426 Fée suggests that this may possibly be the Spiræa ulmaria of Linnæus.
427 The “impious” or “unnatural” plant. Fée identifies it with the Filago Gallica of Linnæus, the corn cudweed. It is destitute of medicinal properties, and what Pliny states is without foundation.
428 Generally identified with the Scandix pecten Veneris, corn cicely, or shepherd’s needle. See B. xxii. c. 38.
429 Fée queries whether this may not possibly be the Rhus coriaria of Linnæus, elm-leaved sumach, mentioned in B. xiii. c. 13. He would appear, however, to have confounded it with the Notia, next mentioned.
430 “Man-loving,” or rather “attached to man.” Identified with the Galium aparine of Linnæus, goose-grass, or common ladies bedstraw; the seeds of which attach themselves to the dress.
431 See B. xxi. c. 64.
432 The dog-bur. The Lappa tomentosa of Lamarck. See B. xxvi. c. 65.
433 See c. 95 of this Book.
434 Or hartwort; see B. xx. cc. 18, 87.
435 The Tordylium officinale of Linnæus, officinal hart-wort.
436 “Grass.” The Triticum repens, or Paspalum dactylon of Linnæus, our couch-grass.
437 This is probably quite a different production, being the Parnassia palustris, according to Dodonæus; but Fée is inclined to think that it is the Campanula rapunculus of Linnæus, bell-flower or rampions.
438 Fée thinks that this applies to the plant of Parnassus, and not to the common Gramen.
439 This property, Fée says, is still attributed to couch-grass.
440 “Draconum.” A peculiar kind of serpent. See Lucan’s Pharsalia, B. ix. ll. 727-8.
441 No such variety is known.
442 Fée is somewhat at a loss as to its identity, but thinks that it may be the Panicum sanguinale of Linnæus, or possibly the Cynodon dactylon.
443 See B. xix. c. 58, and B. xxv. c. 102. Possibly a Sedum or houseleek, Fée thinks; certainly not a grass.
444 Fée queries whether this may not be the Poa rigida of Linnæus, hard meadow-grass.
445 An Euphorbia, Fée thinks.
446 “Bull’s horn” or “goat’s horn.”
447 In B. xviii. c. 39.
448 The seed contains a mucilage, and is considered emollient and resolvent. Till recently, Fenugreek was the base, Fée says, of a plaster held in high esteem.
449 “Sapa.” Grape-juice boiled down to one-third.
450 “Sapa.”
451 Fée remarks, that in reality there is no bitterness in fenugreek. He suggests therefore, that the meaning may be “offensive smell,” that emitted by fenugreek being far from agreeable.
452 See end of B. xx.
453 See end of B. xiv.
454 See end of B. xii.
455 See end of B. xx.
456 See end of B. xx.
457 See end of B. vii.
458 See end of B. iii.
459 See end of B. xi.
460 See end of B. ii.
461 See end of B. xx.
462 See end of B. ii.
463 See end of B. viii.
464 See end of B. xix.
465 See end of B. viii.
466 See end of B. vii.
467 See end of B. xxi.
468 See end of B. xxi.
469 See end of B. xxi.
470 See end of B. xxi.
471 See end of B. iv.
472 See end of B. xxi.
473 See end of B. xxi.
474 See end of B. xxi.
475 See end of B. vii.
476 See end of B. xx.
477 See end of B. xx.
478 See end of B. xx.
479 See end of B. xii.
481 See end of B. xxii.
482 See end of B. xx.
483 See end of B. xx.
484 See end of B. xx.
485 See end of B. xx.
486 See end of B. xx.
487 See end of B. xx.
488 See end of B. xx.
489 See end of B. xx.
490 See end of B. vii.
491 See end of B. xx.
492 See end of B. xx.
493 See end of B. xii.
494 See end of B. xi.
495 See end of B. xii.
496 See end of B. xx.
497 See end of B. xii.
498 See end of B. xx.
499 See end of B. xx.
500 See end of B. xx.
501 See end of B. xx.
502 See end of B. xx.
503 See end of B. xx.
504 See end of B. xii.
505 See end of B. xx.
506 See end of B. xx.
507 See end of B. xix.
508 See end of B. xx.
509 See end of B. xx.
510 As Fée remarks, it is more as a writer upon Agriculture than upon Materia Medica, that Cato is entitled to the thanks of posterity.
511 See end of B. xx.
512 His piety, apparently, was tainted with adulation.
513 With the exception of Cato, of course.
514 See end of B. xiv.
516 A mere prejudice, arising from the fact that numerous poisonous plants grew in the countries on the shores of the Euxine. The blood of no animal whatever is an antidote to any poison.
517 See B. vii. c. 37. An interesting account of his system will be found in B. xxvi. c. 7. See also B. xxix. c. 5.
518 See B. xxiii. c. 77.
519 The four great changes in plants, though not always at the four seasons of the year, are the budding and foliation, the blossoming, the fructification, and the fall of the leaf.
520 See end of B. xx.
521 There is little doubt that he alludes to the passage of Æschylus, quoted by Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 15. Τυῤῥήνων γενεὰν φαρμακοποιὸν ἔθνος—“The race of the Tyrrheni, a drug-preparing nation.”
522 See B. ii. c. 87, B. iii. c. 9, B. xv. c. 36, and B. xxxii. c. 21.
523 See B. vii. c. 2.
524 See B. ii. c. 87.
525 Od. iv. 228, et seq.
526 See B. xxi. c. 91.
527 See B. xxi. cc. 21, 84.
528 Or serpent.
529 In B. x. c. 20.
530 Most probably by the agency of “feverish expectation” on the part of the patient.
531 In B. xviii. c. 45.
532 As Fée remarks, this dreadful malady is still incurable, notwithstanding the eulogiums which have been lavished upon the virtues of the Scutellaria laterifolia of Linnæus, the Alisma plantago, Genista tinctoria, and other plants, as specifics for its cure.
533 Dog-rose, or eglantine. See B. viii. c. 63.
534 An unwarranted assertion, no doubt.
535 He alludes to a substance known to us as “bedegnar,” a kind of gall-nut, produced by the insect called Cynips rosæ.
536 Or “little dragon.” The Arum dracunculus of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. cc. 91, 93.
537 In c. 93.
538 As Fée remarks, the influence of water impregnated with selenite upon the health is well known.
539 Fée says that this disease was an “intense gastritis, productive of a fetid breath.” It would seem, however, to be neither more nor less than the malady now known as “scurvy of the gums.” Galen describes the “sceloturbe,” as a kind of paralysis. “Stomacace” means “disease of the mouth;” “sceloturbe” “disease of the legs.”
540 Sprengel and Desfontaines identify it with the Rumex aquaticus, but Fée considers it to be the Inula Britannica of Linnæus. The Statice armeria, Statice plantaginea, and Polygonum persicaria have also been suggested.
541 The pseudo-Apuleius, in B. xxix. t. 7, says, that if gathered before thunder has been heard, it will be a preservative against quinzy for a whole year.
542 The flower of the Inula Britannica, Fée says, is much more likely, from its peculiarities, to have merited a peculiar name, than that of the Rumex.
543 Lipsius, in his Commentaries upon Tacitus, Ann. i. 63, has very satisfactorily shown that it did not derive its name from the islands of Britain, but from a local appellation, the name given by the natives to the marshy tracts upon the banks of the Ems, between Lingen and Covoerden, which are still known as the “Bretaasche Heyde.” Munting and Poinsinet de Sivry suggest that it may have received its name from being used as a strengthener of the teeth in their sockets, being compounded of the words tann, “tooth,” and brita, “to break.”
544 And therefore comparatively unknown.
545 In c. 33, et seq., of this Book.
546 In the next Book.
547 See the case of M. Agrippa, mentioned in B. xxiii. c. 27.
548 Said, by Plutarch, to have been administered to him by his freedman Callisthenes, with the view of securing his affection
549 Od. x. l. 302, et seq.
550 Fée devotes a couple of pages to the vexata quæstio of the identification of this plant, and comes to the conclusion that the Moly of Homer, mentioned on the present occasion, and of Theophrastus, Ovid, and the poets in general is only an imaginary plant; that the white-flowered Moly of Dioscorides and Galen is identical with the Allium Dioscoridis of Sibthorp; and that the yellow-flowered Moly of the author of the Priapeia is not improbably the Allium Moly or magicum of Linnæus. Sprengel derives the name “Moly” from the Arabic, and identifies it with the Allium nigrum of Linnæus.
551 Homer says that there is difficulty to men, but not to the gods.
552 In their pictures, mentioned in c. 4.
553 Ovid, Galen, and Theophrastus, say the same.
554 There must either be some error in the reading here, or the physician must have attempted to impose upon our author’s credulity.
555 Or “the twelve gods.”
556 Generally identified with the Primula vulgaris or officinalis of Linnæus. Its leaves, however, are of varying number, and not like those of the lettuce. The Dodecatheos Meadia, or Virginian cowslip, it must be remembered, is an American plant.
557 The Pæonia officinalis of Linnæus, our Peony.
558 Pæon, the physician, mentioned in the Iliad, B. v. l. 401. as healing Pluto, when wounded by Hercules.
559 From its five seeds, which resemble fitches.
560 “Sweet to the view,” apparently.
561 See B. xxiii. c. 76.
562 He means nightmare.
564 The Greek for “all-healing.”
565 Probably the Laserpitium hirsutum of Lamarck. The Echinophora tenuifolia of Linnæus, the thin-leaved prickly parsnip, has also been named.
566 Or “All-heal.”
567 In B. xii. c. 57
568 In B. xii. c. 57.
569 Identified with the Laserpitium Chironium of Linnæus, otherwise called Pastinaca opopanax. Fée observes, that when the word ‘Panaces’ is used alone, this plant is always the one meant.
570 In B. xx. cc. 62, 69.
571 The Centaur Chiron; see B. vii. c. 57. Sprengel identifies this plant with the Hypericum origanifolium of Willdenow, but Fée is inclined to think that its synonym is still unknown. M. Fraäs, in his Synopsis, p. 139, identifies it with the Hypericum Olympicum, an odoriferous plant, which the H. organifolium is not.
572 The Centaurea centaurium of Linnæus, the greater centaury.
573 “Seritur.”
574 Hardouin identifies it with the Geranium Robertianum of Linnæus; Sprengel and Desfontaines with the Phellandrium mutellina of Linnæus; Columna with the Sanicula; Sibthorp with the Scrofularia lucida; and M. Fraäs with the Scrofula chrysanthemifolia of Linnæus. Fée expresses himself unable to speak with any certainty on the subject.
575 Whence its name “sidereon.”
576 Or “Chironian vine.”
577 In B. xxiii. c. 17.
578 In B. xxii. c. 20.
579 “Swine’s bean”—our henbane.
580 The Hyoscyamus reticulatus of Linnæus, reticulated henbane.
581 The Hyoscyamus niger of Linnæus, black henbane.
582 See B. xviii. c. 22, and B. xxii. c. 75. The Hyoscyamus aureus of Linnaæus, golden henbane.
583 The Hyoscyamus albus of Linnæus, white henbane.
584 The third kind mentioned above.
585 In B. xv. c. 7, and B. xxiii. c. 49. This cannot have been a fixed oil.
586 The Mercuralis annua of Linnæus, male and female; the herb mercury.