Chapter 452

459It is not improbable that the Tamarindus Indica of Linnæus is the tree here alluded to: though M. Fée combats that opinion.

460See Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 5.

461Dalechamps and Desfontaines are of opinion, that the pistachio, or Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus, is here alluded to; but Fée considers that there are no indications to lead to such a conclusion.

462It is not improbable that he may here allude to the cotton-tree, of which further mention is made in c.xxi. of the present Book.

463Fée is of opinion that Cynorrhodon here means, not the dog-rose, but the gall which is formed on the tree by the sting of the Cynips bedeguar.

464Fée expresses himself at a loss to conjecture what trees are here meant by Pliny.

465Fée remarks, that there are many inaccuracies in the account here given by Pliny of the pepper-tree, and that it does not bear any resemblance to the juniper-tree. The grains, he says, grow in clusters, and not in a husk or pod; and he remarks, that the long pepper and the black pepper, of which the white is only a variety divested of the outer coat, are distinct species. He also observes, that the real long pepper, the Piper longum of Linnæus, was not known to the ancients.

466Fée remarks, that this is not a correct description of ginger, the Amomum zingiber of Linnæus. Dioscorides was one of those who thought that ginger was the root of the pepper-tree.

467It is very doubtful what tree is here alluded to by Pliny, though certain that it is not one of the pepper-trees. Sprengel takes it to be the Daphne Thymelæa.

468It has been suggested that under this name the clove is meant, though Fée and Desfontaines express a contrary opinion. Sprengel thinks that it is the Vitex trifolia of Linnæus, and Bauhin suggests the cubeb, the Piper cubeba of Linnæus. Fée thinks it may have possibly been the Myrtus caryophyllata of Ceylon, the fruit of which corresponds to the description here given by Pliny.

469See c.52of the present Book.

470Or “Lycium.” It is impossible to say with exactness what the medical liquid called “Lycion” was. Catechu, an extract from the tan of the acacia, has been suggested; though the fruit of that tree does not answer the present description.

471Fée suggests that this may possibly be the Lycium Europæum of Linnæus, a shrub not uncommonly found in the south of Europe.

472The Rhamnus Lycioides of Linnæus, known to us as buckthorn. The berries of many varieties of the Rhamnus are violent purgatives.

473What he means under this head is not known. Fée speaks of a tree which the Brahmins call macre, and which the Portuguese called arvore de las camaras, arvore sancto, arvore de sancto Thome, but of which they have given no further particulars. Acosta, Clusius, and Bauhin have also professed to give accounts of it, but they do not lead to its identification. De Jussieu thinks that either the Soulamea, the Rex amaroris of Rumphius, or else the Polycardia of Commerson is meant. It seems by no means impossible that mace, the covering of the nutmeg, is the substance alluded to, an opinion that is supported by Gerard and Desfontaines.

474“Saccharon.” Fée suggests that Pliny alludes to a peculiar kind of crystallized sugar, that is found in the bamboo cane, though, at the same time, he thinks it not improbable that he may have heard of the genuine sugar-cane; as Strabo, B. xv., speaks of a honey found in India, prepared without the aid of bees, and Lucan has the line—“Quique bibunt tenerâ dulces ab arundine succos,”evidently referring to a sugar in the form of a syrup, and not of crystal, like that of the Bambos arundinacea. It is by no means improbable, that Pliny, or rather Dioscorides, from whom he copies, confuses the two kinds of sugar; as it is well known that the Saccharum officinarum, or sugar-cane, has been cultivated from a very early period in Arabia Felix.

“Quique bibunt tenerâ dulces ab arundine succos,”

evidently referring to a sugar in the form of a syrup, and not of crystal, like that of the Bambos arundinacea. It is by no means improbable, that Pliny, or rather Dioscorides, from whom he copies, confuses the two kinds of sugar; as it is well known that the Saccharum officinarum, or sugar-cane, has been cultivated from a very early period in Arabia Felix.

475It is unknown what plant is here alluded to by Pliny, but Sprengel suggests that it is the Acacia latronum.

476From the description, this would appear to be a sort of poisonous horse-radish.

477There is a tree in India, as we are informed by Fée, which is known as the Excæcaria Agallochum, the juice of which is remarkably acrid. Sailors, on striking it with a hatchet, and causing the juice to spirt into their eyes, have been in danger of losing their sight. It is possible that this may be the tree here alluded to by Pliny.

478He borrows the account of this marvellous shrub from Theophrastus. No such plant is likely to have ever existed; though small, and even large, snakes may occasionally take refuge among shrubs and hollow trees.

479There is little doubt that the Hedysarum Alhagi of Linnæus is here meant, from which a kind of honey or manna flows, known as “Eastern” manna, or tereniabin. It is not so high as the fig-tree, and is found in Khorasan, Syria, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere. The manna distils principally in the morning.

480Fée remarks, that it is singular that a resinous gum, such as bdellium, should have been used in commerce for now two thousand years, and yet its origin remain unknown. Kæmpfer and Rumphus are of opinion, that the tree which produces it is the one known to naturalists as the Borassus flabelliformis of Linnæus, or the Lontarus of others. It is imported into Europe from Arabia and India, and is often found mixed with gum Arabic.

481Περατικὸν; fromπερατὰ γῆς, “the remotest parts of the earth,” from which it was brought.

482The modern name of this tree is unknown.

483B. vi. c. 28.

484It is supposed that the Rhizophora Mangle of Linnæus is the tree that is here described. It grows on all the coasts of India, from Siam to the entrance of the Persian Gulf. It takes root on spots which have been inundated by the sea, and its boughs bend downwards, and taking root in the earth, advance gradually towards the sea. The leaf and fruit have the characteristics of those of the arbute and almond as here mentioned.

485B. vi. c. 32.

486Fée suggests that some kind of mangrove is probably alluded to, of the kind known as avicennia, or bruguiera.

487See B. vi. c. 20.

488“Cotonei.” To this resemblance of its fruit to the quince, the cotton-tree, which is here alluded to, not improbably owes its modern name.

489The cotton-tree, or Gossypium arboreum of Linnæus. It is worthy of remark, that Pliny copies here almost literally from Theophrastus. According to Philostratus, the byssus, or fine tissues worn by the Egyptian priests, were made of cotton.

490The Malthiola incana.

491Fée suggests that this may be a Magnolia; but, as he remarks, most plants open and shut at certain hours; consequently, this cannot be regarded as any peculiar characteristic, sufficient to lead with certainty to its identification.

492Theophrastus, from whom our author is copying, says that this is the case only with the fig-tree there.

493According to most commentators, this is the Costus Arabicus of Linnæus. Dioscorides mentions three varieties of costus: the Arabian, which is of the best quality, and is white and odoriferous; the Indian, which is black and smooth; and the Syrian, which is of the colour of wax, dusky, and strong smelling. Fée, however, doubts whether the modern costus is the same thing as that of the ancients; for, as he says, although it has a sweet odour, it does not deserve the appellation of a “precious aromatic,” which we find constantly given to it by the ancients.

494See B. vi. c. 23.

495It is probable that the nard of the ancients, from which they extracted the famous nard-oil, was not the same plant which we know as the Indian nard, or Andropogon nardus of Linnæus. Indeed, it has been pretty conclusively established by Sir William Jones, in his “Asiatic Researches,” that the Valeriana Jatamansi is the plant from which they obtained the oil. Among the Hindoos, it is known as djatâmansi, and by the Arabs under the name of sombul, or “spike,” from the fact of the base being surrounded with ears or spikes, whence, probably, the Roman appellation. This species of valerian grows in the more distant and mountainous parts of India, Bootan and Nepaul, for instance.

496From the Greek,ὄζαινα, “a putrid sore.” Fée suggests that this may have been the Nardus hadrosphærum of the moderns.

497Fée supposes that this is not lavender, as some have thought, but the Allium victorialis of modern naturalists, which is still mixed with the nard from the Andropogon. He doubts the possibility of its having been adulterated with substances of such a different nature as those mentioned here by Pliny.

498Fée is of opinion, that the Greek writers, from whom Pliny copied this passage, intended to speak of the ears of nard, or spikenard.

499According to Dioscorides, this appellation only means such nard as is cultivated in certain mountains of India which look toward Syria, and which, according to that author, was the best nard of all. Dalechamps and Hardouin, however, ridicule this explanation of the term.

500Generally supposed to be the Valeriana Celtica of modern naturalists. See B. xxi. c. 79.

501Probably the Valeriana Italica of modern naturalists.

502See B. xix. c. 48.

503Known in this country as fox-glove, our Lady’s gloves, sage of Jerusalem, or clown’s spikenard. See B. xxi. c. 16.

504Not always, but very seldom, Brotier says. Clusius has established, from observation, that this plant is only a variety of the Valeriana Celtica.

505Fée remarks, that the name “baccara,” in Greek, properly belonged to this plant, but that it was transferred by the Romans to the field nard, with which the Asarum had become confounded. It is the same as the Asarum Europæum of modern naturalists; but it does not, as Pliny asserts, flower twice in the year.

506It is by no means settled among naturalists, what plant the Amomum of the ancients was; indeed, there has been the greatest divergence of opinion. Tragus takes it to be a kind of bindweed: Matthioli, the Piper Æthiopicum of Linnæus: Cordus and Scaliger, the rose of Jericho, the Anastatica hierocuntica of Linnæus. Gesner thinks it to have been the garden pepper, the Solanum bacciferum of Tournefort: Cæsalpinus the cubeb, the Piper cubeba of Linnæus: Plukenet and Sprengel the Cissus vitiginea, while Fée and Paulet look upon it as not improbably identical with the Amomum racemosum of Linnæus. The name is probably derived from the Arabic hahmâma, the Arabians having first introduced it to the notice of the Greeks.

507Supposed to have been only the Amomum, in an unripe state, as Pliny himself suggests.

508Still known in pharmacy as “cardamum.” It is not, however, as Pliny says, found in Arabia, but in India; from which it probably reached the Greeks and Romans by way of the Red Sea. There are three kinds known in modern commerce, the large, the middle size, and the small. M. Bonastre, “Journal de Pharmacie,” May, 1828, is of opinion, that the word cardamomum signifies “amomum in pods,” the Egyptian kardh meaning “pod,” or “husk.” It is, however, more generally supposed, that the Greek word,καρδία, “heart,” enters into its composition.

509“Verus” seems a preferable reading here to “vero,” which has been adopted by Sillig.

510See c.42of the present Book.

511Virgil, Georg. B. ii. l. 139, mentions Panchaia, in Arabia, as being more especially the country of frankincense. That region corresponds with the modern Yemen. It is, however, a well-ascertained fact, that it grows in India as well, and it is supposed that the greater part of it used by the ancients was in reality imported from that country. The Indian incense is the product of a tree belonging to the terebinth class, named by Roxburgh, who first discovered it, Boswellia thurifera. It is more especially found in the mountainous parts of India. On the other hand, it has been asserted that the Arabian incense was the product of a coniferous tree, either the Juniperus Lycia, the Juniperus Phœnicea, or the Juniperus thurifera of Linnæus. But, as Fée justly remarks, it would appear more reasonable to look among the terebinths of Arabia for the incense tree, if one of that class produces it in India, and more especially because the coniferous trees produce only resins, while the terebinths produce gum resins, to which class of vegetable products frankincense evidently belonged. In commerce, the gum resin, Olibanum, the produce of the Boswellia serrata, and imported from the Levant, bears the name of frankincense.

512See B. vi. c. 32. Their name is still preserved in the modern Hadramaut, to the east of Aden.

513See B. vi. cc. 31 and 32. He was the son of Agrippa and Julia, the daughter of Augustus, by whom he was adopted.

514This seems the most probable among these various surmises and conjectures.

515These words are said by some to be derived from the Greek,καρφὸς, “a hollow stalk,” on account of its lightness, andδᾳδίον, “a torch,” on account of its resinous and inflammable qualities. It is, however, much more probable that they were derived from the Arabic, and not from the Celto-Scythic, as Poinsinet conjectures.

516Fée is probably right in his conjecture, that it was so called solely in consequence of its superior strength.

517Meaning “drop” incense.

518“Undivided” incense.

519From their being the size of anὄροβος, or “chick-pea.”

520There is some doubt as to the correctness of this reading. The “manna” here mentioned is quite a different substance to the manna of modern commerce, obtained from the Fraxinus ornus of naturalists.

521He was a kinsman of Olympias, the mother of Alexander, and a man of very austere habits. Plutarch says, that on this occasion Alexander sent to Leonidas 600 talents’ weight of incense and myrrh.

522See B. vi. c. 32.

523Probably the same as the deity, Assabinus, mentioned by Pliny in c. 42 of the present Book. Theophrastus mentions him as identical with the sun, others, again, with Jupiter. Theophrastus says that the god received not a tenth part, but a third.

524As to this place and the Gebanitæ, see B. vi. c. 32.

525There must surely be some mistake in these numbers.

526The Mediterranean.

527In c.19of the present Book.

528It is supposed to be the product of an amyris, but is not now esteemed as a perfume; but is used in medicine as a tonic. Forskhal has attributed to the Amyris kataf, or kafal, the production of myrrh. According to Ehrenberg, a very similar tree, though constituting a different species, the Balsamodendrum myrrha, also produces this substance. It is imported into Europe from both Abyssinia and Arabia. It was much used by the ancients, to flavour their wines.

529See B. vi. c. 32.

530Theophrastus says the terebinth.

531From the Greek στάζω, “to drop.” Fée observes, that the moderns know nothing positive as to the mode of extracting myrrh from the tree. See the account given by Ovid, Met. B. x. l. 500et seq.of the transformation of Myrrha into this tree,—“The warm drops fall from the tree. The tears, even, have their own honour; and the myrrh that distils from the bark bears the name of its mistress, and in no age will remain unknown.”

532Fée remarks, that at the present day we are acquainted only with one kind of myrrh; the fragments which bear an impression like those of nails being not a distinct kind, but a simple variety in appearance only. He thinks, also, that Pliny may very possibly be describing several distinct resinous products, under the one name of myrrh. An account of these various districts will be found in B. vi. c. 32.

533Hardouin suggests that it may be so called from the island of Dia, mentioned by Strabo, B. xvi.

534“Collatitia.” The reading, however, is very doubtful.

535What this was is now unknown. Fée suggests that it may have been bdellium, which is found in considerable quantities in the myrrh that is imported at the present day.

536This is most probably the meaning of Pliny’s expression—“Ergo transit in mastichen;” though Hardouin reads it as meaning that myrrh sometimes degenerates to mastich: and Fée, understanding the passage in the same sense, remarks that the statement is purely fabulous. Mastich, he says, is the produce of the Pistacia lentiscus of Linnæus, which abounds in Greece and the other parts of southern Europe. The greater part of the mastich of commerce comes from the island of Chio. It is impossible to conjecture to what plant Pliny here alludes, with the head of a thistle.

537This kind, Fée says, is quite unknown to the moderns.

538This substance is still gathered from the Cistus creticus of Linnæus, which is supposed to be the same as the plant leda, mentioned by Pliny. It is also most probably the same as the Cisthon, mentioned by Pliny in B. xxiv. c. 48. It is very commonly found in Spain. The substance is gathered from off the leaves, not by the aid of goats, but with whips furnished with several thongs, with which the shrubs are beaten. There are two sorts of ladanum known in commerce; the one friable, and mixed with earthy substances, and known as “ladanum in tortis;” the other black, and soft to the fingers, the only adventitious substances in which are a little sand and a few hairs.

539See B. vi. c. 32.

540For some further account of this substance, see B. xxix. c. 10. Filthy as it was, the œsypum, or sweat and grease of sheep, was used by the Roman ladies as one of their most choice cosmetics. Ovid, in his “Art of Love,” more than once inveighs against the use of it.

541From the Greekἔναιμον, “styptic,” or “blood-stopping.” It is at the present day called gum “de lecce” in Italy. Fée says that it is not often procured from the olive-trees of France, though it is found very commonly on those of Naples and Calabria. It has no active powers, he says, as a medicine.

542Hardouin suggests that they may be the pelagiæ, mentioned again in B. xiii. c. 51.

543See B. vi. c. 31.

544Although the savin shrub, the Juniperus Sabina of Linnæus, bears this name in Greek, it is evident, as Fée says, that Pliny does not allude to it, but to a coniferous tree, as it is that family which produces a resinous wood with a balsamic odour when ignited. Bauhin and others would make the tree meant to be the Thuya occidentalis of Linnæus; but, as Fée observes, that tree is in reality a native originally of Canada, while the Thuya orientalis is a native of Japan. He suggests, however, that the Thuya articulata of Mount Atlas may have possibly been the citrus of Pliny.

545See end of B. v.

546All these are mentioned in B. vi. c. 31.

547It is not known what wood is meant under this name. Aloe, and some other woods, when ignited are slightly narcotic.

548See B. v. c. 21.

549See B. vi. c. 30.

550See c.55of the present Book.

551Because its perfumes were held in such high esteem, for burning on the piles of the dead. This, of course, was done primarily to avoid the offensive smell.

552The bark of the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum of the modern naturalists, the cinnamon-tree of Ceylon.

553B. iii.

554See B. vi. c. 34.

555See B. vi. c. 26.

556As Fée observes, this description does not at all resemble that of the cinnamon-tree of Ceylon, as known to us. M. Bonastre is of opinion that the nutmeg-tree was known to the ancients under this name; but, as Fée observes, the nutmeg could never have been taken for a bark, and cinnamon is described as such in the ancient writers. He inclines to think that their cinnamon was really the bark of a species of amyris.

557See c.33of the present Book, and the Note.

558Or “wood of cinnamon.”

559“Interrasili.” Gold partly embossed, and partly left plain, was thus called.

560The Empress Livia.

561There has been considerable doubt what plant it was that produced the cassia of the ancients. Fée, after diligently enquiring into the subject, inclines to think that it was the Laurus cassia of Linnæus, the same tree that produces the cassia of the present day.

562There is little doubt that all this is fabulous.

563Or, “smelling like balsam.”

564“Looking like laurel.”

565“Equal to cinnamon.” Fée thinks that it is a variety of the Laurus cassia.

566He probably alludes to the Daphne Cnidium of Linnæus, which, as Fée remarks, is altogether different from the Laurus cassia, or genuine cassia.

567A gum resin of some unknown species, but not improbably, Fée thinks, the produce of some of the Amyrides. Sprengel thinks that it was produced from the Gardenia gummifera.

568Aloe-wood.

569According to Poinsinet, these Arabic words derive their origin from the Slavonic; the first signifying a “cordial drug,” or “alexipharmic,” and the other a drug “which divides itself into tablets.” It is impossible to divine what drugs are meant by these names.

570Signifying the “unguent acorn,” or “nut.” There is little doubt that the behen or ben nut of the Arabians is meant, of which there are several sorts. It is used by the Hindoos for calico printing and pharmacy, and was formerly employed in Europe in the arts, and for medical purposes. It is no longer used as a perfume. The “oil of ben” used in commerce is extracted from the fruit of the Moringa oleifera of naturalists. It is inodorous; for which reason, Fée is of opinion that the name signifies “the oily nut,” and quotes Dioscorides, who says, B. iv., that an oil is extracted from this balanus, which is used as an ingredient in unguents, in place of other oils. Fée also says that at the present day it is used by perfumers, to fix or arrest the evanescent odours of such flowers as the jasmine and the lily.

571This Æthiopian variety is quite unknown, and is, as Fée remarks, most probably of a different species from the genuine myrobalanus.

572See B. vi. c. 32.

573“Curing thirst.” Dioscorides, B. i. c. 148, says that it was so called from, being full of juice, which quenched thirst like water.

Back to Index Next