Lucan also mentions it. (Pharsal. iii, 237.) All the Arabian medical authors, in a word, make frequent mention of it. It is obvious, however, as is remarked by Harduin, Salmasius, Freind, Millward, and Sprengel, that the ancient sugar was a concretion formed upon the surface of reeds by the heat of the sun, and consequently it was different from the sugar of the moderns, which is formed by boiling. Symeon Seth says of sugar that it is heating and humid in the first degree, detergent, and diaphoretic like honey. Mesue recommends it for the composition of electuaries. Dr. Hill states that although the Bambu be the sugar-cane with which the ancients were most familiar, it would appear that the “tenera arundo” of Lucan was rather the common sugar-reed of our times.
Μελία,
Fraxinus, the Ash, is a well-known tree, the leaves of which, when taken in a draught, agree with the bites of vipers. Its bark, when burnt and rubbed in with water, removes leprosies. The sawdust of the wood when drunk is said to be deadly.
Commentary. There can be no doubt of its being a species of Fraxinus, or perhaps both the F. Ornus and F. rotundifolia. Our author’s account of it is taken literally from Dioscorides. (i, 108.) Avicenna mentions it as a vulnerary herb, and recommends it in the same cases as Dioscorides does. (i, 108.)
Μελίλωτον,
Melilotum, Melilot, is possessed of mixed powers, being astringent, discutient, and digestive.
Commentary. It is the Melilotus officinalis, L. Dioscorides says of it, that it has some styptic power, and is an emollient of all kinds of inflammations, especially about the eyes, womb, anus, and testicles, when boiled with must and applied, or along with albumen of an egg, flour of fenugreek, &c.; that it cures meliceris when recent, achores, and pain of the stomach, and earache when injected into the ear, and headache when used as an embrocation with vinegar and oil of roses. (iii, 41.) Galen and the other Greek authorities state its application in general terms like our author. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 445); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 465); Serapion (De Simpl. 18.) They scarcely suggest any new cases for its administration, but borrow what they say of its medicinal powers from Dioscorides and Galen. The melilot was used in medicine, and held a place in our English Dispensatory even as late as the time of Quincy. (118, 204.)
Μελισσόφυλλον,
Apiastrum, Baum; its action is in every respect like that of horehound.