Alumen, Alum; all kinds of it are very sour, and consist of gross particles. But the alumen scissile, or Stone Alum, consists of more subtile parts than the others. After it is the Alumen rotundum, or Round Alum, and the astragolotum. The Alumen liquidum, or Liquid Alum, consists of gross parts; and so also the varieties called placitis and plinthitis.
Commentary. After having read much that has been written by the best authorities both ancient and modern upon this subject, we still approach the discussion of it with very great diffidence. Having deliberately considered what Beckmann has written regarding the ancient alum, we cannot agree with him in setting it down as being copperas or the green sulphate of iron. The ancients, indeed, may not always distinguish accurately the latter from “the sulphate of alum and potash,” but considering how common this mineral is in the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean, we cannot conceive how the ancients could possibly have remained ignorant of it, and we need scarcely add that it has never been pretended that it has been described by them under any other name. But its varieties differed much from one another. The Alumen plumosum, called τριχῖτις by the Greeks, was no doubt the Hair salt of Werner, which, according to the analysis of Klaproth, contains a large mixture of the sulphates of magnesia and iron. Geoffroy remarks that “of liquid alum two kinds are taken notice of by the ancients; the one pure and the other impure. The solid or concreted kind was by the ancients distinguished, according to the figure of its parts, into fissile and round. The fissile natural alum was either in form of a compact, uniform globe, or appeared divided into small hairs or filaments. The round kind was of a more rare texture.” The Alumen Jameni of the Arabians was the plumose alum. Pliny and Octavius Horatianus recommend alum as an application to burns when pounded with oil. Alum was used in the practice of medicine from the earliest times. Hippocrates prescribes it in ulcers of the womb, diseases of the gums, and for various other purposes. (Epid. vii, De Mulieb., De Ulcer., &c.) Our author borrows from Galen. Dioscorides gives a most elaborate description of the different kinds and of their uses in medicine. They are all possessed, he says, of a heating power, and also of an astringent, and hence they clear the obscurities of the cornea, melt down fungous flesh on the eyelids and elsewhere, the schistose being more powerful than the round; they stop mortifications and hemorrhages, repress flaccid gums, strengthen loose teeth with vinegar or honey; are beneficial in aphthæ; and, in short, he states most minutely the various purposes to which alum may be applied. On the alumen see also Pliny (H. N. xxxv, 52) and Celsus (iv, 18), with the note of Milligan. For the Arabians consult Avicenna (ii, 2, 68); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Serapion (De Simpl. 420); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 44); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. 38); Ebn Baithar (ii, 83.) All of these authors, even including the last, do little more than copy from Dioscorides and Galen under this head. Geber, however, treats of the subject with some appearance of originality, and describes the kinds of alum with considerable accuracy. (Invention of Verity, c. 4.) The process of burning alum for medicinal purposes, which is barely alluded to by Dioscorides, is described by Geber and by Servitor. (i.)
Storax, is calefacient, emollient, and digestive. It therefore is useful in coughs, catarrhs, and defluxions; and promotes menstruation both when drunk and applied on a pessary.
Commentary. It is clearly our officinal storax, or Styrax officinale. Dr. Pereira has given the ancient history of this substance so correctly, as to leave us little further to add under the present head. (Mat. Med. 931.) As he states, the storax has been described by Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Pliny, and Dioscorides. The several varieties described by the last of these, Dr. Pereira ingeniously refers to kinds of storax, with which we are still acquainted. The Styrax Calamita is mentioned by our author in the eleventh Section; according to him it is but a variety of the amygdaloid storax, which was formerly imported enveloped in a monocotyledonous leaf. Dioscorides’s description of its medicinal properties agrees well with our author’s, but is considerably fuller. (i, 79.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it like our author. Celsus prescribes it frequently as an emollient, discutient, concoctive, and suppurative medicine. (v, 18, 22, c. &c.) The Arabians treat of it at considerable length, but do not add much of any practical importance to what had been written on it by Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 423); Serapion (c. 46); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 687); Ebn Baithar (ii, 428.) Upon the whole, Serapion’s account appears to us most interesting. His Arabian authority, Isaac Eben Amram, mentions that it was used by the Christians in their churches for fumigations. Avicenna, according to Dr. Hill, is the only one among the Arabians who distinguishes the solid storax, which we have been treating of from the liquid, or Styrax liquidus. It is quite a different substance, being procured from the Liquid amber orientale, according to Dr. Lindley. (Veg. King. 253.)
Ficus, Figs; those which are dried possess heating powers in about the second degree. But those which are fatty rather digest hard tumours; those which are more acrid prove detergent and discutient. The decoction of them, when made of the consistence of honey (which some call siræon), is similar in powers to honey. The powers of the green are weaker, but both loosen the belly. The figs of the wild tree are possessed of acrid and discutient powers like those of the cultivated.
Commentary. See Book I (s. 81.) Pliny enumerates the medicinal properties of figs at great length. Ripe figs are said to be diuretic, laxative, and diaphoretic. Externally they were used as an application to boils and scrofulous swellings. (H. N. xxiii, 63.) See also Dioscorides and Serapion, both of whom give the characters of figs in nearly the same terms as Pliny. No ancient author, however, has treated so elaborately of figs as Avicenna (ii, 2, 276.) His account of them is so lengthy that we dare not venture upon an analysis of it.
Ficus, the Fig-tree, is of a heating and attenuating temperament, so that the juice of it and the sap of the leaves are not only pungent and strongly detergent, but also occasion ulceration, open the mouths of vessels, and remove myrmecia. It is also cathartic. The wild-fig, called caprificus, is in every respect more powerful than the cultivated.
Commentary. See the authorities referred to in the preceding article. Pliny recommends the juice of the caprificus or wild fig-tree (Ficus Carica), as an application to leprosy, psora, and lichen. All the authorities, Greek, Latin, and Arabian, praise it as an application to the wounds of venomous animals. The wild fig-tree is the Ἐρίνεος of Homer. V. Eustath. ‘Comment. in Iliad.’ (vi, 433.) The commentator describes accurately the process of caprification.
Sycomorus, the Sycomore; the fruit is innutritive, and bad for the stomach. The juice of the tree has powers which are emollient, agglutinative of wounds, and discutient of tumours. It is taken in a draught and rubbed in for the bites of reptiles, for scirrhous spleens, pains of the stomach, and rigors.
Commentary. Of course there can be no doubt of its being the Ficus Sycomorus. Galen, Dioscorides, and Serapion detail its medicinal properties in nearly the same terms as our author. Nothing else of any interest can be gathered from the others under this head.
Symphytum, Comfrey; the rock comfrey is composed of opposite powers. For it has some incisive powers by which it cleanses the pus in the chest and the kidneys; and it has also some constringency which renders it a suitable remedy for hæmoptysis, sprained and ruptured parts, the red flux in women, and intestinal hernia. It contains also some hot humidity, by which it quenches thirst and cures asperities in the trachea. The other species, called the Great Comfrey, is glutinous and prurient like squills. It is used for the same purposes as the rock.
Commentary. The second species is indisputably the Symphytum officinale, a plant which the Romans, no doubt, naturalized in this country. The other has been the subject of more controversy. See Parkinson (526) and Matthiolus and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. iv, 9.) We are satisfied that it was the Coris monspeliensis. Our author manifestly abridges Galen, who borrows from Dioscorides, but improves what he takes. They all agree in commending both as being possessed of great virtues as expectorant and vulnerary medicines. Dioscorides particularly commends the latter as an application to inflammations about the anus in a cataplasm, with the leaves of senecio. Neither of these plants is mentioned by Celsus, nor, we believe, by Hippocrates. Avicenna writes hesitatingly about them, but in the main agrees with Dioscorides with regard to their medicinal virtues, more especially in hæmoptysis, ulcers of the intestines, menorrhagia, and as an application to external injuries. (ii, 2, 634.) The Arabians in general seem not to have attached much importance to the symphytum, for, after a cursory examination while writing this article, we have not been able to find it in any of the others except Ebn Baithar, who merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen, under the present head. Apuleius mentions that the Latin name of the symphytum is consolida. Dr. Hill calls it a famous vulnerary both internally and externally, and as such it is highly commended by all our older herbalists. See Parkinson, Culpeper, and Gerard. It would appear also that the other species, the Coris monspeliensis, was employed in the medicine of the Spanish monastic orders as an efficacious vulnerary. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 645.)
Spondylium, Cow-parsnip; the fruit and root are possessed of acrid and cutting powers, so as to cure asthma, epilepsy, and jaundice. The root, when stripped of its bark and put into a fistula, removes its callus. The juice of the flowers of it are injected into the ears as agreeing with chronic ulcers.
Commentary. There seems no reason to doubt of its being the Heracleum Sphondylium. Dioscorides and Pliny recommend it as an application to fistulous ulcers, and in the other cases mentioned by our author. Galen and Oribasius give it the same characters as our author. We have not met with it in the works of Hippocrates, Celsus, and Aëtius. Avicenna draws the characters which he gives it entirely from Dioscorides. (ii, 2, 643.) Ebn Baithar, in describing it, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (ii, 24.) Rhases does the same. (Cont. l. ult. i, 636.) The sphondylium is described as a medicinal herb, possessed of the virtues ascribed to it by the ancients, in the works of our old English herbalists, but it has long ceased to occupy a place in our Dispensatory. Neither is it to be found in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia.
Lentiscus, the Lentisk, in all its parts, belongs to the full second order of desiccants. As to heating and cooling, it holds an intermediate place. It is astringent to such a degree as to approach nearly, in this respect, to the juice of the hypocistis.
Commentary. It is the Pistacia Lentiscus, L., according to the admission of all the commentators. We need scarcely mention that it is the tree from which mastich is procured. Hippocrates was well acquainted with the medical use of it. Pliny says that it acts as a diuretic, but occasions constipation of the bowels. He also mentions that it was used in toothache, and that a decoction of its leaves in a gargle fastened loose teeth. (xxiv, 28.) The same is stated of it by Plinius Valerianus (i, 36), and by Dioscorides (i, 89.) Nay, it would appear, from the following epigram of Martial, that peculiar virtues were ascribed to a toothpick made of the mastich tree:
Dioscorides is the author who has written most elaborately on this article, which he recommends in hæmoptysis, diarrhœa, dysentery, menorrhagia, prolapsus uteri and ani, in affections of the mouth, as already stated, and, in a word, he concludes by saying of its oil, that it is beneficial in all cases requiring astringency. (l. c.) Galen also gives a very sensible account of this tree, which he represents to be an astringent of the same class as hypocistis. Celsus prescribes it on various occasions, as, for example, a decoction of its leaves to suppress immoderate suppuration. (vi, 18.) He ranks it among the astringent and emollient substances. (ii, 33.) All the Arabians treat largely of it, but copy most of their information from Dioscorides and Galen. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 453); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 457); Serapion (De Simpl. 159); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (ii, 518.) In particular all recommend it as a dentifrice and odontalgic, and we need scarcely mention that it still is used in the East for these purposes. See Paris (Pharm. t. ii, 323) and Pereira (1184.) It is stated in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia that it is cultivated in Chios.
Juncus, the Rush; its flower is moderately calefacient, but astringent in a less degree, and is not removed from the nature of attenuating substances. Hence it is diuretic, emmenagogue, and deobstruent in fomentations, potions, and cataplasms. The root of it is more astringent, but the flower hotter. The marsh-rush consists of two varieties. The fruit of the oxyschœnus or Hard-rush, as it is called, is soporific, but that of the holoschœnus less so, and it also occasions headache. Both varieties, if toasted and drunk with wine, dry up fluxes of the belly and restrain the female discharge.
Commentary. It requires some attention not to confound the Schœni with one another. The Schœnanthus, then, is decidedly the Andropogon Schœnanthus, or Lemon-grass. See Dr. Royle (Antiq. of Hindoo Med. 82) and Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 113.) The σ. ἐλεῖα is the Schœnus Holoschœnus; the ὁλοσχοῖνος, the Schœnus mariscus; and the ὀξυσχοῖνος, the Juncus acutus. The first of these is the species most celebrated as a medicine. Thus it is the schœnus of Dioscorides, who represents it as being useful in vomiting of blood, pains of the stomach, lungs, liver, and kidneys, and as being possessed of diuretic, emmenagogue, carminative, subastringent, and other powers. Its decoction, he says, is useful as a hip-bath in inflammations of the womb. (i, 16.) Galen gives a similar account of its virtues. (De Simpl. viii, and De Antidot. i.) The other Greek authorities treat of it very succinctly. Is not this the “flos junci rotundi” of Celsus? (v, 24.) According to Dierbach and, indeed, all the best authorities, it is the σ. ἔυοσμος of Hippocrates (De Mulieb. i, 111), who recommends it along with other aromatics in diseases of the uterus. The Arabians display an intimate acquaintance with the schœnanths. See Avicenna (ii, 2); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 681); Serapion (De Simpl. 103); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 19.) The last of these gives a particularly full account of it, mostly from Arabian authorities. They all agree in representing it as being diuretic, emmenagogue, and alexipharmic, and in recommending it particularly in apostemes of the anus, and in scabies. Its oil, they say, is efficacious in removing lassitude. The schœnanth held a place in our Dispensatory as late as the times of Quincy (i, 1, 12) and Lewis (ii, 20.) Upon consulting the modern authors quoted above, it will be seen that it is still well known in the East.
Sori, resembles misy in its powers, consisting of much grosser particles.
Commentary. We feel that we must still add something to what we have said of this substance under the head of Misy. The following description of it, by a great modern authority, who appears to have been well acquainted with it, deserves not to be overlooked: “Rusma or Sory. A mixt mineral, blackish, hard, heavy, and of a cavernous or spongy structure, of a disagreeable smell, and nauseous, vitriolic taste; and often covered with dusty efflorescences on the surface. It is composed of vitriol, sulphur, and an earthy matter. The ancients called it sory. We have it in our Derbyshire mines, but it is not regarded. It was used as a depilatory by the Greeks, and is so by the Turks at this time. Taken inwardly it vomits instantaneously and very roughly; it contains a cupreous vitriol, and hence its emetic quality.”—Boerhaave’s Materia Medica, translated by Goade (227.) See under Chalcitis. Dioscorides calls it blackish, fetid, and nauseating, and possessed of caustic powers: he recommends it in toothache, as an application to vari, as an injection with wine in sciatica, &c. (v, 118.) Galen says it is not soluble like misy and chalcitis, but does not materially differ from them in medicinal powers. Celsus prescribes it along with opium, pepper, and galbanum as a stuffing to carious teeth. (vi, 9.) Avicenna, like Galen, says it is insoluble in water, and, like Dioscorides, he prescribes it in sciatica and diseases of the teeth. (ii, 2, 47.) We have stated above that Serapion describes the sory along with the other two under the general head of vitriolum, and the specific name of Zeg rubeum; and that he merely translates Dioscorides and Galen. (c. 386.) Rhases, in like manner, gives from Dioscorides and Galen a description of misy, sory, and chalcitis under the general head of vitriolum. He calls the sory, vitriolum ruffum, and, like Dioscorides, recommends it in carious teeth and in sciatica. His only Arabian authority, Bimasui, says of the vitriolum that it dries the lungs strongly, and in this way may prove fatal. (Cont l. ult. i, 747.) It is the vitriolum rubeum of Averrhoes. (Collig. v, 43.) In the most barbarous translation of Haly Abbas it is scarcely possible to extract any proper meaning from his description of the three vitriols. (Pract. ii, 48.) The lengthy account which Ebn Baithar gives of them is mostly made up of extracts from Dioscorides, Galen, and Avicenna. (ii, 510.) Some have thought the sory of Pliny different from that of the others, but, as far as we can see, without any good reason. Like Dioscorides, he recommends it in diseases of the teeth and spreading ulcers of the mouth. He says it is a thing so offensive to the stomach, that the very smell of it will sometimes excite vomiting. (H. N. xxxiv, 30.)
Salsamenta, Pickles; their flesh is possessed of acrid and desiccative powers. They are given, therefore, to persons bitten by the viper prester, that they may eat as much as possible, and drink of wine freely, and vomit. They also are suitable to the regimen of acrid food; and are applied with advantage to persons bitten by dogs and other reptiles.
Commentary. Pickled Fish. It appears from Dioscorides and Xenocrates that the tunny (Scomber Thynnus) was accounted the best pickle, and it was accordingly most used in medical practice. Galen recommends the brine of pickled fish as an injection in dysentery, and a stimulant lotion to sores on all parts of the body. Serapion gives the same account of it as Dioscorides and Galen. Symeon Seth forbids us to eat pickles after venesection, as they are apt to occasion alphos and scabies. It seems highly probable that indigestible substances, if taken into the stomach when the veins are empty, may be rapidly absorbed, and give rise to the formation of humours, of which nature may endeavour to free the system by casting them forth by the skin.
Taurocolla (called by some Xylocolla), is a glutinous substance made from the hides of oxen, and is of considerably detergent powers. Hence, when dissolved in vinegar, it removes lichen and superficial leprosies; and it prevents burns from getting inflamed when dissolved in hot water. It is also a suitable application for wounds when triturated with oxymel.
Commentary. Pliny says of it, “Glutinum præstantissimum fit ex auribus taurorum et genitalibus. Nec quidquam efficacius prodest ambustis.” (H. N. xxviii, 72.) Dioscorides and Avicenna recommend it in the cases mentioned by our author. It will readily be perceived that it was a species of gelatin. See Κόλλα.
Tellinæ, Limpets; when pickled and burnt, their ashes are caustic; when mixed with cedar rosin and applied to the parts from which the hairs of the eyebrows have been torn out by the roots, it prevents them from growing again.
Commentary. According to Matthiolus, they are a species of mussels. They are different, however, from the Mytili edules, L. Our author’s account of them is taken from Dioscorides, and is repeated by Avicenna.
Terebinthus, Turpentine, is heating in the second degree, and desiccative, when green, in the first, but when dried, in the second. The fruit, when dried, belongs to the third order of desiccants. It is, therefore, diuretic and useful for the spleen.
Commentary. It is the Pistacia Terebinthus L. Dioscorides states that its fruit is hot, diuretic, and aphrodisiacal. He recommends it internally for the bites of the phalangia. Of the turpentine resin we have treated under the head of the Resinæ. The ancients, as we have stated, were very familiar with the brown or black rosin, called colophony. (i, 91.) According to Dr. Hill, the Chian turpentine rosin was the turpentine of the ancients. Pliny likewise recommends it in retention of urine, and as a gentle laxative. He adds, “venerem excitat.” (H. N. xxiv, 18.) Our author’s account of it is condensed from Galen. The turpentines, and more especially the resin, are frequently prescribed by Celsus. They occur also in the Hippocratic treatises. Turpentine was much used in applications to cutaneous diseases and ulcers. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 303) and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 342.) Serapion treats of this article under the same head with the lentiscus. He copies from Dioscorides. (De Simpl. 153.) See Ebn Baithar (ii, 144.)
Cicadæ; some, having dried them raw, give them to drink in colic affections to the number of three, five, or seven, with an equal number of grains of pepper. Others roast them and give them to drink to those who have affections of the bladder.
Commentary. The τέττιξ of the Greeks and the cicada of the Romans was not the grasshopper, as has been often represented, but the insect which has been more properly called the tree-hopper in English, namely the cicale of the Italians. The species here noticed was most probably the Cicada orni. Dioscorides merely recommends them in diseases of the bladder. (ii, 56.) Pliny gives a very interesting description of them, but it contains nothing which, in a medical point of view, would suit our present purpose. (H. N. xi, 32.) Our author follows Galen. (De Simpl. xi.) They do not occur in the works of Celsus, nor have we been able to discover traces of them in any of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who, in treating of them, merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 555.)
Beta, Beet, is of a nitrous nature. Hence it is detergent and discutient, and purges by the nose; but especially the white species. When boiled it becomes anti-inflammatory and slightly discutient.
Commentary. It evidently is the Beta vulgaris L. The white and black kinds were, we presume, merely varieties; but this does not seem sufficiently clear. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 752) and Lewis (Mat. Med.) Dioscorides recommends the beet for various medicinal purposes, for clearing the head by occasioning a discharge from the nose, as a remedy for earache; a decoction of its leaves for eruptive diseases and chilblains; and also as an application to exanthemata, burns, and erysipelas. (ii, 49.) Galen gives the same account of it as our author. Aëtius is fuller; he further recommends it particularly as a deobstruent in diseases of the liver and spleen. The beet is mentioned as an edible plant by Hippocrates. (De Vict. Acut.) See also Celsus (ii, 18.) Serapion (c. 148) and Avicenna recommend the leaves of beet as an application to burns and impetigo, (ii, 2, 636.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 127.) All the authorities say that the beet is possessed of nitrous properties, by which they probably mean saline, the ancient nitrum being a species of native soda, resembling salt. It is now well known that beetroot by boiling yields a saccharine salt in considerable abundance. The beet held a place in our Dispensatory as late as the time of Lewis. We have treated of it as an article of food in Book I.
Teucrium, Tree Germander, is a calefacient of the second order, and a desiccant of the third. Its powers are also incisive and subtile, and hence it cures the spleen.
Commentary. It is not well decided whether it be the Teucrium Marum or the Teucrium flavum. Pliny’s account of it is very confused, and Harduin thinks that his T. is the hemionitis of Dioscorides. (Ad H. N. xxv, 20.) Apuleius, in like manner, identifies the hemionon and the teucrium. (De Herbis, 56.) Dioscorides, like our author, recommends it for reducing the spleen, both when given internally and when applied externally in a cataplasm, and also as an application to the bites of venomous animals. (iii, 110.) Our author borrows from Galen. We have not been able to discover it in the works either of Hippocrates or of Celsus. Neither have we found it in the works of the Arabians. Dr. Sontheimer, the German translator of Ebn Baithar, identifies the Teucrium Marum with the Chamædrys of Dioscorides, and the T. flavum with his Teucrium. (ii, 466.) It is long since the Teucrium Marum disappeared from our Dispensatory, but it is still not wholly unknown in the shops of the apothecaries, where it is reputed to be emmenagogue. The T. flavum is also to be found in the shops, and has still the reputation of being useful in diseases of the liver and spleen. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 49.)
Cinis, Ashes; all kinds have not exactly the same temperament, but they vary according to the difference of the wood that has been burnt. The ashes, then, of sour things, such as the oak and the ilex, have no small degree of astringency, so that they will restrain hemorrhage when no other remedy is at hand. That from acrid substances, such as the ashes of the fig and the spurge, become more acrid and detergent.
Commentary. These Cineres were pearlashes, consisting of the carbonate of potass mixed with various impurities. Galen remarks, that they are the residue of vegetable substances which have been burnt, being composed of contrary qualities, for that they have something terrene in them, and also something of a fuliginous nature. When, then, they have been dissolved in water and strained, what remains is terrene and devoid of pungency. Our author borrows from him his particular characters of the different cineres. They were much used by the ancient physicians as caustic and stimulant applications. Rhases says that they possess an igneous nature, and are useful in dissolving soft tumours. (Ad Mansor. iii, 47.) See also (Cont. l. ult. i, 214.) In the latter work he borrows principally from Galen and our author. Avicenna recommends the ashes of mezereon in quinsy, and as a stimulant to the sight. The aqua cineris, he says, is one of the septic medicines. (ii, 2, 188.) The burnt lees of wine belong to this class. See Κονία and Τρῦξ ὄινου.
Telephium, Orpine, is a calefacient of the first order, but a desiccant of the second. It is also detergent; and hence it is a suitable application to putrid ulcers, and cures leuce and alphos with vinegar.
Commentary. We think with Sibthorp and Sprengel, that it is not the Sedum Telephium, but the Cerinthe minor. See also Parkinson (520.) Dioscorides recommends it principally in the forms of leprosy. (ii, 217.) Galen’s characters of it agree with those of our author. It does not occur in the works either of Hippocrates or of Celsus, neither have we been able to observe any distinct traces of it in those of the Arabians, unless, which seems highly probable, it be the thelopium of Ebn Baithar, as his German translator conjectures. (ii. 164.)
Fœnum Græcum, Fenugreek, is heating in the second order, but desiccative in the first; hence it expedites the progress of all hot phlegmons; and those which are less hot, and such as are scirrhous, it cures by discussing them.
Commentary. Without doubt it is the Trigonella Fœnum Græcum. It occurs in the works of Hippocrates. (De Mulieb. i, 617.) It is, unquestionably, the “Fœnum Græcum” of Celsus, who enumerates it as an ingredient in an emollient pessary (v, 21), and in a soothing cataplasm. (ii, 33.) It is prescribed repeatedly by Aretæus, both internally and externally. Dioscorides recommends the powder of it in the form of a cataplasm to various inflammations, both internal and external; as an ingredient in a medicated bath for diseases of the female organs, and as a pessary in the same, an injection of its decoction for tenesmus and fetid discharges from the bowels, and for other purposes. (ii, 125.) Pliny gives a full account of its medicinal virtues, in which a considerable portion but not the whole is derived from Dioscorides. He says that Damon gave its seeds in a draught to promote menstruation. He also mentions its being taken in ulceration of the chest and chronic coughs. (xxiv, 120.) Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius give its characters in nearly the same terms as our author. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 246); Serapion (De Simpl.); Rhases (Cont l. ult. i, 294); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (i, 333.) Though these authors, and especially Avicenna, treat at great length of this article, it does not appear that they applied it in many more cases than as they had been taught by the Greeks. They recommend it, however, with oil of roses, as an application to burns, and as an ingredient in collyria. They say the oil of it cures fetor of the breath and the perspiration, and of the alvine discharges. They all commend it as being diuretic, emmenagogue, and promoting impregnation. They further represent it as being an excellent expectorant in diseases of the chest. Upon reference to Quincy (i, 4, 219), it will be seen that in his time the fenugreek still maintained the characters assigned to it by the ancient authorities. It has now disappeared from our Dispensatory, but is still retained in the Greek Pharmacopœia. (Athens, 1837.)
Tithymalli, Spurges; all the species of it are of the fourth order of calefacients, with acrimony and strong bitterness; but the root being weaker, when boiled with vinegar, allays the pains of carious teeth. The juices being stronger are applied to the hollow of teeth; but if they touch the rest of the body they burn it; and therefore they remove the hairs if rubbed in for a short time. They also remove myrmecia, acrochordones, and the like, and clear away affections of the skin, and cure ill-conditioned and phagedænic ulcers. There being seven species of this plant, the strongest are the Characias (Wood Spurge), and the Myrsinitis (Myrtle-leaved Spurge), and that growing upon rocks, Arboreus (Tree Spurge); but next in order are, that species which resembles Pettymullein (Broad-leaved Spurge), and the Cyparissias (Cypress Spurge), and then the Maritimus (Sea Spurge), and the Helioscopius (Sun Spurge or Wartwort.)
Commentary. That the Tithymalli of the ancients are all referable to the genus Euphorbia or Spurge, cannot admit of any doubt. Dioscorides, Pliny, Apuleius, and, in a word, most of the ancient authorities, like our Paulus, describe seven medicinal species, to which we may venture to give the following names in the botanical nomenclature of the present time. 1. Euphorbia characias. 2. E. myrsinites. 3. E. paralias. 4. E. helioscopia. 5. E. cyparissias. 6. E. dendroides. 7. E. platyphyllos. See Sprengel (Ad Dioscor.); Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 277); German Translation of Ebn Baithar (ii, 525); Miller (Gard. Dict.) Besides these, the medical authors treat of several other species of spurge by particular names, as lathyris, peplis, thymelæa, &c. The tithymallus was called “lactuca marina” by the Romans (Celsus v, 7), and also “lactaria” and “lactuca caprina.” See Pliny, who gives a full account of the spurges. (H. N. xxvi, 39, 46.) These plants are treated of at so great a length by Dioscorides and the other authorities, that we cannot possibly find space for an exposition of their particular views. All, however, agree in giving them nearly the same characters as our author, who, in the present instance, is indebted in part to Dioscorides, and in part to Galen. Several of them are noticed by Hippocrates. For the Arabians, see Serapion (De Simpl. 360); Avicenna (ii, 2, 421); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 718); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Ebn Baithar (l. c.) They recommend them in the same cases as the Greeks, without supplying any new views of much importance. They prescribe a few drops of the juice of spurge poured upon a fig as a phlegmagogue. They further recommend them in malignant ulcers and those attended with caries of the bones. And here, by the way, we may be allowed to mention that a modern authority confirms what the ancients say of the efficacy of the spurges in this case. Sec Hildanus (x, c. ii, 2.) In the present age, we have discarded such purgatives as the spurges, whether wisely or not we will not take upon ourselves to say.
Calx, Lime; the Calx viva (Quicklime) burns strongly so as to form eschars; when slacked, it forms eschars at first, but not so after some days. It contracts, however, and wastes the flesh. When washed it loses it pungency, if this is often done with water; but if in sea-water, it becomes decidedly detergent.
Commentary. It appears from Dioscorides that the Lime used by the ancient physicians, was prepared by calcination from shells, pebbles, or marble, which last is the best of all. Pliny, Vitruvius, and Palladius say, that the best lime is got from hard, white stone. Lime was much used as a caustic and stimulant application. The Ἄσβεστος of the Greek Mat. Med. invariably, we believe, signifies quicklime, and is never applied to the mineral which now bears that name. Dioscorides says, all kinds of quicklime have a fiery, biting, caustic, and escharotic power; when mixed with other things as suet or oil, it becomes digestive, emollient, depilatory, and epulotic; and that which is recent and free from water is more efficacious. (v, 132.) Pliny recommends it in the same cases, and also as an application to luxations and strumæ. (H. N. xxxvi, 57.) See also Plinius Valerianus (iii, 20.) Celsus places it in his list of corrosive and caustic substances. (v, 6, 8.) Our author’s account of this article is condensed from Galen. Aëtius and Oribasius give nearly the same account of it as Dioscorides and Galen. Quicklime was used as a medicine in the Hippocratic age. (See Erotianus.) For the Arabians, consult Avicenna (ii, 2, 144); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 20, i, 445); Serapion (De Simpl. 412); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 44); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 43); Ebn Baithar (ii, 387.) All these authorities, including even the last, who is by far the most original of their writers on the Mat. Med., borrow under this head almost all their information from Dioscorides and Galen. Avicenna praises it as an application to burns.
Tragacantha, Tragacanth, has similar powers to gum.
Commentary. The ancient Tragacanth was identical with the modern, which is yielded by Astragalus verus, and similar spiny species. See Lindley (Veg. King. 548.) According to Sibthorp, the Astragalus aristatus is the one which most commonly grows in the Peleponnesus, and he holds that it produces the T. of Dioscorides. (Prod. Fl. Græc. ii, 90.) Dioscorides, like our author, states, that in virtue it resembles gum, and recommends it in ophthalmic remedies, for roughness of the windpipe, loss of speech, and epistaxis, in a linctus with honey. He also recommends it when allowed to melt below the tongue, for pain of the kidneys and bladder, when mixed with hartshorn burnt and washed, and a little fissile alum. (iii, 20.) Galen and the other Greek authorities state its virtues in very general terms. It is an ingredient in more than one of the collyria of Celsus (vi, 6), and is prescribed by him for various other purposes. Of the Arabians, Ebn Baithar is the one who gives the fullest account of it. (ii, 350.) See also Avicenna (ii, 2, 220.) In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia the Astragalus aristatus is described as producing the tragacanth. It is there said to be common in the Peleponnesus.
Tragium, Stinking St. John’s Wort, is a plant in Crete resembling the lentisk, being hot in the third degree, and possessed of attractive, discutient, and attenuant powers. It extracts sharp-pointed weapons of wood, and proves lithontriptic and emmenagogue when drunk to the amount of a drachm. Another species, which is bitterer than this, resembling the ceterach, grows everywhere. It is sufficiently astringent so as to agree with fluxes.
Commentary. From the description which Dioscorides gives of the former species, we need have little hesitation in setting it down for the Hypericum hircinum. In the other, the name Tragium Columnæ has been assigned from the name of a celebrated botanist. Dioscorides and Galen ascribe to it very nearly the same virtues as our author. Neither of these plants occurs in the works of Hippocrates or Celsus. Neither have we been successful in searching for it in the works of the Arabians, with the exception of those of Ebn Baithar, who merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen under this head. (ii, 155.)
Tragoriganon, has powers resembling marjoram, with the addition of some astringency.
Commentary. The two species described by Dioscorides probably are the Thymus Tragoriganum L., and the Stachys glutinosa. According to him, they are heating, diuretic, and wholesome when the decoction is drunk; they occasion bilious dejections; are useful in diseases of the spleen when taken with vinegar, and also to persons who have swallowed ixia. They are emmenagogue, and are given in coughs and pneumonia in a linctus with honey. It makes an agreeable potion, and hence is given to persons affected with nausea, indigestion, and acid eructations, and who are subject to anxiety, nausea, and heat of the hypochondria. In a cataplasm with polenta they also discuss tumours. (iii, 32.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it very briefly. Celsus calls it diuretic and discutient. (iii, 21, &c.) We have not been able to find these plants in the works of the Arabians.
Tribolus, the Caltrop, is moderately refrigerant; the land species is strongly desiccative, but the water slightly so, and it is moistening. Both are befitting remedies in incipient inflammations and other influxes. The fruit of the land caltrop, consisting of subtile parts, breaks renal calculi.
Commentary. It seems to be clearly made out that the one is the Tribulus terrestris, and the other the Trapa natans. According to Pliny, their juices are anti-inflammatory, and form a proper application to phlegmons and ulcers; an ingredient in collyria; discuss strumæ, and prove lithontriptic. (H. N. xxii, 12.) He borrows this account of them, however, mostly from Dioscorides. (iv, 15.) Our author manifestly copies from Galen, and both Aëtius and Oribasius do the same. We have not found them in the works of Hippocrates and Celsus. The Arabians treat of them at more length than the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 382); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 721); Serapion (c. 112); Ebn Baithar (i, 307.) They recommend both species as being aphrodisiac, lithontriptic, and diuretic. Both the species here described, that is to say, the Trapa natans and Tribulus terrestris, although they have been long excluded from our Dispensatories, are still not wholly unknown in the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharm. 81, 117.)
Tragus, a species of Frumentacea, is like far (spelt), but more indigestible and laxative.
Commentary. The method of preparing it is thus described in the Geoponica. Spelt is to be steeped and stripped of its hull, and dried in the warm sun; then the same thing is to be done until the skin and fibrous part of the grain drop off. (Geop. iii, 8.) Pliny, however, seems to make it a peculiar species of grain. “Far sine arista est: item siligo. Adjiciuntur his genera, bromos, siligo excepta, et tragos, externa omnia ab Oriente invecta, oryzæ similia.” (H. N. xviii, 20.) Galen and Oribasius call it spelt deprived of the hull. Dioscorides also describes a shrub of this name, which there can be no doubt is the Ephedra distachya. He describes it as being very styptic to the taste, and recommends it in cæliac affections and in fluor albus. (iv, 51.) It appears singular that none of the other authorities, as far as we can discover, has noticed it, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who merely gives a translation of the chapter of Dioscorides on it. (ii, 156.) The Asiatic Ephedras were formerly kept in the shops as styptics. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 234.)
Trigla, the fish Surmullet, when frequently eaten, occasions dimness of vision. When cut in pieces and applied raw, it cures the bite of the sea-dragon, of the scorpion, and of the spider.
Commentary. It is the Mullus barbatus L. According to Coray (Ad Xenocrat.), it is the Surmullet. R. Stephens likewise calls it by this name. It is the “Barbatulus mullus” of Cicero. (Paradox, v, 2.) We have treated of it as an article of food in the First Book. Dioscorides, Galen, and all the authorities that notice it, give it the same characters in a medicine as our author. It does not appear that the Arabians describe it.
Tripolium; the root is hot in the third degree and acrid.
Commentary. We shall have an opportunity in our Appendix to discuss the question, whether or not this be the Turpeth of the Arabians, as has been often stated. We may just mention in this place, that Sprengel is inclined to refer it to the Plumbago Europæa, a plant which seems to agree very well with the characters of the present article, inasmuch as its root is peculiarly acrid. See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 641.) Dioscorides says of it, that its root is hot to the taste, and that when drunk with wine it discharges water and urine from the belly, and that it is used as an alexipharmic. (iv, 133.) Galen and the other Greek authorities call it acrid to the taste and hot in the third degree. For the reason already stated we shall not enter upon an exposition of the views of the Arabians in this place.
Pili, Hairs, when burnt have similar powers to burnt wool.
Commentary. Our author follows Galen. The Arabians recommend burnt hairs as an application to foul ulcers, and the bite of a mad dog. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 191), and Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 52, 552.)
Pastinaca marina; its sting when pressed upon a weak tooth breaks it, and makes it fall out.
Commentary. We have treated of the Pastinaca marina in Book V. Scarifications of the gums with the sting of this fish in cases of difficult dentition are recommended by Marcellus Sideta and Pliny (H. N. xxxii, 26.)
Fæx Vini, the Lees of Wine, when unburnt is compounded, being decidedly desiccative and discutient. But astringency is superadded according to the species of wine from which it is formed. It is, therefore, to be used in complaints of a humid nature and fluxes. It discusses phygethla, and extinguishes the milk in over-distended breasts. The burnt lees become caustic, so as often to be mixed with caustic applications. It, therefore, removes leprous nails with rosin, and dyes the hair yellow, when rubbed for a whole night with oil of lentisk. When washed it is used as an ingredient in the detergent remedies of the eyes; that of vinegar is stronger in every respect than the lees of wine, and more astringent.
Commentary. The lees of wine and of vinegar are strong preparations of potass, and were among the most powerful caustics with which the ancients were acquainted. Hence Celsus ranks “fæx combusta” among the “adurentia.” (v, 8.) Dioscorides is the ancient author who gives the fullest description of this article. He says the best is that procured from old Italian wine, or, failing it, from any similar wine; and that the fæx aceti is possessed of intense powers. Some, he says, burn it upon fresh shells, and some upon heated coals. He says it is possessed of strongly caustic, detergent, escharotic, styptic, very septic and desiccative powers. The fæx, must be used when recent, for it soon evaporates, and hence it must not be left uncovered, nor without its vessel. It is washed like pompholyx. The unburnt, he adds, discusses tumours by itself, and with myrtle; when applied as a cataplasm it represses defluxions of the belly and stomach; and when applied in like manner to the lower part of the abdomen and genitals, it mitigates the female fluor; it dissipates hard tumours which are not ulcerated; when rubbed in with vinegar, it represses swelled breasts; the burnt with rosin, removes leprous nails; rubbed in with oil of privet for a whole night, it makes the hairs yellow; when washed, it is applicable in diseases of the eyes, like spodos, and thus clears away cicatrices and clouds on the eye. (v, 131.) Pliny recommends it likewise as an application to various cutaneous diseases, and complaints of the eyes. He commends it as an antidote to mushrooms. The lees of vinegar, he says, are more escharotic. Its strength, he says, is increased by being burnt. When applied on a tent it cleans the genital organ of females. (H. N. xxiii, 32.) See in like manner Plinius Valer. (iii, 51.) Avicenna directs us to keep the lees in a close vessel, and not expose them to the air. He says that the fæx aceti is a medicine of great powers, and stronger than any of the others. In short, his account of the lees of wine and vinegar is almost entirely borrowed from Dioscorides (ii, 2, 241.) Rhases, in like manner, copies from Dioscorides and our author. (Cont. l. ult. i, 296.) See Serapion (De Simpl. 36); Ebn Baithar (i, 419.)
Troglodyta, is a Sparrow, the smallest of all birds, with the exception of the one called regulus; and living principally in hedges. This animal when pickled, and eaten either roasted or raw, breaks down stones in the kidneys; and its ashes when burnt, if taken in a draught, do the same thing.
Commentary. We have mentioned in Book III, that this small species of sparrow was supposed to possess great powers as a lithontriptic. Drelincurtius calls it the wren. (Mangeti Bibl. Chirurg. i, 254.) We, however, are inclined to think that it was the Accentor modularis or hedge-sparrow. Our author, as far as we have been able to discover, is the only one of the authorities who has included this animal in the Materia Medica; but he borrows his description of it from Aëtius, (iii, 3, 11.)
Caseus, Cheese; that which is new made, and soft, has repellent powers, cooling gently, so as when applied to agglutinate wounds. That called oxygalactinus acquires slightly discutient powers in addition, and is more agglutinative of wounds. Old cheese, especially such as is fatty, becomes discutient, so as to be a fit application to tophi in arthritic complaints, particularly along with the decoction of swines’ flesh pickled and fat.
Commentary. Our author’s account of the medicinal properties of Cheese is mostly abridged from Galen. The kind called oxygalactinus is the same, we suppose, as the “Caseus acidus cum oxymelite” of Pliny. (H. N. xxviii, 34.) Galen says that it was used about Pergamus; see also Dioscorides (ii, 79.) According to Avicenna, fresh cheese is a good application to recent ulcers, and old cheese to ill-conditioned ulcers. He recommends cheese with the brine of bacon as a discutient application to arthritic chalk-stones. He speaks favorably of fresh cheese as an application in ophthalmia. (ii, 2, 123.) He treats more fully of this article than any other writer on the Mat. Med., with the exception of Ebn Baithar, who gives a long dissertation on the properties of cheese, both as an article of food and as a medicine. (i, 239.) Serapion merely gives extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. (De Simpl. 157.)
Hyacinthus, Hyacinth; its root being bulbous-shaped belongs to the first order of desiccants and the second of refrigerants. If applied in a cataplasm with wine, it is believed to keep children long from coming to puberty. The fruit is gently detergent and astringent. It is, therefore, given in cases of jaundice with wine, being more desiccative but less refrigerant.
Commentary. Without doubt, as Sprengel and Matthiolus state, it is the Hyacinthus orientalis L. Pliny, Dioscorides, and Avicenna enumerate its medicinal properties nearly in the same terms as our author. They further recommend it as a theriac and alexipharmic. It has long been unknown to British Pharmacy.
Vitrum, Glass, when pounded and drunk with a thin white wine is said to break down stones in the bladder.
Commentary. Aristophanes, we believe, is the first writer who makes mention of glass, since the Orphic remains, in which it is noticed, are now generally supposed of a later date. In his comedy of “Acharnenses,” an ambassador from the court of Persia is made to say that he had drunk undiluted wine out of vessels of glass and gold. (Acharn. l. 74.) In his “Nubes” he mentions burning mirrors of glass. It is also mentioned in the Timæus of Plato. Pliny gives an interesting account of the invention of glass. (H. N. xxxvi, 65.) Glass appears to have been in common use about his time and afterwards, for we find Dioscorides directing to keep certain medicines in vessels of glass; and Actuarius recommends to have pots-de-chambre made of glass in order to facilitate the observations upon the urine. From a passage in Pliny it would appear that imitations of the precious stones were commonly made in glass in his time with foil or the like placed under it. (H. N. xxvii.) On the glass cups of the ancients, see Strabo (xvi); Athen. (xviii, 28, ed. Schw.); and Salmasius. (Ad Solin. 769.) From the following passage in the works of Lactantius it appears that glass was used by the ancients in windows: “Manifestius est, mentem esse, quæ per oculos ea quæ sunt opposita transpiciat quasi per fenestras perlucente vitro aut speculari lapide obductas.” (De Opificio Dei, 8.) We need scarcely say that glass has been found in the ruins of Pompeii of late much more plenteous than was expected from the ideas which were formerly entertained of its scarcity in ancient times. The hyalus or vitrum, however, was a term applied to crystal as well as to glass. By the medical authors, we suppose, it is generally applied to the former; for Avicenna says quaintly of vitrum, that it is among stones what a fool is among men, that is to say, it is easily made to assume any colour, and is easily broken into pieces. This article does not occur in the Mat. Med. of Dioscorides. Galen prescribes it medicinally on various occasions: thus like our author, he says of burnt crystal or glass, that it is lithontriptic (De Renum Affect.), and recommends the same for drying ulcers (De Comp. Med. sec. gen. iv), and also calls it a good diuretic (De Simpl. v.) Our author borrows his paragraph on this subject from Aëtius. (ii, 31.) It is never prescribed medicinally by any more of the Greek or Roman authorities. It is regularly treated of, however, by the Arabians in their systems of the Mat. Med. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 720); Serapion (De Simpl. 382); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 748); Ebn Baithar (i, 723); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 47.) (?) Of these Serapion is the authority that treats most fully of this article. He quotes Galen as saying of it, that it is hot in the fourth degree. He says there are two kinds, the sandy and the stony; that when vitrum is set fire to, and a magnet is mixed up with it, it becomes coagulated owing to its ductility. He says of it that it has various colours, as white, like crystal, which is the colour of the best kind, red, yellow, green, and azure. He then says, like Avicenna, that glass is among stones what a fool is among men, and so forth. He adds that crystal is a species of glass (vitrum) which is found in a mineral state. As to its medicinal properties, he says it is hot in the first degree, and dry in the second; that it removes furfures of the head, and is applied to the head and beard as a depilatory. When pounded and drunk with wine, it is lithontriptic. One of his Arabian authorities, Aben Mesuai, says glass is good for the lungs and for baldness. Avicenna further recommends it as a dentifrice, and as an application to remove albugo of the eye, in which case, he adds, the burnt is most efficacious. There is nothing of any interest further on what is written of it by Rhases, Haly Abbas, and Ebn Baithar (l. c.) We may mention in conclusion that although glass has long been excluded from the practice of the regular physician, we have often heard of powdered glass having been used by empirics, and certainly in some cases with good effect, to remove opacities of the cornea. See also Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 260.)
Tuber Terræ, Truffle, is composed of a very terrene substance, with a slight degree of attenuating power.
Commentary. We have treated of Truffles in the 77th section of Book I. It is the Tuber Cibarium L.
Hydrargyrum, Mercury, is scarcely used for medical purposes, being deleterious. But some having burnt it, so as to reduce it to ashes, and mixed it with other articles, have given it to drink in cases of colic and ileus.
Commentary. We have given some account of the ancient opinions on this subject in Book V. From the statement of our author it will be perceived that the Greek physicians made little use of this important article in the practice of medicine. Rhases, Avicenna, Haly Abbas, and Serapion recommend it as an application for scabies, lice, and malignant ulcers. Avicenna says the vapour of it induces paralysis, tremblings, spasms, and contractions of the limbs. He adds that the vapour of it is destructive of sight, and brings on fetor of the breath (ii, 2, 46.) Serapion gives exactly the same account of it. (De Simpl. 385.) See also Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 75); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 48, 501); Ebn Baithar (i, 553.) Galen admits that he had no experience of it as proving destructive, either internally or externally. (De Simpl. ix.) It is remarked by Dutens that Dioscorides’s description of the method of preparing mercury from cinnabar is the first account of the process of distillation which we possess. (v, 70.) Pliny copies the same. (H. N. xxxiii, 8.)
Hydropiper, Water-pepper, is a hot herb, but not so much so as pepper. When applied green along with its fruit it discusses hypopia and scirrhous tumours.
Commentary. It is the Polygonum Hydropiper, known by the vulgar name of Arse-smart. The other authorities recommend it as a stimulant application to discuss tumours and suggillations. See in particular Dioscorides (ii, 190), and Galen (De Simpl. viii.) The Arabians treat of it succinctly in much the same terms. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 551); Avicenna (ii, 2, 551.)
Aqua, Water; the best, and that which is unmixed with other matters, is cooling and diluent by its own proper substance. Having got acquired heat, as long as it preserves this it heats, but when it becomes cold, it cools. That which has a certain admixture, such as of natron or bitumen, acquires the property of the substance which is mixed with it. Rain water has some astringency, for which it is mixed with ophthalmic remedies. The qualities of the best water have been enumerated in Book I.
Commentary. It is fully treated of by us in Book I. See in particular Pliny (H. N. xxxi, 21); Avicenna (ii, 2, 58); and Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 706.)
Hyoscyamus, Henbane; that species which has black seed, and that which has yellow, are deleterious. The fittest for medicine is that species, the seed and flower of which are white, being of the third order of refrigerants.
Commentary. Dioscorides describes with considerable precision three species of hyoscyamus, deriving their specific differences from the colour of the seed, the first being black, the second yellow, and the third white. The first two he rejects as being highly dangerous, by inducing delirium and sleep. The first of these we are inclined to think must be Hyoscyamus niger, a well-known plant, which was most probably naturalized in this country by the Romans for medicinal purposes. The second was probably a variety of it, or H. aureus; and the third the H. albus. He gives minute directions for preparing the juice of it, which he recommends as an ingredient in anodyne collyria, for hot and acrid rheums, earache, and complaints about the uterus; and with flour for inflammations of the eyes, feet, &c. Its seed, he says, is applicable for coughs, catarrhs, defluxions, and pains of the eyes; for menorrhagia, and other hemorrhages, when taken in a draught with poppy-seed and hydromel. He recommends it as forming an anodyne cataplasm, for gout, swelling of the testicles, or swelled mammæ after parturition. He speaks highly of the leaves in all these cases, and for every kind of pain. Three or four leaves, he says, cure the remittent fever called hepialus. He states that the leaves, if taken internally, and as had been said, when applied as a clyster, induce mental alienation. He concludes with stating that the root with vinegar forms a gargle in toothache. (iv, 69.) The hyoscyamus of Hippocrates was no doubt the albus. See Sprengel and Dierbach. The leaves, the root, the seed, and the juice of the henbane are all used by Celsus in the practice of medicine. He gives a formula for a pill consisting of mandragora, parsley-seed, and seed of henbane, which he says is soporific (v, 25.) Pliny describes confusedly four or five species or varieties of henbane. He says not much in favour of any of them as medicines. (H. N. xxxv, 17.) See also Scribonius Largus (c. 181), and Apuleius (c. 4.) Galen and Aëtius treat of it in nearly the same terms as our author. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 348); Serapion (c. 340); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 377, ii, 380); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Haly Abbas (Pract. ii.) Of these Avicenna is the fullest on this head, and yet he borrows almost everything from Dioscorides. Of the three species which they all describe, he represents the white as being the only one fit to be used as a medicine. Serapion copies closely from Dioscorides and Galen. The ancient characters of the several species of henbane are given to them by Platearius, and by our old herbalists Parkinson and Gerard. It is singular that the black henbane has supplanted the white, which was in common use 200 years ago. See Franciscus de le Boe (xx, 34.) It it also worthy of remark, that about 100 years ago the henbane had wholly disappeared from the Dispensatory. Thus Quincy does not treat of it at all, and Lewis represents it as a medicine which had been deservedly expelled from practice. In Greece at the present day the white species is much more common than the black. Both have a place in the Greek Pharmacopœia, published at Athens in 1837 (p. 81.)
Hypericum, St. John’s Wort, consists of two species, the first of which, called Androsæmum or Ascyron, has been treated of. The other is heating and desiccative, consisting of a subtile substance. Hence the whole fruit of it is diuretic and emmenagogue. When applied green along with its leaves it cicatrizes wounds. It cures sores when sprinkled dry upon them. It is also given to drink in ischiatic complaints.
Commentary. There is some difficulty in determining the species. Sibthorp decides in favour of the Hypericum crispum. The other authorities, namely, Dioscorides, Galen, and Aëtius, give it the same characters as our author. Celsus recommends it in calculus. (v, 21.) The Arabians in like manner commend it as being emmenagogue and diuretic. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 371); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Avicenna (ii, 2, 354); Serapion (c. 267.) Rhases says it is called “herba sancti Joannis,” and hence the modern term St. John’s wort.
Hypecoon, is cooling in the third degree, being nearly like poppy.
Commentary. The Hypecoum procumbens would seem to answer very well with the characters of it given by Dioscorides and the other authorities. It is a genus closely allied to the poppies. The other writers on the Mat. Med. treat of it in the same brief terms as our author. See Dioscorides (iv, 68); Ebn Baithar (i, 63.)
Hypoglosson, is a shrub; the root and juice of it are possessed of emollient powers.
Commentary. It is the Ruscus Hypoglossum. It appears to have been little used. We are not sure that it is mentioned at all by the Arabians, except Ebn Baithar, who copies literally from Dioscorides and Galen (i, 98); and the Greeks all treat of it briefly like our author. Dioscorides mentions its being used as an amulet in headache; and that its root and juice formed ingredients in softening plasters. (iv, 130.) It is not even yet wholly unknown to the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 24.)
Hypocistis, is the juice of certain substances like pomegranate-flowers, growing under the roots of the cistus, otherwise called cistharus, being an active remedy for all cases of defluxions by drying and strengthening the parts.
Commentary. The Undergrowth of the Cistus. The term is applied both to the parasitic plant, which grows on the roots of the Cistus Ladanifera, and also, as is evident from the words of our author, to the inspissated juice of the same. The plant is the Cytinus Hypocistis. Dioscorides describes it accurately, and also the process for preparing the juice of it. He says it is possessed of the same medicinal powers as acacia; but is still more astringent and desiccant, being efficacious in cæliac affections, dysenteries, hæmoptysis, and the female flux, both when taken by the mouth, and in clysters. (i, 127.) Galen Aëtius, and the other Greek authorities state its properties in general terms, like our author. It occurs in one of the Hippocratic treatises (De Nat. Mulieb.), and is set down by Celsus as an ingredient of several of his antidotes, but more especially of that most famous one ascribed to Mithridates. (v, 23.) The Arabians assign it exactly the same characters as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 111); Serapion (c. 115); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. ii, 754, i, 108, ii, 119); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) All concur in giving it the character of being an astringent and tonic medicine, both internally and externally. As late as the time of Quincy, the hypocistis continued to occupy a place in our Dispensatory, and it was retained as an ingredient in the Theriac of Andromachus or Venice Treacle (as it was latterly called), as long as that once-celebrated composition held a place in the Pharmacopœia. See Moses Charras (R. Phar. 114.) It still retains in the shops the same character for astringency as it received from the ancients. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 38.)
Hypophæstum, is a species of thorn used by the fullers, like the hippophaes. The juice of the head, leaves, and roots of it when dried, and taken to the extent of three oboli with honeyed water, evacuates water and phlegm. It agrees principally with orthopnœa, epilepsy, and affections of the nerves.
Commentary. It is the ἱππόφαιστον of Dioscorides and Pliny. They recommend it in epilepsy. Like the whole tribe of carduinæ it is difficult to define. Sprengel determines it to be the Cirsium stellatum, Allion. Our author copies its characters from Dioscorides. (iv, 160.) Few of the other ancient authorities have noticed it and it has been completely lost sight of in modern pharmacy.
Hyssopum, Hyssop, is calefacient and desiccative in the third degree. It also consists of subtile particles.
Commentary. Into the much controverted question regarding the hyssopus of the ancients, it is not our present purpose to enter, and we shall content ourselves in a great measure with giving a brief exposition of its characters and medicinal virtues as delivered by the Greek, Roman, and Arabian authorities. It occurs repeatedly in the Hippocratic treatises, as, for example, at ‘De Diæta’ (ii, 26), where it is said of it that it is hot and purges pituitous matters. Celsus mentions it in various passages; thus he calls it bad for the stomach (p. 83), says it is diuretic (p. 86, 172), rouses the senses (86), is hepatic (86), and useful in coughs (160, ed. Milligan.) The following is an abstract of Dioscorides’s important chapter on the Hyssop. It is a well-known herb, of two kinds, for one is the mountain, and the other the garden; the best is the Cilician. It has an attenuant and heating power; when boiled with figs and water and drunk along with honey and rue, it is useful in pneumonia, asthma, chronic cough, catarrh, and orthopnœa; it is anthelminthic, in a linctus with honey; its decoction brings off thick humours from the bowels when drunk with oxymel; it is eaten along with green figs pounded for moving the bowels; but it purges more strongly when cress, iris, or hedge-mustard is mixed with it; it improves the colour of the skin; it is applied as a cataplasm with figs and natron for affections of the spleen and dropsy, and with wine for inflammations; it discusses suggillations when applied with boiling water; it is a most excellent gargle in cases of quinsy with the decoction of figs; it soothes the pains of toothache when the mouth is rinsed with a decoction of it, and it dissolves flatus about the ears in the form of steam. (iii, 27.) Pliny recommends it in angina, asthma, as an application to sores, and, in a word, he gives it the same characters as Dioscorides does. (H. N. xxvi, 11, et alibi.) Our author and Aëtius copy word for word from Galen. Galen, however, in other of his works prescribes it for various complaints, as a medicine which purges the head and nose (De Cathars.), is useful in the decline of inflammation of the liver (Meth. Med. xiii), for discussing tumours (De Arte Cur. ad Glauc. ii), and for other purposes (Meth. Med. viii.) The Arabians treat of it very fully. See Serapion (c. 270); Avicenna (ii, 2, 256); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 758); Mesue (De Simpl. 16); Ebn Baithar (i, 545); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) Avicenna evidently derives his characters of it from Dioscorides; he recommends it as a phlegmagogue, vermifuge, a remedy for asthma, chronic coughs, &c. One of Serapion’s Arabian authorities, Isaac ebn Amram, calls it a herb growing in the mountains, having branches in length a cubit or less, and leaves like marjoram. Another of them recommends it in hardness and frigidity of the womb, kidneys, bladder, and liver, and as a purgative which evacuates crude humours. He also copies from Dioscorides and Galen. Rhases and Ebn Baithar follow nearly or altogether the same authorities as Serapion. Averrhoes states its characters in general terms. Mesue, upon the whole, is the most interesting and original of the Arabian authorities on the hyssop. He says there are two kinds, the garden and the mountain; that the former rises above the ground about half a cubit, and that its leaves are larger than those of thyme, and its flower is purple; the latter has much smaller leaves, and its stem is not so round. He states its medicinal virtues with much precision, recommending it as a phlegmagogue, in asthma, and other affections of the chest, and in nearly all the cases mentioned by Dioscorides; and also, he adds, from personal experience, in epilepsy. Two questions now come to be solved: 1st, Is the hyssop of Mesue the same as that of Dioscorides? We answer this question, with little hesitation, by saying, we think it is; Mesue merely defines his plant better, but the agreement of these authors as to its medicinal virtues convinces us that both treated of the same plant. 2d, Was the hyssop of the ancients, then, the same as our Hyssopus officinalis? With much deference to the many eminent scholars who deny this, we hesitatingly answer this question in the affirmative, for the two following reasons: first, the medicinal characters of the ancient hyssop, as given by Dioscorides, Mesue, and the other Greek and Arabian authorities, agree with those of the Hyssopus officinalis, as given by modern writers on the Materia Medica. See Platearius (de Simpl. Med.); Tournefort (Mat. Med. 223); Boerhaave (Mat. Med. 148); Alston (Mat. Med. ii, 152); Hill (Mat. Med. 364); Culpeper (Compl. Herbal. 95); Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i, 177); Rutty (Mat. Med. 145); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 47.) But, secondly, it is incumbent upon those who deny the identity of the ancient and modern hyssop to show when and how the H. officinalis came to be substituted for a plant, the characters of which it now bears. But, further, no competent judge, we believe, will dispute that the hyssop must have been brought to Britain, and naturalized here by the Romans. Is it likely, then, that they would have brought a plant not described by their learned men at home, and not the one which had the character of being possessed of so many virtues? If, as Sprengel and others have maintained, the Origanum Ægyptiacum be the true hyssopus of the ancients, why was not it introduced into this country and not the Hyssopus officinalis? Since then the H. officinalis is what our Roman conquerors brought us for their hyssop, we may be pretty confident that it truly is the ancient plant, the name of which it bears.