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CHAP. 25. (21.)
THE ONOCHILON, ARCHEBION, ONOCHELIS, RHEXIA, OR ENCHRYSA: THIRTY REMEDIES.
There is another plant, too, the proper name of which is “onochilon,” but which some people call “anchusa,” others “archebion,” and others, again, “onochelis,” or “rhexia,” and, more universally, “enchrysa.” This plant has a diminu- tive stem, a purple flower, rough leaves and branches, and a root the colour of blood at harvest-time, though dark and swarthy at other times. It grows in sandy soils, and is extremely efficacious for the stings of serpents, vipers in particular, the roots or leaves of it being taken indifferently with the food, or in the drink. It developes its virtues at harvest-time. more especially: the leaves of it, when bruised, have just the smell of a cucumber. This plant is prescribed, in doses of three cyathi, for prolapsus of the uterus, and, taken with hyssop, it expels tape-worms. For pains in the liver or kidneys, it is taken in hydromel, if the patient shows symptoms of fever, but if not, in wine. With the root of it a liniment is made, for the removal of freckles and leprous sores; and it is asserted that persons who carry this root about them will never be attacked by serpents.
There is another plant, again, very similar to this, with a red flower, and somewhat smaller. It is applied to the same uses as the other; it is asserted, too, that if it is chewed, and then spit out upon a serpent, it will cause its instantaneous death.
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CHAP. 26.
THE ANTHEMIS, LEUCANTHEMIS, LEUCANTHEMUM, CHAMÆXMELUM, OR MELANTHIUM; THREE VARIETIES OF IT: ELEVEN REMEDIES.
The anthemis has been highly extolled by Asclepiades. Some persons call it “leucanthemis,” some leucanthemum, others, again, “eranthemis,” from its flowering in spring, and others “chamæmelon,” because it has a smell like that of an apple: sometimes, too, it is called “melanthion.” There are three varieties of this plant, which only differ from one another in the flower; they do not exceed a palm in height, and they bear small blossoms like those of rue, white, yellow, or purple.
This plant is mostly found in thin, poor soils, or growing near foot-paths. It is usually gathered in spring, and put by for the purpose of making chaplets. At the same season, too, medical men pound the leaves, and make them up into lozenges, the same being done with the flowers also, and the root. All the parts of this plant are administered together, in doses of one drachma, for the stings of serpents of all kinds. Taken in drink, too, they bring away the dead fœtus, act as an emmenagogue and diuretic, and disperse calculi of the bladder. The anthemis is employed, also, for the cure of flatulency, affections of the liver, excessive secretions of the bile, and fistulas of the eye; chewed, it heals running sores. Of all the different varieties, the one that is most efficacious for the treatment of calculi is that with the purple flower, the leaves and stem of which are somewhat larger than those of the other kinds. Some persons, and with strict propriety, give to this last the name of “eranthemis.”
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CHAP. 27.
THE LOTUS PLANT: FOUR REMEDIES.
Those who think that the lotus is nothing but a tree only, can easily be refuted, if upon the authority of Homer only; for that poet names the lotus first of all among the herbs which grow to administer to the pleasures of the gods. The leaves of this plant, mixed with honey, disperse the marks of sores, argema, and films upon the eyes.
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CHAP. 28.
THE LOTOMETRA: TWO REMEDIES.
The lotometra is a cultivated lotus; with the seed of it, which resembles millet, the shepherds in Egypt make a coarse bread, which they mostly knead with water or milk. It is said, however, that there is nothing lighter or more wholesome than this bread, so long as it is eaten warm; but that when it gets cold, it becomes heavy and more difficult of digestion. It is a well-known fact, that persons who use it as a diet are never attacked by dysentery, tenesmus, or other affections of the bowels; hence it is, that this plant is reckoned among the remedies for that class of diseases.
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CHAP. 29.
THE HELIOTROPIUM, HELIOSCOPIUM, OR VERRUCARIA: TWELVE REMEDIES. THE HELIOTROPIUM, TRICOCCUM, OR SCORPIURON: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.
We have spoken more than once of the marvels of the heliotropium, which turns with the sun, in cloudy weather even, so great is its sympathy with that luminary. At night, as though in regret, it closes its blue flower.
There are two species of heliotropium, the tricoccum and the helioscopium, the latter being the taller of the two, though they neither of them exceed half a foot in height. The helioscopium throws out branches from the root, and the seed of it, enclosed in follicules, is gathered at harvest-time. It grows nowhere but in a rich soil, a highly-cultivated one more particularly; the tricoccum, on the other hand, is to be found growing everywhere. I find it stated, that the helioscopium, boiled, is considered an agreeable food, and that taken in milk, it is gently laxative to the bowels; while, again, a decoction of it, taken as a potion, acts as a most effectual purgative. The juice of this plant is collected in summer, at the sixth hour of the day; it is usually mixed with wine, which makes it keep all the better. Combined with rose-oil, it alleviates head-ache. The juice extracted from the leaves, combined with salt, removes warts; from which circumstance our people have given this plant the name of “verrucaria,” although, from its various properties, it fully merits a better name. For, taken in wine or hydromel, it is an antidote to the venom of serpents and scorpions, as Apollophanes and Apollodorus state. The leaves, too, employed topically, are a cure for the cerebral affections of infants, known as “siriasis,” as also for convulsions, even when they are epileptic. It is very wholesome, too, to gargle the mouth with a decoction of this plant. Taken in drink, it expels tapeworm and gravel, and, with the addition of cummin, it will disperse calculi. A decoction of the plant with the root, mixed with the leaves and some suet of a he-goat, is applied topically for the cure of gout.
The other kind, which we have spoken of as being called the “tricoccum,” and which also bears the name of “scorpiuron,” has leaves that are not only smaller than those of the other kind, but droop downwards towards the ground: the seed of it resembles a scorpion’s tail, to which, in fact, it owes its latter appellation. It is of great efficacy for injuries received from all kinds of venomous insects and the spider known as the “phalangium,” but more particularly for the stings of scorpions, if applied topically. Those who carry it about their person are never stung by a scorpion, and it is said that if a circle is traced on the ground around a scorpion with a sprig of this plant, the animal will never move out of it, and that if a scorpion is covered with it, or even sprinkled with tile water in which it has been steeped, it will die that instant. Four grains of the seed, taken in drink, are said to be a cure for the quartan fever, and three for the tertian; a similar effect being produced by carrying the plant three times round the patient, and then laying it under his head. The seed, too, acts as an aphrodisiac, and, applied with honey, it disperses inflamed tumours. This kind of heliotropium, as well as the other, extracts warts radically, and excrescences of the anus. Applied topically, the seed draws off corrupt blood from the vertebre and loins; and a similar effect is produced by taking a decoction of it in chicken broth, or with beet and lentils. The husks of the seed restore the natural colour to lividities of the skin. According to the Magi, the patient himself should make four knots in the heliotropium for a quartan, and three for a tertian fever, at the same time offering a prayer that he may recover to untie them, the plant being left in the ground meanwhile.
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CHAP. 30.
THE ADIANTUM, CALLITRICHOS, TRICHOMANES, POLYTRICHOS, OR SAXIFRAGUM; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: TWENTY-EIGHT REMEDIES.
Equally marvellous, too, in other respects, is the adiantum; it is green in summer, never dies in the winter, mani- fests an aversion to water, and
, when sprinkled with water or dipped in it, has all the appearance of having been dried, so great is its antipathy to moisture; a circumstance to which it owes the name of “adiantum,” given to it by the Greeks. In other respects, it is a shrub which might he well employed in ornamental gardening. Some persons give it the name of “callitrichos,” and others of “polytrichos,” both of them bearing reference to its property of imparting colour to the hair. For this purpose, a decoction of it is made in wine with parsley-seed, large quantities of oil being added, if it is desired to make the hair thick and curly as well: it has also the property of preventing the hair from coming off.
There are two kinds of this plant, one being whiter than the other, which last is swarthy and more stunted. It is the larger kind that is known as the “polytrichos,” or, as some call it, the “trichomanes.” Both plants have tiny branches of a bright black colour, and leaves like those of fern, the lower ones being rough and tawny, and all of them lying close together and attached to footstalks arranged on either side of the stem: of root, so to say, there is nothing. This plant frequents umbrageous rocks, walls sprinkled with the spray of running water, grottoes of fountains more particularly, and crags surrounded with streamlets, a fact that is all the more remarkable in a plant which derives no benefit from water.
The adiantum is of singular efficacy in expelling and breaking calculi of the bladder, the dark kind in particular; and it is for this reason, in my opinion, rather than because it grows upon stones, that it has received from the people of our country its name of “saxifragum.” It is taken in wine, the usual dose being a pinch of it in three fingers. Both these plants are diuretics, and act as an antidote to the venom of serpents and spiders: a decoction of them in wine arrests looseness of the bowels. A wreath of them, worn on the head, alleviates head-ache. For the bite of the scolopendra they are applied topically, but they must be removed every now and then, to prevent them from cauterizing the flesh: they are employed in a similar manner also for alopecy. They disperse scrofulous sores, scurf on the face, and running ulcers of the head. A decoction of them is useful also for asthma, affections of the liver and spleen, enlarged secretions of the gall, and dropsy. In combination with wormwood, they form a liniment for strangury and affections of the kidneys; they have the effect also of bringing away the after-birth, and act as an emmenagogue. Taken with vinegar or juice of brambleberries, they arrest hæmorrhage. Combined with rose-oil they are employed as a liniment for excoriations on infants, the parts affected being first fomented with wine. The leaves, steeped in the urine of a youth who has not arrived at puberty, and beaten up with saltpetre, compose a liniment which, it is said, prevents wrinkles from forming on the abdomen in females. It is a general belief that partridges and cocks are rendered more pugnacious if this plant is mixed with their food; and it is looked upon as particularly beneficial for cattle.
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CHAP. 31. (22.)
THE PICRIS; ONE REMEDY. THE THESION; ONE REMEDY.
The picris derives its name from its intense bitterness, as we have previously stated. The leaf of it is round; it is remarkably efficacious for the removal of warts.
The thesium, too, has a bitterness not unlike it: it is a powerful purgative, for which purpose it is employed bruised in water.
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CHAP. 32.
THE ASPHODEL; FIFTY-ONE REMEDIES.
The asphodel is one of the most celebrated of all the plants, so much so, indeed, that by some persons it has been called “heroum.” Hesiod has mentioned the fact of its growing in rivers, and Dionysius distinguishes it into male and female. It has been observed that the bulbs of it, boiled with a ptisan, are remarkably good for consumption and phthisis, and that bread in which they have been kneaded up with the meal, is extremely wholesome. Nicander recommends also, for the stings of serpents and scorpions, either the stalk, which we have already spoken of under the name of “anthericus,” or else the seed or bulbs, to be taken in wine, in doses of three drachmæ; and he says that these should be strewed beneath the bed, if there is any apprehension of their presence. The asphodel is prescribed also for wounds inflicted by marine animals of a venomous nature, and the bite of the land scolopendra. It is quite wonderful how the snails, in Campania, seek the stalk of this plant, and dry it by extracting the inside. The leaves, too, are applied with wine to wounds made by venomous animals, and the bulbs are beaten up with polenta and similarly used for affections of the sinews and joints. It is also a very good plan to rub lichens with them chopped up and mixed with vinegar, and to apply them in water to putrid sores, as also to inflammations of the tests or mamillæ. Boiled in lees of wine, and applied in a linen pledged, they are used for the cure of defluxions of the eyes.
Whatever the malady may happen to be, it is generally in a boiled state that the bulbs are employed; but for foul ulcers of the legs and for chaps upon any part of the body, they are dried and reduced to powder. The bulbs are usually gathered in autumn, a period when their medicinal properties are most fully developed. The juice extracted from them pounded, or else a decoction of them, is good, mixed with honey, for pains in the body: it is employed also with dried iris and a little salt by those who wish to impart an agreeable odour to the person. The leaves are used for the cure of the various maladies above mentioned, as also, boiled in wine, for scrofu- lous sores, inflamed tumours, and ulcers of the face. The ashes of the root are a remedy for alopecy and chaps on the feet; and an extract of the root, boiled in oil, is good for burns and chilblains. It is injected also into the ears for deafness, and, for tooth-ache, it is poured into the ear opposite to the part affected. A moderate dose of the root, taken in drink, acts as a diuretic and emmenagogue; it is good also for pains in the sides, ruptures, convulsions, and coughs, in doses of one drachma, taken in wine. Chewed, the root promotes vomiting, but the seed, taken internally, disorders the bowels.
Chrysermus used to employ a decoction of the root, in wine, for imposthumes of the parotid glands; and he has prescribed it, in combination with cachrys, in wine, for the cure of scrofulous sores. Some persons say that if, after applying the root to the sores, a part of it is hung up in the smoke to dry, and not taken down till the end of four days, the sores will gradually dry up with this portion of the root. Sophocles used to employ it both ways, boiled and raw, for the cure of gout; and he prescribes it, boiled in oil, for chilblains, and, in vinegar, for jaundice and dropsy. It has been stated, also, that, used as a friction with wine and honey, or taken in drink, it acts as an aphrodisiac. Xenocrates assures us, too, that a decoction of the root in vinegar removes lichens, itchscabs, and leprous sores; and that a decoction of it, with henbane and tar, has a similar effect, and is good also for the removal of bad odours of the armpits and thighs: he states, also, that if the head is well rubbed with the root, being first shaved, the hair will curl all the better for it. Simus prescribes a decoction of it, in wine, to be taken for calculi in the kidneys; and Hippocrates recommends the seed for obstructions of the spleen. The root, or else a decoction of it, applied topically, restores the hair in beasts of burden, where it has been lost by ulcerations or scab. It has the effect, too, of driving away rats and mice, and of exterminating them, if placed before their holes.
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CHAP. 33.
THE HALIMON: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.
Some authors have thought that it is the asphodel that is called “halimon” by Hesiod, an opinion which appears to me ill-founded; halimon being the name of a distinct plant, which has been the occasion of no few mistakes committed by writers. According to some, it is a tufted shrub, white, destitute of thorns, and with leaves like those of the olive, only softer; which eaten boiled, are an agreeable food. The root, they say, taken in doses of one drachma in hydromel, allays gripings of the bowels, and is a cure for ruptures and convul- sions. Others, again, pronounce it to be a vegetable growing near the sea-shore, of a salt taste — to which, in fact, it owes its
name — with leaves somewhat round but elongated, and much esteemed as an article of food. They say, too, that there are two species of it, the wild and the cultivated, and that, mixed with bread, they are good, both of them, for dysentery, even if uiceration should have supervened, and are useful for stomachic affections, in combination with vinegar. They state, also, that this plant is applied raw to ulcers of long standing, and that it modifies the inflammation of recent wounds, and the pain attendant upon sprains of the feet and affections of the bladder. The wild halimon, they tell us, has thinner leaves than the other, but is more effectual as a medicament in all the above cases, as also for the cure of itch, whether in man or beast. The root, too, according to them, employed as a friction, renders the skin more clear, and the teeth whiter; and they assert that if the seed of it is put beneath the tongue, no thirst will be experienced. They state, also, that this kind is eaten as well as the other, and that they are, both of them, preserved.
Crateuas has spoken of a third kind also, with longer leaves than the others, and more hairy: it has the smell of the cypress, he says, and grows beneath the ivy more particularly. He states that this plant is extremely good for opisthotony and contractions of the sinews, taken in doses of three oboli to one sextarius of water.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder Page 160
