[1297] Elaterium, 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.

[1298] Meaning the juice and seed combined, probably. Fée thinks that

it is to this the medicament owes its name, from ἐλαύνω, 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,

ἐλατήριον was a name given to purgative medicines in general.

[1299] Dioscorides, 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.

[1300] Dioscorides 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.

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

[1302] Itch-scab, probably.

[1303] A 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.

[1305] Fée says that this is not the fact, as it speedily deteriorates

by keeping.

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

[1307] Fée acknowledges the truth of this observation, that of a green

colour containing feculent matter, and showing that the juice is not

pure.

[1308] In reality there is no such resemblance whatever. See B. xxii.

c. 29.

[1309] Fée 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.

[1310] The Morbus pedicularis, or “lousy disease.”

[1311] This 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.

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

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

[1314] “Lentigo.”

[1315] See 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.

[1316] The combination of cummin with cucumber seed is in opposition,

Fée remarks, with their medicinal properties, the one being soothing,

and the other moderately exciting.

[1317] As to the several varieties of the pumpkin or gourd, known under

this name, see B. xix. c. 24.

[1318] Dioscorides states to the same effect, and, as Fée thinks, with

a probability of being correct.

[1319] “Smegmata.”

[1320] This assertion, Fée says, is utterly untrue.

[1321] From ἐπί, “upon,” and νὺξ, “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.

[1322] Or “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.

[1323] From σηπεῖν, “to rot.”

[1324] This, 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.

[1325] This, probably, is not conformable to modern notions on the

subject.

[1326] From the Greek σομφὸς, porous, spongy, or hollow.

[1327] It 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.

[1328] The Cucumis colocynthus of Linnæus, or Coloquintida, so

remarkable for its bitterness.

[1329] It is an extremely drastic, and indeed violent purgative.

[1330] Recurring at stated times. The absurdity of this statement does

not require discussion.

[1331] The cultivated cucumber, Fée says.

[1332] Or “aposthumes,” a kind of abscess, probably.

[1333] “Ignis sacer,” literally “sacred fire.” It is sometimes called

“St. Anthony’s fire.” Celsus, in describing it, distinguishes it,

however, from erysipelas, and divides it into two kinds.

[1334] On the contrary, Fée says, the pulp of the gourd is tough and

leathery, extremely insipid, and destitute of any salutary qualities.

[1335] A decoction of rape or turnips is still recommended for

chilblains at the present day. Fée remarks that ground mustard is much

preferable.

[1336] This, as Fée remarks, he says of nearly all the vegetable

productions known.

[1337] It is only suited as an aliment to a strong stomach, and it is

owing to the property here mentioned that the School of Salerno says,—

Ventum sæpe capis, si tu vis vivere rapis.

and

Rapa juvat stomachum, novit producere ventum.

[1338] Dioscorides and Galen say the same, but this property is not

recognized in modern times.

[1339] “Eruca:” a plant itself of a very stimulating nature.

[1340] The Brassica napus, var. α of Linnæus, the Brassica asperifolia,

var. α of Decandolles, the “navette” of the French. An oil is extracted

from the seed, very similar to the Colza oil, extracted from the

Brassica oleracea.

[1341] It is in reality of a blackish hue without, and white within.

[1342] See B. xxii. c. 73. Dioscorides speaks of the use of the wild

rape for this purpose, B. ii. c. 135.

[1343] See B. xviii. c. 35, and B. xix. c. 25.

[1344] Dalechamps remarks that Pliny here confounds the bunion with the

bunias; the first of which, as Fée says, is an umbellifera, either the

Bunium bulbocastanum of Linnæus, or the Peucedanum silaus of Linnæus,

and the second is the Brassica napo-brassica of Linnæus. Dioscorides

says that the stalks of the bunion are quadrangular. M. Fraas thinks

that the bunion is the Bunium pumilum of modern Botany, and says

that the Bunium bulbocastanum, usually supposed to be the bunion of

Dioscorides, is a stranger to Greece.

[1345] These properties, Fée says, are not to be found in the Bunium

bulbocastanum of modern botanists.

[1346] Sillig is of opinion that there is an hiatus here in the text,

and that the meaning is that a drachma of the juice is taken with

something else: honey possibly, he suggests.

[1347] The Brassica napo-brassica of Linnæus.

[1348] See B. xix. c. 26.

[1349] The Cochlearia Armoracia of Linnæus.

[1350] In B. xix. c. 26.

[1351] Fée says that the medicinal properties recognized by the moderns

in the several varieties of the Raphanus sativus are, that their action

is slightly stimulating when eaten raw, and that boiled and eaten with

sugar they are soothing, and act as a pectoral.

[1352] “Lagonoponon.” Nearly all these asserted virtues of the radish,

Fée says, are illusory.

[1353] “Phlegmoni.” Stagnation of the blood, with heat, redness,

swelling, and pain.

[1354] “Veternosi.” Fée says that, rigorously speaking, “veternus” was

that state of somnolency which is the prelude to apoplexy.

[1355] The Coluber cerastes of Linnæus. See B. viii. c. 35.

[1356] Poinsinet warns us not to place too implicit faith in this

assertion.

[1357] Dioscorides says the same, but the assertion is quite destitute

of truth.

[1358] Nicander, in his “Alexipharmaca,” ll. 430 and 527, says that the

cabbage, _not_ the radish, is good for poisoning by fungi and henbane;

and in l. 300 he states that the cabbage is similarly beneficial

against the effects of bullock’s blood. Pliny has probably fallen into

the error by confounding ῥάφανος, the “cabbage,” with ῥαφανίς, the

“radish.”

[1359] Themistocles is said to have killed himself by taking hot

bullock’s blood. It is, however, very doubtful.

[1360] “Morbus comitialis”—literally the “comitial disease.” Epilepsy

it is said, was so called because, if any person was seized with it

at the “Comitia” or public assemblies of the Roman people, it was the

custom to adjourn the meeting to another day.

[1361] From μέλας, “black,” and χολή, “bile.” Melancholy, or

bad spirits, was so called from a notion that it was owing to a

predominance of an imaginary secretion called by the ancients “black

bile.”

[1362] The cœliac flux, Fée says, is symptomatic of chronic enteritis;

and is a species of diarrhœa, in which the chyme is voided without

undergoing any change in passing through the intestines.

[1363] “Præcordiorum.”

[1364] “Enterocele.”

[1365] De Morb. Mulier. B. ii. c. 67.

[1366] Eating or corroding ulcers.

[1367] Hippocrates, De Diætâ, B. ii. cc. 25, 26, says that radishes are

of a cold, and hyssop of a warm, nature.

[1368] “Moloche agria.”

[1369] See B. xix. c. 27.

[1370] See B. viii. c. 73.

[1371] De Remed. B. iv. c. 24. The parsnip is a stimulating plant, and

it is not without reason, Fée says, that Celsus recommends it for this

purpose.

[1372] Or “wild.” See B. xix. c. 27.

[1373] This seed, Fée says, is an energetic excitant, and certainly

would not be found suitable for any of the purposes here mentioned by

Pliny; though equally recommended for them by Galen, Dioscorides, and

in Athenæus.

[1374] Tetanus, or contraction of the muscles, in which the head is

twisted round or stretched backwards.

[1375] “Axungia;” properly swine’s grease, with which the axle-trees of

chariots were rubbed. See B. xxviii. c. 9.

[1376] Diphilus of Siphnos, as quoted in Athenæus, B. ix. c. 3, states

that the ancients employed this plant as a philtre, for which reason it

was called by some persons φίλτρον.

[1377] “Posca.” This was the ordinary drink of the lower classes at

Rome, as also the soldiers when on service, and the slaves. “Oxycrate”

is the scientific name sometimes given to vinegar and water.

[1378] Πολλὰ Σύρων λάχανα. Similar to our proverb, probably, “There is

more corn in Egypt.”

[1379] The Daucus visnaga of Linnæus, the Daucus gingidium of Sprengel,

the Visnagha, or Bisnagha of other botanists. It is also known as the

“wild carrot,” or “French carrot.”

[1380] Or “erratic.”

[1381] See B. xix. c. 28.

[1382] The root and seed, Fée observes, really are stimulants: there is

no perceptible difference between the wild and cultivated plants. For

silphium, see B. xix. c. 15.

[1383] Fée thinks that it may be so in a slight degree.

[1384] Pliny often speaks of persons having swallowed quicksilver, but

never lets us know under what circumstances. As Fée remarks, it could

not be accidentally; nor yet, on the other hand, could it have been

done purposely, with the object of committing suicide, it not being an

active poison. He concludes that it must have been taken medicinally,

and that part of it becoming absorbed in the system, other remedies

were resorted to, to counteract its noxious effects.

[1385] “Inutile,” and not “utile,” is evidently the correct reading

here.

[1386] Σισάρον the “skirret,” and Σέσελι, Σέλι, or Σίλι, “hart-wort.”

[1387] The Seseli tortuosum of Linnæus.

[1388] Or Marseilles: the Seseli tortuosum. Fée says that there is

great confusion relative to the supposed varieties of this plant.

The Bupleurum fruticosum, or Seseli of Æthiopia, has leaves smaller

than those of ivy, and resembling the leaves of honeysuckle. That of

Peloponnesus, the Ligusticum austriacum, has a leaf similar to that of

hemlock, but larger and thicker; and the Seseli of Crete, some species

of the genus Tordylium, is a small plant which throws out shoots in

large quantities. All these, he says, are so far different plants, that

it is quite impossible to unite them with any degree of certainty under

one concordance. Indeed, he thinks it very possible that they do not

all belong to the genus Seseli of modern botanists.

[1389] It is clear that Pliny hesitates to believe this story, and it

is hardly necessary to remark how utterly foreign this is to the habits

of carnivorous birds.

[1390] See B. viii. c. 50. An absurd story.

[1391] The Inula Helenium of botanists. See B. xix. c. 29.

[1392] Modern notions, Fée says, do not agree with those of the

ancients on the subject of elecampane. The root owes the energy of its

action to the camphor which it contains.

[1393] This notion of the virtues of the onion is quite erroneous,

though it still prevails to a considerable degree. Hippocrates,

however, Dioscorides, and Galen, like Pliny, attribute this property to

the onion.

[1394] This, Fée says, is not the fact.

[1395] A disease of the eye, by which the cornea contracts a whiteness.

[1396] A white speck within the black of the eye.

[1397] It is of no use whatever for such a purpose.

[1398] Fox evil, or scurf, or scaldhead: a disease which causes the

hair to fall off the body. It derives its name from the Greek ἀλώπηξ, a

“fox,” from the circumstance that they were supposed to be peculiarly

affected with a similar disease.

[1399] Or millepedes. See c. 6 of this Book.

[1400] So the school of Salerno says—

Non modicum sanas Asclepius asserit illas, Præsertim stomacho,

pulchrumque creare colorem.

[1401] This is not the case.

[1402] “Vermiculis.” Small worms or maggots.

[1403] “Porrum sectivum.” See B. xix. c. 33.

[1404] Fée thinks that boiled leeks may possibly, with some justice, be

ranked among the pectorals.

[1405] This, as Pliny himself here remarks, is a different disease from

that previously mentioned in c. 6 of this Book.

[1406] From the Greek συκὴ, “a fig.”

[1407] “Merum.”

[1408] They would be of no utility whatever.

[1409] This is an unfounded statement, Fée says.

[1410] See B. xix. c. 33. Aristotle, Sotion, and Dioscorides state to

the same effect.

[1411] “Porrum capitatum.”

[1412] There is no difference now recognized between these two kinds of

leeks, so far as their medicinal effects are concerned.

[1413] See B. xvi. c. 9.

[1414] _I. e._ gum arabic. For an account of the Acacia Nilotica, see

B. xiii. c. 19.

[1415] De Morb. Mul. B. ii. c. 89, and De Steril. c. 13.

[1416] This is not the fact.

[1417] See B. xix. c. 34.

[1418] Fée says that the action of garlic is so powerful, that it is

one of the most energetic vermifuges known; but at the same time it is

so strong an excitant, that it is very liable to cause worse evils than

the presence even of worms.

[1419] This serpent is described by Lucan, in the “Pharsalia,” B. ix.

l. 708, _et seq._, where a fearful account is given of the effects of

its sting. Nicander, in his “Theriaca,” informs us that those bitten

by the hæmorrhoïs die with the blood flowing from the nose and ears,

whence its name.

[1420] Pard or panther-strangle. See B. xxvii. c. 2. The juice of

garlic has no such effect as here stated.

[1421] De Morb. Mul. B. i. c. 74.

[1422] See B. xxix. c. 39.

[1423] The Morbus pedicularis. From the frequent mention of it, Fée

says, it would seem to have been very prevalent in ancient times;

whereas now, it is but rarely known.

[1424] A disease of the skin; supposed by some to be the same as

ringworm. The word is employed in modern medicine to signify skin

diseases in general, such as itch, lichen, scaldhead, ringworm, &c.

[1425] Pintianus suggests “hirudines,” “leeches,” and not “arundines,”

arrows. The latter reading is supported, however, by Plinius Valerianus

and M. Empiricus.

[1426] An expensive kind of fish-sauce: for some further account of it

see B. ix. c. 30.

[1427] See B. xix. c. 15.

[1428] See B. x. c. 78.

[1429] “Caprina.” See B. xxvi. c. 39.

[1430] Fée is of opinion that this in reality is not a lettuce, but

that Pliny has been led, by the milky juice which it contains, to that

conclusion. In B. xxvi. c. 39, he calls it “tithymalum.” Hardouin

conjectures it to have been the spurge, or Euphorbia lathyris of

Linnæus, the juice of which is a violent drastic; and Fée is of opinion

that it must have been one of the Euphorbiaceæ. At the same time, he

says, powerful as their properties are, we cannot believe that they

exercise the destructive effects on fish here stated.

[1431] Fée thinks that this plant may be looked for among the varieties

of the Sonchus or the Hieracium, which belong to the same family as the

lettuce.

[1432] See B. xviii. c. 14.

[1433] Fée thinks that this is the Isatis tinctoria of Linnæus in a

wild state, and Littré suggests that the one next mentioned is the same

plant, cultivated. Fée says, however, that this plant, employed in

dyeing wool, does not contain any milky juice, a fact which should have

cautioned Pliny against classing it among the Lactucæ.

[1434] Of the lettuce, evidently. Fée says, who would recognise a

lettuce, with its green leaves, and smooth stalk and leaves, under this

description? Still, it is by no means an inaccurate description of the

wild lettuce.

[1435] “Hawk-weed,” from the Greek ἱέραξ, “a hawk.” Under this name are

included, Fée thinks, the varieties of the genus Crepis.

[1436] Apuleius, Metam. c. 30, says this of the eagle, when preparing

to soar aloft.

[1437] This is in some degree true of the juices of the wild lettuces,

in a medicinal point of view; but it must be remembered that he has

enumerated the Isatis among them, which in reality has no milky juice

at all.

[1438] “Lactucarium,” or the inspissated milky juice of the garden

lettuce, is still used occasionally as a substitute for opium, having

slightly anodyne properties, but, as Fée remarks, all that Pliny says

here of its effects is erroneous.

[1439] “Adustiones;” “burns,” perhaps.

[1440] A kind of spider. See B. xi. cc. 24, 28, 29.

[1441] This is consistent with modern experience, as to the medicinal

effects of the cultivated plants in general.

[1442] In B. xix. c. 38.

[1443] The lettuce is not a purgative, nor has it the property here

ascribed to it, of making blood.

[1444] Sillig is probably correct in his belief that there is a lacuna

here.

[1445] “Oxypori.”

[1446] “Ad intinctum aceti.”

[1447] In B. xix. c. 38; the “opium” or “poppy lettuce,” the Lactuca

silvestris of modern botany, the soporific properties of which are

superior to those of the cultivated kinds.

[1448] Or southern-wood. See B. xxi. c. 34.

[1449] See B. xxxi. cc. 11 and 12.

[1450] There are few plants, Fée says, which are so utterly destitute

of all remedial properties as the beet. See B. xix. c. 40.

[1451] Fée says that the leaves of beet are not at all efficacious

except as applications for inflammations of the body.

[1452] Dioscorides merely says that the leaves of the limonion are

similar to those of beet, but he does not state that it _is_ a kind of

wild beet.

[1453] Dioscorides says “ten or more.”

[1454] Fée is inclined to identify the “limonium,” or “meadow-plant,”

with the Statice limonium of Linnæus; but looks upon its identification

as very doubtful. Fuchs, Tragus, and Lonicerus, have identified it with

the Pyrola rotundifolia; but that is not a meadow plant, it growing

only in the woods. Others, again, have suggested the Senecio doria, or

“water trefoil.”

[1455] Divided by naturalists into wild chicory or endive, the

Cichorium intybus of Linnæus, and cultivated endive, the Cichorium

endivia of Linnæus. The name “endive” comes from the Arabian “hindeb;”

but whether that was derived from the Latin “intubum,” or vice versâ,

is uncertain. The two kinds above mentioned, are subdivided, Fée says,

into two varieties, the cultivated and the wild. See B. xix. c. 39.

[1456] The foundation of the Greek name, κιχώριον, and the Arabic

“Schikhrieh.”

[1457] The medicinal properties of endive vary, according as it is

employed wild or cultivated, and according to the part employed. The

leaves are more bitter than the stalk, but not so much so as the root.

The juice of all the varieties is very similar, probably, to that of

the lettuce; but, as Fée says, little use has been made of it in modern

times.

[1458] Or else, “Magi.”

[1459] The “useful.”

[1460] “The all-powerful.”

[1461] The Cichorium luteum of C. Bauhin, the Leontodon palustre of

Linnæus: known to us as the “dandelion,” or by a coarser name.

[1462] The kind known as garden endive, the Cichorium endivia of

Linnæus.

[1463] “Anthologumena.”

[1464] See B. xix. c. 41.

[1465] “Crispam.”

[1466] “Parsley-like.”

[1467] The only use now made of the cabbage, in a medicinal point

of view, is the extraction from the red cabbage, which is rich in

saccharine matter, of a pectoral, and the employment of the round

cabbage, in the form of sour-krout, as an antiscorbutic. The great

majority of the statements as to the virtues of the cabbage, though

supported by Cato, and in a great measure by Hippocrates, are utterly

fallacious.

[1468] De Re Rust. 157.

[1469] “Scintillationibus.”

[1470] See B. xix. c. 15.

[1471] Or cancer.

[1472] Cato, De Re Rust., 156, 157.

[1473] See Note [1301] to c. 2 of this Book.

[1474] This absurd notion of antipathy is carried so far by the author

of the Geoponica, B. v. c. 11, that he states that if wine is thrown on

cabbage while on the fire, it will never be thoroughly boiled.

[1475] Fée remarks, that this fact would surely have engaged the

attention of the moderns, if there had been any truth in the statement.

[1476] “Crapulam discuti.” “Crapula” was that state, after drinking,

colloquially known at the present day as “seediness.”

[1477] The contrary is in reality the case, it being a diet only

suitable to strong stomachs.

[1478] De Morb. Mulier. B. i. cc. 73 and 74. De Nat. Mulier. 29 and 31.

[1479] The jaundice.

[1480] Fée is inclined to account for the numerous antidotes and

remedies mentioned for the stings of serpents, by supposing that the

stings themselves of many of them were not really venomous, but only

_supposed_ to be so.

[1481] “Repuntinas caligines.”

[1482] “Sprout,” or “Brussels sprout.” See B. xix. c. 41.

[1483] He is probably speaking of cabbage-water in general.

[1484] See B. xix. c. 15.

[1485] This bitter or pungent cabbage, Fée suggests, did not, probably,

belong to the genus Brassica.

[1486] De Re Rust. c. 157.

[1487] Fée is of opinion that Pliny has here confused the description

of two different plants; and that, intending to describe the Brassica

arvensis of modern botany, he has superadded a description of the

“Crambe agria,” mentioned by Dioscorides, which appears to be identical

with the Crambe maritima, or Brassica marina, the “sea-cabbage” of the

ancients (see c. 38.), the Convolvulus soldanella of modern botany.

[1488] Or “rock-cabbage,” a name given more properly to the Convolvulus

soldanella.

[1489] See c. 34, and B. xxiv. c. 1.

[1490] A description, really, of the Convolvulus soldanella.

[1491] See B. xix. c. 41.

[1492] The Convolvulus soldanella of Linnæus, Fée thinks: not one of

the Cruciferæ, but belonging to the Convolvulaceæ.

[1493] See B. xix. c. 30.

[1494] 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.

[1495] 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.

[1496] As to the identification of the “bulbs,” see B. xix. c. 30. 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.

[1497] 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.

[1498] Testium pituitas.

[1499] See B. xix. c. 30. Athenæus, B. ii. c. 26, attributes a similar

property to the bulbs of Megara.

[1500] See B. xi. cc. 24, 28.

[1501] The Hyacinthus botryoides of Linnæus, most probably.

[1502] “Bulbus vomitorius.” The Narcissus jonquilla of Linnæus, the

“emetic jonquil.” The bulb of the Spanish jonquil acts as a strong

emetic.

[1503] Dioscorides says, more correctly, a black outer coat or peeling.

[1504] 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.

[1505] Asparagus seed is not used in modern pharmacy, and it is very

doubtful if it possesses any virtues at all.

[1506] Fée says that there is no truth in this assertion.

[1507] See B. xix. c. 42: the Asparagus tenuifolius of Linnæus, the

wild asparagus, or Corruda of the South of France.

[1508] 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.

[1509] 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.

[1510] 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.

[1511] This is not consistent with fact.

[1512] See B. xix. c. 37. 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.

[1513] This distinction, Fée says, cannot be admitted.

[1514] Or maggots.

[1515] This belief in its efficacy, Fée says, still exists.

[1516] See B. xxi. c. 86: 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.

[1517] See B. xix. c. 48.

[1518] Or “horse parsley.”

[1519] Or strangury. No medicinal use is made of this plant in modern

times.

[1520] Or “mountain parsley,” see B. xix. c. 48.

[1521] Or “marsh-parsley,” see B. xix. c. 37. It is possessed of certain

energetic properties, more appreciated by the ancient physicians than

in modern pharmacy.

[1522] “Rock-parsley:” from this name comes our word “parsley.” It is

not clearly known to what variety of parsley he refers under this name.

[1523] 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.

[1524] 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.

[1525] See B. ix. c. 51.

[1526] “In Empericis.”

[1527] “Atramento sutorio.”

[1528] The Brassica eruca of Linnæus.

[1529] None of the numerous remedies mentioned by Pliny for removing

spots on the skin, are at all efficacious, in Fée’s opinion.

[1530] “Good for sauces.”

[1531] In B. xix. c. 44.

[1532] The Lepidium sativum of Linnæus, cresses or nose-smart.

[1533] 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.

[1534] In B. xix. c. 44.

[1535] The two varieties, the white and the black, are no longer

distinguished. The only variety now recognized, Fée says, is that with

crisped leaves.

[1536] “Furunculos.” Gangrenous sores, probably.

[1537] “Unguibus scabris,” _i. e._ for the removal of malformed nails,

with the view to the improvement of their appearance.

[1538] The Lepidium Iberis of Linnæus, Fée thinks.

[1539] The Ruta graveolens of Linnæus. The Romans, singularly enough,

valued this offensive plant as a condiment for their dishes, and a

seasoning for their wines.—See B. xiv. c. 19: and at the present

day even, it is admired for its smell, Fée says, by the ladies of

Naples. The Italians use it also for their salads. Its smell is

thought to prevent infection, for which reason it is still used, in

country-places, at funerals, and is placed before prisoners when tried

criminally, for the prevention, it is said, of gaol fever.

[1540] It is not the rue that has this effect, so much as the salts of

copper which are formed.

[1541] Fée thinks it not likely that the rue grown here was at all

superior to that of other localities.

[1542] This word, omitted in the text, is supplied from Dioscorides.

[1543] Or aconite. There is no truth whatever in these assertions, that

rue has the effect of neutralizing the effects of hemlock, henbane, or

poisonous fungi. Boerrhave says that he employed rue successfully in

cases of hysteria and epilepsy; and it is an opinion which originated

with Hippocrates, and is still pretty generally entertained, that it

promotes the catamenia.

[1544] See B. viii. c. 40.

[1545] See B. x. c. 86.

[1546] “Si vero sit cephalæa.”

[1547] Dioscorides says however, B. iii. c. 52, that it arrests

incontinence of the urine. See below.

[1548] De Morb. Mul. B. i. c. 128.

[1549] De Diæta, B. ii. c. 26.

[1550] “Pituitæ eruptionibus.”

[1551] This prejudice, Fée says, still survives.

[1552] The Menta silvestris of Linnæus; though Clusius was of opinion

that it is the Nepeta tuberosa of Linnæus.

[1553] “Silvestre puleium.”

[1554] Galen and Dioscorides say the same; but it is not the fact; the

leaves being of no utility whatever.

[1555] Difficulty of breathing, unless the neck is kept in a straight

position.

[1556] Fée is inclined to think exactly the contrary.

[1557] Its properties as a vermifuge are contested.

[1558] According to ancient fable, Mintha, the daughter of Cocytus,

and beloved by Pluto, was changed by Proserpine into this plant: it

was generally employed also in the mysteries of the Greeks. It is the

Mentha sativa of Linnæus.

[1559] Fée says that this passage alone would prove pretty clearly that

Pliny had no idea of the existence of the gastric juices.

[1560] See B. xviii. c. 17, and B. xxii. c. 67.

[1561] It is only in this case and the next, Fée says, that modern

experience agrees with our author as to the efficacy of mint.

[1562] The Menta pulegium of Linnæus.

[1563] Its medicinal properties are similar to those of mint; which

is a good stomachic, and is useful for hysterical and hypochondriac

affections, as well as head-ache. We may therefore know how far to

appreciate the medicinal virtues ascribed by Pliny to these plants.

[1564] “Ampullas.”

[1565] “Cubiculis:” “sleeping-chambers.” It was very generally the

practice among the ancients to keep odoriferous plants in their

bed-rooms; a dangerous practice, now held in pretty general disesteem.

[1566] Strong odours, as Fée remarks, are not generally beneficial for

head-ache.

[1567] Dioscorides makes no such distinction, and botanically speaking,

as Fée observes, this distinction is faulty.

[1568] See B. xiv. c. 5.

[1569] “Defunctos partus” is certainly a better reading than “defunctis

partus” though the latter is the one adopted by Sillig.

[1570] “Salsitudines.” Hardouin is probably right in his conjecture,

that the correct reading is “lassitudines,” “lassitude.”

[1571] “Pulices.” It is to this belief, no doubt, that it owes its

Latin name “pulegium,” and its English appellation, “flea-bane.”

[1572] It differs in no respect whatever from the cultivated kind,

except that the leaves of the latter are somewhat larger.

[1573] Or origanum.

[1574] Whence our name “dittany.”

[1575] The “bleating plant;” from βληχάομαι, “to bleat.” Dioscorides,

B. ii. c. 36, says the same of cultivated pennyroyal.

[1576] “Pulmonum vitia exscreabilia facit.”

[1577] Or “catmint;” the variety “longifolia,” Fée thinks, of the Menta

silvestris of Linnæus; or else the Melissa altissima of Sibthorp.

Sprengel identifies it with the Thymus Barrelieri, the Melissa Cretica

of Linnæus. Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 42, identifies the “Calamintha” of

the Greeks with the Nepeta of the Romans. The medicinal properties of

Nep, or catmint, are the same as those of the other mints.

[1578] “Ægilopiis.”

[1579] Cummin is the Cuminum cyminum of Linnæus. The seed only is used,

and that but rarely, for medicinal purposes, being a strong excitant

and a carminative. In Germany, and Turkey, and other parts of the East,

cummin-seed is esteemed as a condiment.

[1580] Horace, B. i. Epist. 19, says the same; but in reality cummin

produces no such effect.

[1581] M. Porcius Latro, a celebrated rhetorician of the reign of

Augustus, a Spaniard by birth, and a friend and contemporary of the

elder Seneca. His school was one of the most frequented at Rome, and he

numbered among his scholars the poet Ovid. He died B.C. 4.

[1582] The son of a Roman senator, but descended from a noble family in

Aquitanian Gaul. When proprætor of Gallia Celtica, he headed a revolt

against Nero; but being opposed by Virginius Rufus, he slew himself at

the town of Vesontio, now Besançon.

[1583] “Captationi” is suggested by Sillig as a preferable reading to

“captatione,” which last would imply that it was Vindex himself who

sought a place by this artifice, in the wills of others.

[1584] There would be but little difference, Fée observes, between this

and the cummin of other countries, as it is a plant in which little

change is effected by cultivation. Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 79, says

that the cummin of Æthiopia (by Hippocrates called “royal cummin”) has

a sweeter smell than the other kinds.

[1585] Fée is inclined to identify wild cummin, from the description of

it given by Dioscorides, with the Delphinium consolida of Linnæus; but

at the same time, he says, it is impossible to speak positively on the

subject.

[1586] “Penicillis.”

[1587] The Ammi Copticum of modern botany.

[1588] The Æthiopian cummin, namely, which Pliny himself seems inclined

to confound with ammi.

[1589] Or “horned” serpent. See B. viii. c. 35, and B. xi. c. 45.

[1590] In B. xiii. c. 44.

[1591] It is not improbable that under this name he alludes to the

carpels of some kind of Euphorbiacea, which bear a resemblance to the

fruit of the caper. Indeed, there is one variety of the Euphorbia with

an acrid juice, known in this country by the name of the “caper-plant.”

[1592] The Capparis spinosa, probably, on which the capers used in our

sauces are grown.

[1593] Until recently, the bark was employed in the Materia Medica, as

a diuretic: it is now no longer used.

[1594] Or Lovage. See B. xix. c. 50.

[1595] In B. xix. c. 50, where he states that Crateuas has given to the

wild Ligusticum the name of Cunila bubula, or “ox cunila.”

[1596] See B. xix. c. 50.

[1597] See B. viii. cc. 41 and 44.

[1598] Universal remedy, or “all-heal.”

[1599] Or “Poultry cunila:” the Origanum Heracleoticum of Linnæus.

[1600] See B. xxv. c. 12.

[1601] An Umbellifera, Fée says, of the modern genus Conyza. See B.

xxi. c. 32.

[1602] Fée is of opinion that Pliny has here confounded “cunila” with

“conyza,” and that he means the κόνυζα μικρά of Dioscorides, B. iii.

c. 136, the κόνυζα θῆλυς of Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 2,

supposed to be the Inula pulicaria of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 32.

[1603] A variety of Conyza. See B. xxi. c. 32.

[1604] Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 136, says the same of the κόνυζα μικρά,

or “small conyza.”

[1605] The Satureia thymbra of Linnæus. See B. xix. c. 50.

[1606] “Ictus,” possibly “stings.”

[1607] See the preceding Chapter: also B. xix. c. 62, and B. xxi. c. 32.

[1608] Perhaps Indian pepper, the Capsicum annuum of Botany. See B.

xix. c. 62.

[1609] For some account of Castor, the botanist, see the end of this

Book.

[1610] Or Wild Marjoram. See B. xix. c. 50.

[1611] So called, Nicander says, from being sought with avidity by the

ass, ὄνος. It is the Origanum onites of Linnæus.

[1612] The Prasion, or “green plant,” mentioned by Hippocrates and

Theophrastus, is _not_ identical, Fée says, with the Origanum onitis,

it being the Marrubium Creticum, or peregrinum of modern botanists.

To add to the confusion of these names, we find Pliny stating, in c.

69, that the name of “prasion” was given also by the Greeks to his

second species of Heraclium, and that of “onitis” to the Heraclium

Heracleoticum.

[1613] Or “Goat’s origanum:” the Thymus tragoriganum of Linnæus.

Dioscorides mentions two kinds of tragoriganum, one of which has been

supposed by Clusius to be the Thymus mastichina of Linnæus, and the

other the Stachys glutinosa of Linnæus; Zanoni being the first author

who promulgated this opinion; from which Fée, however, dissents.

[1614] Or Heracleotic origanum: see c. 62 of this Book. Pliny here

confounds several distinct plants, and, as Fée observes, the whole

account is in hopeless confusion.

[1615] Probably the Origanum Heracleoticum of Linnæus, mentioned in c.

62.

[1616] The Marrubium Creticum, or peregrinum, probably, a variety of

horehound. See c. 67.

[1617] See B. xiii. c. 2, and B. xv. c. 7.

[1618] The Origanum onites of Linnæus, probably. See c. 67.

[1619] Fée says that a strong infusion of pepperwort has been used in

France for the itch, with successful results.

[1620] Sulphate of lime, which, as Fée remarks, though insoluble,

does not act as a poison, but causes a derangement of the digestive

functions. The wines of the Romans were extensively treated with

this substance, and we have seen in B. xviii. that it was used as an

ingredient in their bread.

[1621] Dittander, or pepperwort: the Lepidium latifolium of Linnæus.

[1622] Or fennel-flower: the Nigella sativa of Linnæus. Fée suggests

that its name, “gith,” is from the ancient Egyptian.

[1623] “Black flower.”

[1624] “Black seed.”

[1625] It is no longer used in medicine, but it is esteemed as a

seasoning in the East. All that Pliny states as to its medicinal

properties, Fée considers to be erroneous. The action of the seed is

irritating, and reduced to powder, it causes sneezing.

[1626] See B. xxv. c. 17.

[1627] See B. xix. c. 52.

[1628] The Pimpinella anisum of Linnæus.

[1629] It is still used in some countries as a seasoning with which

bread and pastry are powdered.

[1630] See B. xiv. c. 28.

[1631] See B. xix. cc. 48 and 62: also B. xxvii. c. 97.

[1632] This and the next statement are utterly fabulous.

[1633] “Unconquerable,” from the Greek ἀ, “not,” and νικάω, “to

conquer.” Fée thinks that the word is a diminutive of “anisum,” which,

according to some persons, is a derivative from “_anysun_,” the Arabic

name of the plant. Dioscorides gives the name “anicetum” to dill, and

not to anise.

[1634] A mere fable, as Fée remarks.

[1635] A fiction, without any foundation in truth.

[1636] See B. viii. c. 47, and B. xxxii. cc. 13, 23, 24, and 28.

[1637] Fée evidently mistakes the meaning of this passage, and censures

Pliny for speaking of anise as an emetic. On the contrary, he here

prescribes it to counteract vomiting, and he has previously stated, in

this Chapter, that it _arrests_ vomiting.

[1638] The Anethum graveolens of Linnæus: originally a native of the

hot climates. Its properties are very similar to those of anise.

[1639] Or Sagapenum. This is a fetid gum-resin, imported from Persia

and Alexandria, and supposed, though without sufficient proof, Fée

says, to be the produce of the Ferula Persica. It is occasionally

used in medicine as a stimulating expectorant. In odour it somewhat

resembles assafœtida, only it is much weaker. Galen speaks of it as the

produce of a Ferula. It acts also as a purgative and a vermifuge.

[1640] See B. xii. c. 56, and B. xix. c. 52. Some writers have

supposed, but apparently without any sufficient authority, that this

is the Ferula communis of Linnæus. Fée is of opinion that one of the

Umbelliferæ is meant.

[1641] In B. xix. c. 53.

[1642] It is probable, Fée says, that Pliny does not intend here

to speak of the _calyx_ as understood by modern botanists, but the

_corolla_ of the plant. The calyx disappears immediately after the

plant has blossomed; and is never employed by medical men at the

present day, who confine themselves to the heads or capsules.

[1643] The variety Album of the Papaver somniferum. See B. xix. c. 53.

[1644] The variety A. nigrum of the Papaver somniferum of Decandolle.

[1645] The incisions are made in the capsules, and towards the upper

part of the peduncle. The account given by Pliny, Fée remarks, differs

but little from that by Kæmpfer, in the early part of last century.

[1646] Nine in the morning.

[1647] This plan, Fée thinks, would not be attended with advantage.

[1648] A name, probably, of Eastern origin, and now universally

employed.

[1649] “Bilbilis” has been suggested.

[1650] Syrop of white poppies was, till recently, known as sirop

of diacodium. Opium is now universally regarded as one of the most

important ingredients of the Materia Medica.

[1651] Poppy-seed, in reality, is not possessed of any soporific

qualities whatever. This discovery, however, was only made in the

latter part of the last century, by the French chemist, Rosier.

[1652] “Collyriis.”

[1653] “Lexipyretos,” “pepticas,” and “cœliacas”—Greek appellations.

[1654] The type of the cultivated poppy is the Papaver somniferum of

Linnæus.

[1655] This, Fée says, is a matter of doubt.

[1656] From μήκων, a “poppy.” Tournefort has described this kind of

opium obtained by decoction; it is held in little esteem.

[1657] Fée remarks, that this account of the tests of opium is correct

in the extreme.

[1658] In B. xix. c. 53. The Papaver rhœas of Linnæus: the field poppy,

corn poppy, or corn rose.

[1659] Theophrastus says that it has just the taste of wild endive. Fée

remarks that the peasants of Treves eat the leaves of this poppy while

young.

[1660] The Glaucium Corniculatum of Persoon; the horned poppy, or

glaucium. This, Fée remarks, is not a poppy in reality, but a species

of the genus Chelidonium. The juice is an irritating poison, and the

seed is said to act as an emetic.

[1661] “Argema.”

[1662] “By the sea-shore.”

[1663] Not a poppy, but the Euphorbia esula of Linnæus, a spurge. The

milky juice found in the stalk and leaves have caused it to be classed

among the poppies, as other varieties of Euphorbiaceæ appear to have

been, among the wild lettuces.

[1664] Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 31, compares this plant

with the Struthium—(see B. xix. c. 18). Pliny, or his scribes, have

supposed him to be speaking of the στρούθος, or “sparrow”—hence the

present mistake. The Struthium itself has received that name from the

resemblance which its flower bears to a bird with the wings expanded.

[1665] Hence its name, “aphron.”

[1666] See B. xix. c. 4. Pliny has here mistaken a passage of

Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 31; where he attributes this

quality to the Struthium, and not the Heraclium.

[1667] See c. 76 of this Book. It is difficult to conjecture how one of

the Euphorbiaceæ, a powerful drastic, could enter into the composition

of a soothing preparation, such as the diacodion is said to have been.

[1668] “Capitibus.” As Fée remarks, the capsules of Euphorbia bear no

resemblance whatever to the heads of the poppy. Dioscorides, B. iv. c.

67, similarly confounds these two plants.

[1669] See B. xxvi. c. 31.

[1670] See B. xxvi. c. 41. Probably the Euphorbia paralias of Linnæus,

or Sea euphorbia. Its medicinal properties are similar to those of the

Euphorbia esula above mentioned.

[1671] The fructiferous heads of the Euphorbiaceæ, thus employed,

would, as Fée remarks, be productive of most disastrous results.

[1672] The Euphorbia peplis of Linnæus.

[1673] See B. xiii. c. 40. By Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 165, all these

virtues are attributed exclusively to the cultivated purslain. Indeed,

there is no analogy between the properties of the two plants; though

neither of them is possessed of the wonderful virtues as antidotes here

mentioned, and they would only increase the sufferings of asthmatic

patients.

[1674] As to this serpent, see Lucan’s Pharsalia, B. ix. l. 722, _et

seq._

[1675] A kind of spreading tumour, which, according to Scribonius

Largus, would appear as if about to force the eye out of the socket.

Fée remarks, that this malady is no longer known.

[1676] See B. xxxv. c. 57.

[1677] “Acetariis.”

[1678] “Sapa.” Grape-juice, boiled down to one third.

[1679] Ἐπιτομὴν ῥιζοτουμένων.

[1680] The Coriandrum sativum of Linnæus. At the present day, wild

coriander is commonly found in Italy, on uncultivated soils. It may

have been naturalized, however, Fée thinks, since the time of Pliny.

[1681] Nicander says also, that it is a cure for the stings of serpents

and scorpions, but there is no truth in the assertion.

[1682] See B. viii. c. 35.

[1683] The Atriplex hortensis of Linnæus. Fée thinks that the wild

atriplex of Pliny is some kind of Chenopodium, which it is now

impossible to identify. Orage is more of an aliment than a medicament.

Applied externally, it is soothing and emollient.

[1684] De Morb. Mulier. B. ii. c. 57.

[1685] It would not have this effect. The statements here given

relative to the virtues of orage are, in general, considered to be

correct.

[1686] See B. xix. c. 22.

[1687] The Malva silvestris of Linnæus, or wild mallow.

[1688] The Malva rotundifolia of Linnæus, or round-leaved mallow.

[1689] From μαλάσσω, to “soften,” or “relax.”

[1690] These wild varieties are the same in every respect as the

cultivated kinds; their essential characteristics not being changed

by cultivation. See further as to the Althæa or marsh mallow, at the

latter end of this Chapter.

[1691] The meaning of this name appears to be unknown. “Pistolochia” is

a not uncommon reading.

[1692] Mallows were commonly used as a vegetable by the ancients;

and are so in China and the south of France, at the present day. The

mucilaginous principle which they contain renders them emollient and

pectoral; they are also slightly laxative.

[1693] The only benefit resulting from the application of mallows would

be the reduction of the inflammation; the plant having no efficacy

whatever in neutralizing the venom.

[1694] Sub-carbonate of lead. The mallow would have little or no effect

in such a case.

[1695] See B. ix. c. 72, and B. xxxii. c. 3.

[1696] The same was said in the middle ages, of the virtues of sage,

and in more recent times of the Panax quinquefolium, the Ginseng of the

Chinese.

[1697] Q. Serenus Sammonicus speaks of the accumulation of dandriff in

the hair to such a degree as to form a noxious malady. He also mentions

the present remedy for it.

[1698] Some commentators have supposed this to be the Alcea rosa of

Linnæus; but Fée considers this opinion to be quite unfounded.

[1699] It would be of no use whatever in such cases, Fée says.

[1700] Without any good results, Fée says.

[1701] “Permeatus suaves facit.” We can only make a vague guess at the

meaning; as the passage is, most probably, corrupt.

[1702] The Althæa officinalis of Linnæus, or marsh-mallow. The

medicinal properties are similar to those of the other varieties of the

mallow.

[1703] It is the fact, that water, in which mallows are steeped, owing

to the mucilage of the root, assumes the appearance of milk.

[1704] Fée says that this milky appearance of the water does not depend

on the freshness of the root; as it is only the aqueous particles that

are dried up, the mucilage preserving its chemical properties in their

original integrity.

[1705] The Rumex acetosella of Linnæus, or small sorrel.

[1706] See B. xix. c. 60.

[1707] “Horse Lapathum.”

[1708] Or “Lapathum with pointed leaves;” the Rumex acutus of Linnæus.

[1709] Or “water lapathum;” the Rumex aquaticus of Linnæus.

[1710] Or “horse lapathum;” the Rumex patientia of Linnæus: or dock, as

Fée thinks: though, according to Sprengel, the cultivated lapathum was

identical with that plant.

[1711] The medicinal properties of the lapathum vary according to the

parts of the plant employed. The leaves and stalks of the acid kinds of

Rumex are refreshing, and slightly diuretic and laxative. The action of

those which are not acid is sudorific, antiherpetic, and depurative.

[1712] Fée says that it would be of no benefit whatever for tooth-ache.

[1713] It is not possessed of any stomachic properties, Fée remarks.

[1714] It would be of no utility in such a case, Fée says.

[1715] Supposed by Fée to be the same as the wild lapathum of the last

Chapter, the Rumex acetosella of Linnæus; small sorrel.

[1716] Fée remarks that no part of lapathum is naturally astringent.

[1717] Or “ox lapathum.” Fée considers this to be identical with the

“hippolapathon” of the last Chapter.

[1718] In B. xix. c. 54. Fée identifies these three varieties of

mustard as follows; the slender-stemmed mustard of Pliny he identifies

with the Sinapis alba of Linnæus, mustard with white seeds. The mustard

mentioned as having the leaves of rape he considers to be the same as

the Sinapis nigra of Linnæus, mustard with black seed; and that with

the leaf of the rocket he identifies with the Sinapis erucoïdes of

Linnæus, the Eruca silvestris of Gessner, or rocket-leaved mustard.

[1719] In reality, mustard is injurious for all affections of the chest

and throat.

[1720] “Seseli.”

[1721] A sinapism applied to the head, Fée remarks, in cases of

cerebral congestion, would very soon cause death.

[1722] Mustard poultices are used extensively at the present day for

blisters on the chest.

[1723] “Rubrica.”

[1724] “Scabras genas.”

[1725] This is not the fact; no juice flows from the stem which is

capable of becoming concrete.

[1726] As a tonic, mustard-seed is commonly taken whole at the present

day.

[1727] In B. xvi. c. 66. In B. xxxii. c. 52, we shall find Pliny

speaking of this substance under the name of “Calamochnus.”

Dioscorides, B. v. c. 137, speaks of adarca as growing in Cappadocia,

and as being a salt substance which adheres to reeds in time of drought.

[1728] This, Fée says, cannot possibly be the fact, whatever adarca may

really have been.

[1729] The “grass-green” plant.

[1730] The “twisted flax” plant.

[1731] “Lad’s-love.”

[1732] “Love and grace,” apparently.

[1733] There are two kinds of prasion mentioned by Dioscorides, and by

Pliny at the end of the present Chapter, one of which Fée is inclined

to identify with the Ballota nigra of Linnæus, the fetid ballota; and

the other with the Marrubium vulgare of Linnæus, the white horehound.

Bochart conjectures that the word “marrubium” had a Punic origin,

but Linnæus thinks that it comes from “Maria urbs,” the “City of the

Marshes,” situate on Lake Fucinus, in Italy.

[1734] Though much used in ancient times, horehound is but little

employed in medicine at the present day: though its medicinal value,

Fée thinks, is very considerable. Candied horehound is employed to some

extent in this country, as a pectoral.

[1735] See B. xviii. c. 25.

[1736] Its medicinal properties, as recognized in modern times, are in

most respects dissimilar to those mentioned by Pliny.

[1737] “Far.”

[1738] “Pterygia.” “Pterygium” is also a peculiar disease of the eye.

[1739] “Inter pauca.” He has mentioned, however, a _vast number_ of

so-called antidotes or remedies. It is just possible that he may mean,

“There are few antidotes like it for efficacy.”

[1740] “A serpendo:” the Thymus serpyllum of Linnæus.

[1741] The Thymus zygis of Linnæus: the Serpyllum folio thymi of C.

Bauhin. Dioscorides says that it is the _cultivated_ thyme that is a

creeping plant.

[1742] See Lucan’s Pharsalia, B. ix. l. 712, _et seq._

[1743] The Sisymbrion menta of Gerard; the Menta hirsuta of Decandolle,

prickly mint. Sprengel, however, takes it to be the Menta silvestris of

modern Botany.

[1744] The Sisymbrion nasturtium of Linnæus.

[1745] Apparently the Sisymbrium just mentioned, and the Nasturtium.

[1746] Ovid, Fasti, B. iv. l. 869, speaks of Sisymbrium as being

esteemed by the Roman ladies for its agreeable smell.

[1747] See B. xix. c. 1. The rich mucilage of linseed makes it

extremely valuable, in a medicinal point of view, for poultices. This

mucilage is found in the perisperm more particularly; the kernel

containing a fixed oil, which is extremely valuable for numerous

purposes. The account given by Pliny and the other ancient writers of

the medicinal uses of linseed, is, in general, correct.

[1748] “Inspersum,” sprinkled with boiling water; like oatmeal for

porridge, probably.

[1749] It would be of no use whatever for such a purpose, Fée says.

[1750] “Emendat.” By bringing them off, probably.

[1751] It would be of no utility for hernia, Fée says, or for the cure

of gangrenous sores.

[1752] The Blitum capitatum of Linnæus.

[1753] Hence, too, the Latin word “bliteus,” meaning “insipid,”

“senseless,” or “worthless.”

[1754] This is not the case, it being as innocuous as it is insipid.

Applied topically, the leaves are emollient.

[1755] There is no foundation, Fée says, for this opinion.

[1756] The Æthusa meum of Linnæus; our Spignel, or Baldmoney, the

Athamanta Matthioli of Wulf. By some authorities it is called Feniculum

Alpinum perenne. It is possessed of exciting properties, and is no

longer used in medicine.

[1757] See B. iv. c. 8.

[1758] See B. viii. c. 41. This plant is the Anethum feniculum

of Linnæus. The seed and roots are still used in medicine, being

sudorific, diuretic, and aperitive.

[1759] This resinous juice of fennel is no longer employed, or indeed

known, Fée says, to the curious.

[1760] “Horse marathrum:” the Cachrys Libanotis of Linnæus, probably.

[1761] The Seseli tortuosum of Linnæus, probably.

[1762] It is sometimes used at the present day for condiments, as a

substitute for anise. Pliny’s account of its medicinal virtues, Fée

says, is replete with errors.

[1763] “Oxyporis:” perhaps “salad-dressings.”

[1764] See B. xviii. c. 13.

[1765] Their properties, Fée says, are very similar.

[1766] “Ophiaca.”

[1767] “Rhizotomumena.”

[1768] Theriaca, l. 596. _et seq._

[1769] The wild hemp of Pliny is the Althæa cannabina of Linnæus: the

hemp marsh-mallow.

[1770] The cultivated hemp is the Cannabis sativa of Linnæus.

[1771] He is speaking of the hemp marsh-mallow here, and not the real

hemp; though at the same time he mingles with his statement several

facts which are stated by Dioscorides with reference to the genuine

hemp. See B. xix. c. 56.

[1772] This is evidently stated in reference to the hemp-mallow.

[1773] For an account of the Ferula, see B. xiii. c. 42.

[1774] An accidental circumstance, Fée says, and no distinctive mark of

sex or species.

[1775] Fée thinks that Pliny’s meaning is, that it is eaten as a

confection, similar to those of angelica and parsley stalks at the

present day. That, however, would hardly appear to be the sense of the

passage. In B. xix. c. 56, he speaks of it being dried and used as a

seasoning.

[1776] Fennel-giant is considered to be a good stomachic.

[1777] This, Fée thinks, is probably the fact.

[1778] The pith, in reality, of the Umbelliferæ, is insipid and inert.

[1779] In B. xix. c. 43.

[1780] This, Fée considers to be the Cinara carduncellus of Linnæus,

artichoke thistle, or Cardonette of Provence.

[1781] The Cinara scolymus of Linnæus probably, our artichoke, which

the ancients do not appear to have eaten. Both the thistle and the

artichoke are now no longer employed in medicine.

[1782] Galen gives these lines, sixteen in number, in his work De

Antidot. B. ii. c. 14; the proportions, however, differ from those

given by Pliny.

[1783] Half a denarius; the weight being so called from the coin which

was stamped with the image of the Goddess of Victory. See B. xxxiii. c.

13.

[1784] Antiochus II., the father of Antiochus Epiphanes.

[1785] Or “antidote.” In this term has originated our word “treacle,”

in the Elizabethan age spelt “triacle.” The medicinal virtues of this

composition were believed in, Fée remarks, so recently as the latter

half of the last century. The most celebrated, however, of all the

“theriacæ” of the ancients, was the “Theriaca Andromachi,” invented by

Andromachus, the physician of the Emperor Nero, and very similar to

that composed by Mithridates, king of Pontus, and by means of which

he was rendered proof, it is said, against all poisons. See a very

learned and interesting account of the Theriacæ of the ancients, by Dr.

Greenhill, in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. His

articles “Pharmaceutica,” and “Therapeutica,” will also be found well

worth attention by the reader of Pliny.

[1786] See end of B. iii.

[1787] See end of B. ii.

[1788] See end of B. xiv.

[1789] He is also mentioned in B. xxv. c. 2, as having commenced a

treatise on Medicinal Plants, which he did not live to complete. It is

not improbable that he is the same Valgius that is mentioned in high

terms by Horace, B. i. Sat. 10.

[1790] See end of B. iii.

[1791] See end of B. xii.

[1792] Supposed by some to be the same with the Bassus Tullius

mentioned by ancient writers as the friend of Niger, possibly the

Sextius Niger here mentioned.

[1793] See end of B. vii.

[1794] He lived at Rome, in the first century of the Christian era, and

possessed a botanical garden, probably the earliest mentioned. He lived

more than a hundred years, in perfect health both of body and mind. See

B. xxv. c. 5.

[1795] See end of B. ii.

[1796] See end of B. iii.

[1797] A mystic personage of the early Grecian Mythology, under whose

name many spurious works were circulated. Pliny says. B. xxv. c. 2,

that he was the first who wrote with any degree of attention on the

subject of Plants.

[1798] See end of B. xix.

[1799] See end of B. ii.

[1800] See end of B. viii.

[1801] Probably Chrysippus of Cnidos, a pupil of Eudoxus and

Philistion, father of Chrysippus, the physician to Ptolemy Soter,

and tutor to Erasistratus. Others, again, think that the work “on

the Cabbage,” mentioned by Pliny in c. 33, was written by another

Chrysippus, a pupil of Erasistratus, in the third century B.C.

[1802] A native of Carystus, in Eubœa, who lived in the fourth century

B.C. He belonged to the medical sect of the Dogmatici, and wrote

several medical works, of which the titles only and a few fragments

remain.

[1803] Of this writer nothing whatever is known.

[1804] For Heraclides of Heraclea, see end of B. xii.; for Heraclides

of Pontus, see end of B. iv.; and for Heraclides of Tarentum, see end

of B. xii. They were all physicians.

[1805] See end of B. xv.

[1806] See end of B. xii.

[1807] It was probably this personage, or the one next mentioned, who

wrote to Ptolemy, one of the kings of Egypt, giving him directions as

to what wines he should drink. See B. xiv. c. 9. A person of this name

wrote a work on Ointments and Chaplets, quoted by Athenæus, and another

on Venomous Animals, quoted by the same author. This last is probably

the work referred to by Pliny, B. xxi. cc. 15, 29, &c. It has been

suggested also, that the proper reading here is “Apollonius” of Citium,

a pupil of Zopyrus, a physician of Alexandria.

[1808] See the preceding Note.

[1809] A celebrated physician, a native of the island of Cos. He

belonged to the medical sect of the Dogmatici, and flourished probably

in the fourth century B.C. He was more particularly celebrated for his

comparatively accurate knowledge of anatomy. The titles only and a few

fragments of his works survive.

[1810] A pupil of Praxagoras. He appears to have written a work on

Anatomy, quoted more than once by Galen.

[1811] A pupil of Chrysippus of Cnidos, and who lived probably in the

fourth and third centuries B.C. Galen speaks of him as being held in

great repute among the Greeks.

[1812] He flourished in the fourth century B.C., and belonged to the

medical sect of the Dogmatici. He wrote some medical works, of which

nothing but a few fragments remain.

[1813] He lived probably about the beginning of the third century B.C.,

as he was the tutor of Antigenes and Mnemon. He seems to have been

famous for his medicinal prescriptions of wine, and the quantities of

cold water which he gave to his patients.

[1814] Born either in Sicily or at Locri Epizephyrii, in Italy. He

is supposed to have lived in the fourth century B.C. By some persons

he was thought to have been one of the founders of the sect of the

Empirici. He wrote works on Materia Medica and Cookery, and is several

times quoted by Pliny and Galen.

[1815] See end of B. vii.

[1816] A Greek herbalist, who lived about the beginning of the first

century B.C. He is mentioned by Galen as one of the most eminent

writers on Materia Medica. Another physician of the same name is

supposed to have lived in the time of Hippocrates.

[1817] A Greek physician, supposed to have lived in or before the first

century B.C. Dioscorides and Saint Epiphanius speak of Petronius _and_

Diodotus, making them different persons; and it is not improbable that

the true reading in c. 32 of this Book, is “Petronius _et_ Diodotus.”

[1818] See end of B. xii.

[1819] See end of B. xi.

[1820] See end of B. xii.

[1821] It is probable that there were several Greek physicians of

this name; but the only one of whom anything certain is known is the

physician to Ptolemy Philopater, king of Egypt, in whose tent he was

killed by Theodotus, the Ætolian, B.C. 217. He was probably the first

writer on hydrophobia. Eratosthenes is said to have accused him of

plagiarism.

[1822] See end of B. xii.

[1823] It is doubtful if the person of this name to whom Pliny

attributes a work on the Cabbage, in cc. 34 and 36 of this Book, was

the same individual as Epicharmus of Cos, the Comic poet, born B.C.

540. It has been suggested that the botanical writer was a different

personage, the brother of the Comic poet Demologus.

[1824] Possibly the same person as the Damon mentioned at the end of B.

vii. He is mentioned in c. 40 of this Book, and in B. xxiv. c. 120, and

wrote a work on the Onion.

[1825] See end of B. vi.

[1826] Beyond the mention made of him in c. 73 of this Book, nothing

whatever is known relative to this writer.

[1827] Beyond the mention made of him in c. 73, nothing is known of

him. Some read “Theopolemus.”

[1828] Probably Metrodorus of Chïos, a philosopher, who flourished

about B.C. 330, and professed the doctrine of the Sceptics. Cicero,

Acad. ii. 23, § 73, gives a translation of the first sentence of his

work “On Nature.”

[1829] A physician of Smyrna. He is called Solon the Dietetic, by

Galen; but nothing further seems to be known of his history.

[1830] See end of B. xii.

[1831] A Theban authoress, who wrote on Medicine; mentioned also by

Plinius Valerianus, the physician, and Pollux.

[1832] A Greek physician, a native of Cos, the reputed founder of the

sect of the Empirici. He probably lived in the third century B.C. From

Athenæus we learn that he wrote a work on Botany. A parallel has been

drawn between Philinus and the late Dr. Hahnemann, by F. F. Brisken,

Berlin, 1834.

[1833] See end of B. xix.

[1834] The Scholiast on Nicander mentions a treatise on Botany written

by a person of this name: and a work of his on Medicine is mentioned by

Labbe as existing in manuscript in the Library at Florence.

[1835] A Greek physician of this name belonging to the sect of the

Empirici, lived probably in the third or second century B.C. Galen

mentions him as one of the earliest commentators on the works of

Hippocrates. It is uncertain, however, whether he is the person so

often quoted by Pliny.

[1836] A physician of Aphrodisias, in Cilicia, who lived in the reign

of Tiberius. He wrote some pharmaceutical works, and is censured

by Galen for his disgusting remedies, such as human brains, flesh,

urine, liver, excrements, &c. There is a short essay by him still in

existence, on the Aliments derived from the Aquatic Animals.

[1837] See B. xxii. c. 1.

[1838] “Sive privatis generum funiculis in orbem, in obliquum, in

ambitum; quædam coronæ per coronas currunt.” As we know but little

of the forms of the garlands and chaplets of the ancients, the exact

translation of this passage is very doubtful.

[1839] According to Boettiger, the word “struppus” means a string

arranged as a fillet or diadem.

[1840] Fée makes the word “vocabulum” apply to “corona,” and not to

“struppus;” but the passage will hardly admit of that rendering.

[1841] “To bind” or “join together.”

[1842] A “connected line,” from the verb “sero.”

[1843] By “quod,” Hardouin takes Pliny to mean, the use of the word

σπαρτὸν, among the Greeks, corresponding with the Latin word “sertum.”

[1844] These chaplets, we learn from Festus, were called “pancarpiæ.”

The olive, oak, laurel, and myrtle, were the trees first used for

chaplets.

[1845] See B. xxxv. c. 40.

[1846] The “Chaplet-weaver.” See B. xxxv. c. 40.

[1847] B.C. 380.

[1848] From Athenæus, B. xv. c. 2, _et seq._, we learn that the

Egyptian chaplets were made of ivy, narcissus, pomegranate blossoms, &c.

[1849] “Corolla,” being the diminutive of “corona.”

[1850] Or tinsel.

[1851] The “Rich.”

[1852] Ribbons or streamers.

[1853] “Puri.”

[1854] Consul, A.U.C. 570.

[1855] Or “engrave,” “cælare.” He is probably speaking here of golden

lemnisci.

[1856] “Philyræ.” This was properly the inner bark of the linden-tree;

but it is not improbable that thin plates of metal were also so called,

from the resemblance. The passage, however, admits of various modes of

explanation.

[1857] “Pecuniâ.” Fée compares this usage with the employment of

jockies at horse-races in England and France.

[1858] “Intus positus esset.”

[1859] “Foris ferretur.”

[1860] Or “money-changer,” “argentarius.”

[1861] “E pergulâ suâ.” Scaliger thinks that the “pergula” was a part

of a house built out into the street, while, according to Ernesti, it

was a little room in the upper part of a house. In B. xxxv. c. 36, it

clearly means a room on the ground-floor.

[1862] In the Fora of ancient cities there was frequently a statue of

this mythological personage, with one hand erect, in token, Servius

says (on B. iv. l. 58 of the Æneid), of the freedom of the state,

Marsyas having been the minister of Bacchus, the god of liberty.

His statue in the Forum of Rome was the place of assembly for the

courtesans of that city, who used to crown it with chaplets of flowers.

See also Horace i. Sat. 6. l. 120; Juvenal, Sat. 9. l. 1 and 2; and

Martial, ii. Ep. 64. l. 7.

[1863] Cujacius thinks that Pliny has in view here Polemon of Athens,

who when a young man, in his drunken revelry, burst into the school of

Xenocrates, the philosopher, with his fellow-revellers, wearing his

festive garland on his head. Being arrested, however, by the discourse,

he stopped to listen, and at length, tearing off the garland,

determined to enter on a more abstemious course of life. Becoming an

ardent disciple of Xenocrates, he ultimately succeeded him at the head

of the school. The passage as given in the text, from its apparent

incompleteness, would appear to be in a mutilated state.

[1864] Julia. See B. vii. c. 46.

[1865] Thus acknowledging herself to be no better than a common

courtesan.

[1866] “Illius dei.”

[1867] See B. vii. c. 10.

[1868] “Funus elocavit.”

[1869] “E prospectu omni.” “From every look-out:” _i. e._ from the

roofs, doors, and windows.

[1870] This usage is still observed in the _immortelles_, laid on the

tombs of departed friends, in Catholic countries on the continent.

Tibullus alludes to it, B. ii. El. 4:

“Atque aliquis senior veteres veneratus amores,

Annua constructo serta dabit tumulo.”

[1871] At the conclusion of the festival of Mars on the 1st of March,

and for several successive days. These entertainments were celebrated

in the Temple of that god, and were proverbial for their excellence.

[1872] It is a well-known fact, as Fée remarks, that the smell of

flowers is productive, in some persons, of head-ache, nausea, and

vertigo. He states also that persons have been known to meet their

death from sleeping all night in the midst of odoriferous flowers.

[1873] “Ipsaque capiti imposita.” Holland and Ajasson render this as

though Cleopatra placed the garland on Antony’s head, and not her own.

Littré agrees with the translation here adopted.

[1874] Fée remarks that we know of no poisons, hydrocyanic or prussic

acid excepted, so instantaneous in their effects as this; and that it

is very doubtful if they were acquainted with that poison.

[1875] Hist. Plant. B. vi. cc. 6, 7.

[1876] “Persecutus est.”

[1877] A characteristic, it would appear, of the greater part of the

information already given in this Book.

[1878] He alludes to the wild rose or eglantine. See B. xvi. c. 71.

[1879] “Granoso cortice.”

[1880] Boxes of a pyramidal shape. See B. ix. c. 56.

[1881] Still, even for that purpose the rose was very extensively used.

One ancient author states that, even in the middle of winter, the more

luxurious Romans were not satisfied without roses swimming in their

Falernian wine; and we find Horace repeatedly alluding to the chaplets

of roses worn by the guests at banquets. Hence probably arose the

expression, “Under the rose.” Fée is evidently mistaken in thinking

that Pliny implies here, that it was but rarely used in chaplets.

[1882] Il. xxiii. l. 186.

[1883] B. xiii. c. 2.

[1884] “Collyriis.”

[1885] Clusius was of opinion that this was the Provence rose, the Rosa

Gallica of Linnæus.

[1886] The same rose, probably, of which Virgil says, Georg. B. iv. l.

119, “Biferique rosaria Pæsti”—“And the rose-beds of Pæstum, that bear

twice in the year.” It has been suggested that it is identical with the

Rosa alba vulgaris major of Bauhin, the Rosa alba of Decandolle: but,

as Fée says, it is very questionable if this is correct, this white

rose blossoming but once a year.

[1887] A simple variety of the Rosa Gallica of Linnæus, Fée thinks.

[1888] See B. iv. c. 14. According to J. Bauhin, this is the pale,

flesh-coloured rose, called the “rose of France,”—the “Rosa rubello

flore, majore, pleno, incarnata vulgo.” Others, again, take it to be

the Damascus rose.

[1889] See B. v. c. 29. A variety of the white rose, Fée thinks, the

determination of which must be sought among the Eglantines.

[1890] “Spiniola.” A variety belonging to or approaching the Eglantine

in all probability. Fée makes mention here of a kind called the Rosa

myriacantha by Decandolle (the “thousand-thorn rose”), which is found

in great abundance in the south of Europe, and other parts of it.

[1891] Fée remarks on this passage, that the beauty of the flower and

the number of the petals are always in an inverse proportion to the

number of thorns, which disappear successively the more carefully the

plant is cultivated.

[1892] This is most probably the meaning of “Asperitate, levore.”

[1893] Still known as the “Rosa centifolia.” Its petals sometimes

exceed _three_ hundred in number; and it is the most esteemed of all

for its fragrant smell.

[1894] “Non suæ terræ proventu.”

[1895] This rose is mentioned also by Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi.

c. 6. From the description that Pliny gives of it, Fée is inclined to

think that it is some variety of the Rosa rubrifolia, which is often

found in mountainous localities.

[1896] This assertion is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi.

c. 6. Fée remarks that there is no truth in it. It is not improbable,

however, that the word “cortex” here may mean, not the calyx, but the

bark of the stem, in reference to its exemption from thorns. The τραχὺ

τὸ κάτω of Theophrastus would seem to admit of that rendering. See Note

[1891] above.

[1897] “Extremas velut ad cardines.”

[1898] This is not the case with the Rosa centifolia of modern botany.

See Note [1893] above. It is not improbable, however, that the reading

is “probabilis,” and that this passage belongs to the next sentence.

[1899] The Lychnis, Fée remarks, is erroneously classed by Pliny among

the roses. It is generally agreed among naturalists that it is the

garden flower, the Agrostemma coronaria of Linnæus; which, however,

does not grow in humid soils, but in steep, rocky places.

[1900] Or “small Greek” rose. Some commentators have identified it with

the Rosa silvestris, odorata, flore albo of C. Bauhin, a wild white

rose.

[1901] Sillig thinks that this may mean the “Macedonian” rose. Another

reading is “moscheuton.” Fée says that it is not a rose at all, but one

of the Malvaceæ belonging to the genus Alcæa; one variety of which is

called the Alcæa rosa.

[1902] Or “little chaplet.” Possibly a variety of the Eglantine, the

Rosa canina or dog-rose, Fée suggests.

[1903] The Eglantine.

[1904] This seems to be the meaning of “tot modis adulteratur:” the

roses without smell appearing to him to be not _genuine_ roses.

[1905] The Rosa Damascena of Miller, Fée thinks, our Damascus rose.

[1906] The earliest rose in France and Spain, Fée says, is the

“pompon,” the variety Pomponæa of the Rosa centifolia.

[1907] This is consistent with modern experience.

[1908] From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 6. The rose is but

very rarely reproduced from seed.

[1909] See B. xvi. c. 67, and B. xvii. c. 33.

[1910] Previously mentioned in this Chapter. The meaning of this

passage, however, is extremely doubtful. “Unum genus inseritur pallidæ,

spinosæ, longissimis virgis, quinquifoliæ, quæ Græcis altera est.”

[1911] If the water was only lukewarm, Fée says, it would be of no use,

and if hotter, the speedy death of the tree would be the result.

[1912] “Quâdam cognatione.” He alludes to a maceration of the petals of

the rose and lily in oil. The aroma of the lily, Fée says, has not been

fixed by any method yet found.

[1913] See B. xiii. c. 2.

[1914] The Lilium candidum of Linnæus. Fée remarks that the “Lilium” of

the Romans and the λείριον of the Greeks is evidently derived from the

_laleh_ of the Persians.

[1915] “Calathi.” The “calathus” was a work-basket of tapering shape;

it was also used for carrying fruits and flowers, Ovid, Art. Am. ii.

264. Cups, too, for wine were called by this name, Virg. Ecl. v. 71.

[1916] As this passage has been somewhat amplified in the translation,

it will perhaps be as well to insert it: “Resupinis per ambitum labris,

tenuique pilo et staminum stantibus in medio crocis.”

[1917] The Convolvulus sæpium of modern botany; the only resemblance in

which to the lily is in the colour, it being totally different in every

other respect.

[1918] “Rudimentum.” She must have set to work in a very roundabout

way, Fée thinks, and one in which it would be quite impossible for a

naturalist to follow her.

[1919] The white lily is reproduced from the offsets of the bulbs;

and, as Fée justly remarks, it is highly absurd to compare the mode of

cultivation with that of the rose, which is propagated from slips.

[1920] This absurd notion is derived from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B.

ii. c. 2, and B. vi. c. 6.

[1921] See B. xix. c. 48.

[1922] The root really consists of certain fine fibres, to which the

bulbs, or rather cloves or offsets, are attached.

[1923] Judging from what Theocritus says, in his 35th Idyl, the

“crinon” would appear to have been a white lily. Sprengel, however,

takes the red lily of Pliny to be the scarlet lily, the Lilium

Chalcedonicum of Linnæus.

[1924] Or “dog-rose:” name now given to one of the wild roses.

[1925] See B. xiii. c. 9.

[1926] Fée remarks, that it is singular that Pliny, as also Virgil,

Ecl. v. l. 38, should have given the epithet “purpureus” to the

Narcissus. It is owing, Fée says, to the red nectary of the flower,

which is also bordered with a very bright red.

[1927] Into cloves or offsets.

[1928] The Narcissus poeticus of Linnæus. Pliny gives the origin of its

name in c. 75 of this Book.

[1929] Though supported by Theophrastus, this assertion is quite

erroneous. In France, even, Fée says, the Narcissus poeticus blossoms

at the end of April, and sooner, probably, in the climates of Greece

and Italy.

[1930] See B. xviii. c. 76. It is just possible that Pliny and

Theophrastus may be speaking of the Narcissus scrotinus of Linnæus,

which is found in great abundance in the southern provinces of Naples,

and is undoubtedly the flower alluded to by Virgil in the words, “Nec

sera comantem Narcissum,” Georg. iv. ll. 122, 123.

[1931] Fée remarks, that the extravagant proceeding here described by

Pliny with a seriousness that is perfectly ridiculous, does not merit

any discussion.

[1932] When detached from the bulb, the stem of the lily will

infallibly die.

[1933] “Nudantibus se nodulis.” There are no such knots in the lily, as

Fée remarks.

[1934] The Viola odorata of Linnæus.

[1935] The Greek name.

[1936] “Ianthina vestis,” violet-coloured.

[1937] Desfontaines identifies this with the Cheiranthus Cheiri; but

Fée says that there is little doubt that it belongs to the Viola

tricolor herbensis (pansy, or heart’s-ease), in the petals of which

the yellow predominates, and the type of which is the field violet, or

Viola arvensis, the flowers of which are extremely small, and entirely

yellow.

[1938] This has been identified with the Cheiranthus incanus, the

Cheiranthus tricuspidatus of the shores of the Mediterranean, the

Hesperis maritima of Linnæus; also, by some commentators, with the

Campanula Medium of Linnæus.

[1939] So called, according to Pintianus and Salmasius, from Calatia, a

town of Italy. Fée adopts the reading “Calathiana,” and considers it to

have received that name from its resemblance to the Caltha mentioned in

the next Chapter. Dalechamps identifies it with the Digitalis purpurea;

Gessner, Dodonæus, and Thalius, with the Gentiana pneumonanthe, others

with the Gentiana ciliata and Pannonica, and Sprengel with the Gentiana

verna of Linnæus. Fée admits himself totally at a loss on the subject.

[1940] “Concolori amplitudine.” Gronovius, with considerable justice,

expresses himself at a loss as to the exact meaning of these words.

If Sprengel and Salmasius are right in their conjectures that the

Caltha of Pliny and Virgil is the marigold, our Calendula officinalis,

the passage cannot mean that the flower of it is of the same size

and colour with any variety of the violet mentioned in the preceding

Chapter. From the description given of it by Dioscorides, it is more

than probable that the Caltha of the ancients is not the marigold, and

Hardouin is probably right in his conjecture that Pliny intends to

describe a variety of the violet under the name. Fée is at a loss as to

its identification.

[1941] Or “royal broom.” Sprengel thinks that this is the Chenopodium

scoparia, a plant common in Greece and Italy; and Fée is inclined to

coincide with that opinion, though, as he says, there are numerous

other plants with odoriferous leaves and pliant shoots, as its name,

broom, would seem to imply. Other writers would identify it with a

Sideritis, and others, again, with an Achillæa.

[1942] See B. xii. c. 26. Fée is inclined to coincide with Ruellius,

and to identify this with the Digitalis purpurea, clown’s spikenard,

or our Lady’s gloves. The only strong objection to this is the fact

that the root of the digitalis has a very faint but disagreeable smell,

and not at all like that of cinnamon. But then, as Fée says, we have

no positive proof that the “cinnamomum” of the ancients is identical

with our cinnamon. See Vol. iii. p. 138. Sprengel takes the “bacchar”

of Virgil to be the Valeriana Celtica, and the “baccharis” of the

Greeks to be the Gnaphalium sanguineum, a plant of Egypt and Palestine.

The bacchar has been also identified with the Asperula odorata of

Linnæus, the Geum urbanum of Linnæus (the root of which has the smell

of cloves), the Inula Vaillantii, the Salvia Sclarea, and many other

plants.

[1943] “Barbaricam.” Everything that was not indigenous to the

territory of Rome, was “barbarum,” or “barbaricum.”

[1944] Cæsalpinus says that this is a rushy plant, called, in Tuscany,

Herba luziola; but Fée is quite at a loss for its identification.

[1945] Sillig is most probably right in his surmise that there is an

hiatus here.

[1946] In B. xii. c. 27. Asarum Europæum, or foal-foot.

[1947] Probably meaning that it comes from ἀ, “not,” and σαίρω, “to

adorn.”

[1948] Or Crocus, the Crocus sativus of Linnæus, from the prepared

stigmata of which the saffron of commerce is made. It is still found

growing wild on the mountains in the vicinity of Athens, and is

extensively cultivated in many parts of Europe.

[1949] “Degenerans ubique.” Judging from what he states below, he may

possibly mean, if grown repeatedly on the same soil.

[1950] He may allude either to the city of Phlegra of Macedonia, or

to the Phlegræan Plains in Campania, which were remarkable for their

fertility. Virgil speaks of the saffron of Mount Tmolus in Cilicia.

[1951] It is very extensively adulterated with the petals of the

marigold, as also the Carthamus tinctorius, safflower, or bastard

saffron.

[1952] This is the case; for when it is brittle it shows that it has

not been adulterated with water, to add to its weight.

[1953] Perhaps the reading here, “Cum sit in medio candidum,” is

preferable; “because it is white in the middle.”

[1954] “White throughout.”

[1955] He contradicts himself here; for in c. 79 of this Book, he says

that chaplets of saffron are good for dispelling the fumes of wine.

[1956] “Ad theatra replenda.” It was the custom to discharge

saffron-water over the theatres with pipes, and sometimes the saffron

was mixed with wine for the purpose. It was discharged through pipes

of very minute bore, so that it fell upon the spectators in the form

of the finest dust. See Lucretius, B. ii. l. 416; Lucan, Phars. ix. l.

808-810; and Seneca, Epist. 92.

[1957] It flowers so rapidly, in fact, that it is difficult to avoid

the loss of a part of the harvest.

[1958] The whole of this passage is from Theophrastus, De Odorib.

[1959] This statement, though borrowed from Theophrastus, is not

consistent with fact. The root of saffron is not more long-lived than

any other bulbs of the Liliaceæ.

[1960] Because, Dalechamps says, all the juices are thereby thrown back

into the root, which consequently bears a stronger flower the next year.

[1961] Il. xiv. l. 348.

[1962] see B. xiii. c. 32.

[1963] All these statements as to the odours of various substances, are

from Theophrastus, De Causis, B. vi. c. 22.

[1964] He does _not_ say, however, that it is but rarely that a bitter

substance is not odoriferous; a sense in which Fée seems to have

understood him, as he says, “This assertion is not true in general,

and there are numerous exceptions; for instance, quassia wood, which

is inodorous and yet intensely bitter.” The essential oil, he remarks,

elaborated in the tissue of the corolla, is the ordinary source of the

emanations of the flower.

[1965] Fée remarks that cultivation gives to plants a softer and

more aqueous consistency, which is consequently injurious to the

developement of the essential oil.

[1966] Theophrastus, from whom this is borrowed, might have said with

more justice, Fée remarks, that certain roses have more odour when

dried than when fresh gathered. Such is the case, he says, with the

Provence rose. Fresh roses, however, have a more pronounced smell, the

nearer they are to the olfactory organs.

[1967] This is by no means invariably the case: in fact, the smell of

most odoriferous plants is most powerful in summer.

[1968] Because the essential oils evaporate more rapidly.

[1969] With Littré, we adopt the reading “ætate,” “mid-age,” and

not “æstate,” “midsummer,” for although the assertion would be in

general correct, Pliny would contradict the statement just made, that

all plants have a more penetrating odour in spring. This reading is

supported also by the text of Theophrastus.

[1970] Or saffron.

[1971] This is a just observation, but the instances might be greatly

extended, as Fée says.

[1972] See B. xviii. c. 39.

[1973] The white lily and the red lily. See c. 11 of this Book.

[1974] As to the Abrotonum, see B. xiii. c. 2, and c. 34 of this Book.

[1975] See c. 35 of this Book.

[1976] Or in other words, the interior of the petals has a more bitter

flavour than that of the exterior surface.

[1977] Pliny makes a mistake here, in copying from Theophrastus. De

Causis, B. vi. c. 25. That author is speaking not of the flower, but of

the rainbow, under the name of “iris.” Pliny has himself made a similar

statement as to the rainbow, in B. xii. c. 52, which he would appear

here to have forgotten.

[1978] The Cheiranthus tristis of Linnæus, or sad gilliflower, Fée

thinks.

[1979] See B. viii. c. 23. Pliny did not know of the existence of the

musk-deer, the Muschus moschiferus of Eastern Asia: and he seems not to

have thought of the civet, (if, indeed, it was known to him) the fox,

the weasel, and the polecat, the exhalations from which have a peculiar

smell. The same, too, with the urine of the panther and other animals

of the genus Felis.

[1980] For some superstitious reason, in all probability. Pliny

mentions below, the formalities with which this plant ought to be

gathered.

[1981] See B. xiii. c. 2. The ancient type of this plant, our iris,

sword-lily, or flower-de-luce, was probably the Iris Florentina or

Florentine iris of modern botany.

[1982] At the present day, too, it is the root of the plant that is the

most important part of it.

[1983] The Iris Florentina, probably, of Linnæus.

[1984] Mentioned by Nicander, Theriaca, l. 43.

[1985] Probably a variety only of the preceding kind.

[1986] The most common varieties in Africa are the Iris alata of

Lamarck, I. Mauritanica of Clusius, I. juncea, and I. stylosa of

Desfontaines.

[1987] “Raphanus.” C. Bauhin identifies the Rhaphanitis with the Iris

biflora, and the Rhizotomus with the Iris angustifolia prunum redolens.

[1988] See c. 38 of this Book.

[1989] No kind of iris, Fée says, fresh or dried, whole or powdered, is

productive of this effect.

[1990] Very similar, probably, to that of Illyria.

[1991] All these superstitions are from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B.

ix. c. 9.

[1992] This, Fée says, is quite consistent with modern experience.

[1993] “Irinum.” See B. xiii. c. 2.

[1994] Probably the Valeriana Celtica of Linnæus. See B. xii. c. 27,

where it is mentioned as Gallic nard.

[1995] “Cæspes.”

[1996] See B. iii. c. 21.

[1997] Probably the Teucrium polium of Linnæus; the herb poley, or

poley-mountain.

[1998] By those who carry it on their person.

[1999] This marvel is related by Dioscorides in reference to the

Tripolium, and not the Polium.

[2000] The Teucrium montanum, probably, of Linnæus.

[2001] This name belongs, properly, to the wild or mountain Polium.

[2002] “Principales.” The meaning of this term is explained at the end

of this Chapter. Red, yellow, and blue—or else, red, green, and violet,

are probably the _primary_ colours of light.

[2003] See B. ix. c. 65, and B. xvi. c. 12. He alludes to the Coccus

ilicis of Linnæus.

[2004] See B. xxxvii. c. 40, as to the meaning of the word “Suspectus.”

This passage, however, as Sillig remarks, is hopelessly corrupt.

[2005] See B. ix. cc. 60, 63.

[2006] “Doubly-dyed,” or “twice dipped,” in purple. See B. ix. c. 63.

Littré remarks here that, according to Doctor Bizio, it was the Murex

brandaris that produced the Tyrian purple, and the Murex trunculus the

amethystine purple.

[2007] Or “violet-colour.” See B. xxxvii. c. 40.

[2008] For further information on these tints, see B. ix. cc. 64, 65.

[2009] Belonging, probably, Fée thinks, to the Cruciferæ of the genera

Hesperis and Cheiranthus.

[2010] “Flammeis” The “flammeum,” or flame-coloured veil of the bride,

was of a bright yellow, or rather orange-colour, perhaps.

[2011] The Celosia cristata of Linnæus.

[2012] “Spica.” The moderns have been enabled to equal the velvety

appearance of the amaranth in the tints imparted by them to their

velvets. The Italians call it the “velvet-flower.”

[2013] The real fact is, that the amaranth, being naturally a dry

flower, and having little humidity to lose, keeps better than most

others.

[2014] From the Greek ἀ, “not,” and [μαραίνεσθαι], “to

fade.”

[2015] Being the Greek for “blue” or “azure.”

[2016] The Centaurea cyanus of Linnæus; our blue-bell.

[2017] Meaning “all gold.” It has been identified with the Gnaphalium

stœchas of Linnæus, the _immortelle_ of the French, which forms the

ingredient for their funereal chaplets.

[2018] Sprengel says that this is the Geum rivale of Linnæus; but then

the Geum is a spring, and not an autumn flower, its blossoms bear no

resemblance to those of the eglantine, and its seeds are not yellow.

[2019] Generally supposed to be the Chrysanthemum segetum, or golden

daisy.

[2020] “Pastillicantibus quinquagenis quinis barbulis coronatur.” Pliny

is unusually verbose here.

[2021] “Golden locks,” or “gold plant;” probably the Chrysocoma

linosyris of Linnæus; though the name appears to have been given to

numerous plants.

[2022] See B. xvi. c. 69, B. xviii. c. 65, B. xix. c. 2, B. xxiv. c.

40; also c. 42 of the present Book.

[2023] The Nerium oleander of Linnæus. See B. xvi. c. 33, and B. xxiv.

cc. 47, 49.

[2024] As to the Zizyphum, or jujube, see B. xv. c. 14. The flower, as

Pliny says, is not unlike that of the olive; but Fée remarks, that it

may at the present day as justly be called the tree of Provence or of

Italy, as in ancient times “the tree of Cappadocia.”

[2025] B. xxv. c. 67.

[2026] See B. v. c. 41.

[2027] See B. xvi. cc. 62 and 63, and B. xxiv. cc. 47 and 49.

[2028] Or Vitis alba, “white vine,” the Bryonia dioica of modern

botany. See B. xxiii. c. 16.

[2029] The Spiræa salicifolia of Linnæus, or meadowsweet.

[2030] See B. xx. c. 67, and c. 30 of this Book.

[2031] The Daphne Cnidium of Linnæus. See B. xxiii. c. 35; also B. xii.

c. 43. It is altogether different from the Laurus cassia, or genuine

cassia.

[2032] See B. xx. c. 63.

[2033] See B. xx. c. 45.

[2034] “Sertula Camapana.”

[2035] Most probably, Fée thinks, the Trifolium Melilotus officinalis,

a clover, or trefoil.

[2036] The Psoranthea bituminosa of Linnæus. It is found on declivities

near the sea-coast, in the south of Europe.

[2037] “Pointed trefoil.” Pliny has probably committed an error here,

as Dioscorides makes oxyphyllum, minyanthes, and asphaltium to be

different names of the same variety. Sprengel, however, identifies this

pointed trefoil with the Trifolium Italicum of Linnæus.

[2038] The Anethum fæniculum of Linnæus. See B. viii. c. 41, B. xx. c.

95, and B. xxx. c. 9.

[2039] See B. xx. c. 96.

[2040] The “mouse-killer.” Probably the Aconitum napellus of Linnæus.

See B. xxvii. c. 2.

[2041] See B. xvi. c. 62.

[2042] Fée remarks, that there is no such ivy in existence; he agrees

with Dalechamps in the opinion that Pliny has confounded κίσσος, “ivy,”

with κίστος, the “rock-rose.” See B. xvi. c. 62.

[2043] The Daphne Cnidium and the Daphne Cneorum of Linnæus. See B.

xxiii. c. 35, and B. xv. c. 7.

[2044] In reality, they blossom in April and May, and mostly a second

time in autumn as well, the Daphne Cneorum in particular.

[2045] See B. xx. c. 69.

[2046] Under the head “Thymus,” Fée thinks that both the Satureia

capitata of Linnæus, headed savory, and the Thymus vulgaris, and Thymus

zygis of Linnæus (varieties of thyme), should be included.

[2047] Fée thinks that in the expression “nigricans,” he may allude to

the deep red of the stalk of some kinds of thyme, more particularly at

the end of summer. It is the Thymus zigis that has a white, downy stem.

[2048] From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 2, and De Causis,

B. i. c. 5. Fée suggests, that the seed, lying at the bottom of the

calyx, may have escaped notice, and that in reality, when the ancients

imagined they were sowing the blossoms, they were putting the seed in

the earth. That, in fact, seems to agree with the view which Pliny

takes of the matter.

[2049] Which lies in the interior of the Peloponnesus.

[2050] See B. xv. c. 1.

[2051] “Lapidei Campi.” See B. iii. c. 5.

[2052] Similar to our practice of depasturing sheep on Dartmoor and

other favourite moors and downs.

[2053] Fée takes this to be the Inula viscosa of Desfontaines, and

identifies the other kind with the Inula pulicaria of Linnæus. See B.

xx. cc. 63, 64.

[2054] B. xx. c. 64.

[2055] Supposed to be the same as the Agrostemma coronaria of Linnæus.

[2056] Sprengel identifies it with the Pancratium maritimum of Linnæus.

As described by Dioscorides, however, Fée takes it to be the Lilium

Martagon, or Turk’s-cap lily. See c. 90 of this Book.

[2057] This is different from the Helenium of the Greeks, the Inula

Helenium of Linnæus, mentioned in B. xv. c. 7. Sprengel identifies it

with the Teucrium Creticum of Linnæus, the Cretan germander.

[2058] See B. xx. c. 91.

[2059] “Flame.” Sprengel identifies it with the Agrostemma coronaria of

Linnæus, making the flower of Jove to be the Agrostemma flos Jovis.

[2060] Fée remarks, that if this is our Thymus serpyllum, this

exception is inexact.

[2061] For two islands of this name, see B. iv. c. 20, and c. 23.

[2062] The female Abrotonum is identified with the Santolina

chamæcyparissus of Linnæus: the little-cypress Santoline. The male is

the Artemisia abrotonum of Linnæus, our southern-wood.

[2063] Pliny has probably committed an error here in transcribing

from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 7, who, when speaking of

the abrotonum, says, “It is transplanted in earthen pots, in the way

employed for the gardens of Adonis,” these gardens being moveable

parterres, laid out in pots or vases. We cannot agree with Hardouin,

who looks upon the Adonium as a variety of the Abrotonum, and censures

Salmasius for accusing Pliny of committing an error here.

[2064] The “White flower.” See B. xxii. c. 26.

[2065] See B. xiii. c. 2. The sampsuchum, or amaracus, is generally

thought to be the sweet marjoram, or Origanum marjorana of Linnæus.

But Fée identifies it with the Origanum majoranoides of Willdenow, our

organy, wild or false marjoram.

[2066] The “night-watcher.” According to Sprengel, this is the

Cæsalpina pulcherrima of Linnæus. But, as Fée says, that is entirely

an Indian plant, and has only been introduced but very recently into

Europe. Hardouin identifies it with a plant called “lunaria” by the

naturalists of his day, which shines, he says, with the moon at night.

[2067] The Cæsalpina pulcherrima is not to be found in or near Gedrosia

(in ancient Persia), but solely on the shores of the Bay of Bengal.

[2068] From χῆνες “geese” and μύχος a “corner;” because geese run into

a corner on seeing it.

[2069] As to the meaning of this word, see B. xxviii. c. 47.

[2070] See c. 29 of this Book.

[2071] This has been thought to be the Cheiranthus incanus, Cheiranthus

annus, and Leucoium vernum of modern botany; but Fée is of opinion that

it is next to impossible to identify it. See c. 14 of this Book.

[2072] See c. 33 of this Book.

[2073] See B. xxv. c. 67.

[2074] In c. 11 of this Book. There is no late variety of the lily

known at the present day.

[2075] Or “wind flower:” the Anemone coronaria of Linnæus.

[2076] A ranunculus. See c. 94 of this Book.

[2077] Or “vine-blossom.” See c. 95 of this Book.

[2078] Or “black violet,” mentioned by Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B.

vi. c. 7. Pliny may probably mean the purple violet, mentioned by him

in c. 14 of this Book. “Melanthium” is another reading.

[2079] Not improbably the same as the “holochrysos,” mentioned in c. 24

of this Book.

[2080] “Meadow” anemone.

[2081] “The little sword.” See c. 67 of this Book.

[2082] There have been conflicting opinions as to the identification

of the hyacinth of the ancients. Linnæus identifies it with the

Delphinium Ajacis: Sprengel and Salmasius with the Gladiolus communis:

Sibthorp with the Gladiolus communis triphyllos: Dodonæus and Porta the

Lilium bulbiferum: and Martyn and Fée the Lilium Martagon of Linnæus,

the Turk’s-cap lily. From what Pliny says in cc. 39 and 97 of this

Book, and in B. xxv. c. 80, it is pretty clear that under the name of

hyacinth he has confused the characteristics of two different plants.

The hyacinth, too, of Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 5, is a different plant,

Fée remarks, being the Hyacinthus comosus of modern botanists.

[2083] The Greek ΑΙ, “Alas!” which the ancients fancied they saw

impressed on the leaves.

[2084] See Ovid’s Met. B. x. l. 162-220.

[2085] See Ovid’s Met. B. xiii. l. 397, _et seq._

[2086] “Unsullied by fire.”

[2087] Or “light” flower: the Agrostemma coronaria of Linnæus.

[2088] Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 7, mentions the “cerinthus”

next after the flower of Jove: Pliny seems to have taken it for a kind

of lily. This flower has not been identified.

[2089] Sprengel takes this to be the Lavandula spica, or Lavender.

[2090] Hardouin identifies this with the Lychnis Chalcedonica, or Cross

of Jerusalem, with which opinion Fée seems inclined to coincide. Other

commentators incline to the opinion that it is the Jasminum fruticans,

a plant in which, beyond its smell, there is nothing at all remarkable.

The exotic monocotyledon, known as the “Pothos,” has no connection with

the plant here mentioned.

[2091] This, according to some, is the Lychnis Chalcedonica, the next

being the Jasminum fruticans.

[2092] As known to us, all the varieties of the iris blossom in spring.

[2093] The purple lily, Fée thinks.

[2094] If this is the correct reading, which is very doubtful, this

plant is unknown. M. Jan has suggested that Pliny, in copying from

Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 7, has read ὀρσινὸς by mistake for

ὀρεινός, “mountainous,” the original meaning being, “Two varieties of

saffron, one of them growing on the mountains, the other cultivated;”

and this last word being rendered by Pliny “hebes,” translated above as

meaning “inodorous.”

[2095] The Acanthus, probably. See B. xxii. c. 34, and B. xxiv. c. 66.

[2096] Forskhal speaks of an acanthus in Arabia, the leaves of which

are eaten raw. Fée thinks, that these shoots might be eaten without any

inconvenience, but doubts if they would make such a tempting morsel as

Pliny describes.

[2097] Or blue-bell.

[2098] Linnæus and other authorities identify this with the Clematis

of Dioscorides, the Vinca major and minor of modern botany, our

periwinkle. Fée, however, is inclined to identify it with the

Chamædaphne, or ground-laurel of B. xv. c. 39, the Ruscus racemosus of

Linnæus.

[2099] See c. 38 of this Book.

[2100] This method of cultivation, also mentioned by Theophrastus, is

never employed in modern horticulture.

[2101] In c. 10 of this Book.

[2102] See B. xix. c. 50.

[2103] “Honey-leaf.” The Melissa officinalis of Linnæus: our

balm-gentle. It is the same as the “apiastrum,” though Pliny has

erroneously made them distinct plants.

[2104] “Wax-flower.” The Cerinthe major of Linnæus: the greater

honeywort.

[2105] See B. xi. c. 8. On the contrary, Virgil says, Georg. iv. l. 20,

that a wild olive-tree should be planted near the hives, to protect

them with its shade. Varro says also, De Re Rust. iii. 16, that the bee

extracts honey from the olive-tree; but according to Aristotle, Hist.

Anim. B. ix. c. 64, it is from the leaf, and not the flower of that

tree that the honey is extracted.

[2106] See B. xv. c. 31. Fée is inclined to doubt the correctness of

the assertion here made by Pliny.

[2107] See B. xiv. c. 5. The remedies for the diseases of bees in

modern times are of a very similar nature, but attention is equally

paid to the proper ventilation of the hives.

[2108] This plan is still adopted on the river Po, the ancient Padus,

as also at Beauce, in the south of France, where the hives are carried

from place to place upon carts. In the north of England it is the

practice to carry the hives to the moors in autumn.

[2109] This has been doubted by Spielmann, but it is nevertheless the

truth; the nature of the sugar secreted by the glands of the nectary,

being analogous to that of the plant which furnishes it. The honey

gathered from aconite in Switzerland has been known to produce vertigo

and even delirium. Dr. Barton also gives a similar account of the

effects of the poisonous honey collected from the Kalmia latifolia in

Pennsylvania; and Geoffroi Saint Hilaire says that, having eaten in

Brazil some honey prepared by a wasp called “lecheguana,” his life was

put in very considerable danger thereby. Xenophon also speaks of the

effects of the intoxicating or maddening honey upon some of the Ten

Thousand in their retreat.

[2110] The rhododendrons and rose laurels, Fée says, which are so

numerous in these parts, render the fact here stated extremely probable.

[2111] “Goats’ death.” Fée says that this is the Rhododendron Ponticum

of Linnæus. Desfontaines identifies it with the Azalea Pontica of

modern botany.

[2112] In reality, there are no visible signs by which to detect that

the honey is poisonous.

[2113] B. xxix. c. 31.

[2114] See B. xii. c. 25.

[2115] Μαινόμενον, “maddening.”

[2116] The ægolethron of the preceding Chapter, Fée thinks. If so,

the word rhododendron, he says, would apply to two plants, the Nerion

oleander or rose laurel (see B. xvi. c. 33), and the Rhododendron

Ponticum.

[2117] Fée refuses to credit this: but still such a thing might

accidentally happen.

[2118] These asserted remedies would be of no use whatever, Fée says.

[2119] See B. vii. c. 2.

[2120] Fée seems to take it for granted that Pliny is speaking here of

honey made by other insects than bees; but such does not appear to be

the case.

[2121] Fée remarks here that Pliny is right, and that Columella and

Palladius are wrong, who would have the hives to look due north.

[2122] Lapis specularis: a sort of talc, probably. See B. iii. c. 4. B.

ix. c. 56. B. xv. c. 1. B. xix. c. 23, and B. xxxvi. c. 45.

[2123] In B. ix. c. 16, he mentions hives made of horn for this

purpose. Glass hives are now made for the purpose, but the moisture

which adheres to the interior of the glass prevents the operations of

the bees from being watched with any degree of nicety.

[2124] “Cognatum hoc.” He probably alludes to the notion entertained by

the ancients that bees might be reproduced from the putrefied entrails

of an ox, as wasps from those of a horse. See the story of Aristæus in

B. iv. of Virgil’s Georgics.

[2125] Or butterflies—“papiliones.”

[2126] “Teredines.”

[2127] Honeycombs and rough wax are placed in the hive, when the bees

are in want of aliment; also honey and sugar-sirop.

[2128] “Defrutum:” grape-juice boiled down to one-half.

[2129] Fée is at a loss to know how this could be of any service as an

aliment to bees.

[2130] A mere puerility, Fée says.

[2131] But extremely weak, no doubt; for after boiling, the hydromel

must be subjected, first to vinous, and then to acetous, fermentation.

[2132] The method here described differs but little from that employed

at the present day.

[2133] “Sporta.”

[2134] Or Carthaginian.

[2135] In reality, the wax has properties totally different from those

of the honey, and it is not always gathered from the same plants.

[2136] A kind of bee-glue. See B. xi. c. 6.

[2137] Neither the nitre nor the salt, Fée says, would be of the

slightest utility.

[2138] By causing the aqueous particles that may remain in it, to

evaporate.

[2139] Or “likenesses”—“similitudines.” Waxen profiles seem to have

been the favourite likenesses with the Romans: See the Asinaria of

Plautus, A. iv. sc. i. l. 19, in which one of these portraits is

clearly alluded to. Also Ovid, Heroid. xiii. l. 152, and Remed. Amor.

l. 723. The “imagines” also, or busts of their ancestors, which were

kept in their “atria,” were made of wax.

[2140] To protect the paintings, probably, with which the walls were

decorated.

[2141] In B. xi.

[2142] See B. xv. c. 28.

[2143] See B. xxiii. c. 17. According to some authorities, it is

supposed to be the Delphinium staphis agria of Linnæus; but Fée and

Desfontaines identify it with the Tamus communis of Linnæus, Our Lady’s

seal.

[2144] The Ruscus aculeatus of Linnæus. See B. xxiii. c. 83.

[2145] In B. xxii. c. 33, this plant is called “halimon.” Some authors

identify it with the Atriplex halymus, and others, again, with the

Crithmum maritimum of Linnæus. See also B. xxvi. c. 50.

[2146] Identified by some commentators with the Portulaca sativa or

Portulaca oleracea of Linnæus.

[2147] “Pastinaca pratensis.” Fée and Desfontaines are undecided

whether this is the Daucus carota of Linnæus, the common carrot, or the

Pastinaca sativa, the cultivated parsnip.

[2148] “Lupus salictarius,” the “willow wolf,” literally; the Humulus

lupulus of Linnæus. It probably took its Latin name from the tenacity

with which it clung to willows and osiers.

[2149] The Arum colocasia of Linnæus.

[2150] The “bean.” Not, however, the Egyptian bean, which is the

Nymphæa nelumbo of Linnæus, the Nelumbum speciosum of Willdenow.

[2151] These filaments are mentioned also by Martial, Epig., B. viii.

Ep. 33, and B. xiii. Ep. 57. But according to Desfontaines, this

description applies to the stalks of the Nymphæa lotos, and not of the

Arum colocasia.

[2152] “Thyrsus.”

[2153] Desfontaines has identified this with the Arctium lappa of

botanists; but that is a land plant, and this, Pliny says, grows in the

rivers, if the reading here is correct, it cannot be the plant of the

same name mentioned in B. xxv. c. 58.

[2154] This applies, Desfontaines says, to the Nymphæa nelumbo.

[2155] Here he returns, according to Desfontaines, to the Arum

colocasia.

[2156] See B. xx. c. 29.

[2157] “Intubum erraticum.”

[2158] The Cyperus Esculentus of Linnæus.

[2159] Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 10, says that it grows in the sandy soil

in the vicinity of the river.

[2160] It is similar in appearance to the papyrus, and its tubercles

are oblong, or round and fleshy, with an agreeable flavour.

[2161] The Arachis hypogæa of Linnæus, the earth pistachio.

[2162] The root is not large; but the fruit is so close to the earth

that Pliny may have confounded it with the real root of the plant.

[2163] Sprengel identifies this with the Lathyrus amphicarpos, and the

aracos with the Lathyrus tuberosus, varieties of the chicheling vetch.

Columna thinks that this last was the arachidna. Fée says that the data

are altogether insufficient to enable us to form an opinion.

[2164] The Chondrylla juncea of Linnæus, according to Fée; but

Desfontaines identifies it with the Lactuca perennis.

[2165] Desfontaines identifies it with the Hyoseris lucida. Fée says

that the opinion is equally as difficult to combat as to support.

[2166] Fée identifies it with the Caucalis grandiflora of Linnæus, a

native of Greece. Desfontaines mentions the Caucalis Orientalis, an

Eastern plant.

[2167] For this and the Scandix, see B. xxii. c. 38.

[2168] A chicoraceous plant: the Tragopogon crocifolius of Linnæus.

[2169] See c. 104 of this Book.

[2170] See cc. 35 and 105 of this Book.

[2171] The Corchorus olitorius of Linnæus: still cultivated in Egypt.

[2172] Identified by some, but it is doubtful if with any good reason,

with the Leontodon taraxacum of Linnæus: our dandelion.

[2173] The reading is doubtful, and it does not appear to have been

identified.

[2174] Or “stone-plant:” identified with the Sedum anacampseros of

Linnæus: a variety of house-leek.

[2175] On the contrary, it has a purple flower.

[2176] It is this, probably, that has caused it to be identified with

the Leontodon taraxacum.

[2177] The Carthamus tinctorius of Linnæus, or bastard saffron. The

seed of it is a powerful purgative to man, but has no effect on

birds: it is much used for feeding parrots, hence one of its names,

“parrot-seed.”

[2178] Identified by Fée with the Atractylis of Dioscorides, the

Carthamus mitissimus of Linnæus; the Carduncellus mitissimus of

Decandolle.

[2179] From ἄτρακτος, “a distaff.”

[2180] The Centaurea lanata of Decandolle, the Centaurea benedicta of

Linnæus.

[2181] The Asparagus aphylla of Linnæus: the leafless asparagus.

[2182] The Spartium scorpius of Linnæus: scorpion-grass, or

scorpion-wort.

[2183] See B. xxii. c. 8.

[2184] See B. xxii. c. 11. The “sweet-root;” our liquorice. The

Glycyrrhiza echinata of Linnæus bears a prickly fruit; it is of this,

Fée thinks, that Pliny speaks here.

[2185] Fée remarks, that though the leaf of the nettle is furnished

with numerous stings, or rather prickly hairs, it is quite wrong to

look upon them as thorns, which Pliny, in the present instance, (though

not in the next Chapter) appears to do. Genuine thorns, he remarks, are

abortive branches, which, of course, cannot be said of the fine hairs

springing from the nerves of the leaf. See B. xxii. c. 15.

[2186] Supposed to be the Tribulus terrestris of Linnæeus, a species

of thistle: the leaves of this plant, however, are not provided, Fée

remarks, with thorns at their base, the fruit alone being spinous. See

c. 58 of this Book.

[2187] See c. 58 of this Book.

[2188] The Poterium spinosum of botanists. See B. xxii. c. 13.

[2189] See B. xxii. c. 13. Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 5,

identifies this plant with the Stœbe just mentioned.

[2190] “Acetabulis.” Fée complains of the use of this term (meaning a

“small cup”) in relation to the calyces of the nettle; such not being

in reality their form.

[2191] Probably in allusion to the Urtica dioica, which grows to a

greater height than the Urtica urens. See B. xxii. c. 15.

[2192] “Canina.” A variety, probably, of the Urtica urens, the nettle,

with the exception of the Urtica pilifera, which has the most stinging

properties of all those found in Europe, and the leaves of which are

the most deeply indented.

[2193] This has not been identified. They are all of them either

inodorous, or else possessed of a faint, disagreeable smell.

[2194] This “lanugo,” or down, as he calls it, consists of a fine

elongated tube of cellular tissue, seated upon a gland of similar

tissue. In this gland a poisonous fluid is secreted, and when any

pressure is made upon the gland, the fluid passes upwards in the tube.

The nettle of the East, known as the Devil’s Leaf, is of so poisonous a

quality as to produce death.

[2195] In some parts of the north of England and of Scotland the young

plant of the Urtica dioica is eaten as greens, and is far from a

disagreeable dish, strongly resembling spinach. It is also reckoned a

very wholesome diet, and is taken habitually in the spring, under the

impression that it purifies the blood. This notion, we see from the

context, is as old as the time of the Romans.

[2196] Dalechamps speaks of it as the custom in his time to wrap up

fish and game in nettles, under the impression that they would keep the

longer for it.

[2197] The dead nettle, or blind nettle. See B. xxii. c. 16.

[2198] See B. xxii. c. 17.

[2199] He probably means the thistle, but possibly the artichoke, under

this name. See B. xix. cc. 19 and 43, and B. xx. c. 99.

[2200] This is probably the same with the second variety of the

“Cnecos,” mentioned above in c. 53, the Centaurea lanata, or benedicta.

[2201] Probably the Carduus leucographus of Linnæus.

[2202] According to Dalechamps, this is the Echinops ritro of modern

botany.

[2203] See c. 93 of this Book.

[2204] “Many thorns.” According to Dalechamps, this is the Carduus

spinosissimus angustifolius vulgaris of C. Bauhin, the Cirsium

spinosissimum of Linnæus.

[2205] Identified by Dalechamps with the Onopordon Illyricum, or

Acanthium of modern botany.

[2206] The Acarna gummifera of modern botanists, the flowers of which

yield a kind of gum with an agreeable smell. It is quite a different

plant from Wall pellitory, mentioned in B. xxii. c. 19, under this name.

[2207] See B. xx. c. 99, and B. xxii. c. 43.

[2208] The black chamæleon is identified by Fée with the Brotera

corymbosa of Willdenow: the white variety, mentioned in B. xxii. c. 21,

with the Acarna gummifera of Willdenow, the Helxine above mentioned.

Desfontaines identifies it with the Carlina acaulis.

[2209] See B. xxii. c. 8.

[2210] The Greek for “blood” or “slaughter.”

[2211] “Carduus.”

[2212] “Thorn mastich,” or “resin.”

[2213] This is not the Cactus of modern botany, a plant mentioned

in the sequel under the name of “Opuntia,” but probably the Cinara

carduncellus. See B. xx. c. 99.

[2214] Theophrastus says, that when peeled they have a somewhat bitter

flavour, and are kept pickled in brine.

[2215] This name is now given by naturalists to the calyx of Compositæ,

which exists in the rudimentary condition of a membranous coronet, or

of downy hairs, like silk.

[2216] “Cortex.”

[2217] The Trapa natans of Linnæus, or water chesnut, a prickly marsh

plant of Europe and Asia. Hence our word “caltrop.”

[2218] “Dira res alibi.”

[2219] These two plants have no affinity whatever with the one just

mentioned. The first of these so-called varieties is the Tribulus

terrestris of Linnæus; and the second is identified by Fée, though with

some doubt, with the Fagonia Cretica of Linnæus.

[2220] The Ononis antiquorum of Linnæus, the Cammock, or rest-harrow.

[2221] The Cochlearia coronopus. See B. xxii. c. 22.

[2222] The Anchusa tinctoria, probably, or dyers’ alkanet. See B. xxii.

c. 23.

[2223] See B. xxii. c. 26.

[2224] It has not been identified with any degree of certainty: the

Centaurea nigra and the Campanula rapunculus have been named.

[2225] See B. xxvii. c. 21: also c. 52 of this Book. The name appears

to have been given to both the Leontodon taraxacum and the Lathyras

aphaca of modern botany.

[2226] Theophrastus has Picris in the parallel passage, Hist. Plant.

B. vii. c. 9, the Helminthia echioides of Linnæus. If “Crepis” is the

correct reading, that plant has not been identified.

[2227] The herbaceous kinds are no doubt those alluded to.

[2228] See B. xix. cc. 31, 36, and 44; and B. xx. c. 48. The ocimum of

the Greeks has been identified by some with the Ocimum basilicum of

Linnæus, our basil. That of the Romans seems to have been a name given

to one or more varieties of leguminous plants of the vetch kind.

[2229] The Heliotropium Europæum. See B. xxii. c. 29.