Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder
Page 188
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 39.
THE TITHYMALOS CHARACIAS.
The tithymalos is called by our people the “milk plant,” and by some persons the “goat lettuce.” 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. The first kind has the additional name of “characias,” 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 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, 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 40.
THE TITHYMALOS MYRTITES, OR CARYITES; TWENTY- ONE REMEDIES.
A second kind of tithymalos is called “myrtites” 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.” 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 41.
THE TITHYMALOS PARALIOS, OR TITHYMALIS: FOUR REMEDIES.
A third kind of tithymalos is known by the additional name of “paralios,” or else as “tithymalis.” 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 42.
THE TITHYMALOS HELIOSCOPIOS : EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
A fourth kind of tithymalos is known by the additional name of “helioscopios.” It has leaves like those of purslain, 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 are remarkably fond of it. It receives its additional name of “helioscopios” from the fact that the heads of it turn 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 43.
THE TITHYMALOS CYPARISSIAS : EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
In the fifth place we have the tithymalos known as “cyparissias,” 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 44.
THE TITHYMALOS PLATYPHYLLOS, CORYMBITES, OR AMYGDALITES: THREE REMEDIES.
The sixth kind is called “platyphyllos” 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 45.
THE TITHYMALOS DENDROÏDES, COBIOS, OR LEPTO- PHYLLOS: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
The seventh kind has the additional name of “dendroïdes,” and is known by some persons as “cobios,” and by others as “leptophyllos.” 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 46.
THE APIOS ISCHAS, OR RAPHANOS AGRIA: TWO REMEDIES.
The apios ischas or raphanos agria, 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 47.
REMEDIES FOR GRIPING PAINS IN THE BOWELS.
Every kind of panaces is curative of gripings in the bowels; as also betony, except in those cases where they arise from indigestion. Juice of peucedanum is good for flatulency, acting powerfully as a carminative: the same is the case, also, with root of acoron and with daucus, eaten like lettuce as a salad. Ladanum 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 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, 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 48.
REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN.
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, taken in honied wine: teucria, 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 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. Argemonia, 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, taken in wine, or by itself, diminishes the spleen.
Cissanthemos, 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, also, boiled before it has shed its seed. A decoction of root of peucedanum is good for the spleen and kidneys. Acoron, 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 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 is used externally for diseases of the spleen; sodium, also, in combination with wax: and agaric, mixed with powdered fenugreek.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 49.
REMEDIES FOR CALCULI AND DISEASES OF THE BLADDER.
For diseases of the bladder and calculi (affections which, as :already observed, produce the most excruciating torments), palimonies 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 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 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 is employed for hernia in infants, and psyllion is used as an application in cases of umbilical bernia. The two kinds of anagallis are diuretic, and a similar effect is produced by a decoction of root of acoron, 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 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, beaten up and taken with wine, expel calculi of the bladder, and an application of them is curative of diseases of the testes. Erigeron, with powdered frankincense and sweet wine, is curative of inflammation of the testes; and root of symphytum, applied topically, reduces rupture of the groin. The white hypocisthis is curative of corroding ulcers of the genitals. Artemisia is prescribed also in sweet wine for the cure of calculi and of strangury; and root of nymphæa heraclia, taken in wine, allays pains in the bladder.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 50.
CRETHMOS: ELEVEN REMEDIES. CACHRY.
A similar property belongs also to crethmos, a plant highly praised by Hippocrates. 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. It is a species of garden batis, with a stem a paln in height, and a hot seed, odoriferous like that of libanotis, 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: dried and powdered and taken in wine, it removes strangury, and, with the addition of daucus, 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 51.
THE ANTHYLLION; TWO REMEDIES THE ANTHYLLIS: TWO REMEDIES.
The anthyllion 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, with a purple flower, a powerful smell, and a root like that of endive.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 52.
CEPÆA: ONE REMEDY.
The plant known as “cepæa” 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 53.
HYPERICON, CHAMÆPITYS, OR CORISON: NINE REMEDIES.
Hypericon, otherwise known as the “chamæpitys” or “orison,” is possessed of similar properties. It is a plant with a stem like that 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 54.
CAROS OR HYPERICON: TEN REMEDIES.
There is another hypericon also, known as “caros” by some. The leaves of it resemble those of the tamarix, beneath which it grows, but are more unctuous and not so red. It is an odoriferous plant, somewhat more than a palm 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 55.
THE CALLITHRIX: ONE REMEDY. THE PERPRESSA: ONE REMEDY. THE CHRYSANTHEMUM: ONE REMEDY. THE ANTHEMIS: ONE REMEDY.
Callithrix, 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 b
ladder.
Perpressa, 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, which is administered in wine; and the same with the chrysanthemum. The anthemis 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.
Detailed table of contents
CHAP. 56.
SILAUS: ONE REMEDY.