Λυχνὶς,
Lychnis, Campion; the seed of that species which is used for garlands is hot and desiccative, according to the second order complete.
Commentary. This plant is the Lychnis coronaria of Dioscorides, and still retains this name. Dioscorides recommends it in the case of persons stung by scorpions. The wild lychnis of Dioscorides may be either the Lychnis dioica or Agrostemma githago; it is said by Dioscorides to be a cholagogue, and a remedy in the case of persons stung by scorpions. (iii, 104-5.) Galen and the other authorities merely state the characters of the Lychnis coronaria in general terms. We have not found this article in any of the Arabians, not even in Ebn Baithar.
Λωτὸς,
Lotus, Bird’s-foot Trefoil (?); the cultivated species is by some called trifolium. It is possessed of detergent and moderately desiccative powers, and is of a proper temperament as to heat. The seed of the wild lotus belongs to the second order of calefacients, and is also somewhat detergent. The seed of the Egyptian lotus is also made into bread. The Lote, or Nettle-tree, consists of subtile particles, and is moderately desiccative and astringent. Hence it is applicable for the female fluor, and for fluxes of the bowels, both when drunk with wine or water, or when used in an injection. It also strengthens the hairs that are falling out.
Commentary. We need not enter further into the literary history of this interesting subject, which we have given at some length in the [Appendix], already so often referred to, than to mention that the Lotus, called also Trifolium, is referable to the Melilotus officinalis, and probably some of its congeners, and the Lotus Arbor to the Zizyphus Lotus, with perhaps some other trees of the same tribe. Dr. Lindley says of it, “The Lote-bush, which gave its name to the ancient Lotophagi, is to this day collected for food by the Arabs of Barbary, who call it sadar, and its berries nabk.” (Veg. Kingd. 582.) The wild lotus of Dioscorides and the other authorities has never been satisfactorily determined. Perhaps it was the species of melilotus named cærulea. The Egyptian lotus, there can be no doubt, was the Nymphæa Lotus, L. Dioscorides gives a striking description of this last, which, he says, the inhabitants of Egypt use for making bread; and it is deserving of remark that the rhizomes of the nymphæa are still roasted and eaten by the Negroes of Senegal. See further under [Nymphæa] in this section. Our author’s characters of the other loti are copied from Dioscorides or Galen, who agree, in the main, under this head. See, in like manner, Aëtius and Oribasius. The Arabians treat at great length of the different loti, and more especially of the L. Arbor, with which they must have been familiarly acquainted. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 298, 513); Serapion (c. 120); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 487); Ebn Baithar (ii, 539.) They all recommend it as a powerful astringent in looseness of the bowels, bloody flux, menorrhagia, ulcers of the bowels, and in asthma and affections of the chest. One of Serapion’s authorities calls it stomachic and a whetter of the appetite. The lotus occurs in the Hippocratic treatises; indeed, from the fable of the Lotophagi, contained in the Odyssey of Homer, there can be no doubt that the lotus had been known and used as an article of food long before the time of Hippocrates.
Μάκερ,
Macer is a bark brought from India, being desiccative in the third order, and intermediate as to heating and cooling properties. It consists of subtile particles, and is astringent; hence it agrees with cæliac and dysenteric complaints.
Commentary. Under this head we cannot do better than quote the words of an excellent living authority: “Macer, a bark from the Barbaric region, has been thought to be Wrightia antidysenterica, supposing this to be the macre described by Crist. d’Acosta. (Clus. Exot. 266.) Though macer is always described as a bark, I had given me as such the highly aromatic leaves of Rhododendron lepidotum under the name of talisfur. Mafur and mafurbooz are in Persian works assigned as the Greek names of talisafar, under which name the macer of Dioscorides is alluded to by Avicenna.” (Antiq. of Hindoo Med. 91, by Dr. Royle). Though the macer of the Greeks, then, was different from mace, there can be no doubt that the Arabians confounded the two substances together. Thus Avicenna, in his chapter on mace, quotes the words of Paulus on the macer. (ii, 2, 448.) Serapion in like manner, under mace, which he correctly describes as the rind or membrane of the nutmeg, gives the characters of macer from Dioscorides. (De Simpl. 2.)