Σίον,
Sium, Water Parsnip or Celery (?), is hot, diuretic, and discutient. It breaks down renal calculi and promotes menstruation.
Commentary. It appears to us highly probable that it is the Sium latifolium, or Upright Water-parsnip, which once held a place in modern Dispensatories, and not the S. nodiflorum, as Dierbach decides the σ. of Hippocrates to be. It is the laver of the Romans, and is recommended by Pliny as a cure for tormina. (H. N. xxvi, 32.) See Harduin (Annot. l. c.) Dioscorides says it is useful in dysentery, and is diuretic, emmenagogue, and lithontriptic. (ii, 153.) Galen gives the same account of it as our author. It does not occur in the works of Celsus. The Arabians, in treating of it, borrow almost everything from Dioscorides. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 556, 633); Serapion (De Simpl. 290.) The latter describes it as a species of apium which grows in water.
Σίσαρον,
Sisarum, Garden Parsnip; the root, when boiled, is stomachic and diuretic, being heating in the third order. The seed consists of subtile particles, and is powerfully discutient. It is, therefore, given to persons affected with hiccough and tormina, in wine.
Commentary. It is the Pastinaca sativa or Garden Parsnip, according to Sprengel. In the translation of Rhases it is said to be the same as nigella, but this would seem to be a mistake. (Contin. xxxvii.) Dioscorides briefly says of it, that it is palatable, stomachic, diuretic, and a whetter of the appetite. (ii, 139.) Galen says it is calefacient, with a certain degree of bitterness and astringency. It appears certainly to be the siser of Pliny and Celsus, the latter of whom places it in his list of diuretics. (ii, 31.) The Arabians, in treating of it, copy from Dioscorides and Galen. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 652.) From the account we have given of this article it will be seen that recent authorities hold that it is not the same as the Sium Sisarum, Skerret, as has been generally held, but the Parsnip. It would follow from this that it is identical with the ἐλαφόβοσκος of Dioscorides (iii, 73), which we must say that we are scarcely prepared to join Sprengel in admitting. After mature deliberation, then, we fear we must rank this with the undetermined articles in the ancient Materia Medica.
Σισύμβριον,
Sisymbrium, Wild Mint, called also Cardamine, because it is like the Cardamus. When dried, it belongs to the first order of calefacients and discutients; but when in a humid state, to the second.
Commentary. Dioscorides says of his first species that it resembles the garden mint, and Pliny states that it degenerates into calamintha or wild mint. It would appear, then, to be a species of mint. Stackhouse inclines to this opinion. (Index to Theophrastus.) The other, called also cardamine and sium, can be no other than the Nasturtium officinale. Dioscorides says of the former species, that it is useful in strangury, calculus, tormina, and singultus; and that in a cataplasm it relieves headache, is useful in the stings of wasps and bees, and stops vomiting. His other species he recommends as an application to certain diseases of the skin. (ii, 155.) Galen, in like manner, treats of the two species in nearly the same terms as our author, whose description of the former species, by the carelessness of transcribers, is given under the head of the preceding article, Sisarum. The Arabians treat both of the sisymbrium and the nasturtium, but it is not clear that they apply these terms to the same substances as Dioscorides does.