Artemisia, Mugwort; both varieties are heating in the second degree, and desiccant in the first. They are composed of subtile particles, so that they break down stones in the kidneys, and suit with fumigations of the womb.
Commentary. The three species of the artemisia described by Dioscorides are probably the arborescens, spicata, and campestris. He recommends the artemisia strongly as an emmenagogue, when given internally, in the form of a hip-bath, and as an injection into the vagina. He also makes it to be lithontriptic. (iii, 107, 118.) The same characters are given it by Galen and by Avicenna, whose berengfef it appears to be. (c. 83.) Aëtius and most of the authorities describe only the first two species of the artemisia. Serapion and Avicenna describe under this head an oriental species, which, it is probable, was the Artemisia Judaica. Honain (ap. Avicennam), also describes the A. Indica. The famous Moxa is prepared from the lanugo or downy substance which adheres to the under surface of the leaf of the artemisia. See Barrow’s ‘Travels in China,’ Woodville, Miller, and Pereira. That the artemisia long retained the character which Dioscorides gave it, of possessing powerful virtues as an emmenagogue and a lithontriptic, is evident from what is said of it in the work of Macer Floridus. Except as furnishing the moxa, (and it is now believed to be got from a particular species, the A. moxa) the species of artemisia here treated of are now wholly discarded from the practice of medicine.
Ἅρτος,
Panis, Bread; in a cataplasm it is more discutient than can be accounted for from the properties of wheat, owing to its containing salt and leaven. For the leaven is attractive of the deep-seated humours.
Commentary. We have given some account of the kinds of bread used by the ancients in the 78th sect. of the First Book. Oribasius gives an excellent description of the mode of preparing the bread poultice and its uses. He directs us to dissolve the bread in water until it acquires the consistence of gruel, and then, having added oil or butter to it, to boil it to the proper consistence. He adds, that it is the best of all applications with which he was acquainted for promoting suppuration. His account of the different kinds of cataplasms is most ample and interesting. (Med. Collect.)
Ἄσαρον,
Asarum, Asarabacca, has the same powers as the sweet flag, but more intense.
Commentary. This plant, which is certainly the Asarum Europæum, or common Asarabacca, is said by Dioscorides to be diuretic, heating, and emetic, answering well with dropsical cases and chronic sciatica and promoting menstruation; its roots drunk with mulse to the amount of six drachms, he says, purge like white hellebore. (i, 9.) Galen seems to have overlooked the importance of this article, for he is nearly as brief as our author in treating of it; and Aëtius and Oribasius follow him. Serapion, Rhases, and Avicenna recommend it in the same cases as Dioscorides, and also in obstructions of the liver and spleen, and as a stimulant ingredient in collyria. Modern authorities confirm the character of this medicinal article given it by Dioscorides. See Lewis (Mat. Med. i, 178); Rutty (Mat. Med. 43); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. p. 38.) Although not excluded from our Dispensatories, less attention is now bestowed on the asarabacca than it would seem to deserve. See Royle (M. M. p. 548.) Ipecacuanha has nearly superseded it as an emetic in this country. The asarum is still retained in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia (p. 22.)
Ἀσβόλη,
Fuligo, the Soot which painters use. It is taken from glassworks, and is possessed of discutient and acrid powers, so as to burn and occasion putrefaction. It cures burns, with rose-cerate.