The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 3 (of 3) (part 2 of 3)
COMMENTARY. By Mala, as Macrobius states, the ancients understood all kinds of fruit which have their hard part or kernel in the middle, and their esculent part without. (Saturnalia, iii, 19.) The malum cydonium is undoubtedly the Quince. The Struthia is a species of it. See Dioscorides (i, 160); Pliny (H. N. xv, 10); Casiri (Bibl. Arab. Hisp. i, 329.) These, namely, the Struthia, according to Harduin, are the same as our Pear-quince; it is an astringent, stomachic fruit. There is more difficulty in determining for certain what the Malum Persicum was. Stackhouse makes it to be the Citrus aurantium, or Orange, but we are disposed to think that the evidence preponderates in favour of the opinion of Matthiolus, R. Stephens, and Harduin, who held that it is the Peach (Amygdalus Persica.) That species, or rather variety, which Pliny calls Duracina, was probably the Nectarine, as Harduin suggests. The Malum Armeniacum, or præcocia, was undoubtedly the Apricot. See Harduin in Plin. H. N. (xv, 31); Casiri (Bibl. Arab. Hisp. i, 330); and Gesner (Lex. Rust.) Contrary to the opinion of the etymologists, we have long thought that the English name is a corruption of the Latin præcocia. See, however, Loudon (Encyc. of Garden. 806.) We have given their characters as articles of food in the First Book. As to their medicinal powers, little need be added to our author’s account of them, as it agrees entirely with that of the other authorities. See in particular, Dioscorides (i, 160, 166); Galen (De Simpl. vii); Avicenna (ii, 2, 562.) Galen makes mention of the quince and pear-quince as being preserved with honey. He recommends the leaves, the juice, and the rind of apple trees in general, as being possessed of acid and austere qualities, and thus agglutinating wounds, restraining the defluxions of incipient inflammations, and strengthening the stomach and bowels when they have lost their tone. Dioscorides and, afterwards more fully, Avicenna state that the immoderate use of fruit is flatulent, and superinduces nervous debility. Dioscorides describes accurately the mode of preparing a wine from quinces, which, he says, is possessed of the same medicinal powers as the parts of the quince. He also makes mention of an ointment prepared from it. Avicenna represents all the fragrant kinds of apples as being cordial and alexipharmic, and strengtheners of the stomach. One of Rhases’s authorities gives an interesting account of the medicinal powers of apples as cordials, stomachics, and astringents. (Cont. l. ult. i, 441.)
Μηλάια Περσικὴ,
Malum Persicum, the Peach; the shoots and leaves are manifestly bitter, and therefore kill worms when triturated and applied to the navel. The fruit of it, which forms the edible peach, is humid, and cold in the second degree.
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COMMENTARY. See under Μῆλα.
Μηλάια Ἀρμενιακὴ,
Malus Armeniaca, Apricot; the fruit, which some call Præcocia, is possessed of the same powers as peaches.
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COMMENTARY. See under Μῆλα.
Μῆον,
Meum, Spignel; its roots are hot in the third degree, but dry in the second. It is therefore diuretic and emmenagogue, but occasions headache when taken often.
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COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Meum Athamanticum, which is the same as the Ligusticum Meum of Hooker, Angl., Spignel, Meu, or Bald-money. Our author and most of the other authorities copy closely from Dioscorides, who describes the roots of the meum as being fragrant, and heating the tongue. These, he says, being boiled in water or given in powder without boiling, prove soothing in diseases of constriction about the kidneys and bladder, relieve dysuria, flatulence of the stomach, tormina, hysterical affections, and pains of the joints. When pulverized and administered with honey, they are useful in pectoral defluxions as a linctus, and in a hip-bath promote the flow of the menses. When applied as a cataplasm to the region of the pubes in infants, they are said by him to produce the discharge of the urine. But when taken immoderately, the meum occasions headache. (i, 3.) In the above extract, by “diseases of constriction” Dioscorides alludes to a well-known dogma of the Methodists. It would appear, then, that he was imbued with the principles of that sect. None of the other Greek authorities treat of it so fully as Dioscorides. As far as we have discovered, it does not occur in the works of Hippocrates, nor in those of Celsus. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 454); Serapion (De Simpl. 182); Rhases (Collig. l. ult. i, 477); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) They do nothing but copy from Dioscorides. In the works of all our old herbalists and authorities on the English Dispensatory, down to the days of Quincy and Lewis, the meum retains a place with all its ancient characters.
Μῖλαξ,
Milax or Smilax, Bindweed; both the smooth, and the rough species which twines round trees, are possessed of acrid and heating powers.
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COMMENTARY. The two species here noticed are most probably the Smilax aspera and Convolvulus sepium. Dioscorides commends the former of these principally as being alexipharmic, and the latter as being soporific. (iv, 142, 143.) Galen and the other Greek authorities, like our author, merely give their general characters. The Arabians would seem to confound it with the other climbing herbs. See Serapion (De Simpl. 41); Avicenna (ii, 2, 724.)
Μίσυ,
Misy, is one of the escharotic and caustic medicines, with a strong astringency. It is less pungent than chalcitis, owing to the greater tenuity of its parts. And Galen says that chalcitis and sori, in the course of time, change to misy, the change beginning at the surface.
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COMMENTARY. It appears strange that this mineral should now be so little known, seeing it was well known as late as the days of Boerhaave, and is still used medicinally in the East. Boerhaave says of it, “Misy, a yellow mineral very much resembling the marcasite or mundick of our mines, but lighter, and of a less compact nature.... It is a vitriolic mineral, and is reduced by calcination to a colcothar.” (M. M. 184.) Dr. Ainslie, treating of the preparations of copper employed in medicine by the natives of India, says, “Misy is the name of an oxide of copper used by the natives of India against the toothache, and to stain their teeth black.” (Mat. Ind. i, 513.) Dr. Royle, treating of the misy and sory of Dioscorides, states that they had been supposed by Rossius to be sulphurets of copper, “but it is remarkable that mis is a Persian name for copper, and that missy is a name frequently applied in India to sulphate of iron.” (Antiq. of Hindoo Med. 102.) From these descriptions of it we find some difficulty in deciding what mineral substance it was; but see under Chalcitis. The following is Dioscorides’s description of the misy: “Of a golden appearance, hard, shining like gold when broken, and glancing like stars.” (v, 116.) He says it has the same powers as chalcitis. Galen gives an elaborate description of misy and its cognate fossils sory and chalcitis, but says little more than our author respecting its medicinal powers. (De Simpl. viii.) The other Greek authorities supply nothing additional of any great interest under this head. Serapion describes the three substances we have mentioned under the general head “de vitreola,” calling the sory Zeg rubeum, the chalcitis colcothar, and the misy Zeg viride. His account of them is taken entirely from Dioscorides and Galen. (c. 386.) Avicenna confounds them and other metallic preparations under the name of “Atramentum sutorium.” He throws no light on the subject. (ii, 2, 47.) See Rhases (Cont l. ult. 747.) Averrhoes, under the head of Alceg, i. e. Vitriolum, gives a translation of Galen’s description already noticed. (Collig. v, 43.) Misy occurs in the works both of Hippocrates and Celsus. The latter uses it as a caustic. (v, 8, 9.)
Μολύβδαινα,
Plumbago, has similar powers to litharge, but removed from the middle temperament to the colder.
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COMMENTARY. Several varieties of the Molybdæna are described by Dioscorides, from which it would appear that the ancients applied the term to more than one metallic substance; the variety resembling litharge being most probably graphite or plumbago; and the one of a leaden colour, being the molybdate of lead, or “yellow lead-spar” of Jameson. It is named Galena by his translators, but whether it, that is to say, the sulphuret of lead, was also comprehended under it we are unable to determine. The molybdæna occurs in the works of Hippocrates. Dioscorides recommends it as being incarnative and epulotic in plasters. Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of its medicinal powers succinctly like our author. None of the Arabians appear to have distinguished the molybdæna properly from litharge.
Μόλυβδος,
Plumbum, Lead, is possessed of refrigerant powers, and has also a considerably humid substance congealed by the cold. If wine, the oil of unripe grapes, or any of the cooling juices be rubbed with it, it will make an excellent application for ulcerous inflammations about the pudenda and anus. A plate of lead worn upon the loins restrains libidinous dreams; and a piece of lead put upon ganglia discusses them. Burnt lead being more desiccative, is also somewhat acrid. If washed it becomes desiccative without pungency, and makes a good application for ill-conditioned ulcers.
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COMMENTARY. We have already treated of this article as a poison. (Book V, 62.) The ancients distinguished lead into two kinds, the black and the white. Of these the latter is the same as the cassiteros, that is to say, tin. The other comprehended several of our native ores of lead. Both kinds are described in the works of Hippocrates and of Celsus. (v, 26, v, 18, &c.) See also particularly, Pliny (xxxiv, 47) and Isidorus (Orig. xvi, 21), who have given accurate descriptions of the ancient varieties of lead. Dioscorides, Galen, and Serapion agree in describing it as a powerfully cooling or refrigerant medicine. Galen’s account of it is lengthy but interesting. (De Simpl. ix.) Oribasius says that it forms an excellent application to irritable and malignant sores. Dioscorides recommends washed lead very much in rheums of the eye. He gives a very circumstantial description of the process of preparing washed lead. He further says of it, that it is a good styptic, and an excellent application to fungated sores, hemorrhoids, condylomata, and ulcers about the anus. Averrhoes treats of it in nearly the same terms as our author. (Collig. v, 43.) The Arabians, in general, prescribe it, in imitation of Galen, as an application to cancer. See Averrhoes (l. c.) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 12.) The latter joins Dioscorides in praising lead as an application to the eyes. Serapion gives a very full account of this article in extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (De Simpl. 419.) See also Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 556); Ebn Baithar (ii, 128, et pluries.)
Μοράια,
Morus nigra, the Mulberry-tree; the fruit, when ripe, loosens the belly, and is useful in all complaints of the mouth which require a moderate degree of astringency. The unripe, when dried, becomes a very styptic medicine. The bark of the root of the tree is also purgative, with a certain degree of bitterness; hence it kills the broad intestinal worm. The leaves and tender shoots hold an intermediate place between purgatives and astringents.
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COMMENTARY. There can be no doubt that it is the Ficus Morus, L., or the Black Mulberry-tree. It is the συκάμινος of Theophrastus, which, however, was sometimes applied by others to the sycamore. See Celsus (iii, 18.) The mulberry is commended by Pliny as an antidote to poisons, as it is in like manner by Dioscorides. The latter calls it laxative of the bowels, but an article readily spoiled, and bad for the stomach. He also ascribes astringent powers to its juice, which, he says, when mixed with a little honey is useful in defluxious, spreading ulcers, and inflamed tonsils. He also praises the leaves when pounded with oil, as a good cataplasm to burns. He speaks of it also as being used for dyeing the hair, and the decoction of its leaves as a gargle for toothache. (i, 180.) Galen’s account of it is the same as our author’s, by whom it is abridged. Aëtius treats of it fully as an article of food, but briefly as a medicine. He says, when taken upon a clean stomach, it proves an excellent article of food; but the very reverse when the stomach is loaded and contains any noxious humours. The Arabians, in treating of it, follow Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 491); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 201); Serapion (De Simpl. 132.) The mulberry is described as a medicine by all our old herbalists, and was retained in the Dispensatory until after the time of Quincy. (94, 198.)
Μύαγρον,
Myagrum; the seed of it is fatty, and the oily part of it is possessed of an emplastic power.
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COMMENTARY. It is generally held to be the Camelina sativa, Crantz., of which we think there can be no doubt. Both Dioscorides and Pliny mention it as producing an oil from its seed; and it is well known that the Camelina, or Gold of Paradise, is still noted as one of the oil plants. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 353.) The two authors mentioned above recommend this oil in ulcers of the mouth. Our author borrows from Galen. As far as we can discover, it is not treated of by the Arabian authorities, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who merely quotes the description of it given by Dioscorides and Galen.
Μύακες,
Musculi, Muscles, have the same power, when burnt, as the buccina. But they have the property, when washed, of removing asperity of the eyebrows and leucomata when applied with honey. Their flesh is applied with advantage to persons bitten by dogs.
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COMMENTARY. Called Μύες by Aristotle and Athenæus, Myaces by Pliny, and Musculi by Celsus, are the Mytili edules, L., or Muscles. Celsus ranks them with those things which open the bowels. (ii, 29.) He prescribes the soup of muscles as a purgative in fevers. (iii, 6.) Dioscorides merely recommends them externally as a stimulant and detergent application in diseases of the eyes, and their flesh for the bites of mad dogs. (ii, 7.) The Arabians treat of them in general terms along with the other crustacea. See particularly Avicenna (ii, 2, 529.)
Μύαρον,
Myaron (called also Melampycnon); it is a branchy and fatty herb. The oil extracted from it would seem to smooth the asperities on the body.
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COMMENTARY. This is clearly the same as the μύαγρον described above. See Jani Cornarii dollabella in P. Æ. vii.
Μυελὸς,
Medulla, Marrow; it is possessed of the property of softening indurated and scirrhous bodies. The best is that of stags, next to it, that of calves. That of bulls and of buck-goats is more acrid and desiccative. That from the limbs is more fatty and emollient; but that from the spine is harder and drier.
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COMMENTARY. According to Aristotle, the Marrow is a superfluity concocted from the nutritive blood of the bones. He states that the spinal marrow is considerably different from that of the other bones. (De Partibus Animalium, ii, 7.) Pliny, copying from Dioscorides, thus delivers the general characters of marrows: “Omnes molliunt, explent, siccant, calefaciunt.” (H. N. xxviii, 39.) Dioscorides, Galen, and Serapion concur in giving the preference to the marrow of stags. Dioscorides gives minute directions for preparing it to keep. (ii, 95.) He says that smearing the body with stag’s marrow drives away venomous reptiles. (Ibid.) The Arabians recommend a suppository from marrows as a remedy for scirrhus of the uterus. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 485), Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 460.)
Μύκητες,
Fungi, Mushrooms, are of a decidedly cold and humid temperament. Some of them prove fatal when eaten, more particularly those which have a putrid quality mixed with their nature.
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COMMENTARY. We have already treated of mushrooms as articles of food (i, 77), and as poisons (v, 54); and shall, therefore, be excused saying anything more of them in this place. In fact, we cannot see with what propriety the ancient authorities assigned them a place in the Materia Medica, since, as far as we can recollect, they never prescribe them medicinally.
Μυοσώτη,
Is described under Alsine.
Μύξα,
Myxa, the Sebesten-plum; the fruit of this tree is smaller than the bullace-plum, but of similar powers.
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COMMENTARY. It would appear indisputably to be the Sebesten-plum, or fruit of the Cordia Myxa. Whether or not this tree be also the Persea of Dioscorides (i, 187), has been much disputed. See Sprengel (in Dioscor. l. c.) and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 628.) We are inclined to doubt their identity, and of this there can be no question, if the authority of Pliny be held of any weight in this case, for he evidently distinguishes between the persea and myxa. (H. N. xv, 11, 12.) Neither Celsus, Galen, Aëtius, nor Oribasius has noticed this article by name. The sebesten-plum is described by the Arabian authorities without their making any reference to the Greek authorities, as is their wont. See Serapion (c. 8); Avicenna (ii, 2, 638); and Rhases (Contin. l. ult. iii, 42.) The barbarous translation of Avicenna begins thus, under the head of sebesten: “Sebesten et nominatur mukeita.” For mukeita we suppose the proper reading would be myxa. The Arabians describe the sebesten-plum as being a mild laxative fruit, which quenches thirst and soothes the breast. It is praised by Serapion as a laxative and cooling remedy in coughs; as a refrigerant medicine for ardor urinæ, and an anthelminthic. The sebestens continued long to hold a place in our English Dispensatory, and retained the character which the ancients had given them. See Quincy (130.)
Μυρίκη,
Myrica, the Tamarisk, is possessed of incisive and detergent powers, without being manifestly desiccative; it has also some astringency. The decoction of it, therefore, when drunk, is useful in diseases of the spleen; and it likewise cures the toothache. The fruit and bark of it nearly approach to galls in powers. The ashes of the tree are more desiccative.
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COMMENTARY. We may briefly say that we agree with the authorities who refer it to the Tamarix Gallica, L. Dioscorides, Galen, Averrhoes, and Serapion, like our author, recommend it as a powerful astringent which may be substituted for galls. Dioscorides accordingly enumerates a variety of cases in which it is applicable, such as in remedies for affections of the mouth and eyes, spitting of blood, cæliac disease, fluor albus, jaundice, and the bites of venomous spiders, and to discuss swellings in the form of a cataplasm. He further recommends its decoction in wine for reducing the enlarged spleen; as a gargle in toothache; a hip-bath in fluxes, and as a fit lotion for killing lice and nits: the lixivial ashes of it, he adds, restrain a discharge from the womb: some, he says, form goblets out of the trunk of it, which they use as drinking-cups in diseases of the spleen, draughts taken with them being found to be serviceable in such cases. (i, 116.) None of the other authorities give by any means so satisfactory an account of this subject as Dioscorides. Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius evidently follow him. Celsus ranks the “tamarix” among his articles which repress and soften. (ii, 33.) It occurs in the works of Hippocrates. (See Dierbach.) For the Arabians, see Serapion (c. 31); Avicenna (ii, 2, 684); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 700); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) Serapion, after quoting the sections of Dioscorides and Galen on the tamarix, says of it, on the authority of Mesarugie, that it dries up all ulcers, especially those from burns. He also relates, on the authority of Alchazi, the case of a woman who was cured of a leprosy, by means of it. Avicenna and Rhases say of it, that its fruit is beneficial in chronic coughs. Avicenna says it cures the bite of the viper. The curious reader will find it interesting to compare the medicinal characters of the tamariscus as given in our English Dispensatory by Quincy, with those given it by the ancients, as stated above. (134.)
Μυριόφυλλον,
Millefolium, Millefoil, is desiccative to such a degree as to agglutinate wounds.
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COMMENTARY. It appears to be the Myriophyllum spicatum, Angl., spiked water millefoil. At least the description of it given by Dioscorides evidently points to some species of myriophyllum. He recommends it as a cataplasm with vinegar to recent ulcers; and says of it, that it is drunk with water and salts in cases of falls. (iv, 113.) Galen and the other Greek authorities, like our author, merely mention it as a vulnerary herb. We have not found it in the works of Hippocrates or Celsus, nor in those of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar. (ii, 500.)
Μύρρα ἢ Μύρρις,
Myrrha, Myrrh, belongs to the second order of calefacients, and is also distinguished for tenuity of parts to a certain degree. The root of it is fragrant and sweet. It is emmenagogue, and promotes expectoration from the chest and lungs.
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COMMENTARY. The Myrrhis odorata, as Sprengel remarks, agrees very well with Dioscorides’s description of this plant. Dioscorides says of it, that when drunk with wine it relieves those who have been bitten by phalangia; that it promotes the menstrual and lochial discharges; taken in draughts is useful in phthisis; and that some say, that when taken in a pestilential season it preserves persons free from the disease. (iv, 114.) None of the other Greek authorities supply anything of interest under this head. We have not been able to find it either in the works of Hippocrates or of Celsus. We are at some loss to account for its being also overlooked, as far as we, upon a cursory examination of their works, can discover, by the Arabian authorities. Was it that those illiterate scholars could not distinguish it from myrrh and myrtle? Our old English herbalists, in like manner, seem to have known little about it, and it has long ceased to hold a place in our Dispensatory.
Μυρρίνη,
Myrtus, the Myrtle, is composed of opposite ingredients. But the cold and terrene prevails in it, and hence it is powerfully desiccative. The myrtis, which is a callous excrescence on the trunk and branches of it, is strongly desiccative and astringent. The dried leaves are more desiccative than the green. The fruit and juice are possessed of similar powers, both when administered externally and internally.
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COMMENTARY. It is the Myrtus communis. The myrtis or myrtas of our author is the same as the myrtidanum of Dioscorides, and most probably was some morbid excrescence upon it. Dioscorides calls the myrtle astringent, and recommends it in such a variety of cases that it would occupy too much space to enumerate them all; such, for example, as hæmoptysis, erosion of the bladder; as a stomachic and diuretic; an alexipharmic in the case of persons stung by phalangia or scorpions; as a soothing application in inflammations and extrasavated blood about the eyes; for furfures, achores, exanthemata, and so forth. (i, 155.) The excrescence already mentioned possesses, he says, stronger powers than the fruit or leaves, and is mixed with cerate, pessaries, hip-baths, and cataplasms requiring astringency. (i, 156.) Galen gives a somewhat fuller, but not a materially different, account of the myrtle from our author. He says it is a powerful astringent, both internally and externally. Aëtius abridges him, as Oribasius does Dioscorides. Celsus notices the berries and boiled leaves of myrtle frequently as astringent and cooling articles. The Arabians treat of them very fully. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 446); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 475); Serapion (De Simpl. 92); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 38.) Avicenna recommends the decoction of its leaves as an astringent in profuse sweats, fetor of the armpits, in hot apostemes, erysipelas, herpes, &c. He also prescribes it in ulcers of the hands, and in burns. He says it cures ophthalmy, and proves stomachic and cordial. All the Arabians give it the character of being alexipharmic. It is useful, according to Avicenna, in heat of urine, and immoderate flow of the menses. He says it is useful also in cases of ununited fractures when poured upon the place; stops the flow of blood from the nose, and cures furfures and other ulcers of the head. Abenmesuai, one of Serapion’s authorities, says of the juice of myrtle, that it is useful in the cure of pains of the breast and lungs, in cough, and looseness of the bowels; that it is a cordial, and strengthens the internal viscera. Myrtle-berries were used as astringents in fluxes down to a late period. See Quincy (94.)
Μῶλυ,
Moly, Allium hirsutum, Wild Garlic (some call it Ruta silvestris, others Armalan, and the Syrians, Basanan); it belongs to the third order of calefacients, and is composed of subtile particles. Hence it cuts thick and viscid humours, is discutient and incarnant.
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COMMENTARY. It was the species of garlic now called Allium Moly, Mönch. Mention is made of this plant by Homer as a charm against incantation. (Odyss. x, l. 302.) It is probably the same as the μώλυζα of Hippocrates. (See Dierbach.) Dioscorides merely recommends moly pounded with the ointment of iris as a pessary to promote the menstrual discharge. (iii, 47.) On the moly, see Pliny (H. N. xxv, 8.) Galen and the other Greek authorities mention it in nearly the same terms as our author. It does not occur in the works of Celsus, nor have we been able to find it in those of the Arabian authorities.
Νάσκαφθον,
(Called also Narcaphthon) is an Indian aromatic, and is used in fumigations for constriction of the uterus.
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COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of this substance is taken, with few alterations, from Dioscorides. Galen and Serapion also copy from him. In the Appendix to this section we shall have occasion to notice the opinion that it was mace. All we need say of the Nascaphthon in this place amounts to this, that it was an Indian aromatic, which the industry, even of Royle, Ainslie, and Roxborough, has failed to determine.
Νάπυ,
Sinapi, Mustard, is heating and desiccative in the fourth degree.
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COMMENTARY. We may pretty confidently refer it to the Sinapi nigrum. No author, ancient or modern, has treated of its medicinal powers so elaborately as Dioscorides. He says it has heating, attenuant, and attractive powers, and when chewed, produces a discharge of phlegm; when its juice is mixed with hydromel, it forms a suitable gargle for enlarged tonsils, and for chronic and callous asperities of the trachea; when applied to the nostrils in a fine powder it acts as a sternutatory; benefits persons in epileptic fits, and rouses those who are in hysterical fits; it is useful in lethargic patients when applied as a cataplasm to the shaved scalp; when mixed up with figs and applied until it reddens, it is fitting for ischiatic disease, and that of the spleen, and in general for all chronic pains, by determining to the surface; it cures alopecia in a cataplasm; clears the countenance, and, with honey, suet, or cerate, removes the spots of extravasated blood; with vinegar it is rubbed in upon places affected with leprosy, and lichen agrius; it is taken in a draught as a powder, when sprinkled like polenta on the drink, for periodical attacks of fevers; it is mixed with advantage in epispastic plasters and those for scabies; when applied to the ear in powder with figs, it relieves deafness and noises in the ears; its juice with honey is suitable in dimness of vision and roughness of the eyelids when rubbed in; the juice of its seed, while still green, is expressed and dried in the sun. (ii, 183.) Celsus recommends it in a variety of cases both externally and internally; as a rubefacient, gargle, masticatory, &c. By the way, we have never been able to satisfy ourselves that the late Dr. Milligan was right in setting down the sinapi of Celsus as the Sinapis alba. (207.) We remark, however, that it is this species which occurs in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia. Galen and his followers dismiss this article with a very brief notice, like our author. The Arabians do little more than copy from Dioscorides. See particularly Avicenna (ii, 2, 674); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 644); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Serapion (c. 373); Ebn Baithar (i, 355.) Mustard was much used by the ancient physicians in cataplasms as a rubefacient. Ruffus, as quoted by Rhases (Contin. xxxvii), recommends the seed of mustard as a laxative. Macer directs, upon the authority of Menemachus, a sinapism to be formed by pounding in a mortar mustard seed, with a third part of the crumb of bread, dried figs, honey, and vinegar. He recommends an ointment made of figs and mustard, for alopecia, i. e. porrigo decalvans.
Ναρδόσταχυς,
Spica Nardi, Spikenard; the root of it is heating in the first degree, and desiccative in the second. It is also somewhat astringent, acrid, and bitterish. It agrees with the liver and stomach both when administered externally and internally. It is diuretic, and dries up internal defluxions. The Indian is stronger than the Syrian, and blacker.
COMMENTARY. For this article, Dr. Royle informs us that he obtained, in India, the hairy spike-like roots of Nardostachys Jatamansi. (Antiq. Hindoo Med. 33.) Dr. Lindley says the Nardostachys Jatamansi, or true spikenard of the ancients, is valued in India, not only for a scent, but also as a remedy in hysteria and epilepsy. (Veg. Kingd. 698.) See further, Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 1, 318.) The Syrian kind was unquestionably some species of valerian, probably the V. Hardwickii. Our author, in the present instance, borrows from Galen, who in the main draws all his information from Dioscorides. The latter holds the spikenard to be diuretic, stomachic, hepatic, and carminative. (i, 6.) The Arabians treat fully of it, copying freely from Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 640); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 669); Serapion (c. 52.) Avicenna recommends it strongly in affections of the liver, and in jaundice; and calls it stomachic and deobstruent. Averrhoes joins him in giving it these characters. (Collig. v, 42.)
Νάρδος Κελτικὴ,
Nardus Celtica, Celtic Nard, is possessed of similar powers to the above-mentioned, but weaker, except with regard to its action on the urine; for it is hotter than the former and less astringent.
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COMMENTARY. It is the Valeriana Celtica, or French Spikenard. Dioscorides gives an interesting description of it; and, with regard to its medicinal powers, states of it, that it is more diuretic and stomachic than the Syrian, and cures inflammations about the liver, and jaundice and flatulence of the stomach when drunk with the decoction of wormwood; in like manner, that it relieves the spleen, the bladder, and kidneys, and is alexipharmic with wine; and finally, that it is mixed with heating draughts and liniments. (i, 7.) It is the Nardum Gallicum of Celsus, who assigns it a place with other aromatics in one of his antidotes. (v, 23.) Galen and the other authorities treat of it in the same general terms as our author. This species of spikenard long held a place in our Dispensatory. See Quincy (161) and Lewis (Dispensatory, ii, 125.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia the Nardus and the Phu are identified with the Valeriana.
Νάρδος ὀρεῖα,
Nardus Montana, Mountain Nard (called also Thylacitis and Pyrites), is weaker than the aforementioned.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It would seem to be the Valeriana tuberosa. Galen and the other authorities state briefly of it, like our author, that it is weaker than the other species already described.
Νάρθηξ,
Ferula, Fennel-giant; the seed is attenuant and calefacient. The inner part, while still green, is astringent; and, therefore, agrees with hæmoptysis and cæliac affections.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. All the authorities, including the older and the more recent, are agreed that it is a species of Ferula; and we are inclined to think that it was the communis, more especially as its medicinal powers agree well with those assigned to the article in question by Dioscorides. (Compare the latter, Mat. Med. iii, 81, with Gray’s Supplement to the Pharmacop. 80.) Dioscorides says, the pith of it, while green, relieves spitting of blood and cæliac affections, and is given with wine to persons bitten by vipers, and restrains bleeding from the nose when introduced as a tent; that the seed relieves tormina, and produces sweating when rubbed in with oil, but that its stems induce headache, and are prepared for pickles. (Ibid.) Our author borrows almost word for word from Galen. We have not been able to discover it in the Materia Medica of the Arabians, but can scarcely believe that it had been wholly overlooked by them. Ebn Baithar, in fact, under the head of Kana, sets down the descriptions of the Narthex given by Dioscorides and Galen.
Νάρκη θαλασσίη,
Torpedo; when applied to the head, while still alive, in cases of headache, it procures relief to the pain, probably by its peculiar property of producing torpor; and the oil in which the living animal has been boiled, when rubbed in, allays the most violent pains of the joints. It is said to remedy prolapsus ani when applied.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Raia Torpedo, L., or Cramp-fish. See Artedi (Ichthy.) Frequent mention is made of this fish in the works of the ancient writers on Natural History. See in particular the poetical descriptions of Claudian (Idyll.) and Oppian (Halieut, ii.) Galen repeatedly speculates on the nature of the singular power which it possesses of stupefying every animal which touches it. He denies that it has any narcotic effect as a medicine, unless when applied alive. (De Simpl. vii.) Serapion copies his account of it. His translator renders it Piscis stupefaciens. (c. 437.) See Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 49, 533.) Averrhoes compares its narcotic powers to magnetism. (Collig. v.) We have given some account of its application in this way elsewhere. See Book III, 6.
Νάρκισσος,
Narcissus, Daffodil; its root is possessed of desiccative powers so as to agglutinate large wounds, even to the division of tendons. It is also somewhat detergent and epispastic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There seems no reason to doubt that it is the Narcissus poeticus. Dioscorides says of it, that its root, when boiled and eaten or drunk, proves emetic; that triturated with honey it is a good application to burns; that in a cataplasm it agglutinates nerves that have been cut asunder; that it relieves sprains and chronic pains about the joints, in a cataplasm with honey; that it clears ephelis and alphos, with nettle-seed and vinegar; that it cleanses foul ulcers, and breaks apostemes which are difficult to ripen; and that in a cataplasm, with the flour of darnel and honey, it extracts thorns. (iv, 158.) Galen and the other Greek authorities give its virtues in brief terms, like our author. The Arabians, as they are wont, copy freely from Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 503); Serapion (c. 188); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 489); Ebn Baithar (ii, 552.) Rhases and Avicenna ascribe to it strong powers as an uterine medicine, stating of it that it produces delivery of the fœtus either dead or alive; that it promotes the dilatation of the mouth of the womb, and relieves pains of it. The narcissus occurs in the lists of medicines used both by Hippocrates and by Celsus. Our old herbalists, Gerard and Parkinson, repeat the characters of the narcissus given by the ancient authorities; but it has long ceased to have a place in our Dispensatory.
Νευρὰς,
Neuras (called also Poterium), is desiccative without pungency, so as even to agglutinate divided tendons. The roots have the same effects both when applied externally and when drunk.
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COMMENTARY. There are few articles in the Materia Medica of the ancients which it is more difficult to determine. Sprengel conjectures that it was the Astragalus Poterium. Dioscorides says its roots exude tears like gum, and that they are highly beneficial in wounds of the nerves. (iii, 18.) Galen, and all the other Greek authorities that treat of it, give exactly the same account of it as Dioscorides. We have not been able to find it in the works of the Arabians. Our old English herbalists give a figure and description of it, as being a species of tragacantha. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 996) and Gerard (History of Plants, 1328.) It has long ceased, however, to hold a place in any Dispensatory with which we are acquainted.
Νήριον ἢ Ροδοδάφνη,
Nerium, Rosebay or Oleander, when applied externally is possessed of discutient powers; but when taken internally it proves fatal.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Nerium Oleander, L. We have treated of it as a poison in another place. (T. ii, 242.) That the plant actually possesses the poisonous properties ascribed to it by the ancients is now very well ascertained. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 600.) Dioscorides assigns it a place in his Materia Medica, and says of it that its flower and leaves are destructive to dogs, asses, mules, and most quadrupeds, but are preservative of men, when drunk with wine, from the bites of reptiles, if mixed with rue; but that the weaker animals, such as goats and sheep, when they drink the decoction of it, die. (iv, 82.) Galen, like our author, in treating of this article, does little more than abridge the fuller account of it given by Dioscorides. The Arabians extend the use of this medicine to several cases in which it was not applied by the Greeks. Thus, they say of it, that its leaves form an excellent application to hard apostemes, and are good for prurigo, scabies, and desquamations, more especially the juice of them; that in the form of a plaster they are applied with advantage in chronic pains of the back and knees, and that its flower forms a sternutatory. Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 31) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 522.) We have given the opinions of the Arabians respecting it as a poison in the place referred to above. There is no mention of the oleander, as far as we have been able to discover, in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus. The term oleander is derived from the Arabians. It is treated of by our recent authorities on toxicology, but has long been unknown to our Pharmacopœia.
Νυμφάια,
Nymphæa, the Water-lily, is possessed of desiccative powers without pungency. It, therefore, constipates the belly and its seed is desiccative. But that species which has the white root is stronger, so that when drunk with dark and austere wine, it cures the female flux. But that which has a black root is also somewhat detergent, so as to cure alphos with water, and alopecia, when rubbed in with liquid pitch.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is quite manifest that the plant here described comprehends the two well-known species of the Water-lily, now named Nymphæa alba and Nuphar luteum. The two species, the one having a white root and the other a black, are no doubt mere varieties. Our author abridges his account of this article from Galen, who, in his turn, borrows freely from Dioscorides. (iii, 138-9.) For the Arabians, see Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 493); Serapion (De Simpl. c. 144); Avicenna (ii, 2, 508); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) The Arabians administered it in the same cases as the Greeks, and also recommend the syrup for coughs and pleurisy, and say of the plant that it induces sleep and cures acute vertigo, but is debilitating. They compare the nature of the nymphæa to that of the mandragora. Though the two Water-lilies have long ceased to hold a place in our Dispensatory, they are still used medicinally by the oriental nations. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 411.)
Ξάνθιον ἢ φασγάνιον,
Xanthium, Clutburr, has fruit of discutient powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It would seem to be the Xanthium strumarium, a plant of the natural order of Ambrosieæ. Our author takes his brief notice of it from Galen. Dioscorides gives a minute description of it, but merely mentions its being used for a dye and a cataplasm for swellings. (iv, 136.) It does not occur in the works of Hippocrates or Celsus, nor, as far as we can discover, in those of the Arabians.
Χηρὶς ἢ ξυρὶς,
Xyris, Wild Corn-flag, is possessed of attenuating, discutient, and attractive powers, and of truly desiccative, especially the seed, so that it is diuretic, and cures scirrhus of the spleen.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Iris fœtidissima. It is still used medicinally in dropsy and scrofula. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 161) and Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. 25.) Dioscorides recommends it as a vulnerary, and application to swellings and boils; and further prescribes it internally in bruises, ruptures, sciatica, and diarrhœa. Its seed, he says, is very diuretic, and reduces enlarged spleen when drunk in vinegar. (iv, 22.) Galen notices it in the same brief terms as our author. We have reason to believe that it is not wholly overlooked by the Arabians, but we cannot find it, while writing this, in their authorities on the Materia Medica, not even in the copious list of Ebn Baithar.
Ξίφιον,
Xiphium, Bulbous Iris; its root is possessed of attractive, discutient, and desiccative powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides gives such a minute description of it as clearly identifies it with the Gladiolus communis. He recommends it on his own authority as forming an excellent cataplasm with wine and frankincense for extracting stings and thorns, for discussing the tumour called phygethlon, and as an emmenagogue in pessaries; and says it was reported to be aphrodisiac, and a suitable draught in the intestinal hernia of children. (iv, 20.) Galen, like our author, merely states its medicinal virtues in general terms. The Arabians treat of it under the general head of Lilium, along with Iris. See Serapion (c. 189.) His account of it is made up entirely of extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. It is also briefly noticed by Ebn Baithar. (i, 423.) His German translator sets it down as the Gladiolus Byzantinus. We have not had time and patience to hunt out any other notices of it in the writings of the Arabian authorities on the Materia Medica. Its name in the barbarous translations of their works is Kasiflon.
Ὄη,
Sorbus, the Service Tree (the fruit of which is by some called ὄα, by others οὖα, Sorba); it is possessed of astringent powers, but less than the medlar.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Sorbus domestica. All the ancient authorities recommend the fruit as an excellent astringent. Dioscorides prescribes it with this intention both in fruit and in decoction. (i, 173.) Our author’s account of it is taken pretty closely from Galen. Avicenna treats of it confusedly under the head of Cornu vel Sorbas. (ii, 2, 315.) Serapion treats of the Sorba, but does not seem to apply the name to the article we are treating of. See De Simpl. (c. 109.)
Ὀθόννα,
Othonna; some say that it is the juice of a herb growing in Arabia, where it borders with Egypt, and others that it is an Egyptian stone. It is detergent and pungent, clearing away everything that obscures the pupil.
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COMMENTARY. The Tagetes Erecta, African or French Marigold, seems likely enough to be this herb. Regarding the stone of the same name, nothing is known for certain. Our author borrows from Dioscorides. Galen does not treat of this article at all in his work on Simples. The Arabians appear to have been ignorant of it.
Ὀινάνθη,
Œnanthe, the Wild Vine; ample experience has shown that the flower of the wild vine is considerably astringent, and that it acts as a tonic, particularly in affections of the belly. Dioscorides describes another having powers quite opposite to this; and hence, he says, that it expels the secundines, and cures strangury and jaundice.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The former is evidently the flower of a wild species of the Vitis Vitifera, L. It is still used for giving a flavour to wine. Dioscorides gives an ample account of its medicinal virtues. Its power, he says, is astringent, and hence it is stomachic and diuretic, restraining fluxes of the belly and spitting of blood; it acts beneficially when applied dry, as a cataplasm for loss of appetite and acidity of the stomach; it forms an embrocation with vinegar and rose-oil in headache; a cataplasm that restrains inflammation, when applied to recent wounds; to incipient fistula lachrymalis, and ulcers in the mouth, and spreading ulcers in the pudenda, when rubbed in with honey, saffron, rose-oil, and myrrh: it is made an ingredient of pessaries for restraining bleeding, and for defluxions of the eyes and burning of the stomach it is applied as a cataplasm with the flour of wheat and wine: when burnt upon heated coals in a shell it forms an ophthalmic application, and cures whitlow, pterygia, loose and bloody gums, with honey. (v, 5.) This account of it is copied literally by Serapion. (De Simpl. c. 35.) See also Avicenna (ii, 2, 723) and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 745.) This would certainly appear to us to be the Œnanthe of Celsus, who gives it a place among the diuretics. (iii, 21.)
With regard to the herb of the same name, which, as our author remarks, is described by Dioscorides, various conjectures have been advanced. It is certain that it cannot be the Œnanthe crocata, but may be the O. Pimpinelloides. We have nothing to add to the account of its medicinal powers given by our author from Dioscorides. In fact, with the exception of Oribasius, whose description of the articles in the Materia Medica is professedly taken from Dioscorides, we are not aware that any other ancient authority has noticed it. We may mention, in conclusion, that the Œ. Pimpinelloides, although it has no place in our Dispensatory, is still not unknown to the collectors of drugs. See Gray (Suppl. to the Pharm. 79.) It grows in abundance on a spot in Banchory Ternan, and we have ascertained that it is not wholly innocuous even to cattle when eaten by them.
Οἶνος,
Vinum, Wine, belongs to the second order of heating and desiccative medicines. But that which is considerably old belongs to the third, and the sweet wine to the first.
COMMENTARY. We have treated fully of the ancient Wines in Book I. For an ample enumeration of their medicinal properties, the reader is particularly referred to Pliny (H. N. xxxiii, 19 et seq.), and to Dioscorides (v, 1-16.) It being out of place for us to give a long commentary under this head, we shall merely give a succinct exposition of it from Aëtius. Wine, he says, is of the second class of calefacients; but that which is moderately old, is of the third; as in like manner the new and sweet is of the first. Their dryness is analogous to their heat. Since we find many varieties in wine, we shall describe them as briefly as we can. Of all wines, then, those which are at the same time red and thick are the most suited for the formation of blood, requiring but little change in order to be converted into blood. Next in order to these are such as are dark, sweet, and thick at the same time; then those which in colour are red and black, in consistency thick, and have some acid quality at the same time. Less than these are the white, thick, and austere, in regard to nutritive powers. But of all others the least nutritious are those which are white in colour and thin in consistency, being in so far like to water. But the sweet are sooner digested and more readily diffused over the system than the austere, being of a more heating nature, and they are more laxative of the bowels. But those which are very thick are more slowly digested and more slowly distributed; but when the stomach is strong so as to digest them properly, they furnish more food to the body than any other; and it is clear that they bind the bowels and are not of a diuretic nature, engendering a thick humour in some. And some from them have obstructions of the liver, spleen, or kidneys, and hence those become affected with dropsy or calculus who use them much, and especially old men. But of all wines, the best, and best fitted for persons in good health, and to those who are convalescent from diseases, is that which is red in colour, thin in consistence, and gently astringent. (i.)
Ὄισυπος,
Œsypum, Unscoured Wool, is treated of under wool.
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COMMENTARY. The Œsypum was the sordes collected from wool. It was used medicinally in the Hippocratic age (De Morb. Mulier. ii), and continued to hold a place in the Materia Medica down to a late date. See Rutty’s Mat. Med. (357.) It would appear, from Dioscorides’s description of the mode of preparing it, that it was the scum collected on the surface of water by boiling wool in it. (ii, 66.) See also Pliny (H. N. xxix, 2.) The ancients used it frequently in the practice of medicine. See in particular Dioscorides (l. c.) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 355.)
Ὄλυνθοι,
Grossi Ficulnei, Green Figs, are possessed of acrid and discutient powers, owing to the juice which is in them. When boiled, therefore, they discuss hard swellings; but when raw they remove myrmecia and thymi.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. They are the unripe fruit of the fig tree. Dioscorides and most of the ancient authorities recommend them as a stimulant application to various tumours. Our author’s account of them is abridged from Dioscorides, who further recommends them in a cataplasm with salts and vinegar for achores, furfures, and epinyctis, and as an application to the bites of mad dogs. (i, 185.) They are the Grossi Ficulnei of the Arabians, who treat of them under the general head of figs. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 276.)
Ὁλόστιον,
Holostium, is possessed of desiccative powers with astringency. Hence they use it for fractures.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There are few articles in the Materia Medica of the ancients about which there is so much doubt. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants), and Sprengel in Dioscor. (iv, 11.) It has been set down as the Holosteum umbellatum, but all upon mere conjecture. Our author here copies from Galen, who in his turn borrows from Dioscorides. We are not aware of its being described by any of the Arabian authorities, nor have we found it in any modern Dispensatory.
Ὀμφάκιον,
Omphacium is the Juice of the Unripe Grape, being considerably astringent and desiccative in the third degree. Hence it applies to defluxions, and especially those of the stomach.
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COMMENTARY. The juice of unripe grapes is called Agresto in Italy, where it is still used in affections of the throat. Dioscorides recommends it in such cases. Pliny says of it, “Prodest dysentericis, sanguinem excreantibus, anginis.” (H. N. xxiii, 4.) This is a literal translation from Dioscorides, who recommends it in these cases, and also for various others in which astringents are indicated, such as aphthæ, loose gums, fistulæ, old ulcers, spreading sores, and as an application to asperity and ulceration of the eyelids. (v, 6.) Celsus prescribes the omphacium in a variety of cases, as a cleansing medicine, (v, 5), as one that corrodes (v, 6), and as one that determines outwardly. (v, 12.) None of the other Greek authorities nor the Arabians supply any additional information of interest after Dioscorides.
Ὀνάγρα,
Onagra, Tree Primrose (called also Œnothera and Œnothyris), is a sort of plant resembling a tree, the root of which, when applied as a cataplasm, proves soothing to the bites of venomous animals.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It would appear to be either the Œnothera Onagra, Tournefort, or the Epilobium angustifolium L., Narrow-leaved Willow-herb, as Sprengel supposes. Dioscorides describes it minutely, but, like our author, merely recommends it in malignant sores. (iv, 116.) Galen strangely, as we would suppose, says of it, that its juice is of a venous nature, and of the same power as wine. As far as we have been able to discover, it is not to be found in the works of Hippocrates, Celsus, or any of the Arabians. It is worthy of remark that the Epilobium angustifolium, although it does not hold a place in our Mat. Med., is still known to the vendors of medicines, and retains the characters which it obtained from the ancients. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 84.) This confirms the conjecture that the onagra is this plant. We would further mention, as confirmatory of this opinion, that the E. angust. has been cultivated about gardens in this country from time immemorial, so that there is every reason to believe that it had been introduced by the Romans, no doubt on account of its supposed efficacy in medicine.
Ὄνομα ἢ Ὀνομὶς,
Onosma, or Onomis, Stone Bugloss (called also Phlomitis or Ononis), is acrid and bitter, and hence the leaves of it when drunk with wine kill and expel the fœtus.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. That it was a species of Anchusa, or one of its congeners, is obvious, from the description of it given by Dioscorides, who says, the stalk, the fruit, and the flower, are very like to the anchusa. It seems probable, then, that it was some species either of Anchusa or Lithospermum. The Onosma of Linnæus, as Sprengel justly remarks (Ad Dioscor. iii, 137), is altogether a plant of a different character. Dioscorides, like our author, says it has great powers in procuring abortion; nay, that it was alleged that if a pregnant woman walked upon the plant she would miscarry. (l. c.) It is said that Aretæus recommends it in nephritic complaints. Pseudo-Dioscor. (Euporist. ii, 112.) Galen and the other authorities who notice it, do so in nearly the same language as our author. We have not been able to discover any traces of it in the works of the Arabians.
Ὀνόβρυχις,
Onobrychis, Cockshead, is possessed of aromatic and discutient powers. It therefore discusses phymata, cures strangury, and proves sudorific.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides describes it as having leaves like the lentil, or a little longer, a stalk a fathom long, a purple flower, and small root, and grows in wet and uncultivated grounds. This description seems clearly to point to the Onobrychis sativa, a plant of the tribe Fabaceæ. Dioscorides holds it to be diuretic and sudorific, and discussive of tumours. (iii, 160.) It appears to have been generally used as a diuretic. Pseudo-Dioscor. (Euporist. ii, iii.) Galen gives exactly the same account of it as our author; indeed, both borrow from Dioscorides. The Arabians would appear to have rejected it from their Mat. Med. Although it has long ceased to occupy a place in the Dispensatory, the sainfoin, or cockshead, is still known to the vendors of medicines, and retains its ancient characters of being “ripening, discussive, useful in strangury.” Gray (Pharmacop. 96.) Our old herbalist, Culpeper, ascribes to it the same virtues. (Complete Herbal, 52.)
Ὄνοι,
Aselli, Millepedes, or Slaters; those found under water-vessels, which roll themselves into a ball when touched, are possessed of discutient and desiccative powers. Therefore, when drunk with wine they cure dysuria and jaundice, and in cases of cynanche they are rubbed in with honey: and for earache they are triturated with rose oil, and being warmed in the shell of a pomegranate are injected into the ear.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The Millepedes are thus described by Marcellus Empiricus: “In locis humidis et sordidis sub lapidibus inveniuntur bestioliæ multipedes quæ contactæ contrahuntur et rotundantur.” (De Medicamentis, c. xxxv.) They are the Porceliones of Cælius Aurelianus (i, 4), who calls them “animalia quæ humectis et aquosis locis sæpe nascuntur, a Græcis appellata onisci.” (Tard. Pass.) Almost all the ancient authorities on the Materia Medica from Dioscorides downwards, recommend them in the same cases as our author does. In fact, almost all the authorities take the characters of the millepedes from Dioscorides. (ii, 37.) See in particular Serapion (De Simpl. 4, 29), Avicenna (ii, 2, 718.) They particularly commend the use of them in jaundice. In English they are called Slaters or Cheslops. They held a place in the Edinburgh Dispensatory until after the edition of it in 1811. In fact, the highest modern authorities testify to the medicinal virtues ascribed to them by the ancient authorities. Moses Charras, who makes frequent mention of them, says, that a volatile salt is obtained from them which is highly diaphoretic. Dr. Hill calls them aperient, attenuant, and detergent. Dr. Mead recommends them strongly for their diuretic property. He directs us to put them into wine, and afterwards to strain off the liquor, and sweeten it with honey or sugar. (Monita et præcepta.) It would appear that they are still used in France as diuretics. In Dr. Pemberton’s edition of the London Dispensatory, 1746, it is directed to inclose them in a thin canvass cloth, and suspend them within a covered vessel over the steam of hot spirit of wine, by which they will be killed and rendered friable. Lister calls them lithontriptic.
Ὂνυχες,
Onyches, are the covers of Indian shell-fishes. These, in a fumigation, rouse those affected with uterine suffocation and epileptics. But when drunk they disorder the belly.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of the Onyx, that it is the operculum of a shell-fish, like that of the Purpura, being found in India in the lakes that produce nard; and that it acquires an aromatic smell from the shell-fishes feeding on the nard; it is gathered, he adds, when the lakes are dried up by the drought; the kind brought from the Red Sea is different, being whitish and fatty; the Babylonian is black and smaller, but both form a fragrant fumigation, resembling castor somewhat in smell. He concludes with stating, regarding their medicinal properties, that both rouse persons in hysterical convulsions, and also in epileptical, when applied in fumigations; that taken internally, they soften the belly; and that the shell-fish itself, when burnt, has the same powers as the purpura and murex. (ii, 10.) Avicenna gives a very accurate account of this article under the name of Blacte Byzantie; but except that he does not attribute the fragrancy of the shell to the nard it feeds on, his description is nowise dissimilar to that by Dioscorides. The medicinal virtues which he assigns to it are exactly the same. (ii, 2, 78.) Serapion gives a literal translation of the chapter of Dioscorides on the onyx. (De Simpl. 443.) One of Rhases’s authorities says of the Blactiæ Byzantiæ, that they are of a hot and dry temperament, being possessed of astringency and subtilty of parts, and that they are stomachic, hepatic, emmenagogue, and cordial. (Cont. l. ult. i, 127.) From the above account of this article, it will readily be seen that it is the cover of the Strombus lentiginosus.
Ὄνωνις,
Ononis, Restharrow, has a root which is desiccative in about the third degree, but the bark of it is detergent and incisive; and hence it is lithontriptic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Ἄνωνις.
Ὄξος,
Acetum, Vinegar, is possessed of mixed powers, namely, cold and hot, both arising from tenuity of parts; but the cold prevails over the hot. It is a desiccant of the third rank.
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COMMENTARY. It is also called γλυκάδιον, as the Scholiast on Nicander says, per euphemismum, from γλύκυς, sweet. But we are rather inclined to think that it is the diminutive of γλεῦκος, must, vinegar being the juice of the grape which has lost its strength. Hence Pliny calls it “vitium vini.” All the ancient authorities maintained that vinegar is at the same time refrigerant and discutient. Galen discusses the question regarding the nature of it at great length and with much ingenuity. (De Med. Simpl. i.) He, Pliny, and Celsus mention the fact that an effervescence is produced when it is poured on earth, meaning, no doubt, certain carbonates. Pliny and Celsus commend it in the strongest terms as an antidote to the sting of the asp. Serapion and the other Arabians copy Galen’s account of it. Symeon Seth gives an interesting abstract of the ancient opinions on this subject. Dioscorides and Avicenna recommend it as an application to ecchymosis of the face; but the latter remarks, if too long continued it renders the part yellow and weakens the sight. (ii, 2, 74.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 18.) These two Arabian authorities say of it, that it congeals the womb; but that a clyster of hot vinegar and salt proves soothing in the spreading ulcers of the intestines. Both the Greek and Arabian authorities commend it as an antidote in cases of poisoning with opium and cicuta. They also recommend an embrocation with vinegar and olive oil or rose oil to the head in affections of it. Dioscorides recommends vinegar for chronic coughs and orthopnœa, and also for defluxions of the throat and quinseys. (v, 21.) The Greek and Arabian authorities further agree in recommending it in erysipelas, herpes, and whitlow.
Ὀξυάκανθος,
Oxyacantha, Evergreen Thorn; the tree is like the wild pear in appearance and powers, having also some tenuity of parts. The fruit of it resembles myrtles.
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COMMENTARY. Matthiolus, Dodonæus, and Sprengel agree in referring it to the Mespilus Pyracantha, or Evergreen Thorn. The commentators on Mesue make it to be the Berberis, i. e. the Berberry. See the Appendix to this section. Dioscorides, after giving a botanical description of it, says, with regard to its medicinal powers, that when pulverised and applied in a cataplasm it extracts thorns and prickles, and that its root is said to possess the power of occasioning abortions, when the abdomen is gently stroked or rubbed with it. (i, 122.) Galen says of it, that its root is attenuant and incisive, resembling that of myrtles; and that whether eaten or drunk it restrains all fluxes. (De Simpl. viii.) Although the similarity of names might lead us to suppose that this must be the Spina acuta of the Arabians, this does not appear to be at all the case. Sec Avicenna (ii, 2, 11.)
Ὄπιον,
Opium, is treated of under poppy.
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COMMENTARY. Although we treated of the deleterious effects of opium on the animal economy in the Fifth Book, and have given a general description of the medicinal properties of the poppy in the proper place, we shall avail ourselves of the present opportunity to supply some important information regarding the ancient use of opium in the practice of medicine. Though mention is made of “the juice of the poppy,” and of “meconium” as soporifics in the works of the Hippocratists (De Mulieribus, ii), it does not appear that these articles were much in use until a later age. “The juice of the poppy” is noticed likewise by Theophrastus (Fr. 20, 35), and the process of gathering this juice is briefly alluded to by him (H. P. ix, 8, 2); but the nature of his work did not lead him to say anything of its medicinal uses. There can be no question, we presume, that the “papaveris lacryma” of Celsus was opium, i. e. the concrete juice of the poppy. He prescribes it on many occasions, both externally and internally. For example, as an ingredient along with hyoscyamus, burnt lead, and other ingredients for an emollient plaster to be applied in arthritic pains (v, 18, 29, 35), and as an injection with alum, acacia, and henbane in earache (vi, 7); as an ingredient in various collyria for complaints of the eyes (vi, 6); as an injection in complaints about the anus (vi, 18), and in many other cases. The famous Methodist, Cælius Aurelianus, is very guarded in his use of opiates, and he appears to approve of the opinion of those who held that poppy does not induce sleep, but oppression of the senses; “papavera autem pressuram non somnum faciunt.” (i, 1.) See also Pass. Tard. (i, 5.) Dioscorides, then, is the first authority that gives a detailed account of opium and its uses in medicine. Treating of the cultivated poppy, he says, that its juice is very congealing, incrassative, and desiccative, when taken in small quantity, to the size of a vetch, is anodyne, soporific, concoctive, and is useful in coughs and cæliac affections. Taken in greater quantity, it proves injurious, inducing lethargy and death; it is beneficial in headache when rubbed in with rose oil; and in earache when injected with almond oil, saffron, and myrrh; in inflammations of the eyes with the roasted yelk of an egg and saffron; and for erysipelas and wounds with vinegar; for gout with a woman’s milk and saffron; and when applied as a suppository per anum it induces sleep. The best kind is that which is dense, has a heavy stupefying smell, is bitter to the taste, readily incorporating with water, smooth, white, not rough, nor grumous, nor moulding like wax in the process of straining; when laid in the sun softening, and when applied to a lamp not burning with a smoky flame, and after being extinguished preserving its powers in its smell. He then mentions several modes of adulterating it which were practised in his time, and then adds, it is roasted for ophthalmic medicines upon a recent shell until it becomes soft and of a tawny colour. Erasistratus says that Diagoras condemned the use of it in diseases of the ears and eyes, as inducing dimness of sight and coma. And Andreas says, that if it had not been adulterated those that rubbed it in would have been deprived of sight by it. But Mnesidemus says, that the only proper use of it is by the smell, as thus disposing to sleep, for that otherwise it proved injurious; but these statements are false, as is proved by experience; for the operation of the medicine is attested by its effects. He concludes by describing the modes by which opium and meconium were prepared, but it will be sufficient for our purpose to state that his description of the former of these is exactly the same as the method now commonly practised. See Kæmpfer (Amæn. Exost. 643), and Pereira (M. M. 1274.) The meconium was the expressed juice of the leaves and head, and is not now in use. Dioscorides states that it is much weaker than the other. (iv, 65.) Pliny’s description of the opium and meconium is obviously taken from Dioscorides, or both these authors must have copied from some preceding authority. He thus describes the meconium: “cum capita ipsa et folia decoquuntur, succus meconium vocatur, multum opio ignavior.” (H. N. xx, 76.) Opium it is certain was freely used by the Empirics, and accordingly it will be found that it is a very common ingredient in the prescriptions of Scribonius Largus, and Marcellus the Empiric. The latter gives several formulæ for collyria, in which opium occurs, and he is at pains to state that it is the concrete and not the expressed juice which must be used. (De Medicamentis, viii.) He also prescribes it internally for pains of the kidneys (xxvi), as an enema in colic (xxix), and in many other cases. Galen would appear to have had very sound opinions respecting the use of opium in the treatment of diseases. He professes, indeed, never to have had recourse to it when he could help it. (De Comp. med. sec. loc. iii); but yet he prescribes it in cæliac and certain stomach affections (ibid, viii), and even in intense pains of the eyes (Meth. Med. ii), although in general he condemns the application of it in collyria. (Meth. Med. iii; and De Comp. m. s. l. ii.) He often mentions that castor counteracts the prejudicial effects of opium. (De med. sec. loc. iii, and viii.) Of all kinds of opium he pronounces the Theban to be the best. (De Antid. i.) Avicenna, besides treating of opium as a poison, and giving the general properties of poppy, under that head, has a very interesting chapter on opium in his Mat. Med. He defines opium to be the juice of the black Egyptian poppy dried in the sun. He says it proves fatal if given in a larger dose than two drachms; but the proper dose he states to be the size of a tare. He states in parenthesis that opium is also formed from the juice of the wild lettuce (lactucarium?). He calls it narcotic and sedative of all pains, whether taken internally or rubbed in. It is useful, he says, in apostemes, especially in those of an inflammatory nature. He says of it, that it dries up ulcers; with the yelk of an egg forms a liniment for gout; it proves soporific if a cloth smeared with it be placed below the head; allays pain if injected into the ear affected, along with myrrh and saffron; allays chronic pains of the head, and sometimes cures them; soothes the pains of ophthalmy, and the apostemes of the eyes, with the milk of a woman; but yet he adds, that many of the ancient authorities had condemned the use of it in such cases as proving injurious to the sight; it allays incessant coughs, and often cures that kind which is noisy; improves the stomach in peculiar cases, when debilitated by excess of heat and humidity, is braced by it; but in many constitutions, opium, so administered, impairs digestion; it stops diarrhœa; is useful in dysentery, and in ulcerations of the intestines. It proves fatal, he says, by congealing the vital powers and extinguishing the innate heat; and its antidote is castor. He concludes by saying, that three times the amount of the seed of hyoscyamus, or double of the seed of mandragora, may be given as a substitute for it. (ii, 2, 519.) Haly Abbas treats of opium more briefly, stating in general terms that it is a soporific and sedative medicine. He seems to say that from half a drachm to a drachm will prove fatal. (Pract. ii, 40, 318.) Serapion’s account of opium is mostly made up of extracts from Dioscorides and Galen, with a few brief notices of the opinions held by Arabian authorities, which do not contain anything of much interest. (c. 374.) Rhases’s chapter upon the poppy contains many extracts from the Greek authorities on opium, with a few from Arabian writers, which, however, contain nothing of much interest after what we have given from Dioscorides and Avicenna. Like Serapion, he says, from half a scruple to a scruple is a dose, and that two drachms will prove fatal. His authority, Mesue, says it forms semen. Another of them, Joannitius, seems to say that it binds the bowels in general, but yet has some laxative power. (Cont. l. ult. i, 533.) In the ‘Book of Experience,’ as quoted by Ebn Baithar, poppy-juice is recommended in complaints of the eyes, and in pains of the head when applied to the forehead. One of his Arabian authorities mentions its good effects in diarrhœa; and it is also spoken favorably of as an application to burns. Ebn Baithar’s account of this article is otherwise mostly made up from Dioscorides.
Ὀπὸς,
Succus Cyrenaicus, Medicus, and Syriacus, are so named per excellentiam, being considerably hot and flatulent. The Cyrenaic is hotter and more attenuate than any of the others.
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COMMENTARY. The high interest which attaches to these articles might well dispose us to wake our classical recollections, in order to illustrate the nature of them, if the narrow limits to which we feel that we are restricted did not restrain us from such an undertaking. We beg, however, to quote the words of one of our ablest authorities in illustration of this subject. Dr. Lindley, treating of the plants which yield assafœtida, says, “assafœtida is the milky juice of various species of Ferula inhabiting Persia and neighbouring countries. Of these, F. assafœtida is the plant described by Kæmpfer. (Amæn. Exot. 535); but F. Perscia and others, are no doubt also the origin of this drug. The Asa dulcis or Laser Cyrenaicum was yielded by a Thapsia, and probably Thapsia Garganica. This drug was in high reputation among the ancients for its medicinal uses; it had miraculous powers assigned to it—power to neutralize the effect of poison, to cure envenomed wounds, to restore sight to the blind, and youth to the aged; these were only a part of its reputed properties; it was also reckoned antispasmodic, deobstruent, diuretic, &c., &c. So great was its reputation, that the princes of Cyrene caused it to be struck on the reverse of their coins; and the Cyrenean doctors were reckoned among the most eminent in the world.” (Veg. King. 776.) See further Pereira (Mat. Med. 1041), and most especially Sprengel in Dioscor. (iii, 85.) From what we have stated, our readers will readily comprehend that the Median and Syrian juices were varieties of the gum resin of Ferula assafœtida; while the Cyrenean juice was the gum resin of a congener, namely (as stated above), the Thapsia Garganica, called silphium by the ancients. That the Cyrenaic juice was the product of the silphium, is positively stated by Strabo. (Geogr. xvii, 3.) We shall reserve what we have to say on its medicinal properties till we come to that article. It is the laser and laserpitium of the Roman authors. It occurs in the Hippocratic collection. (De Morb. iv.) By the Arabian authors it is generally treated of under the name of Assa, and hence its modern appellation.
Ὀρίγανος,
Origanum, Origany, or Wild Marjoram; all the species of it are possessed of incisive, attenuant, desiccative, and calefacient powers in the third degree.
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COMMENTARY. Apuleius enumerates three species and recommends them for coughs. (c. 122.) Galen and Dioscorides also describe the same number of species, which may be referred—the 1st, to the Origanum Heracleoticum, L.; the 2d, to the O. onitis; and the 3d, to O. sylvestre album. Dioscorides describes the particular uses of these plants so fully that we cannot find room for his separate articles on each. Suffice it to say, that he sets down the first as being laxative, emmenagogue, and expectorant. (iii, 29, 30, 31.) Galen, like our author, merely states the properties of the Origana in general terms. The Arabians call the origanum diuretic and vermifuge. They copy, as usual, from the Greeks. See Serapion (c. 310), Avicenna (ii, 2, 526), and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 125.) The Origanum Smyrnæum occurs in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia (121.)
Ὁρεοσέλινον,
Apium montanum, Mountain Parsley, has powers like those of parsley, but stronger.
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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of this article (Selinum Oreoselinum? or Athamanta Libanotis?), that it is diuretic and emmenagogue, and an ingredient in antidotes, and in diuretic and heating remedies. (iii, 69.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it in general terms along with its congeners; and the Arabians do the same under Apium. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 55); Serapion (De Simpl. 290); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 69.) Serapion’s Arabian authorities represent the Apium montanum as being laxative, carminative, deobstruent, diuretic, and, in some cases, emetic. The Athamanta Libanotis is still to be found in the shops of the apothecaries, where it retains its ancient characters. Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. 81.) Some of the commentators on Dioscorides take it for the article we are treating of.
Ὀροβάκχη,
Orobanche, Holly Rose, belongs to the first order of the desiccative and cooling temperament.
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COMMENTARY. It appears unquestionably to be the Orobanche Caryophyllea. See Sibthorp. (Fl. Græca. i, 440.) Dioscorides merely states of it, that it was eaten as a potherb both raw and boiled. The other authorities treat of it very succinctly. We have not been able to discover any traces of it in the works of the Arabians.
Ὄροβος,
Ervum, Bitter Vetch, or Tare, is heating in the first degree, and desiccative in the second. It is also bitter, and therefore is incisive, detergent, and deobstruent. When taken in too great a dose it occasions bloody urine.
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COMMENTARY. It is the Ervum Ervilia, Bitter Vetch. Dioscorides enumerates its medicinal virtues at considerable length, recommending it as being good for the bowels, and diuretic, but in large doses inducing bloody discharges from the belly and bladder; as being a cleansing application in obstinate diseases of the skin, and in carcinoma and gangrene; as being alexipharmic and forming a good fomentation for chilblains and pruritus. (ii, 131.) Our author copies word for word from Galen. The Arabians treat of it at much greater length, but add little to what Dioscorides had delivered under this head. When drunk with vinegar, they say it relieves difficulty of urine, tenesmus, and acute pain of the bowels; promotes expectoration, and softens indurated mammæ. See in particular Avicenna. (ii, 342.) Though this plant has long been omitted from our Dispensatory, it is still not wholly unknown in the shops. See Gray (Pharmacop. 96.)
Ὃρμινον,
Horminum, Clary, is like horehound in appearance, and hot, moderately desiccative, and detergent. It therefore is a provocative to venery; and along with honey clears any thickness of the coats of the eyes, dispels œdema, and extracts sharp instruments. The wild is stronger than the cultivated.
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COMMENTARY. Our author borrows his account of this article (Salvia Horminum) from Dioscorides. (ii, 135.) It is not treated of by Galen, Aëtius, nor Celsus. It is fully treated of by the Arabians, who recommend it as an application to cancerous and other sores, as a collyrium in ulceration of the eyes, and as a plaster in cases of gout. They further hold it to be aphrodisiac. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 692); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 727.) Even of late years, it has been reported as possessing the virtues ascribed to it by the ancients. See Rutty (Mat. Med. 238.)
Ὄρυζα,
Oryza, Rice, is somewhat astringent, and therefore it binds the belly in a moderate degree.
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COMMENTARY. It is the Oryza sativa. Dioscorides, Galen, and the other authorities state its virtues in the same brief terms. For the views of the Arabians, see Serapion (c. 13); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 583); Avicenna (ii, 2, 567.) The Arabians recommend it boiled in milk, which, they say, takes away its astringency, and it becomes more nutritious and forms semen.
Ὄρχις,
Orchis; the herb is also called Dog’s Orchis, or Testicle, having a double bulbous-shaped root. The powers of the greater orchis are humid and heating, and therefore it is a provocative to venery. But those of the lesser are heating and desiccative, and therefore, on the contrary, it restrains venery. That species which is called Sarapias, and otherwise Triorchis, is more desiccative than the former. It therefore discusses œdematous swellings, cleanses foul and putrid ulcers, and cures herpes. When dried it is more desiccative. Owing to its sub-astringency, it binds the belly when drunk with wine.
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COMMENTARY. The modern botanists have described many species of it, and it is difficult to determine from among them those which are applicable to the two species described by Dioscorides and our author. Sprengel is pretty confident that the former is the Orchis papilionacea. He is undecided respecting the Sarapias, but we may venture to refer it to the Orchis Morio. Regarding the medicinal virtues of the former of these, Dioscorides merely relates the vulgar belief, namely, that one of its bulbous roots had the virtue of rousing to venery, and the other of blunting the venereal appetite, and that the one promoted the generation of male children, and the other of female. However nonsensical all this may appear, the same properties are ascribed to the orchis by our herbalist Culpeper. (130.) The other orchis he represents as being an ingredient in applications to fistulæ, mortifications, ulcers of the mouth, and so forth. (iii, 31, 32.) Galen attempts to explain the reputed aphrodisiacal virtues of the orchis upon its sensible qualities. Our author copies from him. The Arabians describe these two plants under the names of Testiculus Vulpis and Testiculus Canis, or Chasi altaleb and Chasi alchelb. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 706); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 714); Serapion (De Simpl. 90, 91.) They ascribe the same real and imaginary powers to the two species as the Greeks had done.
Ὄσιρις,
Osiris, Toad-flax, from which besoms are made, is bitter and removes obstructions in the liver.
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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides briefly notices this plant (Osyris alba?), and recommends it in jaundice. Our author copies literally from Galen, as does also Aëtius. Oribasius borrows from Dioscorides. It does not appear to be treated of by the Arabian authorities at all.
Ὀστὰ,
Ossa, Bones, when burnt are possessed of discutient and considerably desiccative powers, especially, they say, those of men. The ankle-bone of a sow when burnt, is said to cure flatulence and tormina. And some cure epilepsy and arthritis by giving burnt bones to drink. The burnt ankle-bone of an ox is said to fasten loose teeth; but if drunk with honey, it removes round worms, and with oxymel it reduces the spleen, and when rubbed in relieves leuce. It is also an aphrodisiac. The burnt thigh-bones of an ox if taken in a draught, stop hemorrhages and fluxes of the bowels.
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COMMENTARY. The other authorities give nearly the same account of their medicinal properties. See Galen (De Simpl. 11); Serapion (c. 464); Avicenna (ii, 2, 528.) The Arabians borrow from Galen and our author.
Ὄστρακα,
Testæ, Shells, from furnaces, when triturated, are possessed of desiccative and detergent powers. Hence they are used as a dentifrice, and when rubbed in with vinegar cure itch, exanthemata, and gouty complaints, and with cerate dispel enlarged scrofulous glands.
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COMMENTARY. It is now well ascertained that burnt shells consist principally of lime. They, may, therefore, be supposed to form a good stimulant application to certain cutaneous diseases and tumours of an indolent nature, as recommended by our author and Dioscorides. (v, 177.) Oribasius says, that they are very efficacious in repressing fungous flesh when sprinkled in the form of a fine powder.
Ὂστρεα,
Ostrea, Oysters; the burnt shell is possessed of similar powers to the buccina, but is not of so gross a consistence. It is used, therefore, as a detergent to the face, and whitens the teeth. When washed it is freed from pungency, and is useful for incarnating and cicatrizing ulcers attended with a copious discharge.
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COMMENTARY. Galen gives the same account of the burnt shells of oysters or snails. He says, that if a shell be washed and burnt it imparts an empyreuma to the water, which renders it heating and attenuant; whereas, what remains is devoid of pungency and terrene, and it is useful for the filling up and cicatrization of ulcers. He recommends the ashes of all burnt shells as a dentifrice, in which case they do not require to be finely levigated as they should be when applied to sores. (De Simpl. 11.) This article is not treated of by Dioscorides, the reason of which probably is, that in his time the word ὄστρεα was a term applied to the whole class of the ὀστρακόδερμα. See Commentary (i, 91.) They are treated of in the same terms by the Arabians as by the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 529); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 224); Serapion (c. 443.)
Ὀῦρον,
Urina, Urine; all kinds of it are hot and acrid, but that of man is weaker than the urine of other animals, with the exception of castrated boars, but it is considerably detergent; and it is said that some who have drunk it in the plague have recovered. It also cures leprosy, putrid ulcers, achores, and furfures; and likewise sprains of the feet when not inflamed. That of boys not come to puberty is stronger, and from it the chrysocolla is formed. The urine of mules suits with arthritic remedies. That of goats and of camels is laxative of the belly, and hence is given in dropsical complaints.
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COMMENTARY. The account given by our author of the medicinal properties of Urine is abridged from Dioscorides and Galen. Galen rejects, with disgust, the internal use of it. Some, he says, have given the urine of a boy for the cure of orthopnœa; but he justly remarks that there is no want of other remedies for this affection, and that in fact the article in question has no peculiar virtue in the complaint. Most of the other authorities, however, sanction the use of it in this case, as for example, Dioscorides, Avicenna, and Rhases. They also recommend urine to be drunk for the cure of the bite of the viper, for deadly poisons, and incipient dropsies. Dioscorides recommends the sediment of urine as an application to erysipelas; upon which practice Galen remarks that when the affection is still hot such an application must be quite unsuitable; but that when cooled, it or any other discutient is indicated. Those who desire to know more fully the views of the ancients on this subject, are referred to Dioscorides (ii, 99); Galen (De Simpl. 10); Serapion (c. 448); Avicenna (ii, 2, 716); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 749); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 517); Ebn Baithar (i, 191.) The last of these is particularly full under this head.
Πανγράτιον,
Pancratium, Sea-daffodil, in appearance and powers is like the squill, but is weaker.
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COMMENTARY. There are two varieties of the Scilla maritima, or Squill, namely, the white and the red. The pancration would appear to be the red variety. See Alston (Mat. Med.); Pereira (Mat. Med. 651); and Lindley (Veg. King. 203.) Dioscorides, like our author, states of it, that it has the same powers as the squill, but in a weaker degree; and that it is prepared in the same manner, and used in the same affections; for example, in diseases of the spleen and dropsies. (ii, 203.) Galen and Aëtius treat of it in nearly the same words as our author. We are in doubt whether the pancration be treated of by the Arabian authorities, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who, it would appear, describes it under the name of Kebal. He, however, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (ii, 309.)
Παλίουρος,
Paliurus, Christ’s-thorn; the leaves and root of it are astringent, and hence they stop fluxes of the belly, and discuss phymata when they are not of a very hot nature. The fruit is of so incisive a nature as to break down stones, and relieve expectorations.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It would seem to be the Paliurus australis, Gaertn. Dioscorides ascribes to it nearly the same medicinal properties as our author. Thus, he says, it is expectorant, lithontriptic, and alexipharmic, its leaves and root being astringent, so as to stop looseness of the bowels, and that it is diuretic and discutient externally. (i, 121.) Galen and Aëtius treat of it in nearly the same terms as our author. We have not been able to detect it in the Mat. Med. of the Arabians.
Πάνακες,
Panaces, All-heal; it is from that species called Heraclium, from which the substance named opoponax is produced, being heating in the third degree, desiccative in the second, emollient and discutient. The bark of the root being weaker than the juice, is somewhat detergent and incarnative, but the fruit of it is emmenagogue. The species of Panaces which are called Asclepium and Chironium, are more heating than the former, and hence their leaves and fruit are used for ill-conditioned ulcers and phymata.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides decides that the Heraclium is the tree which produces the famous opoponax. It has now got the scientific name of Opoponax Chironium, Koch. See Pereira (Mat. Med. 1040), and Lindley (Veg. King. 776.) Dioscorides gives a most excellent account of the process by which the opoponax is collected, and describes the marks by which that which is genuine may be recognized. He ascribes to it calefacient, attenuant, and emollient powers, and recommends it in a great variety of cases, such as periodical fevers, rigors, convulsions, bruises, pains of the sides, tormina, strangury, scabies vesicæ; as an emmenagogue, and a medicine which destroys the fœtus; as a liniment in sciatica; a good application to the holes of carious teeth; as forming a good plaster to bites of mad dogs; as an incarnant when applied to ulcers connected with exposure of the bone; and as being alexipharmic, and remedial in hysterical convulsions, and in many other cases. (iii, 48.) Galen also gives an interesting account of opoponax, which he represents as being hot in the third degree, and drying in the second. He recommends it particularly in ill-conditioned ulcers complicated with exposure of the bone. He says the fruit of the tree is emmenagogue. Aëtius treats of it in similar terms. The Arabians treat of this article at considerable length, as usual following in the footsteps of Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 521); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 521); Serapion (De Simpl. 252); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) They recommend it in hardness of the spleen, in pleuritic pains, and chronic coughs. They say it softens hardness of the uterus, and is useful in stillicidium urinæ. Both when taken by the mouth and in a suppository, they say it occasions abortion. Avicenna says that galbanum is used as a succedaneum for it, and that gum ammoniac is nearly allied to it.
The authorities are much divided whether the Asclepium be Cachrys Libanotis, or Echinophora tenuifolia. The former of these would appear to be the Libanotis of the ancient Mat. Med., and therefore the latter would seem to have preferable claims. Dioscorides recommends it externally as a discutient application to ulcers and tumours, and internally with wine as being an antidote to reptiles. (iii, 49.)
Sprengel inclines to think that the Chironium is the Hypericum origanifolium, Willd. Why modern botanists have applied the specific term Chironium to the first of these plants, we are at a loss to explain. Dioscorides recommends it both internally and externally for the bites of reptiles. Galen and the other authorities treat of it in general terms, like our author. The Arabians in like manner give its medicinal properties under the head of Panaces.
Πάπυρος,
Papyrus, when unburnt is only simply the vehicle of other substances. But when burnt it is desiccative like burnt paper, but the ashes of the papyrus are weaker.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is marked Cyperus Papyrus by Linnæus. From burnt papyrus and burnt paper prepared from it, the ancients procured an impure carbonate of kali, which they used as a caustic. It is frequently mentioned by Celsus. Pliny says of it, “Charta quæ fit ex Papyro, cremata inter caustica est.” (H. N. xxiv, 51.) See also Dioscorides and Galen. The papyrus was much used by the ancients for dilating fistulæ in the same manner that prepared sponge now is. Avicenna recommends it for this purpose, and also as a styptic to stop the flow of blood. Its ashes, he says, stop the spitting of blood. (ii, 2, 536.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 132), and Ebn Baithar (ii, 244.)
Παρωνυχία,
Paronychia, Mountain Knotgrass, is so named because it cures paronychia (whitlow). Its powers are those of an attenuate and desiccative substance without pungency.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The commentators are divided between the Paronychia Hispanica, Cand., and the Draba verna, or Whitlow-grass. See Sprengel (Ad Dioscorid. iv, 54); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 105.) Dioscorides and Galen join in commending it for the cure of whitlow. Galen argues that it acts in this case by being possessed of discutient powers. We have not been able to detect it in the works of the Arabians. Neither Hippocrates nor Celsus has noticed it.
Πεντάφυλλος,
Quinquefolium, Cinquefoil, is desiccative in the third order, but by no means acrid. It is therefore greatly in use.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Although this article be minutely described by Dioscorides (iv, 42), Theophrastus (H. P. ix, 13), and by Democritus (Ad Geopon. ii, 6), there has been considerable difference of opinion respecting it. See Parkinson, Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. l. c.), and Rutty (Mat. Med. 382.) We think that the well-known plant Potentilla reptans, Angl. common creeping Cinquefoil, answers well to the descriptions above referred to. Dioscorides recommends it for a great many purposes: its decoction for the cure of toothache, and mortifications in the mouth as a wash; for roughness of the windpipe as a gargle; for diarrhœa and dysentery; as a discutient application to many tumours and cutaneous eruptions; in intermittent fevers, epilepsy, and, in short, as our author remarks, it would appear to have been much used in ancient times. Galen, like our author, merely states its general properties as a medicine, without defining the particular cases in which it is applicable. It is the cinquefolium of Celsus, who places it in his list of things which are gently repressing and emollient. (ii, 33.) It occurs in the Hippocratic treatises. It is recommended by Apuleius for pains of the bowels, epistaxis, angina, &c. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 545); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 544); Ebn Baithar (i, 174.) They do little more under this head than repeat the cases in which it is recommended by Dioscorides. The cinquefoil is highly commended by all our old herbalists, Parkinson, Gerard, and Culpeper, and it held a place in our English Dispensatory down to the time of Quincy, who, treating of it, says, “Schröder runs through most chronical distempers in commendation of it, says that it is astringent and vulnerary, that it cures coughs, &c.” (137.) Quincy here does not seem to have been aware that Schröder was merely confirming the character of it as given by Dioscorides and Ebn Baithar.
Πέπλος.
Peplus, called by some Papaver spumosum. And this shrub has a juice and purges like the spurges.
Πέπλιον,
Peplium; this too has a juice, and grows by the sea-side; for the most part, it is of no use, but the seed of it purges flatus like that of the peplus.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There can be no doubt that they are two species of the Euphorbia or Spurge; probably the E. Peplus and E. Peplis, that is to say, the petty spurge, and small purple sea spurge. These articles are frequently mentioned as drastic purgatives in the Hippocratic collection. (Epidem. vi., &c.) Ruffus Ephesius gives them the character of being safe phlegmagogues and cholagogues. (De Med. Purgant.) Dioscorides gives them the same characters. (iv, 65, 66.) They are also mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xx, 20), but are not noticed by Celsus. Galen gives their seed the character of purging, and at the same time of expelling flatulence. All the Greek authorities on the Mat. Med. down to Actuarius (Mat. Med. v), give them exactly the same character. The Arabians briefly say of them that they purge like the Tithymallé. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 103, 104.) We may be allowed to mention, that although the E. Peplis and Peplus be now excluded from our Dispensatory, they are still to be found in the shops of the apothecaries. We concur in the opinion thus stated by Boerhaave while treating of spurge root: “We have declined these rough medicines too hastily.” (Mat. Med.) See further Rutty (Mat. Med. 520.)
Πέπερ,
Piper, Pepper; its root resembles the costus in power. But the fruit of it, while yet germinating, forms the long pepper, being more humid and hot. But that which is as it were the unripe fruit is the white pepper, being more acrid than the black, because it is over-heated. Both are heating and desiccative.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Solinus gives the following account of it: “Quod incorruptum est Piper album. Quorum cutem rugosam et torridam calor fecerit, Piper nigrum. Qui demum caducus torretur fervido sole, vocamen trahit de colore. At quod ex ipsa arbore stringitur, ut est, album Piper dicitur.” (Polyhist. 65.). This is not quite a correct account of the matter. Black pepper is the fruit gathered before it is ripe, and dried in the sun. White pepper is the fruit of the same plant, gathered after it is fully ripe and freed of its external coat by maceration in water. Isidorus says further, “quod immaturum est piper longum vocatur.” (Orig. xviii, 8.) It is now ascertained that the Piper longum is a distinct species. Frequent mention of the peppers is made in the Hippocratic treatises. (De Morb. Mul., &c.) Dioscorides gives an excellent account of the pepper, and on the whole a very correct one, except that he does not recognize the P. longum as a distinct kind from the black and white varieties. He says of it in general terms, that it is calefacient, diuretic, digestive, and detergent of obscurities of the cornea, and recommends it in a great variety of cases, beginning with its use as a remedy in intermittent fevers. (ii, 188.) The use of peppers for the cure of intermittents is strongly recommended by Stephanus in his commentary on Galen. (Therap. ad Glauc.) Celsus prescribes pepper for a great many purposes, as being calefacient, diuretic, opening the pores, &c. (v, 4, &c.) Galen, in treating of the pepper in his work on Simples, merely says of its medicinal powers, that it is strongly calefacient and desiccative. Aëtius and the other Greek authorities copy from Galen. Avicenna treats separately of the Piper and the Piper longum, and although in one place he quotes Galen as saying that the latter is a variety of the former, he speaks of them as if he held them to be distinct plants. He says of the former, that it increases the appetite, promotes digestion; and of the other, that it is aphrodisiac. He says the white kind is the most stomachic; but the long the most laxative. On the whole, he agrees with Dioscorides and Galen as to its medicinal uses. (ii, 2, 549, 550.) See further Serapion (c. 357), Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 556), Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.)
Πέπων,
Pepo, Pompion, is possessed of detergent powers. Hence that part which is as it were the flesh of it, cleanses away freckles and the like. But the seed of it removes obstructions of the kidneys.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears to be the Cucurbita Pepo, L. See Book First, sect. 80. Alexander mentions that the seed of the pepo is possessed of an emetic quality. (vii, 14.) Dioscorides and Avicenna agree in ascribing the same property to its root. The Arabians treat of this article at considerable length, recommending it externally as an application to obstinate diseases of the skin; and internally as an excellent diuretic and laxative medicine. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 89), Rhases (Cont. l. ult, iii, 20), and Serapion (De Simpl. 251.) It is clear from Avicenna’s section on the Pepo, that the term was also applied to the melon. Indeed, as we have stated more than once before, it is difficult to distinguish the summer fruits of the ancients from one another.
Περικλύμενον,
Periclymenon, Woodbine; the leaves and fruit are possessed at the same time of incisive and heating powers, so as to occasion a discharge of blood by urine when drunk for seven days. The seed is desiccative, and if drunk for forty days, relieves affections of the spleen and dyspnœa.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There can be no doubt that it is either the Lonicera periclymenum, or the L. caprifolium, that is to say, either the Woodbine or the Honeysuckle. Sprengel decides in favour of the latter. Dioscorides recommends it in nearly the same cases as our author, and also says of it, that it accelerates delivery in labour. (iv, 14.) Our author’s account of it is condensed from Galen. It is not found in the works of Celsus. The Arabians give rather a confused account along with other climbing plants. See Serapion (c. 41.)
Περιστερεὼν,
Verbenaca, Vervain, is so desiccative and astringent that it agglutinates wounds, and therefore stops hemorrhage.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is undoubtedly the Verbena officinalis. According to Apuleius, it is styptic, agglutinative, and abstergent. He recommends it as an application to the bites of serpents, phalangia, and mad dogs. Dioscorides, and most of the succeeding authorities down to Macer, recommend it internally for the cure of jaundice, and externally for foul ulcers. He describes two species, of which the second is the Verbena supina. (iv, 60, 61.) Galen describes only one variety, and merely recommends it as being a vulnerary herb. Ebn Baithar’s description of this plant is entirely made up from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 498.) We are inclined to think that it is the plant described in the translation of Avicenna under the names of Pastus columbarum, s. palea. He recommends it as an application to erysipelas. (ii, 2, 551.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 530.) On its use by the Hindoos, see Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 314.)
Περσαία,
Persica (the Peach?), is an Egyptian tree, the leaves of which are desiccative and astringent, and therefore stop hemorrhage.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It has been generally acknowledged as the peach tree, but, as Alston and Woodville state, this supposition is attended with many difficulties. Sprengel is by no means decided; but, upon the whole, inclines to the Cordia Myxa. With this opinion we are not disposed to agree, as we have stated in another place. See under Myxa. We would hesitatingly, then, admit it as the Persica vulgaris, Miller. Dioscorides merely recommends the dried powder of the leaves as a good styptic in cases of hemorrhage. Galen and the other Greek authorities give the same character of it. The Arabians, in like manner, follow Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 22.)
Πετασίτης,
Petasites, Butter-burr, is of the third order of desiccants; hence it is used for ill-conditioned and phagedænic ulcers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides’s description of this plant with its petasiform leaf, leaves no doubt of its being the Tussilago petasites. He recommends it only for malignant and phagedænic ulcers (iv, 106.) Galen and the other Greek authorities say the same of it. We have not been able to find it in the works of any of the Arabians except Ebn Baithar, who, under this head, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. It is still used by the country people as an application to foul ulcers. It was retained in the Dispensatory as late as the time of Quincy.
Πετροσέλινον,
Petroselinum, Stone Parsley; the seed is hot and desiccative in the third degree, being incisive; and hence it occasions copious urinary and menstrual discharges. It is also carminative.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the species of Parsley called the Macedonian, and known by the different botanical names of Petroselinum Macedonicum, Bubon Macedonicum, and Athomanta Macedonicum. As Miller remarks, “the Macedonian parsley is a stranger to our country, and not to be found except in curious botanical gardens.” (Gardener’s Dictionary.) It is cultivated, however, on the continent, and its seeds are still to be found in the shops of our apothecaries. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 79.) It had not wholly disappeared from our English Dispensatory in the time of Quincy (145.) Our author borrows his characters of it from Galen. Dioscorides says its seeds are fragrant, aromatic, diuretic, and emmenagogue; that it is beneficial in flatulence of the stomach and colon, and in tormina, for pains of the side, of the kidneys, and of the bladder when taken in a drink; and that it is an ingredient in diuretic antidotes. (iii, 70.) It occurs in the works of Celsus, who mentions it as an ingredient in a confection for colic, and in other cases. (iv, 14, &c.) Galen has a curious passage on the places where this plant was cultivated for the market in his time. (De Antidot. i.) The Arabians in general treat of it along with other species of parsley under the head of Apium. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 55); Serapion (c. 290); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 69); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 388.) The Arabians do little more than repeat the characters of it given by their Grecian masters.
Πευκεδανὸν,
Peucedanum, Hog’s-fennel; we use the concrete juice and sap as being considerably heating, discutient, and attenuant, both when smelled to and in a potion for affections in the lungs and chest occasioned by thick humours, and also for scirrhous spleen. When put into a tooth eaten with caries it straightway allays the pain; and it agrees with nervous affections. The root promotes the exfoliation of scales of bones, and cures ill-conditioned ulcers, proving calefacient and desiccative in the third degree.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears to be the Peucedanum officinale, Angl. Hog’s-fennel, or Sulphur-wort. Dioscorides gives a very correct account of this plant, and of the well-known gum, or rather resin, which exudes from it. He says the gum is possessed of a strong smell, is of a tawny colour, and heats the taste, and when rubbed in along with vinegar and rose oil proves beneficial in cases of lethargy, phrenitis, vertigo, epilepsy, chronic headaches, paralytic attacks, sciatica, and convulsions, and in all nervous affections when rubbed in with oil and vinegar; that when smelled to it rouses from hysteric convulsions, and from catalepsy, &c. He speaks also of its being efficacious in coughs, dyspnœa and tormina; says that it loosens the belly gently, reduces swelling of the spleen, and greatly assists in cases of difficult labour; that it is useful in pains of the kidneys and in those of the bladder, and that its root is useful for the same purposes, but is less energetic. (iii, 182.) Galen also has a very interesting section on this article in his work ‘On Simples,’ explaining its action upon the principles of his system. Aëtius, like our author, follows Galen. Celsus recommends it in pains of the joints as an external application. (211, ed. Milligan.) The Arabians give it the same characters as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 86); Serapion (c. 286.) The root and gum resin of peucedanum, although now rejected from our Dispensatory, are still to be found in the shops of the apothecaries, where they retain their ancient characters. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 80.)
Πεύκη,
Picea, the Pitch Tree, has similar powers to the pine, but more moderate.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We think there is no doubt that it is the Pinus Cembro, L., or Aphernousli pine. The fruit of it, namely, the Cembro nuts, are called στρόβιλοι by the Greek authorities. Dioscorides says when drunk with must or the seed of cucumber they are diuretic, and allay irritation of the bladder, kidneys, and stomach. Taken fresh from the tree and bruised, and boiled in must, he says, they suit old and consumptive coughs. (See further under πίτυς.)
Πήγανον,
Ruta, Rue; the wild belongs to the fourth order of calefacients and desiccants; but the cultivated to the third, dividing and discussing the thick and viscid humours. It also promotes the urinary discharge, and is composed of subtile parts and carminative; hence it restrains venereal appetites.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The wild rue is the Peganum Harmala, L. The other species is the Ruta graveolens. According to Florentinus, it kills the fœtus in utero (Geopon. xii, 25.) Dioscorides’s two chapters on the Peganum are so long that we can scarcely attempt an abstract of them. Both species, he says, are caustic, calefacient, ulcerative, diuretic, emmenagogue, astringent, and alexipharmical. (iii, 45, 46.) It occurs in the Hippocratic treatises, and in the works of Celsus. Our author abridges the interesting account of it given by Galen. The Arabians treat of the two species very elaborately, but in the main follow Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 571); Serapion (c. 300); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) We may just mention that the Ruta graveolens still retains its place in our Mat. Med., and that the seeds of the other, Peganum Harmala, are still kept in the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 116.) The Turks use its seeds as a spice, in like manner as they were used in the time of Pliny. (H. N. xx, 51.)
Πίσσα,
Pix, Pitch; dry pitch is desiccative in the second degree, but less calefacient, while the liquid is contrariwise. They have some detergent and digestive powers, and also discutient and acrid. They therefore remove leprous nails, cleanse lichen, and digest swellings. But the liquid is more powerful, so as to be serviceable in a linctus for asthma and empyema. The dry is more agglutinative of wounds.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Pliny says of pitch, “Phthisicis etiam cyathi mensura quidam dederunt, et contra veterem tussim.” (H. N. xxiv, 24.) Averrhoes also recommends it in such cases. (Collig. ii, 42.) See, however, more fully on the virtues of pitch, Dioscorides (i, 94), who recommends the liquid pitch in phthisis, empyema, coughs, asthma, and cases of difficult expectoration; also as an external application to leprous nails, hard tumours of the uterus, fissures of hands and feet, &c. The liquid pitch of the ancients was evidently tar; the dry was the same boiled until it became hard. The latter is often called παλιμπίσσα. See Dioscorides (i, 94, 97) and Pliny (xxiii, 1.)
Πισσέλαιον,
Oleum picatum, Pitched Oil, is formed from liquid pitch consisting of a more attenuate substance than it.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. According to Sprengel, the π. of Dioscorides is the same as Tar-water, so celebrated as the grand panacea by Dr. Berkley in his ingenious work called ‘Siris.’ It is called ὀροπίσση by our author in another place. (iii, 74.) The Pissasphaltum of the ancients, according to Dr. Hill, was the Pix Mineralis, or Earth Pitch of the moderns.
Πιστάκια,
Pistachia, Pistachio Tree; its fruit when eaten is moderately stomachic, and removes obstructions of the liver, and more especially a decoction of the light and aromatic parts of it in wine. It also relieves those who have been bitten by reptiles.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have treated of the Pistachio nuts in the First Book. They are the fruit of the Pistachia vera. It is hardly worth while to give the opinions of the other authorities under this head, as none of them supply any additional information to that given by our author. See Dioscorides (i, 167.) We may just mention in this place, that the oil of pistachio nuts was much used as an application to the cicatrices of small-pox. See Rhases (Contin. xxxii, 2.)
Πιτυΐδεσ,
Pityides, the Fruit of Pines, being possessed of mixed powers, the astringent and acrid, hence it assists expectoration from the chest.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Pliny restricts it to the fruit of the Pinaster or Wild Pine, but the Greeks apply it to the fruit of all the pine tribe. Pliny, like our author, recommends it as a remedy for coughs. Here, however, as is usual with him, he merely translates Dioscorides (i, 87.) Our author is principally indebted to Galen. (De Simpl. viii.) Celsus places the “nuclei pinei” in his list of things which are particularly good for the stomach. (ii, 24.) The Arabians treat of these under the general head of pinus. See in particular, Avicenna (ii, 2, 301) and Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) The latter enlarges on the virtues of them beyond his wont, ascribing to them powerful effects in disinfecting a pestilential state of the air, in resisting putrefaction, preventing impregnation, and procuring abortion. He also calls them vermifuge.
Πιτυοκάμπαι.
Erucæ pinorum, the Canker-worms of Pines, are possessed of the same powers with cantharis and buprestis.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have treated of the Erucæ pinorum in the Fifth Book. As they were seldom or never used in the practice of medicine, it is difficult to see why they should have been allowed a place in the Mat. Med.
Πίτυος φλοιὸς,
Pini cortex, the Bark of Pine; its prevailing power is astringency, by which it proves a useful application for intertrigo and burns. In a potion it restrains the belly. The leaves of it are also agglutinative of wounds.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Pinus Pinea, L., Stone Pine. Our author would appear to have condensed and abridged the more lengthy account of this article given by Dioscorides. He says it is a species of the same genus as the picea, and that the bark of both being astringent, is a suitable application to excoriations, to superficial ulcers and burns, with litharge and the manna of frankincense; that it stops hepatic diseases when pulverized with copperas; in a fumigation promotes the expulsion of the fœtus and secundines, and in a draught binds the belly and proves diuretic. The leaves he recommends externally as a soothing application in cases of inflammation and toothache, and internally with hydromel in diseases of the liver. (M. M. i, 86.) Of the fruit of pines, and of the torch prepared from it (δᾴδιον), we have treated in their proper places. Galen’s notice of this article is to the same effect as our author’s. Frequent mention of the pine occurs in the works of Hippocrates and Celsus. The latter recommends its flowers in diseases of the liver. (iv, 8.) The Arabians treat of the pine, and the virtues of the different parts of it, at great length. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 280, 301, 555, 693); Serapion (De Simpl. 63); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 341); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 137.) They borrow freely from the Greeks, and further recommend the different parts of the pine very much in diseases of the kidneys and bladder, especially calculus and hæmaturia.
Πιτύουσα,
Pityusa; some say that this is a species of spurge, because it has a juice and purges like them.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There can be no doubt of its being the Euphorbia Pityusa. It is briefly noticed by all the other writers on the Mat. Med. as possessing the same virtues as the spurges in general.
Πλάτανος,
Platanus, the Plane Tree, is possessed of a humectating and refrigerant power. Hence the green leaves are of use in incipient inflammations. But the bark and spherical balls are more desiccative, so that when one has been boiled in vinegar it relieves toothache. They also cure burns by fire along with fat. The burnt bark is more desiccative and detergent, so as to cure leprosies and humid ulcers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Platanus orientalis, L. The seed forms into spherical balls, which are called Pilulæ by Pliny. He recommends them for the bites of serpents and for burns; also when pounded with acrid vinegar, as a styptic for stopping bleeding. (H. N. xxiv, 29.) Pliny, however, merely copies from Dioscorides, who further recommends the leaves boiled in wine in defluxions of the eyes, and as an application to swellings and inflammations; and its rind boiled in vinegar as a gargle in toothache. (i, 107.) Our author is evidently much indebted to Galen, who commends it for the same medicinal purposes, and warns his readers to guard against the down which grows on its leaves, as it may prove prejudicial to the windpipe, eye, or ear, if admitted into them. (De Simpl. viii.) Aëtius, like our author, copies very closely from Galen. Not much additional information can be drawn from the Arabians, who, under this head, do little more than copy from Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 209); Serapion (c. 142); Ebn Baithar (ii, 422.)
Πνεύμων,
Pulmo, Lungs; those of lambs and swine are believed to cure the skin which has been chafed by shoes. But the lungs of a fox when dried are said to cure asthmatics. The Pulmo marinus, when fresh and pounded, cures gout and chilblains.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides, Galen, and Serapion give nearly the same account of the medicinal properties of lungs. The Pulmo marinus is the species of Medusa which bears this scientific name. Our author and all the others follow Dioscorides in defining its medicinal properties. (ii, 39.)
Πολεμώνιον,
Polemonium, Greek Valerian (called by some Philetærium), is attenuate and desiccative. Hence some give the root of it in wine for ischiatic disease, dysentery, and scirrhus of the spleen.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Polemonium cæruleum, Greek Valerian. It occurs in the Hippocratic treatises (Hippiatr. 108, ed. Basil), but is not found in the works of Celsus. Dioscorides recommends it to be given for the bites of venomous reptiles, for dysentery, dysuria, sciatica, and diseases of the spleen, and also as a masticatory for toothache. He further mentions that it was used as an amulet for the sting of the scorpion. (iv, 8.) Our author copies from Galen, as does also Aëtius. We have not been able to trace it in the works of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, whose account of it is made up entirely of extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 186.) Though it disappeared from our Dispensatory long ago, its root is still to be found in the shops of our apothecaries, where it retains the character of being astringent, vulnerary, and anti-dysenteric. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 55.)
Πόλιον,
Polium, Poley; the smaller, which we use for antidotes, belongs to the third order of calefacients and desiccants. It therefore removes obstructions of all the viscera, and proves diuretic and emmenagogue. While green it agglutinates large wounds, and when dried it cures ill-conditioned ulcers if sprinkled upon them.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The species indicated by our author is evidently the first species of Dioscorides, namely, the Teucrium Polium. The other is the Teucrium Creticum. Both these plants retained a place in our Dispensatory down to the days of Quincy (118), and both of them are still to be found in the shops of the apothecaries. Gray (Pharmacop. 49.) See further Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 23), and Rutty (Mat. Med. 402.) Dioscorides says of both, that their decoction taken internally is beneficial to the bites of venomous reptiles, in cases of dropsy, jaundice, and diseases of the spleen along with vinegar; that it loosens the belly and is emmenagogue, but induces headache and is bad for the stomach; that in fumigations and placed below a couch, that they drive away reptiles; and in a cataplasm are vulnerary. Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius, give them nearly the same characters. Celsus barely notices it once as one of the ingredients in the celebrated theriac of Mithridates. (v, 23.) The Arabians treat of the two species at greater length than the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 537); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 558); Serapion (c. 165); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) They agree with the Greeks in considering it diuretic, emmenagogue, and a gentle purgative, and recommend it further as being anthelminthic and a remedy in cases of protracted fever. Serapion, by the way, quotes Dioscorides as calling the polium aphrodisiacal, but there is nothing in the chapter of Dioscorides on the poley to this effect.
Πολύγαλον,
Polygalon, the Milkwort, has leaves which are moderately austere. When taken in a draught it seems to engender milk, being of a hot and humid temperament.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. That it is the Polygala amara seems quite certain. Dioscorides and Galen treat of it in nearly the same language as our author. We have not been able to find it in the works of the Arabians except Ebn Baithar, who merely copies Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 186.)
Πολυγόνατον,
Polygonaton, Solomon’s Seal, is a mixture of astringency, acrimony, bitterness, and a certain indescribable nauseous principle, and therefore it is not much used. Some sprinkle the root of it upon wounds, and clear away spots on the face with it.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It has been usually taken for the Convallaria Polygonatum, which has obtained the same character as a medicine in modern works on the Mat. Med. See Rutty (M. M. 403) and Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. 23.) Our author copies almost word for word from Galen, who, in his turn, borrows from Dioscorides. None of the Arabians have noticed it, as far as we can discover, except Ebn Baithar, who merely gives the descriptions of it by Dioscorides and Galen. It is not to be found in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus.
Πολύγονον,
Polygonon, Knot-grass, has some astringency, but a cold watery principle of the second order is what prevails in it. When applied cold externally, it therefore relieves ardor of the stomach, erysipelas, and hot inflammations. Being of such a nature it repels defluxions, and thereby appears to be desiccative. The male is stronger than the female.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Of the two species described by Dioscorides, the mas is undoubtedly the Polygonum aviculare, and the feminine probably the P. maritimum. How the latter could be the Hippuris vulgaris, as several of the older commentators on Dioscorides had supposed, we are at a loss to comprehend. Two plants so dissimilar as the knot-grass and the mare’s-tail, could never have been classed by the ancients as male and female. Dioscorides gives a most interesting exposition of the medicinal powers of the former species, but as our author borrows from him, we need not dwell upon the other. It is possessed of an astringent and refrigerant power, and its juice (decoction) is suited to cases of hæmoptysis, fluxes of the belly, chorea, strangury, and so forth. (iv, 4, 5.) Galen taxes Dioscorides with not stating precisely what the particular cases of strangury are in which it is applicable. Otherwise his characters of this article agree exactly with those of Dioscorides and our author. Celsus ranks “herba sanguinalis, quam Græci πολύγονον vocant,” among things which are at the same time gently repressing (astringent?) and emollient. (ii, 33.) The Arabians who treat of the polygonum follow Dioscorides. See in particular, Avicenna (ii, 2, 725) and Ebn Baithar (ii, 195.) Our quaint old herbalist Culpeper, under the head of knot-grass, assigns to it exactly the same medicinal virtues as Dioscorides does to the Polygonum Mas and although the Polygonum aviculare was ejected from our Dispensatory more than a hundred years ago, it is still to be found in the shops of our apothecaries, where it has the reputation of being “a vulnerary and astringent herb.” Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. 42.)
Πολύκνημον,
Polycnemon, is heating and desiccative in the second degree, so as to agglutinate wounds.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It has been supposed to be the Mentha arvensis, but nothing is known of it for certain. Nicander notices it in two places. (Alex. 57, and Theriac. 359.) Dioscorides calls it a vulnerary herb, and a remedy for strangury and inward bruises. (iii, 98.) Galen gives the same account of it as our author. The Arabians do not appear to have treated of it.
Πολυπόδιον,
Polypodium, Polypody, is possessed of considerably desiccative powers without pungency. When drunk it purges downwards.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of the root of the π. (Polypodium vulgare), that it is purgative, and is given to evacuate phlegm and bile; that it makes a good application to sprains and fissures in the hands. (iv, 185.) Galen and the other Greek authorities merely state its properties in general terms, like our author, with the exception of Ruffus, who treats of it more elaborately. He says it evacuates phlegm, bile, and water; that it should be taken in mulse or water before a meal, when it will purge gently, and thus prove an excellent laxative, especially to children; but that in disease it is not a purgative possessed of much efficacy. (Opera, 14.) The Arabians, and especially Mesue, seem to have attached more importance to it. See Mesue (De Simpl. 5); Serapion (c. 248); Avicenna (ii, 2, 535); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 227.) Mesue recommends it in joint diseases, colic, hardness of the spleen, fevers connected with black bile, and fissures of the hands. The polypody retained its place in the Dispensatory with its ancient characters as late as the time of Quincy (137), and even in the age of Lewis it had not been wholly rejected. (ii, 244.) There seems no good ground for questioning its efficacy as a gentle laxative. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 13.)
Πομφόλυξ,
Pompholyx, is desiccative without pungency, so that it is useful for carcinomatous and other ill-conditioned ulcers. It is also an ingredient in ophthalmic remedies.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. What this substance was is well stated by a comparatively recent writer on the Materia Medica. Dr. Lewis, treating of zinc, says, “Moderately pure white flowers sublimed from it in the brass or other furnaces, wherein zinc, or its ores are melted with other metals, were formerly kept in the shops and distinguished by the names of pompholix and nihil album.” (Mat. Med. ii, 485.) A still later authority on the Pharmacopœia describes it thus: “Pompholix Nihil album. Collected in the smelting furnaces wherein zinc ores or brass are melted; used in ointments for tutty.” Gray (Suppl. &c. 234.) It is also distinctly described by Geoffroy (Treatise on Fossil, &c. Subst. 185), and by Quincy (201.) The latter writes as if he had been familiar with this article; but it appears singular that the former says that in his time (that is to say, about 150 years ago) it was unknown in the shops. For the ancient authorities on it, see in particular Pliny (H. N. xxiv, 33), and Dioscorides (v, 85.) The latter calls it styptic, cooling, and to a certain extent escharotic. Galen recommends it in carcinomatous and all ill-conditioned ulcers, for those about the parts of generation and anus, and for ocular collyria. (De Simpl. ix.) The Arabians treat of it under the head of Tutia. See in particular Serapion (c. 422); Avicenna (ii, 2, 695); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Ebn Baithar (i, 217.) Hardly one of them does anything more than copy the description of it given by Dioscorides and Galen, only comprehending under one name what the Greeks had delivered regarding pompholyx and spodium separately.
Πορφύραι,
Purpuræ, when burnt are possessed of the same powers as shells. The part which serves as a cover to them when boiled in oil, strengthens hairs that are falling out. When drunk with vinegar, they cure swelling of the spleen. As a fumigation, they rouse in cases of uterine suffocation, and expel the secundines.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The shell-fishes which supply the purple dye. It is got from various fishes, but more especially the Helix ianthina, Murex brandaris and trunculus. For an account of them, see particularly Aristot. (Hist. Animal. v, 14), and Pliny (H. N. ix, 60.) Our author borrows from Dioscorides (iii, 4), and Galen (De Simpl. xi.) We have not been able to detect this article in the works of the Arabian authorities.
Ποταμογείτων,
Potamogiton, Pondweed, is cooling and astringent, like Polygonum, being possessed of similar powers to it.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Potamogiton natans, L. Dioscorides says of it, that it is cooling and astringent, and is applicable in cases of pruritus, and in spreading and inveterate ulcers. (iv, 99.) In some of the editions of his works, another species is described and recommended in dysentery, colic, and the red fluor of females. It cannot be so decidedly determined. Galen and the other authorities treat of it in general terms, like our author. Such of the Arabians as treat of it borrow from Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 352.)
Ποτέρριον,
Poterrhium, (called by some Phrœnium); its roots when cut into slices agglutinate divided tendons and wounds; and the decoction of it when drunk relieves affections of the nerves.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Matthiolus confesses his ignorance of it. Sprengel is inclined to think that it is the Astragalus Poterium, Pall. But Dr. Lindley holds it to be Astragalus Creticus. (Veg. King. 548.) Dioscorides says it has stalks like those of tragacanth, and accordingly Linnæus holds this plant to be a species of tragacanth. He recommends it in exactly the same cases as our author. Galen describes it by the name of Neuras. We have not been able to detect it in the works of the Arabians.
Πράσιον,
Marrabium, Horehound, is calefacient in the second degree; but more desiccative. It removes obstructions about the liver and spleen, and those of the chest and lungs. It also promotes menstruation. In a cataplasm it is detergent and discutient, and otherwise it is detergent and incisive.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The Marrubium vulgare. Dioscorides has an elaborate section on the virtues of this article, which he recommends particularly in phthisical, asthmatic, and catarrhal complaints, as being an excellent expectorant, for promoting the menstrual and lochial discharges, as an alexipharmic, &c. He adds, however, that it is unsuitable in affections of the kidneys and bladder. (iii, 109.) Galen writes thus of it: “Horehound, as it is bitter in taste, so, by general admission, it has the virtue corresponding to that taste, being a deobstruent of the liver and spleen, clearing away matters about the chest and lungs, and promoting menstruation.” He also mentions its use in a cataplasm and in other cases, as stated by Dioscorides. Aëtius and Oribasius state its virtues in nearly the same terms. It is the “Marrubium” of Celsus, who prescribes the juice of it in phthisis (iii, 22), in paralysis (iii, 27), in ulcers of the throat (iv, 4), and for other purposes. For the Arabians, see in particular Serapion (c. 198); Avicenna (ii, 2, 553); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) Avicenna recommends it as deobstruent, emmenagogue, and an application to the eyes. Serapion also praises it as a deobstruent, and recommends it particularly in ulcers of the lungs, asthma, and such like complaints. It would seem to deserve the characters which the ancient authorities give it from Hippocrates down to Macer Floridus and Serapion. See Rutty (Mat. Med. 309.) Even yet it holds a place in the Dispensatory.
Πράσον,
Porrum, Leek, consists of unwholesome juice and is acrid; but Dioscorides says, that it induces disagreeable dreams, agrees well with the bowels, is diuretic and attenuant. It is also detergent, for it proves expectorant when boiled in ptisan. The seed of it is mixed with nephritic remedies. But the leaves have some astringency, and therefore the juice of it proves styptic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Allium Porrum, L. Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus says, “it is attenuant, nutritious, and flatulent.” (Deipnos, ix, 3.) Dioscorides recommends it in the cases enumerated by our author, and also in several others. (ii, 178.) Galen does not treat of it at all in his work on Simples. The Arabians attach more importance to it, recommending it as being emmenagogue, diuretic, aphrodisiac, and so forth. They say of it that it hurts the eyes, the gums, and the teeth. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 540); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 562); Serapion (c. 361); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 339.)
Πρίνος,
Ilex, the Holm Oak, has powers resembling those of the oak, but it is much stronger.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Quercus Ilex, or Evergreen Oak. All the authorities speak of it as being a powerful astringent. The Kermes, or Scarlet Grain is produced upon the ilex by a certain class of insects. It is described by Theophrastus and Pliny, as stated under that head.
Πρόπολις,
Propolis, Virgin-wax, or Bee-glue, is calefacient in the second degree and moderately detergent. It is also possessed of attenuant and deobstruent powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Scribonius Largus calls it, “Propolis quam quidam sacram ceram vocant.” Dioscorides and Galen give nearly the same account of Bee-glue as our author. It is the glutinous substance with which the working bees block up the holes in their hive. They gather it from poplars and other resinous plants. It occurs frequently in the works of the ancient writers on Pharmacy.
Πταρμικὴ,
Ptarmica, Sneezewort; the leaves are sternutatory; but the whole part, when green, removes hypopion and other kinds of ecchymosis, for it is hot and desiccative. The green belong to the second order, and the dried to the third.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides’s description of it agrees well with the Achillea Ptarmica, except that (as is remarked by Sprengel) its favorite locality is meadows, and not mountainous and rocky situations as indicated by Dioscorides. All the Greek authorities, from Dioscorides downwards, give it exactly the same characters as our author. We have not been able to discover any traces of it in the works of the Arabians. Its leaves are still kept in the shops of apothecaries, and are held to be sternutatory. Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 80.)
Πτελάια,
Ulmus, the Elm, is possessed of desiccative and detergent powers, so as to agglutinate wounds; but the bark of it still more, if, when in a fresh state, it be wrapped like a bandage about the wounds. It also cures leprosy with vinegar, and the roots of it are possessed of the same powers, so that fractures which will not unite are to be bathed with the decoction of it.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Most probably the Ulmus campestris. Our author’s statement of its medicinal virtues is closely copied from Dioscorides (i, 112.) Galen and most of the authorities represent it to be an agglutinative medicine. Pliny, like the others, recommends it as an application to leprosy. No mention of it occurs in the works of Celsus. The Arabians treat of it fully, but in the main follow Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 71, 96, 212); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 250.) They recommend it in all cases requiring astringents and abstergents.
Πτερὶς,
Filix, Fern, is desiccative in its powers, and bitter. Hence it destroys the fœtus, and kills the broad intestinal worm when taken to the amount of four drachms in honeyed water. Because it is moderately astringent, it dries up ulcers without pungency.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Apuleius says, “Græci pterin, Latini filicem nominant.” (De Herbis.) We need not hesitate to refer it to the Aspidium Filix Mas, which has been long celebrated as a vermifuge medicine. See Book IV, 67, of this work, and Rutty (Mat. Med. 201.) Dioscorides recommends it merely as an anthelminthic medicine, and as one which is calculated to promote convalescence in diseases of the spleen. For the former purpose he directs it to be given with scammony or white hellebore, along with a diet consisting principally of garlic. (iv, 183.) Galen acutely remarks, that there is no wonder that it should be anthelminthic, seeing it is possessed of a bitter taste with some astringency. None of the other Greek or Arabian authorities supply any additional information respecting it. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 620); Serapion (De Simpl. 56.) The “filicula” of Celsus (ii, 12) would appear to us to have been rather the Polypodium than the Filix Mas. In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia it is marked as being the Aspidium Filix Mas.
Πυκνόκομον,
Pycnocomon, is possessed of discutient, attractive, and acrid powers. The leaves of it, therefore, discuss phyma and furunculus. The fruit, in addition to these properties, also extracts sharp-pointed weapons. Its root purges yellow bile.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Although Dioscorides has given a pretty minute description of it, there are few articles in the ancient Mat. Med. about which there is so much uncertainty. See the Index Latinus to Parkinson’s ‘Theatre of Plants,’ and Sprengel (in Dioscor. iv, 173.) The latter decides that it is neither the Leonurus Marrubiastrum nor the Succisa pratensis as had been supposed. Whether it may be the Cephalaria Pycnocomon we are unable to determine, as we have no acquaintance with this plant. Our author borrows his medicinal characters of it from Dioscorides (l. c.) Galen does the same. The Arabians have not noticed it, as far as we can discover.
Πύρεθρον,
Pyrethrum, Pellitory; the root has caustic powers, and allays the pain of teeth affected with cold; and before the occurrence of periodical rigors it is rubbed in with oil, and relieves those who are affected with torpor and paralysis.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It seems to be the Anthemis Pyrethrum, although Sprengel is not quite satisfied. It was much used in stimulant embrocations. Dioscorides, Galen, Macer, and Serapion, and, in a word, all the authorities, recommend it strongly as a phlegmagogue for toothache. Dioscorides says further of it, that when rubbed in with oil, it is sudorific, being serviceable in chronic rigors, for parts which have lost their natural heat and are paralysed. (iii, 37.) Celsus also mentions it in a list of stimulants, to be applied externally for toothache (vi, 9), and ranks it among his caustics. (v, 8.) The Arabians treat of it at considerable length, but borrow much from Dioscorides. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 547); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 553); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) They all in particular recommend it as a sialogogue in cases of toothache. We need scarcely remark that the pellitory (now called Anacyclos Pyrethrum) still holds its place in the Dispensatory as a sialogogue and masticatory. We see no good reason, therefore, for questioning its identity with the pyrethrum of the ancients, more especially as it still retains a place in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia.
Πυρὸς,
Triticum, Wheat, is heating in the first degree, but is intermediate between dry and humid substances. It is also somewhat glutinous and emplastic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Triticum æstivum. We have treated largely of it among the dietetical articles in the First Book, and have also treated of the farina, leaven, and pollen of wheat separately. We need not, then, enlarge further upon this article at present.
Πιτύα,
Coagulum, Rennet; all sorts of it are possessed of acrid, attenuating, discutient, and decidedly desiccant powers. But that of hares is represented as curing epilepsy if drunk with vinegar, and as curing the female discharge, and proving a solvent of coagulated milk in the bowels, and of blood in like manner. Some say that it restrains spitting of blood from the chest. The rennet of a horse is described as proving serviceable in cæliac and dysenteric affections. That of the seal is said to have the properties of castor.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of the medicinal properties of Rennet is taken from Dioscorides and Galen. Indeed he has copied from the latter almost word for word. The Arabians treat of the rennets very fully and with much judgment. See in particular Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 221); Avicenna (ii, 2, 115); Serapion (De Simpl. 444); Ebn Baithar (ii, 604.) They follow Dioscorides very closely, among other things recommending rennet to be applied on a pessary for promoting the menstrual discharge, and for the hysterical convulsion. All rennets, they say, are alexipharmic, and especially those of the kid, of the antelope, and of the camel. As stated by us in the Fifth Book, the ancients administered rennet in cases of poisoning with curdled milk. It appears remarkable that an article unquestionably capable of being applied to so many medicinal purposes as rennet, should have been entirely excluded from our modern Dispensatories.
Ῥακὸς,
Panniculus, Rags; when those from wool are burnt they have similar powers to burnt wool. Linen, when burning, sends forth a subtile smoke, so as to prove deobstruent in catarrhs, and agree with risings of the womb. When burnt, its powers are nearly the same as those of wool.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. These things are so well known as not to require further illustration.
Ῥάμνος,
Rhamnus, Buckthorn, is desiccative in the second degree, but cooling in the first. Hence it cures herpes and erysipelas when not very hot. Its tender leaves are to be used.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This appears to be the first species of Dioscorides, which we may decide to be the Lycium Europæum. The second is the Lycium Afrum. The third is not well ascertained, but probably is a species of paliurus. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 1006), and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. i, 119.) Dioscorides recommends the leaves of all the three kinds for herpes and erysipelas, and also mentions that the twigs of them were placed in doors and windows to avert sorcery. (i, 119.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of this article in nearly the same terms as our author. Pliny recommends it as a cooling and refrigerant application. (H. N. xxiv, 76.) The Arabians borrow their account of it entirely from Dioscorides and Galen. See in particular Serapion (De Simpl. 236); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 591); Avicenna (ii, 2, 345); Ebn Baithar (ii, 223.)
Ῥάφανος,
Rhaphanus, Radish, is heating in the third degree, and desiccative in the second. The wild is more powerful. The seeds of both are stronger, and therefore they discuss hypopion and other lividities.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides, like our author, describes two species, of which the former is certainly the Rhaphanus sativus, and the other probably the R. maritimus. Dioscorides gives so long a catalogue of the medicinal properties of the former or common radish, that we can scarcely venture upon an exposition of it. He says of it, that its seed is emetic, diuretic, and a cleanser of the spleen, when drunk with vinegar; that it is beneficial in cynanche, and alexipharmic both when taken internally and applied externally. Florentinus (Geopon. xii, 22) and Pliny (H. N. xx, 13) praise the radish as an antidote to poisonous substances and venomous animals. It was much used by the ancients as an emetic, and for this purpose it was taken before a meal as described by Celsus. (i, 3.) See also Dioscorides (l. c.) and Pliny (l. c.) Hence it is frequently prescribed by Nicander, as a remedy in the case of poisoning, as in that by henbane, and in that by mushrooms. It is also recommended in these and similar cases by Scribonius Largus (Compos. 198.) The radish we are confident is the “radicula” of Celsus, who prescribes it for various purposes, as being laxative, diuretic, and, as we formerly stated, emetic. (See Vol. II, 31, &c.) The Arabians attach much importance to this article, but do not supply much information regarding it but what they acknowledge to be derived from the Greeks. See Serapion (c. 307); Avicenna (ii, 2, 574); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 571); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 246.) They agree in stating of it, that taken before other food it renders vomiting easy; and after food that it loosens the bowels. All recommend it in cases of poisoning. They also prescribe it as a deobstruent in obstructions of the liver and in jaundice. The radishes, the garden and the wild, retain their ancient characters in the works of our old herbalists, and even in the time of Quincy they still held a place in our Dispensatory, although, as he says, “little used in medicine.” (i, 5, 409.)
Ῥῆον,
Rheum (called by some Rhâ), is composed of a terrene, cold, and subtile substance, and of a vaporous, hot, and slightly acrid one. Hence it relieves sprains and ruptures, and orthopnœa, and also lividities, by its discutient powers; and by its astringency, spitting of blood, cæliac and dysenteric affections. By both it cures hepatic complaints.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author manifestly copies from Galen; and whoever will carefully compare his account of it with Dioscorides’s chapter on Rhâ, cannot fail to come to the conclusion that both apply to the same substance, namely, the Rheum Rhaponticum. We therefore shall confine our attention in this place to it, reserving to the Appendix what we have got to say on the knowledge possessed by the ancients of the purgative rhubarb. Dioscorides says of it, that its prevailing power is astringency, with a certain degree of heat; and he recommends it to be taken in a draught for flatulence of the stomach, atony, all kinds of pain, spasms, diseases of the spleen, liver, and kidneys, tormina, affections of the chest and bladder, distension of the hypochondria, diseases of the uterus, sciatica, hæmoptysis, asthma, hiccough, dysentery, cæliac affections, intermittents, and the bites of venomous animals; also for lividity and leprosy when rubbed in with vinegar, and for discussing all chronic inflammations in a fomentation. (iii, 2.) Galen’s account of it, as already stated, is exactly the same as our author’s. Oribasius evidently takes his description of it from Dioscorides; and Aëtius, like our author, as clearly abridges Galen. There is no mention of the Rhâ in the works either of Hippocrates or of Celsus. Pliny’s description of it (he calls it Rhacoma) is manifestly imitated from Dioscorides. (H. N. xxvii, 105.) As already stated, we shall reserve our exposition of the views of the Arabians to the Appendix.
Ῥητίναι,
Resinæ, Resins, are all calefacient and desiccative; but the turpentine holds the first place, being discutient, emollient, and attenuating, and also detergent, whereby it cures itch; and that of larch is like to it. The resin of the pitch-tree, and still more that of the wild pine, are more acrid, but neither more discutient nor attractive. Those of the pine and fir hold an intermediate place.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. On the formation of Resins see in particular Theophrastus (H. P. ix, 2) and Pliny (H. N. xxiv, 22.) Pliny thus sums up his account of them: “Summæ species duæ; sicca et liquida. Sicca e pinu et picca; liquida e terebintho, larice, lentisco, cupresso.” The Resina sicca pini is the Pix arida of the Old London Pharmacopœia, or the Pix Abietina of the New. The Resina liquida laricis is now generally called by the name of Venice Turpentine. The Resina lentisci is well known by the name of Mastich. The Colophonian rosin, which is often mentioned in this work, is the same as the black fiddler’s rosin. The Cypress rosin does not appear to be much known now. Pliny correctly observes that all these resins act on the bowels and the urine. The mode of burning or roasting resin is described by Dioscorides. (i, 93.) He gives a very interesting account of the resinæ in general, which he represents to be emollient, calefacient, dissolvent, cleansing, suited for coughs and consumptions, in electuaries by themselves or with honey, clearing away matters from the chest; and as being diuretic, digestive, laxative of the bowels; adapted for the operation on trichiasis (see Book VI, 8), and for leprosy, with verdigris, copperas, and natron; for purulent ears with honey and oil, and for itching of the pudendum. They are mixed, he adds, with plasters, liniments, and acopa, and relieve pleuritic pains either when rubbed in or applied by themselves. (i, 91.) All the other authorities prescribe the resins freely, but none give so full a description of them as Dioscorides. See, however, Celsus (pluries), who appears to have been particularly fond of them. He recommends turpentine rosin with butter and honey in phthisis (iii, 22), in dyspnœa (iv, 4, 2), and in various other cases. Our author’s account of them would seem to be principally taken from Galen. The Arabians, as usual, copy from the Greeks, and supply little additional of their own. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 242); Serapion (De Simpl. 325); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 580, &c.); Ebn Baithar (pluries.) All the resinæ here described occur in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia (160, 161.)
Ῥόδα,
Rosæ, Roses, are naturally composed of a watery substance, which is heating, astringent, and bitter. The flowers are still more astringent, and hence are desiccative.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It comprehended the R. lutea, Derlech, R. arvensis, and probably other species of the Rosa, L. Dioscorides gives a careful exposition of the particular uses of Roses in medicine. He says they are cooling and astringent. In preparing the flowers for use, he directs the nails or white portions to be clipped off with a pair of scissors, and the remainder compressed and pounded in a shade in a mortar, until they form into a ball. He recommends them in diseases of the eyes, headache, affections of the ears, gums, anus, and womb, &c., also when sprinkled in powder on intertrigo, and as an ingredient in the ointments called calliblephara. (i, 130.) We need not devote time to the exposition of what the other authorities have written on this subject. See Celsus (pluries); Galen (De Simpl. viii, et alibi); Avicenna (ii, 2, 568); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 585); Serapion (De Simpl. 108). The Arabians say of rose-water that it is stomachic and hepatic; and of rose-oil, that it relieves inflammation of the stomach and loss of its tone. They recommend rose-water further both in syncope and in hæmoptysis. Like the Greeks, they make it an ingredient in their collyria to the eyes and eyelids. Rhases and Avicenna give particular directions for preparing an ablution with roses to remove fetid perspiration.
Ῥοδία ῥίζα,
Rosea radix, is heating in the second degree, and is attenuating and discutient.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The older commentators and herbalists are by no means satisfied that it was the Rhodiola Rosea, or rosewood; but the later authorities are pretty much agreed upon this point. See Sprengel (in Dioscor. iv, 45) and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 631). Dioscorides merely recommends it along with valerian as an application to the forehead and temple in cephalalgia. The other authorities, like Paulus, are content with barely stating its general characters.
Ῥοιὰι,
Mala Punica, Pomegranates; the prevailing quality of all the species of them is an astringent power, by which they act as refrigerants and desiccants. But the sweet have this property in a less degree than the others. The austere are more refrigerant, but are of a drier nature and stomachic. Those which are acid are cooling in a greater degree, but have also something incisive in their nature. The kernels are more astringent and desiccative than the juice, but still more so the outer membrane or rind called Malicorium. The flowers called Cytini have similar powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is evidently the Punica granatum L. Woodville says, “Hippocrati arbor audit σίδη unde cortex fructus σίδιον.” They frequently occur in the Hippocratic treatises. (De Diæta, ii, &c.) Cytini is generally put for the flowers of the cultivated pomegranate, and balaustia for those of the wild. The bark of the root called malicorium by Celsus was much used. Pliny, like the medical authorities, speaks of them all as being excellent astringents. He recommends them particularly in cæliac affections and hæmoptysis. (H. N. xxiii, 57.) The most interesting of the ancient authorities on this head is Dioscorides, who says of the sweet pomegranate that it engenders heat and flatulence in the stomach, and hence is unsuitable in fevers; and of the acid, that it relieves ardor of the stomach, and is more astringent and diuretic, being unsavoury and styptic; that the vinous has an intermediate nature; that the kernel of the acid pomegranate, when dried in the sun and sprinkled on food and boiled with it, restrains fluxes of the stomach and bowels; that when macerated in rain-water and drunk, it is beneficial in hæmoptysis, and in a hip-bath is suitable in dysentery and other fluxes; and that the expressed juice of the kernels, when boiled and mixed with honey, is suitable to ulcers in the mouth, on the pudendum and anus; for pterygia on the fingers, spreading ulcers, fungus, earache, and complaints in the nose, and more especially those of the acid pomegranate. (i, 141.) He also treats separately of the flowers and the bark, recommending the latter as an anthelminthic medicine. Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of the pomegranate in nearly the same words as Paulus. It would exceed our limits to give a notice of the various cases in which Celsus prescribes this medicine. Suffice it to say, that he calls it stomachic, cooling, and styptic, and recommends the flowers, the bark, and the root for these and various other purposes. For the Arabians see Avicenna (ii, 2, 109, 313); Serapion (De Simpl. 129); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 443); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 499). One of Serapion’s authorities, Ruffus, recommends the acid pomegranate in cardiac disease, and another, Aben Mesue, in cholera and syncope, which attends it. All praise it as a stomachic, more especially in the loss of appetite attending pregnancy, and in vomiting. Rhases and Avicenna say that pomegranate wine relieves intoxication. Both the sweet and the acid are held to be diuretic, but especially the latter. The flesh of the sweet purges yellow bile and strengthens the stomach. They all represent the rind as being anthelminthic. On this use of it, see Book IV, 58, and Pereira (Mat. Med. 1101). It has been a question, by the way, whether the malicorium or σίδιον of the Greeks, was the rind of the fruit or the bark of the root. We used to think it the former, but the examination of a passage in Avicenna (l. c.) has satisfied us that the latter was also sometimes included. In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia both the bark of the root and the rind of the fruit are described, the term σίδιον being restricted to the latter.
Ῥοῦς βυρσοδεψικὴ,
Rhus Coriaria, Sumach; the fruit and juice of it come principally to be used by physicians, being considerably astringent and desiccative of the third order, but detergent of the second.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Rhus Coriaria, or Elm-leaved Sumach. This also was much used as an astringent. Pliny briefly says of it, “vim habet astringendi refrigerandique.” The Arabian writers on husbandry mention that in times of famine bread was sometimes made from sumach. Dioscorides says of it that its leaves are astringent, being applicable in the same cases as acacia. He recommends it in dysentery when given by the mouth, in a lavement and hip-bath, as an injection in cases of purulent discharges from the ears, and for many other practical purposes. He concludes with mentioning that it bears a gum which is put into the holes of carious teeth to relieve pain. (i, 147.) Celsus notices it but once, and then as an application to aphthous ulcerations of the mouth. (vi, 11.) It is mentioned as an astringent medicine and condiment in the Hippocratic treatises. (De Mulieb. and de Liquid. usu.) Galen, and the other Greek authorities after him, merely state its general properties as a medicine. The Arabians treat of it under the name of sumach, which it still retains. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 635); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i. 695); Serapion (De Simpl. 225); Ebn Baithar (ii, 46, 163.)
Ῥύπος,
The Sordes, from copper statues or vessels, in which a considerable quantity of oil has been kept, having also some verdigris, is discutient, moderately desiccative and emollient. It therefore discusses unconcocted phymata. But the sordes in the palestra (which some call paton), has been described under the head of sweat. The sordes in the ears is said to cure whitlows.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Sprengel gives a long dissertation on the sordes palestræ. (Ad Dioscor. i, 36.) Suffice it to say in this place that it was collected from the bodies of the wrestlers in the palestra, and consisted of oil, sweat, dust, and any powder used for cleansing the skin. Sprengel, from a passage in the works of Theophrastus (H. P. v, 9), infers that the sordes gymnasiorum were collected from statues made of cedar, but he appears to have overlooked the account of it given by our author, from which it must be obvious that it was collected from statues of copper, or rather of bronze. The sordes balneorum, which is treated of by Dioscorides (i, 34), will be readily understood from the description which we have given in another place (Vol. I, 68), of the preparatory process which the bathers went through before going into the bath. It must have consisted then of human sweat and other impurities extracted from the skin, mixed up with soda, flour of beans, or any other substance used in cleansing the skin by means of the comb (strigil.) Dioscorides says it is heating, emollient, and discutient, and is used as a liniment to fissures and condylomata. These articles are treated of by most of the other authorities. On the sordes palestræ, see in particular Galen. (T. ii, 136, ed. Basil.) For the Arabians see Avicenna (ii, 2, 648), and Serapion (De Simpl. 169).
Σαγαπηνὸν,
Sagapenum, Sagapen, is the juice of a sort of ferula, being hot and attenuate. It is also somewhat detergent, so as to agree with cicatrices in the eyes and suffusions.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It has never been disputed, as far as we are aware, that the ancient sagapenum was the same substance as the modern. However, it is not even yet well ascertained by what tree it is furnished, but it is generally supposed to be either the Ferula Persica or F. Szowitsiana. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 776). We know no more about it, then, at the present day than what was known of it by Dioscorides, who describes it as being the juice of a plant resembling the ferula, having a smell intermediate between the juice of silphium (assafœtida) and galbanum. He recommends it for various medicinal purposes; for affections of the chest, epilepsy, hysterical convulsions, for promoting menstruation, and destroying the fœtus in utero; as an alexipharmic, and for discussing films on the eyes, cataracts, &c. (iii, 85.) Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius give much the same account of it as our author. Galen says it is the juice of a certain ferula resembling panax. (De Antid. i.) It occurs in the works of Celsus as an ingredient in the famous antidote of Mithridates, and also as an ingredient in one of his collyria. (vi, 6, 24.) For the Arabians see Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Avicenna (ii, 2, 629); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 631); Serapion (192); Ebn Baithar (ii, 37.) They recommend it in a good many more cases than the Greeks do. For example, they all say that it is a gentle laxative. Modern authorities, however, have denied that it is possessed of this property. See Hill (Mat. Med.) Rutty, notwithstanding, seems to agree with the ancients. (Mat. Med. 447.)
Σαλαμάνδρα,
Salamandra, Salamander; when burnt its ashes are by some mixed with corrosive medicines and remedies for lepra and scabies.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Salamandra terrestris. The story of the salamander’s being proof against the operation of fire is mentioned by Nicander, Aristotle, and Theophrastus; but the truth of it is questioned by Dioscorides. Sprengel remarks that the real fact is, that the salamander is a black ugly lizard, from whose body a cold viscid fluid is secreted, which may be capable of extinguishing a small coal. Agricola says, its body is as cold as ice, and therefore capable of extinguishing a coal. M. l’Abbé Bonnaterre likewise states that the humour which it secretes from its body prevents the operation of coals from affecting it for a short time. (Encycl. Méthod.) Our author borrows his medicinal character of the salamander from Dioscorides, who says it is possessed of septic, ulcerative, and calefacient powers, like cantharides. (ii. 67.) None of the other authorities give any additional information of much interest under this head. The Arabians would appear not to have included it in their Materia Medica.
Σάμψυχον,
Sampsuchum (a species of marjoram), is calefacient and desiccative in the third degree. It also consists of subtile parts, and is discutient.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Although Galen and our author distinguish the Amaracus from the Sampsuchus, there seems no reason to doubt their identity. See Needham (Ad Geopon. xi, 27); the Synonymes of Dioscor. (iii, 41); and Sprengel (ibid.) Dioscorides describes it (Origanum marjorana) minutely, and says its decoction is drunk with advantage in cases of dropsy, dysuria, and tormina; that its dried leaves, in a cataplasm with honey, remove suggillations; and that in a pessary it is emmenagogue. He also recommends it as an external application to the stings of scorpions, sprains, œdematous swellings, inflammations of the eyes, and as a calefacient ingredient in acopa and malagmata. (Ibid.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it in general terms. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 466); Serapion (c. 286); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 439). They recommend it in the same cases as the Greeks; and also in hemicrania, vertigo, earache, in embrocations and injections. They also speak well of the oil of it as an application in cases of paralysis. The “Thymus Cyprius” of Celsus is set down by C. Bauhin as being the Thymus mastichius; but whether it be any other than the marjoram seems doubtful, although Celsus certainly mentions them as distinct substances. (v, 11.) Compare our account of this article with what Quincy says of the marjoram in the ‘Complete English Dispensatory’ (60.)
Σανδαράχη,
Sandaracha, Red Arsenic, is possessed of caustic powers like orpiment.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. That it was the sub-species of sulphuret of arsenic, called realgar, namely, “the red orpiment” of Jameson, can admit of no question. In our Appendix to this section, we shall have something to say relative to the sandaracha of the Arabians. Dioscorides says it has the same general powers as arsenic (yellow orpiment), and recommends it externally in alopecia, leprosy, phthiriasis, hard boils, ulcers in the nose and mouth, other exanthemata and condylomata; and also internally in cases of empyema with mulse; in fumigations with resin in chronic cough, when its steam is inhaled into the mouth by means of a syphon. He concludes by saying of it, that in a linctus with honey it clears the voice, and along with dry pitch makes an excellent pill for asthmatics. (v, 121.) Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius give but a very brief and general account of it. Celsus places it in his lists of cleansing and corroding substances (v, 5, 6), and often prescribes it as a septic and caustic application. Avicenna treats of the white, the yellow, and the red arsenic in the same chapter. What he says of the last, or realgar, is taken from Dioscorides. (ii, 2, 48.) Serapion also treats of the yellow and red arsenic in the same chapter, and merely gives extracts under this head from Dioscorides and Galen. See further Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 610); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48, 503); Ebn Baithar (i, 527.) The last of these gives an interesting description of three kinds of arsenic, namely, the yellow, the red, and the white. The red of course is the article now under consideration. He says of the yellow and red, that when calcined they become white, and when melted with a certain red ore lose their disagreeable smell. The white is said to be a mortal poison. The yellow and the red he recommends in phagedænic sores of the mouth and nose and elsewhere, and as an inhalation in asthma and orthopnœa.
Σάνδυξ,
Sandyx, or Siricon, consists of subtile parts, and has desiccative powers, but not heating.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Galen says that when ceruse is burnt, that is to say, calcined, it becomes sandyx. (De Simpl. ix.) See also Pliny (H. N. xxxv, 23.) He calls it burnt ceruse mixed with an equal proportion of rubrica. See also Alston and Sprengel. Dioscorides treats of it under the same head as ceruse, and describes the process by which the latter is converted into sandyx. The Arabian authorities, in like manner, treat of it along with ceruse. See Serapion (c. 378); Avicenna (ii, 2, 117.) From what has been said, then, it will be readily seen that it was merely a peculiar preparation of ceruse.
Σαπρότης ξύλων,
Caries lignorum, Carious Wood, and especially that of the elm, cleanses and fills humid ulcers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of the Caries or Rot of wood is taken from Dioscorides, who recommends it in the same cases as Carbo ligni is now applied, namely, to ulcers, but more especially spreading ulcers. (i, 143.) It is the Lignorum marcor of the Arabians, who recommend it in the same cases as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 617); Serapion (c. 48.)
Σάπων,
Sapo, Soap, is possessed of detergent powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The first author, we believe, who makes mention of Soap is Pliny. He calls it an invention of the Gauls. It is made, he says, of suet and ashes. (H. N. xxviii, 51.) Aretæus likewise calls it a Gallic composition, prepared from soda, and used for cleansing clothes. He recommends it as an application to the skin in elephantiasis. (De Curat. Morb. Chron. ii, 13.) Serapion praises it as an application to abscesses. The only Greek authority which he quotes under this head is Paulus. (De Simpl. 368.) See also Avicenna (ii, 2, 650); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 609, ii, 628); and Ebn Baithar (ii, 119.) One of Baithar’s Arabian authorities commends soap in leprosy and scabies; also in favus and the cutaneous diseases of the scalp. Ebn Baithar further gives a very curious account of the process of dyeing the beard by means of a mixture of soap and sandyx. This was a very ancient use of soap, and is frequently alluded to by the classical authors. (Ovid. Ars. Amand. iii, 163.) This subject is treated of very ingeniously by Beckmann in his ‘History of Inventions.’ The author, however, is mistaken in supposing that there is no mention of soap in the works of Galen, with the exception of that work ‘De Simplicibus,’ universally admitted to be spurious, whereas Galen frequently makes mention of it in works about the authenticity of which there has never been any question. As for example, (Meth. Med. viii); (De Comp. med. sec. loc. T. ii, 225.) In the latter passage he makes distinct mention of Gallic soap.
Σαρκοκόλλα,
Sarcocolla, is the tear of a Persian tree, being emplastic and desiccative without pungency, and therefore it agglutinates wounds.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There is not, we presume, the slightest reason to doubt that the ancient Sarcocol was the same as the modern, namely, the gum of the Penæa Sarcocolla. Dioscorides mentions only its external use in agglutinating wounds and restraining defluxions on the eyes. (iii, 89.) The Greeks confined the use of it to external applications; but the Arabians sometimes administered it internally as a purge. Thus Serapion, Rhases, and Avicenna say that it purges crude humours and gross phlegm, especially from the joints. They recommend it with honey as an application in diseases of the ear. They say it corrodes putrid flesh, and heals recent wounds, and restores parts that are distorted. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 592); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 617); Serapion (c. 15.) Even as late as the time of Dr. Lewis the sarcocol was still retained in our English Dispensatory with the characters assigned to it by the Greeks and Arabians. Of late years it has been entirely omitted.
Σαρξιφαγὲς,
Saxifraga, Saxifrage, is diuretic and lithontriptic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There has been great diversity of opinion respecting it, as Sprengel has shown in a very learned dissertation. (Ad Dioscor. iv, 15.) It is, therefore, by no means certain that it is the Pimpinella Saxifraga, but we incline to this opinion. Apuleius says that it is lithontriptic, and indeed it appears to have derived its name from this real or supposed property. The chapter of Dioscorides on it is of doubtful authenticity. It is not contained in Galen’s work on Simples. We doubt also if it is to be found in the works of the Arabians. Not many years ago the Burnet saxifrage held a place in the Dispensatory with the character of possessing the virtues ascribed to this article by the ancients. See Quincy (147.)
Σατύριον,
Satyrion, or Trifolium, is of a humid and hot temperament, and flatulent; hence it is a provocative to venery. Some say that it cures opisthotonos when drunk with austere wine; but Galen, in his treatise ‘De Theriaca,’ says, that the trifolium, which is like the hyacinth, when it becomes pregnant with the spring, has a seed like the wild cnicus, and that when the decoction of it is poured upon the bite of the phalangium or viper it cures the same; but when applied to a sound part, he says, that it induces an affection similar to that of those who have been bitten by one of those creatures.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is very difficult to determine; and it would be useless to mention the variety of conjectures which have been advanced respecting it. Sprengel inclines to think that it was a species of tulip, and suggests that it probably was the Tulipa Gesneriana. This is the species which Dioscorides further distinguishes by the name of Trifolium. The other named by him Erythronium is probably the Erythronium Dens Canis. What confirms this conjecture very much is, the circumstance that the Dens Canis is still reputed to be aphrodisiac, as the Erythronium is reported to be by Dioscorides. (iii, 134.) See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 204.) Galen gives nearly the same account of it as our author. The Arabians scarcely appear to distinguish it properly from the orchis, but otherwise they give the same characters of these plants as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 706, 707); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 7, 14.)
Σάυρα,
Lacerta, the Lizard; the liver and head have been treated of in their proper places. When an entire one has been cut in pieces and applied, it cures persons bitten by scorpions.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It seems not unlikely that it may have been the Lacerta Gecko. See the translation of Ebn Baithar by Sontheimer (ii, 3), where the chapter of Dioscorides on the Saura, is arranged under this head, along with another to the same effect from Avicenna. Dioscorides, and indeed all the authorities who treat of it, recommend it for the bites of scorpions. Pliny recommends it in complaints of the eyes. (H. N. xxix, 38.) The Arabians recommend it in the same cases as the Greeks, and also say of it, that its liver soothes the pains of toothache, and that its urine and blood are useful in the ruptures of children. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 639.) In the East it is still used medicinally. Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 276.)
Σέλινον,
Apium, Parsley, is hot to such a degree that it promotes the urinary and menstrual discharges. It is also carminative and especially the seed of it.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There seems little or no doubt that it is the Common Parsley, namely, Apium petroselinum, which long held a place in our Dispensatory, and retained in it its ancient characters. Dioscorides recommends it in a great many cases; for inflammations of the eyes in cataplasms; for heat of the stomach; as a diuretic and antidote to venomous animals; and for various other medicinal purposes. (iii, 77.) Galen and the other Greek authorities merely state its virtues in general terms. The Arabians treat of it under Apium, not distinguishing it very accurately from its congeners. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 55); Serapion (c. 290); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 69.)
Σερὶς,
Seris, Endive, is a bitterish potherb, being considerably refrigerant and diluent. It has also some astringency.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It comprehends the Cichorium Intybus and the C. Endivia. It is now known by the names of the Endive, or Garden Succory. We have treated of it as an article of food in the First Book, and as a medicine it is not deserving of much notice, after what we have said of its congener under the head of Cichorium. It was generally held to be a good hepatic medicine. See Dioscorides (ii, 125); Galen (De Simpl.); Avicenna (ii, 2, 229); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i. 266.)
Σέριφον,
Seriphon, is heating in the second degree, but desiccative in the first, being like wormwood, only it is less astringent and more calefacient than it. It is also anthelminthic, and to a considerable degree bad for the stomach.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. From Dioscorides’s description we may confidently refer it to the Artemisia maritima, Angl., Drooping-flowered Sea Wormwood. Dioscorides gives it exactly the same characters as our author, namely, that of being bitterish, astringent, and a good vermifuge. (iii, 24.) Galen says of it, that it is more powerfully anthelminthic than the absinthium. The Arabians treat of it along with the absinthium. It is not to be found in the works of Hippocrates and Celsus.
Σέσελι,
Seseli, Hard Meadow Saxifrage (?) or Hartwort; the root, and more especially the fruit, is considerably heating with tenuity of parts, and is also diuretic. It agrees with epilepsy and orthopnœa.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author, it will be remarked, gives only one species of Seseli, which there can be no doubt is the same as the Seseli Massiliense of Dioscorides (iii, 53), about which, notwithstanding its being long held to be an important article in the Mat. Med., there is considerable difference of opinion. We, for reasons which we have not room to state, were inclined to refer it to the Laserpitium Siler; but the authority of Clusius, Lewis, and Sprengel has determined us to recognise it as the Seseli tortuosum. The other two species we are quite satisfied are the Bupleurum fruticosum and Ligusticum Peloponnesiacum. Compare Sprengel ad Dioscor. (l. c.) with Gray (Suppl. to the Pharm. 80.) Dioscorides represents the first species as being a diuretic, expectorant, and uterine medicine. He says it was given not only to women, but to goats and other animals to assist parturition. Of the other two species, he merely says that they are possessed of the same virtues. Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius merely give the general characters of the first species, in nearly the same terms as our author. This, beyond dispute, is the “Sil” of Apicius (c. 34), and of Celsus (v, 23.) The latter merely mentions it as an ingredient in the celebrated antidote of Mithridates. (Ibid.) We can find little or no additional information respecting it in the works of the Arabians. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 626); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 654); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Serapion (De Simpl. 190.) Aben Mesuai, one of Serapion’s authorities, thus sums up its characters: it is hot and dry in the end of the second degree; cuts and dissolves viscid and congealed phlegm, and therefore opens all the pores and passages which are shut up; provokes urine and the menstrua; and is beneficial in asthma and all cold pituitous ailments. The seeds of seseli held a place in our Dispensatory as late as the times of Quincy (158), and of Lewis (ii, 366.)
Σηπία,
Sepia, the Cuttlefish; its shell has powers like those of an oyster, but is attenuant and more detergent; hence, if burnt, it attenuates pterygium along with fossil salts. When unburnt it clears away sycosis when rubbed upon the part, and proves detergent to the skin.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Sepia Loligo, L. We need scarcely mention that the shells of fishes consist principally of lime. As represented by the ancients, therefore, they form a detergent application to the skin. All the authorities recommend it in nearly the same cases, namely, as an ingredient in stimulant collyria, and in obstinate cutaneous diseases, and as a dentifrice. See Dioscorides (ii, 23); Galen (De Simpl.); Celsus (v, 29); Aëtius (ii, 190.) Aëtius gives the fullest account of this article. (l. c.)
Σησαμοειδὲς,
Sesamoides; the seed of the white species heats, is detergent, and procures the rupture of abscesses.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This article, which occurs in the Hippocratic treatises, and of which two species, the great and the small, are described by Dioscorides, has been the subject of much controversy. See Parkinson, Sprengel, and Dierbach. We are willing to acquiesce in Sprengel’s decision regarding them, namely, that they are the Reseda Mediterranea and canescens. It appears that they were used principally in combination with hellebore, and that the one evacuated upwards, and the other downwards. (Dioscor. iv, 150, 151.) Ruffus treats only of the small, which he represents to be cholagogue and phlegmagogue, when its seed is taken to the amount of an acetabulum. (De Med. Purg.) It does not occur in the works of Celsus, and does not seem to have been much in repute. Galen gives nearly the same account of it as Dioscorides. We have not found it in the works of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, one of whose Arabian authorities speaks of its being used in paralysis. (i, 252.)
Σήσαμον,
Sesamum, Oily-grain, is glutinous and fatty in no small degree; hence it is emplastic, emollient, and moderately calefacient.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. All the authorities acknowledge it as the Sesamum orientale. Pliny ranks it among the summer corn of India. He says, that an oil is procured from it, and that it forms a good application to burns. (H. N. xviii, 22; xxii, 64.) This account of it in fact is condensed from Dioscorides, who recommends both the plant and the oil in various external complaints, including burns, inflammations of the eyes, the bites of venomous animals, &c. (i, 41, ii, 121); Celsus ranks it among his emollients, and recommends it as an hepatic. (iv, 8.) Galen and Aëtius give nearly the same account of it as our author. The Arabians treat of it at great length, both as an article of food and of medicine. See Serapion (De Simpl. 86); Avicenna (ii, 2, 642); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 650); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 254.) They all recommend it for the same purposes as the Greeks, and as a good application to fissures and suggillations.
Σῆψ,
Seps (which some have called the Chalcidic Lizard), when drunk in wine cures those who have been bitten by it.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is called ζύγνις by Aristotle. (H. A. viii, 23), and hence it has got the name of Zygnis tridactyla. Solinus says of it, “Ictus sepium putredo sequitur.” (Polyhistor. c. 40.) Our author’s account of it is taken literally from Dioscorides. (ii, 72.) It is briefly noticed by Aëtius, but we have not found it treated of by any of the Arabian authorities on the Mat. Med. except Ebn Baithar, who merely gives an extract from Dioscorides under this head. (ii, 199.)
Σίαλον,
Saliva; that of men in a fasting state is particularly discutient and detergent; it therefore clears away the lichen of children when the parts are anointed with it. It also concocts furunculus when applied along with wheat that has been masticated in it. It removes hypopion. It is likewise most destructive to those venomous animals which prove fatal to men.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of the medicinal properties of Saliva is abridged from Galen, who gives a very elaborate disquisition on the virtues of it. Pliny’s statement is fuller, but contains many superstitious notions. (H. N. xxviii, 71.) Serapion copies from Galen. (c. 447.) It was principally as an application to cutaneous eruptions and sores that the ancient physicians made use of saliva, and it would appear to be not ill adapted to that purpose. Dr. Thomson, in his work on Chemistry, has the following remarks on it: “Saliva has a great affinity for oxygen, absorbs it readily from the air, and gives it out again to other bodies; hence, in all probability, the reason that saliva is a useful application to sores of the skin. Dogs and several other animals have recourse to this remedy, and with much advantage.” (Book v, c. ii, sect. 13.) Galen contends strongly that human saliva is destructive to animals, and appeals to Nicander in confirmation of this venomous opinion. He further mentions having seen an instance of a scorpion being killed by human saliva alone. All the Arabian authorities ascribe this virtue to it. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 599, 613); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 602); Ebn Baithar (i, 144.) These all, in fact, do little more than copy from Galen. Redi, in opposition to all the ancient authorities, denies that human saliva is destructive to the viper. “Non nostrum inter eos tantam componere litem!”
Σιδηρίτις,
Sideritis, Ironwort, the Heraclean, called also Helxine, has been treated of. The Achillean Sideritis is like to it, but more astringent. Hence it agrees with fluxes.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This is one of the articles in the ancient Materia Medica which has never been satisfactorily determined. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, pluries) and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor.) The first species of Dioscorides, namely, the Herculia, is the same as the Helxine of our author, and has been already treated of. The other two we would hesitatingly set down as the Sanguisorba officinalis and Geranium Robertianum. The reputation which the latter has enjoyed in modern times, as a vulnerary, appears to us strongly confirmatory of the opinion that it was one of the siderites of the ancients. See Hill (Mat. Med. 407) and Lewis (Mat. Med. i, 464.) So striking and important an article as the Robertianum is not likely to have escaped the observation of the Greek and Arabian Rhizotomi. Apuleius says that the Latins call it Ferraria. Dioscorides commends it as a vulnerary medicine. Galen does the same, and further praises it as an astringent application in cases of hemorrhage, dysentery, and female flux. We find difficulty in discovering traces of it in the works of the Arabians, although we incline to the belief that they have not entirely overlooked it. The burnet is still cultivated in gardens. See Loudon (Encycl. of Garden. 744.)
Σίδηρος,
Ferrum, Iron; when frequently extinguished in water it imparts a considerably desiccative power to it. When drunk, therefore, it agrees with affections of the spleen. But, if extinguished in wine, it is useful in cæliac and dysenteric affections, cholera, and resolution of the stomach.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of Iron is mostly taken from Dioscorides. He says the ærugo ferri astringes, and hence it stops the female flux in pessaries, and when drunk prevents impregnation; when rubbed in along with vinegar it cures erysipelas and exanthema; it is very useful for whitlow, pterygia, asperities of the eyelids, and condylomata; it strengthens the gums, is a useful liniment in gout, and thickens the hairs in alopecia; and he concludes with what our author says of the virtues of water in which heated iron has been extinguished. (v, 93.) Pliny, in like manner, says of it: “Calefit ferro candente aqua, in multis vitiis, privatim vero dysentericis.” (H. N. xxxiv, 44.) Celsus commends chalybeate water in enlargement of the spleen. (iv, 9.) Cælius Aurelianus mentions it among the remedies for epilepsy. (Chron. i, 4.) Scribonius Largus calls it a wonderful remedy for diseases of the bladder. (Comp. 146.) The Arabians borrow their account of the ærugo ferri almost entirely from Dioscorides. See Serapion (De Simpl. 403); Avicenna (ii, 2, 247); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 295.) They give nothing original under the present head. The στόμωμα, according to Pollux, is hard iron, that is to say, steel. The scales or rust of the edges of weapons made of steel were much used by the ancient physicians, both internally and externally, as astringents and styptics. See a full account of their medicinal properties in Pliny. (H. N. xxxiv, 66.)
Σικύος,
Cucumis, the Cucumber; the esculent, when green, is cooling and diluent in the second degree; and the flesh of it soothes hot inflammations. The seed is detergent and incisive, promotes the discharge of urine, and clears the body. But when dried, both the seed and root prove desiccative in the first order, and more detergent. The juice of the fruit of the wild cucumber is called Elaterium. That of the root and leaves is like to elaterium, but weaker. The root is detergent, discutient, and emollient, but the juice is desiccative.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have already stated more than once that the Σ. of the Greeks or Cucumis of the Latins was applied to several species of the summer fruits. Our author, we presume, applies it here to the Cucumis sativus. His account of its medicinal qualities is abridged from Galen. Dioscorides calls the seed of the Cucumis sativus moderately diuretic, along with must answering well in ulcerations of the bladder, and says that its leaves, in a cataplasm with wine, are useful in the bites of dogs. The Arabians give the same account of it, but evidently mix it up with the characters of the gourd, as given by their Grecian masters; it is, therefore, almost impossible to discover when they are treating of the one and when of the other. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 89); Serapion (De Simpl. 143); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 260.) The seeds of the cucumber long held a place in our modern Dispensatories, and were ranked as one of the greater cold seeds. See Quincy (107) and Lewis (Mat. Med. i, 380.) Elaterium, or the fruit of the wild cucumber, was much used by the ancient physicians from Hippocrates downwards. Theophrastus and Pliny affirm that it is the most durable of all medicines, and that it had actually been known to retain its virtues for two hundred years. It was given internally as a hydragogue, and applied externally in cases of lichen, scabies, impetigo, and the like. Of it, however, we have treated fully under elaterium, as a medicine in this section, and as a poison in Book V (64.) Dioscorides gives an account of the virtues of its leaves and roots, the juice of which he recommends as an external application in leprosy and other cutaneous diseases, and as an hydragogue and cholagogue in dropsy. Galen treats of them in more general terms, like our author. Ruffus says its root is suitable to dropsical cases. It is the Cucumis sylvestris, seu asininus, of the Arabians, who treat of all parts of it at great length. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 177); Serapion (c. 204); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 143); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 54, 567); Ebn Baithar (ii, 210.) One of Rhases’s authorities says, that in a pessary the wild cucumber kills the fœtus. Another of them says an external application of it to the head is of great use in headaches. Haly Abbas recommends it as a purge in paralysis and colic. One of Serapion’s authorities is an Arabian, named by him Habix, who gives a very interesting account of the wild cucumber, which he describes as being more sharp and bitter than the wild gourd.
Σίλλυβον,
Sillybum, is a thorny shrub, like the white chamæleon, but edible. The juice of the root of it, when drunk with honeyed water to the amount of a drachm, is emetic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Matthiolus admits that it was totally unknown to him. Is it not the Carduus Mariæ, or Common Milk-thistle? See Alston (Lectures) and Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 976.) Sprengel joins Lobelius in acknowledging it as the Sillybum marianum, Gaertn. Harduin makes it to be the Cardo Marie of the Italians. (Ad Plin. xxxvi, 25.) Pliny says of it, that its concrete juice evacuates bile. (H. N. xxvi, 25.) Our author’s character of it is taken from Dioscorides (iv, 156.) None of the other authorities give any more distinct description either of the plant itself or of its virtues. Galen has omitted it altogether, and we have not been able to find it in the works of the Arabians, unless it be the plant treated of by Serapion. (c. 305.) Though this article (supposing it actually to be the Carduus Marianus) has long ceased to hold a place in our Dispensatory, it would appear that it is not wholly unknown to the shops of the apothecaries. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 64.) An eminent authority of his day, Crantz, describes the Carduus Mariæ as being sudorific, diuretic, and deobstruent, and a remedy to ill-conditioned sores. (Mat. Med. ii, 157.) It must be admitted that this character does not well agree with that of the Sillybum as given by Dioscorides.
Σίλουρος,
Silurus, the Shad-fish, pickled and eaten, clears the trachea when in a humid state. In a cataplasm it extracts sharp weapons of wood.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Artedi calls it, Silurus cirris quatuor in mento,—γλανὶς (Aristot.); glanus et glanis (Plin.); Angl. “the Sheat-fish” (Descr. spec. pisc.) In the Linnæan arrangement it is called Silurus glanis. We have treated of it as an article of food in Book I. Dioscorides recommends it as a medicine in the same cases as our author, and also says of it that its brine is useful in dysenteric affections as a hip-bath, by determining the defluxion to the surface, and that in clysters it cures sciatica. (ii, 29.) We have not been able to find any account of it in the works of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who gives a pretty full account of it from both Greek and Arabian authorities. (i, 245.)
Σιλφὴ,
Blatta Pistrina, or the moth found in bakers’ shops, the entrails of which, when boiled and pounded, cure earache.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is evidently the Blatta orientalis. Pliny and Dioscorides also recommend it in cases of earache. (ii, 38.) None of the other authorities make much account of it.
Σίλφιον,
Silphium or Laserpitium, Laserwort, is an excellent calefacient medicine; but it is also flatulent and indigestible. When applied externally to the body it is more active, and especially its juice, being possessed of attractive powers. It has also some purgative property.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It has long appeared to us that one passage in the works of Dioscorides is of itself quite decisive of the question as to the identity of the ancient silphium and our assafœtida. Treating of the gum-resin, sagapenum, he says, “in smell it is intermediate between galbanum and the juice of silphium.” (iii, 85.) Now, in Duncan’s Edinburgh Materia Medica, it is said of sagapenum, that “it holds a kind of middle place between assafœtida and galbanum.” (Sixth edition, 387.) Its juice, that is to say, its concrete juice, or gum-resin, was assafœtida, of which the Cyrenaic and Median juices, already treated of by us, were varieties. The stalk, the leaves, and the juice are all treated of by Dioscorides, in his chapter on Silphium, wherein he has given so full an account of them that we dare scarcely venture upon an abstract of it. He says of the varieties of the juice, that the Cyrenean is the most fragrant, so that when tasted it scarcely affects the breath, whereas, the Median and Syrian are weaker, and have a more offensive smell. He says of it, that of the different parts of it, the most efficacious is the juice, then the leaves, and then the stalk. He recommends it, both externally and internally, for a great variety of medicinal purposes, in diseases of the eyes, in toothache, as an application to the bites of venomous animals, as an application to gangrene, corns, and callus; in affections of the bronchi, and of the tonsils, in cynanche, catarrhs, pleurisy, jaundice, and dropsy; in rigors, along with pepper, frankincense, and wine, in cæliac affections, and in short, in a great many other complaints. (iii, 84.) But long before his time the silphium had been introduced into the practice of medicine, and used in procidentia and other complaints. See Hippocrates (De Fistulis; de ratione vict. in acut., &c.) It is indisputably the laser and laserpitium of the Latin authors. See in particular Celsus (iv, 2); Pliny (H. N. xxii, 49.) The latter passes an elaborate encomium upon it, founded, however, for the most part on the contents of Dioscorides’s chapter on the Silphium. From it the identity of the Greek silphion and the Roman laser is clearly made out. Passing by Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius, who supply nothing very interesting on this head, we now turn to the Arabians. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 9, 52, 474); Rhases (Cont.. ult. i, 50); Serapion (De Simpl. 251); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 84.) Avicenna describes two varieties of the Assa seu Laser, namely, the fœtida and the odorifera, the virtues of which he gives in nearly the same terms as Dioscorides. He says distinctly that the fetid or black kind is not used in the cooking of food. He praises them as procuring eructations and acting as carminatives, and as proving stomachic. There appears to be a disagreement among the Arabian authorities of Serapion regarding the virtues of the assa, some of them representing it as good for the stomach and liver, and others as bad. One of them, Habix, mentions that it was used as an application to the wounds of poisoned arrows, and to preserve meat from putrefaction. Ebn Baithar’s Arabian authorities describe very accurately the two varieties of the assa, namely, the fragrant and the fetid, and commend both very highly as medicines, more especially as carminatives, and as acting very beneficially on the stomach, liver, and uterus. Some of them say that assa promotes menstruation, and even procures the expulsion of the fœtus. The assafœtida still retains the name of silphion in the Greek Pharmacopœia. (Athens, 1837.) M. Pacho says that the Arabs call it derias, and he proposes to class it as a species of laserwort, under the name of Laserpitium derias.
Σίσων,
Sison, Bastard Stone-parsley, is heating, diuretic, and digestive. It likewise promotes menstruation and removes obstructions of the viscera.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears to be the Sison Amomum, called by Miller the Stone-parsley or German Amomum. Our author copies from Dioscorides, who further mentions of it that the natives of Syria, where it grows, use it as a condiment. Galen commends it as being bitterish, and hence proving diuretic, digestive, emmenagogue, and deobstruent. We do not find it in the works of the Arabians.
Σίον,
Sium, Water Parsnip or Celery (?), is hot, diuretic, and discutient. It breaks down renal calculi and promotes menstruation.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears to us highly probable that it is the Sium latifolium, or Upright Water-parsnip, which once held a place in modern Dispensatories, and not the S. nodiflorum, as Dierbach decides the σ. of Hippocrates to be. It is the laver of the Romans, and is recommended by Pliny as a cure for tormina. (H. N. xxvi, 32.) See Harduin (Annot. l. c.) Dioscorides says it is useful in dysentery, and is diuretic, emmenagogue, and lithontriptic. (ii, 153.) Galen gives the same account of it as our author. It does not occur in the works of Celsus. The Arabians, in treating of it, borrow almost everything from Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 556, 633); Serapion (De Simpl. 290.) The latter describes it as a species of apium which grows in water.
Σίσαρον,
Sisarum, Garden Parsnip; the root, when boiled, is stomachic and diuretic, being heating in the third order. The seed consists of subtile particles, and is powerfully discutient. It is, therefore, given to persons affected with hiccough and tormina, in wine.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Pastinaca sativa or Garden Parsnip, according to Sprengel. In the translation of Rhases it is said to be the same as nigella, but this would seem to be a mistake. (Contin. xxxvii.) Dioscorides briefly says of it, that it is palatable, stomachic, diuretic, and a whetter of the appetite. (ii, 139.) Galen says it is calefacient, with a certain degree of bitterness and astringency. It appears certainly to be the siser of Pliny and Celsus, the latter of whom places it in his list of diuretics. (ii, 31.) The Arabians, in treating of it, copy from Dioscorides and Galen. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 652.) From the account we have given of this article it will be seen that recent authorities hold that it is not the same as the Sium Sisarum, Skerret, as has been generally held, but the Parsnip. It would follow from this that it is identical with the ἐλαφόβοσκος of Dioscorides (iii, 73), which we must say that we are scarcely prepared to join Sprengel in admitting. After mature deliberation, then, we fear we must rank this with the undetermined articles in the ancient Materia Medica.
Σισύμβριον,
Sisymbrium, Wild Mint, called also Cardamine, because it is like the Cardamus. When dried, it belongs to the first order of calefacients and discutients; but when in a humid state, to the second.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of his first species that it resembles the garden mint, and Pliny states that it degenerates into calamintha or wild mint. It would appear, then, to be a species of mint. Stackhouse inclines to this opinion. (Index to Theophrastus.) The other, called also cardamine and sium, can be no other than the Nasturtium officinale. Dioscorides says of the former species, that it is useful in strangury, calculus, tormina, and singultus; and that in a cataplasm it relieves headache, is useful in the stings of wasps and bees, and stops vomiting. His other species he recommends as an application to certain diseases of the skin. (ii, 155.) Galen, in like manner, treats of the two species in nearly the same terms as our author, whose description of the former species, by the carelessness of transcribers, is given under the head of the preceding article, Sisarum. The Arabians treat both of the sisymbrium and the nasturtium, but it is not clear that they apply these terms to the same substances as Dioscorides does.
Σκαμμωνία,
Scammonia, Scammony, has the properties of heating, discussing, and clearing away bilious matters, more especially the juice of it, which discusses phymata, kills the fœtus when applied in a pessary, and removes leprosy. As an embrocation with vinegar and rose-oil, it cures chronic headaches; and the root, when drunk, acts as a purgative both by itself and in decoction. Boiled with vinegar and barley-flour, it is applied to diseased hip-joints.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Convolvulus Scammonia. Dioscorides likewise describes another species, which Sprengel supposes to be the C. farinosus, L. The scammony is called δάκρυ κάμωνος by Nicander, and δακρύδιον by Alexander. (i, 10.) All the Greek, Latin, and Arabian authorities who make mention of it, state that it is a powerful purgative, which evacuates phlegm and bile. Marcellus Empiricus correctly remarks, that it does not answer when the stomach is weak. Celsus prescribes it for the broad intestinal worm, and in other cases. (iv, 17.) It also occurs in the Hippocratic collection. This is an article which the Arabians treat of very fully. See Serapion (De Simpl. 303); Avicenna (ii, 2, 628); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 612); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 54, 554); Mesne (De Simpl. i); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 27.) The last of these writes of it at very great length. Haly Abbas says scammony purges bile, attracts humours from the distant parts of the body, but is injurious to the stomach and liver. Avicenna and Serapion agree that it hurts the stomach, liver, and heart. They also state that it is a purgative, but one not in general to be depended upon, as different preparations of it act with different degrees of activity. They recommend it as an external application in cases of leprosy, scabies, and other cutaneous diseases. One of Serapion’s Arabian authorities gives a very minute description of the different varieties of it. He says the dose of it is from 6 to 20 grs. In large doses, one of Rhases’s authorities states that it brings off bilious and bloody discharges, but in small doses, it is said to be diuretic without acting upon the bowels at all. An overdose, Avicenna remarks, may prove fatal. Mesue treats of it at great length and with much judgment, giving very minute directions about the choice of the different kinds of it, and the correction of any bad qualities they may possess.
Σκάνδιξ,
Scandix, Shepherd’s-needle, is a wild potherb, heating and desiccative in the second order. It is diuretic, and removes visceral obstructions.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have treated of this potherb in Book I. It is the Scandix australis. Our author takes his character of this plant from Dioscorides. (ii, 167.) Galen infers from its being slightly acrid and bitter, that it is diuretic and deobstruent. None of the Arabians, we believe, treat of it, with the exception of Ebn Baithar. (ii, 23.)
Σκίγκος,
Scincus, Skink; the parts about the kidneys are drunk to occasion erection of the privy member. The seed of lettuce, when drunk with water, is supposed to counteract them; and likewise the decoction of lentils with honey.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The Skink is a small animal, like a lizard, of the shape of a crocodile, and from ten to twelve inches in length. It was described by Ray and Gesner under the name of Crocodilus terrestris. Its Linnæan name is Scincus officinalis or algeriensis. Dioscorides calls it a land crocodile, and recommends it in the same complaints as our author. He concludes by saying of it that it is an ingredient in antidotes; and, in fact, its principal use was in the composition of the famous Theriaca. Such of the Arabians as notice it give it the same medicinal character as the Greeks, that is to say, they represent it to be strongly aphrodisiac. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 596) and Ebn Baithar (ii, 32.) The latter gives a lengthy and interesting account of it. Rhases briefly notices it without saying anything of its medicinal uses. (Contin. l. ult. ii, 681.) In the East the skink is still eaten as a restorative and aphrodisiac. See Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 278.)
Σκίλλα,
Squilla, the Squill, is possessed of incisive powers, and is calefacient and desiccative in the second order. It is better to take it roasted or boiled.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Scilla maritima. It is mentioned by Hippocrates, and was a favorite medicine of the ancient physicians. Dioscorides’s chapter on the Squill contains much valuable matter. His description of the process of baking squills is so like that given in Pemberton’s edition of the ‘London Dispensatory,’ that one may take the latter as a translation of it: “Scillæ coctio, the baking of squills. Inclose the squill in paste of wheat flour, having first separated the outer skin and the hard part, from which the fibrous roots grow; then bake the squill in an oven till the paste is dry, and the squill is rendered soft and tender throughout.” He recommends it in cases requiring a copious evacuation of urine, such as dropsies, diseases of the stomach, those cases in which the food floats on the stomach, in jaundice, chronic coughs, asthma, &c. He also says of it that it is alexipharmic. (ii, 202.) Celsus frequently prescribes “scilla cocta,” as in tympanites and in anasarca. (iii.) It is frequently recommended and described, in a word, by all the authorities, Greek, Roman, and Arabian, in the same class of cases. See Galen (De Simpl. viii); Aëtius (i); Oribasius (Med. Coll. 12); Apuleius (De Herbis); Columella (De R. Rust. xii, 33); Serapion (De Simpl. 304); Avicenna (ii, 2, 590); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 680); Mesue (De Simpl. vi); Ebn Baithar (ii, 216, 309); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 43). Serapion’s account of its medicinal properties is particularly full. It is given, he says, as a laxative in fevers, and in dropsy as a diuretic; as a remedy for indigestion, for jaundice and tormina of the bowels; for an old cough, asthma, and spitting of blood; and for cleansing the breast of gross humours. It is to be avoided, he says, when there is an ulcer in any internal part. Apuleius recommends it along with vinegar and honey in dropsy. He adds, that it evacuates by urine. Columella gives a receipt for making a vinum scilliticum, which is useful, he says, “ad concoquendum, ad corpus reficiendum, itemque ad veterem tussim et ad stomachum.” (l. c.) Mesue particularly commends it as an expectorant, and recommends the vinegar, the oxymel, and the syrup for this and other medicinal purposes. Avicenna treats of it with his wonted accuracy, recommending it in complaints of the gums, teeth, and mouth; for asthma, and all inveterate coughs; in epilepsy, and in melancholy. He moreover particularly commends it in diseases of the spleen, and in dropsy and jaundice. He forbids it to be used in ulceration of the viscera. Ebn Baithar gives very copious extracts from preceding authorities, both Greek and Arabian. He treats separately of the scilla and pancratium. See under the latter.
Σκολοπένδρα,
Scolopendra; the sea scolopendra, when boiled in oil and rubbed upon a part, acts as a depilatory. When burnt it occasions pruritus.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Book V. The sea scolopendra is the Aphrodite aculeata. All the authorities who notice it recommend it for the same purposes as our author. See Dioscorides (ii, 16.)
Σκολοπένδριον,
Scolopendrium, the same as asplenium.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Asplenium Ceterach. See under Asplenium.
Σκόλυμος,
Scolymus, Golden Thistle, is a calefacient and desiccative medicine of the second order. The root of it, when boiled with wine, brings off a quantity of fetid urine, and cures the fetid smell of the armpits and of the whole body.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. From the descriptions of it given by Theophrastus (H. P. vi, 4), and Dioscorides (iii, 14), one can scarcely entertain a doubt that it was the Scolymus Hispanicus, or Spanish Cardoons, an esculent root, well known in the southern parts of Europe. Compare Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. iii, 14) with Lindley (Veg. King. 709), and see Beckmann (Hist. of Invent. under Artichoke). Dioscorides gives exactly the same account of its medicinal virtues as our author. (l. c.) Galen writes elaborately of it, but his conclusions, as to its properties, are the same as those of Dioscorides. We have not been able to trace it out in the works of the Arabians, unless it be their harsef. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 332); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 168). The truth is, that the term scolymus was a puzzle to the ancient authorities and to their modern commentators, being sometimes, as is supposed, applied also to the Cynara Scolymus, or artichoke. See Parkinson (pluries). We have treated of the scolymus as a potherb in the First Volume, p. 114. We have hinted our belief that the harsef or harxaf of the Arabians was identical with the Σ. of the Greeks. We are confirmed in this opinion by a comparison of Dioscorides with Avicenna (l. c.), although we find that Salmasius referred it to the artichoke.
Σκόρδιον,
Scordium, Water Germander, is composed of varied powers, being bitter, sour, and acrid. It therefore at the same time purges and heats the viscera; promotes the urinary and menstrual discharges, warms parts which had been affected with cold, agglutinates and cleanses wounds, and proves incarnative when sprinkled dry.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is clearly the Teucrium Scordium, or Water Germander. Dioscorides commends it for its diuretic, emmenagogue, and expectorant powers, when given internally; and for cleansing foul ulcers. Compare his account of it with its characters as stated by Dr. Hill. Our author condenses Galen’s statement of its medicinal properties. Galen remarks that it would appear to have got its name from its resemblance in qualities to the scorodon or garlic. The Arabians would seem to have confounded the scordium with the scorodon. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 622), and Serapion (De Simpl. 331).
Σκόρδον,
Allium, Garlic, is healing and desiccative in the fourth degree. But the ophioscordon, or wild garlic, is stronger than the cultivated.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We are inclined to set down the two varieties of this substance as being Allium sativum and arenarium. See Parkinson (vii, 29), and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. ii, 181). Dioscorides gives a lengthy statement of the medicinal virtues of the garlic, which, as Galen somewhere says, was the great theriac of rustics. Dioscorides says it is the best of all medicines in the bites of vipers when taken along with wine, and that it forms an excellent cataplasm for the bites of mad dogs. He also recommends it as an application to various cutaneous complaints, such as leprosy and furfures; as an emmenagogue, both in the form of a hip-bath and fumigation; as a diuretic and remedy in dropsical diseases. (ii, 81.) Galen, like our author, merely states the general characters of the two species. It is frequently mentioned in the works of Hippocrates and in those of Celsus. The latter ranks it among the things “mali succi,” and calls it acrid, flatulent, heating, laxative of the bowels, &c. (ii, 21, 26, et alibi.) The Arabians treat of it at great length. See Serapion (De Simpl. 331); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Avicenna (ii, 2, 72); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i. 36.) They recommend it in eructations, in dropsy as a laxative and diuretic, and as an emmenagogue. They say a clyster of it relieves sciatica, and a gargle of it is useful in toothache, and clears the voice. Avicenna affirms, from personal experience, that it is an excellent medicine in the case of persons stung by venomous reptiles. Ruffus, as quoted by Serapion, says it is hurtful to the ears, the liver, the lungs, and the kidneys. Fresh garlic, he says, is diuretic, loosens the bowels, and is vermifuge. Another of his authorities says, raw garlic is vermifuge, and useful in strangury.
Σκορδόπρασον,
Scordoprason, Garlic-leek, in taste and powers is compounded of the garlic and leek.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We are disposed to set it down as being Allium Scorodoprason. None of the authorities supply any interesting information under this head.
Σκορπιοειδὲς,
Scorpioides, Caterpillar, is heating in the third order, and desiccative in the second.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We suppose it to be the Scorpiurus sulcatus, L., which is synonymous with the Scorpioides, Tournefort. Dioscorides merely recommends it as an application to the bites of scorpions. (iv, 192.)
Σκόρπιος,
Scorpius, the Scorpion; the land one, when applied raw, is a remedy for its own bite, and in like manner, when eaten roasted. The sea scorpion’s bile is useful in suffusions.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Book V. Avicenna recommends the oil of scorpions in diseases of the ear. (ii, 2, 64.) The sea-scorpion is the Cottus scorpius. Dioscorides recommends its gall in cataracts, albugo, and dimness of sight. (ii, 14.)
Σκωρία,
Recrementum, Dross; all kinds are considerably desiccative, but that of iron more than the others. This, when pulverized and boiled in vinegar, cures purulent discharges from the ears in a wonderful manner; and when taken with oxymel, proves a remedy to those who have drunk aconite. That of lead is similar to lead itself, but more astringent.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is called recrementum by Celsus. (v, 15.) It is the dross of a metal which is collected on the outside of the furnace while the metal is purified by heat. See Pliny (H. N. xxxiv, 27) and Matthiolus (Ad Dioscor. v, 54.) Dioscorides says of the recrementum plumbi that it has the same powers as burnt lead (v, 97), and of the recrementum ferri, that it is a remedy in cases of poisoning with aconite. (v, 94.) Celsus ranks the recrementum plumbi among the emollients. (Ibid.) Avicenna recommends the recrementum ferri as an astringent in cases of hemorrhoids and other fluxes. Like Dioscorides and our author, he says that it is an antidote to aconitum. One of Serapion’s authorities, Adamasti, says of the recrementum argenti, that it is cooling and desiccative, and useful in cardiac disease, and another, Alcanzi, says it is good for scabies and prurigo. His other extracts are from Dioscorides, Galen, and Paulus. Ebn Baithar gives an interesting exposition of this subject, but it is mostly made up from the authorities already quoted by us. (i, 348.) Rhases treats of it in like manner. (Cont. l. ult. i, 234.)
Σμίλαξ,
Smilax or Taxus, the Yew, is a tree of deleterious properties.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Taxus baccata, L. See Book V. (48.) It appears remarkable that Dioscorides should have allowed this article a place in the Materia Medica, seeing that he himself says that he had noticed it merely to guard against it. He says that in Narbonia (Languedoc or Savoy), the yew-tree was possessed of such a power as to prove fatal to persons sitting or sleeping in its shade. (ii, 80.) We have stated, however, elsewhere (v, 48) that great difference of opinion has prevailed regarding this reputed noxious power of the yew.
Σμύρνα,
Myrrha, Myrrh, is of the second order of calefacients and desiccants. It, therefore, agglutinates wounds of the head when sprinkled upon them. It has also some bitterness; and hence it kills worms and the fœtus; and it is detergent, and, therefore, is mixed with ophthalmic remedies. It is likewise expectorant without roughening the trachea. Bœotian myrrh has calefacient, emollient, and solvent powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. That this is the same as our myrrh is indisputable, and the best botanical authorities are now pretty well agreed that it is the product of a dwarf shrub, to which they have given the name of Balsamodendron Myrrha. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 460); Pereira (Mat. Med. 1187.) It is mentioned in what is perhaps the oldest literary production in existence (Genesis xxxvii, 25), and is frequently noticed as a medicine in the works which bear the name of Hippocrates. (De Superfœt.; de Muliebr.) See further ‘Œconom. Hippocrat.’ (347) and Dierbach (Arsn. des Hipp. 224.) In short, this gum-resin was much used in the ancient practice of medicine. According to Dioscorides it is calefacient, soporific, agglutinative, desiccative, and astringent. He recommends it in chronic coughs and asperities of the trachea. He also states that it was used in ulcers of the eye and other complaints of a like nature. He further says of it that it is anthelminthic; that it cures fetor of the mouth, and likewise of the armpits when used as an ointment with liquid alum; that in a gargle with oil it strengthens the gums and teeth. He describes two kinds of liquid myrrh, which he calls Stacte; the finest was that which runs fluid from the tree without cutting. The other was a fluid myrrh, taken out of the midst of the larger pieces of the solid kind. See Hill (Mat. Med.) The account which Pliny gives of myrrh is highly interesting, but does not contain much that would answer our present purpose. (See H. N. xii, 33-6.) Celsus makes mention of the stacte (v, 23), and prescribes the myrrh frequently as a concocting and agglutinating substance. Galen describes it in two of his works. (De Simpl. 109, and De Antidot. T. ii, 433, ed. Basil.) Our author’s account of this substance is condensed from the former of these works. Aëtius in like manner borrows from him, as Oribasius does from Dioscorides. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 468); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 474); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Serapion (De Simpl. 292); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 41); Ebn Baithar (ii, 496.) Our limits prevent us from venturing upon an exposition of what these authors have written upon this subject, but this is the less to be regretted, as we do not find that they add anything of much practical importance to the information supplied by their Grecian masters. They confirm, however, by their authority, all that the Greeks had stated regarding the virtues of myrrh as an emmenagogue and a medicine capable of accelerating delivery. They are also agreed that it is diuretic and expectorant. One of Serapion’s authorities says it evacuates fluids from the belly when applied as a plaster. Another of them says that in a masticatory it evacuates the brain.
It would appear that the Bœotian myrrh mentioned by Dioscorides, Galen, and our author, was the Alexanders or Smyrnium Olusatrum.
Σμύρνιον,
Smyrnium, Alsander (called also Hipposelinum and Apium silvestre) is heating and desiccative of the third order, being stronger than parsley, but weaker than stone-parsley. It is, therefore, emmenagogue and diuretic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This, it would appear, is not the Smyrnium Olusatrum, but either the Smyrnium Dioscoridis, or, as supposed by Dodonæus, the perfoliatum. In another place we have set it down as the latter, and treated of it as an article of food. (Vol. I, 114.) All the authorities give it nearly the same character as our author. See Dioscorides (iii, 72); Galen (De Simpl.); Avicenna (ii, 2, 55.) All agree that it is an excellent diuretic and emmenagogue. It is the olusatrum of Scribonius Largus.
Σόγχος,
Sonchus, Sow-thistle, is astringent and sensibly cooling both when applied externally and eaten. But when dried, it is moderately calefacient.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It would appear to be the Sonchus oleraceus, but this is not quite certain. Dioscorides describes three species, of which the first two are, perhaps, but varieties of the Sonchus oleraceus, although some of the authorities would refer the first to some distinct species, not well determined. Galen and our author describe only one species, which would certainly appear to have been the S. oleraceus, a well-known plant, which held a place in our Dispensatories until a late date. See Quincy (i, 11, 510.) Dioscorides calls it sub-astringent, and recommends it in a cataplasm for heat of the stomach and inflammations, and its juice for stomach-ache and to attract milk; when applied on wool, he says it relieves inflammations of the anus and uterus; and that its root and stem are useful to persons bitten by scorpions. (ii, 158.) Galen merely states its temperament and qualities in general terms. We are not aware that it is described by any of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who merely gives the descriptions of it from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 211.)
Σπαργάνιον,
Sparganium; this also is possessed of desiccative powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Sparganium simplex. Pliny recommends it as an antidote to the sting of serpents. (H. N. xxv, 63.) He, as usual, borrows from Dioscorides. (iv, 21.) Galen treats of it as briefly as our author. Few, if any of the other authorities, notice it. Its congener, the S. ramosum, is still kept in the shops with the reputation of curing the bite of the viper. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 15.)
Σπαρτὸς,
Genista, Broom, by which they bind vines; the fruit and flower of it, when drunk with honeyed water to the amount of five oboli, purge upwards, like white hellebore, without danger. But the fruit also purges downwards. The twigs remedy ischiatic diseases.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Spartium junceum. It is the genista of the Latins, as Silvius states in his commentary on Mesue. He says that it is a powerful diuretic, and its seeds are still sometimes used with this intention. Mesue further commends it as an emetic in gout and other arthritic diseases. Dioscorides and Pliny give nearly the same account of its medicinal properties as our author. Dioscorides further commends it in sciatica and cynanche, and when given as a clyster in the former complaint. (iv, 155.) It is not easy to trace it in the works of the other authorities, except Ebn Baithar, who copies principally from Galen or Dioscorides. (i. 489.)
Σπεκλάριον ἢ σφεκλάριον,
Lapis specularis, which some use instead of specula in their windows, and hence it has been called diaphanous. Being of the nature of gypsum, it has powers like burnt shells or oysters.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Gypsum speculare or Selenite, as is evident from our author’s description of it. Seneca says that in his time it had come to be used in windows from its transparency. (Ep. 60.) See further, Pliny (H. N. xxxvi, 45.) See Book V, 58. The Arabians praise its virtues in the cure of all fluxes; and Agricola mentions that in his time it was frequently given for the cure of dysenteries.
Σπόγγος,
Spongia, Sponge; the recent, which still preserves the smell of the sea, when applied with water, wine, or oxycrate, agglutinates wounds; but if burnt, it has acrid and discutient powers. When burnt with asphaltos or liquid pitch, and applied hot, it stops hemorrhages.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Aristotle, Pliny, Philoponus, Phile, and Avicenna acknowledge the animal nature of sponges, and yet we find it stated in most of our modern treatises on natural history that the ancients supposed them to be vegetables. Ebn Baithar, we believe, stands alone among the ancient authorities in maintaining that there is no truth in the opinion that the sponge is an animal, but that, on the contrary, it is decidedly a vegetable which grows from the rocks. (i, 45.) Avicenna recommends the use of sponge in the same cases as our author does. Serapion gives nearly the same account of it. He says that the stones found in sponges are lithontriptic. Of the two species described by Dioscorides, the hard is the S. fasciculata, Pall., and the soft the S. officinalis. He recommends sponge tent for dilating fistulous ulcers. He says they may be applied like tents to sores; that with vinegar they restrain hemorrhages; and that burnt sponges are useful in dry ophthalmy, and whenever you want to deterge or astringe; but that when washed, they apply better in ophthalmic remedies; and that, when burnt with pitch, they are suitable in hemorrhages. (v, 137.) In the Hippocratic treatises this term is generally applied to the tonsils or glands of the neck, as at ‘Epidem.’ (iv.) But in one passage of a work, certainly not genuine, it appears to be used for the sponge. (De Morbis, ii.) Celsus prescribes a sponge squeezed out of oil, vinegar, or cold water as an application to relieve the swelling and heat of the gout (iv), and for other medicinal purposes. Galen gives an interesting article under this head, and describes an ingenious process by which, he says, that he had known a hemorrhage stopped. A sponge dipped in asphaltus, or, in the absence of it, in tar, having been laid on the bleeding place, it was set fire to until it formed an eschar on the surface, while the remainder of it was left as a farther cover to the vessels. (De Simpl. xi.) The Arabians treat fully of the “Spongia maris,” and quote what Dioscorides and Galen had written respecting it. Avicenna decidedly says that sponge was supposed to be an animal possessed of motion. He and Rhases recommend it principally for cleansing sores and stopping bleeding. (ii, 2, 595, and Cont. l. ult. 676.)
Σπόδιον,
Spodium has similar powers to the pompholyx.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is nearly the same as the Pompholyx. Pliny thus states the difference between them: “Etiamnum in ærariis reperiuntur, quæ vocant pompholygem et spodon. Differentia quod pompholyx loturâ paratur, spodos illota est.” (H. N. xxxiv, 33.) The name, in modern times, has been applied to burnt ivory. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 260), and Platearius (De Simp. Med. 250.) The ancient spodium was an impure oxyd of zinc. The term, however, was sometimes applied to other recrements, as we are informed by Pliny (l. c.), and Dioscorides (v, 85.) He gives a more minute description of the preparation of it and of pompholyx. The Arabians treat of both under the general name of Tucia or Tutty, which was long retained in modern times. They used it very freely in diseases of the eyes, and also in those about the genital organs. See Serapion (c. 422); Avicenna (ii, 2, 695); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 730); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 45, 474.) The spodium occurs frequently as an ingredient in the collyria and ointments described by Celsus (v, 6), &c. We need scarcely remind the reader that tutty ointment has continued to be used as an ophthalmic even to our own times. The spodos of the Hippocratic writers would appear to have been applied in a more general sense to various recrements of the metals. (De Ulceribus.) The spodium of the Arabians would seem to have been the ashes of the privet. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 609); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 675.)
Σταφυλῖνος,
Staphylinus, Carrot, is diuretic and promotes menstruation, particularly the seed and root. But the leaves being possessed of detergent powers agree with phagedænic affections when applied green along with honey. The wild is for all purposes stronger than the cultivated.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. As Sprengel states, it is undoubtedly a variety of the Daucus Carota, L., or Wild Carrot. Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, says that it is acrid, nutritive, moderately stomachic, laxative, flatulent, indigestible, diuretic, and aphrodisiacal. (Deipnos. ix, 2.) Pliny mentions that it proves useful in strangury, dropsy, and several other complaints. (H. N. xx, 15.) Plinius Valerianus says of it that it had been given in diseases of the liver, spleen, loins, and kidneys, in hydromel. (iv, 32.) Our author’s account of its medicinal properties is mostly condensed from Dioscorides. He recommends it strongly as a diuretic, emmenagogue, and aphrodisiac, and says of it, that applied per vaginam it procures the expulsion of the fœtus. (iii, 52.) Galen and Aëtius give nearly the same account of it as our author. The Arabian authorities speak of it in the same terms. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 287); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 18); Serapion (c. 265.) The commentator Eustathius mentions its aphrodisiacal properties. (Ad Iliad. xviii, 560.) According to Dierbach, the σ. of Hippocrates comprehends both the Daucus Carota and guttatus. It would appear to us that this is the “Pastinaca agrestis” of Celsus (ii, 31), although his editor, Dr. Milligan, decides otherwise with regard to it. In confirmation of our opinion we refer to Pliny (l. c.), and to Beckmann’s ingenious disquisition on our kitchen vegetables in his ‘Hist. of Invent.’ He seems clearly to make out that the daucus, staphylinus, carota, and pastinaca were all merely varieties of the Daucus Carota. He is in some doubts, however, whether the “pastinaca” was not also sometimes applied to the parsnip. See, however, under Daucus.
Στάχυς,
Stachys, Base Horehound, is a shrub resembling horehound, and is calefacient in the third degree. It therefore promotes menstruation, kills the fœtus, and expels the secundines.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Stachys Palestina, or Base Horehound. Our author gives exactly the same account of its medicinal properties as Dioscorides and Galen, the latter remarking of it that it not only promotes menstruation, but is a drug used for procuring abortion. Pliny, by confounding πράσον and πράσιον, says of it that it resembles the porrum instead of the marrubium; so that his celebrated editor, Harduin, holds that the stachys of Pliny is different from that of Dioscorides. (Ad H. N. xxiv, 86.) It is quite clear, however, that the plants are identical, and accordingly Pliny, like the other, says of his stachys, that it is emmenagogue. The Arabians do not seem to treat of it.
Στέατα,
Adipes, Fats, or Grease; all kinds dilute and warm the human body, but their powers vary according to the different temperaments of animals. That of swine, then, is the most humid of all, its powers being like those of oil. Hence it blunts sharp pains. That of goats is drier and sooner coagulated, and therefore is used as an injection to those who have sharp pains in the rectum. That of geese is hotter and more attenuate; that of domestic cocks and hens being intermediate. That of lions is the hottest of all and the most attenuate, hence it is most discutient. That of oxen has an intermediate temperament between swine and lions. That of bears cures alopecia, that of foxes, earache; as that of vipers is said to remove hairs and prevent suffusions from forming. Upon the whole, that of males is the hotter and more desiccative, and of them those which have their testicles more than those which have been cut, and of those which are full-grown than that of the others. All sorts of grease when long kept become hotter.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Fats. Our author’s account of their medicinal properties is sufficiently ample. For further information, however, the reader may consult Dioscorides and Galen. The former gives very minute and seemingly important directions for the preparations of all these animal fats. We may just mention here a little piece of criticism which Galen bestows in this case upon his much admired predecessor. Dioscorides says of the grease or lard of goats, that it is more styptic (στυπτικώτερον) than that of swine. Upon which Galen remarks that although Dioscorides had written much and well on the Materia Medica, he often uses words in a wrong signification, as he does in the present instance, for that the above-mentioned term, which properly signifies astringent, must here be understood to mean acrid or pungent. Now we think that Galen is here correct, and that Sprengel’s attempt to bring his author, Dioscorides, clear off in the present case is not successful. Indeed, as we firmly believe that a greater master of the Greek language than Galen never existed, we may always feel secure that where the exact meaning of Greek terms is concerned, one may safely trust to him. The Arabians under this head merely give extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. See in particular Serapion (De Simpl. 461) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 70.)
Στίμμι,
Antimonium, Antimony, in addition to its desiccative powers, has also astringency. Hence it is mixed with collyria for the eyes.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This is evidently the sulphuret of antimony. The native antimony is so rare a mineral that it is not likely the ancients had any acquaintance with it, and the factitious antimony is not described by any ancient author. For an account of the ancient antimony, see in particular Dioscorides (v, 99) and Pliny (H. N. xxxiii, 33.) It was much used by the ancients in the composition of the medicines called calliblephara. “Vis ejus astringere et refrigerare principalis autem circa oculos.” Pliny (l. c.) In the Old Testament the Jewish women are censured for this use of it. None of the Greek or Latin authors speak of giving it internally except Serapion, who quotes Badigorus (Pythagoras?) as stating that it proves a remedy for epilepsy and gross superfluities. (c. 249.) In its calcined state it was made into pastils of a square form, and hence the metal itself is called τετράγωνον by Hippocrates, as has been supposed by his expositors. See Galen (Exeg.) and Föes (Œcon. Hippocrat. 371.) Hippocrates recommends it as a medicine for purging the head (De Intern. Affect.), that is to say, as an ingredient in caputpurgia, or errhines, to the use of which he was partial. (See Vol. I, pp. 59, 60 of this work.) But with the authorities subsequent to him its principal use would seem to have been confined to collyria. See in particular Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43.) Celsus frequently uses it for this and other purposes.
Στοιβὴ,
Stœbe, Knapweed; the fruit and leaves are desiccative in the third degree, being possessed of astringent powers. Hence they agglutinate large wounds; and the decoction of them relieves dysentery, hemorrhages, and discharges of pus from the ear; and in a cataplasm it is of use in suggillations of the eye from a blow.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There has been considerable difference of opinion among modern authorities on this head, as is fully stated by Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 998), and by Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. iv, 12.) We acquiesce in the judgment of those who hold it to be the Poterium spinosum. See Galen (De Antidot. 426, T. ii, ed. Basil.) Our author’s notice of it is manifestly taken from Galen, who, in his turn, is much indebted to Dioscorides. (iv, 12.) None of the others add anything of interest respecting it. It does not occur in the works of Hippocrates nor of Celsus, nor have we been able to detect it in those of the Arabians, except Ebn Baithar, who quotes only Dioscorides and Galen under this head. (ii, 19.)
* * * * *
Στρούθιον. It appears singular that our author should have omitted the Struthium, which is noticed in this place by Dioscorides and Galen. This is the celebrated soap-plant used by the fullones or cleansers of cloth in ancient times. The reader will find a very interesting disquisition on it in Beckmann’s ‘History of Inventions.’ We think there is every probability that it was the Saponaria officinalis. Dioscorides represents it to be diuretic, emmenagogue, and lithontriptic, a remedy for diseases of the chest, the liver, the spleen, and for jaundice; a discutient application to indolent tumours, a sternutatory, and a masticatory. (ii, 192.) By the way, the famous writer Lucian mentions an amusing example of its use as a masticatory. (De Alexandro.) Galen states its virtues in general terms; he says it is acrid and detergent, and hence it acts as a sialogogue. We have not been able to find it in the works of Hippocrates. See Pliny (T. ii, 341, 161, 410, ed. Harduin) and Celsus (v, 18.) The Arabians treat of it very fully. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 133); Serapion (De Simpl. 362); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. iii, 38.) They all hold it to be emetic, and when it cannot be procured they recommend in its place nux vomica. They also recommend it for all the medicinal purposes enumerated by Dioscorides. The soap-wort has been used medicinally in modern times. See Culpeper (172), Lewis (M. M. 339), and Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 115.) Quincy gives a very confused account of it. (138.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia it is still retained. (144.)
Στοιχάς,
Stœchas, Cassidony, or French Lavender; it is deobstruent, attenuant, detergent, and strengthens all the viscera and the whole habit of the animal.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears to be the Lavandula Stœchas, or French Lavender. See Tournefort (M. M.) Pliny says that it is an odoriferous herb of a bitter taste. He adds that it promotes menstruation and relieves pains of the breast. (H. N. xxvii, 107.) Dioscorides recommends it for diseases of the chest and for antidotes. (ii, 28.) Galen has some very sensible remarks on its qualities as perceived by the taste, and recommends it in the same cases as our author. See also ‘De Antidot.’ (i.) Avicenna and Rhases recommend it for epilepsy and melancholy. According to the Arabians it is purgative and alexipharmic, but Dr. Hill denies that it possesses these powers in any considerable degree. It still held a place in our Mat. Med. when Lewis wrote. (ii, 389.) It is retained in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia.
Στρατιώτης,
Achillea, Yarrow; that which grows in water is possessed of cold powers, but the land has astringency; hence it agglutinates ulcers. Some use it for hemorrhages and fistulæ.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The land is decidedly the Achillea Millefolium, the river the Pistia Stratiotes. The millefoil got the name of Achillea from being supposed the herb used by Achilles in dressing wounds. V. Eustathius (ad Iliad, xi, ad finem.) Our author copies almost word for word from Galen, who, however, is equally indebted to Dioscorides for the characters of the yarrow. Regarding the water plant, Dioscorides says that it preserves wounds free from inflammation, and cures erysipelas and œdema in a cataplasm with vinegar. (iv, 100, 101.) These plants are not to be found in the works of Hippocrates, Celsus, nor of the Arabian authorities, as far as we can discover, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who merely gives extracts under this head from Dioscorides and Galen (ii, 30), and of Rhases, who merely quotes Galen. (Cont. l. ult. 637.) The Pistia Stratiotes is still used by the Hindoo physicians as a demulcent in dysuria, and as a cataplasm for hemorrhoids. See Lindley (Veg. King. 125.) The yarrow held a place in our Dispensatory with its ancient character down to a late date. See Quincy (92) and Lewis (M. M. 108.) It still holds a place in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia (109.)
Στρύχνος,
Strychnos, Solanum (?), Nightshade (?), or Alkekengi, i. e. Winter Cherry; the garden and esculent sort is astringent and cooling in the second degree. The halicacabum is like the garden, having a diuretic fruit like the grape of a vine. The bark of the root of the Strychnos somnifera when drunk with wine to the amount of a dram is soporific. And it has a diuretic seed, being of the third order of refrigerants; hence when drunk in greater quantity than twelve clusters it occasions madness. The fourth species is not used internally, but when applied externally it cures spreading ulcers, belonging to the second order of refrigerants and desiccants.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We must not venture upon the discussion of disputed points respecting the Strychni of the ancients, for which we beg to refer our readers to the Appendix to Dunbar’s Greek Lexicon, and we shall merely state our conclusions so far as they are interesting to the professional reader. Of the four species described by Dioscorides, the 1st, or Strychnus hortensis, is the Solanum nigrum, or its variety S. miniatum; the 2d, or Halicacabum, is the Physalis alkekengi; the 3d, or S. somniferum, is the Physalis somnifera; and the 4th, or Furialis, is the Solanum Sodomæum. Several learned authorities, however, have taken the last for the Atropa Belladonna. Our author in the main follows Dioscorides, who treats of the virtues of the Strychni at so great length that we dare not attempt to follow him in the present instance. The first he does not administer internally, but recommends it very largely as an external application for erysipelas, herpes, headache, heat of the stomach, affections of the eye, the siriasis of children, earache, the fluor albus, &c. The second, he says, resembles the first in virtue. The third, he says, has the same powers as the juice of the poppy. The fourth brings on phantasies and delirium, and in large doses proves fatal. The best counter-agent to it is undiluted wine drunk and afterwards vomited. (iv, 72-5.) Celsus frequently prescribes “solanum quam στρύχνον Græci vocant,” and ranks it among those things which repress and soothe. (ii, 33.) He recommends it as an application in phrenitis and various other diseases. (iii, 18.) Galen and Aëtius give nearly the same account of it as our author. Oribasius confessedly borrows his description from Dioscorides. The Arabians treat fully of the solanum, of which Avicenna mentions that there are five species. (ii, 2, 646.) See Serapion (De Simpl. 138); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 662); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 212.) The characters which they give of these plants agree in the main so well with those given to them by the Greeks, that we need not stop to note slight differences. The Latin writers of the middle ages call solanum by the name of maurella. See Macer Floridus. He says of the strychnos that it is possessed of powerfully narcotic properties. The Solanum nigrum held a place in our Dispensatories, and retained the characters transmitted down with it from antiquity as late as the end of the last century. See Lewis (M. M.) All our old herbalists, Gerard, Parkinson, and Culpeper, speak of its virtues in the same terms as Dioscorides. Our toxicologists have decided that it is a powerful narcotic. See Orfila. The Physalis somnifera is still used in India as an application to inflammatory tumours. See Lindley (Veg. King. 621.) The alkekengi is still admitted to be possessed of a diuretic power, as stated by Dioscorides. (Ibid.) We are not aware of the Solanum Sodomæum having ever been used medicinally in modern times, but we need scarcely say that of late years the Atropa Belladonna has occupied no undistinguished place in our Dispensatories. On the Strychnos furiosa as a poison, see Vol. II, p. 224.
Στυπτηρία,
Alumen, Alum; all kinds of it are very sour, and consist of gross particles. But the alumen scissile, or Stone Alum, consists of more subtile parts than the others. After it is the Alumen rotundum, or Round Alum, and the astragolotum. The Alumen liquidum, or Liquid Alum, consists of gross parts; and so also the varieties called placitis and plinthitis.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. After having read much that has been written by the best authorities both ancient and modern upon this subject, we still approach the discussion of it with very great diffidence. Having deliberately considered what Beckmann has written regarding the ancient alum, we cannot agree with him in setting it down as being copperas or the green sulphate of iron. The ancients, indeed, may not always distinguish accurately the latter from “the sulphate of alum and potash,” but considering how common this mineral is in the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean, we cannot conceive how the ancients could possibly have remained ignorant of it, and we need scarcely add that it has never been pretended that it has been described by them under any other name. But its varieties differed much from one another. The Alumen plumosum, called τριχῖτις by the Greeks, was no doubt the Hair salt of Werner, which, according to the analysis of Klaproth, contains a large mixture of the sulphates of magnesia and iron. Geoffroy remarks that “of liquid alum two kinds are taken notice of by the ancients; the one pure and the other impure. The solid or concreted kind was by the ancients distinguished, according to the figure of its parts, into fissile and round. The fissile natural alum was either in form of a compact, uniform globe, or appeared divided into small hairs or filaments. The round kind was of a more rare texture.” The Alumen Jameni of the Arabians was the plumose alum. Pliny and Octavius Horatianus recommend alum as an application to burns when pounded with oil. Alum was used in the practice of medicine from the earliest times. Hippocrates prescribes it in ulcers of the womb, diseases of the gums, and for various other purposes. (Epid. vii, De Mulieb., De Ulcer., &c.) Our author borrows from Galen. Dioscorides gives a most elaborate description of the different kinds and of their uses in medicine. They are all possessed, he says, of a heating power, and also of an astringent, and hence they clear the obscurities of the cornea, melt down fungous flesh on the eyelids and elsewhere, the schistose being more powerful than the round; they stop mortifications and hemorrhages, repress flaccid gums, strengthen loose teeth with vinegar or honey; are beneficial in aphthæ; and, in short, he states most minutely the various purposes to which alum may be applied. On the alumen see also Pliny (H. N. xxxv, 52) and Celsus (iv, 18), with the note of Milligan. For the Arabians consult Avicenna (ii, 2, 68); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Serapion (De Simpl. 420); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 44); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 38); Ebn Baithar (ii, 83.) All of these authors, even including the last, do little more than copy from Dioscorides and Galen under this head. Geber, however, treats of the subject with some appearance of originality, and describes the kinds of alum with considerable accuracy. (Invention of Verity, c. 4.) The process of burning alum for medicinal purposes, which is barely alluded to by Dioscorides, is described by Geber and by Servitor. (i.)
Στυραξ,
Storax, is calefacient, emollient, and digestive. It therefore is useful in coughs, catarrhs, and defluxions; and promotes menstruation both when drunk and applied on a pessary.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is clearly our officinal storax, or Styrax officinale. Dr. Pereira has given the ancient history of this substance so correctly, as to leave us little further to add under the present head. (Mat. Med. 931.) As he states, the storax has been described by Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Pliny, and Dioscorides. The several varieties described by the last of these, Dr. Pereira ingeniously refers to kinds of storax, with which we are still acquainted. The Styrax Calamita is mentioned by our author in the eleventh Section; according to him it is but a variety of the amygdaloid storax, which was formerly imported enveloped in a monocotyledonous leaf. Dioscorides’s description of its medicinal properties agrees well with our author’s, but is considerably fuller. (i, 79.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it like our author. Celsus prescribes it frequently as an emollient, discutient, concoctive, and suppurative medicine. (v, 18, 22, c. &c.) The Arabians treat of it at considerable length, but do not add much of any practical importance to what had been written on it by Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 423); Serapion (c. 46); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 687); Ebn Baithar (ii, 428.) Upon the whole, Serapion’s account appears to us most interesting. His Arabian authority, Isaac Eben Amram, mentions that it was used by the Christians in their churches for fumigations. Avicenna, according to Dr. Hill, is the only one among the Arabians who distinguishes the solid storax, which we have been treating of from the liquid, or Styrax liquidus. It is quite a different substance, being procured from the Liquid amber orientale, according to Dr. Lindley. (Veg. King. 253.)
Σύκα,
Ficus, Figs; those which are dried possess heating powers in about the second degree. But those which are fatty rather digest hard tumours; those which are more acrid prove detergent and discutient. The decoction of them, when made of the consistence of honey (which some call siræon), is similar in powers to honey. The powers of the green are weaker, but both loosen the belly. The figs of the wild tree are possessed of acrid and discutient powers like those of the cultivated.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Book I (s. 81.) Pliny enumerates the medicinal properties of figs at great length. Ripe figs are said to be diuretic, laxative, and diaphoretic. Externally they were used as an application to boils and scrofulous swellings. (H. N. xxiii, 63.) See also Dioscorides and Serapion, both of whom give the characters of figs in nearly the same terms as Pliny. No ancient author, however, has treated so elaborately of figs as Avicenna (ii, 2, 276.) His account of them is so lengthy that we dare not venture upon an analysis of it.
Σνκὴ,
Ficus, the Fig-tree, is of a heating and attenuating temperament, so that the juice of it and the sap of the leaves are not only pungent and strongly detergent, but also occasion ulceration, open the mouths of vessels, and remove myrmecia. It is also cathartic. The wild-fig, called caprificus, is in every respect more powerful than the cultivated.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See the authorities referred to in the preceding article. Pliny recommends the juice of the caprificus or wild fig-tree (Ficus Carica), as an application to leprosy, psora, and lichen. All the authorities, Greek, Latin, and Arabian, praise it as an application to the wounds of venomous animals. The wild fig-tree is the Ἐρίνεος of Homer. V. Eustath. ‘Comment. in Iliad.’ (vi, 433.) The commentator describes accurately the process of caprification.
Συκόμορος,
Sycomorus, the Sycomore; the fruit is innutritive, and bad for the stomach. The juice of the tree has powers which are emollient, agglutinative of wounds, and discutient of tumours. It is taken in a draught and rubbed in for the bites of reptiles, for scirrhous spleens, pains of the stomach, and rigors.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Of course there can be no doubt of its being the Ficus Sycomorus. Galen, Dioscorides, and Serapion detail its medicinal properties in nearly the same terms as our author. Nothing else of any interest can be gathered from the others under this head.
Σύμφυτον,
Symphytum, Comfrey; the rock comfrey is composed of opposite powers. For it has some incisive powers by which it cleanses the pus in the chest and the kidneys; and it has also some constringency which renders it a suitable remedy for hæmoptysis, sprained and ruptured parts, the red flux in women, and intestinal hernia. It contains also some hot humidity, by which it quenches thirst and cures asperities in the trachea. The other species, called the Great Comfrey, is glutinous and prurient like squills. It is used for the same purposes as the rock.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The second species is indisputably the Symphytum officinale, a plant which the Romans, no doubt, naturalized in this country. The other has been the subject of more controversy. See Parkinson (526) and Matthiolus and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. iv, 9.) We are satisfied that it was the Coris monspeliensis. Our author manifestly abridges Galen, who borrows from Dioscorides, but improves what he takes. They all agree in commending both as being possessed of great virtues as expectorant and vulnerary medicines. Dioscorides particularly commends the latter as an application to inflammations about the anus in a cataplasm, with the leaves of senecio. Neither of these plants is mentioned by Celsus, nor, we believe, by Hippocrates. Avicenna writes hesitatingly about them, but in the main agrees with Dioscorides with regard to their medicinal virtues, more especially in hæmoptysis, ulcers of the intestines, menorrhagia, and as an application to external injuries. (ii, 2, 634.) The Arabians in general seem not to have attached much importance to the symphytum, for, after a cursory examination while writing this article, we have not been able to find it in any of the others except Ebn Baithar, who merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen, under the present head. Apuleius mentions that the Latin name of the symphytum is consolida. Dr. Hill calls it a famous vulnerary both internally and externally, and as such it is highly commended by all our older herbalists. See Parkinson, Culpeper, and Gerard. It would appear also that the other species, the Coris monspeliensis, was employed in the medicine of the Spanish monastic orders as an efficacious vulnerary. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 645.)
Σφονδύλιον,
Spondylium, Cow-parsnip; the fruit and root are possessed of acrid and cutting powers, so as to cure asthma, epilepsy, and jaundice. The root, when stripped of its bark and put into a fistula, removes its callus. The juice of the flowers of it are injected into the ears as agreeing with chronic ulcers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There seems no reason to doubt of its being the Heracleum Sphondylium. Dioscorides and Pliny recommend it as an application to fistulous ulcers, and in the other cases mentioned by our author. Galen and Oribasius give it the same characters as our author. We have not met with it in the works of Hippocrates, Celsus, and Aëtius. Avicenna draws the characters which he gives it entirely from Dioscorides. (ii, 2, 643.) Ebn Baithar, in describing it, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (ii, 24.) Rhases does the same. (Cont. l. ult. i, 636.) The sphondylium is described as a medicinal herb, possessed of the virtues ascribed to it by the ancients, in the works of our old English herbalists, but it has long ceased to occupy a place in our Dispensatory. Neither is it to be found in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia.
Σχῖνος,
Lentiscus, the Lentisk, in all its parts, belongs to the full second order of desiccants. As to heating and cooling, it holds an intermediate place. It is astringent to such a degree as to approach nearly, in this respect, to the juice of the hypocistis.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Pistacia Lentiscus, L., according to the admission of all the commentators. We need scarcely mention that it is the tree from which mastich is procured. Hippocrates was well acquainted with the medical use of it. Pliny says that it acts as a diuretic, but occasions constipation of the bowels. He also mentions that it was used in toothache, and that a decoction of its leaves in a gargle fastened loose teeth. (xxiv, 28.) The same is stated of it by Plinius Valerianus (i, 36), and by Dioscorides (i, 89.) Nay, it would appear, from the following epigram of Martial, that peculiar virtues were ascribed to a toothpick made of the mastich tree:
“Dentiscalpium Lentiscum melius: sed si tibi frondea cuspis Defuerit, dentes penna levare potest.”—(xiv, 22.)
Dioscorides is the author who has written most elaborately on this article, which he recommends in hæmoptysis, diarrhœa, dysentery, menorrhagia, prolapsus uteri and ani, in affections of the mouth, as already stated, and, in a word, he concludes by saying of its oil, that it is beneficial in all cases requiring astringency. (l. c.) Galen also gives a very sensible account of this tree, which he represents to be an astringent of the same class as hypocistis. Celsus prescribes it on various occasions, as, for example, a decoction of its leaves to suppress immoderate suppuration. (vi, 18.) He ranks it among the astringent and emollient substances. (ii, 33.) All the Arabians treat largely of it, but copy most of their information from Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 453); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 457); Serapion (De Simpl. 159); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 518.) In particular all recommend it as a dentifrice and odontalgic, and we need scarcely mention that it still is used in the East for these purposes. See Paris (Pharm. t. ii, 323) and Pereira (1184.) It is stated in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia that it is cultivated in Chios.
Σχοῖνος,
Juncus, the Rush; its flower is moderately calefacient, but astringent in a less degree, and is not removed from the nature of attenuating substances. Hence it is diuretic, emmenagogue, and deobstruent in fomentations, potions, and cataplasms. The root of it is more astringent, but the flower hotter. The marsh-rush consists of two varieties. The fruit of the oxyschœnus or Hard-rush, as it is called, is soporific, but that of the holoschœnus less so, and it also occasions headache. Both varieties, if toasted and drunk with wine, dry up fluxes of the belly and restrain the female discharge.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It requires some attention not to confound the Schœni with one another. The Schœnanthus, then, is decidedly the Andropogon Schœnanthus, or Lemon-grass. See Dr. Royle (Antiq. of Hindoo Med. 82) and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 113.) The σ. ἐλεῖα is the Schœnus Holoschœnus; the ὁλοσχοῖνος, the Schœnus mariscus; and the ὀξυσχοῖνος, the Juncus acutus. The first of these is the species most celebrated as a medicine. Thus it is the schœnus of Dioscorides, who represents it as being useful in vomiting of blood, pains of the stomach, lungs, liver, and kidneys, and as being possessed of diuretic, emmenagogue, carminative, subastringent, and other powers. Its decoction, he says, is useful as a hip-bath in inflammations of the womb. (i, 16.) Galen gives a similar account of its virtues. (De Simpl. viii, and De Antidot. i.) The other Greek authorities treat of it very succinctly. Is not this the “flos junci rotundi” of Celsus? (v, 24.) According to Dierbach and, indeed, all the best authorities, it is the σ. ἔυοσμος of Hippocrates (De Mulieb. i, 111), who recommends it along with other aromatics in diseases of the uterus. The Arabians display an intimate acquaintance with the schœnanths. See Avicenna (ii, 2); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 681); Serapion (De Simpl. 103); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 19.) The last of these gives a particularly full account of it, mostly from Arabian authorities. They all agree in representing it as being diuretic, emmenagogue, and alexipharmic, and in recommending it particularly in apostemes of the anus, and in scabies. Its oil, they say, is efficacious in removing lassitude. The schœnanth held a place in our Dispensatory as late as the times of Quincy (i, 1, 12) and Lewis (ii, 20.) Upon consulting the modern authors quoted above, it will be seen that it is still well known in the East.
Σῶρι,
Sori, resembles misy in its powers, consisting of much grosser particles.
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COMMENTARY. We feel that we must still add something to what we have said of this substance under the head of Misy. The following description of it, by a great modern authority, who appears to have been well acquainted with it, deserves not to be overlooked: “Rusma or Sory. A mixt mineral, blackish, hard, heavy, and of a cavernous or spongy structure, of a disagreeable smell, and nauseous, vitriolic taste; and often covered with dusty efflorescences on the surface. It is composed of vitriol, sulphur, and an earthy matter. The ancients called it sory. We have it in our Derbyshire mines, but it is not regarded. It was used as a depilatory by the Greeks, and is so by the Turks at this time. Taken inwardly it vomits instantaneously and very roughly; it contains a cupreous vitriol, and hence its emetic quality.”—Boerhaave’s Materia Medica, translated by Goade (227.) See under Chalcitis. Dioscorides calls it blackish, fetid, and nauseating, and possessed of caustic powers: he recommends it in toothache, as an application to vari, as an injection with wine in sciatica, &c. (v, 118.) Galen says it is not soluble like misy and chalcitis, but does not materially differ from them in medicinal powers. Celsus prescribes it along with opium, pepper, and galbanum as a stuffing to carious teeth. (vi, 9.) Avicenna, like Galen, says it is insoluble in water, and, like Dioscorides, he prescribes it in sciatica and diseases of the teeth. (ii, 2, 47.) We have stated above that Serapion describes the sory along with the other two under the general head of vitriolum, and the specific name of Zeg rubeum; and that he merely translates Dioscorides and Galen. (c. 386.) Rhases, in like manner, gives from Dioscorides and Galen a description of misy, sory, and chalcitis under the general head of vitriolum. He calls the sory, vitriolum ruffum, and, like Dioscorides, recommends it in carious teeth and in sciatica. His only Arabian authority, Bimasui, says of the vitriolum that it dries the lungs strongly, and in this way may prove fatal. (Cont l. ult. i, 747.) It is the vitriolum rubeum of Averrhoes. (Collig. v, 43.) In the most barbarous translation of Haly Abbas it is scarcely possible to extract any proper meaning from his description of the three vitriols. (Pract. ii, 48.) The lengthy account which Ebn Baithar gives of them is mostly made up of extracts from Dioscorides, Galen, and Avicenna. (ii, 510.) Some have thought the sory of Pliny different from that of the others, but, as far as we can see, without any good reason. Like Dioscorides, he recommends it in diseases of the teeth and spreading ulcers of the mouth. He says it is a thing so offensive to the stomach, that the very smell of it will sometimes excite vomiting. (H. N. xxxiv, 30.)
Τάριχοι,
Salsamenta, Pickles; their flesh is possessed of acrid and desiccative powers. They are given, therefore, to persons bitten by the viper prester, that they may eat as much as possible, and drink of wine freely, and vomit. They also are suitable to the regimen of acrid food; and are applied with advantage to persons bitten by dogs and other reptiles.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Pickled Fish. It appears from Dioscorides and Xenocrates that the tunny (Scomber Thynnus) was accounted the best pickle, and it was accordingly most used in medical practice. Galen recommends the brine of pickled fish as an injection in dysentery, and a stimulant lotion to sores on all parts of the body. Serapion gives the same account of it as Dioscorides and Galen. Symeon Seth forbids us to eat pickles after venesection, as they are apt to occasion alphos and scabies. It seems highly probable that indigestible substances, if taken into the stomach when the veins are empty, may be rapidly absorbed, and give rise to the formation of humours, of which nature may endeavour to free the system by casting them forth by the skin.
Ταυροκόλλα,
Taurocolla (called by some Xylocolla), is a glutinous substance made from the hides of oxen, and is of considerably detergent powers. Hence, when dissolved in vinegar, it removes lichen and superficial leprosies; and it prevents burns from getting inflamed when dissolved in hot water. It is also a suitable application for wounds when triturated with oxymel.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Pliny says of it, “Glutinum præstantissimum fit ex auribus taurorum et genitalibus. Nec quidquam efficacius prodest ambustis.” (H. N. xxviii, 72.) Dioscorides and Avicenna recommend it in the cases mentioned by our author. It will readily be perceived that it was a species of gelatin. See Κόλλα.
Τελλῖναι,
Tellinæ, Limpets; when pickled and burnt, their ashes are caustic; when mixed with cedar rosin and applied to the parts from which the hairs of the eyebrows have been torn out by the roots, it prevents them from growing again.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. According to Matthiolus, they are a species of mussels. They are different, however, from the Mytili edules, L. Our author’s account of them is taken from Dioscorides, and is repeated by Avicenna.
Τέρμινθος,
Terebinthus, Turpentine, is heating in the second degree, and desiccative, when green, in the first, but when dried, in the second. The fruit, when dried, belongs to the third order of desiccants. It is, therefore, diuretic and useful for the spleen.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Pistacia Terebinthus L. Dioscorides states that its fruit is hot, diuretic, and aphrodisiacal. He recommends it internally for the bites of the phalangia. Of the turpentine resin we have treated under the head of the Resinæ. The ancients, as we have stated, were very familiar with the brown or black rosin, called colophony. (i, 91.) According to Dr. Hill, the Chian turpentine rosin was the turpentine of the ancients. Pliny likewise recommends it in retention of urine, and as a gentle laxative. He adds, “venerem excitat.” (H. N. xxiv, 18.) Our author’s account of it is condensed from Galen. The turpentines, and more especially the resin, are frequently prescribed by Celsus. They occur also in the Hippocratic treatises. Turpentine was much used in applications to cutaneous diseases and ulcers. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 303) and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 342.) Serapion treats of this article under the same head with the lentiscus. He copies from Dioscorides. (De Simpl. 153.) See Ebn Baithar (ii, 144.)
Τέττιγες,
Cicadæ; some, having dried them raw, give them to drink in colic affections to the number of three, five, or seven, with an equal number of grains of pepper. Others roast them and give them to drink to those who have affections of the bladder.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The τέττιξ of the Greeks and the cicada of the Romans was not the grasshopper, as has been often represented, but the insect which has been more properly called the tree-hopper in English, namely the cicale of the Italians. The species here noticed was most probably the Cicada orni. Dioscorides merely recommends them in diseases of the bladder. (ii, 56.) Pliny gives a very interesting description of them, but it contains nothing which, in a medical point of view, would suit our present purpose. (H. N. xi, 32.) Our author follows Galen. (De Simpl. xi.) They do not occur in the works of Celsus, nor have we been able to discover traces of them in any of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who, in treating of them, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 555.)
Τεῦτλον,
Beta, Beet, is of a nitrous nature. Hence it is detergent and discutient, and purges by the nose; but especially the white species. When boiled it becomes anti-inflammatory and slightly discutient.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It evidently is the Beta vulgaris L. The white and black kinds were, we presume, merely varieties; but this does not seem sufficiently clear. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 752) and Lewis (Mat. Med.) Dioscorides recommends the beet for various medicinal purposes, for clearing the head by occasioning a discharge from the nose, as a remedy for earache; a decoction of its leaves for eruptive diseases and chilblains; and also as an application to exanthemata, burns, and erysipelas. (ii, 49.) Galen gives the same account of it as our author. Aëtius is fuller; he further recommends it particularly as a deobstruent in diseases of the liver and spleen. The beet is mentioned as an edible plant by Hippocrates. (De Vict. Acut.) See also Celsus (ii, 18.) Serapion (c. 148) and Avicenna recommend the leaves of beet as an application to burns and impetigo, (ii, 2, 636.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 127.) All the authorities say that the beet is possessed of nitrous properties, by which they probably mean saline, the ancient nitrum being a species of native soda, resembling salt. It is now well known that beetroot by boiling yields a saccharine salt in considerable abundance. The beet held a place in our Dispensatory as late as the time of Lewis. We have treated of it as an article of food in Book I.
Τεύκριος,
Teucrium, Tree Germander, is a calefacient of the second order, and a desiccant of the third. Its powers are also incisive and subtile, and hence it cures the spleen.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is not well decided whether it be the Teucrium Marum or the Teucrium flavum. Pliny’s account of it is very confused, and Harduin thinks that his T. is the hemionitis of Dioscorides. (Ad H. N. xxv, 20.) Apuleius, in like manner, identifies the hemionon and the teucrium. (De Herbis, 56.) Dioscorides, like our author, recommends it for reducing the spleen, both when given internally and when applied externally in a cataplasm, and also as an application to the bites of venomous animals. (iii, 110.) Our author borrows from Galen. We have not been able to discover it in the works either of Hippocrates or of Celsus. Neither have we found it in the works of the Arabians. Dr. Sontheimer, the German translator of Ebn Baithar, identifies the Teucrium Marum with the Chamædrys of Dioscorides, and the T. flavum with his Teucrium. (ii, 466.) It is long since the Teucrium Marum disappeared from our Dispensatory, but it is still not wholly unknown in the shops of the apothecaries, where it is reputed to be emmenagogue. The T. flavum is also to be found in the shops, and has still the reputation of being useful in diseases of the liver and spleen. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 49.)
Τέφρα,
Cinis, Ashes; all kinds have not exactly the same temperament, but they vary according to the difference of the wood that has been burnt. The ashes, then, of sour things, such as the oak and the ilex, have no small degree of astringency, so that they will restrain hemorrhage when no other remedy is at hand. That from acrid substances, such as the ashes of the fig and the spurge, become more acrid and detergent.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. These Cineres were pearlashes, consisting of the carbonate of potass mixed with various impurities. Galen remarks, that they are the residue of vegetable substances which have been burnt, being composed of contrary qualities, for that they have something terrene in them, and also something of a fuliginous nature. When, then, they have been dissolved in water and strained, what remains is terrene and devoid of pungency. Our author borrows from him his particular characters of the different cineres. They were much used by the ancient physicians as caustic and stimulant applications. Rhases says that they possess an igneous nature, and are useful in dissolving soft tumours. (Ad Mansor. iii, 47.) See also (Cont. l. ult. i, 214.) In the latter work he borrows principally from Galen and our author. Avicenna recommends the ashes of mezereon in quinsy, and as a stimulant to the sight. The aqua cineris, he says, is one of the septic medicines. (ii, 2, 188.) The burnt lees of wine belong to this class. See Κονία and Τρῦξ ὄινου.
Τηλέφιον,
Telephium, Orpine, is a calefacient of the first order, but a desiccant of the second. It is also detergent; and hence it is a suitable application to putrid ulcers, and cures leuce and alphos with vinegar.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We think with Sibthorp and Sprengel, that it is not the Sedum Telephium, but the Cerinthe minor. See also Parkinson (520.) Dioscorides recommends it principally in the forms of leprosy. (ii, 217.) Galen’s characters of it agree with those of our author. It does not occur in the works either of Hippocrates or of Celsus, neither have we been able to observe any distinct traces of it in those of the Arabians, unless, which seems highly probable, it be the thelopium of Ebn Baithar, as his German translator conjectures. (ii. 164.)
Τῆλις,
Fœnum Græcum, Fenugreek, is heating in the second order, but desiccative in the first; hence it expedites the progress of all hot phlegmons; and those which are less hot, and such as are scirrhous, it cures by discussing them.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Trigonella Fœnum Græcum. It occurs in the works of Hippocrates. (De Mulieb. i, 617.) It is, unquestionably, the “Fœnum Græcum” of Celsus, who enumerates it as an ingredient in an emollient pessary (v, 21), and in a soothing cataplasm. (ii, 33.) It is prescribed repeatedly by Aretæus, both internally and externally. Dioscorides recommends the powder of it in the form of a cataplasm to various inflammations, both internal and external; as an ingredient in a medicated bath for diseases of the female organs, and as a pessary in the same, an injection of its decoction for tenesmus and fetid discharges from the bowels, and for other purposes. (ii, 125.) Pliny gives a full account of its medicinal virtues, in which a considerable portion but not the whole is derived from Dioscorides. He says that Damon gave its seeds in a draught to promote menstruation. He also mentions its being taken in ulceration of the chest and chronic coughs. (xxiv, 120.) Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius give its characters in nearly the same terms as our author. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 246); Serapion (De Simpl.); Rhases (Cont l. ult. i, 294); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 333.) Though these authors, and especially Avicenna, treat at great length of this article, it does not appear that they applied it in many more cases than as they had been taught by the Greeks. They recommend it, however, with oil of roses, as an application to burns, and as an ingredient in collyria. They say the oil of it cures fetor of the breath and the perspiration, and of the alvine discharges. They all commend it as being diuretic, emmenagogue, and promoting impregnation. They further represent it as being an excellent expectorant in diseases of the chest. Upon reference to Quincy (i, 4, 219), it will be seen that in his time the fenugreek still maintained the characters assigned to it by the ancient authorities. It has now disappeared from our Dispensatory, but is still retained in the Greek Pharmacopœia. (Athens, 1837.)
Τιθύμαλλοι,
Tithymalli, Spurges; all the species of it are of the fourth order of calefacients, with acrimony and strong bitterness; but the root being weaker, when boiled with vinegar, allays the pains of carious teeth. The juices being stronger are applied to the hollow of teeth; but if they touch the rest of the body they burn it; and therefore they remove the hairs if rubbed in for a short time. They also remove myrmecia, acrochordones, and the like, and clear away affections of the skin, and cure ill-conditioned and phagedænic ulcers. There being seven species of this plant, the strongest are the Characias (Wood Spurge), and the Myrsinitis (Myrtle-leaved Spurge), and that growing upon rocks, Arboreus (Tree Spurge); but next in order are, that species which resembles Pettymullein (Broad-leaved Spurge), and the Cyparissias (Cypress Spurge), and then the Maritimus (Sea Spurge), and the Helioscopius (Sun Spurge or Wartwort.)
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. That the Tithymalli of the ancients are all referable to the genus Euphorbia or Spurge, cannot admit of any doubt. Dioscorides, Pliny, Apuleius, and, in a word, most of the ancient authorities, like our Paulus, describe seven medicinal species, to which we may venture to give the following names in the botanical nomenclature of the present time. 1. Euphorbia characias. 2. E. myrsinites. 3. E. paralias. 4. E. helioscopia. 5. E. cyparissias. 6. E. dendroides. 7. E. platyphyllos. See Sprengel (Ad Dioscor.); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 277); German Translation of Ebn Baithar (ii, 525); Miller (Gard. Dict.) Besides these, the medical authors treat of several other species of spurge by particular names, as lathyris, peplis, thymelæa, &c. The tithymallus was called “lactuca marina” by the Romans (Celsus v, 7), and also “lactaria” and “lactuca caprina.” See Pliny, who gives a full account of the spurges. (H. N. xxvi, 39, 46.) These plants are treated of at so great a length by Dioscorides and the other authorities, that we cannot possibly find space for an exposition of their particular views. All, however, agree in giving them nearly the same characters as our author, who, in the present instance, is indebted in part to Dioscorides, and in part to Galen. Several of them are noticed by Hippocrates. For the Arabians, see Serapion (De Simpl. 360); Avicenna (ii, 2, 421); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 718); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (l. c.) They recommend them in the same cases as the Greeks, without supplying any new views of much importance. They prescribe a few drops of the juice of spurge poured upon a fig as a phlegmagogue. They further recommend them in malignant ulcers and those attended with caries of the bones. And here, by the way, we may be allowed to mention that a modern authority confirms what the ancients say of the efficacy of the spurges in this case. Sec Hildanus (x, c. ii, 2.) In the present age, we have discarded such purgatives as the spurges, whether wisely or not we will not take upon ourselves to say.
Τίτανος,
Calx, Lime; the Calx viva (Quicklime) burns strongly so as to form eschars; when slacked, it forms eschars at first, but not so after some days. It contracts, however, and wastes the flesh. When washed it loses it pungency, if this is often done with water; but if in sea-water, it becomes decidedly detergent.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears from Dioscorides that the Lime used by the ancient physicians, was prepared by calcination from shells, pebbles, or marble, which last is the best of all. Pliny, Vitruvius, and Palladius say, that the best lime is got from hard, white stone. Lime was much used as a caustic and stimulant application. The Ἄσβεστος of the Greek Mat. Med. invariably, we believe, signifies quicklime, and is never applied to the mineral which now bears that name. Dioscorides says, all kinds of quicklime have a fiery, biting, caustic, and escharotic power; when mixed with other things as suet or oil, it becomes digestive, emollient, depilatory, and epulotic; and that which is recent and free from water is more efficacious. (v, 132.) Pliny recommends it in the same cases, and also as an application to luxations and strumæ. (H. N. xxxvi, 57.) See also Plinius Valerianus (iii, 20.) Celsus places it in his list of corrosive and caustic substances. (v, 6, 8.) Our author’s account of this article is condensed from Galen. Aëtius and Oribasius give nearly the same account of it as Dioscorides and Galen. Quicklime was used as a medicine in the Hippocratic age. (See Erotianus.) For the Arabians, consult Avicenna (ii, 2, 144); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 20, i, 445); Serapion (De Simpl. 412); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 44); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Ebn Baithar (ii, 387.) All these authorities, including even the last, who is by far the most original of their writers on the Mat. Med., borrow under this head almost all their information from Dioscorides and Galen. Avicenna praises it as an application to burns.
Τραγακάνθα,
Tragacantha, Tragacanth, has similar powers to gum.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The ancient Tragacanth was identical with the modern, which is yielded by Astragalus verus, and similar spiny species. See Lindley (Veg. King. 548.) According to Sibthorp, the Astragalus aristatus is the one which most commonly grows in the Peleponnesus, and he holds that it produces the T. of Dioscorides. (Prod. Fl. Græc. ii, 90.) Dioscorides, like our author, states, that in virtue it resembles gum, and recommends it in ophthalmic remedies, for roughness of the windpipe, loss of speech, and epistaxis, in a linctus with honey. He also recommends it when allowed to melt below the tongue, for pain of the kidneys and bladder, when mixed with hartshorn burnt and washed, and a little fissile alum. (iii, 20.) Galen and the other Greek authorities state its virtues in very general terms. It is an ingredient in more than one of the collyria of Celsus (vi, 6), and is prescribed by him for various other purposes. Of the Arabians, Ebn Baithar is the one who gives the fullest account of it. (ii, 350.) See also Avicenna (ii, 2, 220.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia the Astragalus aristatus is described as producing the tragacanth. It is there said to be common in the Peleponnesus.
Τράγιον,
Tragium, Stinking St. John’s Wort, is a plant in Crete resembling the lentisk, being hot in the third degree, and possessed of attractive, discutient, and attenuant powers. It extracts sharp-pointed weapons of wood, and proves lithontriptic and emmenagogue when drunk to the amount of a drachm. Another species, which is bitterer than this, resembling the ceterach, grows everywhere. It is sufficiently astringent so as to agree with fluxes.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. From the description which Dioscorides gives of the former species, we need have little hesitation in setting it down for the Hypericum hircinum. In the other, the name Tragium Columnæ has been assigned from the name of a celebrated botanist. Dioscorides and Galen ascribe to it very nearly the same virtues as our author. Neither of these plants occurs in the works of Hippocrates or Celsus. Neither have we been successful in searching for it in the works of the Arabians, with the exception of those of Ebn Baithar, who merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen under this head. (ii, 155.)
Τραγορίγανος,
Tragoriganon, has powers resembling marjoram, with the addition of some astringency.
COMMENTARY. The two species described by Dioscorides probably are the Thymus Tragoriganum L., and the Stachys glutinosa. According to him, they are heating, diuretic, and wholesome when the decoction is drunk; they occasion bilious dejections; are useful in diseases of the spleen when taken with vinegar, and also to persons who have swallowed ixia. They are emmenagogue, and are given in coughs and pneumonia in a linctus with honey. It makes an agreeable potion, and hence is given to persons affected with nausea, indigestion, and acid eructations, and who are subject to anxiety, nausea, and heat of the hypochondria. In a cataplasm with polenta they also discuss tumours. (iii, 32.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it very briefly. Celsus calls it diuretic and discutient. (iii, 21, &c.) We have not been able to find these plants in the works of the Arabians.
Τρίβολος,
Tribolus, the Caltrop, is moderately refrigerant; the land species is strongly desiccative, but the water slightly so, and it is moistening. Both are befitting remedies in incipient inflammations and other influxes. The fruit of the land caltrop, consisting of subtile parts, breaks renal calculi.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It seems to be clearly made out that the one is the Tribulus terrestris, and the other the Trapa natans. According to Pliny, their juices are anti-inflammatory, and form a proper application to phlegmons and ulcers; an ingredient in collyria; discuss strumæ, and prove lithontriptic. (H. N. xxii, 12.) He borrows this account of them, however, mostly from Dioscorides. (iv, 15.) Our author manifestly copies from Galen, and both Aëtius and Oribasius do the same. We have not found them in the works of Hippocrates and Celsus. The Arabians treat of them at more length than the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 382); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 721); Serapion (c. 112); Ebn Baithar (i, 307.) They recommend both species as being aphrodisiac, lithontriptic, and diuretic. Both the species here described, that is to say, the Trapa natans and Tribulus terrestris, although they have been long excluded from our Dispensatories, are still not wholly unknown in the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 81, 117.)
Τράγος,
Tragus, a species of Frumentacea, is like far (spelt), but more indigestible and laxative.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The method of preparing it is thus described in the Geoponica. Spelt is to be steeped and stripped of its hull, and dried in the warm sun; then the same thing is to be done until the skin and fibrous part of the grain drop off. (Geop. iii, 8.) Pliny, however, seems to make it a peculiar species of grain. “Far sine arista est: item siligo. Adjiciuntur his genera, bromos, siligo excepta, et tragos, externa omnia ab Oriente invecta, oryzæ similia.” (H. N. xviii, 20.) Galen and Oribasius call it spelt deprived of the hull. Dioscorides also describes a shrub of this name, which there can be no doubt is the Ephedra distachya. He describes it as being very styptic to the taste, and recommends it in cæliac affections and in fluor albus. (iv, 51.) It appears singular that none of the other authorities, as far as we can discover, has noticed it, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who merely gives a translation of the chapter of Dioscorides on it. (ii, 156.) The Asiatic Ephedras were formerly kept in the shops as styptics. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 234.)
Τρίγλα,
Trigla, the fish Surmullet, when frequently eaten, occasions dimness of vision. When cut in pieces and applied raw, it cures the bite of the sea-dragon, of the scorpion, and of the spider.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Mullus barbatus L. According to Coray (Ad Xenocrat.), it is the Surmullet. R. Stephens likewise calls it by this name. It is the “Barbatulus mullus” of Cicero. (Paradox, v, 2.) We have treated of it as an article of food in the First Book. Dioscorides, Galen, and all the authorities that notice it, give it the same characters in a medicine as our author. It does not appear that the Arabians describe it.
Τριπόλιον,
Tripolium; the root is hot in the third degree and acrid.
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COMMENTARY. We shall have an opportunity in our Appendix to discuss the question, whether or not this be the Turpeth of the Arabians, as has been often stated. We may just mention in this place, that Sprengel is inclined to refer it to the Plumbago Europæa, a plant which seems to agree very well with the characters of the present article, inasmuch as its root is peculiarly acrid. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 641.) Dioscorides says of it, that its root is hot to the taste, and that when drunk with wine it discharges water and urine from the belly, and that it is used as an alexipharmic. (iv, 133.) Galen and the other Greek authorities call it acrid to the taste and hot in the third degree. For the reason already stated we shall not enter upon an exposition of the views of the Arabians in this place.
Τρίχες,
Pili, Hairs, when burnt have similar powers to burnt wool.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author follows Galen. The Arabians recommend burnt hairs as an application to foul ulcers, and the bite of a mad dog. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 191), and Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 52, 552.)
Τρυγων θαλασσίη,
Pastinaca marina; its sting when pressed upon a weak tooth breaks it, and makes it fall out.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have treated of the Pastinaca marina in Book V. Scarifications of the gums with the sting of this fish in cases of difficult dentition are recommended by Marcellus Sideta and Pliny (H. N. xxxii, 26.)
Τρὺχ ὄινου,
Fæx Vini, the Lees of Wine, when unburnt is compounded, being decidedly desiccative and discutient. But astringency is superadded according to the species of wine from which it is formed. It is, therefore, to be used in complaints of a humid nature and fluxes. It discusses phygethla, and extinguishes the milk in over-distended breasts. The burnt lees become caustic, so as often to be mixed with caustic applications. It, therefore, removes leprous nails with rosin, and dyes the hair yellow, when rubbed for a whole night with oil of lentisk. When washed it is used as an ingredient in the detergent remedies of the eyes; that of vinegar is stronger in every respect than the lees of wine, and more astringent.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The lees of wine and of vinegar are strong preparations of potass, and were among the most powerful caustics with which the ancients were acquainted. Hence Celsus ranks “fæx combusta” among the “adurentia.” (v, 8.) Dioscorides is the ancient author who gives the fullest description of this article. He says the best is that procured from old Italian wine, or, failing it, from any similar wine; and that the fæx aceti is possessed of intense powers. Some, he says, burn it upon fresh shells, and some upon heated coals. He says it is possessed of strongly caustic, detergent, escharotic, styptic, very septic and desiccative powers. The fæx, must be used when recent, for it soon evaporates, and hence it must not be left uncovered, nor without its vessel. It is washed like pompholyx. The unburnt, he adds, discusses tumours by itself, and with myrtle; when applied as a cataplasm it represses defluxions of the belly and stomach; and when applied in like manner to the lower part of the abdomen and genitals, it mitigates the female fluor; it dissipates hard tumours which are not ulcerated; when rubbed in with vinegar, it represses swelled breasts; the burnt with rosin, removes leprous nails; rubbed in with oil of privet for a whole night, it makes the hairs yellow; when washed, it is applicable in diseases of the eyes, like spodos, and thus clears away cicatrices and clouds on the eye. (v, 131.) Pliny recommends it likewise as an application to various cutaneous diseases, and complaints of the eyes. He commends it as an antidote to mushrooms. The lees of vinegar, he says, are more escharotic. Its strength, he says, is increased by being burnt. When applied on a tent it cleans the genital organ of females. (H. N. xxiii, 32.) See in like manner Plinius Valer. (iii, 51.) Avicenna directs us to keep the lees in a close vessel, and not expose them to the air. He says that the fæx aceti is a medicine of great powers, and stronger than any of the others. In short, his account of the lees of wine and vinegar is almost entirely borrowed from Dioscorides (ii, 2, 241.) Rhases, in like manner, copies from Dioscorides and our author. (Cont. l. ult. i, 296.) See Serapion (De Simpl. 36); Ebn Baithar (i, 419.)
Τρωγλοδυτης,
Troglodyta, is a Sparrow, the smallest of all birds, with the exception of the one called regulus; and living principally in hedges. This animal when pickled, and eaten either roasted or raw, breaks down stones in the kidneys; and its ashes when burnt, if taken in a draught, do the same thing.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have mentioned in Book III, that this small species of sparrow was supposed to possess great powers as a lithontriptic. Drelincurtius calls it the wren. (Mangeti Bibl. Chirurg. i, 254.) We, however, are inclined to think that it was the Accentor modularis or hedge-sparrow. Our author, as far as we have been able to discover, is the only one of the authorities who has included this animal in the Materia Medica; but he borrows his description of it from Aëtius, (iii, 3, 11.)
Τυρος,
Caseus, Cheese; that which is new made, and soft, has repellent powers, cooling gently, so as when applied to agglutinate wounds. That called oxygalactinus acquires slightly discutient powers in addition, and is more agglutinative of wounds. Old cheese, especially such as is fatty, becomes discutient, so as to be a fit application to tophi in arthritic complaints, particularly along with the decoction of swines’ flesh pickled and fat.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of the medicinal properties of Cheese is mostly abridged from Galen. The kind called oxygalactinus is the same, we suppose, as the “Caseus acidus cum oxymelite” of Pliny. (H. N. xxviii, 34.) Galen says that it was used about Pergamus; see also Dioscorides (ii, 79.) According to Avicenna, fresh cheese is a good application to recent ulcers, and old cheese to ill-conditioned ulcers. He recommends cheese with the brine of bacon as a discutient application to arthritic chalk-stones. He speaks favorably of fresh cheese as an application in ophthalmia. (ii, 2, 123.) He treats more fully of this article than any other writer on the Mat. Med., with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who gives a long dissertation on the properties of cheese, both as an article of food and as a medicine. (i, 239.) Serapion merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (De Simpl. 157.)
Ὑάκινθος,
Hyacinthus, Hyacinth; its root being bulbous-shaped belongs to the first order of desiccants and the second of refrigerants. If applied in a cataplasm with wine, it is believed to keep children long from coming to puberty. The fruit is gently detergent and astringent. It is, therefore, given in cases of jaundice with wine, being more desiccative but less refrigerant.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Without doubt, as Sprengel and Matthiolus state, it is the Hyacinthus orientalis L. Pliny, Dioscorides, and Avicenna enumerate its medicinal properties nearly in the same terms as our author. They further recommend it as a theriac and alexipharmic. It has long been unknown to British Pharmacy.
Ὕαλος,
Vitrum, Glass, when pounded and drunk with a thin white wine is said to break down stones in the bladder.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Aristophanes, we believe, is the first writer who makes mention of glass, since the Orphic remains, in which it is noticed, are now generally supposed of a later date. In his comedy of “Acharnenses,” an ambassador from the court of Persia is made to say that he had drunk undiluted wine out of vessels of glass and gold. (Acharn. l. 74.) In his “Nubes” he mentions burning mirrors of glass. It is also mentioned in the Timæus of Plato. Pliny gives an interesting account of the invention of glass. (H. N. xxxvi, 65.) Glass appears to have been in common use about his time and afterwards, for we find Dioscorides directing to keep certain medicines in vessels of glass; and Actuarius recommends to have pots-de-chambre made of glass in order to facilitate the observations upon the urine. From a passage in Pliny it would appear that imitations of the precious stones were commonly made in glass in his time with foil or the like placed under it. (H. N. xxvii.) On the glass cups of the ancients, see Strabo (xvi); Athen. (xviii, 28, ed. Schw.); and Salmasius. (Ad Solin. 769.) From the following passage in the works of Lactantius it appears that glass was used by the ancients in windows: “Manifestius est, mentem esse, quæ per oculos ea quæ sunt opposita transpiciat quasi per fenestras perlucente vitro aut speculari lapide obductas.” (De Opificio Dei, 8.) We need scarcely say that glass has been found in the ruins of Pompeii of late much more plenteous than was expected from the ideas which were formerly entertained of its scarcity in ancient times. The hyalus or vitrum, however, was a term applied to crystal as well as to glass. By the medical authors, we suppose, it is generally applied to the former; for Avicenna says quaintly of vitrum, that it is among stones what a fool is among men, that is to say, it is easily made to assume any colour, and is easily broken into pieces. This article does not occur in the Mat. Med. of Dioscorides. Galen prescribes it medicinally on various occasions: thus like our author, he says of burnt crystal or glass, that it is lithontriptic (De Renum Affect.), and recommends the same for drying ulcers (De Comp. Med. sec. gen. iv), and also calls it a good diuretic (De Simpl. v.) Our author borrows his paragraph on this subject from Aëtius. (ii, 31.) It is never prescribed medicinally by any more of the Greek or Roman authorities. It is regularly treated of, however, by the Arabians in their systems of the Mat. Med. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 720); Serapion (De Simpl. 382); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 748); Ebn Baithar (i, 723); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 47.) (?) Of these Serapion is the authority that treats most fully of this article. He quotes Galen as saying of it, that it is hot in the fourth degree. He says there are two kinds, the sandy and the stony; that when vitrum is set fire to, and a magnet is mixed up with it, it becomes coagulated owing to its ductility. He says of it that it has various colours, as white, like crystal, which is the colour of the best kind, red, yellow, green, and azure. He then says, like Avicenna, that glass is among stones what a fool is among men, and so forth. He adds that crystal is a species of glass (vitrum) which is found in a mineral state. As to its medicinal properties, he says it is hot in the first degree, and dry in the second; that it removes furfures of the head, and is applied to the head and beard as a depilatory. When pounded and drunk with wine, it is lithontriptic. One of his Arabian authorities, Aben Mesuai, says glass is good for the lungs and for baldness. Avicenna further recommends it as a dentifrice, and as an application to remove albugo of the eye, in which case, he adds, the burnt is most efficacious. There is nothing of any interest further on what is written of it by Rhases, Haly Abbas, and Ebn Baithar (l. c.) We may mention in conclusion that although glass has long been excluded from the practice of the regular physician, we have often heard of powdered glass having been used by empirics, and certainly in some cases with good effect, to remove opacities of the cornea. See also Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 260.)
Ὕδνα,
Tuber Terræ, Truffle, is composed of a very terrene substance, with a slight degree of attenuating power.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have treated of Truffles in the 77th section of Book I. It is the Tuber Cibarium L.
Ὑδράργυρος,
Hydrargyrum, Mercury, is scarcely used for medical purposes, being deleterious. But some having burnt it, so as to reduce it to ashes, and mixed it with other articles, have given it to drink in cases of colic and ileus.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We have given some account of the ancient opinions on this subject in Book V. From the statement of our author it will be perceived that the Greek physicians made little use of this important article in the practice of medicine. Rhases, Avicenna, Haly Abbas, and Serapion recommend it as an application for scabies, lice, and malignant ulcers. Avicenna says the vapour of it induces paralysis, tremblings, spasms, and contractions of the limbs. He adds that the vapour of it is destructive of sight, and brings on fetor of the breath (ii, 2, 46.) Serapion gives exactly the same account of it. (De Simpl. 385.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 75); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48, 501); Ebn Baithar (i, 553.) Galen admits that he had no experience of it as proving destructive, either internally or externally. (De Simpl. ix.) It is remarked by Dutens that Dioscorides’s description of the method of preparing mercury from cinnabar is the first account of the process of distillation which we possess. (v, 70.) Pliny copies the same. (H. N. xxxiii, 8.)
Ὑδροπέπερι,
Hydropiper, Water-pepper, is a hot herb, but not so much so as pepper. When applied green along with its fruit it discusses hypopia and scirrhous tumours.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Polygonum Hydropiper, known by the vulgar name of Arse-smart. The other authorities recommend it as a stimulant application to discuss tumours and suggillations. See in particular Dioscorides (ii, 190), and Galen (De Simpl. viii.) The Arabians treat of it succinctly in much the same terms. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 551); Avicenna (ii, 2, 551.)
Ὕδωρ,
Aqua, Water; the best, and that which is unmixed with other matters, is cooling and diluent by its own proper substance. Having got acquired heat, as long as it preserves this it heats, but when it becomes cold, it cools. That which has a certain admixture, such as of natron or bitumen, acquires the property of the substance which is mixed with it. Rain water has some astringency, for which it is mixed with ophthalmic remedies. The qualities of the best water have been enumerated in Book I.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is fully treated of by us in Book I. See in particular Pliny (H. N. xxxi, 21); Avicenna (ii, 2, 58); and Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 706.)
Ὑοσκύαμος,
Hyoscyamus, Henbane; that species which has black seed, and that which has yellow, are deleterious. The fittest for medicine is that species, the seed and flower of which are white, being of the third order of refrigerants.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides describes with considerable precision three species of hyoscyamus, deriving their specific differences from the colour of the seed, the first being black, the second yellow, and the third white. The first two he rejects as being highly dangerous, by inducing delirium and sleep. The first of these we are inclined to think must be Hyoscyamus niger, a well-known plant, which was most probably naturalized in this country by the Romans for medicinal purposes. The second was probably a variety of it, or H. aureus; and the third the H. albus. He gives minute directions for preparing the juice of it, which he recommends as an ingredient in anodyne collyria, for hot and acrid rheums, earache, and complaints about the uterus; and with flour for inflammations of the eyes, feet, &c. Its seed, he says, is applicable for coughs, catarrhs, defluxions, and pains of the eyes; for menorrhagia, and other hemorrhages, when taken in a draught with poppy-seed and hydromel. He recommends it as forming an anodyne cataplasm, for gout, swelling of the testicles, or swelled mammæ after parturition. He speaks highly of the leaves in all these cases, and for every kind of pain. Three or four leaves, he says, cure the remittent fever called hepialus. He states that the leaves, if taken internally, and as had been said, when applied as a clyster, induce mental alienation. He concludes with stating that the root with vinegar forms a gargle in toothache. (iv, 69.) The hyoscyamus of Hippocrates was no doubt the albus. See Sprengel and Dierbach. The leaves, the root, the seed, and the juice of the henbane are all used by Celsus in the practice of medicine. He gives a formula for a pill consisting of mandragora, parsley-seed, and seed of henbane, which he says is soporific (v, 25.) Pliny describes confusedly four or five species or varieties of henbane. He says not much in favour of any of them as medicines. (H. N. xxxv, 17.) See also Scribonius Largus (c. 181), and Apuleius (c. 4.) Galen and Aëtius treat of it in nearly the same terms as our author. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 348); Serapion (c. 340); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 377, ii, 380); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii.) Of these Avicenna is the fullest on this head, and yet he borrows almost everything from Dioscorides. Of the three species which they all describe, he represents the white as being the only one fit to be used as a medicine. Serapion copies closely from Dioscorides and Galen. The ancient characters of the several species of henbane are given to them by Platearius, and by our old herbalists Parkinson and Gerard. It is singular that the black henbane has supplanted the white, which was in common use 200 years ago. See Franciscus de le Boe (xx, 34.) It it also worthy of remark, that about 100 years ago the henbane had wholly disappeared from the Dispensatory. Thus Quincy does not treat of it at all, and Lewis represents it as a medicine which had been deservedly expelled from practice. In Greece at the present day the white species is much more common than the black. Both have a place in the Greek Pharmacopœia, published at Athens in 1837 (p. 81.)
Ὑπέρικον,
Hypericum, St. John’s Wort, consists of two species, the first of which, called Androsæmum or Ascyron, has been treated of. The other is heating and desiccative, consisting of a subtile substance. Hence the whole fruit of it is diuretic and emmenagogue. When applied green along with its leaves it cicatrizes wounds. It cures sores when sprinkled dry upon them. It is also given to drink in ischiatic complaints.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. There is some difficulty in determining the species. Sibthorp decides in favour of the Hypericum crispum. The other authorities, namely, Dioscorides, Galen, and Aëtius, give it the same characters as our author. Celsus recommends it in calculus. (v, 21.) The Arabians in like manner commend it as being emmenagogue and diuretic. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 371); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Avicenna (ii, 2, 354); Serapion (c. 267.) Rhases says it is called “herba sancti Joannis,” and hence the modern term St. John’s wort.
Ὑπήκοον,
Hypecoon, is cooling in the third degree, being nearly like poppy.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The Hypecoum procumbens would seem to answer very well with the characters of it given by Dioscorides and the other authorities. It is a genus closely allied to the poppies. The other writers on the Mat. Med. treat of it in the same brief terms as our author. See Dioscorides (iv, 68); Ebn Baithar (i, 63.)
Ὑπόγλωσσον,
Hypoglosson, is a shrub; the root and juice of it are possessed of emollient powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Ruscus Hypoglossum. It appears to have been little used. We are not sure that it is mentioned at all by the Arabians, except Ebn Baithar, who copies literally from Dioscorides and Galen (i, 98); and the Greeks all treat of it briefly like our author. Dioscorides mentions its being used as an amulet in headache; and that its root and juice formed ingredients in softening plasters. (iv, 130.) It is not even yet wholly unknown to the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 24.)
Ὑποκιστὶς,
Hypocistis, is the juice of certain substances like pomegranate-flowers, growing under the roots of the cistus, otherwise called cistharus, being an active remedy for all cases of defluxions by drying and strengthening the parts.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The Undergrowth of the Cistus. The term is applied both to the parasitic plant, which grows on the roots of the Cistus Ladanifera, and also, as is evident from the words of our author, to the inspissated juice of the same. The plant is the Cytinus Hypocistis. Dioscorides describes it accurately, and also the process for preparing the juice of it. He says it is possessed of the same medicinal powers as acacia; but is still more astringent and desiccant, being efficacious in cæliac affections, dysenteries, hæmoptysis, and the female flux, both when taken by the mouth, and in clysters. (i, 127.) Galen Aëtius, and the other Greek authorities state its properties in general terms, like our author. It occurs in one of the Hippocratic treatises (De Nat. Mulieb.), and is set down by Celsus as an ingredient of several of his antidotes, but more especially of that most famous one ascribed to Mithridates. (v, 23.) The Arabians assign it exactly the same characters as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 111); Serapion (c. 115); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. ii, 754, i, 108, ii, 119); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) All concur in giving it the character of being an astringent and tonic medicine, both internally and externally. As late as the time of Quincy, the hypocistis continued to occupy a place in our Dispensatory, and it was retained as an ingredient in the Theriac of Andromachus or Venice Treacle (as it was latterly called), as long as that once-celebrated composition held a place in the Pharmacopœia. See Moses Charras (R. Phar. 114.) It still retains in the shops the same character for astringency as it received from the ancients. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 38.)
Ὑπόφαιστον,
Hypophæstum, is a species of thorn used by the fullers, like the hippophaes. The juice of the head, leaves, and roots of it when dried, and taken to the extent of three oboli with honeyed water, evacuates water and phlegm. It agrees principally with orthopnœa, epilepsy, and affections of the nerves.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the ἱππόφαιστον of Dioscorides and Pliny. They recommend it in epilepsy. Like the whole tribe of carduinæ it is difficult to define. Sprengel determines it to be the Cirsium stellatum, Allion. Our author copies its characters from Dioscorides. (iv, 160.) Few of the other ancient authorities have noticed it and it has been completely lost sight of in modern pharmacy.
Ὕσσωπον,
Hyssopum, Hyssop, is calefacient and desiccative in the third degree. It also consists of subtile particles.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Into the much controverted question regarding the hyssopus of the ancients, it is not our present purpose to enter, and we shall content ourselves in a great measure with giving a brief exposition of its characters and medicinal virtues as delivered by the Greek, Roman, and Arabian authorities. It occurs repeatedly in the Hippocratic treatises, as, for example, at ‘De Diæta’ (ii, 26), where it is said of it that it is hot and purges pituitous matters. Celsus mentions it in various passages; thus he calls it bad for the stomach (p. 83), says it is diuretic (p. 86, 172), rouses the senses (86), is hepatic (86), and useful in coughs (160, ed. Milligan.) The following is an abstract of Dioscorides’s important chapter on the Hyssop. It is a well-known herb, of two kinds, for one is the mountain, and the other the garden; the best is the Cilician. It has an attenuant and heating power; when boiled with figs and water and drunk along with honey and rue, it is useful in pneumonia, asthma, chronic cough, catarrh, and orthopnœa; it is anthelminthic, in a linctus with honey; its decoction brings off thick humours from the bowels when drunk with oxymel; it is eaten along with green figs pounded for moving the bowels; but it purges more strongly when cress, iris, or hedge-mustard is mixed with it; it improves the colour of the skin; it is applied as a cataplasm with figs and natron for affections of the spleen and dropsy, and with wine for inflammations; it discusses suggillations when applied with boiling water; it is a most excellent gargle in cases of quinsy with the decoction of figs; it soothes the pains of toothache when the mouth is rinsed with a decoction of it, and it dissolves flatus about the ears in the form of steam. (iii, 27.) Pliny recommends it in angina, asthma, as an application to sores, and, in a word, he gives it the same characters as Dioscorides does. (H. N. xxvi, 11, et alibi.) Our author and Aëtius copy word for word from Galen. Galen, however, in other of his works prescribes it for various complaints, as a medicine which purges the head and nose (De Cathars.), is useful in the decline of inflammation of the liver (Meth. Med. xiii), for discussing tumours (De Arte Cur. ad Glauc. ii), and for other purposes (Meth. Med. viii.) The Arabians treat of it very fully. See Serapion (c. 270); Avicenna (ii, 2, 256); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 758); Mesue (De Simpl. 16); Ebn Baithar (i, 545); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) Avicenna evidently derives his characters of it from Dioscorides; he recommends it as a phlegmagogue, vermifuge, a remedy for asthma, chronic coughs, &c. One of Serapion’s Arabian authorities, Isaac ebn Amram, calls it a herb growing in the mountains, having branches in length a cubit or less, and leaves like marjoram. Another of them recommends it in hardness and frigidity of the womb, kidneys, bladder, and liver, and as a purgative which evacuates crude humours. He also copies from Dioscorides and Galen. Rhases and Ebn Baithar follow nearly or altogether the same authorities as Serapion. Averrhoes states its characters in general terms. Mesue, upon the whole, is the most interesting and original of the Arabian authorities on the hyssop. He says there are two kinds, the garden and the mountain; that the former rises above the ground about half a cubit, and that its leaves are larger than those of thyme, and its flower is purple; the latter has much smaller leaves, and its stem is not so round. He states its medicinal virtues with much precision, recommending it as a phlegmagogue, in asthma, and other affections of the chest, and in nearly all the cases mentioned by Dioscorides; and also, he adds, from personal experience, in epilepsy. Two questions now come to be solved: 1st, Is the hyssop of Mesue the same as that of Dioscorides? We answer this question, with little hesitation, by saying, we think it is; Mesue merely defines his plant better, but the agreement of these authors as to its medicinal virtues convinces us that both treated of the same plant. 2d, Was the hyssop of the ancients, then, the same as our Hyssopus officinalis? With much deference to the many eminent scholars who deny this, we hesitatingly answer this question in the affirmative, for the two following reasons: first, the medicinal characters of the ancient hyssop, as given by Dioscorides, Mesue, and the other Greek and Arabian authorities, agree with those of the Hyssopus officinalis, as given by modern writers on the Materia Medica. See Platearius (de Simpl. Med.); Tournefort (Mat. Med. 223); Boerhaave (Mat. Med. 148); Alston (Mat. Med. ii, 152); Hill (Mat. Med. 364); Culpeper (Compl. Herbal. 95); Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 177); Rutty (Mat. Med. 145); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 47.) But, secondly, it is incumbent upon those who deny the identity of the ancient and modern hyssop to show when and how the H. officinalis came to be substituted for a plant, the characters of which it now bears. But, further, no competent judge, we believe, will dispute that the hyssop must have been brought to Britain, and naturalized here by the Romans. Is it likely, then, that they would have brought a plant not described by their learned men at home, and not the one which had the character of being possessed of so many virtues? If, as Sprengel and others have maintained, the Origanum Ægyptiacum be the true hyssopus of the ancients, why was not it introduced into this country and not the Hyssopus officinalis? Since then the H. officinalis is what our Roman conquerors brought us for their hyssop, we may be pretty confident that it truly is the ancient plant, the name of which it bears.
Φακόι,
Lentes, Lentils, (?) are desiccants of the second order, being intermediate as to cooling and heating qualities. They have also some astringency. They therefore dry the body and bind the belly; but the decoction loosens it. The first water, therefore, is thrown away when it is taken to restrain the bowels. The Lens palustris, Duck-meat, moistens and refrigerates in the second order.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Book I, 79. It is, undoubtedly, the Cicer Lens. The Lens palustris is the Lemna minor, Angl. Duck-meat. Our author borrows from Dioscorides, who treats of the virtues of the lentil more fully than it would seem to deserve. It is simply a vegetable astringent. (ii, 129.) The other authorities treat of both in the same terms as our author. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 711); Serapion (c. 9.)
Φαλαρὶς,
Phalaris; the juice, leaves, and seed, when drunk, relieve pains of the bladder. They are also remarkable for some tenuity of parts, and are of a heating nature.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Sibthorp refers it to the Phalaris Canariensis. Our author borrows its medicinal character from Dioscorides (iii, 149), and the same is repeated by Galen and all the authorities who treat of it. None of the Arabians, as far as we can discover, have noticed it, except Ebn Baithar, who, in describing it, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. It would appear, that in the shops of the apothecaries, it still is kept, and is reputed to be useful in pains of the bladder. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 18.)
Φαλαγγίτις,
Phalangitis, Spiderwort, is so named because it is a remedy for the bites of the venomous spiders called phalangia. It also consists of subtile parts, and hence is supposed to prove a remedy in cases of tormina.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. According to Sibthorp, it is the Anthericum Græcum. Our author, like Galen and the other authorities that treat of it, copies almost word for word from Dioscorides. (iii, 112.) Ebn Baithar, in describing it, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. It does not appear to be noticed by the Arabians. It has been scarcely known in modern practice, and yet the Anthericum Liliastrum is still kept in the shops and retains the name of spiderwort, with the reputation of being useful against the bites of scorpions. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 22.)
Φελλὸς.
Suber, Cork, and particularly that from wine-vessels, when burnt has very desiccative ashes. This is mixed up especially with dysenteric remedies.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Theophrastus gives an accurate description of the Quercus Suber. (H. P. iii, 16.) Cork, as Pliny states, is formed from its bark. He recommends its ashes or charcoal in hemorrhages. (H. N. xxiv, 8.) Q. Serenus recommends it in the same cases. (c. 22.) Dioscorides does not describe this article. Galen also omits it in his list of simples, but briefly notices it in a preliminary book (v), and recommends the burnt cork of a wine-cask as an astringent. (De Comp. med. sec. loc. v.) We have not been able to trace it in the works of the Arabians.
Φιλλυρέα,
Phillyrea, Mock Privet; the leaves of the tree are astringent like those of the wild olive. They relieve ulcers in the mouth when chewed, and when the mouth is rinsed with a decoction of them. When drunk they prove diuretic and emmenagogue.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Stackhouse and Sprengel agree that it is the Phillyrea latifolia L. Our author copies its medicinal characters literally from Dioscorides. (i, 125.) None of the other Greek authorities on the Mat. Med. have described it. Neither can we find traces of it in the works of any of the Arabians, except Ebn Baithar, who gives nothing of any moment under this head but a translation of the chapter of Dioscorides referred to above. It certainly is not the Mahaleb of the Arabians, as we shall show in the Appendix.
Φλόμος,
Verbascum, Petty Mullein; there are many species, among which is that called Thryalis. The leaves of all the kinds are possessed of desiccative and moderately detergent powers, and especially that with the golden flower. Being sour they suit with all sorts of fluxes. Some also rinse the teeth with them.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It cannot be doubted that the genus is referable to the Verbascum, but the species cannot be well determined. See Sibthorp (Flora Græca), and Sprengel (ad Dioscor. iv, 102.) The white female Phlomos would appear to be the Verbascum Thapsus, and the black is indisputably the Verbascum nigrum. The Phlomis Lychnitis of Dioscorides is probably the V. Lychnitis. The other species cannot be determined with any degree of certainty. Our author abridges the medicinal characters given to them by Dioscorides. (l. c.) Galen also, as well as Aëtius and Oribasius, borrow freely from Dioscorides. The mullein occurs in the Hippocratic treatises (Morb. Mulier.), but we do not find it in the works of Celsus. Pliny describes the verbascum in nearly the same terms as Dioscorides. (H. N. xxv, 74.) See also Apuleius (De Herbis, 71.) The Arabians follow Dioscorides in delivering its medicinal properties. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 98); Ebn Baithar (i, 184.) The verbascum held a place in the Dispensatory as late as the time of Lewis. (ii, 417.) The V. Thapsus, nigrum, and Lychnitis, although now rejected from our Dispensatory, are still retained in the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 91.) It is said that the juice of their leaves, which is acrid and bitterish, is used to poison mice and fish. Lindley (Veg. King. 683.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia, both the Verbascum Thapsus and thapsiforme stand for the female phlomos. (166.)
Φοῖνιξ,
(Called by some Rhus), is a herb like the Darnel. It has astringent powers, and when drunk with austere wine stops all fluxes.
Palma, the Palm-tree, has a fruit which, when ripe, is moderately hot, stomachic, and tonic, when taken internally or applied externally. The rest of the palm-tree is sufficiently astringent, and hence is mixed up as an ingredient with stomach and liver remedies. But the most astringent part is the involucrum or cover, as it were, of the fruit while growing.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. The herb is undoubtedly the Lolium perenne. The tree is the Phœnix Dactylifera. We would refer to the ‘Hierobotanicon’ of Olaus Celsius and our own article on this head, in the Appendix to Dunbar’s Greek Lexicon, for the general literature of this interesting subject. We need not dwell particularly on the medicinal virtues of the herb, as all the authorities are agreed that it is applicable in such cases as astringents are indicated. See in particular Dioscorides (iv, 43.) A decoction of different parts of the palm-tree was much used by the ancient physicians as an astringent. Pliny recommends it particularly in discharges from the uterus and bowels. (H. N. xxiii, 53.) He borrows, however, from Dioscorides, who recommends it as an astringent in these and various other cases, such as hemorrhoids and wounds; he adds, however, that they induce headaches, and when eaten in great quantity intoxicate and that the dried dates when eaten are useful in hæmoptysis, stomachic and dysenteric diseases, and complaints of the bladder, when applied in a powder as a cataplasm with the quince and cerate of wild vine-flowers. (i, 148.) Celsus recommends a decoction of dates as an astringent gargle. (v, 22, 9.) Galen has a most interesting article on the palm, which he recommends in general as being possessed of an astringent quality, in hepatic and stomachic affections, both internally and externally. Serapion, Mesue, and Rhases likewise recommend it in such cases. Rhases gives a most copious account of this subject borrowed from various sources. One of his authorities says, dates spoil the teeth and create obstructions in the liver and spleen. Another says they create semen, and are useful in phthisis. (Cont. l. ult. i, 531.) Avicenna recommends them generally as astringents, and particularly in fluxes of the womb and in hemorrhoids. (ii, 2, 87.) Ebn Baithar copies mostly from Rhases under this head. (i, 211, 496.) The composition of palm-oil is described by Dioscorides. (i, 54.) It is the only preparation from the palm which is now retained in the Pharmacopœia.
Φόρμιον,
Phormium, is possessed of attenuating, detergent, and attractive powers. Its seed, therefore, attenuates leucoma, and extracts sharp-pointed weapons of wood.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of it is taken from Galen. It would appear to be a variety of the ὅρμινον, i. e. Salvia Horminum L., Purple-top Clary, as is stated by Sprengel. (Notæ in Dioscor. iii, 135.) We can find nothing interesting regarding it in the other authorities.
Φοῦ,
Valeriana, Valerian, has a root which resembles the nard, but is weaker for most purposes, only it is more diuretic like Celtic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It is the Valeriana officinalis, or perhaps the V. Dioscoridis. We have mentioned already that the ancient nards were various species of valerian. All the ancient authorities describe it as being diuretic and emmenagogue. See in particular Dioscorides (i, 10.) Galen ascribes to it diuretic powers (De Simpl. viii), and Pliny emmenagogue (H. N. xxi, 80.) The Arabians give it the same characters. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 255); Serapion (De Simpl. 62); Ebn Baithar (ii, 265.) Bergius in like manner states its virtues thus: “Virtus: emmenagoga, abortiens, diuretica, sanguinem amovens.” See also Rutty (Mat. Med.) Recent authorities, however, are not so lavish in its praises. See Pereira (971.)
Φύλλον,
Folium, Leaf, the leaf of the Malabathrum, which has been already treated of.
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COMMENTARY. Apicius, in like manner, uniformly calls the leaf of the Malabathrum by the name of Folium. We still incline to the opinion which we deliberately formed and expressed some years ago, that it was the leaf of the cassia or wild cinnamon tree. We refer to a learned disquisition on it by Olaus Celsius, in his ‘Hierobotanicon,’ and to Geoffroy (Treatise on Fossil, Veg., and Anim. Subst. 318.) The φ. of Dioscorides is quite a different substance, being the same as the λινόζωστις, which see.
Φῦκος,
Fucus marinus, Seaweed, cools and dries in the second order, having also a moderate degree of astringency.
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COMMENTARY. Various species of Fuci are described by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, but so briefly, that it is scarcely possible to determine them exactly. It is deserving of remark, however, that Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius describe a species of Fucus, under the head of Ceruse, which is therefore supposed to have been a preparation of lead. The article, however, which our author here treats of is unquestionably the vegetable, as is evident from Aëtius. (p. 24, ed. Ald.) Dioscorides says it is possessed of an astringent power, which is efficacious in cataplasms for the cure of gouty affections and inflammations. These plants are to be used in a moist state before they are dried. He adds, that Nicander says the purple fucus is theriacal, and that some persons took its root to be the fucus which women use for painting their face., (iv, 98.) Pliny gives a very similar description of the “Phycos thalassion, id est, Fucus marinus.” (H. N. xxvi, 66.) Galen treats of it in nearly the same language as our author. It would appear to be the Muscus marinus of Avicenna, who borrows the description which he gives of it from Dioscorides, (ii, 2, 452, and 711.) Our old English herbalists, Parkinson and Gerard, repeat the characters given to the fuci by the ancients, but these articles were long omitted from our Dispensatories, until of late some of them were readmitted, when it was ascertained that they contained iodine. We have known old practitioners, who used the Fucus vesiculosus, or Sea Wrack, very extensively as an application to scrofulous sores. See further Pereira (562), and Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 7.) Beckmann gives a very ingenious disquisition on the Phycos thalassion of the ancients, which he makes out to have been our Archil or Lichen roccella, a sea-weed which has been extensively used, both in ancient and in modern times for the dyeing of wool. (History of Inventions.) It must be to it that Horace alludes when he speaks of “lana medicata fuco,” in his famous ode on Regulus.
Φυλλιτὴς,
Phyllites, Hart’s Tongue, is somewhat sour, and from this quality it naturally proves a remedy for diarrhœa when drunk.
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COMMENTARY. There seems little reason to doubt that it is the Scolopendrium officinale, or Spleenwort. It is the Lingua Cervina of Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 1047.) Both Galen and Dioscorides, like our author, recommend it in fluxes of the bowels, as being possessed of astringent powers. It is not met with in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus. It was retained in the Dispensatory in the time of Quincy (88, 123), and even at the present day it is not an entire stranger to the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 12.)
Χαλβάνη,
Galbanum, is heating almost in the third degree, and is desiccative almost in the second, being possessed of emollient and discutient powers.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of Galbanum, that it is the juice of a Ferula growing in Syria, by some called metopium. Pliny describes it thus: “Quod maxime laudant, cartilaginosum, purum, ad similitudinem Hammoniaci.” Now, in Dr. Duncan’s edition of the Edinburgh Dispensatory (1811), it is said in like manner that “Galbanum agrees in virtue with gum ammoniac;” and from this casual coincidence in the descriptions of the ancient and modern galbanums, we infer their identity. It would appear to be now settled, that galbanum is the product of different umbellifers, the most common of which is the Opoidia galbanifera. See the late publications of Royle, Lindley, and Pereira. Dioscorides describes it as being possessed of a heating, fiery, epispastic, and discutient power, in pessaries and fumigations as promoting menstruation and the expulsion of the fœtus; he recommends it externally, for furunculi and other complaints of the skin, and internally for chronic coughs, dyspnœa, asthma, ruptured and sprained parts; its vapour rouses in cases of epilepsy, hysteria, and vertigo, and drives away venomous animals. It is used in toothache for filling the hollow of the teeth. (iii, 87.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it in general terms, like our author. It occurs in the works of Hippocrates, and in those of Celsus, who recommends it in nearly the same cases as Dioscorides, as in furunculus, difficulty of breathing, and so forth. (See v, 18, et pluries.) For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 312); Serapion (c. 320.) They borrow their account of its medicinal virtues from Dioscorides, recommending it as an alexipharmic, an application to tumours, and a remedy in certain diseases of the chest. Avicenna says it is less powerful than sagapenum. The Arabian authorities of Ebn Baithar do not supply anything of much importance in addition to what is furnished by Dioscorides and Galen.
Χαλκίτις,
Chalcitis, is possessed of astringent, acrid, caustic, and escharotic powers. In subtility of particles it is intermediate between misy and sori; but when burnt its parts become still finer.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We will first give an abstract of the information furnished by the ancient authorities themselves regarding this much-disputed article in their Materia Medica, and reserve what we have to say as to the substance itself to the conclusion. Galen is the author who has given the fullest account of the nature and formation of the misy, sori, and chalcitis (see Opera, ed. Basil, T. ii, 127); but as his description of them is lengthy, we prefer giving the abstract of the same furnished by Aëtius. It is to be borne in mind then that what follows is upon the authority of Galen, who visited the copper-mines of Cyprus for the express purpose of ascertaining the nature of the misy, sori, and chalcitis. “At the mine in Cyprus, in the mountains of the Soli, there was a great cave dug in the mountain, at the right side of which, that is to say, on our left hand as we entered, there was a passage into the mine in which I saw certain specimens of the three substances stretched upon one another like zones, the lowest being that of sori, upon it chalcitis, and then that of misy. In process of time the chalcitis changes into misy by degrees, and the sori can change into chalcitis, but requires a much longer space of time. So that it is no wonder that these three substances should be possessed of homogeneous (similar) powers, as differing from one another only in tenuity and density of their parts, the grossest being the sori, and the finest the misy, whereas chalcitis possesses an intermediate power. When burnt they become more attenuant, but less styptic.” (p. 30, ed. Aldi.) Galen (l. c.) states distinctly that the misy is an efflorescence which forms upon the chalcitis, similar to the verdigris which forms upon copper (or bronze), and that the three substances in question are convertible into one another. He also states that a specimen of chalcanthos, when long kept, turns to chalcitis. Pliny gives a very confused account of the misy, sori, and chalcitis, which betrays evident marks of a very imperfect acquaintance with the subject; but it is quite obvious that he meant to describe the very same substances as those which Dioscorides and Galen describe under these names, as is obvious from his ascribing the same medicinal powers as they do to each of these articles. (See H. N. xxxiv, 29, 30, 31, with the notes of Harduin.) Dioscorides gives but a very brief description of these substances, with the origin of which he most probably was not so well acquainted as Galen. He describes the best kind as being like bronze or copper (χαλκοειδῆ), friable, free of stones, not old, and having long and glancing fibres. He says of it that it has styptic, heating, and escharotic powers, and that it clears away impurities about the canthi and eyes; that it is one of the mild septics; is useful in erysipelas, herpes, hemorrhages of the uterus and nose, with the juice of leeks; that when dried it is useful in epulis, spreading sores, and diseases of the tonsils; that when burnt it is more useful in ophthalmic remedies in the form of a powder with honey; that it melts down and cleanses callus and asperity of the eyelids; and removes fistulæ when introduced in the form of a collyrium. (v, 115.) It occurs in one of the Hippocratic treatises (De Ulceribus), but its meaning there is not well defined. By blue chalcitis is probably meant chalcanthos, or blue vitriol. Celsus prescribes it frequently as a caustic and escharotic application. (v. 9, et pluries.) As stated already (see Misy), Avicenna gives an account of these substances under the head of “Atramentum sutorium,” the chalcitis being further distinguished by the name of colcotar. He refers to Galen’s description of them already given, but either he or his translator evidently misinterprets the original, for he represents Galen as saying that the atramentum rubeum (sori) is formed from the colcotar. He says of all the three substances that they are caustic, escharotic, and styptic; and he recommends them in the same instances as Dioscorides and Galen do. (ii, 2, 47.) Serapion, as already stated, describes them under the name of vitreolum or zeg, including also the chalcanthos in the same chapter. It may be interesting to our readers to see his version of the passage of Galen given above from Aëtius. “Vidi in mineris tres venas extensas unam super aliam per longum spacium, et vena inferior erat zeg rubeum (sori?), et secunda quæ erat super eam erat colcotar (chalcitis?), et tertia superior erat zeg viride (misy?), et hoc est quod zeg rubeum convertitur et fit colcotar et colcotar fit zeg viride.” He afterwards gives Galen’s account of the medicinal powers of chalcitis, which does not differ materially from our author’s. (De Simpl. 386.) Rhases, under the head of vitreolum, gives, in abridged extracts from Dioscorides and Galen, their descriptions of sori, chalcitis, and misy, which he calls vitreolum ruffum, colcotor, and vitreolum viride. (Contin. l. ult. 747.) Averrhoes quotes Galen’s account of the origin of the three vitriols which he calls vitreolum rubeum (sori?), v. viride (misy?), and cholcotar (chalcitis?). (Collig. v, 43.) And now, respecting the nature of the three metallic substances misy, sori, and chalcitis, we have to state it as our deliberate opinion, that, provided the authority of Galen be held decisive of the question, there can be no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that they were merely varieties of the chalcanthum, arising principally from age or differences in the proportion of the ingredients entering into its composition. (See below.) Probably then the chalcitis was a specimen of pure sulphate of copper which had contracted an efflorescence from age. The misy or zeg viride of the Arabians no doubt owed its colour to a predominance of the sulphate of iron; while in the sori we may suppose that zinc or other impurities gave it its peculiar characters.
Χάλκανθος,
Atramentum Sutorium, Copperas or Vitriol, is water concreted in the metal mines of Cyprus, having a very strong astringency with no contemptible degree of heat; and of all substances it is the most effectual for pickling and drying humid flesh. In process of time it changes to chalcitis.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. No person who reads the account of this substance given by Dioscorides and Pliny can doubt of its being blue vitriol, or an impure sulphate of copper procured by the evaporation of water found in mines of copper. Pliny’s description of it is quite characteristic: “Color est cœruleus, perquam spectabili nitore vitrumque esse creditur.” He also states that it is the same as the “atramentum sutorium.” (H. N. xxxiv, 32.) Celsus says the same of it, and ranks it with styptics (v, 1); with corrosive substances (v, 6); with caustics (v, 7, 8); with escharotics (vi, 11); and recommends it when strongly heated or roasted to remove callus (v, 28, 12), and for other purposes. Whether the blue chalcitis of Hippocrates (De Ulcer. 13), alluded to in the preceding article, be blue vitriol as some have supposed (Pereira, Mat. Med. 494), we cannot pretend positively to determine, but we think it probable. Galen describes most graphically his visit to the copper mines of Cyprus, where, among other strange sights, he witnessed the process of procuring chalcanthum. He mentions that a specimen of it which he carried with him in the course of twenty years was converted into chalcitis on its surface, while its centre remained chalcanthum, and that he meant to keep it until its centre should change likewise, and until the chalcitis should be converted into misy. Dioscorides describes several varieties of the chalcanthum, one of which is called pectum, being procured by natural evaporation; and another ephthon or coctum, as being procured by boiling. The best kind, he says, is blue, heavy, compact, and translucent. He says it is astringent, heating, and escharotic; kills the lumbricus latus when taken to the amount of a drachm; that it is emetic, cures those who have swallowed mushrooms when drunk with water, and that it purges the head when a piece of wool smeared with it is introduced into the nostrils. (v, 114.) Oribasius gives a minute description of the chalcanthum, but it is confessedly taken from Dioscorides. (Med. Coll. 13.) Aëtius says distinctly that the water running from the copper mines of Cyprus concretes into chalcanthum, and that it changes into chalcitis. He, in fact, evidently borrows from Galen. Avicenna, as formerly stated by us, gives a description of this substance along with misy, sori, and chalcitis, under the general head of “atramentum sutorium.” (ii, 2, 47.) He also treats of it separately under its proper name, but his account of it is entirely made up from Dioscorides. (166.) Serapion’s, in like manner, is copied from Dioscorides. (c. 386.) Haly Abbas’s chapter on the vitriols is so barbarously translated, that we cannot pretend to unfold his account of this substance. (Pract. ii, 47.) Though, as we have stated above, we think there can be no doubt that the chalcanthos of Dioscorides and Pliny was an impure sulphate of copper procured from the “waters of cementation” issuing from copper mines, it is proper to mention that after mature consideration of the subject, with the assistance of an esteemed authority on the Materia Medica in London, we have arrived at the conclusion that either the term must have been applied loosely to other metallic sulphates, or the ancient sulphate of copper must have contained a very large admixture of the sulphates of iron and of zinc. Probably, then, the term chalcanthos was used anciently in as loose a manner as the terms vitriol and copperas have been in modern times. (See Tournefort’s Mat. Med.) It is further deserving of remark under this head, that the description of the impure sulphate of copper, which is given in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia, corresponds exactly with Dioscorides’s description of the chalcanthos. In the Pharmacopœia it is directed that the sulphate of copper should not contain much of the sulphates of zinc and iron. And now, in conclusion, as this is one of the most important subjects connected with ancient pharmacy, we shall briefly state our reasons for holding, contrary to the opinion of many recent authorities of high reputation, that the chalcanthum either consisted principally of copper, or at least contained a large proportion of that metal in its composition. 1st. The name implies that the Greeks thought it a cupreous substance, and Pliny seems to say that the name had been properly given. (l. c.) 2d. Pliny’s description of it applies exactly to blue vitriol. (l. c.) 3d. Dioscorides’s description of it tallies with the description of the sulphate of copper given in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia. 4th. The chalcanthos was indisputably formed from the evaporation of waters issuing from mines of copper, that is to say, from “waters of cementation.” Compare Galen (l. c.) with Pereira (Mat. Med. 495.) 5th. It was administered as an emetic. See Dioscorides (l. c.) 6th. It was used externally as a powerful escharotic. See Dioscorides, Celsus, and Galen (pluries.) 7th. It was ranked among the poisons. See Cicero (ad Familiares, ix,) and the Arabian authorities on Toxicology.
Χαλκὸς κεκαυμένος,
Æs ustum, Burnt Copper, is acrid, with a share of astringency. It therefore is the best of remedies for the cicatrization of ulcers upon dry bodies; but if washed it agrees better with tender bodies.
Χαλκοῦ ἄνθος,
Æris flos, the Flower of Copper, is possessed of more subtile powers than burnt copper, or than the squama æris. Wherefore, when added to collyria, it clears away asperities and sycoses of the eyelids.
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COMMENTARY. Though there can be no doubt that this term is generally used by the Greek classical authors to signify bronze, or a combination of copper and tin in the proportion of from 2 to 14 per cent. of the latter, it is also certain that it was frequently applied to native copper, as it is in general by the authorities on the Materia Medica. The ancients, it may be proper to remark cursorily in this place, were acquainted with the formation of brass, which they made by compounding together copper and cadmia. See Watson’s ‘Chemical Essays,’ and Beckmann’s ‘History of Inventions.’ Brass was their aurichalcum or orichalcum. The Æs ustum, according to Geoffroy, “is copper reduced to a calx or crocus, either by itself or mixed with sulphur or salt, by a long calcination in a reverberatory furnace.” “The Squama æris, or flake of copper,” he adds, “is little different from the Æs ustum, being only the particles of burnt copper which fly off when it is hammered.” He says of the Flos æris, “it is nothing but copper reduced to small grains like millet seed, which is done by pouring cold water upon melting copper, which thereupon immediately flies every way into grains.” In short it was fine granulated copper. These preparations of copper are described by all the ancient authorities. See in particular Dioscorides (v, 87, 88), who describes the process of making the flos æris very minutely. He recommends it as a detergent and caustic medicine for various purposes, such as removing dimness of the cornea, wasting polypi in the nostrils, and protuberances about the anus; and also for the cure of deafness when blown into the ear with a syringe in the form of a powder, and in complaints of the gums and tonsils. He also says that given to the amount of three oboli it evacuates thick humours. He also describes several processes for burning the copper, and recommends the æs ustum as a cleansing and detergent medicine for various ulcers, especially those of the eye, and also as an emetic when taken in a draught with hydromel, or in a linctus with honey. None of the other Greek authorities treat so fully of these preparations as Dioscorides. Celsus prescribes them frequently as caustic and corrosive substances. (v, 6, 7, et pluries.) The Arabians used these articles not only as external applications, but as emetics and purgatives. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 231); Serapion (c. 414); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 48); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48); Ebn Baithar (ii, 551.) The flowers of copper, and burnt or calcined copper, are noticed in the works of all our earlier writers on medicine, and recommended to be administered both internally and externally. See Platearius (De Simpl. Med.) The process of preparing calcined copper is minutely described by Moses Charras in his ‘Royal Pharmacopœia,’ published at Paris in 1676. They are briefly described by Dr. Hill, who says of the æs ustum that “it was much used externally by the ancients.” (Mat. Med. 32.) Neither of these preparations of copper occurs in the Complete English Dispensatory of Quincy, published in 1763. They are omitted also in Pemberton’s London Dispensatory, published in 1746. They would appear, however, to have been longer retained in use by the Continental physicians, since a formula for preparing the Calx æris is given in Crantz’s Mat. Med. (ii, 91. Vienna, 1765.) He says that the Flos æris, and Squama æris, were preparations not in use. Rutty ranks them among the obsolete medicines of the ancients. A formula for Æs ustum is given in Gray’s Suppl. to Pharmacop. (p. 242.) It is the same as that of Dioscorides. (v, 37.)
Χαμάιδρυς,
Chamædrys, Germander, is heating and drying in the third degree. It therefore melts down enlarged spleens, proves diuretic and emmenagogue, and removes visceral obstructions.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It clearly is the Teucrium Chamædrys L. Theophrastus says that its fruit purges bile. (H. P. ix, 10.) Dioscorides commends it in spasms, scirrhous spleen, dysuria, and incipient dropsy; and as an emmenagogue; and, by the way, Dr. Hill confirms this account of it. Galen and all the other authorities treat of it in nearly the same terms. We have not been able to find it in the works of Hippocrates. For the Arabians, see particularly Serapion (c. 180); Avicenna (ii, 2, 132); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 152.) One of Serapion’s Arabian authorities recommends the syrup in chronic coughs, dyspepsia, and incipient dropsies, and the decoction in black jaundice. Avicenna joins both Dioscorides and Serapion in regard to the virtues which they ascribe to it. Whether or not this be the “trixago” of Celsus (iv, 6) has never been satisfactorily determined. The Arabian translators adopt this name. It has still the reputation of being a pectoral medicine. Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 661.)
Χαμαίκισσος,
Hedera, Ground Ivy; the flower being considerably bitter, removes obstructions of the liver. It is also given in ischiatic diseases.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We see no good reason for disputing its identity with Glechoma hederaceum, or Ground Ivy, which we believe to have been introduced into this country by the Romans for the Chamæcissos. Dioscorides gives it nearly the same characters as our author, that is to say, he recommends it in sciatica and jaundice. (iv, 124.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it in nearly the same terms as our author. The Arabians notice it under the same head with the other species of ivy. See Serapion (De Simpl. 41); Avicenna (ii, 2, 169); Rhases (Contin. 190.) The ground-ivy maintained a place in the Dispensatory with a high reputation as a hepatic, splenitic, diuretic, and nephritic medicine in the days of Quincy. (117.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia the glechoma hederaceum stands for the χαμαίκισσος. (75.)
* * * * *
Χαμαικέρασος. This occurs in the “Euporiston” generally ascribed to Dioscorides. It is referred by Sprengel to the Convallaria majalis, or Lily of the valley.
Χαμαιλέυκη,
Chamæleuce, Ground Poplar, is calefacient in the third order and desiccative in the first.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Sprengel maintains that we should read χαμαιπέυκη, and refers it to Stachelina Chamæpeuce L. In Dioscor. (iv, 125.) Dioscorides merely recommends it in lumbago. All the other authorities assign it the same general characters.
Χαμαιλέων,
Chamæleon; the root of the black chamæleon is calefacient and desiccative in nearly the third order. It is also a detergent application to the skin, and a discutient and emollient one to indurated tumours. When applied in a cataplasm it cures phagedænic ulcers. But when taken internally it is poisonous. The root of the white chamæleon is like that of the black, but more bitter. When drunk with austere wine to the amount of an acetabulum, it kills the broad intestinal worms. It is also useful in dropsical complaints.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We stated in the Fifth Book, Sections 37, 46, that we were inclined to refer the black chamæleon to the Carthamus corymbosus, and the white to the Carlina acaulis, and we see no good reason for changing this opinion. Some good authorities, however, prefer the C. gummifera. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 708.) The virtues, however, which Dr. Lindley ascribes to the C. acaulis, agree very well with those of the ixia, or white chamæleon, as stated by the ancient authorities; whether, however, it produces the gum resembling mastich, as the white chamæleon is described by Dioscorides as doing, we are not so sure. Parkinson says it produces such a gum “sometimes, and in some places.” (Theatre of Plants, 968.) See also Gerard (1157.) Dioscorides recommends its root as a vermifuge; in dropsy and dysuria when taken in wine. (iii, 8.) The root of the black chamæleon he recommends with other articles for the cure of lichen, for toothache, and various other purposes. (9.) Our author borrows mostly from Galen under this head. Aëtius remarks that the root of the black species is poisonous, and hence is to be applied only externally in scabies, lichen, leprosy, and the like. This species is noticed in the Hippocratic works. (De Ulcer.) The other occurs in the works of Celsus, who prescribes it as an ingredient in a malagma for gout. (v, 18, 33.) The Arabians treat elaborately of both species. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 197, 455); Serapion (c. 274, 275); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. ii, 208); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) Upon the whole their characters of them agree with those by Dioscorides and Galen.
Χαμάιμηλον ἢ Ἄνθεμις,
Chamæmelum, or Anthemis, Chamomile, heats and dries in the first order. It is also attenuant, discutient, relaxant, and aromatic.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It certainly applies to the Anthemis nobilis, but probably is not restricted to it. It appears to be the ἄνθεμον of Theophrastus. (H. P. vii, 8, 14.) It is the ἄνθεμις of Dioscorides, who describes three species, which it has been found very difficult to distinguish and identify. He says the roots, the flowers, and the stem are calefacient and attenuant, that both when drunk and in a hip-bath they promote the evacuation of the menses, fœtus, calculi, and urine; that they are drunk for tympanitis and ileus; cure jaundice and diseases of the liver; and that the decoction is used in a fomentation for complaints about the bladder. He says the chamomiles cure fistula lachrymalis in a cataplasm, and aphthæ as a masticatory, and that the oil prepared in a manner described by him, is useful in intermittent fevers when the body is rubbed with it. (iii, 143.) Aëtius strongly recommends the whole body to be rubbed with oil of chamomile in such cases to promote perspiration. According to Galen this is the ἐυάνθεμον of Hippocrates. (Morb. Mulier., i, 625.) We cannot find it in Celsus. Galen, in the preliminary dissertation to his ‘Mat. Med.,’ strongly eulogises the oil of chamomile as being calculated to soothe pain, relieve contracted parts, soften hardened, and to dispel fevers not accompanied with visceral inflammation. (iii, 133, ed. Basil.) The Arabians appear to have been very partial to this plant, of which they treat at great length. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 118); Serapion (De Simpl. 22); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. ii, 154, i, 156); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 34.) In a word, they entirely concur in the characters given to the chamomiles by Dioscorides and Galen.
Χαμαιπίτυς,
Chamæpitys, Ground Pine, heats in the second order, but dries in the third. It is therefore a cathartic and detergent of the viscera, especially of the liver. It is diuretic and emmenagogue, agglutinates large wounds, and cures putrid ulcers. It also discusses scirrhous swellings, and the decoction of it is useful in ischiatic diseases.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. It appears probable that our author’s plant is Ajuga chamæpitys, but here commentators are by no means agreed. It is briefly mentioned by Nicander (Alex. 65), and by Celsus as a medicine which opens the pores or mouths of vessels (v, 4), but it does not occur, we believe, in the Hippocratic treatises. Of the three species described by Dioscorides, the first is probably this plant, the second is a species of teucrium, and the third ajuga iva. His characters of the first agree in the main with those given to it by our author, who, as well as Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius, evidently copy from him. The other two species, he says, are possessed of similar powers. All the Arabians concur in representing it as being diuretic, emmenagogue, a medicine that expels the fœtus, and a laxative. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 153); Avicenna (ii, 2,131); Serapion (c. 179); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 32.) Avicenna in particular recommends it for the cure of sciatica and gout, and for this virtue it was celebrated as long as it retained a place in our Dispensatory. See Quincy (116.) It was an ingredient in the famous Portland powder. It is still to be found in the shops, where it bears the names of Iva arthritica and Teucrium chamæpitys. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 49.)
Χαμάιδρωψ,
Chamædrops; some call this plant Chamædrys, and some Teucrium, being possessed of similar powers to the Chamædrys.
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COMMENTARY. According to Dioscorides it is the same as the Χαμάιδρυς.
Χαμαισύκη,
Chamæsyce, Ground Fig, has detergent and acrid powers, so that the twigs and juice of it remove myrmecia and acrochordones. They therefore clear away thick cicatrices in the eyes with honey, and cure dimness of vision and incipient suffusions.
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COMMENTARY. From the place assigned to it by Dioscorides it was evidently a spurge. It is acknowledged to be the Euphorbia chamæcyce. Our author appears to have borrowed the characters which he gives it from Dioscorides. (iv, 167.) Galen and the others do the same. It does not occur in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus, nor have we been able to find it in those of the Arabians. We are not aware of its having been used by modern authorities.
Χαμέλαια,
Chamelæa, Mezereon, or Spurge Olive, is possessed of detergent powers. It therefore cleanses foul ulcers and eschars with honey.
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COMMENTARY. Notwithstanding the difference of opinion which has prevailed among the commentators regarding this plant, we see no good grounds for doubting that it was the Daphne Mezereon, which we believe to have been naturalized in this country by the Romans for its medicinal uses. Dioscorides says of its leaves that they are like to those of the olive, but more slender and thick, biting to the taste and scarifying the trachea. Its leaves, he adds, purge phlegm and bile downwards, especially if taken in a pill with double the quantity of southernwood mixed with one part of the chamelæa; let it be taken in water or honey as a pill; but it is insoluble, for it is evacuated as it was taken; the powdered leaves mixed up with honey cleanse foul ulcers, and such as are covered with eschars. (iv, 169.) We do not meet with it in the works of Hippocrates nor of Celsus. Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it in very general terms like our author. Beyond all doubt is this the mezereon of Serapion, who commences his chapter on it by giving extracts from the descriptions of the chamelæa given by Dioscorides, Galen, and our author. He then gives a very lengthy account of it from Arabian authorities, first from Alcanzi and next from Aben Mesuai, which we regret that our necessary limits prevent us from giving a proper abstract of. He says that persons of a gross constitution, and more especially old men, bear this medicine best, and he recommends us to administer it with myrobalans, or tamarinds, or prunes. He further directs it to be given in water that has been boiled. Altogether there is not a more important chapter in Serapion than the one on Mezereon. (c. 373.) Mesue also gives a very interesting account of the mezereon, which he illustrates with extracts from Dioscorides and Galen on the chamelæa. He assigns to it powers to purge yellow and black bile, and says that its greatest use is in dropsy. It is also, he says, anthelminthic. He recommends tents smeared with it for fistulæ and sinuous ulcers. (De Simpl. 22.) Haly Abbas also gives an excellent account of it, representing it as a medicine which purges phlegm, yellow and black bile. (Pract. 2, 54, 564.) Rhases describes the two chamæleons and the chamelæa together under the head of Laureola. He quotes “the Book of Poisons” as stating that in the dose of two drachms it proves fatal. He gives quotations from Dioscorides, Galen, and our author. (Cont. l. ult. i, 413.) Avicenna, in like manner, describes the two chamæleons and the chamelæa under the head of mezereon, but evidently recognised the distinction between the last and the first two. He commends the mezereon particularly in dropsy. (ii, 2, 455.) The above sketch, it will be remarked, clearly proves the identity of the χαμέλαια of the Greeks, and the Mezereon of the Arabians. We admit, however, that it does not prove their identity with the Daphne Mezereon. To us it appears, however, that the physiological effects of the mezereon, as described by our best authorities of the present day, correspond very well with the effects of the chamelæa or mezereon as described by Dioscorides and Serapion. In particular compare Pereira (805) with Serapion (l. c.) It is proper to mention, however, that Sibthorp held the χ. to be Daphne oleoides. Both the Daphne Mezereon, and D. Gnidium are retained in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia. (108.)
Χελιδόνιον,
Chelidonium, Columbine or Celandine; the great is calefacient in the third order, and powerfully detergent. The juice of it contributes to acuteness of sight. The root when drunk with anise removes icteric obstructions, and also when taken with wine. When masticated it cures toothache. The smaller species, which belongs to the fourth order of calefacients, is more acrid, so as to ulcerate the skin in a cataplasm. It also removes leprous nails. The juice of it purges by the nose.
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COMMENTARY. That the first species is the Chelidonium majus L. admits of no dispute. The other would seem to be the Ranunculus Ficaria, or Fig-wort. Pliny praises it as an application to strumous tumours, and a remedy for impairment of sight. From the experiments of Orfila, it appears that the C. magus acts as a very acrid poison. Dioscorides describes the great celandine very minutely, and recommends it in jaundice and toothache. (ii, 201.) He gives the same character of the less as our author. (ii, 212.) Galen and Aëtius treat of them like our author. Neither of them is to be found in the works of Hippocrates. Celsus prescribes the juice of the “chelidonia” as an application to enlarged tonsils. (vi, 14.) Both species are distinctly treated of by the Arabians. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 295, 727); Serapion (c. 196); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 200.) They all recommend the juice of the greater celandine in jaundice, in toothache, and in affections of the eyes. It long held a place in our Dispensatory, retaining its character for curing jaundice and removing films from the eyes. See Quincy (117.) Even at the present day rustic farriers use the acrid juice of the celandine for removing films from the eyes of cattle. The chelidonium majus occurs in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia. (46.)
Χελιδόνες,
Hirundines, Swallows; when burnt their ashes, if rubbed in with honey, cure inflammatory cynanche. They also contribute to acuteness of sight.
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COMMENTARY. It is the Hirundo rustica. Celsus also recommends the ashes of swallows in cases of cynanche and diseases of the eyes. (iv, 4.) Dioscorides speaks of their use in these and in other cases. (ii, 6.) Galen gives the same account of them as our author. The Arabians repeat the descriptions given by Dioscorides and Galen. See Serapion (c. 443); Avicenna (ii, 2, 347); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 741); Ebn Baithar (i, 375.)
Χολὴ,
Fel, Bile, or Gall, is the hottest of all animal juices, but differs according to the colour, for the yellow is hotter than the pale, and the violet-coloured than the yellow; and also according to the difference of the animals which produce it; forasmuch as that of swine is the weakest of all, so that it agrees with ulcers in the ears, and does not prove pungent; but that of sheep is more acrid, and still more that of goats, to which the galls of bears and oxen are allied. But the gall of bulls is stronger, and still more so that of the hyæna, next that of the fish called callionymus, and that of the scorpion which answers in suffusions, dimness of vision, and leucomata, and likewise that of the sea-tortoise. The gall of the wild goat is believed to cure nyctolopia. The gall of all fowls is more acrid and desiccative than the gall of quadrupeds. But of them the best is the gall of cocks and partridges. Those of hawks and eagles are in so far more acrid and corrosive, and of a violet colour, but sometimes black.
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COMMENTARY. Our author’s account of the medicinal properties of bile is abridged from Galen. Bile is an article which, although now excluded from the British Pharmacopœias, still holds its place in the Continental. Scarpa recommends the gall of certain animals for the removal of albugo. Pliny thus states its virtues as a medicine: “Vis ejus excalfacere, mordere, scindere, extrahere, discutere. Minorum animalium subtilius intelligitur, et ideo ad oculorum medicamenta utilius existimatur.” (H. N. xxviii, 40.) See Dioscorides (ii, 96.) Avicenna calls it a hot, abstergent medicine. Of quadrupeds, he says, the strongest is that of a calf, and the weakest that of a sheep. He treats largely of the subject, but draws liberally from Dioscorides and Galen (ii, 2, 250.) See also Serapion (De Simpl. 459); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 50); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 291); Ebn Baithar (ii, 510.) The gall of a bull is retained in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia.
Χονδρίλη,
Chondrile, Gum Succory, being a species of Endive, is bitterish, and is therefore so far more desiccative than it.
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COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the Chondrilla juncea, or Gum Succory. It produces a gum similar to Lactucarium, for which it is still cultivated in Lemnos. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 708.) Dioscorides describes another species which is supposed to be Apargia tuberosa. Dioscorides describes accurately the gum of the former species which he compares to mastich, and says of it that when applied on a linen cloth with myrrha to the size of an olive it is emmenagogue; that along with natron it cleanses mild leprosy; that the gum is used for glueing the hairs of the eyelashes; that the fresh root does the same when a needle is dipped into it and applied to the hairs; that it is beneficial in the bites of the viper; and that its juice is an astringent of the bowels. He describes the second species as being also glutinous. (ii, 160.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat only of the former species, and that in very brief terms. Neither of them are described either by Hippocrates or Celsus. We find difficulty in discovering traces of it in any of the works of the Arabians, except Ebn Baithar (i, 395.) The Chondrilla juncea is still not wholly unknown in the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 63.)
Χόνδρος,
Chondrus, is like wheat, but more glutinous than it.
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COMMENTARY. In the First Book we have explained its nature. (Vol. I, 123.) It would appear to have been the article now called Farro, being prepared from the spelt wheat, exactly as pearled barley is from barley. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 16.)
Χρυσοκόλλα,
Chrysocolla; one kind of it is found in metal mines, and another is prepared in a mortar of red copper with a pestle of the same, it being triturated with the urine of a boy not come to puberty during the heat of the dog days. It therefore is detergent, having discutient and desiccative powers greater than those of the kind found in metal mines, so that it consumes flesh without being pungent. It therefore agrees with ill-conditioned ulcers. By burning it you may render it less pungent.
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COMMENTARY. In order to understand this very complicated subject, it will be necessary in the first place to give an exposition of what the ancients themselves have written upon it. Dioscorides writes thus of the Chrysocolla: “The best is the Armenian, which is of an intense leek colour; the second in quality is the Macedonian; and then the Cyprian, of which the kind that is pure must be selected; but that which is full of earth and stones must be rejected. The aforesaid article is to be worked thus: Having pounded it, throw it into a mortar, and having poured in water, rub strongly with the flattened hand to the mortar; then allowing it to settle, strain; and pouring in more water, again rub, and do this alternately until it becomes clean and pure; then having dried it in the sun, lay past for use. But if you wish to burn (calcine?) it, do so in the following manner: Having triturated it sufficiently, put it into a pan, place upon the coals, and do otherwise as we previously said in the former cases. The chrysocolla has the power of deterging ulcers, repressing and cleansing fungous flesh; is styptic, calefacient, mildly septic, with a certain amount of pungency. It belongs to the class of medicines which excite vomiting, and which may prove fatal to life.” (v, 104.) This chrysocolla is evidently the same as that which Theophrastus has described as “being found in great quantity in gold mines and the parts around them.” (De Lapid. 47.) Now we may here say at once that every person conversant with mineralogy, must recognise the chrysocolla, described above, as being the mineral called “common copper-green” by Jameson, being an impure carbonate of copper. For a clear description of it, see Cleaveland (Mineralogy, p. 570.) This, it will be remarked, is the only substance to which Dioscorides applies the name of Chrysocolla; but in a preceding chapter, treating of the varieties of verdigris, he says, “There is a certain kind of verdigris made by the goldsmiths, by means of a mortar and pestle, of Cyprian copper and the urine of a young person, with which they solder gold.” (v, 92.) Now to this variety of the verdigris, as we shall soon see, the name Chrysocolla (from its being used in soldering gold) was also applied by the writers subsequent to Dioscorides. Thus Pliny (H. N. xxxiii, 26, 27, 28) first gives a very elaborate description of the true chrysocolla; and then in the following chapter he briefly notices the other kind, which he says was also called “santerna,” and was prepared from Cyprian verdigris, the urine of a boy, with the addition of nitrum (soda?) pounded in a Cyprian mortar with Cyprian copper or bronze. This, he adds, forms a solder to gold. This, however, he does not say was ever used in medicine. The former kind or true chrysocolla of Dioscorides, he says was used in medicine for cleansing wounds along with wax and oil, and also in a dry powder; that it was given in a linctus with honey for orthopnœa and angina; that it was used as an emetic; was added as an ingredient to collyria for specks on the eyes, and to green plasters for relieving pain and contracting cicatrices. This chrysocolla, he says, in conclusion, the physicians call acesis (a term, by the way, synonymous with medicinal), and was different from the orobitis which he had previously described as being artificially tinged with a herb called by him “lutum,” meaning thereby, we suppose, woad, or the Isatis tinctoria. (l. c.) Galen describes the two kinds together, and treats of their medicinal powers as follows: This medicine, chrysocolla, is one of those that consume the flesh, and is not strongly pungent; but it is moderately discutient and desiccant. Wherefore some call only the fossil by this name, but some also the substance which is prepared in a bronze (copper?) mortar with a copper pestle by means of the urine of a boy, which some value according to the differences of the verdigris. But it is better to prepare it in summer, or at least in hot weather, pounding the urine in the mortar. And it answers more excellently if the bronze, of which you make the mortar, be red, and the pestle too, for more is thus rubbed off by the turning round of the pestle when the bronze is of a softer nature. This medicine is most suited to malignant sores, both by itself and mixed with other substances. He concludes by saying of the fossil chrysocolla, that the more desiccative the less stimulant it is, as being so much the more attenuated; and that when burnt (calcined), it becomes still more attenuated. (De Simpl. ix.) It is clear from this statement that Galen included under his list of Simples both the fossil chrysocolla and the kind prepared from verdigris. Aëtius merely abridges the account of the chrysocolla given by Galen. (ii, 81.) And as Oribasius professedly copies his descriptions of the fossils used in medicine from Dioscorides, we need not say anything further of his account of chrysocolla, than that it coincides entirely with that of Dioscorides. (Med. Coll. xiii.) Celsus ranks it with the corrosive (v, 6) and the caustic substances. (v, 8.) We now turn to the Arabians. Avicenna, in the first place, treats of this substance under the name of chrysocolla, of which he describes two species; the one, the artificial, made with the urine of a boy in a bronze mortar, as already explained; the other the fossil, of which he says he will now treat. He describes its general characters, namely, that it is abstergent, caustic, septic, and so forth. Referring to Dioscorides and Galen, he calls it an emetic and astringent medicine, and good for malignant sores. (ii, 2, 358.) He there refers to sect. 696, where he treats of tincar, of which he says that it consists of two kinds, the fossil and the factitious, the latter of which is called the gold-solder (capistrum auri). It is useful, he says, in toothache and carious teeth. Averrhoes describes it under the names of Laçacolaap, i. e. Consolidatura auri; in Arabic, Cumbar. He gives exactly the same account of the two species as Galen. He says the factitious kind is best prepared in a mortar of red bronze with the urine of a young person; which species is more efficacious than the other. (Collig. v, 43.) Serapion in the portion of his work devoted to minerals, writes thus of Tincar, i. e. Borax. “Ebn Amram says of it, it is of the species of salts, and is found with the taste of baurach (nitrum?), and has some bitterness; and it is either fossil or factitious. And the fossil is in the banks of the sea; it is hot, dry, and subtile; is useful in toothache, and kills the worm in them, and in stopping the throbbing in them it has wonderful powers.” Rhases and Aben Mesuai say of it, that the basis (radix) of it is the urine of a boy, we mean of the factitious, and it is the solder of gold (chrysocolla.) It would appear to be the chrysocolla which is described by Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48, 495), but we must admit ourselves incapable of interpreting correctly his meaning as expressed in the barbarous translation of his works. Ebn Baithar first treats of chrysocolla under the name of Tankâr in an extract from the works of Ebn Amram which we have given above as quoted by Serapion. (i, 214.) And again in the 2d volume (434), he first gives descriptions of the chrysocolla in extracts from Dioscorides and Galen, and concludes with the remark that some people called it the tankar chrysocolla, but that the chrysocolla of Dioscorides and Galen was a totally different article from the tankar. Rhases gives merely extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (Cont. l. ult. i, 25.) He calls it adhesio auri. From what has been stated above, we now draw the following conclusions regarding the matters treated of under this head: 1. That the mineral known by the names of “copper green,” “mountain green,” “native carbonate of copper,” was the true chrysocolla of Dioscorides, the said term signifying Gold solder. 2. That Dioscorides further describes a preparation of verdigris which was also used for soldering gold, to which the name chrysocolla was likewise applied by Pliny, Galen, and others. 3. That under the names of Tincal, Tankâr, and Borax, the Arabians described a species of salt, which most probably was our Sodæ Biboras, to which they sometimes applied the name chrysocolla from its being used in the soldering of gold, but their best authorities (as for example, Avicenna, and Ebn Baithar) were well aware that this borax was a totally different substance from the chrysocolla of Dioscorides. The name borax is probably a corruption of Baurach, which is the term applied by the Arabians to the nitrum of the Greeks and Romans, that is to say, natron, or soda. If the reader will take the trouble to read what has been written on the chrysocolla of the ancients by many learned men in modern times, as, for example, Alston, Hill, Geoffroy, Quincy, Sprengel, and Kidd, he will be the better able to judge whether or not we have succeeded in illustrating what has always been considered a very obscure subject.
Χρυσοκόμη ἢ Χρυσῖτις,
Chrysocome or Chrysitis; its root has at the same time acrid and astringent powers, and therefore is not much used. Only in peripneumonia and hepatic affections it is given boiled in honeyed water. It also promotes menstruation.
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COMMENTARY. Pliny complains that it had no name in the Latin language; and Anguillara and Matthiolus were unable to make out what it is. It now holds a place in the Linnæan system by the name of Chrysocoma Linosyris. Our author borrows his characters of this article from Dioscorides (iv. 55.) Galen describes it in almost the same words. It is not to be found in the works of Dioscorides or Celsus, nor, as far as we can discover, in those of the Arabians.
Ψευδοβούνιον,
Pseudo-Bunion, Bastard Rape; its properties being like those of rape, it is heating, discutient, and detergent. It, therefore, removes tormina, stranguries, and pains of the sides. It also discusses scrofulous swellings when applied along with salts and wine.
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COMMENTARY. It would appear that it is the Pimpinella tenuis or Slender Burnet. Our author copies from Dioscorides. Galen treats very lightly of this article. It does not appear that it is treated of by the Arabians.
Ψευδοδίκταμνον,
Pseudo-Dictamnum, Bastard Dittany, has the powers of weak dittany.
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COMMENTARY. We are inclined to join those who refer it to the Marrubium Pseudodictamnum. Galen and Dioscorides join in representing it as an article of little consequence.
Ψιμύθιον,
Cerussa, White Lead, is refrigerant and emplastic.
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COMMENTARY. We have treated of it as a poison in Book V. § 59. Alston says: “Our white lead is certainly the Ψιμύθιον of Dioscorides and the Cerussa Plinii” (xviii.) The ancient ceruse consisted of the carbonate of lead which had been exposed to the vapours of vinegar, and was, therefore, little or nothing different from the modern ceruse. Geoffroy’s description of the process is taken, in fact, from Dioscorides. It would appear to have been sometimes administered internally, if, as Dr. Hill remarks, it is an ingredient in the Trochisci albi of Rhases. We have not been able to find, however, this trochisc in Rhases, nor in any of the ancient authorities. Perhaps Dr. Hill confounded it with the Emplastrum album, of which ceruse is an ingredient. (See Galen, De Comp. Med. sec. gen. vi, and Celsus, 222 ad Milligan.) Galen in fact expressly says that ceruse ought not to be administered internally (Meth. Med. iv.) He recommends it as an anodyne collyrium in pains of the eyes (Comment. in App. vi, 31), and as an astringent and soothing application in general. (De Simpl. Med. ix.) Dioscorides describes minutely the preparation of ceruse, and the different kinds of it, but gives its medicinal properties in brief terms like our author. (v. 103.) Celsus recommends it in burns and ulcers (vi, 7), but internally taken he treats of it as a poison (v, 27, 15.) All the other Greek and the Arabian authorities after Galen give ceruse exactly the same characters as we have stated them above. See in particular Serapion (De Simpl. 378); Avicenna (ii, 2, 117); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48); Ebn Baithar (i, 63.) The last of these says of it, that it is useful in the same class of cases as Minium; that dissolved in vinegar, and more especially when mixed up with rose-oil, it is a good application in cephalalgia; that it forms a proper ingredient in collyria for inflammations of the eyes,—and dissolved in a woman’s milk or mixed up with the white of an egg,—that it is dropped into the eye with advantage in such cases.
Ψύλλιον,
Psyllium, Fleawort; the seed belongs to the second order of refrigerants. With regard to heating and moistening powers it holds an intermediate place.
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COMMENTARY. Sprengel remarks, that there can be no difficulty about it; it is the Plantago Psyllium L. Dioscorides and Pliny recommend it pounded with hog’s lard as an application to malignant ulcers; Pliny also says that its seed is a good application to the bites of serpents. (H. N. xxvi, 66.) Dioscorides says it cures tumours, arthritic diseases, intestinal hernia, and other complaints, with rose-oil, vinegar or water. It is, he says, a powerful refrigerant. (iv, 70.) Galen and the other Greek authorities give its characters succinctly like our author. Celsus puts it in his list of agglutinative substances (v, 2.) The Arabians recommend it for the same purposes as the Greeks, and also for allaying the inflammation of acute fevers. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 533); Serapion (De Simpl. 230); Ebn Baithar (i, 132); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 567); Mesue (De Simpl. 20.) We have treated of it as a poison in Book V. § 40. According to Crantz its poisonous qualities have been exaggerated by Dioscorides. (Mat. Med. iii, 117.) Accordingly we do not find it treated of by the late writers on toxicology. Although it has long ceased to occupy a place in our dispensatory, it has been celebrated in modern times for its medicinal virtues. Platearius commends it highly as a cooling and astringent medicine, in acute fevers, dysenteries, hemorrhages, &c. (De Simpl. Med.) Prosper Alpinus mentions that the modern Egyptians make frequent use of its mucilage as a medicine, and hence he finds fault with Dioscorides and Mesue for setting it down as a poison. (De Med. Ægypt.); and Rutty (Mat. Med. 415.) Its seeds form with boiling water a rich mucilage, which it appears is still much used in India, in catarrh, gonorrhœa, and nephritic affections. Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 643.) A recent authority on pharmacy says of it that its seeds are mucilaginous and purgative. Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 44.)
Ψωρικὸν,
Psoricum, is formed by mixing two parts of chalcitis with one of litharge, triturating them in vinegar, and, having put them into a new pot, by burying them in dung for forty days. It becomes more desiccative, more subtile, and less pungent than chalcitis.
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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides and Pliny call it a mixture of cadmia and chalcitis; Galen, Aëtius, and our author say of litharge and chalcitis. Avicenna follows Dioscorides. (ii, 2, 273.) Celsus also directs it to be made of chalcitis and cadmia. (vi, 6, 31.) It derives its name from its being used as an application to parts affected with scabies (psora.) The psoricum has been long unknown in the practice of medicine.
Ὠὸν,
Ovum, An Egg; the white and thin part is free from all pungency, being moderately cooling. It is to be used for the eyes, ulcers in the pudendum, and all ill-conditioned ulcers. It is also mixed up with the medicines which form styptic plasters. And the yelk of an egg being possessed of similar powers, is mixed up with anti-inflammatory remedies. When roasted it becomes more desiccative but less soothing. If a whole egg be boiled in vinegar, and eaten, it dries up alvine fluxes. But if, having received the addition of some sour substances, such as galls, sumach, or the flowers of the wild pomegranate, it be fried, it becomes considerably more drastic. A whole egg applied raw immediately relieves burns. When taken in a supping state, it concocts and soothes affections in the chest, and proves demulcent for asperities of the trachea. New eggs are to be preferred to old, and those of hens to the eggs of all other animals.
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COMMENTARY. Galen gives, in his usual copious and elegant style, a somewhat lengthy dissertation on the medicinal properties of eggs, but the narrow limits to which we are necessarily restricted, prevent us from transferring the substance of it to our pages, although it contains much that is highly interesting. (De Simpl. xi.) Galen recommends eggs for various medicinal purposes; and in particular he says that wool dipped in the white of an egg proves a serviceable application to burns. Dioscorides states their virtues more briefly, and to him our author is more particularly indebted. (ii, 54, 55.) He recommends the white of an egg in a tepid state for severe pains of the bladder and ulceration of the kidneys, roughness of the windpipe, vomiting of blood, catarrhs, and defluxions of the chest. Pliny, Dioscorides, and Sextus Platonicus say that eggs pounded with oil form an excellent application in cases of erysipelas, the leaves of beet being laid on the place. Pliny and Dioscorides recommend them for affections of the eyes. Avicenna recommends the white of an egg with melilot in ulcers of the intestines. He says eggs boiled in vinegar are useful in diarrhœa and dysentery. He recommends a suppository of the albumen of an egg in prolapsus ani, and other affections of the fundament. Like the preceding authorities he speaks favorably of it as an application to the eyes. (ii, 2, 520.) See also Ebn Baithar (i, 193); Serapion (c. 446); Rhases (Ad Mansor.; Antid. iv.)
Ὤκιμον,
Ocimum, Basil, belongs to the second order of calefacients, and has also some recrementitious humidity, hence it is of no use when taken internally; but when applied externally, it is discutient and digestive.
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COMMENTARY. It most probably is the Ocimum Basilicum. Dioscorides not only recommends it for many medicinal purposes externally, but also says of it that it loosens the bowels, is carminative, diuretic, and creates milk, but is of difficult digestion; the seed, he adds, when taken in a draught, is beneficial in melancholy, dysuria, and flatulence, and it is also sternutatory. (ii, 170.) Our author follows Galen very closely. Aëtius also condemns the internal administration of basil, but praises highly a decoction of it as a fomentation to the eyes, and particularly those of children. Oribasius as usual follows Dioscorides, and, therefore, like him approves of the internal use of it. It occurs in the works both of Hippocrates and Celsus, the latter of whom says of it that it moves the bowels, and is diuretic. (ii, 29, 31.) The Arabians treat of it still more fully than the Greeks. Avicenna says it is a cordial medicine, that it generally binds the bowels, but also moves them, if there be humours in them, that it is useful in hæmoptysis and in difficulty of breathing. (ii, 2, 101.) See also Serapion (c. 167); Ebn Baithar (i, 110); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. ii, 121.) The basil held a place in our English dispensatory down to the times of Quincy and Lewis. It holds a place in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia, where it is stated that it is indigenous in Persia, and only cultivated in gardens in Greece. (p. 27.)
Ὠκιμοειδὲς,
Ocimoides, which some call Philetærium. Its root is useless, but the seed is composed of subtile matter, and is desiccative without pungency.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Matthiolus held it to be a species of lychnis, but this opinion is rejected by Dodonæus. Sprengel agrees with Lobelius and Dalecampius in referring it to the Saponaria ocimoides. This is one of the most disputed articles of the ancient Mat. Med. Of the conjectures which have been made respecting it, the most probable then is that it was either a species of Lychnis or Saponaria. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 630, 760.) We are disposed to acquiesce in opinion with those who hold it to be the Saponaria ocimoides. Dioscorides says of it, that its seed when drunk in wine is calculated to benefit those who have been stung by scorpions, and is useful for the bites of all other kinds of reptiles, and that it is given in sciatica with myrrh and pepper. (iv, 28.) Galen states its character in nearly the same terms as our author. It is not described by Aëtius, by Hippocrates or Celsus, nor, as far as we can discover, by any of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, whose notice of it is entirely made up from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 93.) It has been long unknown to our Dispensatory, and does not occur in the Pharmacopœia of the modern Greeks.
APPENDIX TO THE THIRD SECTION.
On the Substances introduced into the Materia Medica by the Arabians.
Having thus given a brief account of all the Simple Substances described by the Greek and Roman writers on the Materia Medica, we are now called upon to supply what information we can procure regarding the additions made to their list by the Arabians. This, we need scarcely say, is a field of research, which, having been hitherto but little cultivated, is attended with difficulties of a particularly formidable nature; for, although we have been enabled to avail ourselves of the learned labours of Professor Sprengel, Dr. Royle, Dr. Ainslie, and of certain other oriental scholars who have touched cursorily upon these matters, we have been more thrown upon our own resources on the present occasion than at any other stage of our progress in executing this work. We trust, then, that our readers will receive with peculiar indulgence our present essay, which, however imperfect, will be found, if we mistake not, to have opened up a mine of valuable knowledge from which some more skilful labourer in the same line will yet draw additional stores of information to the profession. Of course it will be readily seen, that we do not pretend to give an account of all the articles introduced into the practice of medicine by the Arabians; that, even if we were possessed of the requisite knowledge of the oriental languages, would evidently be out of the question within our narrow limits. For Ebn Baithar alone, if his laborious work were properly explored, would furnish a large volume of new matters added by his own individual exertions to the accumulated treasures of his predecessors; but, of the articles first treated of by him there are unfortunately many which are but very doubtfully determined, and not a few which are left wholly undetermined by his translator Dr. Sontheimer. And here it is but right that we should acknowledge that the translation itself would have been to us “a sealed book” if our learned friend, Professor Blackie, of Aberdeen, had not come to our assistance, and in so far made up for our own very imperfect acquaintance with the German language. But, besides the stores of Ebn Baithar, there is much in those of Avicenna, Serapion, Rhases, and Haly Abbas, which still remain to be unfolded by some fortunate savant who is acquainted both with the languages of the East and the sciences of the West.
It may be proper to mention, that the articles which are here described are set down in the same order as the notices of them were composed, because we could not satisfy ourselves with regard to any methodical arrangement which would conveniently apply to them and be in unison with the general plan of this work.
Ambra grisea.
A recent writer on the Materia Medica gives the following description of Ambergris: “The substance called Ambergris (ambra grisea) is procured from the Cachalot or spermwhale. In this country it is used as a perfume only; on the continent it is employed in medicine. It appears to be the indurated fæces (perhaps somewhat altered by disease) of the animal. Mr. Beale collected some of the semi-fluid fæces, and found that the dried mass had all the properties of ambergris. It is a solid, opaque, grayish, striated substance, having a pleasant musk-like odour, and which is derived from the squid (sæpia moschata) on which the animal feeds.” Pereira (Mat. Med. 1392.) No one who compares this account of ambergris with what is said of it in the extracts we have given from Serapion and Avicenna under Electrum, can entertain a doubt that these authors were well informed as to the nature of this substance. Ebn Baithar gives a similar account of the origin of ambergris. He says, it is furnished by sea monsters which swallow it and vomit it up again. It swims on the surface of water, and the blackish kind is of little value. He calls it the most excellent of all aromatics, and praises it for strengthening the heart and brain, and for curing cramp and similar complaints. Among other powers which it possesses, it is said to be intoxicating. (i, 210, 405.) See also Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 33.) The Greeks and Romans would appear to have been unacquainted with this species of Amber until after the Arabian period. It is accurately described by Symeon Seth, as we have already stated above in the commentary on Electrum. He holds it to be a good cordial and stomachic medicine.
Bezoar.
As this article is now but little known in this country, it may be proper to prefix some account of it from recent authorities. Lewis writes of it thus: “Lapis Bezoar orientalis, oriental Bezoar stone, supposed to be produced in the pylorus or in a cavity at the bottom of the fourth stomach of an animal of the goat kind, which inhabits the mountains in different parts of Persia.” (Mat. Med. 217.) But Bontius is, perhaps we may say, the most accurate of the modern authorities who have described the oriental bezoars. He describes them as being alvine concretions which form in goats or gazelles, and have generally a little piece of chaff as a nucleus. He had also seen them taken from the bodies of monkeys. (Med. Ind. c. 45.) See further Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 179, 136.) Now, it is certain that these Bezoars were much used in medicine by the Arabians as they are in the East at the present day; and yet, as far as we have been able to discover, they are not described in any of the Arabian works on the Mat. Med., with the exception of Ebn Baithar, and his account of them is very indistinct and unsatisfactory. We may gather from his description, however, that the term was applied to more substances than these alvine concretions. One of his authorities speaks of the best kind being found in the heart of the stag. Like all his countrymen, he recommends the bezoar as an amulet and an antidote to poisons. (119.) Indeed the term Bezoar would appear to have been used as signifying alexipharmical. See Avicenna (ii, 2), and Serapion (c. 441.) Frequent mention of it occurs in the works of the Arabians. See Haly Abbas (pluries); Rhases (Cont. l. ult., and xxxv, 6, 8, 1); Avicenna (iv, 6, 1, 4.)
Camphora.
This article is so important, that we shall be excused if we dwell upon it at some length. It is well known to be a secretion procured from several trees of the genus Laurus in the East; but more particularly from the tree which has been named Camphora officinarum. Serapion is the ancient authority who gives the fullest account of Camphor. In the first place, owing no doubt to his using some interpolated translation of Dioscorides into Syriac, he quotes him as stating that it is procured from India and China and is produced in most abundance during seasons when there is much thunder. One of his Arabian authorities, Isaac Ebn Amram, gives a distinct account of the origin of camphor and a description of the qualities of the different kinds of it, with a brief notice of the mode of clarifying it by sublimation, which is the process by which it is still produced. As to its medicinal virtues, he holds it to be cold and dry in the second degree, and says it is applicable in cases of inflammations, vertigo, and cholera; in fumigations with myrrh, rose-oil, and sandal-wood; that it is anaphrodisiac, induces premature hoariness of the hair; that in a masticatory with lettuce, it cures the hot intemperament of the brain and induces sleep; removes vertigo; stops hemorrhages from the nose and all fluxes in general; and, in short, that it is a common ingredient in all fumigations and ointments. Rhases, as quoted by him, pronounces camphor to be cold and attenuate (volatile?); says it is calculated to remove hot intemperaments in the head and the whole body; when too much used that it induces insomnolency; that it brings on coldness of the kidneys and bladder; coagulates the semen, and engenders coldness, and principally in the colder members of the body. Another Arabian authority, Meseab, calls it cold and dry in the third degree, and recommends it in epistaxis as a masticatory with raisins. Mesarugie, another authority, says, in large doses it induces indigestion and stops the formation of semen. Another of his Arabian authorities, Aben Mesuai (Mesue the elder?) says, it is astringent of the bowels, induces premature hoariness of the hair, and is useful in hot apostemes. Aben Amram, as quoted by him, says, Camphor is cold in the third degree, and is useful when applied to inflamed parts with rose-water, and comforts the members of the body and the senses; and is useful in cholera along with other astringents. He gives a quotation from the ‘Medicina Antiqua’ to this effect, that camphor is an astringent of the bowels, and that its use induces hoariness of the hairs. (De Simplicibus, 344.) Avicenna’s account of it is much more succinct; he describes several species of it; says it is procured from a very large tree capable of giving shelter to a multitude of animals; that he had often seen the wood of it, and that it was white, brittle, light, and contained in its pores some vestiges of camphor. He holds that its nature is cold and dry in the second degree. He recommends it in exactly the same cases as Serapion does, namely, in inflammatory complaints, epistaxis, hot vertigo, and acute ophthalmy. He also, like Serapion’s authorities, holds that it is anaphrodisiac and represses fluxes. (ii, 2, 130.) Rhases gives a brief account of camphor upon the authority of Misib, Mesarguil, and Bimasui; the first of whom merely recommends it in fluxes; the next relates of it that an acquaintance of his took six drachms of camphor at one dose, which impaired his digestion and brought on impotence without inducing any other complaint; the third, like some of Serapion’s authorities, represents it to be cold and dry in the third degree, and recommends it for fluxes, and further says that it induces premature hoariness of the hair. (Contin. l. ult. i, 147.) In another work he calls it cold, humid, and subtile (volatile?), and gives it the same characters as the other authorities. (Ad Mansor. iii, 22.) Mesue gives a formula for troches of camphor, which he recommends in ardent fevers, heat of the bile and of the blood, hot intemperaments of the stomach and of the liver, for intense thirst, jaundice, phthisis, and hectic. (De Trochiscis. i.) Haly Abbas frequently recommends camphor in the course of his works, but we have not been able to discover any distinct account of it in the very barbarous translation of his Materia Medica. Ebn Baithar gives a very circumstantial account of the formation of camphor on the tree which produces it, and describes its characters very accurately. He says it is cold and dry in the second degree, and is useful in hot intemperaments and bilious headaches. Like some of the others quoted above, he says it is produced most abundantly in times of thunder. In an over-dose, he says, it is anaphrodisiac, and induces sleeplessness, and relates a case in which it destroyed the tone of the stomach, and occasioned impotence. He says it is used in collyria, and as a sternutatory, and to stop the hole in a carious tooth. Symeon Seth is the only one of the Greek authorities that treats fully of camphor (caphura.) He says it is cold and dry in the third degree; that it is the gum or tear of a tree growing in India; that the tree which produces it is said to be very large, so that a hundred men could be sheltered by its shade; that it is produced on the mountains near the sea; and that the wood of the tree is light and fistulous. He recommends camphor as being most useful in acute diseases, in headaches from heat, and in inflammations, especially those of the liver; says that it induces coldness of the kidneys and spermatic vessels, and coagulates the blood. He mentions a test of its purity. (De Alimentis.) Myrepsus in one place mentions the herb camphor, but it is doubtful whether he means the substance we are treating of;—most probably not. (De Unguent, iii, 46.)
Cassia Fistula.
Serapion, in the first place, gives a pretty accurate description of it, and states the localities from which it is procured, namely, India, Babylonia, and Arabia. Upon the authority of Aben Mesuai he states it to be of a sweet taste, and laxative of the bowels, and says it has virtues to extinguish the sharpness of the blood, that it relieves apostemes and boils in the mouth, and is useful in jaundice and pains of the liver. In a dose of three to ten drachms he says it is cholagogue and laxative. Abengnefit, as quoted by him, says it purifies the nerves. Rhases, as quoted by him, says it is laxative and efficacious in apostemes, especially those of the throat. (De Simpl. xii.) Avicenna’s account of it is but little different from that of Serapion. Having described it, he says it is of an equal temperament as to heat and cold, but is of a moistening nature, and that in action it is resolvent and laxative. It is useful, he says, in hot apostemes of the bowels, and especially of the throat when a gargle of it is prepared with a decoction of nightshade. He praises it in a liniment for gout and arthritic pains. He speaks well of it in dyspnœa. He says it cleanses the liver, and is of use in jaundice and pain of the liver. He says it is a gentle laxative, bringing away heated bile and phlegm, and opens the bowels safely without griping. (ii, 2, 192.) Badagorius, as quoted by Rhases, says of cassia fistula, that it is alterative, an evacuant of bile, and a cleanser of the blood. The son of Mesue, as quoted by the same, recommends it, like Serapion, in jaundice, pain of the liver, of the throat, &c. Priscianus, as quoted by Rhases, says it is a safe purgative to pregnant women, brings away bile, clears away jaundice, and is efficacious in pain of the liver and throat. Marsenuce (?) recommends it in the same affections of the throat as the others. (Contin. l. ult. i, 187.) Of all the ancient authorities, Mesue the younger gives the fullest account of it, but it is in nearly the same terms as Serapion’s. His description of it is full and accurate. Any injurious action which it has, he says, may be removed by the mixture of myrobalans, rhubarb, the water of mastich, and spikenard; and in dryness of the bowels by mixing almond oil with it. Diuretics also are said to determine it to the urinary passages. He says it is useful to add some laxative to it. As to its virtues, he says it cleanses the blood, allays all sharpness in it, assuages thirst, with the juice of endive, &c., clears the stomach, brings away yellow bile and phlegm, and that safely, also purges the breast and throat, and is useful in heat of the kidneys, when taken with diuretics and the infusion of liquorice, that it prevents the formation of stones, and is useful in ardent fevers. (De Simpl. vi.) Ebn Baithar also gives a very elaborate and correct account of this article, but as it is nearly the same as that of Mesue, we need not say much about it. He calls it a well-known tree growing in Egypt; says in moderate doses it is a safe purgative, even to pregnant women, but in large doses occasions hypercatharsis. If the root is not sound, it is apt to produce disturbance of the bowels. He says it purges hot bile, softens the breast, and cleanses the nerves, &c. (i, 401.) Actuarius describes it by the name of the Black Cassia, and recommends it as a gentle purgative both alone and with other medicines. (Meth. Med. v, 2.) It occurs among the ingredients in the antidotes of Myrepsus. See Antidot. (i, xi.) Of course the article we have been treating of will be recognised as being the Cassia fistula L., the pudding-pipe tree, or purging cassia. The pulp of the pods is still sometimes used in medicine as a gentle purgative. See Paris (Pharmacol. i, 271); Pereira (M. M. 1172); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 150); Royle (M. M. 355.)
Senna.
If the work of Serapion (De Simplicibus) which we possess, be the production of the elder Serapion (and after being long familiarly acquainted with it we are inclined to think so), he is undoubtedly the first author who has described senna as an article of the Materia Medica. First on his own authority he describes very accurately the pods, stalks, and seeds of the plant. On the authority of Isaac Ebn Amram he recommends it for removing the inquietude accompanying melancholy, for aches and disturbances of the nerves, for alopecia, phthiriasis, chronic headache, scabies, pustulæ parvæ, pruritus, and epilepsy. Abix, another authority, declares it to have great power of purging black and yellow bile, and of acting as a cordial when mixed with suitable medicines such as violets. His last authority under this head is Rhases, who says that senna and fumitory purge adust humours, and prove useful in scabies and pruritus. (De Simpl. 58.) Under the head of sahane Avicenna briefly notices an article which he recommends as being abstergent and desiccant in pruritus and scabies, in pain of the neck, fetid breath, and watery stomach (waterbrash?). This account we are inclined to think must refer to senna. (ii, 2, 651.) Rhases gives almost exactly the same description of the sahane. (Contin. l. ult. i, 596.) In his work ‘Ad Mansor.’ (viii, 54), he gives the account of Sene quoted above from Serapion, and again at ‘Divis.’ (i, 144.) Haly Abbas describes it accurately in his chapter on Purgatives. (Pract. ii, 54.) He recommends it as a medicine which purges both yellow and black bile, and is useful in gout and rheumatism, and in colics when mixed with raisins, oil of almonds, &c. Mesue describes senna as the folliculus of a plant resembling the tare. The best part of the plant, he says, is the folliculus (legume?), and next the leaves; and both these parts are said to be best when of a green colour. As senna has a tendency to weaken the stomach by its operation, he recommends it to be mixed with ginger, sal gem, Indian salt (sugar?), and cordials. He quotes Galen (through some mistake, as is generally supposed) as recommending it boiled in the soup of fowls. He also speaks of giving it in whey, or in milk, or in must, that is to say, the fresh juice of the grape. The last of these preparations he praises as cleansing the brain and senses, and creating joy. He also speaks favorably of a decoction of it with prunes and spikenard. As to its virtues, he says it readily purges black and adust bile, cleanses the brain, heart, liver, spleen, the senses, and lungs, proves deobstruent and dispels sorrow. He also speaks favorably of the leaves when applied to the head in the bath as improving the senses of sight and hearing, and as proving a remedy to fevers arising from black bile, and to chronic fevers. (De Simpl. xv.) Ebn Baithar gives an interesting description of it. He says in Arabia it is used as a dye, and that its leaves are mixed with those of the plant now called Lawsonia inermis. He calls it cholagogue and melanogogue, says it penetrates the inferior extremities, and purges them in cases of gout. He also praises it in scabies, epilepsy, and a great many other diseases. By some mistake he quotes Paulus. He says it is better in decoction than in powder. The dose of the latter is from two to three drachms, of the former from four to seven drachms. (i, 57.) Actuarius says of sene, that it purges moderately in doses of one drachm. (Meth. Med. v, 8.) Sene occurs as an ingredient in several of the antidotes of Myrepsus, as c. 112, 465, 472. Under this head we would beg, before concluding, to refer the reader to Ainslie’s Mat. Ind. (i, 205). It will be there seen that in Æthiopia senna is still used as a dye.
Berberis.
Rhases gives extracts from Badigorius, Oribasius, Mesue, and others on the virtues of this substance, which he represents as being lithontriptic, styptic, and alexipharmic. He says it is called calmuris in Greek. (Contin. l. ult. i, 121.) Serapion gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen under this head, but there seems no reason to suppose that they were at all acquainted with this article. He recommends it as being cooling and incisive, and a strengthener of the stomach and liver. He also praises it in all fluxes. (De Simpl. 229.) Ebn Baithar calls it astringent, stomachic, and hepatic, and says it binds the bowels and quenches thirst. He recommends it in diarrhœa connected with weakness of the liver, and in diseases of the stomach and uterus. See also Avicenna (vi, 9.) The berberry (Berberis vulgaris) is recommended by Gerard, Parkinson, and all our old herbalists as an astringent medicine in diseases of the stomach and liver. Even at the present day it is admitted to possess these virtues. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 102) and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 438.) The former of these seems to acknowledge it as the Oxyacantha of the Greeks, but we think incorrectly. Dr. Royle supposes the Lycium Indicum of Dioscorides to be the berberry. It seems to us more probable, however, that the berberry was but the succedaneum of the lycium. See Schröder (Chemical Dispensatory, 475.)
Galanga.
Rhases calls it stomachic. (Antid. iii.) Serapion having described it, upon the authority of Isaac ebn Amram says of it, that it is hot and dry in the third degree, is useful to phlegmatic persons, and in humidity of the stomach (waterbrash?); promotes digestion by its heat and the solution which it occasions in the stomach, and thus relieves colic, gives fragrance to the breath, and warms the kidneys; it sets the semen in commotion, and when a piece of it is held in the mouth, it occasions erections of the membrum virile. The same virtues in the same cases are assigned to it by Aben Mesuai, and also Aben Mesabah, who recommends it in flatulent colic and eructations. (De Simpl. 332.) Avicenna, having described it, delivers the same account of its medicinal powers as Serapion, that is to say, he holds it to be hot and dry in the second degree, of subtile parts and carminative, says that it renders the breath fragrant, is good for the stomach, promotes digestion, is useful in colic and pains of the kidneys, and is aphrodisiacal. (ii, 2, 314; v, 2, 6.) The same account of it is given by “the Son of Mesue,” in the ‘Continens’ of Rhases (l. ult. i, 323.) In the pharmaceutical work of Myrepsus there is an “antidotus a Galanga,” which is said to be beneficial in affections of the stomach and spleen, and in indigestion; also for singultus, acidity of the food in the stomach, cachexia, dropsy, and coldness of the whole body: it contains cloves, ginger, cinnamon, galangal, &c. (i, 63; also, 222.) Ebn Baithar ascribes the same virtues to it as Serapion; thus he says it is a wonderful aphrodisiac, promotes digestion, cures colic, is carminative, and so forth. Although now little used, galangal root is not yet wholly unknown to the writers on the Materia Medica. Dr. Pereira says of “radix galangæ officinalis; its odour is agreeably aromatic, its taste peppery and aromatic. It is the rhizome of the Alpinia Galanga Roxb.” (Mat. Med. 698.) See also Lewis (Mat. Med. 452); Hill (Mat. Med. i, 447); Quincy (72); Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. 26); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 166.) There are two species of galangal, which Dr. Lindley refers to the alpinia racemosa and galanga. He says of them, “the warm and pungent roots of the greater and lesser galangals are not only used by the Indian doctors, but are considered useful in coughs, given in infusion.” (Ibid.) On the Galangal see further Ainslie (Mat. Ind., i, 140.)
Zeduaria and Zerumbeth.
In order to understand this subject it will be necessary in the first place to see the descriptions of these substances given by modern authorities. Dr. Pereira says of the former of these: “The Zeduary root (Radix Zeduariæ officinalis) of English druggists appears to me to agree with Professor Guibourt’s description of round Zeduary (Zeduaria rotunda). It is the sliced tuber of Curcuma Zeduaria Rox. It has a warm, aromatic, bitter taste, and an aromatic odour.” (Mat. Med. 698.) And of the Zerumbet the same author says: “Cassamunar root is considered by English druggests to be identical with Zerumbet root. (Private information; also, Gray, Pharmacop.) It appears to me to be the Turmeric-coloured Zeduary of Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 490.) Is it the product of Zinziber Cassamuniar Roxb.? The Zerumbet root which I received from my friend Dr. Royle is very similar in shape to a curved and arched piece of long turmeric.” (Mat. Med. 698.) Dr. Ainslie gives an interesting disquisition on the Zeduary of which he describes three species: 1. Zeduary Kæmpferian (Kæmpferia rotunda.) 2. Zeduary Zerumbet (Curcuma Zerumbet.) 3. Zeduary turmeric-coloured (Curcuma and Amomum Zeduaria.) We shall now be better able to ascertain the meaning of the ancient descriptions of these substances. Serapion describes separately the Zerumbet Zeduaria and Zerumbet, but in such terms that one is at a loss to see any real distinction between them. (De Simpl. 172, 271.) He calls Zeduary an odoriferous tree for which cinnamon is often substituted. He refers to Galen and Paulus, but what passages in their works he alludes to it is not easy to discover. He describes it as being a great tree which grows on Mount Lebanon, and produces no fruit, but has the odour of citron, and is hot and dry in its nature, and is astringent so as both to open and astringe the bowels. Mesarugie, one of his authorities, compares its virtues to those of nutmeg; praises it as being sternutatory, and also stomachic and hepatic. This, without doubt, is the Zeduary, and the Zarnabum of Avicenna, who describes it separately from the Zerumbet, but mentions that the latter is much the same as the Zeduary. (ii, 2, 736, 738.) Rhases, in like manner, compares the Zerumbet to the Zeduary as being possessed of similar powers. He treats most fully of the former, recommending it as being alexipharmic, a good application to apostemes, &c. (Contin. l. ult. ii, 765.) Ebn Baithar treats fully of the Zerumbeth, which he describes minutely, and compares it to the great Cyperus. He says it is called camphor-root in the West. He calls it alexipharmical, cordial, intoxicating; an excellent medicine in inflation of the uterus, and possessed of emmenagogue and diuretic powers. He says it is good in affections of the liver and surrounding parts. It is said to determine downwards when applied to the soles of the feet in complaints of the head, to prove useful in leprosy when rubbed into the part affected, and to remove impotence. He also treats separately, and at considerable length, of the Zeduaria nigra. (ii, 95.) From the above account it will be seen that these two substances were nearly allied to one another, and in fact there is no doubt that the one was often taken for the other. See further Moses Charras (Royal Pharmacop. 68); Gray (Pharmacop. 26.) The Zeduary was often used as a succedaneum for the costus (Pemberton, Dispensatory, 340) in the composition of the Mithridate, and hence these two substances have been sometimes erroneously taken for the same. See also Manardus ad Mesue (De Trochiscis, 154); and Quincy (English Dispensatory, 483.)
Amomum Grana Paradisi.
There seems to be no doubt that this is the article which Ebn Baithar means to describe (i, 272). He calls it a spicy plant which comes out of Yemen and India. He describes two kinds, and says of them that they are hot, fragrant, and astringent, and hence prove stomachic and promote digestion. He says they are useful in epilepsy and faintings, and cure headaches in a sternutatory. He describes the smaller kind as being weaker but more attenuant than the larger. We are not aware of the grains of paradise, or Guinea grains, as they are sometimes called, being described by any other of the ancient authorities. We need scarcely remark that they are now well known, and occasionally used in the practice of medicine. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 27); Pereira (Mat. Med. 697); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 167.)
Macis and Nux moschata.
We have shown in the proper place that the Macer of the Greeks and Romans was not mace. The Arabian authorities, it is true, in describing Mace quote what the Greeks had written on Macer, but this does not prove their identity, for many such instances of confused reference occur in their works. Avicenna says, upon the authority of Mesue, that mace is the cortex (meaning, of course, the involucre) of nux moschata. He recommends it as a good stomachic, hepatic, and uterine medicine, and says it proves an astringent in fluxes of the bowels and in dysentery (ii, 2, 448.) The nutmeg, or nucleus of the myristica officinalis, he says, is of the size of a gall, brittle, having a fine rind (involucre), and a sharp smell. He recommends it as a styptic in complaints of the liver, spleen, and stomach, and in difficulty of urine. In oils he says it is a sedative of pain, and also in pessaries, and it stops vomiting. (ii, 2, 495.) He quotes no Greek authorities under this head. Rhases, in his ‘Continens,’ says briefly of the nux moschata, that it resembles cloves, and is good for the stomach and liver. (l. ult. 507.) In his other work (Ad Mansor. iii, 30,) he calls it hot and dry, and recommends it as an astringent in coldness of the stomach and liver. Mesue, in his electuary of lignum aloes, which he recommends for affections of the heart, stomach, and coldness of the liver, mentions nutmeg and mace as two of its ingredients. (De Electariis, i.) The ancient writer, however, who gives the fullest account of these articles is Serapion, who under this head quotes only from Arabian authorities, namely, Aaron, Isaac ebn Amram, Aben Mesuai, Miseaben, Albasari, and Rhases. They all agree in representing them to be aromatic and astringent, useful in flatulence and other complaints of the stomach, in fetid breath, indigestion, and enlargements of the spleen and liver. (De Simpl. 161.) Ebn Baithar’s extracts under this head are principally from Rhases and Avicenna. He evidently disapproves of the opinion of those that held Macer and Mace to be identical. On the nutmeg and mace we would beg to refer to Ainslie (Mat. Ind. 202, 249.) It will be there seen that the Hindoos still use these articles as cardiac, hepatic, and stomachic medicines. It appears doubtful to us whether the Greeks and Romans were at all acquainted with the nutmeg. For we have always suspected the genuineness of the last chapter but one of Aëtius, which contains a number of Indian aromatics not to be found elsewhere in the works of the Greek authorities. Our suspicions, which are of old date, have been much strengthened by the discovery that many of the formulæ contained in that chapter as given in the Latin translation are wanting in the two MSS. of Aëtius in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. This we have positively ascertained through the kindness of Dr. Greenhill, who examined this part of these MSS. at our request to ascertain the fact. It may be well to take this opportunity of stating that with the original of the last eight books of Aëtius we have no personal acquaintance further than from a cursory examination of these MSS. during a very brief visit to Oxford in 1845. In the MS. named ‘Canon. Gr.’ (109), the nuces Indicæ are called κάρυα Ινδικά. From what we have stated above, it must now be obvious that we have arrived at the positive conclusion that the νάσκαφθον of the Greek Mat. Med. was not mace. (See the Commentary on this article.)
Nux Indica.
According to Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 268) the first mention of the Cocos nucifera, or cocoa-nut, occurs in the Itinerary of Abuzeid and Wahab. No mention of it is made in the works of the Greek writers on medicine. The Arabians describe it minutely as an article of food, so that it ought to have been noticed by us in our Commentary on the 81st sect. of Book I. Rhases treats of it very fully as a dietetical article, and also as a medicine, saying of it that it purges away the tapeworm, that the oil of it is useful both internally and externally in pains and flatulence of the back, loins, knees, and in hemorrhoids; and he further quotes Bemasuy in confirmation of this character of it. All his authorities held it to be a hot and dry medicine. (Cont. l. ult. i, 506.) Avicenna gives, almost word for word, the same account of it. The flesh of the cocoa-nut, he says, is intensely white, and its juice sweet; and when there is not much juice in it, we are to understand that it is old. The inner bark, he says, is to be taken off, as being wholly indigestible. He recommends it in exactly the same complaints as Rhases does, only as a vermifuge he does not say that its oil brings away the tapeworm, but ascarides and lumbrici. (ii, 2, 498.) Serapion gives a somewhat fuller description of the cocoa-nut, which he knew to be the fruit of a palm-tree, but otherwise his account of it is the same as that of the two authorities already quoted. Of his Arabian authorities, one says that it is laxative, and another that it is astringent. (De Simpl. 228.) Haly Abbas recommends the Nux Indica as a comforter of the nerves in hemicrania, paralysis, and epilepsy. (Pract. ii, 38, 248.) Mesue notices the “oleum ex nuce Indica,” which, he says, is useful in nervous pains, purges the lungs and chest, clears the voice, fattens, and engenders semen. (De Oleis, i.) Ebn Baithar gives an interesting account of the cocoa-palm both as a medicine and an article of food. He says its milk is at times intoxicating and aphrodisiac, and that it is useful in certain complaints of the urine, in tænia and other intestinal worms. The reader will find it interesting to compare the above account of the cocoa from the ancient authorities with what Ainslie says of it in his work, ‘Materia Indica,’ i, 451; and Dr. Lindley in his late admirable publication on the ‘Vegetable Kingdom,’ (136.)
Bdellium.
It has been supposed that under this head Avicenna (ii, 2, 112), and other oriental writers, have included either that species of Palm called Borassus flabelliformis; or another congener, Hyphæne Thebaica. See Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 272); Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 452); Royle (Antiq. of Hindoo Med. 90); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 136.) The term, however, was applied to other substances, as we have stated under the proper head.
Tamarindi.
There is no doubt that we are indebted to the Arabians for our first knowledge of this important medicine. Serapion, in describing this article, quotes only from Arabian authorities, which implies that he held the Greeks to have been unacquainted with it. Its leaves are said to resemble those of the willow. His first authority, Abohanifa, says it grows in Cæsaria; and his next, Aben Mesuai, says its fruit, which is of a ruddy colour, and has much pulp, is brought from India. In temperament it is said to be cold in the third degree, and has the power of purging yellow bile gently, and of repressing its pungency; of stopping vomiting, and removing pruritus. His other authorities, Abugerig, Mesebab, and Mesarugie, give a similar account of it. (De Simpl. 348.) Rhases writes of it in nearly the same terms: thus, he says, it extinguishes yellow bile, opens the bowels, removes thirst and vomiting, and strengthens the stomach. Its action is said to be similar to that of prunes. (Contin. l. ult. i, 699.) On his own authority Rhases says of Tamarinds in another place, that they are of a cold nature, loosen the bowels, repress intense bile and blood. (Ad Mansor. iii, 49.) Avicenna calls Tamarinds cold and dry in the second degree, says they are laxative, and more attenuant than prunes, and contain less juice: that they stop excessive vomiting, and thirst in fevers, and brace the stomach when it is relaxed. They are beneficial, he adds, in syncoptic fevers, and other disorders in which it is necessary to open the bowels gently. (ii, 2, 691.) Mesue describes Tamarinds as being acidulous dates, or the fruit of wild palms growing in India. He gives a very minute description of them, which we need not copy. As to temperament he says, they are cold and dry in the second degree; and in order to correct their bad effects in cold affections of the stomach, he directs them to be mixed with mace, spikenard, mastich, fennel, parsley, endive, &c. He further directs their action to be increased by giving them in the whey of goats, the infusion of fumitory or of hops. He gives very minute directions for preparing Tamarind whey, both simple and compound. As to its virtues, he says, it brings away bile, represses the ebullition of it, and the heat of the blood, is beneficial in inflammation of the liver and stomach, quenches thirst, removes all heat connected with it, is useful in jaundice, stops vomiting, and is a good medicine in acute fevers which require to be repressed. Being of a weak nature, Tamarinds, he says, require to be given to the amount of from two to five ounces. (De Simpl.) Ebn Baithar’s description of Tamarinds is full and accurate, but does not contain anything of importance in addition to the information which we have extracted from the other authorities who preceded him. (See Vol. I, 212.)
Myrobalani.
We have stated under the head of Balanus, that the Greek authorities before the Arabian period were entirely unacquainted with the stone fruits which now bear the name of Myrobalans. As these substances are now scarcely known in this country, we shall find it convenient again, in the present instance, to give, in the first place, a brief account of them from modern authorities. They are well described by Geoffroy, Alston, the Commentators on Mesue, and many other writers on the Mat. Med. They held a place in the British Dispensatory as late as the time of Quincy, and are described by Boerhaave in his Mat. Med. They have not lately been used in the practice of medicine either in Europe, or by our English physicians in the East Indies, as far as we have been able to learn. Five species are described by all writers on them, both ancient and modern, namely, the Citrine, Belleric, Chebulic, Emblic, and Indian. For a particular description of them see Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 262); Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 236), and Royle (Antiq. of Hindoo Med.) According to the last of these authors, the Black or Indian, the Yellow or Citrine, and the Chebulic, are the product of the Terminalia Chebula; the fourth or Beleric, of the T. Belerica, all belonging to the natural tribe of medicines now called Combretaceæ; while the fifth or Emblic is the fruit of the Phyllanthus Emblica, now called Emblica officinalis. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 280.) We shall now be able to apprehend the descriptions of the ancient authors.
Rhases quotes several Arabian and Indian authorities on Myrobalans. The Citrine or Yellow, according to Badigorias (Pythagoras?), is cholagogue, and the Black stomachic. The other authorities quoted by him agree in generally holding that myrobalans are cholagogue and stomachic, and that they are useful in hemorrhoids and palpitation of the heart. Sarac, the Indian, recommends them as purgative and stomachic medicines in mental diseases, hemorrhoids, headache, dropsy, and diseases of the spleen. They all seem to be agreed in holding that myrobalans are possessed of a purgative power compounded with astringency. (Contin. l. ult. i, 473.) In his other works he recommends myrobalans for purging yellow bile, and melancholy or black bile, and also as astringents. (Divis. i, 144, and Ad Mansor. viii, 54.) In the latter work he says, that in order to purge, the proper dose of citrine myrobalans is from ten to twenty drachms. Avicenna describes four species of myrobalans, namely, the Citrine, unripe, the black Indian, the Kebulic, and the Chinese, meaning by the last, we suppose, the Emblic, or fruit of the Emblica officinalis. He describes minutely their specific differences, and states of their general virtues as medicines, that they are cold in the first degree and dry in the second; that they all extinguish yellow bile, and are useful in bilious complaints; that the black brightens the colour, and all kinds are useful in leprosy. He recommends them in diseases of the eyes, and in those of the chest accompanied with palpitation and sorrow. He also states several minute distinctions among them as to medicinal powers, which we do not think it necessary to enter upon. (ii, 2, 449.) Serapion writes very elaborately on myrobalans, of which he describes four species, the Citrine, the Black or Indian, the Kebulic, and the Chinese citrine (Emblic?). The authorities quoted by him are generally agreed, that myrobalans possess astringency with bitterness, purge bile and whet the stomach; are cordial, and prove useful in melancholy, &c. Sarac, the Indian, as quoted by him, maintains of myrobalans, that they are hot and astringent, and at the same time eccoprotic, that they strengthen the senses and the nerves, are useful in leprosy, colic, old hemorrhoids, vertigo, and dropsy, and that they induce nausea and vomiting. Honain gives minute directions for the preparation of them, but these we shall not enter upon. Some apothecaries, he says, fall into the mistake of selling Kebulic myrobalans of a black colour for the true black kind. For the true black myrobalans, he says, are brought from India, whereas of the Kebulic, some are yellow and others black according to the time of their growth at which they are gathered from the trees. He gives very minute directions for administering them with other substances, such as prunes, Sebesten plums, jujubes, and the like; but as most of these substances are not now much known, it would not be interesting to most readers to learn his remarks on this subject. (De Simpl. 107.) Mesue also gives a very elaborate and circumstantial account of myrobalans, which our necessary limits prevent us from giving at full length. He ranks them with the Blessed Medicines (medicinis benedictis); for, he adds, in loosening the bowels, they do not weaken but strengthen the stomach, heart, liver, and the whole body. The only bad effect, he says, which they ever produce, is obstruction. Their operation, he adds, is wonderfully increased by combining them with scammony. He says, of all the kinds, that they are cold in the first degree and dry in the second. His directions for correcting any bad effects from the use of them, and for increasing their operation, are most circumstantial, and bespeak an intimate acquaintance with the subject. He eulogises them in the strongest terms, declaring that they restore youth, improve the complexion, the breath, and the perspiration, impart joy and hilarity, strengthen the stomach, heart, and liver, are useful in palpitations, cleanse the stomach, are useful in hemorrhoids, extinguish heat in cholera, and this more especially the citrine. He also speaks favorably of them in a prescribed preparation for complaints of the eyes, and for tertian and bilious fevers. The Kebulic, he says, are phlegmagogue, and especially the prepared kinds; they improve the sight, cleanse and comfort the stomach, and are useful in dropsy and chronic fevers. The Black bring away black and adust bile, are useful in melancholy and palpitations, clear the colour, cure leprosy, remove sadness, and are beneficial in quartans. The dose from two to five drachms. (De Simpl. ii.) He treats separately of the Emblic and Belleric, but we need not enter upon his account of them. And here we would refer our readers to Costa’s commentary on this part of Mesue, as containing all the interesting information which can be gleaned from ancient authors on the subject of myrobalans. For the other Arabians, see Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 54); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (pluries); and Avenzoar (Antidot.) None of these supply much that is important after what we have given from the other authorities. Of the Greek writers on medicine, Actuarius is the only one that gives any distinct account of myrobalans, and he professes to derive his information from “the wise barbarian doctors,” meaning the Arabians. He first describes the Citrine, the Kebulic, and the Black or Indian, and represents them as possessing purgative powers, combined with some astringency and tonicity. Besides these three kinds he mentions, as possessing purgative powers of a like nature, two medicines, which he calls empelilez and empletze, by which he no doubt meant Emblic and Belleric. (Meth. Med. v, 8.) The five kinds of myrobalans, namely, the Citrine, the Kebulic, the Indian, the Belleric, and the Emblic, occur in one of the antidotes of Nicolas Myrepsus, who recommends them in various remittent and intermittent fevers. (i, 24.) Myrobalans have always been much esteemed by the Hindoo physicians. See the Susruta, and Wise’s Book on Hindoo Medicine (pluries.)
Manna.
Though the Arabians would certainly appear to have been the first to introduce the substance now used medicinally under this name, it is impossible to believe that the Greeks and Romans can have been wholly unacquainted with it. It, we need scarcely inform our professional readers, is procured principally from the Ornus Europæa or flowering ash, either by incision, or the puncture of an insect. The ancients, however, applied this term to a variety of the thus, as we have stated in the preceding commentary on this section, and also to the honey-dew described in Vol. I, pp. 178, 179 of this work. We have further mentioned under the head of Elæomeli, that it probably was some species of manna. Altogether then the term we are now considering is often a puzzle in reading the works of the ancient authorities. See further Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 209); Sprengel (R. H. H.); Pereira (M. M. 928); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 547, 617, 737, 341, 342.) Even the Arabians, who appear to have been perfectly well acquainted with its medicinal properties, confound it with the honey-dew, and seem to say that it falls from heaven upon the trees. Serapion describes it by the name of Tereniaben or mel roris, and says it falls from above upon certain trees, and resembles granulated honey. Its virtues he states, upon the authority of Isaac ebn Amram, to consist in opening the bowels, and moistening the chest, and he adds that it suits with persons of a hot temperament, especially when dissolved in water of jujubes, or of prunes. His other authorities recommend it in the same complaints, and also in the inflammation of ardent fevers and for quenching thirst. The dose is said to be from ten to twenty drachms. (De Simpl. 10.) We may mention that Serapion and all the other authorities mention that manna is found most abundantly on thorns. Avicenna’s account of this subject is so like to that of Serapion that it would be superfluous to give any abstract of it. (ii, 2, 694.) Rhases also gives nearly the same description of manna upon the authority of Abinerog, Mesaurice, Mesue, and Chuz. (Contin. l. ult. i, 711.) All these authorities represent it as being a gentle purgative and expectorant, and as being useful in acute and intermittent fevers. In another of his works (Ad Mansor. ix, 14), treating of hoarseness and coryza, he prescribes an expectorant decoction, one of the ingredients of which is “manna, quam aërium appellant.” In his chapter on angina (ix, 51) he prescribes a laxative medicine containing tamarinds, cassia fistula, and “manna quam veteres mel aërium appellant.” Mesue gives an elaborate account of the origin, characters, temperament, and virtues of manna, which is well worth consulting, although it contains nothing of any great importance in addition to what is stated above on the authority of Serapion, Avicenna, and Rhases. He would appear moreover to confound the manna thuris with the manna of the ash. Like the other authorities, he holds manna to be a gentle cholagogue, and says it softens the throat, the chest, the bowels, and quenches thirst. The dose from six to fifteen drachms. (De Simpl. 8.) We have not found anything further of interest in the works of Averrhoes, Haly Abbas, and Ebn Baithar. The last of these says the Ros Melleus is a substance which falls upon trees in Chorasan; that it is useful in ardent fevers, moistens the chest, proves more detergent than sugar, cools thirst, improves the memory, purges yellow bile, &c. He evidently alludes to the true manna of the ash. Actuarius mentions cassia fistula and manna as two purgative medicines which may be safely given to children and pregnant women. (Meth. Med. v.)
Turpeth.
There can be no doubt that it is the Convolvulus Turpethum. Rhases recommends turpeth for purging crude and recrementitious humours from the knees and other joints. His two authorities, Mesue the elder, and Chuz, give it the same character. (Contin. l. ult. i, 729.) Avicenna, after describing it, represents it as being efficacious in diseases of the nerves and joints, as being phlegmagogue, and if mixed with ginger, as bringing away crude humours. (ii, 2, 701.) Serapion confounds it with the tripolium of Dioscorides and Galen, as we have stated under that head. Upon the authority of Aben Mesuai he assigns it the property of purging viscid phlegm, but says that it brings on mental depression by its horrid taste, and, therefore, it ought not to be taken alone. Other Arabian authorities, quoted by him, give it the same character. He describes the medicine very minutely, and the marks by which we may determine whether it be sound or not. The dose is from one to two drachms. (De Simpl. 337.) Haly Abbas treats of it in his chapter on purgatives, but confines himself principally to a description of the medicine itself. (Pract. ii, 2, 557.) The ancient author who has treated most fully of turpeth, is Mesue the younger in his work ‘De Simpl.’ (11.) He gives a circumstantial description of it, and full directions for correcting its bad qualities by mixing it with other substances, such as scammony, dates, ginger, almonds, &c. He recommends it principally as a phlegmagogue, and an evacuant of gross humours in diseases of the joints, and as a preservative from leprosy and other diseases of the skin. It has been much disputed whether or not the turpeth of Mesue be the same as that of the other Arabians. (See his Commentators l. c.) We see little reason for questioning their identity. We have not found anything additional of much interest in the great work of Ebn Baithar under this head. The turpeth of Actuarius is the root of the pityusa, that is to say of the Euphorbia pityusa. (Meth. Med. v, 9.) Dr. Ainslie, treating of the Convolvulus turpethum, says: “Our present article had long a place in the Mat. Med., but of late years has fallen into disuse. Alston (M. M. ii, 530) speaks of turpeth as being a strong resinous cathartic, recommended in his days in gout, dropsy, and leprosy.” (Mat. Ind. ii, 384.) It is still known in the shops as a rough purgative. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm.) We are satisfied that it was not known to the Greeks before the Arabian period, that it was neither the Tripolium, as we have already stated, nor yet the Alypias, as some have supposed. It has been long used as a purgative medicine by the Hindoo physicians. See Wise (Hindoo Med. 145.)
Dende.
Serapion gives a very lengthened account of the Dend hayse, and describes two species of it. He speaks of part of it being poisonous, and states that it purges strongly, and induces tenesmus. A person who has taken of it is directed to vomit, to take butter and milk in drink with astringents of a demulcent nature, such as purslane, gum Arabic, &c. He mentions that it is a medicinal herb much used in India and Babylonia, along with other purgatives, but he adds that it induces great debility in that hot and dry country, whereas in Yemen, where the heat is attended with great rains, no class of medicines answer so well as that which possesses astringent and laxative powers combined, such as turpeth, myrobalans, manna, and the like. But dend, he says, answers only in cold countries like Seni (China?). When it brought on hypercatharsis, he says, he directed his patient to sit in a cold hip-bath, and to get cold water dashed over his body. (De Simpl. 388.) Avicenna’s description of dende is mostly taken from Serapion. He directs it to be administered only in a cold country, and along with substances calculated to restrain its violent operations, such as starch and saffron. He says it purges humours and phlegm from the joints. (ii, 2, 215.) We have not been able to discover any traces of it in the works of Haly Abbas, Rhases, Mesue, nor Averrhoes. Ebn Baithar, however, treats of it fully. He says, or at least his German translator makes him say, that it is the Ricinus, and not an Euphorbia, as some had supposed. He gives a minute description of three kinds—the Chinese, the Indian, and the Arboreus; and of these the first is said to be the best and strongest in its purgative operation. It is said to be hot, sharp, and oily, and to purge the body effectually, especially the humours in the joints. It is not given, he says, in hot countries, such as Irak, the sea-coast, the land of Egypt, and Yemen, because fluxes in these countries are common, and owing to the relaxation of the body, it cannot bear this violent medicine. One of his authorities, Honain, wisely remarks that in all hot countries severe medicines ought to be avoided. Minute directions are given for counteracting its deleterious effects. It is said to act as a hot drastic purgative, and to excoriate the intestines. Its bad effects are best counteracted by an emetic, butter, gum lac, and other demulcents. We used to think there could be little or no doubt but that Sprengel was right in referring it to the strychnos colubrinus; but of late, certain authorities, for whom we feel much respect, have held it to be the Croton Tiglium. See Royle (Antiq. Hind. Med. 36; Mat. Med. 552); Pereira (739); and Sontheimer apud Ebn Baithar. We still think that the lignum colubrinum is at least as applicable to the dende. It has been used medicinally in modern times. See Hill (Mat. Med. 693); Gray (Pharmacop. 58); and Pereira (922.) Pereira mentions that he had analysed it, and found that it contains nearly the same ingredients as St. Ignatius’ Bean. Dr. Lindley calls the tree, which furnishes the lignum colubrinum, the Strychnos ligustrina, and mentions of it that it had been used in paralysis of the extremities, and as an anthelminthic. (Veg. Kingd. 603.) Dr. Royle mentions (M. M. l. c.) that when in India the seeds of the croton tiglium were given him as the dund of the Arabians. Is it not more probable that they were merely meant as the succedaneum of the dende?
Fel.
Serapion treats of this substance under the same head with two others, bel and sel. The bel has never been well ascertained, but Sprengel and Ainslie are agreed that the sel is the Ægle marmelos, on which see Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 458.) And now with regard to the Fel, Serapion describes it as a fruit having an external covering like a filbert, containing a grain like that of the larger pine, its colour being intermediate between yellow and white, and it, he adds, is the part which is administered. He says it relieves the inflation of hemorrhoids. (c. 261.) Avicenna gives exactly the same account of Fael, which in the glossarium is described as being “radix seu fructus nenufaris Indi.” He calls it a well-known Indian medicine, useful in relaxation of the nerves, and in inflation of hemorrhoids. He says his virtues are like those of the apples of mandragora. (ii, 2, 251.) Rhases, in like manner, says briefly of Fel that it is a well-known Indian medicine, having powers like those of mandragora. (Contin. l. ult. i, 298.) Dr. Ainslie writes of it thus: “The croton nuts were known to the Arabian physicians by the name of fell (Serapion 261), and were formerly brought to England under the name of Molucca grains.” (Mat. Ind. 106.) Sprengel also in his R. H. H. refers the Fel to the Croton Tiglium. Dr. Hill says of the Molucca grains: “The grana tiglia are of the ricinus kind; they are the nucula cathartica quarta Moluccana purgatoria,” &c. See further p. 540, and Geoffroy (iii. 5, 30.) Certainly it appears to us that the medicinal virtues of the Fel, as given above by Serapion, Rhases, and Avicenna, do not agree well with the known powers of the croton tiglium. We cannot, however, pretend to determine what substance the Fel was.
Santalum rubrum.
Avicenna describes the two kinds of sandal wood (lignum pterocarpi santalini) still well known in practice. He says it is a cold and dry medicine, which repels determinations to parts, and this more especially the red. The diseases he most particularly recommends it in are, palpitation of the heart, fevers, weakness of the stomach, and this both in liniments and in draughts. The white, he says, is useful in hot fevers. (ii, 2, 649.) He quotes Galen under this head, but his translator is sensible of this being a mistake. Serapion describes the white, the yellow, and the red kinds of sandal-wood, and gives a very circumstantial account of them. He says sandal-wood is brought from Sini (China?). The various authorities quoted by him concur in giving the different kinds of sandal-wood the same characters as Avicenna, representing it as being useful in complaints of the stomach, and in cardiac disease; and mixed with camphor and rose oil as an external application in hot vertigo when rubbed into the temples. They also agree in representing it along with other cooling plants as being serviceable in gout. The sandal-woods, in short, they all hold to be cold in the third degree and dry in the second. (De Simpl. 346.) Rhases gives a brief account of the red and white sandal-woods, which his authorities recommend in weakness of the stomach, and pain of the head; and also for palpitation of the heart in fevers, when rubbed over the stomach, and for erysipelas when rubbed into the face. (Contin. l. ult. ii, 1, 609.)
Azedarach.
Avicenna describes it as being a well-known tree, having fruit like the Lotus Arbor (Celtis Australis?). He says it is a very large tree, and that its flower is hot in the third degree, and dry in the end of the first, and that it is possessed of deobstruent powers; and the decoction of its leaves kills lice in the hair and strengthens it. Its fruit is bad for the stomach and chest. It is anthelminthic, and useful in colics and in pituitous fevers along with fumitory and myrobalans. (ii, 2, 17.) Rhases gives the same account of the assedarach. (Contin. l. ult. i, 89.) It is barely mentioned by Serapion as being a large tree, but we have not been able to discover it in his Mat. Med. The Arabian authorities of Ebn Baithar give an elaborate account of it, representing it as being dangerous to persons who take it in large doses, but in smaller ones useful for various purposes, and more especially for promoting the growth of the hair. (i, 30.) There can be no question that it must have been the Melia azedarach or “bead tree.” Dr. Ainslie says of it that “in India the bark of the melia azedarach has been ascertained to possess powerful tonic and antifebrile virtues,” and that “it is ordered for almost every purpose that the cinchona is in Europe.” (Mat. Ind. i, 70, ii, 454.) See further on the tree, Miller (Dictionary); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 464); and Crantz (Mat. Med. iii, 40.) The last of these says of it, that he had “read in the Encyclopedia (!!) that it kills lice, &c.” The azedarach is frequently noticed in the Susruta. See also Wise’s Book of Hindu Medicine. (119.)
Anacardium.
On this see Serapion (De Simpl. 356); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 47); and Avicenna (ii, 2, 40.) Of these authorities Avicenna describes it most minutely. They all recommend it in mental diseases, and especially in loss of memory, and say it is useful in coldness of the nerves, in paralysis, and spasms. Avicenna recommends it as a fumigation to hemorrhoids. Without doubt it is the Semicarpus Anacardium, or “marking nut tree” of commerce. It has been used in modern practice, but has now fallen into disuse. See Hill (Mat. Med. 490.) Rhases quotes Galen on the anacardium, referring, as we suppose, to his χρυσοβάλανος. (De Comp. Med. sec. gen. viii.) That the latter was the semicarpus anacardium seems not unlikely. See Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 209.) It is briefly noticed also by Myrepsus and Actuarius under the name of ξανθοβάλανος. And further, it is deserving of remark that anacardia occurs as an ingredient in one of our author’s antidotes (c. 170, Ed. Basil.) To say the least then, it appears doubtful whether the Greeks were wholly ignorant of these substances as stated by Matthiolus. (Comment. in Dioscor. 189.)
Diudar.
Avicenna says of it that it belongs to the genus abhel (sabina?) and is called the Indian pine; that it is pungent, and contains a milk which is hot and occasions thirst. He adds that it is good for relaxation of the nerves, paralysis, &c., also for cold apostemes (chronic inflammations?) of the brain, apoplexy, and catalepsy. He concludes by stating of it that it is lithontriptic, binds the bowels, and that its decoction removes relaxation of the anus. (ii, 2, 213.) In the Glossarium of Avicenna (l. c.) reference is here made to Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 31), but we can find no notice of the Diudar there, nor in any part of the works of Rhases. Ebn Baithar’s account of this article is taken literally from Avicenna. Dr. Royle has ingeniously pointed out the correspondence both of name and characters between the Diudar of the Arabians and the Pinus Deodara. (Antiquity of Hindoo Med. 36.) See also Lindley (Veget. Kingd. 228.)
Sandaracha, or Gum vernix.
It is to be remarked, on the outset, that Serapion and Avicenna in treating of the vernix do not make any reference to Dioscorides and Galen, as is their wont, from which it may be inferred that they did not recognise it as one of the articles which had been described by their Grecian masters. Serapion’s Arabian authorities on this head are, Albugerig, Aben Mesuai, Badegoras, Mesarugie, Abrix, Alabari, Rhases, and Isaac Eben. They agree in recommending it in fumigations for catarrhs, for stopping immoderate menstruation, drying fistulæ; as an anthelminthic, and remedy for hemoptysis and hemorrhoids. One of his authorities (Isaac Eben) describes it as being a gum of a yellow colour, like the karabe, and says it is brought from the land of the Christians. He adds, respecting the karabe, that Galen says it is the gum haur romane (populi Romanæ [?]). Whether by this he meant amber, we shall inquire presently. Avicenna says of the sandaracha or vernix, that it is hot and dry in the second degree, and that it has some astringency, and the power of stopping hemorrhages. He says it is used for removing obesity, for drying fistulæ, that the smoke of it cures catarrhs, and is the best of all remedies for toothache; that it cures palpitation as well as the karabe, stops fluxes of blood, cures humid asthma, and is used by wrestlers to strengthen the breath. It is good, he concludes by saying of it, in diseases of the spleen, and its fumes cure old sores and hemorrhoids. (ii, 2, 619.) It may be proper to remark here, that although Avicenna applies the term sandarach both to realgar and gum vernix he does not fall into the mistake of confounding these substances with one another. This will be clearly seen by comparing ii, 2, 48, with l. c. The Latin translation of the chapter in Rhases’s ‘Continens,’ on Sandarach, is so particularly barbarous, that some passages of it are scarcely intelligible to us, albeit we have spent more time than most people in poring over these most unclassical productions. It is clear, however, that his Arabian authorities recommend vernix in exactly the same cases as Serapion and Avicenna do, namely, in fumigations for asthma and coryza, as a drying application to fistulæ and hemorrhoids, as a stimulant in diseases of the eyes, and as a remedy for defluxion and fluxes of blood from the womb. (Contin. l. ult. i, 610.)
Dr. Lewis, treating of the Juniperus, says, “In the warmer climates, particularly on the coasts of Africa, there exudes from a larger species of juniper a resinous juice which concretes into semi-pellucid, pale, yellowish tears, resembling mastich, but larger; the sandaracha and gummi juniperi of the shops, called by some, from the use to which it is principally applied, vernix. It has been given internally against hemorrhages, old fluxes, and ulcerations; but is principally employed externally in corroborant, nervine, and traumatic applications.” (Mat. Med. ii, 24.) Recent authorities have decided that the gum sandarach is not the product of the juniperus communis, as usually supposed, but of the Callitris quadrivalris. See Pereira (Mat. Med. 727); and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 229.) On the vernix see further Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 201.)
Is this the same as the Cedria of the Greeks and Romans? See Dioscorides (i, 105); Galen (De Simpl. vi.) We are inclined to think that it either was the same, or, at all events, that both were procured from trees of the same genus. See the description of the Cedria given by Pliny (H. N. xxiv, 11) with the notes of Harduin. We have stated under Cedrus that it generally signifies a large species of juniper. And further, upon comparing the medicinal uses of the cedria as given by Pliny (who follows Dioscorides closely) with those of the Sandarach as given above from the Arabians, no one can doubt that they must apply to the same thing, or at least to substances of a like kind. The cedria must not be confounded with cedrium described by Pliny. (H. N. xvi, 21.) The latter would appear to have been a liquid procured from the wood by distillation or boiling. There appears much probability in the conjecture of Berzelius that the cedrium was a sort of pyroligneous acid. Pliny says it was used for embalming dead bodies. (l. c.)
Karabe, or Populus.
Avicenna describes it as being the gum of a tree called haur romana (populus Romana?), resembling vernix, of different colours, and when of a ruddy colour attracting chaff and other small objects. He says the gum is like the flower of the tree in virtues but colder, being astringent in the case of all fluxes, especially bleeding from the nose, and hemoptysis. He agrees with Rhases and Serapion that it is a good periapt in cases of hot apostemes. He recommends it as a good cordial medicine, and one which is useful in affections of the stomach and bowels. (ii, 2, 364.) He treats of the other parts of the poplar separately, and also gives a distinct chapter on Ambra, and in his work ‘De Med. Cord.’ he treats separately of Ambra and Karabe. Serapion under the head of haur romi first gives abbreviated translations of Dioscorides’s and Galen’s descriptions of the black poplar (ἄιγειρος), and then a translation of an extract said to be from Paulus, but which we cannot trace in the works of our author. In that extract Karabe is called the gum of the haur romi; it is said to be astringent, and to be confounded by some with the sandarach, and that it was called the funeral gum because the Latins used it in burials. He concludes by giving extracts from several Arabian authorities regarding its medicinal characters, which agree in the main with those given above from Avicenna. (De Simpl. 276.) He gives a perfectly distinct chapter on Ambra (c. 196.) Rhases has a chapter on the “haur seu fagus,” which, except that it does not contain the pretended extract from Paulus, is made up from almost the same authorities as the one of Serapion which we have just discussed. Karabe, it is said, is the gum of the tree. (Contin. l. ult. i, 256.) Although there is a good deal of confusion in the accounts of Karabe contained in these extracts, we think it impossible to avoid drawing the conclusion that the authorities meant to apply it to the resin of some balsam poplar, probably some variety of the Populus nigra, or dilatata. It would be a great mistake then to identify the Karabe with amber. Indeed, Ebn Baithar distinctly says that amber is not the gum of the black poplar as had been supposed, which he clearly establishes by showing that the characters of the gum poplar, as given by Dioscorides and Galen, by no means accord with those of amber (succinum.) See further under Electrum, Sandarach, and Ambra grisea. It is proper to mention that although our opinion with regard to the Karabe be as we have stated, most of our modern authorities have set it down as being identical with the succinum. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 215); Royle (Mat. Med. 648); Pemberton (Dispensatory, 102.) We are persuaded, however, that whoever will carefully read the ninth chapter of the first part of Avicenna’s work “on Cordial Medicines,” must agree with us that he held the Karabe and Ambra to be totally different substances, and a careful study of Mesue (De Electariis) will confirm this conclusion. The gum or resin of the black poplar is mentioned by Schroeder. (Chemical Dispensat. 442.)
Tembul and Faufel.
We treat of these substances under one head for a reason which will become apparent before the conclusion of our article upon them. Tembul, according to Avicenna, is cold in the first degree and dry in the second; it is astringent and desiccant; it strengthens the gums, and for this purpose is constantly chewed by the Indians; it also strengthens the stomach, and for this purpose also is frequently chewed by the same people. (ii, 2, 699.) Haly Abbas gives a very similar account of it; he says it is brought from India, and that seafaring men made much use of it, because they lived much upon fish. (Pract. ii, 36, 207.) Ebn Baithar treats of it at great length. One of his authorities, Abuthanifa, says it improves the state of the mouth. Elmasudi gives an interesting description of it; he says it renders the breath fragrant, improves the mouth, and even the mind, and he says further of it that it reddens the teeth. Elgafaki says it cures bleeding and swelling of the tonsils, being of an astringent and desiccant nature. Elscherif calls it hot in the first, and dry in the second degree, and says it produces exhilaration of spirits, and cures flatulence. He describes minutely the Indian mode of using it. The author himself under this head warns his readers not to confound the plant used in his time for the tembul, with the true tembul, which he says was seldom brought from India in his days because it lost its virtues by being carried to a distance. (ii, 200.)
Faufel, or Avellana Indica, is described by Serapion’s authorities as being like the nutmeg, and as having a slight degree of heat with some bitterness. Its virtues are said to be like those of the sandal tree. It is recommended as an application to hot apostemes. Some of his authorities call it hot and dry, and all seem to agree in holding it to be astringent. One of them, Mesarugie, says that it suits with toothache and scabies of the eyebrow. Mesue says it strengthens the teeth, represses the gums when swelled, and is useful in swelling of the eye. (De Simpl. 345.) Avicenna describes it as being cold with some astringency, and as being useful in hot apostemes of a gross nature, and inflation of the eye. (i, 2, 256.) Ebn Baithar calls it a palm, and says of it that it is a gentle purgative, makes the breath fragrant, is a cordial, and strengthens the gums and teeth. (i, 267.)
Now there can be no doubt that the former of these is the piper betel, and the latter the areca catechu. The nuts of the latter, which modern authorities describe as resembling the nutmeg, are cut into slices, and along with the leaves of the betel constitute the famous masticatory of the East called betel. For an account of these two substances, consult in particular Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 268, 465); Royle (Antiq. of Hindoo Med. 85); Pereira (M. M. 616); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 137); Meyen (Geograph. of Botany, as edited by the Ray Society.)
Chubabe, or Cubebæ.
Avicenna under this head refers to the carpesium of Galen, but it evidently was a different substance. Some, he says, had called it refrigerant with some heat, but he holds it to be truly hot and dry in the second degree. He calls it aperient and attenuant, and recommends it in putrid ulcers of the members and gums, as a medicine which clears the voice when held in the mouth, and as a deobstruent of the liver in engorgement thereof; as a cleanser of the urinary passages, as a diuretic medicine which promotes the discharge of gravel and stones of the kidneys, and of the bladder, and he adds, “Sputum masticantis eam delectat eam cum qua habetur coitus.” (ii, 2, 134.) Rhases also, through some mistake, quotes Galen under this head, and gives exactly the same account of its medicinal powers as Avicenna. (Contin. l. ult. i, 242.) Serapion under this head gives Dioscorides’s description of the wild myrtle with further references to Galen and Paulus, but concludes by saying that he was sensible Dioscorides had not treated of cubebs. (De Simpl. 288.) Ebn Baithar mentions that certain of the authorities had taken it for the carpesium. He says it renders the breath fragrant and cures affections of the bladder. He further quotes Ebn Sina (Avicenna?) as stating that it enhances the delight of coitus. (i, 344.) By the way, Dr. Pereira mentions that the Indians still take them to excite the sexual feelings. We would beg to refer for further information on this subject to his excellent account of the Piper Cubeba. (754.) See also Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 204), and Royle (M. M. 562.)
Usnen.
See Avicenna (ii, 2, 713); Serapion (De Simpl. 257); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 753.) This term is used rather vaguely by the Arabian authors, but there can be no doubt that it comprehended the salsola fruticosa. They call it abstergent, cleansing, and aperient, and recommend it as an emmenagogue, and in difficulty of urine and dropsy. Rhases says it is of a hot and dry nature, and is purgative, deobstruent, and corrosive. (Ad Mansor. iii, 22.) The confectio de usnen of Serapion containing fourteen other ingredients mostly of an aromatic nature, is recommended by him for debility of the stomach. (De Antidot. 71.)
Fagara, or Fagre.
See Serapion (De Simpl. c. c.); Avicenna (ii, 2, 260); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 312.) Serapion’s authorities compare it to the vetch, and say of it that it is hot and dry in the second degree, and is stomachic. Isaac ebn Amran describes it as having a small, black, round grain within, and a red one without, as forming a good gargle in fætor of the mouth, and entering as an ingredient into powders and ointments. Avicenna’s description of it is to the same effect; he says, however, that it is hot and dry in the third degree. He recommends it as an astringent, stomachic, and hepatic medicine. Rhases’s account of it is very short, but not far different from the others. Dr. Lindley describing the Xanthoxylon hastile, says of it, “that its capsules and seeds are employed in Northern India for intoxicating fish; they are also given as the faghuret of Avicenna. The X. piperitum and Avicennæ are used in China and Japan as antidotes against all poisons; they would undoubtedly in many cases be of considerable use as a stimulant remedy.” (Veg. Kingd. 473.) See further Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 270), and Royle (M. M. 326.)
Artamita.
Avicenna gives such a description of it as fully justifies Sprengel in deciding it to be the Cyclamen Persicum. He recommends it in diseases of the joints, as a sternutatory, and for the cure of hiccup, and says of it that it is alexipharmic and produces abortion. (ii, 2, 61.) It is in use with the Hindoo physicians. See Wise (System of Hindoo Med.)
Vertz.
From Serapion’s account of it there seems no doubt that it is the Memecylon tinctorium. He gives a very minute description of three species which grow in Arabia and India, and mentions that some held the root of one of the species to be the curcuma. They are all remarkable for containing colouring matter. He recommends them for the cure of leprosy, pruritus, and pustula. (De Simpl. 170.) Rhases briefly describes it by the name of vars. He says two kinds, the yellow and the red, are brought from Yemen, and that they are collected upon trees like pounded saffron. (Contin. l. ult. iii, 110.) Avicenna describes it by the name of gures. (ii, 2, 291.) His description is very similar to that given by Rhases, and he recommends it in the very same cases as Serapion. Ebn Baithar gives a very full and interesting description of it both as a dye and as a medicine, but we need not enter into an exposition of his views, since they scarcely differ at all from the account of it given above from Serapion. We may just mention that he says clothes dyed with it are aphrodisiac. See Vol. I, 585. The memecyls constitute a genus of plants still well known in India as dyes and articles of food and medicine. See the works of Royle and Lindley.
Mahaleb.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 44); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 442); Avicenna (ii, 2, 471.) It appears to be undoubtedly the Prunus Mahaleb, that is to say, the Cerasus Mahaleb of Miller, Angl., “rock,” or “perfumed” cherry. Serapion applies to it what Dioscorides and Galen had written on the phillyrea; after which he gives the opinions of several Arabian authorities who recommend it as a medicine to expel the superfluities of the system and intestinal worms, and as being useful in gout, and as a lithontriptic. One of them, Isaac ebn Amram, describes the varieties of it very circumstantially. Avicenna and Rhases give a similar account of it.
Jesemin and Zambach.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 176); Rhases (Contin. xxii, 838; l. ult. i, 369); Avicenna (ii, 2, 611); and Ebn Baithar (591.)
Serapion describes them under the same head, the one as having a white flower, and the other a yellow, of which the latter is the weaker in its powers. It is got, he says, from Babylonia, where there is another species which has a sky-blue colour. His authorities recommend it principally in phlegmatic complaints, and more particularly in those of old persons, and as an application in impetigo and other cutaneous diseases of a like nature. He says it induces headache when administered to persons of a hot temperament. Avicenna gives a very similar account of these two plants, and neither Rhases nor Ebn Baithar supplies any additional information regarding them; the latter, however, gives a very interesting account of them. He says of the yellow species that it was used for dyeing the hair. Like the others, he speaks favorably of it, and especially of its oil in complaints of a cold nature. The latter species, in all probability, was the jasminum sambac, still well known in the East as a perfume. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 651); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 59); and Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 242.) Whether the other be the humile or officinale, we are unable to determine.
Secacul.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 89) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 663.) From the description which they give of it, there can be no doubt, we think, that it is the pastinaca secacul, Russel; that is to say, the Tordilium orientale, secacul dictum of Miller. (Gard. Dictionary.) They agree in saying that it is decidedly aphrodisiac, more especially when preserved with honey. Avicenna concludes his notice of it with stating that buzeiden is used instead of it. In another part of his work he gives very sensible directions for preparing secacul conditum, that is to say, “preserved secacul.” (v, 1, 8.) Although, as we have stated above, we think there is little or no doubt that the secacul was a species of tordylium, it is proper to acknowledge that the learned commentators on Mesue are much divided in opinion respecting it. (De Electariis, i, 95.)
Buzeiden.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 260); Avicenna (ii, 2, 95); and Ebn Baithar (ii, 183.) Avicenna describes it as being an Indian medicine possessing virtues resembling those of beer. He says it is hot in the second degree, and dry in the first; is attenuant, proves serviceable in pains of the joints and in gout; is aphrodisiacal and alexipharmic. (ii, 295.) Serapion calls it a species of satyrion (orchis?). He calls it an Indian medicine, little used in his country. He says it resembles hermodactyls in the cure of arthritic diseases or of gout, and that it engenders semen, but hurts the testicles. Its bad effects are best corrected by mustard; its dose two drachms. Ebn Baithar, in this instance, supplies no additional information. After what we have stated of it, we need have no hesitation in agreeing with Sprengel that it is the orchis morio, or at all events some species of that genus. As Serapion does not quote any Greek authorities under this head, it may be inferred that he held it to be distinct from the orchis of Dioscorides and his followers. Several species of this genus are still used in India as medicines. The famous salep is procured principally from the O. mascula. See Royle, Lindley, and Pereira.
Mial, or Storax humida.
The liquid Storax is described distinctly by Avicenna, who states that one species of it exudes from the tree and the other is got by boiling; that the former is of a lighter colour and is highly valuable, whereas the other is darker and is less esteemed. Some, he says, held it to be beneficial in cerebral diseases, but this opinion he rejects, as it induces vertigo. See under Storax. He quotes only from Arabian authorities. (ii, 2, 423, 615.) Both kinds of storax are treated of largely by Serapion. (De Simpl. 46), and are noticed by Rhases. (Contin. l. ult. i, 687.)
It is still disputed what tree it is which produces the Liquid Storax. According to Sprengel and most modern authorities, until of late, it was held to be the Altingia excelsa. Dr. Pereira, however, shows that this is a doubtful point, and mentions that Dr. Lindley holds that the liquid storax of the shops is produced by the liquid ambar orientale. But in his recent publication on the ‘Vegetable Kingdom,’ Dr. Lindley says, “Liquid storax is thought to be yielded by the Dammar pine.” (p. 229.) Landerer has recently shown that it is obtained from Storax officinale. (Pereira, Mat. Med. 1325, 2d ed.)
Kadi.
It is described by Serapion as being a plant which grows in Arabia, from which the aromatic oil of Kadi is formed. He gives a curious description of it, but does not mention any medicinal purposes to which it was applied. (De Simpl. 40.) It would appear that it is also described by Ebn Baithar (i, 337.) He describes it as being a species of palm, which it resembles in all respects, and says that a fragrant oil is prepared from it. Its country is Arabia. He quotes on it Rhases, in his ‘Continens’ and ‘Treatise on Smallpox,’ but we have been unable to discover the passages which he refers to. His authorities describe, in glowing colours, the virtues of this substance, and more especially of its wine, in smallpox. What species of palm it was we are unable to say decidedly.
Meizaragi.
Serapion gives a full account of it upon the authority of Abugerit and Abir, who agree in recommending it in arthritic diseases. They give minute directions for using it in electuaries, pills, and decoctions. Its dose with sugar is one drachm. They mention that, when put into rivers, it intoxicates fish. (De Simpl. 365.) Avicenna describes the Mehezeheregi, as being a tree like esula (spurge?); and says it is hot and dry in the third degree, and intoxicates fish when thrown into a river. He adds, that it is carminative and phlegmagogue, and is useful in gout, sciatica, and arthritis. (ii, 2, 480.)
We need have no hesitation in agreeing with the best authorities, that it is cocculus indicus, or the seed of Menispermum cocculus L., i. q., Anamirta cocculus of Lindley. (See Veg. Kingd. 309.) He says of it, that it contains a most venomous principle, the picrotoxine, and that in its pericarp is found the not less formidable alcaloid menispermine. See also Gray (Pharmacop. 119), and Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 132.) Both these authors mention of it, that it is used to intoxicate fish. See, further, an excellent account of the cocculus indicus in Pereira (M. M. 1326.) It was used by the Hindoo physicians for the cure of nervous diseases. See Wise (System of Hindoo Med. 557.) Dr. Royle is somewhat doubtful whether the cocculus was known to the Arabian physicians, but upon the whole inclines to this opinion. (Mat. Med. 249.)
Nux Vomica.
We have briefly treated of the Nux Vomica as a poison in another place (Vol. II, 241.) We have now to say of it, that it was also used medicinally as an emetic. For example, Haly Abbas treats of it in his chapter on Medicines which procure Vomiting. (Pract. ii, 65; see also Pract. x, 12.) Serapion, in like manner, treats of it in his chapter on Emetic Medicines. (vii, 36.) Thus he gives the following formula for an emetic: “℞. Concarned (cardamomi?), nucis vomicæ, seminis raphani, omnium ān ʒ j. Terantur et dentur in potu cum aqua mellis et decoctione anethi.” Serapion treats of it also in his work ‘On Simples,’ where he states, that “easy vomiting” may be induced by administering it agreeably to the formula which we have just quoted from his other work. He adds, that perhaps it will also loosen the bowels. Abram, another of his authorities, likewise says, that given to the amount of two drachms, with two drachms of dill or of fennel seed, and drunk with warm water, it will produce vomiting and loosen the bowels. (De. Simpl. 163.) Ebn Baithar’s authorities give an interesting account of the Nux Vomica, from which it is clear that it was frequently used as an emetic, along with fennel, natron, mustard, &c. in hydromel.
Dr. Pereira, upon the authority of Dale (Pharmacol.), decides that the Strychnos Ignatia was the nux vomica of Serapion. But, notwithstanding our great respect for his opinions, we cannot agree with him in the present instance. For, considering how common the nux vomica is in Persia (Ainslie, Mat. Ind.), there is a strong presumption that the Arabians cannot have been unacquainted with it, and it is not pretended that the nux vomica is treated of by them by any other name unless it were the methel, which we will presently show it not to be, nor is it attempted to be shown when and how the misapplication of the term originated. See, however, in support of Dr. Pereira’s views, Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 1601.) It is also proper to mention, that the learned Geoffroy calls the Faba sancti Ignatii the nux vomica legitima. But as it is admitted by the best authorities on toxicology, that St. Ignatius bean is much more energetic in its action than nux vomica (see Christison, 644, and Orfila, ii, 276), there is still less probability of its having been used medicinally than the other. See further in support of the views we are advocating, Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 250.) We may mention also in conclusion, that the nux vomica was used as an emetic by the Hindoo physicians, more especially in the case of poisoning. See Wise (Hindoo Med. 402.)
Nux Methel.
We have briefly alluded to this substance (Datura Methel) as a poison elsewhere. (Vol. II, 241.) Serapion, quoting from Arabian authorities, compares its nut to the nux vomica, and its seed to that of mandragora: its bark, he adds, is rough, its taste pleasant and unctuous, and its virtues cold in the fourth degree; if given in a small dose (kirat or siliqua?) it intoxicates strongly, and if two drachms are given it proves fatal at once. Rhases, as quoted by him, says it is a narcotic, a sedative, and perhaps emetic medicine, and that it proves fatal in large doses, and in small intoxicates. He directs its pernicious effects to be counteracted by taking warm butter, and thus producing vomiting, and otherwise treating the case in the same manner as in poisoning by mandragora. (De Simpl. 375.) Rhases, in his work entitled ‘Ad Mansor.,’ says of the nut methel, that it is a dangerous medicine, which induces stupor, nausea, vomiting, and inebriety. (iii, 30.) His account of it in his ‘Continens’ is very brief. Avicenna describes it in his ‘Mat. Med.’ as being a nut similar to the nux vomica, and having seed like the citron (?). Like the others, he says it inebriates, induces stupor, and is inimical to the brain and heart. In the dose of a drachm he says it proves fatal. (ii, 2, 501.) Ebn Baithar’s authorities give a full account of it, but differing little from the others already given. One of them says, that a drachm will kill on the spot, and in small doses it induces stupor, vomiting, and loss of sense. They direct these bad effects to be counteracted by the administration of an emetic of natron (soda), by giving wine and pepper, and keeping up the heat of the body. The Hindoo physicians held that it is alexiterial. See Susruta and Wise (Hindoo Med.)
An excellent modern authority says of the Datura Metel, that “its seeds are narcotic, more powerful than the Datura Stramomium, and produce temporary idiotcy.” Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 52.) Dr. Lindley, after describing the Datura Stramonium as a violent narcotic, says of the Metel, that it has a similar action. (Veg. Kingd. 619.) Comparing, then, the effects of the Nux Methel, as described by the ancient authorities with those of the Datura Methel, as given by those recent authorities, we cannot hesitate in recognising their identity.
Rachaba, or Nux Mechil.
One of Serapion’s authorities states that an Arab had told him that it is a great tree, like the nut-tree, having leaves like a great fig, and fruit like small pomegranates, and speaks very indistinctly about its being Pharoah’s nut; but it is difficult, from his language, to make out what he says on that point. He says it is sweet, has a pleasant smell, and is eaten by shepherds and others. He mentions that some had confounded it with the nux vomica; but he concludes by saying that whoever will compare the descriptions of the rachaba and nux vomica must see the difference. (De Simpl. 164.) From this description it is quite clear that this cannot be the nux vomica, but rather one of the eatable figs, probably the ficus benjamina.
Nux Henden, or Banden.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 79) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 496.) According to the latter it is a grainy mass, like the vetch, white, inclining to yellow, which is brought from Barea and Chorasan, and of which a wine is made with honey. He quotes Paulus (by some mistake we suppose) as saying of it that it is refrigerant, extinguishes inflammation, and is slightly desiccant. It suppresses fluxes of blood, fattens, cures impetigo, and is aphrodisiac. Serapion’s authorities give a more lengthy description of it, but do not supply many more particulars. Rhases, one of them, calls it the fat of the earth, and the rock of the earth, and another calls it pigeon’s root. They all agree that it makes an excellent wine, which forms semen, fattens the body, and is aphrodisiac. They also state that it stops fluxes, and causes vomiting. Ebn Baithar’s account of it is nearly the same as Serapion’s. He says it is called honey earth in Andalusia. (i, 274.) Sprengel suggests—how correctly we leave it to our readers who are better acquainted with the productions of the East than we can pretend to be, to determine—that it is the Garcinia Mangostena, or Mangosteen, a fruit which has the reputation of being the finest in the world. The description of it, given by Serapion, as far as we can judge of it from the barbarous Latin translation, would certainly seem to agree in some striking points with that of the mangosteen. Compare it with ‘Loudon, Encycl. of Gardening,’ 1531.
Meisce, or Mes.
See Serapion (De Simpl. c. 116); Avicenna (ii, 2, 481); Ebn Baithar (ii, 465.) It is described at some length, and in nearly the same terms by all these authors. They call it a small grain like a vetch, of a green colour, and say that some used it for fasils, and that it was wholesome but not very nutritious. They say of it that it is cold, and rather desiccant, useful in catarrhs and coughs, and as a plaster to bruised and torn parts. In our edition of Serapion it is marked as mango in a very old looking hand-writing, and it is recognised as the Phaseolus mango by Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 266), and by the German translator of Ebn Baithar.
Horon, or Bombax.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 66) and Ebn Baithar (i, 305.) Abuhanifa, one of Serapion’s authorities, says that some medical men had informed him that cotton grows on trees like quinces. So at least we understand the passage; but as it is very curious, and also very obscure, it may be well to give the Latin translation: “Dixerunt mihi quidam medici de kelbe quod coton nascitur inter eos in arboribus quæ sunt sicut arbores antipsicorum.” Compare Pliny (H. N. xii, 10.) The next of Serapion’s authorities, Aben Mesuai, recommends the juice of it in the diarrhœa of children. Mescha says its seed is beneficial in coughs and good for the breast. Albasari says of it that it is good for clothes, and that its juice is an excellent application in cutaneous diseases of the face. Rhases also, as quoted by him, recommends it in the same cases, and further says of it that it is aphrodisiac. Ebn Baithar’s authorities also give an interesting account of it, recommending it in much the same cases as those of Serapion, namely in infantile diarrhœa, and as an application to cutaneous diseases; and he further states that it was used to burn warts, no doubt like the raw flax, often mentioned in the works of Hippocrates. The leaves are said to have been useful in uterine complaints, and in gout mixed with rose-oil. Clothes prepared from it are much praised by the author. There can be no doubt from what we have stated, that it must have been the Gossypium arboreum or herbaceum, most probably the latter. See Meyen (Geogr. Botany.) From Ainslie’s Mat. Ind. it will be seen that oil prepared from the former is still used for cleaning the skin of spots, and that the leaves are given for the cure of diarrhœa. (ii, 284.)
Musa.
See Serapion (De Simpl. 84); Avicenna (ii, 2, 484); Ebn Baithar (ii, 535.) According to Serapion’s first authority, Aben Mesuai, it is hot in the middle of the first degree, and moistening in the end of it, little nutritious, and has the property of being useful in heat of the breast, lungs, and bladder, and softens the bowels; if much used, it creates a load on the stomach, and obstruction in the liver, and if taken by a person of a cold temperament in great quantity, he ought to take hydromel, oxymel, or prepared ginger with it. Another of his authorities, Sindaxar, says it promotes the growth of the fœtus in utero. A third, named Alchalebemen, says it is a good medicine for the chest and the kidneys, and is diuretic. The book on ancient medicine, as quoted by him, says of it that it is aphrodisiac, and heavy on the stomach; and Avicenna’s account of it is so similar that it would not be worth while to give an exposition of it. Ebn Baithar describes it minutely as being a species of Palm. Its medicinal characters, as stated by him, are nearly the same as those given above from Serapion. There can be no doubt that it is the Musa paradisiaca, or common plantain tree. On it the reader may find it interesting to consult Ainslie (Mat. Ind. 316), and Loudon (Encycl. of Garden. 1530.) The plantain tree is briefly noticed by Theophrastus (H. P. iv, 5), but does not occur in the works of the Greek and Latin physicians.
Granum Kelkel, or Alkelkel.
See Avicenna (ii, 2, 302); Serapion (De Simpl. 275); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 378); Ebn Baithar (ii, 315.) Serapion’s authorities say of it that it is hot and moistening, increases the secretion of semen, especially when taken with the oil of sesame; that when taken in too large a dose, it induces cholera, and after other food occasions vertigo. The account of it given by Rhases and Avicenna is little different. The latter says of it that it is fattening, and comforts relaxed bodies. Ebn Baithar gives a very minute description of it; he says he planted it in his own country, and that it produced fruit. He ascribes the same good and bad effects to it as Serapion. When roasted, he says, it does not engender bad chyme. Its seeds are said to be aphrodisiac. We suppose there is little or no doubt that it is the Cassia tora. On the modern use of it by the Hindoos, see Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 405.)
Lehibach, or Lahiba.
See Avicenna (ii, 2, 425); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 389.) Rhases quotes Galen as saying of it that it has powers like horehound. We are at a loss to say what substance he alludes to among the Simples of Galen. Another authority quoted by him seems to say that a portion of it flung into a lake containing fish, will make them swim on the surface, and Avicenna confirms this statement. Avicenna further says it is emetic and hydragogue. We would refer it with Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 249) to the Mussaenda frondosa.
Gilbenee.
Avicenna compares its seed to turbith, and its operation to hellebore. He says when given to the amount of half a drachm it operates as an emetic, and that one drachm may prove fatal. He mentions the case of a paralytic person who took it, and having vomited was thereby cured. He adds of it that it also acts as a purgative (ii, 2, 282.) It is evidently the gilbeuce of Rhases, who in like manner describes it as a powerful emetic, the operation of which resembles hellebore, and is useful to paralytics. More than a drachm of it, he says, given in a dose, may occasion death. (Ad Mansor. iii, 30.) It appears decidedly to be the Cerbera manghas L., i. e. Arbor lactaria, Rumphius. See Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 252); Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 261.) Dr. Lindley says of it: “The kernels of Cerbera manghas are emetic and poisonous; the milky sap is purgative; the leaves and bark are used in Java as a substitute for senna.” (Veg. Kingd. 600.)
Kustberkush.
Avicenna gives a description of it which appears to us very unsatisfactory, but which determines Sprengel to refer it to the Tamarix orientalis. He calls it hot and dry in the second degree, and attenuant. (ii, 2, 371.)
Nefrin, or Nerfin.
See Avicenna (ii, 2, 506); Serapion (De Simpl. 187.) Avicenna compares it to the narcissus, and says it resembles the jasmine in virtue, but is weaker than it. He recommends it in coldness of the nerves, and as a cure in noises and pains of the ears, and in toothache. He also recommends it externally in headache, inflammations of the throat and tonsils, and for stopping vomiting and hiccup. Serapion compares it to the rose and jasmine, and recommends it in pleurisy and pains of the womb. Rhases, as quoted by him, says that in Chorasan he had seen it given to the extent of two drachms as a purgative. It seems highly probable that it is the Narcissus orientalis.
Muluchia.
Avicenna (ii, 2, 194); Serapion (De Simpl. 149); Ebn Baithar (ii, 537.) Avicenna’s description of this article, which he also calls “Olus Judaicum,” would seem to decide that it is the Corchorus olitorius or Jews’ mallow. The other two authorities quoted above are not so precise in their description of it. It is more properly an article of food than of medicine. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 372), and Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 387.)
Moschus.
Musk, the inspissated secretion of the follicle in the prepuce of the Moschus moschiferus L., would appear to be first mentioned in the works of Aëtius (xvi, 122), who gives formulæ for various fumigations (suffumigia) containing a great many aromatics, and among them musk. But as we have already had occasion to state, we entertain strong suspicions that the concluding chapters of this author may be spurious. Indeed, as this important article is not noticed by authors subsequent to Aëtius, such as Oribasius, it would appear to us that this circumstance is the strongest possible presumption, that the passage in Aëtius had been added after the Arabian period of medicine. There is one notice of it also by our author, but it also has a suspicious appearance. (p. 292, ed. Basil. See also 296.) Serapion gives a long account of it, first upon the authority of Abuhanifa, who calls the animal the musk gazelle, and says its habitat is in the countries of Tumbasci and Sini, by which he probably means Thibet and China. Of these the better kind, he says, is that procured from Thibet, as the animal in that country lives on fragrant herbs, and the inhabitants are better acquainted with the process of extracting it from its follicles. And, moreover, he says, the Sinenses (Chinese?) are apt to adulterate their musk. The animal which produces musk, he adds, does not differ in figure, colour, nor horns from other gazelles, and the best musk is procured after it is full grown. He then gives an anatomical description of its canine teeth, and of the modes of catching it by snares, gins, and by shooting it with arrows; and also the manner of extracting the musk from the animal after its death. But the best musk, he says, is procured from the animal when it is in a state of orgasm, and rubs its follicles against a rock until the musk drops out of them. The inhabitants of Thibet (homines de Thebeth) know the places where the animal feeds, and collect the musk thus procured from them. This, he remarks, is the finest musk of all, and is reserved for royal personages and held in high esteem. This authority concludes by saying that in the region of Thebeth there are many cities, but that the one, from which musk is procured, is that city which is properly called Thebeth. His next authority is Alcholabama, who calls musk hot in the second degree, and dry in the third. The following one, Aben Mesuai, says of it, that it comforts the heart and internal viscera, both when drunk and when applied externally in plasters. His next authority is Honain, who recommends musk in diseases of the eyes. The others supply little additional information on it, but in general recommend it in diseases of the brain. He says the Persian doctors applied the oil to the member as an aphrodisiac. (De Simpl. 185.) Rhases recommends musk in headache, and all cold affections of the head, and also as a stomachic. (Ad Mansor. iii, 22.) In his ‘Continens’ he quotes from several Arabian authorities, all of whom give it the characters already stated, and recommend it most especially in diseases of the brain and eyes. (l. ult. i, 483.) Avicenna gives an accurate description of it, as far as we can judge from the wretched translation of his works. He recommends it in errhines with saffron, and with a little camphor for vertigo, and other affections of the brain. He also thinks favorably of it as a cordial in affections of the heart, and in melancholy. He concludes by saying of it that it is alexipharmic, especially in cases of poisoning with napellus. (ii, 2, 452.) See also his treatise (de Med. cordial., ii.) There does not appear any distinct mention of it in the works of Mesue the younger. It occurs frequently as an ingredient in the antidotes of Myrepsus. Ebn Baithar gives a very full description of it and its medicinal virtues, but it agrees so well with the description of it by Serapion, that we need not enter much into particulars. He recommends it particularly in diseases of the eyes, and says that the oil of it is a useful application to piles, and when rubbed into the genital member, is strongly aphrodisiac. It is, moreover, said to be an excellent cordial. Of the Greek authorities Symeon Seth is the only one that gives anything like a distinct account of musk. He describes three kinds, of which the best is procured from a city east of Chorasan called Trepet (Thibet?). The next in quality is the Indian, and the worst is that which is procured from the Sines (Chinese?). All the kinds, he says, are formed in the umbilicus of an animal with one horn, resembling the gazelle. Like Serapion he states that it is got from the animal while in a state of sexual orgasm. Musk, he says, is hot and dry in the third degree, and of a volatile nature. As to its medicinal powers, it strengthens weak parts, and is beneficial in cold intemperaments of the head, but injurious in hot. It is adapted for the recovery of persons in a fainting fit, in loss of strength, and in affections of the heart. (De Alimentis.) An antidote of musk occurs in Actuarius. (Meth. Med. v, 6.)
Volubilis.
This name is loosely applied by the Arabian authorities to several genera of the climbing plants. For example under this head Serapion describes the lebleb or cussus, the acfin, the atthin, and lebleb maju. Of these the first is unquestionably the κισσὸς or ivy, and is described in extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. Of the acfin he says that it is laxative, and quotes Dioscorides as saying that it loosens the bowels. He says the atthin is styptic, and quotes Dioscorides and Galen as recommending it in rheums of the eyes, and fluxes of the bowels. The last or lebleb he describes upon the authority of Aben Mesuai, who says it is hot in the middle of the first degree, dry in the beginning of the same, of a cutting nature with some saline properties, and purges adust bile. Afterwards he describes its medicinal powers in the same terms as Dioscorides and Galen describe the cissus, that is to say, he represents it as being rather a medicine than an article of food; says it purges bile in doses of from one third to two thirds of a pound, when clarified without boiling, by means of ten drachms of sugar or penidia. His next authority, Isaac ebn Amram, says it is deobstruent. Alkanzi says it is cold and dry, is purgative and useful in indurations. His last authority, Abix, says the lebleb is cold and moistening, cholagogue, and along with cassia fistula and oil of almonds it proves useful in clearing out the bowels, and relieves coughs. (De Simpl. 42.) Avicenna under the head of Volubilis, i. e. hedera (ii, 2, 724), and under Cussus (ib. 169), describes the κισσὸς of Dioscorides, but the former of these rather confusedly so as to create suspicions that he used the term in rather a lax manner. Mesue is the ancient author who treats most elaborately of the volubilis, applying the term to five distinct species, or rather genera, of which the first is probably the Hedera, the second the Helxine, and the third the Clematis of the Greeks; the fourth, which he calls lupulus, is acknowledged to be the Humulus lupulus, and the fifth the Convolvulus scammonium. See his learned commentator Costa (c. 24.) As all the others have been already treated of, we shall confine our attention at present to the account which he gives of the medicinal powers of the hops. He says the lupulus brings away some yellow bile, clears the blood, allays its inflammation, and that its infusion or whey is of great use for this purpose, and its syrup, he adds, cures jaundice. He says it was little used by the physicians of his time. He recommends it as a deobstruent of the liver, and of other internal viscera, as a remedy in asthma, and protracted fevers; and as a plaster to the head with rose oil or oil of chamomile, &c. (i, 24.) He treats of scammony separately in the next chapter. The character thus drawn of the lupulus does not seem at first sight to agree well with the acknowledged virtues of the Humulus Lupulus. But, as Rutty remarks, he probably alludes to the stem and not to the flowers of the plant, as being a medicine which purges yellow bile. (M. M. 296.) The Humulus Lupulus is not noticed by any Greek writer, nor by any Roman, with the exception of Pliny. (H. N. xxi, 50.)
The lebleb, noticed above, there is every reason to suppose, was the dolichos lebleb. It is also treated of by Avicenna as well as Serapion. They represent it as containing saltish juices which purge adust bile. It is a well-known article in Hindoo Medicine. See Wise (Book of Hindoo Medicine, 104.)
Abrong, or Abrugi.
Serapion describes it as a round grain, spotted with black and white, which is brought from Seni (China?), having a bitter taste, hot and dry in the second degree, a laxative of the bowels, and vermifuge. (De Simpl. 153.) According to Dodonæus and Parkinson, it is the pea which the latter describes and represents under the name of pisum cordatum vesicarium. See Theatre of Plants (1378.)
Ribes.
This has been supposed the ribes or raspberry, but it is now well ascertained that it is a species of Rheum, namely the Rheum Ribes. See Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 257.) Serapion gives a full account of it; he represents it to be a cold, astringent plant, and recommends it in various complaints, such as cholera, smallpox, measles, and in hemorrhoids. (De Simpl. 241.) Avicenna briefly recommends it in nearly the same complaints. (ii, 2, 581.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 582.) Ebn Baithar gives a full and very interesting description of it. He says it grows in alpine localities in Syria, and in the northern countries, but not in Spain; that it has large, broad, round leaves, and tender reddish spots. He calls it bitter and astringent, and recommends it in palpitation of the heart, vomiting, and marasmus. He also praises it in hemorrhoids, and the red flux (menorrhagia) of women; and further commends it in measles, smallpox, and plague. Dr. Royle says (M. M. 521) that the Rheum Ribes is “the Riwas of Serapion, who mentions it as making a good sherbet.” Does he allude to the chapter on the Ribes quoted above?
Aurantium.
When we stated in another place (Vol. I, 134) that no ancient author had noticed the orange, we were unacquainted with the works of Ebn Baithar, and of D’Hanvantare, the author of the Susruta. In the latter work the orange is enumerated with acid fruits, of a somewhat indigestible nature. (140 et alibi.) Ebn Baithar says of the orange that it produces an oil which is useful in flatulence and pains of the joints. The rind of the fruit, he says, is carminative and anthelminthic, an antidote to poisons, and removes spots from clothes. The Hindoos have been long familiar with the Citrus aurantium. See the Susruta and Wise’s Hindoo Medicine (p. 191.)
Limon.
We are now inclined to think that we were mistaken in stating (Vol. I. 137) that the lemon was mentioned by Avicenna (ii, 2, 433.) His description is probably to be referred to the Statice limonium. However, beyond all doubt, the Citrus medica Limon is fully described by Ebn Baithar. He says the rind is bitter, acid, astringent, and aromatic, excites the appetite, improves digestion, renders the breath fragrant, is cordial, and an antidote to poisons. He recommends it particularly in fevers, exanthemata, palpitation of the heart, vomiting, &c. It appears also to be noticed several times in the Susruta. (See p. 142 et alibi.) Lemons are likewise noticed by the Persian writers on the Materia Medica by the names of Leemoo and Neemboo. See Royle (Mat. Med. 297.) They have been long known to the Hindoos. See Wise (Hindoo Med.)
Margaritæ.
Though the Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with pearl-mussels, as is obvious from several passages in the classical authors, it does not appear that they ever used these articles in the practice of medicine. They were used by the Arabians as an ingredient in their celebrated Electuarium de Gemmis, (Mesue de Elect.) and were reckoned among their cordial medicines. Avicenna says of pearls, that they resemble karabe in medicinal powers, but are more powerful in their operation. (De Med. Cordial.) Serapion gives a fuller account of them upon the authority of several Arabian writers, who describe pearls as being cold, desiccant, and attenuant, and recommend them in diseases of the eyes, and in hemorrhages, as dentifrices in diseases of the teeth, but more especially as cordials in palpitations and other affections of the heart. (De Simpl. 397.) We could have wished to have given in this place, since we have had no convenient opportunity to do so elsewhere, an exposition of the views of the Arabians respecting the operation of cordial medicines; but as this subject could not be understood without a fuller explanation of certain parts of the higher philosophy of the ancients than is consistent with our limits, we are reluctantly obliged to dismiss it with a very brief notice. We would beg leave to refer our readers to Avicenna’s elaborate treatise ‘de Medicinis Cordialibus.’ He there gives an ingenious disquisition on medicines which operate upon the animal spirits and dispel vapours, and first advocates views which have formed the basis of many a modern hypothesis on this subject. Among the cordial medicines described by him we would remark amber, gold, silver, citron, coral, cinnamon, camphor, myrobalans, hyacinth (the gem), lapis lazuli, myrtle, musk, mace, frankincense, silk, sandal-wood, tamarinds, zerumbet, zeduary, &c. One important class of cordials consists of medicines which evacuate black bile, namely, melanogogues, which we will have to treat of in a subsequent section of this work.
In imitation of the Arabians, Paracelsus and the modern alchemists have attributed great virtues to the precious metals and stones as cordial medicines. See Schröder (Chemical Dispensatory, pluries.) He says of pearls, that “they are an excellent cordial, that strengthens the balsam of life, resists poison, pestilence, and putrefaction, and clear the spirits.” (167.) Pearls and other precious stones have always been highly esteemed by the Hindoo physicians. See the Susruta and Wise’s Hindoo Medicine (124.)
Sericum.
We have mentioned above, that silk is one of the cordial medicines treated of by Avicenna. Silk, and especially raw silk, he says, is attenuant and desiccative, acts as a cordial, improves the memory, proves useful in affections of the eyes, in obstructions of the liver and other complaints. (De Med. Cord. ii, 3.) The silkworm (bombyx mori) and the uses of silk in medicine, are described with considerable accuracy by Serapion. Like Avicenna he ranks it with the cordial medicines, and recommends it in this capacity along with pearls, karabe, corals, and musk. (De Simpl. c. 28.) Silk forms one of the ingredients in the electuary of Mesue, to which he gives the following imposing title, “Electuarium ex granis tinctoriis ad cordis palpitationem, syncopem, mentis alienationem, seu desipentiam, moerorem sine causa manifesta, facultates enim nostrum corpus dispensantes mirifice roborat.” See f. 89, and the interesting Commentary of Costa. It is also an ingredient in several of the Antidotaria of Avenzoar. Ebn Baithar says, that various Arabian authors had written on the medicinal properties of silk. One of them quoted by him describes the use of it in medicine by burning it, and using its ashes for collyria and other purposes. He remarks, that Ebn Sina (Avicenna) says, that silk as an article of clothing prevents the formation of lice. Raw silk has been used as a medicine in modern times. Moses Charras, in his ‘Royal Pharmacopœia,’ writes thus of it: “Many writers have attributed great virtue to raw silk. But although the use thereof had been at all times unknown in physic, my judgment is that it is too fragrant, that it has too much beauty, that it affords too many conveniences to human life, that there are too many wonders in the first original, progress, labour, and metamorphosis of the worm which produces it, to be despised.” He adds, “that is called raw silk which was never boiled, but is still as it were in the grain, out of which the worm has been but newly taken.” He says further of the composition, whereof raw silk is an ingredient, namely, Confectio alkermes regia, “This confection is, without question, one of the best cordials that ever Galenic physic invented. For it repairs and recreates the vital and animal spirits, it ceases palpitations of the heart and swooning-fits; it fortifies the brain, &c.” (R. P. 149.) A still more recent authority on pharmacy, says of raw silk, Sericum, that it is “cordial, restorative, one drachm in powder.” Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 215.)
Hyacinthus.
This is one of the precious stones which often occurs as an ingredient in the Arabian formulæ for antidotes. Ebn Baithar remarks, that it is not described by Dioscorides nor Galen. He mentions three kinds, a yellow, a red, and a black, of which the red is the noblest. Its powers, he says, are increased by fire. It was used as an amulet, and was held to be cordial and alexipharmic; and, in fact, Ebn Baithar says it is possessed of many virtues. From his mentioning of it, that, when rubbed, it attracts straw, there seems every reason to suppose that it was tourmaline. Some have taken the hyacinth of the Greeks and Romans for the same, but Heeren rather supposes it to be the ruby. It is briefly noticed as a cordial by Avicenna, Mesue, and Serapion. The last of these gives nearly the same account of it as Ebn Baithar; that is to say, both had copied from the same authorities. He particularly mentions it as being an excellent phylactery to guard the body during thunder-storms. (De Simpl. 398.) The Confectio de Hyacintho has been very celebrated in modern times. See Moses Charras (Roy. Pharmacop. 147.)
Hager Albuzedi.
It is thus described by Serapion: “Hager albuzedi is a red stone, but less so than the hyacinth, the redness of which is more agreeable to the eye, as there is no obscurity in it. The mines where this stone is found are in the East. When taken from the mine it is opake; but when divested of its outer coat by a lapidary, its goodness is discovered and it becomes transparent. When this stone has been strongly rubbed against the hair of the head, it attracts chaff, as the magnet does iron.” He speaks of its being useful to the eyes when they are rubbed with it, and says that as a seal it dispels frightsome dreams. (de Mineral. 399.) According to Beckmann this is most probably not the tourmaline, although it bears some resemblance to it in properties, but belongs rather to the hyacinths. (History of Inventions.) In fact, it would appear to us highly probable, that this article like the preceding was a variety of the ruby.
Hager Salachil, or Lapis Corneolus.
Several species of it are described by Serapion, of which the best he says is the red. They are brought, he adds, from the mines of the Romans, and were used principally as an amulet and dentifrice. It must have been the same as the Sardion of Theophrastus (De Lapidibus), and of Plato (Timæus.) The term would appear to have been used in a general sense for several of the finer kinds of agates. (De Simpl. 400.) A modern authority thus describes it: “The Sarda or Cornelian. It is a gem half transparent, like the water wherein flesh is washed, or like bloody flesh: hence it is called Carneolus or Cornelian. The best cornelians are found in Sardinia.” Schröder (Chemical Dispensatory, p. 160.)
Tincar, or Borax.
We have treated of this article already under the head of Chrysocolla, with which it has been often confounded. It was introduced into medical practice by the Arabians, and there appears to us no doubt that it was the same as our borate of soda. It was very much used for the cure of toothache. See the authorities quoted under Chrysocolla. It was used medicinally by the Hindoo physicians. See the Susruta (pluries), Wise (Hindoo System of Medicine, 117); Ainslie (Mat. Ind. 576); Royle (Mat. Med. 97.)
Hager Alcazaha.
It is difficult to determine precisely what this precious stone was, although it is pretty minutely described by Serapion. He says it is brought from Yemen, and is of divers colours, from white to black, and that it occasions disturbed dreams when worn as an amulet: he recommends it, however, to be thus used by infants, and says a vessel prepared from it, if used for holding any article of food or drink, prevents sleep. (De Simpl. 401.)
Lapis Lazuli.
We have in so far treated of this substance under Cyanus in the preceding Commentary. It was used, like the other precious stones, as an amulet, but was more particularly celebrated as a melanogogue medicine. It was further said to be useful in asthma, and as an emmenagogue. See Serapion (De Simpl. 369); Avicenna (ii, 256). A modern authority describes it thus: “It is a stone like a sapphire, or the flowers of cyanus adorned with golden stones or flowers, harder than the Armenian stone. It is in virtue like the Armenian stone, but weaker; it purgeth chiefly melancholy. It is worn about the neck for an amulet to drive away frights from children,” &c. Schröder, (Chymic. Dispensat.)
Berengemish, or Ozimum Gariofilatum.
Serapion, after quoting a description of it from Isaac ebn Amram, says of it, that it is hot and dry in the end of the second degree, is useful in coldness of the stomach, promotes digestion, is a hepatic and cordial medicine, dispels melancholy, renders the eructations fragrant, &c. His other authorities recommend it in similar cases. (De Simpl. 156.) Avicenna gives a similar account of it in all respects. (ii, 2, 254.) We suppose there is no doubt that it is the clove basil, or Ocimum gariofilatum of Miller; or, according to Sprengel, the O. monachorum.
Behen.
Serapion briefly describes two varieties of it consisting of fibrous roots, being brought from Armenia, and having a good smell with some viscidity. Both kinds, he says, are hot and humid, and increase the secretion of semen. (De Simpl. 223.) See also Avicenna (ii, 2, 82), and Rhases (Contin. l. ult. iii, 29.) Avicenna holds that it is also cordial in addition to its power of forming semen. It is the Centaurea Behen L.
Spinachia.
We have already treated of the spinach (Spinachia oleracea) as a dietetical article introduced by the Arabians. (Vol. I, 113.) According to Avicenna it is laxative of the bowels, useful in orthopnœa, and other diseases of the chest. It is noticed in like terms by Serapion (De Simpl. 140); by Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 671.) Ebn Baithar says of spinach that it is an excellent potherb, and useful in diseases of the neck and chest, being much used for this purpose by the inhabitants of Nineveh, who are very subject to such complaints.
Rhabarbarum.
We have stated under Rheum in the preceding Commentary (317), that it was the rheum rhaponticum, which is the only species of the rheum described in the regular treatises on the Mat. Med. of the Greeks and Romans. Our author, however, would seem to allude to the Rheum barbarum or purgative rhubarb, at Book I, 43, and VII, 11. Although it is stated by some learned authorities that the rheum of Trallian (viii, 3) was a species of the Rhabarbarum, we are satisfied from a careful examination of the passage, that it was the rhaponticum. There can be no doubt that the general use of the purgative rhubarb was introduced by the Arabians, of whom Ebn Baithar is by far the most copious and instructive under this head. He states decidedly that there are four species of rhubarb, three of which are perfectly distinct. On the first species, by which he evidently means the R. Rhaponticum, he gives extracts from Dioscorides, Galen, Oribasius, and Paulus. He says the older physicians knew nothing of the virtues of the purgative kinds of rhubarb until they were discovered near to his time. He says the purgative rhubarb acts as a deobstruent and strengthener of all the internal viscera, is useful in mental diseases, dropsy, jaundice, marasmus connected with obstructions, especially when combined with gum lac. He says it is most useful in chronic diarrhœa when taken in an aromatic wine and with Indian spikenard, and also in uterine fluxes, dyspepsia, and other complaints of a similar nature. He praises it most especially as a stomachic. He states, that of all the kinds of rhubarb, the Turkish possesses the purgative quality in the highest degree. Of the other Arabian authorities, Averrhoes is one who gives a very distinct account of the true purgative rhubarb. (Collig. v, 42.) Mesue describes three species of the Rhabarbarum, or Rhaued, namely, Indianum, Barbarum, and Turcicum, to all of which he ascribes purgative powers, and recommends them as being possessed of hepatic, stomachic, and deobstruent properties, which render them particularly serviceable in dropsy, obstructions of the spleen, and jaundice. The dose of the infusion, he says, is from one to ten drs.; and of the pounded, from one to three. He appears not to have been acquainted with the Rhaponticum (De Simpl. v), whereas Avicenna and Serapion would seem not to have known the other. It may be proper to mention, in conclusion, that the Rheum rhaponticum is the common culinary or tart rhubarb of this country. According to Loudon, it was introduced in 1573, but it is most probable that we owe the introduction of it to the Romans.
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But it is time that we should draw this Appendix to a close. And now we trust it will not be thought out of place to conclude with Professor Beckmann’s eloquent eulogy on the Literature of the Arabians in his celebrated work on the ‘History of Inventions and Discoveries.’
“What a noble people were the Arabs! We are indebted to them for much knowledge and for many inventions of great utility; and we should have still more to thank them for were we fully aware of the benefits we have derived from them. What a pity that their works should be suffered to moulder into dust, without being made available! What a shame that those acquainted with this rich language should meet with so little encouragement! The few old translations which exist have been made by persons who were not sufficiently acquainted either with languages or the sciences. On that account they are for the most part unintelligible, uncertain, in many places corrupted, and besides, exceedingly scarce. Even when obtained, the possessors are pretty much in the same state as those who make their way with great trouble to a treasure, which, after all, they are only permitted to see at a distance through a narrow gate. Had I still twenty years to live, and could hope for an abundant supply of Arabic works, I would learn Arabic. But ὁ βίος βραχὺς, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή.”
SECT. IV.—ON SIMPLE PURGATIVE MEDICINES.
Give of aloes one drachm, with honeyed water, in the morning. But they who administer it in the evening or after food occasion mischief, for it makes the food spoil. It evacuates yellow bile, less if given to the extent of three oboli, for in that case it proves solely and entirely eccoprotic. But purgative medicines being generally bad for the stomach, aloes alone is stomachic. Those who cannot endure the bitterness of it may take it formed into pills. It is manifest that purgative medicines do not evacuate by any one simple temperament such as heat (for then all hot things would be evacuants, such as pepper), but by some specific property of their whole substance in like manner as the magnet attracts iron. Of purgative medicines those which are simply laxative have been treated of in the First Book. We are to use drastic purgatives either in order to transfer some matter, or to dislodge and remove an indurated diathesis, or as an alterative to the system, and in order to change the temperament of it, or to displace any offending humour. There are certain mixed modes complicated of the afore-mentioned. Purgative medicines are to be given to those whose powers are firm and their understanding strong; to such as have passed the first stage of life, and have not yet come to the last; to those who have a strong stomach, and have collections of superfluous matters in the body, and are not very sanguineous. The best seasons for purging, if there be no urgent necessity, are the spring and the autumn.
On those things which evacuate bile. We may give cholagogue medicines at any season except winter, to persons in the vigour of life and in the decline; to persons of dry and muscular habits, and who are of a dark or ruddy complexion; to men rather than to women; to those whose food is apt to spoil on their stomachs, and whose bellies are constipated; to such as abound in bitter bile, are irascible, pass little urine, and use hot and dry food: in icteric, hepatic, and pleuritic affections; in phrenitis, cynanche, mania, cephalæa, ophthalmy, erysipelas, leprosy, fevers, and to such as are troubled with collections of bile. Aloes is given to such as are troubled with heaviness of the head, with ophthalmy, with thirst, with disturbed dreams without fever; to such as have a sensation of departing rigor; to those who pass acrid flatus, and have gnawing pains of the intestines; to those who are seized with burning heat about the stomach, or nausea producing eversion of it; and to those who being troubled with a collection of excrementitious matters cannot bear evacuations by clysters. For it evacuates the whole body, and does not occasion disorder of it unless given in very great quantity, and brings along with it any bile lying in the intestines, stomach, and gullet.—Hellebore agrees both with those in acute diseases and those in chronic requiring a cholagogue medicine, such as maniacs, those troubled with hemicrania, and such as have defluxions of the eyes and complaints in the chest. But it suits most with such viscera as the uterus and bladder when they require a cholagogue remedy. It is also proper for chronic affections of the trachea, for jaundice, exanthemata, lichen, herpes, erysipelas, and leprosy. Black hellebore evacuates bile, especially yellow, from the whole body and without trouble. Hence it is given to those not affected with heavy fever, and more especially to such as are free from fever, in the quantity of one drachm of the roots triturated in honeyed water or plain water, while fasting, or with honey made into pills. Some mix with it pennyroyal, savoury, or some of the volatile stomachics.—Scammony purges like hellebore, and more especially yellow bile, but of all purgative medicines it is the most prejudicial to the stomach. It is, therefore, to be given to those who are free from fever, and such as have strong stomachs, to the amount of four oboli, with salts, pepper, ginger, or some one of the volatile stomachics, or along with honey. It is also formed into pills with gum.—The medullary part of the fruit of the Colocynth evacuates especially bile and mucous matters, not from the blood like hellebore and scammony, but from the nerves and nervous parts, when given to the amount of one drachm in two cyathi of honeyed water which has rue boiled in it. But it is to be triturated for a long time, because otherwise its rough particles sticking in the internal parts produce ulcerations and nervous affections by sympathy. It is to be given to those who have affections of the head, namely, when the meninx or the pericranium is affected, such as those labouring under vertigo or hemicrania, or those troubled with cephalæa; also in epilepsy, apoplexy, cynic spasms, chronic defluxions on the eyes, orthopnœa, asthma, and chronic coughs; likewise in arthritic cases to those who have affections about the kidneys or bladder.—Elaterium evacuates like scammony. Such as is green like leeks, light, and not older than a year, is to be chosen; and it is to be given to the amount of three oboli, triturated with one hemina of milk.—Tithymallus, spurge, evacuates bile like elaterium and scammony. Four or five drops of the juice are given, mixed with polenta and quickly swallowed. For if retained long in the mouth they ulcerate the tongue and surrounding parts.—Lathyrides (a species of spurge) purge bile like hellebore and scammony. They are to be given to the amount of seven, eight, or as many as fifteen grains to such as are robust and require much purging, who are to be directed to chew them. But those who are weaker and have bad stomachs, must swallow them whole.—The dried tops of the Peplium are to be given to the amount of eight oboli in honeyed water. They evacuate bile like hellebore, and occasion the breaking of wind.—Agaric has similar powers to the colocynth, but acts slowly and is not prejudicial to the stomach. It is given to the amount of two drachms with honeyed water. It should be very white, brittle, and not very woody nor carious.—Illyrian Iris purges in like manner when given to the amount of eight oboli in honeyed water. It ought not to be old nor carious.—The small Centaury by purging bile and mucus is particularly adapted for cases of ischiatic disease. The decoction is to be drunk of a drachm and a half of centaury, boiled in a hemina of water until it be reduced to the half.—The flower with the fruit of Tragoriganum is given to the amount of two drachms, in honeyed water, to the same class of persons as the black hellebore. It is more stomachic than the hellebore, but less purgative.—Four drachms of Chamelæa (mezereon?) boiled in two heminæ of honeyed water, until reduced to a fourth part, purge like hellebore. Some administer chamelæa by making it into pills with a double quantity of wormwood.—Aristolochia, birthwort, purges like colocynth, one drachm of the species called clematis being given in honeyed water.—The dried root of Polypody when pounded and sprinkled on honeyed water, or triturated along with it, has the same effects as colocynth.
Medicines which evacuate black bile. Medicines which evacuate black bile are to be given in an especial manner to melancholic persons, to such as are easily moved to paroxysms, to passionate persons, to misanthropists, to persons of solitary habits, or to such as during convalescence require purging, during the heat of autumn, in dry habits, and to such as are not muscular.—Epithymum, dodder of thyme, is the best of those medicines which evacuate black bile. It is to be given to the amount of five drachms triturated with a hemina of milk.
Epithymbrum, or the substance which grows upon savory, evacuates in like manner with the epithymum, but is weaker. Pennyroyal, when taken to the amount of an acetabulum, in honeyed water, evacuates black bile.—The Heracleatic Tragoriganum in the same dose evacuates like pennyroyal. But both must be dried. Alypum, the seeds of it have been said to purge black bile when given in the same quantity as the epithymum with salts and vinegar; but, as Dioscorides says, it occasions slight ulceration of the intestines. It is, I think, that substance which is now called alypias. It is to be given in honeyed water.—Parthenium (matricaria?), feverfew, when dried and drunk in like manner, evacuates the same humours. Alypon, madwort, drunk with salts, purges in like manner.
Medicines which evacuate phlegm. We are to administer phlegmagogues in cold habits; to aged persons, in winter; in paralytic and apoplectic cases; for loose œdematous swellings; to such persons as have great collections of phlegm in the belly, chest, or stomach; and in cases of the female flux. They agree also with those who have a copious running from the nose and thick expectoration, with cases of anorexia and ischiatic disease when the joint becomes mucous or pituitous; but they are particularly adapted for those cases of dropsy which are called anasarca.—One drachm of white Storax, drunk with an equal quantity of turpentine rosin, evacuates phlegm.—The bark of the root of Olive to the amount of one drachm, with wine or water; nine oboli of Pellitory, with water; two drachms of the seed of Lychnis (campion); one drachm of the root of Sow-bread, with hydromel; two drachms of Garlic, with honey; ground Pine, triturated and given in the form of pills; half a drachm of the flakes of copper, with an equal quantity of rosin, in pills, purges bile strongly.—A drachm and half of the green leaves of Bay; two oboli of the bark of the root of the wild Cucumber; forty seeds of that species of ricinus called Crotones stripped of their bark and eaten, do the same. A half of that part of Parsley connected with the root (which some call chamæraphanus), when eaten; two drachms of Bdellium, with hydromel; but Gum is particularly adapted for defluxions on the eyes.
Medicines which evacuate water. We are to give hydragogues in that variety of dropsical disease called ascites; to women troubled with the whites; and to those who have ulcers accompanied with a copious discharge.—One drachm of the flakes of Copper, when drunk with honeyed water evacuates water; but a little vinegar must also be swallowed lest it be vomited.—The Granum Cnidium when stripped of its bark, triturated, and drunk with boiled honey, that it may not touch the orifice of the stomach, evacuates water. Twenty, twenty-five, or thirty grains are to be given, and to those who are stronger, as many as forty.—One drachm of Euphorbium, drunk with boiled honey, evacuates phlegm, but more especially water.—Eight oboli of the seed of rough Spleenwort, with honeyed water, evacuate water.—Cneorum, in like manner, purges water when drunk with polenta.—Five drachms of the seed of Cnicus, when triturated together in ptisan, are swallowed with a small quantity of salts.—One drachm of Ammoniac perfume, drunk in honeyed water, evacuates water. Some give it in affections of the spleen with oxycrate.—The juice of the bark of the root of the Elder-tree, when drunk to the amount of two ounces with wine, evacuates water.
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COMMENTARY. The philosopher Aristotle thus explains his ideas respecting the action of purgatives: “When purgatives are conveyed to the stomach, and are there dissolved, they are carried by the same passages as the food, and when they cannot be digested, but their prevailing power remains unsubdued, they return, and carry with them whatever opposes them, and this is called purging.” (Problem. 43.) See also Alexander Aphrodisiensis (Probl. ii, 58.)
Hippocrates administered purgative medicines freely and boldly, but at the same time he cautions against the unseasonable and rash administration of them in several parts of his works. We do not find any theory, however, of the modus operandi of purgatives, nor any general remarks on the cases in which they are applicable, in any of the Hippocratic treatises which are now acknowledged to be genuine. Some ingenious remarks, however, may be found on this subject in the work ‘De Nat. humana.’
Celsus has a chapter on purgative medicines which contains much curious and valuable matter. He says the more ancient physicians gave various purgative medicines very freely, such as black hellebore, polypody, squama æris, the milky juice of lactuca marina (euphorbia paralias?), the milk of asses, with a little salt; but he holds that purgatives hurt the stomach, and are not to be given when any fever is present. The rules, which he lays down for the administration of them, are highly judicious, and deserving of consideration. He approves of them when the head feels heavy, when the eyes are misty, when there is obstruction of the bowels, and when there is pain there or in the hip-joint, when the stomach is oppressed with bile or phlegm, and when there is dyspnœa, when venesection is indicated, but the powers of the system will not admit of it, and in several other cases. (v, 12.) He mentions that Asclepiades totally rejected the use of purgative medicines. (i, 3.)
Galen has devoted a complete treatise to the discussion of the question regarding the modus operandi of purgatives. He decidedly inclines to the theory that every purgative by some specific property attracts, and as it were, sucks to it the humour to which it has a natural alliance, in like manner as the magnet attracts iron. He divides Purgatives into Cholagogues, Melanogogues, Hydragogues, and Phlegmagogues. He rejects the hypothesis of Erasistratus, who maintained that each medicine converts the juices presented to it, into its own specific nature: thus that cholagogues convert them into yellow bile, melanogogues into black bile, and so forth. Although Galen flatters himself that he effectually demolishes this hypothesis, we have long looked upon it as a very plausible one, and believe that at the present time the prevailing opinion in the profession inclines much in that direction. For example, the green and dark discharges which are brought off by mercurial purgatives, are now generally supposed to be occasioned by the fluids in the secretions entering into combination with the medicine administered. It is to be regretted that no ancient author has given us a clear exposition of the hypothesis of Erasistratus. Galen gives a long list of cases, in which purgatives prove beneficial, such as erysipelas, epilepsy, apoplexy, gout, rheumatism, melancholy, and many chronic complaints. He insists strongly on the benefit derived from cholagogues for the cure of jaundice. (De purg. Med. vi.)
Antyllus, in an extract preserved by Aëtius, espouses the theory which maintains the specific operation of purgatives, and that they act by attracting the humours to which they are allied. He recommends them for various complaints, as malignant cutaneous diseases, spontaneous ulceration, and rheumatic affections. (iii, 23.)
The account of this subject, given by Oribasius, is taken from the works of Galen and Ruffus. It is too lengthy for our limits. Ruffus directs the surgeon to consider well the patient’s constitution, and regulate the dose of the medicine accordingly, as there is a great difference in the susceptibility of persons to be acted upon by purgatives. The following is a list of the purgatives described by Ruffus in this fragment: Polypody, iris, colocynth, phacoides (a species of spurge olive?), peplos, peplium, aloe, hippophaes, hippophæstum, clematis, pycnocomon, vines, thyme, epithyme, marjoram, Greek savory, poppies, cucumber, the smaller heliotrope, the lesser sesamoides, the tithymalli or spurges, the chamelæa, lathyris, agaric, and euphorbium. His description of the operation of each medicine bespeaks a good acquaintance with the subject. (Med. Collect. vii, 26.) See also Actuarius (Meth. Med. iii, 7.)
Haly Abbas makes some acute remarks on the action of Cathartics. Every purgative, he says, attracts the humour, to which it is allied. Different opinions, he adds, have been entertained regarding the modus operandi in this case. Some maintain that, when such a medicine is swallowed, it goes to the members where its cognate humour is lodged, from which both are expelled by the expulsive faculty of the part, and return to the bowels together. This theory, however, he rejects. He mentions further that others maintain that the medicine attracts its peculiar fluid, as a magnet does iron; and of this theory he adopts a modification. He states it as his opinion that, when such a medicine has been swallowed, it attracts its cognate fluid from the surrounding parts, to which all the similar fluids in the body are afterwards determined, being conveyed thither by the veins. He gives a full account of all the purgatives known in his time. (Pract. iii, 53, 54.) Much the same theory is advocated, and fully explained by Serapion. (De Antidot. vii, 10.)
Avicenna and Rhases object to the doctrine of Galen that he appears to have maintained that there is a peculiar alliance between a purgative medicine of a certain class and the fluid or humour which it attracts, whereas they argue that, as there is no alliance between the magnet and the iron which it attracts, so is it in like manner with purgatives and the peculiar fluids which they evacuate. This, however, is only a more precise exposition of the theory advanced by Galen. Rhases (Cont. xii, 1); Avicenna (i, 4, 4.) The ancient theory is very acutely stated by Averrhoes (Collig. v, 21.) See also Mesue (Canones universales.) There appears to be some originality in the theory of Mesue. He says that a purgative medicine operates by occasioning a preternatural increase of the vital, or, as it is now called, animal heat of the part to which it is applied, whereby its attractive powers are increased. He maintains very ingeniously that purgation is an act of Nature, that is to say, an operation of the vis medicatrix naturæ, and that the medicine is merely the instrument of Nature in this case, for, he adds (as Hippocrates says), it is Nature, and not the physician, that cures diseases. A purgative medicine, then, he argues, acts by rousing the expulsive power of Nature. He joins the preceding authorities, however, in illustrating the attractive power of purgatives, by comparing it to the property which the magnet has of attracting iron, and amber of attracting straws. Purgative medicines, he says, have the faculty of clearing away the humours from the different parts of the body; from the stomach and intestines they do so readily; from the meseraic veins less easily; still more difficultly from the liver, and with the greatest possible difficulty from the joints, especially when the humours are impacted there. He forbids purgatives to be given in the extremes, either of hot or cold; in this practice observing the rule of Hippocrates. In hot weather, he says, emetics, and not purgatives, are indicated. The directions which he gives for correcting the noxious qualities of purgative medicines are highly important, but they are too lengthy for our limits. Aromatics added to purgatives, he says, dispel flatus; bitters do the same, and strengthen the stomach; saltish things increase their purgative powers; unctuous, by lubricating the intestines, accelerate their operation, and render it easier; and sweet substances render them less nauseous, and diminish their acrimony.
On the ancient arrangement of purgative medicines Dr. Paris makes the following pertinent remark: “It is impossible to concede to the opinion of Dr. Hamilton, that the different species of purgative medicines do not possess distinct powers over the different species of matter to be evacuated; on the contrary, there is reason for reviving the ancient theory, too inconsiderately abandoned, and which acknowledged these different distinctions in the operations of cathartic medicines under the appropriate names of hydragogues, cholagogues, &c.” (Pharmacop.) Dr. Alston likewise writes thus: “We have a very learned essay in confirmation of the ancient doctrine of the specific operation of purgatives by Dr. G. Martyn (Lond. 1740, in 8vo.) I shall not enter into the controversy, but only observe that there is nothing impossible, yea, nor improbable in the theory.” (Lectures.) See a learned dissertation on the action of purgatives in Mangeti ‘Bibliotheca Anatomica,’ i, 159. We may mention further that Dr. Murray in his Materia Medica inclines to the Galenic theory of the specific operation of purgatives. (c. viii.)
On Cholagogues. Most of these medicines are sufficiently well known, and therefore do not require to be treated of at greater length. See also Aëtius (iii) and Oribasius (M. Col. vii.)
The Arabian author Mesue gives the following table of Cholagogues:
Clementer. Valenter. { Aloe { Agaricus. { Absinthium } Trahendo et { Asarum. { Rosa } astringendo, { Aristolochia. { Rhabarbarum } flavæ: nam aliæ { Bryonia. { Myrobalani } aliud vacuant. { Cyclaminus. { Pruna. { Cucumer agrestis. Cholagoga { Tamar Indi } Astringendo. Radices { Dracunculus et arum. { Cassia } { Elleborus. { Manna. { Esula. { Viola nigra } Lubricando. { Hermodactylus. { Psyllium } { Iris. { Adiantum etiam phl. { Scilla. { Turbith.
It will be perceived that this list contains several articles with which the Greeks were unacquainted, namely, myrobalani, tamarindi, manna, and turbith. Of all these substances we have already given some account in the Appendix to the Third Section. Mesue calls the tamarinds, the fruit of an Indian palm-tree, the word tamur signifying a date. He says, that they are excellent medicines for repressing the acrimony of the humours, purging bile, cooling the heat of the blood; that they prove useful in hot fevers, jaundice, inflammation of the stomach and liver, and that they stop vomiting. He calls them refrigerants and desiccants of the second order. To prevent them from hurting the stomach by their coldness, he recommends to give them with spikenard, mace, mastich, wormwood, fennel, or any such calefacients. Avicenna states their medicinal characters in the same terms. Serapion says, that they are desiccants and refrigerants in the third degree. Averrhoes ranks them among the refrigerants of the third, and desiccants of the second order. We have already mentioned, that the earlier commentators are decidedly of opinion, that the tripolium of the Greeks was turbith, but this is now generally acknowledged to have been a mistake. Mesue calls it the root of a milky herb, having leaves like a ferula, but smaller. Probably, however, as his commentator Manardus remarks, there is some mistake in the comparison of it to the ferula, as there is no resemblance between them. An accurate modern author, Moses Charras, calls it the bark of a milky root, which is chosen by its weight, dark-coloured without, white within, and clear from its pith, which is hard and fibrous. Mesue represents it to be a hot, nauseous purgative. It is given in powder, he says, to the amount of from one to two drachms.
Serapion recommends Cholagogues particularly in jaundice, inflammatory affections of the brain, mania, epilepsy, erysipelas, herpes, and tertian fever. He describes the following medicines as cholagogues: aloes, southernwood, black hellebore, scammony, colocynth, agaric, claterium, two species of mezereon, lathyris, the root of the lily, centaury, polypody, birthwort, myrobalaus (the yellow, the black, and the chebulic), pomegranate, cassia fistula, violet, ivy, and two Arabian substances anabac and alterariabin. We are unable to determine what the last two were.
A modern writer, Christianus Margravius, in his ‘Materia Medica Contracta,’ thus enumerates the cholagogues of his time.
Cholagoga, Cassia, manna, tamarindi, succusque rosarum, Scammonium, myrobalani, rhabarbarum, aloe.
Professor Alpinus gives an accurate account of the ancient cholagogues. (Meth. Med. iii, 9.) The following medicines are said to be used as purgatives by the Hindoos; we give the scientific names as given by Dr. Wise: 1. Convolvulus turpethum. 2. Panicum frumentaceum. 3. Croton polyandrum. 4. Anthericum tuberosum. 5. Abrus precatorius. 6. Cessampelos hexandra. 7. Asclepias geminata. 8. Clotoria ternata. 9. A kind of convolvulus. 10. Shabraba. 11. Cassia fistula. 12. Plumbago zeylanica. 13. Acheranthes aspera. 14. Poa cynosurides. 15. Saccharum spontaneum. 16. Jelaka?. 17. A variety of the convolvulus turpethum. 18. Ramaka. 19. Bignonia suaveolens. 20. Terminalia chebula. 21. Indigofera tinctoria. 22. Ricinus communis. 23. Costus speciosus. 24. Euphorbia. 25. Suptachetta. 26. Calotropis gigantea. 27. Halicacabum cardiospermum. Of these the turbet, myrobalans, and castor oil, are particularly commended. (On Hindoo Medicine.)
On Melanogogues. The other Greek authorities treat of nearly the same number of Melanogogues. They are treated of methodically by Galen, Oribasius, and Aëtius. The Alypias is supposed by Bernard (Nota in Nonni Epit.), and Prosper Alpinus, to have been the turbith; but, as is now maintained, erroneously. See Sprengel’s Notes on Dioscorides (iv, 177) and the preceding Appendix.
The following is Mesue’s list of Melanogogues:
Clementer. Valenter. { Stæchas. { Balanus Myrepsica. { Aqua lactis. { Centaurium. { Fumaria. Fructus et { Colocynthis. { Epithymus. Flores { Coccum Gnidium. Melanogoga { Thymus leviter, magis phleg. { Genista. { Polypodium. { Ricinus. { Jus gallorum phleg. cum phleg. { Senna. { melanogogum cum melanogog. { Armenus lapis. { Cyanus lapis. Terrea { Nitrum. { Salis genera.
Of these medicines, the only one which we owe to the Arabians is Senna. Mesue, it is true, quotes Galen as an authority on it, but this is most probably a mistake, as no mention of it is now to be traced in any part of his works. Averrhoes, accordingly, ranks it among the newly-discovered medicines. He says, that it is both phlegmagogue and cholagogue. Serapion and Rhases give nearly the same account of it. They state the minimum dose of the powdered leaves at one drachm, and of the decoction at five drachms. Mesue directs us to prepare a vinous tincture by infusing the leaves in musk. He recommends us to correct its nauseousness and unpleasant effects by the addition of ginger, and other cordials. He says that it cleanses the liver and spleen. Actuarius briefly notices it. He says it evacuates bile and phlegm. (Meth. Med. v, 8.) See Appendix. The Arabian authors represent the lapis lazuli to be the same as the lapis armenus of the Greeks. We have stated what we believe to be the truth of the matter in the preceding commentary. Margravius, in his enumeration of melanogogues, makes a distinction between them:
Melanogoga— Sunt ludiæ balani, lazuli lapis, armenusque, Senna, polypodium quernum, helleborusque, epithymum.
Averrhoes states that the lapis lazuli is the most potent medicine of this class. (Collig. v, 43.)
On Phlegmagogues. Mesue’s list is as follows:
Clementer. Valenter. { Cnicus. { Euphorbium. Phlegmagoga { Lupulus. Lachryma { Opoponax. { Hyssopus. { Scammonium. { Eupatorium etiam cholag. { Sagapenum. { Sarcocolla.
Serapion directs us to administer these medicines to persons of a cold habit, in cold seasons of the year, to those affected with anasarca and apoplexy, in sciatica and hemorrhages. His list is little different from our author’s. Margravius enumerates the phlegmagogues as follows:
Phlegmagoga— Carthamus, agaricus, turpeth, mechoaca, jalappa, Emblica, belliricæ, chebulæ, colocynthis, amara, Hermodactylus, euphorbium, opoponax, sagapenum.
On Hydragogues. The hydragogue properties of the elder-tree are commended by Boerhaave and Sydenham. See the section on Dropsy in the Third Book.
There is some difficulty in determining what the cneoros was. We are inclined to think that it was the cassia fistula, the medicinal characters of which, as stated by Mesue among the Arabian, and Prosper Alpinus among the modern, authorities, correspond with the account of cneoros given by our author.
Gum ammoniac is an ingredient of the purgative salt, a receipt for which is given by Apicius. It also enters into the sales purgatorii of Myrepsus. (ii, 9 and 10.) See the commentary on the next Section.
Prosper Alpinus says of the coccum gnidium, or fruit of the thymelæa, that in doses of fifteen grains it is a strong purgative, and evacuates principally serous humours in dropsy. He reckons the squama æris among the drastic purgatives.
Serapion’s account of the hydragogues is nearly the same as our author’s. The following is Margravius’s list of them:
Esula, gratiola, atque ireos succus, mechoaca, Post ebuli semen, et succus, cortexcque elaterium, Soldanella virens, et gummi gutta, jalappa.
SECT. V.—ON COMPOUND PURGATIVES.
Pills from aloes. Of the medullary part of colocynth, p. j; of the juice of wormwood, p. j; of aloes, p. j; of scammony, p. ij; make with water pills of the size of a chick-pea. The dose xj grains.
The oxymel of Julian. Of rue, oz. iij; of marjoram, oz. iij; of the hair (capillary-leaves?) of thyme, oz. iv; of dill, oz. iss; of iris, oz. j; of the root of mandrake, oz. iss; of agaric, oz. ij; of fatty dead pines, oz. xij; of the granum Cnidium, oz. iv; of lathyrides, oz. iij; of alypias, oz. iij; of polypody, oz. ij; of the cassia-leaf (malabathrum), oz. j; of costus, oz. j; of spikenard, oz. j; of rha Ponticum, oz. iss; of squills, oz. iij; of the tops of the elder-tree, oz. iij; of canopus, which is the bark of elder, oz. iij; of asarabacca, oz. j; of pennyroyal, oz. iij; of dodder of thyme, oz. ij; of hellebore, oz. ij; of sweetflag, oz. ij; of water-parsnip, oz. j; of amomum, oz. j; of St. John’s wort, oz. j; of cumin, oz. j; of anise, oz. ij; of vinegar, ten sextarii; of honey, five sextarii: macerate the herbs in the vinegar for three days; then, having boiled it until more than one half be consumed, add the honey, and having strained, add the lathyrides, the costus, the granum Cnidium, and the spikenard triturated, and, if you please, after it is fully boiled, the oxymel. The full dose is oz. j; or according to the patient’s strength. It is useful in gouty affections and epilepsies; and when we require at the same time to evacuate or dislodge thick humours.
The purgative hydragogue from cloves. Of aloes, of dodder of thyme, of cloves, of granum Cnidium, of stone-parsley, of rha Ponticum, of each, oz. ss; of euphorbium, scr. iv; of honey, q. s. The dose is one spoonful.
The purgative medicine from rhodomel, of Alexander. Of the juice of roses, two sextarii; of honey, one sextarius; of scammony, oz. iv. A full dose is five spoonfuls, a small, two, a medium dose three spoonfuls.—Otherwise: of honey, lb. j; of the juice of roses, lb. j; of pepper, dr. ij; of scammony, dr. viij; of mastich, dr. iv; and of ginger, dr. ij.—Otherwise, one which I use: of spikenard, of asarabacca, of dodder of thyme, of each, oz. ss; macerate in a hemina of water for three days; and having boiled it to a moderate degree, mix with the water of the juice of roses, half a sextarius; of honey, half a sextarius; and having boiled it until it acquire consistence, add scammony to the amount of oz. iss.
A purgative medicine from quinces. Of roasted quinces, oz. iv; of pepper, oz. ss; of scammony, dr. j; of honey, oz. v. Having triturated it, give one spoonful, according to the strength.
The stomachic purgative from citrons. Boil of the bark of a citron, and of the flesh of the same, lb. j, in a sextarius and a half of water, until a third be left; add half a sextarius of honey, and having boiled until it acquire the consistence of honey, sprinkle of the powder of long pepper, oz. j; of scammony roasted in leaven, oz. j.
The purgative called Buccellatus. Of baked scammony, oz. j; of pepper and of parsley-seed, of each, scr. j; of fennel, of anise, of each, oz. j; of honey, lb. j; having roasted it moderately, give in hippocras to the amount of one ounce.
Purgative olives. Of scammony, oz. j; of pepper, oz. j; of dodder of thyme, of toasted cumin, of stone-parsley, of rue, of the green leaves of mint, of each, dr. iv; of laserwort, dr. j; of dates, oz. v; of honey, oz. v; of vinegar, two heminæ; of pickled olives (namely of schistous), one sextar. Some add a moderate quantity of fish-sauce. The dose is v, vij, or ix.
A purgative trochisk. Of scammony, dr. iv; of euphorbium, dr. iv; of the cassia-leaf (malabathrum), dr. ij; of pepper, dr. ij; of honey, lb. j. The dose is oz. j.
A purgative and stomachic posca. Of cumin, of fennel, of each, oz. j; of pennyroyal, of parsley, of anise, of each, oz. ss; of dodder of thyme, of scammony, of each, oz. j; of salts, oz. ij. The full dose is two scruples in the oxycrate. Some add also of euphorbium, scr. iv.
A purgative wine for dropsical cases. Of squills, oz. iij; of parsley-seed, oz. vi; of pepper, dr. j; of the root of capers, dr. iv; of the granum Cnidium stripped of its bark, dr. j; of the leaf malabathrum, two balls; of wine, twelve heminæ; of honey, oz. iij. Having pounded the squills, macerate in wine, and mix the other things when triturated.
Purgative salts. Of common salts toasted, dr. vj; of parsley-seed, of ginger, of dried bread, of each, scr. vj; of anise, of pepper, of each, oz. ss; of scammony, of dodder of thyme, of each, oz. j. The dose is one spoonful.
The podagric purgative from hermodactylus. Of hermodactylus, oz. iij; of anise, of Ethiopian cumin, of bishop’s weed, of the clusters of thyme, of white pepper, of ginger, of each, scr. iij; of dodder of thyme, oz. ss; the dose is scr. iv; some give scr. vj. It is administered in the morning with hippocras, honeyed water, or strong wine heated.
The same purgative otherwise. Of hermodactylus, oz. j; of Ethiopian cumin, of anise, of agaric, of ginger, of each, scr. vj; of mastich, scr. ij; of spikenard, scr. ij; of musk, one siliqua; of cnicus, scr. ij. The dose is scr. iv with hydromel. We reject scammony, because it is bad for the stomach. But if more evacuation be required, mix with the dose three siliquæ of scammony; give after the bath.
Pills from the lapis Armenicus, given principally in arthritic cases. Of aloes, oz. iv; of scammony, oz. vj; of agaric, oz. j; of dodder of thyme, oz. j; of lapis armenicus, scr. xij; of cassia, oz. j; of spikenard, oz. j; of baked squills, oz. ij; of saffron, scr. xij; add to rhodomel. The dose is scr. ij.
The purgative from coronopodium, applicable in the same cases as that from hermodactylus, a stomachic. Of ginger, scr. ij; of pepper, scr. j; of agaric, scr. j; of the internal part of cnicus, scr. iv; of the root of buckthorn plantain (coronopodium), scr. vj; the dose is scr. iij, but to those persons whose belly is difficult to move, twenty-three siliquæ, which make altogether seven oboli, or nearly eight. After evacuation, having bathed, let them take eggs and bread for food.
That from Cyrenaic juice, for quartans. Of Cyrenaic juice, of pepper, of ginger, of the leaves of rue, of each, dr. j. The dose is the size of a filbert.
A purgative pap, useful in cases of œdema and aggravated elephantiasis, and when one wishes to dislodge a thick and viscid humour. Having cut up two colocynths, evacuate the seed, and allowing the medullary part to remain, fill them with sweet oil, and covering them up with their proper covers allow them to remain a night and a day. On the following day, having evacuated the oil, boil the colocynths in water until they are reduced to a soft consistence; then throw them away, and the oil being mixed with water, add to it three oboli of black hellebore, and of scammony, dr. j; but boiling along with them a pap of similago, or dried bread pounded, and then give of it to the patient, who has been formerly restricted to a simple diet, to the size of eight, ten, or at most fourteen filberts; and let him drink hot water.
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COMMENTARY. It may be proper in this place to apprize the reader of the reason why he will not find the remainder of the work so copiously illustrated by notes as the preceding parts of it. The combination of simple medicines in pharmaceutical preparations is so arbitrary, and so little regulated by any fixed principle, that it is seldom we can find any two authors exactly agreeing as to the ingredients which enter into any one preparation. Now to follow all the ancient writers on pharmacy through all their complex formulæ, and point out every little difference which prevails among them, would be a very wearisome task, and one which would scarcely recompense us or our readers for the time and attention which such an undertaking would necessarily demand; and neither is it much required, since, as will be seen, our author’s system of pharmacy is sufficiently copious and accurate for all practical purposes. We shall therefore be content with giving a general explanation of each class of these medicinal preparations, and only offer some occasional remarks on a few of the more important articles.
Under this head we shall give some account of the Halatia Cathartica, or Purgative Salts of the ancients. The ἅλες κοινὰι πεφρυγμέναι are the same as the sal commune frictum of Apicius. Humelbergius thus explains it: “fricti, id est cremati et torrefacti.” The following is Apicius’s receipt for the “Sales conditi ad multa:” Of common salt roasted, lb. j; of sal ammoniac roasted, lb. ij; of white pepper, oz. iij; of ginger, oz. ij; of bishop’s weed, oz. iss; of thyme, oz. iss; of parsley-seed, oz. iss. The purgative salts of Aëtius contain sal ammoniac mixed up with many purgative and cordial medicines, such as scammony, laserwort, parsley-seed, ginger, pennyroyal, spikenard, and pepper. (iii, 109.) These are the ingredients of a sal purgatorius recommended by Actuarius. (Meth. Med. v, 10.) Myrepsus gives prescriptions for various purgative and stomachic salts. They all consist of sal ammoniac, or common salt mixed with scammony and aromatics in different proportions. (Sect. ii.) See also Haly Abbas. (Pract. x, 10.)
SECT. VI.—ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THOSE WHO TAKE PURGATIVE MEDICINES; AND WHAT IS TO BE DONE TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT PURGED BY A PROPER DOSE OF PURGATIVES.
In general when any of the drastic purgatives is to be taken, the medicine is to be given to the patient with an empty stomach, and after digestion has been performed; and he is to be prevented from sleeping until it has been wholly purged off, and if possible he should make moderate motion, and abstain during the time from all food and drink, until the purging is over.
From the works of Philagrius. But if he cannot endure abstinence from food, either because the mouth of the stomach is troubled with bile from long fasting, which has preceded, or any such cause, we must give him bread out of diluted wine, or the juice of ptisan, or of chondrus, not after the evacuation has begun, lest it spoil in the stomach, but straightway after the medicine has been taken; for in this way by its weight it contributes to the speedy evacuation of the medicine. But if, after taking any of the laxative medicines, one does not purge nor evacuate, provided the case be not at all serious, we need not be very solicitous about it; but if the greatness of the disease be urgent, or the patient experiences acute tearing pains with distension of the belly, we must necessarily administer a clyster. But if even thus the belly is not evacuated, and there is a pungent pain and disorder of the body, he is to be bathed and rubbed freely with oil; or if he feels full and heavy, a vein must be opened, more especially if he is of a sanguineous habit of body, and if his eyes be red and prominent, not naturally but incidentally, owing to his having drunk the medicine. When none of these symptoms trouble him, but he experiences a gnawing and lancinating pain, he may take food immediately after the bath, and drink wine freely, and in the meantime he is to receive a clyster, if he does not settle; and again he is to be bathed. The oil used in the clyster, should be that of rue or prepared from some other of the carminative medicines.
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COMMENTARY. Hippocrates, as Galen mentions, recommends a draught of ptisan to be swallowed immediately after taking a purgative medicine, in order to facilitate the operation of the medicine and wash away any particles of it which may lodge in the intestines. Both forbid it to be given after the operation has commenced, as it tends only to blunt the powers of the medicine. Galen remarks, that sometimes a purgative does not operate, either from idiosyncrasy of the patient, or from the smallness of the dose, or from the intestines being blocked up by indurated fæces, which must be removed by means of a clyster before the medicine can operate. At other times, he adds, the medicine is determined to the kidneys, or is digested and converted into food. As all purgatives are bad for the stomach, he recommends us to weaken the impression of them by the mixture of aromatic seeds, which possess attenuating and cutting powers—Quosnam oportet purgare, &c.
Oribasius treats fully of this subject in two extracts from the works of Galen and Ruffus. Ruffus directs us, when the bowels are difficult to move, to give beforehand a soup of shell-fish, with mallows, beet, and the like, or to administer a clyster. He forbids us to give purgatives to persons who are apt to vomit. (Med. Collect. vii, 26.)
Mesue has treated more fully of all the circumstances connected with the administration of purgatives than any other ancient author. When the operation of the medicine is retarded by flatus, or the bad state of the humours, he recommends us either to administer a clyster or give an emetic. When this arises from debility of the expulsive faculty of the intestines, he directs us to give, first, a moderate draught of cold water, and then some astringent potion, such as one from quinces, or pears. When the passage is obstructed, he directs a clyster to be administered; and in this case he forbids cold water to be given, as it will increase the contraction of the intestine. When violent pains are excited in the stomach by the medicine, he recommends an emetic, and if in the bowels, a clyster. (Canon. Univers. iii.) See also Avicenna (i, iv, 8), and Rhases (Contin. xii.)
SECT. VII.—ON THE TREATMENT OF HYPERCATHARSIS.
In cases of hypercatharsis the body is to be rubbed and bathed in hot water, and before the bath a thin, pale-coloured and yellow wine is to be given (for such is the most speedily distributed), and bread soaked in it, and pomegranates. But if the evacuation continue, the limbs are to be bound with ligatures, extending from above downwards, and tightened so as to intercept the blood and spirits. A moderate quantity of the theriac from the flesh of vipers is also to be given. For it soon passes to the skin, and quickly gives a counter-determination to the defluxion of fluids upon the belly, and blunts the poisonous and deleterious property as it were of the cathartics. When in want of it we may use the theriac trochisks, and also that from seeds, and the antidote called Philonius. Cupping-instruments are also to be applied over the stomach, and cataplasms from polenta, and wine and honey; after which we must use the astringent epithemes. But they will derive the most sensible advantage from frictions of the whole body, and draughts of the aforesaid medicines. They must abstain from very cold and very hot air; for the one occasions a determination from without inwards, and increases the discharge, and the other dissipates and reduces the strength. But if the evacuation is increased by irritation in the bowels, we must apply cataplasms of the afore-mentioned things, and injections of emollients, such as the fat of geese, sweet wine, nard, and the like.
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COMMENTARY. Oribasius remarks, that when an overdose of a purgative medicine has been taken, it purges first yellow bile, then black bile, and at last blood. He recommends us, in cases of hypercatharsis, to give a hot draught, to apply tight ligatures and violent friction to the extremities, and cupping-instruments to the hypochondrium and back. When the patient can readily be made to vomit, he directs us to produce this operation by the administration of a copious draught of tepid water, and by putting a feather or the fingers down the throat. This is in accordance with Celsus’s rule of practice: “Longas dejectiones supprimit vomitus.” (ii, 8.)
Hippocrates and Aëtius, in cases of excessive purging from the administration of medicine, recommend the bath and a light-coloured wine before and after it.
Avicenna lays down the rules of treatment with great precision, but they are mostly the same as our author’s. After friction, cupping, tight ligatures, and restorative draughts have been tried, should the excessive purging continue he recommends us to administer narcotics. (i, 4, 7.) See, in like manner, Rhases (Contin. xiii, 1, 2), and Serapion (de Antid.) But Mesue is the author who has treated of all the symptoms connected with hypercatharsis at the greatest length. He recommends us to reserve narcotics as an ultimum remedium, as from the unseasonable administration of them much harm might result. He directs us to add cordials and aromatics to the narcotics. When the tenesmus is severe he directs us to stop it by suitable enemata and suppositories. For the debility and lassitude occasioned by too great purgation he recommends a tepid bath of sweet water, and friction with warm oils. (Canones Universales.)
SECT. VIII.—ON THE ANTIDOTES CALLED HIERÆ.
The hiera of Antiochus. Of germander, of agaric, of the medullary part of colocynth, of cassidony, of each dr. x; of opoponax, of sagapen, of stone-parsley, of the species of birthwort called clematis, of white pepper, of each dr. v; of cinnamon, of spikenard, of troglodytic myrrh, of the leaves of saffron, of each dr. iv; of honey, q. s.—Another hiera. Of the medullary part of colocynth, dr. xx; of baked squills, of agaric, of ammoniac perfume, of the bark of black hellebore, of scammony, of St. John’s wort, of each dr. iij; of dodder of thyme, of dried polypody, of bdellium, of aloes, of germander, of horehound, of cassia, of each dr. viij; of troglodytic myrrh, of opoponax, of sagapen, of stone-parsley, of the common long, and white pepper, of cinnamon, of saffron, of castor, of the long birthwort, of each dr. iv; of honey, q. s.
The hiera of Justus. Of dodder of thyme, dr. xij; of horehound, of cassidony, of germander, of black hellebore, of scammony, of agaric, of long pepper, of baked squills, of each dr. xvj; of euphorbium, of the medullary part of colocynth, of aloes, of saffron, of gentian, of stone-parsley, of ammoniac perfume, of sagapen, of each dr. viij; of opoponax, of poley, of cinnamon, of myrrh, of spikenard, of the flower of the rush, of pennyroyal, of each dr. iv; of long and of round birthwort, of each dr. ij; of honey, q. s. The dose is two, three, or four scr., with honeyed water and salts.
The hiera of Galen. Of germander, of long pepper, of white pepper, of cassidony, of black hellebore, of scammony, of spikenard, of baked squills (and some of dodder of thyme), of each dr. xvj; of myrrh, of saffron, of ammoniac perfume, of euphorbium, of each dr. viij. Mix with honey.
The hiera of Ruffus. Of sicyonia, or the medullary part of colocynth, dr. viij; of germander, dr. x; of sagapen, dr. viij; of stone-parsley, dr. v; of round birthwort, dr. v; of white pepper, dr. v; of cinnamon, dr. iv; or of cassia, dr. viij; of base horehound, of saffron, of poley, of myrrh, of each dr. iv; of honey, q. s.
The hiera of Archigenes. Of horehound, of agaric, of germander, of the medullary part of colocynth, of cassidony, of each dr. x; of opoponax, of sagapen, of stone-parsley, of round birthwort, of white pepper, of each dr. v; of cinnamon, of spikenard, of myrrh, of the cassia leaf (malabathrum), of saffron, of each dr. iv; pound the dry things together, and strain. The opoponax, sagapen, and myrrh, being bruised, are to be put into a mortar to macerate with honeyed water for one night; then triturate and add the dry things; then mixing them with the finest honey lay them up in a glass or leaden vessel. This is the common method with all the hieræ. The full dose of them is dr. iv. Add to it also of salts, dr. j; of honey, two cyathi; of water, q. s. If we wish to make those compositions of this class which have not scammony more purgative, we must add to each of them an obolus of it.
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COMMENTARY. The hieræ, for the most part, consist of drastic purgatives, combined with aromatics. There is a great variety of these compositions described in the works of the ancient winters on pharmacy. Galen makes mention of an aloetic hiera, which was much used by the celebrated Archigenes. The following is his prescription for it: “R. Aloes, dr. c; cinnamomi, nardi, xylobalsami, mastichæ chiæ, asari, croci, ā ā dr. vj.” Galen remarks, however, that the proportion of aloes is too great, and recommends us to substitute xc or lxxx dr. instead of the quantity directed. (De comp. Med. acc. loc.) Mesue describes the composition of 6 hieræ, Haly Abbas of 5, and Serapion of a much greater number. But for variety, Myrepsus surpasses all the other authorities. He describes the composition of 30 hieræ. The following is his receipt for the Hiera Picra Galeni: “℞. Aloes flavæ, dr. xivss.; cinnamomi, croci, costi, floris junci odorati, xylobalsami, cassiæ fistulæ puræ, mastiches, asari, rosarum, amomi, absinthii, ā ā dr. j; Tere subigendo cum mellis Attici q. s.” Moses Charras’s receipt for it is very little different. (Royal Pharm. i, 20.)
SECT. IX.—ON LINIMENTS TO BE APPLIED TO THE ANUS, AND PURGATIVE APPLICATIONS TO THE NAVEL.
A liniment to the anus for the discharge of flatulence. Rue is triturated with honey so as to form one juice, and the inner parts of the fundament rubbed with it. It becomes more efficacious if a small quantity of cumin and natron, or the juice of sowbread be added. It is daubed upon flocks of wool and introduced; or a suppository is formed with the addition of honey. For the flatus escapes freely, affording relief.
A liniment to the anus, evacuating the belly; called Chezananche. Alum being triturated with honey is to be boiled until it become yellowish, and the anus is to be rubbed with it. It forces a free evacuation of many things, but not without trouble.
An application to the navel as a laxative of the bowels. Of sowbread, dr. iv; of natron, dr. iij; of black and white hellebore, of each, dr. ij; of colocynth, dr. iij; of scammony, dr. ij; of the juice of elaterium, dr. iv; of granum Cnidium, dr. iv; of fatty dried figs, oz. ij; of the gall of bulls, oz. j. Another very excellent one: of elaterium, of lathyrides, of galbanum, of sowbread, of black hellebore, of each, dr. iv; of the medullary parts of colocynth, dr. viij; of fresh wild cucumber, of scammony, of granum Cnidium, of each, dr. ij; of spurge, dr. ij; of turpentine, dr. iij; mix these with the gall of bulls, and use as a liniment. Some, by mixing with them of wax, oz. vij, and of Sicyonian oil, q. s., make it of the form of a plaster.
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COMMENTARY. It is clear that the liniments applied to the anus were a sort of suppositories. The Chezananche is described in much the same terms as our author’s by Myrepsus. The rest of his compositions of this class are also very similar to our author’s. (xxvi, 2.) Actuarius gives a full account of them. (Meth. Med. v, 9.)
Purgative applications to the navel were much trusted to by the ancient physicians as laxatives, but they are now seldom used. The late Dr. Kerr, of Aberdeen, however, sometimes had recourse to them, and spoke highly of their efficacy.
SECT. X.—ON EMETICS, AND THE MODE OF ADMINISTERING HELLEBORE.