Σταφυλῖνος,
Staphylinus, Carrot, is diuretic and promotes menstruation, particularly the seed and root. But the leaves being possessed of detergent powers agree with phagedænic affections when applied green along with honey. The wild is for all purposes stronger than the cultivated.
Commentary. As Sprengel states, it is undoubtedly a variety of the Daucus Carota, L., or Wild Carrot. Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, says that it is acrid, nutritive, moderately stomachic, laxative, flatulent, indigestible, diuretic, and aphrodisiacal. (Deipnos. ix, 2.) Pliny mentions that it proves useful in strangury, dropsy, and several other complaints. (H. N. xx, 15.) Plinius Valerianus says of it that it had been given in diseases of the liver, spleen, loins, and kidneys, in hydromel. (iv, 32.) Our author’s account of its medicinal properties is mostly condensed from Dioscorides. He recommends it strongly as a diuretic, emmenagogue, and aphrodisiac, and says of it, that applied per vaginam it procures the expulsion of the fœtus. (iii, 52.) Galen and Aëtius give nearly the same account of it as our author. The Arabian authorities speak of it in the same terms. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 287); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. iii, 18); Serapion (c. 265.) The commentator Eustathius mentions its aphrodisiacal properties. (Ad Iliad. xviii, 560.) According to Dierbach, the σ. of Hippocrates comprehends both the Daucus Carota and guttatus. It would appear to us that this is the “Pastinaca agrestis” of Celsus (ii, 31), although his editor, Dr. Milligan, decides otherwise with regard to it. In confirmation of our opinion we refer to Pliny (l. c.), and to Beckmann’s ingenious disquisition on our kitchen vegetables in his ‘Hist. of Invent.’ He seems clearly to make out that the daucus, staphylinus, carota, and pastinaca were all merely varieties of the Daucus Carota. He is in some doubts, however, whether the “pastinaca” was not also sometimes applied to the parsnip. See, however, under [Daucus].
Στάχυς,
Stachys, Base Horehound, is a shrub resembling horehound, and is calefacient in the third degree. It therefore promotes menstruation, kills the fœtus, and expels the secundines.
Commentary. It is the Stachys Palestina, or Base Horehound. Our author gives exactly the same account of its medicinal properties as Dioscorides and Galen, the latter remarking of it that it not only promotes menstruation, but is a drug used for procuring abortion. Pliny, by confounding πράσον and πράσιον, says of it that it resembles the porrum instead of the marrubium; so that his celebrated editor, Harduin, holds that the stachys of Pliny is different from that of Dioscorides. (Ad H. N. xxiv, 86.) It is quite clear, however, that the plants are identical, and accordingly Pliny, like the other, says of his stachys, that it is emmenagogue. The Arabians do not seem to treat of it.
Στέατα,
Adipes, Fats, or Grease; all kinds dilute and warm the human body, but their powers vary according to the different temperaments of animals. That of swine, then, is the most humid of all, its powers being like those of oil. Hence it blunts sharp pains. That of goats is drier and sooner coagulated, and therefore is used as an injection to those who have sharp pains in the rectum. That of geese is hotter and more attenuate; that of domestic cocks and hens being intermediate. That of lions is the hottest of all and the most attenuate, hence it is most discutient. That of oxen has an intermediate temperament between swine and lions. That of bears cures alopecia, that of foxes, earache; as that of vipers is said to remove hairs and prevent suffusions from forming. Upon the whole, that of males is the hotter and more desiccative, and of them those which have their testicles more than those which have been cut, and of those which are full-grown than that of the others. All sorts of grease when long kept become hotter.
Commentary. Fats. Our author’s account of their medicinal properties is sufficiently ample. For further information, however, the reader may consult Dioscorides and Galen. The former gives very minute and seemingly important directions for the preparations of all these animal fats. We may just mention here a little piece of criticism which Galen bestows in this case upon his much admired predecessor. Dioscorides says of the grease or lard of goats, that it is more styptic (στυπτικώτερον) than that of swine. Upon which Galen remarks that although Dioscorides had written much and well on the Materia Medica, he often uses words in a wrong signification, as he does in the present instance, for that the above-mentioned term, which properly signifies astringent, must here be understood to mean acrid or pungent. Now we think that Galen is here correct, and that Sprengel’s attempt to bring his author, Dioscorides, clear off in the present case is not successful. Indeed, as we firmly believe that a greater master of the Greek language than Galen never existed, we may always feel secure that where the exact meaning of Greek terms is concerned, one may safely trust to him. The Arabians under this head merely give extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. See in particular Serapion (De Simpl. 461) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 70.)