in water, is curative of fever, in beasts

of burden even; but care must be taken, in cases of tertian fever, to cut the plant at the third joint, and of quartan fever at the fourth. The seed of either kind of hypericons ^[Note] is taken also for quartan fevers and cold shiverings. Powdered betony modifies these fits, and panaces ^[Note] is of so warming a nature that persons when about to travel amid the snow are recommended to drink an infusion of it, and to rub the body all over with the plant. Aristolochia ^[Note] also arrests shivering produced by cold.

Phlebitis is cured by sleep induced by the agency of an infusion of peucedanum ^[Note] in vinegar, poured upon the head, or else by the juice of either kind of anagallis. ^[Note] On the other hand, when patients are suffering from lethargy, it is with the greatest difficulty that they are aroused; a result which may be effected, they say, by touching the nostrils with juice of peucedanum in vinegar. For the cure of insanity, betony is administered in drink. Panaces ^[Note] brings carbuncles to a head, and makes them break; and they are equally cured by powdered betony applied in water, or else cabbage leaves mixed with frankincense in warm water, and taken in considerable quantities. For a similar purpose, a red-hot coal is extinguished in the patient's presence, and the ashes are taken up with the finger and applied to the sore. Bruised plantago ^[Note] is also used for the cure of carbuncles.

For the cure of dropsy, tithymalos characias ^[Note] is employed; panaces ^[Note] also; plantago, ^[Note] used as a diet, dry bread being eaten first, without any drink; betony, taken in doses of two drachme in two cyathi of ordinary wine or honied wine; agaric or seed of lonchitis, ^[Note] in doses of two spoonfuls, in

water; psyllion, ^[Note] taken in wine; juice of either anagallis; ^[Note] root of cotyledon ^[Note] in honied wine; root of ebulum, ^[Note] fresh gathered, with the mould shaken off, but not washed in water, a pinch in two fingers being taken in one hemina of old wine mulled; root of trefoil, taken in doses of two drachmæ in wine; the tithymalos ^[Note] known as "platyphyllos;" seed of the hypericon, ^[Note] otherwise known as "caros;" the plant called "acte"—the same thing as ebulum ^[Note] according to some—the root of it being pounded in three cyathi of wine, if there are no symptoms of fever, or the seed of it being administered in red wine; a good handful of vervain also, boiled down in water to one half. But of all the remedies for this disease, juice of chamæacte ^[Note] is looked upon as by far the most efficacious.

Morbid or pituitous eruptions are cured by the agency of plantago, or else root of cyclaminos ^[Note] with honey. Leaves of ebulum, ^[Note] bruised in old wine and applied topically, are curative of the disease called "boa," which makes its appearance in the form of red pimples. Juice of strychnos, ^[Note] applied as a liniment, is curative of prurigo.

For the cure of erysipelas, aizoüm ^[Note] is used, or else pounded leaves of hemlock, or root of mandragora; ^[Note] this last being cut into round slices like cucumber and suspended over must, ^[Note] after which it is hung up in the smoke, and then pounded in wine or vinegar. It is a good plan too to use fomentations with myrtle wine: two ounces of mint beaten up in vinegar with one ounce of live sulphur, form a mixture sometimes employed; as also soot mixed with vinegar.

There are several kinds of erysipelas, one in particular which attacks the middle of the body, and is known as "zoster:" ^[Note] should it entirely surround the body, its effects are

fatal. For this disease, plantago ^[Note] is remedial, mixed with Cimolian ^[Note] chalk; vervain, used by itself; or root of persolata. ^[Note] For other kinds of erysipelas of a spreading nature, root of cotyledon ^[Note] is used, mixed with honied wine; aizoüm also, ^[Note] or juice of linozostis, ^[Note] in combination with vinegar.

For the cure of sprains, root of polypodion ^[Note] is used, in the form of a liniment: the pain and swelling are modified also by using seed of psyllion; ^[Note] leaves of plantago ^[Note] beaten up with a little salt; seed of verbascum, ^[Note] boiled in wine and pounded; or hemlock with axle-grease. Leaves of ephemeron ^[Note] are applied topically to tumours and tuberosities, so long as they are capable of being dispersed.

It is upon the eyes in particular that jaundice is productive of so remarkable an effect; the bile penetrating between the membranes, so extremely delicate as they are and so closely united. Hippocrates ^[Note] tells us that the appearance of jaundice on or after the seventh day in fevers is a fatal symptom; but I am acquainted with some instances in which the patients survived after having been reduced to this apparently hopeless state. We may remark also, that jaundice sometimes comes on without fever supervening. It is combated by taking the greater centaury, ^[Note] as already mentioned, in drink; agaric, in doses of three oboli in old wine; or leaves of vervain, in doses of three oboli, taken for four consecutive days in one hemina of mulled wine. But the most speedy cure of all is effected by using juice of cinquefoil, in doses of three cyathi, with salt and honey. Root of cyclaminos ^[Note] is also taken in drink in doses of three drachmæ, the patient sitting in a warm room free from all cold and draughts, the infusion expelling the bile by its action as a sudorific.

Leaves of tussilago ^[Note] are also used in water for this purpose; the seed of either kind of linozostis, ^[Note] sprinkled in the drink, or made into a decoction with chick-pease or wormwood: hyssop berries taken in water; the plant lichen, ^[Note] all other vegetables being carefully abstained from while it is being used; polythrix, ^[Note] taken in wine; and struthion, ^[Note] in honied wine.

There are boils also, known as "furunculi," ^[Note] which make their appearance indiscriminately on all parts of the body, and are productive of the greatest inconvenience: sometimes indeed, when the constitution is exhausted, they are fatal in their effects. For their cure, leaves of pycnocomon ^[Note] are employed, beaten up with polenta, ^[Note] if the boil has not come to a head. They are dispersed also by an application of leaves of ephedron. ^[Note]

Fistulas, too, insidiously attack all parts of the body, owing to unskilfulness on the part of medical men in the use of the knife. The smaller centaury ^[Note] is used for their cure, with the addition of lotions ^[Note] and boiled honey: juice of plantago ^[Note] is also employed, as an injection; cinquefoil, mixed with salt and honey; ladanum, ^[Note] combined with castoreum; ^[Note] cotyledon, ^[Note] applied hot with stag's marrow; pith of the root of verbascum ^[Note] reduced to a liquid state in the shape of a lotion, and injected; root of aristolochia; ^[Note] or juice of tithymalos. ^[Note]

Abscesses and inflammations are cured by an application of leaves of argemonia. ^[Note] For indurations and gatherings of all descriptions a decoction of vervain or cinquefoil in vinegar is

used; leaves or root of verbascum; ^[Note] a liniment made of wine and hyssop; root of acoron, ^[Note] a decoction of it being used as a fomentation; or else aizoüm. ^[Note] Contusions also, hard tumours, and fistulous abscesses are treated with illecebra. ^[Note]

All kinds of foreign substances which have pierced the flesh are extracted by using leaves of tussilago, ^[Note] daucus, ^[Note] or seed of leontopodium ^[Note] pounded in water with polenta. ^[Note] To suppurations, leaves of pycnocomon ^[Note] are applied, beaten up with polenta, or else the seed of that plant, or orchis. ^[Note] An application of root of satyrion ^[Note] is said to be a most efficacious remedy for deep-seated diseases of the bones. Corrosive ulcers and all kinds of gatherings are treated with sea-weed, ^[Note] used before it has dried. Root, too, of alcima ^[Note] disperses gatherings.

Burns are cured by the agency of plantago, ^[Note] or of arction, ^[Note] so effectually indeed as to leave no scar. The leaves of this last plant are boiled in water, beaten up, and applied to the sore. Roots of cyclaminos ^[Note] are used, in combination with aizoüm; ^[Note] the kind of hypericon also, which we have mentioned as being called "corissum." ^[Note]

For diseases of the sinews and joints, plantago, ^[Note] beaten up with salt, is a very useful remedy, or else argemonia, ^[Note] pounded with honey. Patients affected with spasms or tetanus are rubbed with juice of peucedanum. ^[Note] For indurations of the sinews, juice of ægilops ^[Note] is employed, and for pains in those parts of the body erigeron ^[Note] or epithymum, ^[Note] used as a liniment,

with vinegar. In cases of spasms and opisthotony, it is an excellent plan to rub the part affected with seed of the hype- ricon known as "caros," ^[Note] and to take the seed in drink. Phrynion, ^[Note] it is said, will effect a cure even when the sinews have been severed, if applied instantaneously, bruised or chewed. For spasmodic affections, fits of trembling, and opisthotony, root of alcima ^[Note] is administered in hydromel; used in this manner, it has a warming effect when the limbs are benumbed with cold.

The red seed of the plant called "pæmonia" ^[Note] arrests hæmorrhage; the root also is possessed of similar properties. But it is clymenus ^[Note] that should be employed, when there are discharges of blood at the mouth or nostrils, from the bowels, or from the uterus. In such cases, lysimachia ^[Note] also is taken in drink, applied topically, or introduced into the nostrils; or else seed of plantago, ^[Note] or cinquefoil, is taken in drink, or employed in the form of a liniment. Hemlock seed is introduced into the nostrils, for discharges of blood there, or else it is pounded and applied in water; aizoüm ^[Note] also, and root of astragalus. ^[Note] Ischæmon ^[Note] and achillea ^[Note] likewise arrest hæmorrhage.

Equisætum, a plant called "hippuris" by the Greeks, and which we have mentioned in terms of condemnation, when treating of meadow lands ^[Note]—it being, in fact, a sort of hair of the earth, similar in appearance to horse-hair ^[Note]—is used by runners for the purpose of diminishing ^[Note] the spleen. For this

purpose it is boiled down in a new earthen vessel to one third, the vessel being filled to the brim, and the decoction taken in doses of one hemina for three successive days. It is strictly forbidden, however, to eat any food of a greasy nature the day before taking it.

Among the Greeks there are various opinions in relation to this plant. According to some, who give it the same name of "hippuris," it has leaves like those of the pine tree, and of a swarthy hue; and, if we are to believe them, it is possessed of virtues of such a marvellous nature, that if touched by the patient only, it will arrest hæmorrhage. Some authorities call it "hippuris," others, again, "ephedron," and others "anabasis;" and they tell us that it grows near trees, the trunks of which it ascends, and hangs down therefrom in numerous tufts of black, rush-like hair, much like a horse's tail in appearance. The branches, we are told, are thin and articulated, and the leaves, few in number, small, and thin, the seed round, and similar to coriander in appearance, and the root ligneous: it grows, they say, in plantations more particularly.

This plant is possessed of astringent properties. The juice of it, kept in the nostrils, arrests bleeding therefrom, and it acts astringently upon the bowels. Taken in doses of three cyathi, in sweet wine, it is a cure for dysentery, is an efficient diuretic, and is curative of cough, hardness of breathing, rup- tures, and serpiginous affections. For diseases of the intestines and bladder, the leaves are taken in drink; it has the property, also, of reducing ruptures of the groin.

The Greek writers describe another ^[Note] hippuris, also, with shorter tufts, softer and whiter. This last, they say, is remark- ably good for sciatica, and, applied with vinegar, for wounds, it having the property of stanching the blood. Bruised nym- phæa ^[Note] is also applied to wounds. Peucedanum ^[Note] is taken in drink with cypress seed, for discharges of blood at the mouth or by the lower passages. Sideritis ^[Note] is possessed of such remark- able virtues, that applied to the wound of a gladiator just inflicted, it will stop the flow of blood; an effect which is equally produced by an application of charred fennel-giant, or of the

ashes of that plant. For a similar purpose, also, the fungus that is found growing near the root of fennel-giant is still more efficacious.

For bleeding at the nostrils, seed of hemlock, pounded in water, is considered efficacious, as also stephanomelis, ^[Note] applied with water. Powdered betony, taken with goat's milk, or bruised plantago, ^[Note] arrests discharges of blood from the ma- millæ. Juice of plantago is administered to patients when vomiting blood. For local discharges of blood, an application of root of persolata ^[Note] with stale axle-grease is highly spoken of.

For ruptures, convulsions, and falls with violence, the greater centaury ^[Note] is used; root of gentian pounded or boiled; juice of betony—this last being employed also for ruptures produced by straining the vocal organs or sides—panaces; ^[Note] scordium; ^[Note] or aristolochia ^[Note] taken in drink. For contusions and falls, agaric is taken, in doses of two oboli, in three cyathi of honied wine, or if there are symptoms of fever, hydromel; the verbascum, ^[Note] also, with a golden flower; root of acoron ^[Note] the several varieties of Aizoüm, ^[Note] the juice of the larger kind being particularly efficacious; juice of symphytum, ^[Note] or a decoction of the root of that plant; daucus, ^[Note] unboiled; erysithales, ^[Note] a plant with a yellow flower and a leaf like that of acanthus, taken in wine; chamærops; ^[Note] irio, ^[Note] taken in pottage; plantago ^[Note] taken any way, as also * * * *

Phthiriasis is a disease which proved fatal to the Dictator Sylla, ^[Note] and which developes itself by the production of insects in the blood, which ultimately consume the body. It is combated by using the juice of Taminian grapes ^[Note] or of hellebore, the body being rubbed all over with it, in combination with oil. A decoction of Taminian grapes in vinegar, has the effect, also, of ridding the clothes of these vermin.

Of ulcers there are numerous kinds, which are treated in various ways. The root of all the varieties of panaces ^[Note] is used as an application for running ulcers, in warm wine.

That which we have spoken of as the "chironion" ^[Note] is particularly good as a desiccative: bruised with honey, it opens tumours, and is useful for serpiginonus ulcers, the cure of which appears more than doubtful; in which case it is amalgamated with flower ^[Note] of copper tempered with wine, either the seed, flower, or root, being employed for the purpose. Mixed with polenta ^[Note] it is good for old wounds. The following are also good detergents for wounds: heraclion siderion, ^[Note] apollinaris, ^[Note] psyllion, ^[Note] tragacantha, ^[Note] and scordotis ^[Note] mixed with honey. Powdered scordotis applied by itself, consumes fleshy excrescences on the body. Polemonia ^[Note] is curative of the malignant ulcer known as "cacoëthes." The greater centaury, ^[Note] sprinkled in powder, or applied in the form of a liniment, or the leaves of the smaller ^[Note] centaury, boiled or pounded, act as a detergent upon inveterate ulcers, and effect a cure. To recent wounds, the follicules of the clymenus ^[Note] are applied. Gentian is applied to scrpiginous ulcers, the root being bruised or else boiled down in water to the consistency of honey; the juice also of the plant is employed. For wounds, a kind of lycium ^[Note] is prepared from gentian.

Lysimachia ^[Note] is curative of recent wounds, and plantago ^[Note] of all kinds of ulcerations, those on females, infants, and aged persons more particularly. This plant, when softened by the action of fire, is better still: in combination with cerate it acts as a detergent upon ulcers with indurated edges, and arrests the progress of corrosive sores: when applied bruised, it should be covered with its own leaves. Chelidonia ^[Note] also acts as a desiccative upon suppurations, abscesses, and fistulous ulcers; indeed, it is so remarkably useful for the cure of wounds, as to be employed as a substitute for spodium ^[Note] even. In cases where the cure is almost hopeless, it is applied with axle- grease. Dittany, ^[Note] taken internally, causes arrows to fall from the flesh; used as a liniment, it has the effect of extracting other kinds of pointed weapons: the leaves are taken in the proportion of one obolus to one cyathus of water. Nearly equal in its efficacy is pseudo-dictamnon: ^[Note] they are both of them useful, also, for dispersing suppurations.

Aristolochia ^[Note] cauterizes putrid sores, and, applied with honey, acts as a detergent upon sordid ulcers. At the same time also, it removes maggots, and extracts hard cores, and all foreign bodies adhering to the flesh, arrows more particularly, and, applied with resin, splintered bones. Used by itself, it fills the cavities made by ulcers with new flesh, and, employed with iris, ^[Note] in vinegar, it closes recent wounds. Vervain, or cinquefoil with salt and honey, is remedial for ulcers of long standing. Roots of persolata ^[Note] are applied to recent wounds inflicted with iron, but for old wounds, it is the leaves that are employed: in both cases, in combination with axle-grease, the sore being then covered with the leaves of the plant. Damasonium ^[Note] is used for wounds the same way as for scrofula, ^[Note] and leaves of verbascum ^[Note] are employed with vinegar or wine.

Vervain is useful for all kinds of callosities or putrid sores; root of nymphæa heraclia ^[Note] is curative of running ulcers; and

the same is the case with root of cyclaminos, ^[Note] either used by itself, or in combination with vinegar or honey. This last root is useful also for the cure of steatomatous tumours, and hyssop for that of running ulcers; an effect equally produced by peucedanum, ^[Note] a plant which exercises so powerful an influence upon fresh wounds, as to cause exfoliation even of the bones. The two varieties of anagallis ^[Note] are possessed of similar properties, and act as a check upon the corrosive sores known as "nomæ" and upon defluxions; they are useful also in cases of recent wounds, those of aged people in particular. Fresh leaves of mandragora, ^[Note] applied with cerate, are curative of apostemes and sordid ulcers: the root too is used, with honey or oil, for wounds.

Hemlock, incorporated with flour of winter wheat ^[Note] by the agency of wine—as also the plant Aizoüm ^[Note]—is curative of herpetic eruptions, and corrosive or putrid sores. Erigeron ^[Note] is employed for ulcers which breed maggots. Root of astra- galus ^[Note] is used for the cure of recent wounds or of ulcers of long standing; and upon these last either kind of hypocisthis ^[Note] acts as a detergent. Seed of leontopodium, ^[Note] bruised in water and applied with polenta, ^[Note] extracts pointed weapons from the flesh: a result equally produced by using seed of pycnocomon. ^[Note] The tithymalos characias ^[Note] supplies its juice for the cure of gangrenes, phagedænic sores, and putrid ulcers; or else a decoction is made of the branches with polenta and oil. Roots of orchis ^[Note] have a similar effect; in addition to which, 'applied, either dry or fresh gathered, with honey and vinegar, they are curative of the ulcer known as "cacoëthes." Onothera ^[Note] also, used by itself; is curative of ulcers when rapidly gaining head.

The people of Scythia employ scythice ^[Note] for the treatment of wounds. For carcinoma, argemonia, ^[Note] applied with honey, is extremely efficacious. For sores that have prematurely closed, root of asphodel is boiled, in manner already ^[Note] stated.

and then beaten up with polenta, ^[Note] and applied. For all kinds of wounds apollinaris ^[Note] is very useful. Root of astragalus, ^[Note] reduced to powder, is good for running ulcers; the same, too, with callithrix, ^[Note] boiled in water. For blisters, more particularly when caused by the shoes, vervain is used, as also pounded lysimachia, ^[Note] or nymphæa ^[Note] dried and powdered; but when they have assumed the form of inveterate ulcers, polythrix ^[Note] will be found more serviceable.

Polycnemon ^[Note] is a plant which resembles cunila bubula; ^[Note] it has a seed like that of pennyroyal, a ligneous stem with numerous articulations, and odoriferous umbels, with a pleasant though pungent smell. This plant is chewed and applied to wounds inflicted with iron, the application being removed at the end of four days. Symphyton ^[Note] causes sores to cicatrize with the greatest rapidity; the same, too, with sideritis, ^[Note] which is applied in combination with honey. The seed and leaves of verbascum, ^[Note] boiled in wine and pounded, are used for the extraction of all foreign substances adhering to the body; and a similar use is made of leaves of mandragora ^[Note] mixed with polenta, ^[Note] and roots of cyclaminos ^[Note] with honey. Leaves of trixago, ^[Note] bruised in oil, are used for ulcers of a serpiginous nature more particularly, as also sea-weed bruised with honey. Betony, with the addition of salt, is employed for the cure of carcinomatous sores and inveterate blisters on the neck.

Argemonia ^[Note] with vinegar, or root of batrachion, ^[Note] removes warts; this last having the effect also of bringing off malformed

nails. The juice or the leaves, applied topically, of either kind of linozostis, ^[Note] remove warts. All the varieties of tithy- malos ^[Note] are efficacious for the removal of every kind of wart, as also of hangnails ^[Note] and wens. Ladanum ^[Note] imparts a fresh colour and seemly appearance to scars.

(15.) The traveller who carries artemisia ^[Note] attached to his person, or elelisphacus, ^[Note] will never be sensible of lassitude, it is said.

One great remedy for all female diseases in common, is the black seed of the herbaceous plant pæonia, ^[Note] taken in hydro- mel: the root also is an effectual emmenagogue. Seed of panaces, ^[Note] mixed with wormwood, acts as an emmenagogue and as a sudorific: the same, too, with scordotis, ^[Note] taken internally or applied topically. Betony, in doses of one drachma to three cyathi of wine, is taken for various affections of the uterus, as also directly after child-birth. Excessive menstruation is arrested by a pessary of achillea, ^[Note] or else a sitting-bath composed of a decoction of that plant. Seed of henbane in wine is used as a liniment for diseases of the mamillæ, and the root is employed in the form of a plaster for uterine affections; chelidonia, ^[Note] too, is applied to the mamillæ.

Roots of panaces, ^[Note] applied as a pessary, bring away the after-birth and the dead fœtus, and the plant itself, taken in wine, or used as a pessary with honey, acts as a detergent upon the uterus. Polemonia, ^[Note] taken in wine, brings away the after-birth; used as a fumigation, it is good for suffocations of the uterus. Juice of the smaller centaury, ^[Note] taken in drink, or employed as a fomentation, acts as an emmenagogue. The root also of the larger centaury, similarly used, is good for pains in the uterus; scraped and used as a pessary, it expels the dead fœtus. For pains of the uterus, plantago ^[Note] is applied as a pessary, in wool, and for hysterical suffocations, it is taken in

drink. But it is dittany that is of the greatest efficacy in cases of this description; it acts as an emmenagogue, and is an expellent of the fœtus when dead or lying transversely in the uterus. In these cases the leaves of it are taken, in doses of one obolus, in water: indeed so active is it in its effects that ordinarily it is forbidden to be introduced into the chamber of a woman lying-in. Not only is it thus efficacious when taken in drink, but even when applied topically or used as a fumiga- tion. Pseudodictamnum ^[Note] possesses pretty nearly the same virtues, but it acts as an emmenagogue also, boiled in doses of one denarius in unmixed wine. Aristolochia, ^[Note] however, is employed for a greater number of purposes: in combination with myrrh and pepper, either taken in drink or used as a pessary, it acts as a powerful emmenagogue, and brings away the dead fœtus and the after-birth. This plant, the smaller kind in particular, used either as a fomentation, fumigation, or pessary, acts as a preventive of procidence of the uterus.

Hysterical suffocations and irregularities of the catamenia are treated with agaric, taken in doses of three oboli, in one cyathus of old wine: vervain is used also in similar cases, as a pessary, with fresh hog's lard; or else antirrhinum, ^[Note] with rose oil and honey. Root of Thessalian nymphæa, ^[Note] used as a pessary, is curative of pains in the uterus; taken in red wine, it arrests uterine discharges. Root of cyclaminos, ^[Note] on the other hand, taken in drink and employed as a pessary, acts as an emmenagogue: a decoction of it, used as a sitting-bath, cures affections of the bladder. Cissanthemos, ^[Note] taken in drink, brings away the after-birth, and is curative of diseases of the. uterus. The upper part of the root of xiphion, ^[Note] taken in doses of one drachma, in vinegar, promotes menstruation. A fumigation of burnt peucedanum ^[Note] has a soothing effect in cases of hysterical suffocation. Psyllion, ^[Note] taken in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of hydromel, is particularly good for promoting the lochial discharge. Seed of mandragora, ^[Note] taken in drink, acts as a detergent upon the

uterus; the juice, employed in a pessary, promotes menstruation and expels the dead fetus. The seed of this plant, used with live sulphur, ^[Note] arrests menstruation when in excess; while batrachion, ^[Note] on the other hand, acts as an emmenagogue. This last plant is either used as an article of food, or is taken in drink: in a raw state, as already stated, ^[Note] it has a burning flavour; but when cooked, the taste of it is greatly improved by the addition of salt, oil, and cummin. Daucus, ^[Note] taken in drink, promotes the catamenia, and is an expellent of the after-birth in a very high degree. Ladanum, ^[Note] used as a fumigation, acts as a corrective upon the uterus, and is employed topically for pains and ulcerations of that organ.

Scammony, taken in drink or used as a pessary, is an expellent of the dead fœtus. Either kind of hypericon, ^[Note] used as a pessary, promotes menstruation: but for this purpose it is crethmos, ^[Note] according to Hippocrates, that is the most efficacious, the seed or root of it being taken in wine. ^[Note] of the outer coat brings away the after-birth. This plant, taken in water, is good for hysterical suffocations; root of geranion ^[Note] also, which is peculiarly useful for the after-birth, and for inflation of the uterus. Hippuris, ^[Note] taken in drink or applied as a pessary, acts as a detergent upon the uterus: polygonos, ^[Note] taken in drink, promotes menstruation; and the sane with root of alcima. ^[Note] Leaves of plantago, ^[Note] and agaric in hydromel, have a similar effect. Artemisia, ^[Note] bruised and applied as a pessary, with oil of iris, ^[Note] figs, or myrrh, is curative of diseases of the uterus; the root, too, of this plant, taken in drink, is so strongly purgative as to expel the dead fœtus even. A decoction of the branches, used as a sitting-bath, promotes menstruation and brings away the after-birth; the

same, too, with the leaves, taken in doses of one drachma in drink. The leaves, if applied to the lower regions of the abdomen with barley-meal, will prove equally efficacious.

Acoron ^[Note] is very useful for internal complaints of females; as also the two varieties of conyza, ^[Note] and crethmos. ^[Note] Either kind of anthyllis, ^[Note] taken in wine, is remarkably good for uterine affections, griping pains in that organ, and retardations of the after-birth. Callithrix, ^[Note] applied as a fomentation, is curative of affections of the vagina: it removes scaly eruptions ^[Note] also of the head, and, beaten up in oil, it stains the hair. Geranion, ^[Note] taken in white wine, or hypocisthis ^[Note] in red, arrests all uterine discharges. Hyssop modifies hysterical suffocations. Root of vervain, taken in water, is a most excellent remedy for all accidents incident to, or consequent upon, delivery. Some persons mix bruised cypress seed with peucedanum ^[Note] in red wine. Seed, too, of psyllion, ^[Note] boiled in water and taken warm, has a soothing effect upon all defluxions of the uterus. Symphyton, ^[Note] bruised in wine, promotes menstruation. Juice of scordotis, ^[Note] in the proportion of one drachma to four cyathi of hydromel, accelerates delivery. Leaves of dittany are given for the same purpose, in water, with remarkable success. It is a well-known fact, too, that these leaves, to the extent of a single obolus even, will bring away the fœtus instantaneously, even when dead, without the slightest inconvenience to the patient. Pseudodictamnum ^[Note] is productive of a somewhat similar effect, but not in so marked a degree: cyclaminos, ^[Note] too, attached as an amulet; cissanthemos, ^[Note] taken in drink; and powdered betony, in hydromel.

Arsenogonon ^[Note] and thelygonon are plants, both of them,

with clusters resembling the blossoms of the olive, but paler, and a white seed like that of the poppy. By taking thelygonon in drink, they say, the conception of female issue is ensured. Arsenogonon differs from it in the seed, which resembles that of the olive, but in no other respect. By taking this last plant in drink, male issue may be ensured—that is, if we choose to believe it. Some persons, however, assert that both plants resemble ocimum, ^[Note] but that the seed of arsenogonon is double, and resembles the testes in appearance.

Aizoüm, which we have spoken of under the name of digi- tellus, ^[Note] is the great specific for diseases of the mamillæ. The milk is increased by taking erigeron ^[Note] in raisin wine, or else sonchos ^[Note] boiled with spelt. The plant known as "mastos," ^[Note] applied topically, removes the hairs from the mamillæ, ^[Note] which make their appearance after child-birth: it has the effect also of dispersing scaly crusts ^[Note] upon the face, and other cutaneous affections. Gentian also, nymphæa heraclia ^[Note] employed in a liniment, and root of cyclaminos, ^[Note] remove all blemishes of the skin. Seeds of cacalia, ^[Note] mixed with melted wax, plump out the skin of the face and make wrinkles disappear. Root of acoron, ^[Note] also, removes all spots upon the skin.

Lysimachia ^[Note] imparts a blonde tint ^[Note] to the hair, and the hypericon, ^[Note] otherwise called "corisson," makes it black. The same too, with ophrys, ^[Note] a plant with indentations, which re

sembles the cabbage, but has only two leaves. Polemonia, ^[Note] too, boiled in oil, imparts blackness to the hair.

As for depilatories, I reckon them in the number of cosmetics, fit for women only, though men use them now-a-days. For this purpose archezostis ^[Note] is looked upon as highly efficacious, as also juice of tithymalos, ^[Note] applied with oil every now and then in the sun, or after pulling out the hairs. Hyssop, applied with oil, heals itch-scab in beasts, and side- citis ^[Note] is particularly useful for quinzy in swine.

But let us now turn to the remaining plants of which we have to speak.

SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, one thousand and nineteen.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro, ^[Note] C. Valgius, ^[Note] Pompeius Lenæus, ^[Note] Sextius Niger ^[Note] who wrote in Greek, Julius Bassus ^[Note] who wrote in Greek, Antonius Castor, ^[Note] Cornelius Celsus. ^[Note]

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Theophrastus, ^[Note] Democritus, ^[Note] Juba, ^[Note] Orpheus, ^[Note] Pythagoras, ^[Note] Mago, ^[Note] Menander ^[Note] who wrote the "Biochresta," Nicander, ^[Note] Homer, Hesiod, ^[Note] Musæus, ^[Note] Sophocles, ^[Note] Xanthus, ^[Note] Anaxilaüs. ^[Note]

MEDICAL AUTHORS QUOTED.—Mnesitheus, ^[Note] Callimachus, ^[Note]

Phanias ^[Note] the physician, Timaristus, ^[Note] Simus, ^[Note] Hippocrates, ^[Note] Chrysippus, ^[Note] Diocles, ^[Note] Ophelion, ^[Note] Heraclides, ^[Note] Hicesius, ^[Note] Dionysius, ^[Note] Apollodorus ^[Note] of Citium, Apollodorus ^[Note] of Tarentum, Praxagoras, ^[Note] Plistonicus, ^[Note] Medius, ^[Note] Dieuches, ^[Note] Cleophantus, ^[Note] Philistion, ^[Note] Asclepiades, ^[Note] Creteuas, ^[Note] Petronius Diadotus, ^[Note] Iollas, ^[Note] Erasistratus, ^[Note] Diagoras, ^[Note] Andreas, ^[Note] Mnesides, ^[Note] Epicharmus, ^[Note] Damion, ^[Note] Tlepolemus, ^[Note] Metrodorus, ^[Note] Solo, ^[Note] Lycus, ^[Note] Olympias ^[Note] of Thebes, Philinus, ^[Note] Petrichus, ^[Note] Micton, ^[Note] Glaucias, ^[Note] Xenocrates. ^[Note]