Chaps. 39-50.

Chap. 39.—The Squill: Twenty-three Remedies.

In medicine, we give the name of white squill to the male plant, and of black [See B. xix. c..] to the female: the whiter the squill, the better it is for medicinal [The squill is still regarded in medicine as one of the most energetic of all the vegetable productions, as a diuretic, an expectorant, and, in large doses, an emetic. Squill vinegar is still the form in which it is usually administered. Columella gives a somewhat different account of the mode of preparing it.] purposes. The dry coats being first taken off of it, the remaining part, or so much of it as retains life, is cut into pieces, which are then strung and suspended on a string, at short distances from each other. After these pieces are thoroughly dried, they are thrown into a jar of the very strongest vinegar, suspended in such a way, however, as not to touch any portion of the vessel. This is done forty-eight days before the summer solstice. The mouth of the jar is then tightly sealed with plaster; after which it is placed beneath some tiles which receive the rays of the sun the whole day through. At the end of forty-eight days the vessel is removed, the squills are taken out of it, and the vinegar poured into another jar.

This vinegar has the effect of sharpening the eyesight, and, taken every other day, is good for pains in the stomach and sides: the strength of it, however, is so great, that if taken in too large a quantity, it will for some moments produce all the appearance of death. Squills, too, if chewed by themselves even, are good for the gums and teeth; and taken in vinegar and honey they expel tapeworm and other intestinal worms. Put fresh beneath the tongue, they prevent persons afflicted with dropsy from experiencing thirst.

Squills are cooked in various ways; either in a pot with a lining of clay or grease, which is put into an oven or furnace, or else cut into pieces and stewed in a saucepan. They are dried also in a raw state, and then cut into pieces and boiled with vinegar; in which case, they are employed as a liniment for the stings of serpents. Sometimes, again, they are roasted and then cleaned; after which, the middle of the bulb is boiled again in water.

When thus boiled, they are used for dropsy, as a diuretic, being taken in doses of three oboli, with oxymel: they are employed also in a similar manner for affections of the spleen, and of the stomach, when it is too weak to digest the food, provided no ulcerations have made their appearance; also for gripings of the bowels, jaundice, and inveterate cough, accompanied with asthma. A cataplasm of squill leaves, taken off at the end of four days, has the effect of dispersing scrofulous swellings of the neck; and a decoction of squills in oil, applied as a liniment, is a cure for dandriff and running ulcers of the head.

Squills are boiled with honey also for the table, with the view of aiding the digestion more particularly; used in this way, too, they act upon the inside as a purgative. Boiled with oil, and then mixed with resin, they are a cure for chaps on the feet; and the seed, mixed with honey, is applied topically, for the cure of lumbago. Pythagoras says that a squill, suspended at the threshold of the door, effectually shuts all access to evil spells and incantations. [Theocritus says that the squill effectually protects statues and tombs from outrages being committed upon them; and it was so customary to plant them about the graves, that it became a proverbial saying, “He is frantic enough to pluck squills from a grave.” Theophrastus states that squills were employed in certain expiatory ceremonials.]

Chap. 40.—Bulbs: Thirty Remedies.

Bulbs, [As to the identification of the “bulbs,” see B. xix. c.. The wild bulbs, Fée is of opinion, are probably the Nigrum allium or Moly of modern Botany; and the Allium schœnoprasum belongs, in his opinion, to the cultivated bulbs.] steeped in vinegar and sulphur, are good for the cure of wounds in the face; [Supposing, Fée says, that the Bulbi of the ancients belonged to the genus Allium or garlic of modern Botany, we may conclude that in a medicinal point of view, they were of an exciting nature, powerful vermifuges, and slightly blistering when applied topically. The other statements here made, as to their medicinal qualities, are not consistent with modern experience.] beaten up and used alone, they are beneficial for contractions of the sinews, mixed with wine, for porrigo, and used with honey, for the bites of dogs; in this last case, however, Erasistratus says that they ought to be mixed with pitch. The same author states that, applied topically with honey, they stanch the flowing of blood; other writers say, however, that in cases of bleeding at the nose, coriander and meal should be employed in combination with them. Theodorus prescribes bulbs in vinegar for the cure of lichens, and for eruptions in the head he recommends bulbs mixed with astringent wine, or an egg beaten up; he treats defluxions of the eyes also with bulbs, applied topically, and uses a similar method for the cure of ophthalmia. The red bulbs more particularly, will cause spots in the face to disappear, if rubbed upon them with honey and nitre in the sun; and applied with wine or boiled cucumber they will remove freckles. Used either by themselves, or as Damion recommends, in combination with honied wine, they are remarkably efficacious for the cure of wounds, care being taken, however, not to remove the application till the end of four days. The same author prescribes them, too, for the cure of fractured ears, and collections of crude humours in the testes. [Testium pituitas.]

For pains in the joints, bulbs are used with meal; boiled in wine, and applied to the abdomen, they reduce hard swellings of the viscera. In dysentery, they are given in wine mixed with rain water; and for convulsions of the intestines they are employed, in combination with silphium, in pills the size of a bean: bruised, they are employed externally, for the purpose of checking perspirations. Bulbs are good, too, for the sinews, for which reason it is that they are given to paralytic patients. The red bulb, mixed with honey and salt, heals sprains of the feet with great rapidity. The bulbs of Megara [See B. xix. c.. Athenæus, B. ii. c. 26, attributes a similar property to the bulbs of Megara.] act as a strong aphrodisiac, and garden bulbs, taken with boiled must or raisin wine, aid delivery.

Wild bulbs, made up into pills with silphium, effect the cure of wounds and other affections of the intestines. The seed, too, of the cultivated kinds is taken in wine as a cure for the bite of the phalangium, [See B. xi. cc. 24, 28.] and the bulbs themselves are applied in vinegar for the cure of the stings of serpents. The ancients used to give bulb-seed to persons afflicted with madness, in drink. The blossom, beaten up, removes spots upon the legs, as well as scorches produced by fire. Diocles is of opinion that the sight is impaired by the use of bulbs; he adds, too, that when boiled they are not so wholesome as roasted, and that, of whatever nature they may be, they are difficult of digestion.

Chap. 41.—Bulbine; One Remedy. Bulb Emetic.

The Greeks give the name bulbine [The Hyacinthus botryoides of Linnæus, most probably.] to a plant with leaves resembling those of the leek, and a red bulbous root. This plant, it is said, is marvellously good for wounds, but only when they are of recent date. The bulbous plant known as the “emetic” bulb, [“Bulbus vomitorius.” The Narcissus jonquilla of Linnæus, the “emetic jonquil.” The bulb of the Spanish jonquil acts as a strong emetic.] from the effects which it produces, has dark leaves, [Dioscorides says, more correctly, a black outer coat or peeling.] and longer than those of the other kinds.

Chap. 42. (10.)—Garden Asparagus; with the Next Twenty-four Remedies.

Asparagus [Asparagus is recognized in modern times, as exercising a strong action on the kidneys. Fée says, that according to Dr. Broussais, it is a sedative to palpitations of the heart, an assertion, the truth of which, he says, his own experience has confirmed. The root is also looked upon as diuretic.] is said to be extremely wholesome as an aliment to the stomach. With the addition of cummin, it dispels flatulency of the stomach and colon; it sharpens the eyesight also, acts as a mild aperient upon the stomach, and, boiled with wine, is good for pains in the chest and spine, and diseases of the intestines. For pains in the loins and kidneys asparagus-seed [Asparagus seed is not used in modern pharmacy, and it is very doubtful if it possesses any virtues at all.] is administered in doses of three oboli, taken with an equal proportion of cummin-seed. It acts as an aphrodisiac, and is an extremely useful diuretic, except that it has a tendency to ulcerate the bladder. [Fée says that there is no truth in this assertion.]

The root, also, pounded and taken in white wine, is highly extolled by some writers, as having the effect of disengaging calculi, and of soothing pains in the loins and kidneys; there are some persons, too, who administer this root with sweet wine for pains in the uterus. Boiled in vinegar the root is very beneficial in cases of elephantiasis. It is said that if a person is rubbed with asparagus beaten up in oil, he will never be stung by bees.

Chap. 43.—Corruda, Libycum, or Orminum.

Wild asparagus is by some persons called “corruda,” by others “libycum,” and by the people of Attica “orminus.” [See B. xix. c.: the Asparagus tenuifolius of Linnæus, the wild asparagus, or Corruda of the South of France.] For all the affections above enumerated it is more efficacious even than the cultivated kind, that which is white [Fée says that in the South of Europe there is a kind, known to botanists as white asparagus, with a prickly stem: he suggests that it may possibly be the same as that here spoken of.] more particularly. This vegetable has the effect of dispelling the jaundice, and a decoction of it, in doses of one hemina, is recommended as an aphrodisiac; a similar effect is produced also by a mixture of asparagus seed and dill in doses of three oboli respectively. A decoction of asparagus juice is given also for the stings of serpents; and the root of it, mixed with that of marathrum, [Or fennel. Fée says that, till very recently, the roots of asparagus and of fennel were combined in medicine, forming part of the five “major aperitive” roots. The sirop of the five aperitive roots is still used, he says, in medicine.] is reckoned in the number of the most valuable remedies we are acquainted with.

In cases of hæmaturia, Chrysippus recommends a mixture of asparagus, parsley, and cummin seed, to be given to the patient every five days, in doses of three oboli, mixed with two cyathi of wine. He says, however, that though employed this way, it is a good diuretic, it is bad for dropsy, and acts as an antaphrodisiac; and that it is injurious to the bladder, unless it is boiled first. [Chrysippus and Dioscorides were of opinion, that a decoction of asparagus root causes sterility in women; a false notion, which, as Fée remarks, prevailed very generally in Greece.] He states also, that if the water in which it is boiled is given to dogs, it will kill them; [This is not consistent with fact.] and that the juice of the root boiled in wine, kept in the mouth, is an effectual cure for tooth-ache.

Chap. 44. (11.)—Parsley; Seventeen Remedies.

Parsley [See B. xix. c.. Parsley, though possessed of marked properties, is but little employed in medicine. What Pliny here states respecting it, Fée says, is a tissue of fables: but it is still used for the cure of sores, and even as an ophthalmic.] is held in universal esteem; for we find sprigs of it swimming in the draughts of milk given us to drink in country-places; and we know that as a seasoning for sauces, it is looked upon with peculiar favour. Applied to the eyes with honey, which must also be fomented from time to time with a warm decoction of it, it has a most marvellous efficacy in cases of defluxion of those organs or of other parts of the body; as also when beaten up and applied by itself, or in combination with bread or with polenta. Fish, too, when found to be in an ailing state in the preserves, are greatly refreshed by giving them green parsley. As to the opinions entertained upon it among the learned, there is not a single production dug out of the earth in reference to which a greater diversity exists.

Parsley is distinguished as male and female: [This distinction, Fée says, cannot be admitted.] according to Chrysippus, the female plant has a hard leaf and more curled than the other, a thick stem, and an acrid, hot taste. Dionysius says, that the female is darker than the other kind, has a shorter root, and engenders small worms. [Or maggots.] Both of these writers, however, agree in saying that neither kind of parsley should be admitted into the number of our aliments; indeed, they look upon it as nothing less than sacrilege to do so, seeing that parsley is consecrated to the funereal feasts in honour of the dead. They say, too, that it is injurious to the eyesight, that the stalk of the female plant engenders small worms, for which reason it is that those who eat of it become barren—males as well as females; and that children suckled by females who live on a parsley diet, are sure to be epileptic. They agree, however, in stating that the male plant is not so injurious in its effects as the female, and that it is for this reason that it is not absolutely condemned and classed among the forbidden plants. The leaves of it, employed as a cataplasm, are used for dispersing hard tumours [This belief in its efficacy, Fée says, still exists.] in the mamillæ; and when boiled in water, it makes it more agreeable to drink. The juice of the root more particularly, mixed with wine, allays the pains of lumbago, and, injected into the ears, it diminishes hardness of hearing. The seed of it acts as a diuretic, promotes the menstrual discharge, and brings away the after-birth.

Bruises and livid spots, if fomented with a decoction of parsley-seed, will resume their natural colour. Applied topically, with the white of egg, or boiled in water, and then drunk, it is remedial for affections of the kidneys; and beaten up in cold water it is a cure for ulcers of the mouth. The seed, mixed with wine, or the root, taken with old wine, has the effect of breaking calculi in the bladder. The seed, too, is given in white wine, to persons afflicted with the jaundice.

Chap. 45.—Apiastrum, or Melissophyllum.

Hyginus gave the name of “apiastrum” to melissophyllum: [See B. xxi. c.: this is the Melissa officinalis of Linnæus, or balm-gentle, from which the bees gather honey, quite a different plant to apiastrum or wild parsley. The Sardinian plant here mentioned, is probably the same as the Ranunculus, mentioned in B. xxv. c. 109, where its identification will be further discussed.] but that which grows in Sardinia is poisonous, and universally condemned. I speak here of this plant, because I feel it my duty to place before the reader every object which has been classified, among the Greeks, under the same name.

Chap. 46.—Olusatrum or Hipposelinon: Eleven Remedies. Oreoselinon; Two Remedies. Helioselinon; One Remedy.

Olusatrum, [See B. xix. c..] usually known as hipposelinon, [Or “horse parsley.”] is particularly repulsive to scorpions. The seed of it, taken in drink, is a cure for gripings in the stomach and intestinal complaints, and a decoction of the seed, drunk in honied wine, is curative in cases of dysuria. [Or strangury. No medicinal use is made of this plant in modern times.] The root of the plant, boiled in wine, expels calculi of the bladder, and is a cure for lumbago and pains in the sides. Taken in drink and applied topically, it is a cure for the bite of a mad dog, and the juice of it, when drunk, is warming for persons benumbed with cold.

Some persons make out oreoselinon [Or “mountain parsley,” see B. xix. c..] to be a fourth species of parsley: it is a shrub about a palm in height, with an elongated seed, bearing a strong resemblance to that of cummin, and efficacious for the urine and the catamenia. Helioselinon [Or “marsh-parsley,” see B. xix. c.. It is possessed of certain energetic properties, more appreciated by the ancient physicians than in modern pharmacy.] is possessed of peculiar virtues against the bites of spiders: and oreoselinon is used with wine for promoting the menstrual discharge.

Chap. 47. (12.)—Petroselinon; One Remedy. Buselinon; One Remedy.

Another kind again, which grows in rocky places, is known by some persons as “petroselinon:” [“Rock-parsley:” from this name comes our word “parsley.” It is not clearly known to what variety of parsley he refers under this name.] it is particularly good for abscesses, taken in doses of two spoonfuls of the juice to one cyathus of juice of horehound, mixed with three cyathi of warm water. Some writers have added buselinon [Or “ox-parsley.” C. Bauhin identifies this with the Petroselinum Creticum or Agriopastinaca of Crete; but, as Fée remarks, it is not clear to which of the Umbelliferæ he refers under that name.] to the list, which differs only from the cultivated kind in the shortness of the stalk and the red colour of the root, the medicinal properties being just the same. Taken in drink or applied topically, it is an excellent remedy for the stings of serpents.

Chap. 48.—Ocimum; Thirty-five Remedies.

Chrysippus has exclaimed as strongly, too, against ocimum [The Ocimum basilicum of Linnæus, according to most commentators: though Fée is not of that opinion, it being originally from India, and never found in a wild state. From what Varro says, De Re Rust. B. i. c. 31, he thinks that it must be sought among the leguminous plants, the genus Hedysarum, Lathyrus, or Medicago. He remarks also, that Pliny is the more to be censured for the absurdities contained in this Chapter, as the preceding writers had only mentioned them to ridicule them.] as he has against parsley, declaring that it is prejudicial to the stomach and the free discharge of the urine, and is injurious to the sight; that it produces insanity, too, and lethargy, as well as diseases of the liver; and that it is for this reason that goats refuse to touch it. Hence he comes to the conclusion, that the use of it ought to be avoided by man. Some persons go so far as to say, that if beaten up, and then placed beneath a stone, a scorpion will breed there; [See B. ix. c. 51.] and that if chewed, and then placed in the sun, worms will breed in it. The people of Africa maintain, too, that if a person is stung by a scorpion the same day on which he has eaten ocimum, his life cannot possibly be saved. Even more than this, there are some who assert, that if a handful of ocimum is beaten up with ten sea or river crabs, all the scorpions in the vicinity will be attracted to it. Diodotus, too, in his Book of Recipes, [“In Empericis.”] says, that ocimum, used as an article of food, breeds lice.

Succeeding ages, again, have warmly defended this plant; it has been maintained, for instance, that goats do eat it, that the mind of no one who has eaten of it is at all affected, and, that mixed with wine, with the addition of a little vinegar, it is a cure for the stings of land scorpions, and the venom of those found in the sea. Experience has proved, too, that the smell of this plant in vinegar is good for fainting fits and lethargy, as well as inflammations; that employed as a cooling liniment, with rose oil, myrtle oil, or vinegar, it is good for head-ache; and that applied topically with wine, it is beneficial for defluxions of the eyes. It has been found also, that it is good for the stomach; that taken with vinegar, it dispels flatulent eructations; that applications of it arrest fluxes of the bowels; that it acts as a diuretic, and that in this way it is good for jaundice and dropsy, as well as cholera and looseness of the bowels.

Hence it is that Philistio has prescribed it even for cœliac affections, and boiled, for dysentery. Some persons, too, though contrary to the opinion of Plistonicus, have given it in wine for tenesmus and spitting of blood, as also for obstructions of the viscera. It is employed, too, as a liniment for the mamillæ, and has the effect of arresting the secretion of the milk. It is very good also for the ears of infants, when applied with goose-grease more particularly. The seed of it, beaten up, and inhaled into the nostrils, is provocative of sneezing, and applied as a liniment to the head, of running at the nostrils: taken in the food, too, with vinegar, it purges the uterus. Mixed with copperas [“Atramento sutorio.”] it removes warts. It acts, also, as an aphrodisiac, for which reason it is given to horses and asses at the season for covering.

(13.) Wild ocimum has exactly the same properties in every respect, though in a more active degree. It is particularly good, too, for the various affections produced by excessive vomiting, and for abscesses of the womb. The root, mixed with wine, is extremely efficacious for bites inflicted by wild beasts.

Chap. 49.—Rocket: Twelve Remedies.

The seed of rocket [The Brassica eruca of Linnæus.] is remedial for the venom of the scorpion and the shrew-mouse: it repels, too, all parasitical insects which breed on the human body, and applied to the face, as a liniment, with honey, removes [None of the numerous remedies mentioned by Pliny for removing spots on the skin, are at all efficacious, in Fée’s opinion.] spots upon the skin. Used with vinegar, too, it is a cure for freckles; and mixed with ox-gall it restores the livid marks left by wounds to their natural colour. It is said that if this plant is taken in wine by persons who are about to undergo a flogging, it will impart a certain degree of insensibility to the body. So agreeable is its flavour as a savouring for food, that the Greeks have given it the name of “euzomon.” [“Good for sauces.”] It is generally thought that rocket, lightly bruised, and employed as a fomentation for the eyes, will restore the sight to its original goodness, and that it allays coughs in young infants. The root of it, boiled in water, has the property of extracting the splinters of broken bones.

As to the properties of rocket as an aphrodisiac, we have mentioned them already. [In B. xix. c. 44.] Three leaves of wild rocket plucked with the left hand, beaten up in hydromel, and then taken in drink, are productive of a similar effect.

Chap. 50.—Nasturtium: Forty-two Remedies.

Nasturtium, [The Lepidium sativum of Linnæus, cresses or nose-smart.] on the other hand, is an antiaphrodisiac; [This opinion is corroborated by Dioscorides, B. ii. c. 185, and confirmed by the author of the Geoponica, B. xii. c. 27. Fée inclines to the opinion of Dioscorides, and states that is highly antiscorbutic.] it has the effect also of sharpening the senses, as already stated. [In B. xix. c. 44.] There are two [The two varieties, the white and the black, are no longer distinguished. The only variety now recognized, Fée says, is that with crisped leaves.] varieties of this plant: one of them is purgative, and, taken in doses of one denarius to seven of water, carries off the bilious secretions. Applied as a liniment to scrofulous sores, with bean-meal, and then covered with a cabbage-leaf, it is a most excellent remedy. The other kind, which is darker than the first, has the effect of carrying off vicious humours of the head, and sharpening the sight: taken in vinegar it calms the troubled spirits, and, drunk with wine or taken in a fig, it is good for affections of the spleen; taken in honey, too, fasting daily, it is good for a cough. The seed of it, taken in wine, expels all kinds of intestinal worms, and with the addition of wild mint, it acts more efficaciously still. It is good, too, for asthma and cough, in combination with wild marjoram and sweet wine; and a decoction of it in goats’ milk is used for pains in the chest. Mixed with pitch it disperses tumours, and extracts thorns from the body; and, employed as a liniment, with vinegar, it removes spots upon the body. When used for the cure of carcinoma, white of eggs is added to it. With vinegar it is employed also as a liniment for affections of the spleen, and with honey it is found to be very useful for the complaints of infants.

Sextius adds, that the smell of burnt nasturtium drives away serpents, neutralizes the venom of scorpions, and gives relief in head-ache; with the addition too, of mustard, he says, it is a cure for alopecy, and applied to the ears with a fig, it is a remedy for hardness of hearing. The juice of it, he says, if injected into the ears, will effect the cure of tooth-ache, and employed with goose-grease it is a remedy for porrigo and ulcerous sores of the head. Applied with leaven it brings boils [“Furunculos.” Gangrenous sores, probably.] to a head, and makes carbuncles suppurate and break: used with honey, too, it is good for cleansing phagedænic ulcers. Topical applications are made of it, combined with vinegar and polenta, in cases of sciatica and lumbago: it is similarly employed, too, for lichens and malformed [“Unguibus scabris,” i. e. for the removal of malformed nails, with the view to the improvement of their appearance.] nails, its qualities being naturally caustic. The best nasturtium of all is that of Babylonia; the wild [The Lepidium Iberis of Linnæus, Fée thinks.] variety possesses the same qualities as the cultivated in every respect, but in a more powerful degree.