Chapter 549

2649See B. xx. c.18. For the olusatrum, see B. xx. c.46.

2650The parsnip is no longer employed for its medicinal properties; but for a long time, the seed was looked upon as a diuretic and febrifuge. The root contains a considerable quantity of saccharine matter.

2651Sprengel identifies it with the Chærophyllum sativum of Linnæus, the scandix cerifolium, our common chervil; but Fée considers it to be the same as the Scandix pecten Veneris of Linnæus, the Venus’ comb chervil. Pliny has mentioned a “scandix” also in B. xxi. c. 52, but erroneously, Fée thinks.

2652It is not used for any medicinal purposes at the present day.

2653Acharn. A. ii. sc. 4: “Get some scandix from your mother, and give it me.” The same joke also appears in the “Equites;” and A. Gellius, B. xv. c. 20, says that Theopompus speaks of the mother of Euripides as having been a greengrocer.

2654Fée identifies it with the Anthriscus odoratus of Linnæus, the cultivated chervil. See B. xxi. c.52.

2655See B. xxi. c.65.

2656See B. xxi. c.52.

2657This is the Caucalis grandiflora of Linnæus, Fée thinks.

2658“Medicine for the heart.” All these statements as to its medicinal properties, are quite erroneous, Fée says.

2659“Pituitas.”

2660On Antidotes for the stings of serpents. See end of B.xix.

2661The Sium angustifolium has been named, but Fée prefers identifying it with the Sium latifolium of Linnæus, water-parsley.

2662Fée says that at the present day it is held in suspicion as an article of food, and that it is said to produce madness in ruminating animals. He thinks it not improbable that Pliny here attributes to it some of the properties which in reality belong to cresses.

2663See B. xxvi. c. 25. Sprengel identifies it with the Carduus marianus of Linnæus. Fée inclines, however, to the belief that it is the Sonchus palustris of Linnæus; the marsh sow-thistle.

2664Sprengel identifies it with the Scolymus maculatus of Linnæus, but Fée prefers the Scolymus Hispanicus of Linnæus, the Spanish thistle.

2665Fée says that the Scolymus grandiflorus is still eaten in Barbary.

2666The “meadow-plant.”

2667Works and Days, l. 582.

2668The Sonchus oleraceus of Linnæus, the common sow-thistle.

2669A poor old woman, who hospitably entertained Theseus when on his expedition for the purpose of slaying the Marathonian bull. Theseus instituted a sacrifice at Athens in honour of her. See Ovid, Remed. Am. l. 747, and Callim. Fragm. 40.

2670The Sonchus arvensis of Linnæus, the field sow-thistle.

2671The Sonchus oleraceus asper of Linnæus, the prickly-leafed sow-thistle. These plants are eaten as a salad in some countries. They possess but little energy in a medicinal point of view, but they are cooling and slightly laxative. The marvels here related by Pliny, Fée says, are entirely fabulous.

2672Sibthorpe thinks that this is the Chondrilla ramosissima of Linnæus; but Fée identifies it with the Chondrilla juncea of Linnæus. The Lactuca perennis has also been suggested. See B. xxi. cc.52and65.

2673In the Isle of Lemnos, at the present day, a milky juice is extracted from the root of the Chondrilla juncea.

2674To keep the hairs in their proper place.

2675“Boleti.”

2676She having been put to death by him.

2677“Rimosa stria.”

2678This description would apply to many of the fungi known as toadstools at the present day.

2679A true description, Fée says, of the agaric oronge, or the laseras mushroom.

2680The true origin of fungi has not been discovered till a comparatively recent period, since the days of Linnæus even. It is now known that they are propagated by microscopic granules which are lodged in particular receptacles, or else by a dissolution and dispersion of their filamentous tissues.

2681“Clavus caligaris.” A nail of a caliga, or military boot. See B. vii. c. 44, and B. ix. c. 33.

2682The peasants, Fée says, who are in the habit of gathering them, may probably be better trusted than the most learned authors that have written on the subject. He thinks it the best plan, however, to avoid all risks, by confining ourselves to the use of the common field mushroom, the morel, and one or two other well-known kinds.

2683A prejudice entirely without foundation, Fée remarks.

2684Fée says that from this it is evident that Pliny understands only the stalk mushrooms under the name of “boleti;” the fungi which adhere to trees living more years, many of them, than Pliny mentions days.

2685“Ex pituita.” Fée thinks that under the name of “boleti,” Pliny means exclusively agaries or mushrooms of the division Amanites, which contains both the best and the most noxious kinds—the oronge for instance, and the false oronge.

2686The Agaricus campestris of Linnæus, Fée thinks, our common field mushroom, or, possibly, the Agaricus deliciosus of Linnæus.

2687The Agaricus procerus of Schœfer, probably, the tall columelle, Fée thinks.

2688A cap worn by the Flamen; or chief-priest, of a somewhat conical shape; very similar in form to the Russian helmet of the present day.

2689“Swine mushrooms.” Fée suggests that this may be the Boletus edulis of Bulliard.

2690A valued friend of the philosopher Seneca, as we learn from Tacitus, and Seneca’s Epistles, Ep. 63.

2691See Martial’s Epigrams, B. i. Ep. 21.

2692In B. xvi. c. 11. In that passage, however, the pine is mentioned, and not the beech.

2693In B. xx. c. 13,et passim.

2694Fée says that the fungi are but little used in modern medicine: the white bolet, he says, or larch bolet, is sometimes employed as a purgative, and some German writers have spoken in praise of the Boletus suaveolens of Bulliard as a remedy for pulmonary phthisis. The agaric known as amadue, or German tinder, is also employed in surgery. Fée remarks that all that Pliny says as to the medicinal properties of mushrooms and fungi is more or less hazardous.

2695Rheums, or catarrhs.

2696See B. xxxiv. c. 50.

2697“Sucinis novaculis.” This may possibly mean “knives of amber;” and it is not improbable that the use of amber may have been thought a means of detecting the poisonous qualities of fungi.

2698This, as Fée remarks, is the case. All kinds of fungi, too, it is said, may be eaten with impunity, if first boiled in salt water.

2699In reality, rain only facilitates their developement.

2700In B. xix. c. 15.

2701In B. xix. c. 15.

2702In B. xix. c. 15. Asafœtida, Fée says, if it bears any relation to the laser of the ancients, had till very recently the reputation of being an emmenagogue, a hydragogue, a vermifuge, and a purgative. Applied topically, too, it is emollient, and is used for the cure of corns and tumours. Whatever Laser may have been, there is little doubt that much that is here stated by Pliny is either fabulous or erroneous.

2703“Cauterium.”

2704What Pliny here says of Laser, Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 94, says of the root of Silphium.

2705“Dead” corns.

2706Or pottage—“In sorbitione.”

2707Probably to prevent it turning sour on the stomach.

2708Dioscorides, however, gives this advice, B. iii. c. 94.

2709In c. 56 of this Book.

2710It is this, in fact, combined with its utility, that ought to cause it to be so highly esteemed.

2711In B. xi. c. 4,et seq.

2712Bee-bread, or bee-glue.

2713In B. xi. c. 6. It is a vegetable substance, Fée says, not elaborated by the bees. It is still employed in medicine, he says, for resolutive fumigations.

2714The Babylonians employed it for the purpose of embalming.

2715It is of an emollient nature, and is preferred to sugar for sweetening liquids, in a multitude of instances.

2716Fée denies this; but there is no doubt that honey has this tendency with some persons.

2717Fée says that this is not the case.

2718In B. xi. c. 13.

2719In B. xxi. c. 44.

2720“Aqua mulsa.” See B. xiv. c. 20, where it is described as Hydromeli, or Melicraton.

2721Fée says that this must have been a wholesome beverage, but that it would cease to be so after undergoing fermentation. In the description of its uses there are some errors, Fée says, combined with some rational observations.

2722See B. xviii. c.29; also c.61of this Book.

2723This seems to be the meaning of “præparci” here, though it generally signifies “niggardly,” or “sordid.”

2724Fée combats this theory at considerable length; but there can be little doubt that the same substance has not the same taste to all individuals.

2725Seneca makes a similar observation, De Irâ, B. iii. c. 10.

2726“Animi seu potius animæ.”

2727It is the oil, Fée says, and not the hydromel, that combats the effects of the white lead, a subcarbonate of lead.

2728In B. xxi. c. 105.

2729Mead, or metheglin.

2730This is, perhaps, the meaning of “nervis” here, but it is very doubtful. See Note312, in p. 77 of Vol. III.

2731“Mulsum.”

2732“Dulci.” Fée thinks, but erroneously, that by this word he means “must,” or grape-juice, and combats the assertion. Honied wine, he says, is used at the present day (in France, of course,) as a popular cure for recent wounds and inveterate ulcers. As a beverage, it was very highly esteemed by the ancients. See B. vii. c. 54.

2733“Hospes.” It may possibly mean his “guest,” but the other is more probable.

2734“Intus mulso, foris oleo.” The people of Corsica were famous for being long-lived, which was attributed to their extensive use of honey.

2735“Regius morbus.”

2736Honied wine being considered so noble a beverage, Celsus says, that “during its cure, the patient must be kept to his chamber, and the mind must be kept cheerful, with gaiety and pastimes, for which reason it is called the ‘royal disease,’” B. iii. c. 24. In the text Pliny calls it “arquatorum morbus,” the “disease of the bow-like,” if we may be allowed the term. The origin of this term, according to Scribonius Largus, is the word “arcus,” the rainbow, from a fancied resemblance of the colour of the skin, when affected with jaundice, to the green tints of the rainbow.

2737In B. xiv. c. 11.

2738In B. xi. c. 8, and B. xxi. c. 49.

2739When it curdles on the stomach.

2740In c. 49 of this Book.

2741“Malagmata.”

2742Fée, at some length, and with considerable justice, combats this assertion; though at the same time he remarks that Pliny is right in calling the attention of the medical world to the use of simple substances.

2743“Scripulatim”—“By scruples.”

2744He forgets that many of them could only be produced by the agency of an Eastern sun.

2745See B. xviii. c.20.

2746See B. xiv. c. 5.

2747Fée says that it can have no such effect.

2748The bran of wheat, Fée says, is of a soothing nature, and that of barley slightly astringent.

2749See B. xv. c. 12, and B. xvii. c. 14.

2750The only truth in this statement, Fée says, is, that wheat bran makes a good gargle.

2751See B. xviii. c.19.

2752See B. xvi. c. 80. This insect, or weevil, Fée says, is the Calandra granaria. It strongly resembles the worm or maggot found in nuts. It can be of no efficacy whatever for the removal of carious teeth.

2753In B. xviii. c. 20.

2754See B. xviii. c.13.

2755Or multipede. For these purposes, as Fée says, it is of no use whatever.

2756It is no better, Fée says, than rye or barley-meal.

2757See B. xviii. cc.19,29.

2758In B. xviii. c. 29.

2759“Trimestris.” See B. xviii. c.12.

2760Fée remarks, that this meal is still valued for its maturative properties.

2761Hair-grass, probably, or darnel. See B. xviii. c.44.

2762In B. xviii. c. 14. Injections of meal are still employed, Fée says, for diarrhœa.

2763The flour of the grain called “far,” Fée thinks. See B. xviii. c.10.

2764This statement is probably founded upon the notion that corn has the property of attracting liquids, even when enclosed in vessels.

2765A paste of this kind, if applied to a recent wound, would have the effect of preventing cicatrization, and giving free access to the flow of blood.

2766See B. xviii. c.19.

2767Or “flour.” See B. xiii. c.26.

2768Fée remarks, that the Greekswereacquainted with alica, to which they gave the name ofχόνδρος; indeed, Galen expressly states that it was well known in the days of Hippocrates, who says that it is more nourishing than ptisan. Festus says that alica is so called, “quod alit,” because it nourishes the body.—See B. xviii. c.29.

2769In c. 55 of this Book.

2770See B. xviii. c.24.

2771See B. xviii. c.25.

2772“Mel frugum.”

2773See B. xviii. c.22. It is still used in medicine in Egypt, and as a cosmetic.

2774Or “bad habit.”

2775In B. xv. c. 7. See also B. xxiii. c.49. Fée thinks it not unlikely that oil of sesame might have this effect. The people of Egypt still look upon this grain as an antophthalmic, but, as Fée says, without any good reason.

2776“Like sesame.”

2777Sprengel has identified this plant, the “smaller” Sesamoides of Dioscorides, with the Astragalus sesameus of Linnæus, or else with the Reseda canescens. Other naturalists have mentioned the Catananche cærulea of Linnæus, the Passerina hirsuta of Linnæus, and the Passerina polygalæofolia of Lapeyrouse. Fée is of opinion that it has not been identified.

2778Altogether a different plant; Sprengel identifies it with the Reseda Mediterranea, but Fée dissents from that opinion, and is inclined to agree with the opinion of Dalechamps, that it is the Daphne Tartonraira of Linnæus, which is a strong purgative.

2779In B. xxv c. 106.

2780Fée remarks that this Chapter includes a number of gross prejudices which it is not worth while to examine or contradict.

2781“Hordeum murinum.” Anguillara, Matthioli, and Sprengel identify it with the Lolium perenne of Linnæus; but, as Fée says, it is clear that Pliny had in view the modern Hordeum murinum, mouse-barley.

2782See B. xviii. c.15.

2783At the present day, as Fée says, oatmeal is preferred to barley-meal.

2784Being our “barley-water,” in fact.

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