Commentary. Apicius, in like manner, uniformly calls the leaf of the Malabathrum by the name of Folium. We still incline to the opinion which we deliberately formed and expressed some years ago, that it was the leaf of the cassia or wild cinnamon tree. We refer to a learned disquisition on it by Olaus Celsius, in his ‘Hierobotanicon,’ and to Geoffroy (Treatise on Fossil, Veg., and Anim. Subst. 318.) The φ. of Dioscorides is quite a different substance, being the same as the [λινόζωστις], which see.
Φῦκος,
Fucus marinus, Seaweed, cools and dries in the second order, having also a moderate degree of astringency.
Commentary. Various species of Fuci are described by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, but so briefly, that it is scarcely possible to determine them exactly. It is deserving of remark, however, that Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius describe a species of Fucus, under the head of Ceruse, which is therefore supposed to have been a preparation of lead. The article, however, which our author here treats of is unquestionably the vegetable, as is evident from Aëtius. (p. 24, ed. Ald.) Dioscorides says it is possessed of an astringent power, which is efficacious in cataplasms for the cure of gouty affections and inflammations. These plants are to be used in a moist state before they are dried. He adds, that Nicander says the purple fucus is theriacal, and that some persons took its root to be the fucus which women use for painting their face., (iv, 98.) Pliny gives a very similar description of the “Phycos thalassion, id est, Fucus marinus.” (H. N. xxvi, 66.) Galen treats of it in nearly the same language as our author. It would appear to be the Muscus marinus of Avicenna, who borrows the description which he gives of it from Dioscorides, (ii, 2, 452, and 711.) Our old English herbalists, Parkinson and Gerard, repeat the characters given to the fuci by the ancients, but these articles were long omitted from our Dispensatories, until of late some of them were readmitted, when it was ascertained that they contained iodine. We have known old practitioners, who used the Fucus vesiculosus, or Sea Wrack, very extensively as an application to scrofulous sores. See further Pereira (562), and Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 7.) Beckmann gives a very ingenious disquisition on the Phycos thalassion of the ancients, which he makes out to have been our Archil or Lichen roccella, a sea-weed which has been extensively used, both in ancient and in modern times for the dyeing of wool. (History of Inventions.) It must be to it that Horace alludes when he speaks of “lana medicata fuco,” in his famous ode on Regulus.
Φυλλιτὴς,
Phyllites, Hart’s Tongue, is somewhat sour, and from this quality it naturally proves a remedy for diarrhœa when drunk.
Commentary. There seems little reason to doubt that it is the Scolopendrium officinale, or Spleenwort. It is the Lingua Cervina of Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 1047.) Both Galen and Dioscorides, like our author, recommend it in fluxes of the bowels, as being possessed of astringent powers. It is not met with in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus. It was retained in the Dispensatory in the time of Quincy (88, 123), and even at the present day it is not an entire stranger to the shops. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 12.)
Χαλβάνη,
Galbanum, is heating almost in the third degree, and is desiccative almost in the second, being possessed of emollient and discutient powers.
Commentary. Dioscorides says of Galbanum, that it is the juice of a Ferula growing in Syria, by some called metopium. Pliny describes it thus: “Quod maxime laudant, cartilaginosum, purum, ad similitudinem Hammoniaci.” Now, in Dr. Duncan’s edition of the Edinburgh Dispensatory (1811), it is said in like manner that “Galbanum agrees in virtue with gum ammoniac;” and from this casual coincidence in the descriptions of the ancient and modern galbanums, we infer their identity. It would appear to be now settled, that galbanum is the product of different umbellifers, the most common of which is the Opoidia galbanifera. See the late publications of Royle, Lindley, and Pereira. Dioscorides describes it as being possessed of a heating, fiery, epispastic, and discutient power, in pessaries and fumigations as promoting menstruation and the expulsion of the fœtus; he recommends it externally, for furunculi and other complaints of the skin, and internally for chronic coughs, dyspnœa, asthma, ruptured and sprained parts; its vapour rouses in cases of epilepsy, hysteria, and vertigo, and drives away venomous animals. It is used in toothache for filling the hollow of the teeth. (iii, 87.) Galen and the other Greek authorities treat of it in general terms, like our author. It occurs in the works of Hippocrates, and in those of Celsus, who recommends it in nearly the same cases as Dioscorides, as in furunculus, difficulty of breathing, and so forth. (See v, 18, et pluries.) For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 312); Serapion (c. 320.) They borrow their account of its medicinal virtues from Dioscorides, recommending it as an alexipharmic, an application to tumours, and a remedy in certain diseases of the chest. Avicenna says it is less powerful than sagapenum. The Arabian authorities of Ebn Baithar do not supply anything of much importance in addition to what is furnished by Dioscorides and Galen.