Chapter 538

1191The Ligusticum levisticum of Linnæus.

1192“Ox cunila.” One of the Labiatæ, probably; but whether one of the Satureia or of the Thymbra is not known. See B. xx. cc.60,61.

1193See B. xxi. c.32.

1194Scribonius Largus gives this name to savory, the Satureia hortensis of Linnæus. The whole of this passage is very confused, and its meaning is by no means clear.

1195The Lepidium sativum of Linnæus. See B. xx. c.70.

1196It is an annual, in fact.

1197Its leaf has no resemblance whatever to that of the laurel.

1198The Nigella sativa of Linnæus. See B. xx. c.71.

1199Or sagapenum. See B. xx. c.75. It is mentioned also in B. xii. c.56, as being used for adulterating galbanum. As to laser, see c.15of the present Book.

1200This practice, as Fée remarks, is not followed; and indeed, unless it is intended to transplant them, it would be attended with injurious results to the young plants.

1201As to the poppy, for further particulars see B. xx. c.76and the Note.

1202The variety Album of the Papaver somniferum of modern botanists.

1203The variety Nigrum of the Papaver somniferum. The white poppy has also a milky juice.

1204The Papaver rhœas of modern botanists, the corn-poppy, or wild poppy. The seed of the poppy does not partake of the qualities of its capsular envelope, and at the present day it is extensively employed in the South of Europe for sprinkling over pastry.

1205“Rhœas,” the “crimson,” or “pomegranate” poppy.

1206See B. xx. cc.76-79.

1207See c.17of this Book, also Ovid’s Fasti, B. ii. l. 703,et seq.

1208“Lad’s love.”

1209Black mustard, Fée thinks.

1210He can hardly mean a pottage made of boiled mustard-seed alone, as Fée seems to think. If so, however, Fée no doubt is right in thinking that it would he intolerable to a modern palate.

1211See B. xx. c.87.

1212Perhaps a corruption of its Greek name,σίνηπι.

1213Hardouin suggests “thlaspi.”

1214Its bite being as sharp as the venom of the “saurus,” or lizard.

1215Hardouin, from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 7, suggests a reading, “whence the streams bring down branches of them torn off, and so plant them.”

1216The plants. Fée says, that we find in these localities, are nearly always ferns, or else Marchantia, or mosses of the genus Hypnum. Fée queries whether one of these may not have been the sisymbrium of Pliny. Water-cresses, again, have been suggested.

1217In B. viii. c. 41. The Anæthum fœniculum of Linnæus.

1218In B. xiii. c. 42.

1219The Cannabis sativa of Linnæus. See B. xx. c.97.

1220Hemp-seed is never smoke-dried now.

1221See B. v. c. 29. The same hemp is mentioned as being used for making hunting-nets, by Gratius, in the Cynegeticon.

1222See B. v. c. 29.

1223See B. iii. c. 17, and B. xvii. c. 3.

1224This, as Fée says, is no doubt erroneous. It is seldom known to attain a couple of inches in circumference.

1225In B. xiii. c. 42.

1226These absurd notions are borrowed from Theophrastus, De Causis, c. 8.

1227See B. xx. c.91.

1228Or, according to some readings, “limodorum,” a parasitical plant, probably the Lathræa phelypea of Sprengel. Fée suggests that this plant may be the Polygonum convolvulus of Linnæus, or else one of the Cuscutæ, or a variety of Orobanche.

1229“Scabies.” A fungous excrescence, Fée thinks, now known as “puccinia,” or “uredo.”

1230See B. xvii. c. 47. Fée says that he has met with persons, in their sound senses, who obstinately defend the notion here mentioned by Pliny.

1231See Theophrastus. Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 5. Many of these insects, however, do not breed upon the plants, but are only attracted to them.

1232“Book on Gardening.”

1233The Heliotropium Europæum of botanists. See B. xxii. c.29.

1234This may possibly, Fée says, be efficacious against some insects.

1235See B. xviii. c.45.

1236A mere puerility, of course, though it is very possible that the insects may collect in it, and so be more easily taken. Garden-pots, on sticks, are still employed for this purpose.

1237See B. xvi. c. 30.

1238“Culices,” including both flies and gnats, probably.

1239See B. xii. c. 56.

1240An almost literal translation of Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 6.

1241This is certainly not true with reference to the leguminous and gramineous plants. It is pretty generally known as a fact, that wheat has germinated after being buried in the earth two thousand years: mummy-wheat, at the present day, is almost universally known.

1242Rain-water, if collected in cisterns, and exposed to the heat of the sun, is the most beneficial of all; rain has the effect also of killing numerous insects which have bred in the previous drought.

1243From Theophrastus, B. vii. c. 5. Evening is generally preferred to morning for this purpose; the evaporation not being so quick, and the plant profiting more from the water.

1244It should, however, be of a middling temperature, and warmed to some extent by the rays of the sun.

1245These statements are consistent with modern experience.

1246See B. xx. c.85.

1247He says this probably in reference partly to the large leaves which characterize the varieties of dock.

1248Dishes made of rice or barley. See B. xviii. c.13.

1249See B. xx. c.85.

1250He does not give the name of the poet, but, as Fée says, we do not experience any great loss thereby.

1251From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 6.

1252See B. xv. c. 32.

1253“Absinthium.” See B. xxvii. c. 28.

1254See B. xxv. c. 30.

1255Fée remarks, that though rarely to be met with, the salt flavour is still to be found in the vegetable kingdom.

1256The “cicercula,” or Lathyrus sativus of Linnæus. See B. xviii. c.32.

1257See B. xii. c. 57.

1258Or pepper-wort. See B. xx. c.66.

1259See B. xx. c.54.

1260The same, probably, as olusatrum. See cc.37and48of this Book, and B. xx. c. 46: also B. xxvii. c. 109.

1261In B. xii. c. 57.

1262See c.48of this Book.

1263Rosemary, or “sea-dew.”

1264See B. xx. c.74.

1265Fée suggests, though apparently without any good reason, that this paragraph, to the end of the Book, is an interpolation of the copyists.

1266See end of B. xiv.

1267See end of B. ii.

1268See end of B. xiv.

1269See end of B. iii.

1270See end of B. iii.

1271See end of B. vii.

1272See end of B. ii.

1273See end of B. vii.

1274See end of B. viii.

1275See end of B. xvi.

1276See end of B. x.

1277Beyond the mention made of this writer in c. 57, nothing whatever is known of him.

1278C. Licinius Macer, a Roman annalist and orator, born aboutB.C.110. Upon being impeached by Cicero, he committed suicide. He wrote a History or Annals of Rome, which are frequently referred to by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

1279Nothing whatever appears to be known of this writer.

1280See end of B. xiv.

1281Nothing whatever is known relative to this writer on Horticulture.

1282Nothing certain is known of him; but it has been suggested that he may have been the father of the rhetorician Castritius, so often mentioned by Aulus Gellius, and who lived in the time of the Emperor Adrian.

1283Nothing whatever is known relative to this writer.

1284The author of a Greek poem on venomous serpents, mentioned in B. xx. c. 96, and B. xxii. c. 40, and by the Scholiast on the Theriaca of Nicander.

1285See end of B. ii.

1286See end of B. iii.

1287See end of B. ii.

1288See end of B. xi.

1289Nothing whatever is known of him. His Book seems to have been a compendium of “Things useful to life.”

1290A physician and Pythagorean philosopher, born at one of the cities called Larissa, but which, is now unknown. He was banished by the Emperor Augustus,B.C.28, on the charge of practising magic, a charge probably based on his superior skill in natural philosophy. He is frequently mentioned by Pliny in the course of this work.

1291Fée remarks, that the commencement of this exordium is contrary to truth, and that Pliny appears to forget that in the Eighteenth Book he has treated, at very considerable length, of the various cereals, the art of preparing bread, pottages, ptisans, &c. He suggests, that the author may have originally intended to place the Eighteenth Bookafterthe present one, and that on changing his plan he may have neglected to alter the present passage. From his mention, however, of man’s “ignorance by what means lie exists,” it is not improbable that he may have considered that the nutritive qualities of plants are really based upon their medicinal virtues, a point of view little regarded by the majority of mankind in his time, but considered by Pliny to be the true key to a just appreciation of their utility.

1292“Quibus cuncta constant.” See B. xxiv. c. 1.

1293See B. xxxiv. c. 42.

1294The “theamedes.” See B. xxxvi. c. 25.

1295Pliny is the only author who makes mention of this singularly absurd notion.

1296In B. xix. c. 24: so, too, Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 154. The wild cucumber of Pliny, as Fée observes, is in reality not a cucumber, but a totally different plant, the Cucumis silvestris asininus of C. Bauhin, the Momordica elaterium of Linnæus, or squirting cucumber.

1297Elaterium, Fée says, is not extracted from the seed, but is the juice of the fruit itself, as Pliny, contradicting himself, elsewhere informs us. Theophrastus commits the same error, which Dioscorides does not; and it is not improbable that Pliny has copied from two sources the method of making it.

1298Meaning the juice and seed combined, probably. Fée thinks that it is to this the medicament owes its name, fromἐλαύνω, to “drive” or “impel.” It is much more probable, however, that the medicine was so called from its strong purgative powers; for, as Galen tells us,ἐλατήριονwas a name given to purgative medicines in general.

1299Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 154, states to this effect. Fée remarks that, singularly enough, most of the antiophthalmics used by the ancients, were composed of acrid and almost corrosive medicaments, quite in opposition to the sounder notions entertained on the subject by the moderns.

1300Dioscorides says the same; and much the same statements are made by Celsus, Apuleius, Marcellus Empiricus, and Plinius Valerianus. The different parts of the plant, dried, have but very feeble properties, Fée says.

1301A sort of tetter or ring-worm. Celsus enumerates four varieties.

1302Itch-scab, probably.

1303A disease of the skin, in which the scab assumes the form almost of a lichen or moss.

1304“Panos.” “Panus” was the name given to a wide-spreading, but not deeply-seated, tumour, the surface of which presented a blistered appearance.

1305Fée says that this is not the fact, as it speedily deteriorates by keeping.

1306From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 10.

1307Fée acknowledges the truth of this observation, that of a green colour containing feculent matter, and showing that the juice is not pure.

1308In reality there is no such resemblance whatever. See B. xxii. c.29.

1309Fée says that this is an exaggerated account of the properties of the wild cucumber, as it would require a very considerable dose to cause death.

1310The Morbus pedicularis, or “lousy disease.”

1311This has been identified by some writers, Fée says, with the Cucumis flexuosus of Linnæus; but, as he observes, that plant comes originally from India, and it is more than probable that it was not known by the ancients; in addition to which, it is possessed of no medicinal properties whatever. He looks upon it as an indigenous plant not identified.

1312So Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 154.

1313“Morbus regius;” literally, the “royal disease.”

1314“Lentigo.”

1315See B. xix. c.23. It is but little appreciated for its medicinal properties by the moderns. Emulsions are sometimes made of the seeds, which are of an oily nature. Fée says that the French ladies esteem pommade of cucumber as an excellent cosmetic; which is, however, an erroneous notion.

1316The combination of cummin with cucumber seed is in opposition, Fée remarks, with their medicinal properties, the one being soothing, and the other moderately exciting.

1317As to the several varieties of the pumpkin or gourd, known under this name, see B. xix. c.24.

1318Dioscorides states to the same effect, and, as Fée thinks, with a probability of being correct.

1319“Smegmata.”

1320This assertion, Fée says, is utterly untrue.

1321Fromἐπί, “upon,” andνὺξ, “night.” These are red or whitish pustules, accompanied with sharp pains, which appear on the skin at night, and disappear in the day-time. See c.21.

1322Or “many-legs.” See B. xxix. c. 39. Probably one of our millepedes or centipedes: though Fée suggests that it may have been a large caterpillar.

1323Fromσηπεῖν, “to rot.”

1324This, Fée says, is untrue: but it is hard to say on what grounds he himself asserts that the smell of the cucumber is faint, and almost nauseous.

1325This, probably, is not conformable to modern notions on the subject.

1326From the Greekσομφὸς, porous, spongy, or hollow.

1327It is supposed by some naturalists that this gourd is the variety Pyxidaris of the Cucurbita pepo of Linnæus, the Colocynthis amara of C. Bauhin. Fée remarks, however, that this designation is arbitrary; as this plant never grows wild in Europe, and its pulp is so bitter, that instead of proving beneficial to the stomach, it would cause vomiting. From the fact of its comparison to the human finger, he doubts if it really was one of the Cucurbitæ at all.

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