Commentary. Dioscorides and some of the other authorities mention the Fuligo, or soot of glassworks, in nearly the same terms as Paulus.
Ἀσκαλαβώτης,
Stellio, the Swift; this animal is useless for all other purposes, but they say that it is a good application to persons bitten by a scorpion. It is mixed also with venereal excitants.
Commentary. We have treated of this reptile in the [Fifth Book]. It is the spotted lizard, Lacerta stellio L. Its aphrodisiacal faculty is alluded to by our author in another place. (B. III, 58.)
Ἀσκληπιάς,
Asclepias, Swallow-wort, being hot and dry as to its powers, and consisting of subtile particles, agrees well with tormina when drunk with wine, and in the form of a cataplasm it is a good application to the bites of venomous animals, and malignant ulcers in the uterus and breasts.
Commentary. There appears little reason to doubt that it is the Asclepias vincetoxicum, or Swallow-wort. Our author borrows its medicinal characters from Dioscorides. (iii, 96.) Galen candidly admits, that he had no experience of it as a medicine. Pliny, like Dioscorides and our author, recommends it for the cure of tormina and the bites of serpents. (H. N. xxvii, 18.) Until lately it held a place in our modern Dispensatories, with the characters given it by the ancients. See Quincy (p. 59); Rutty (Mat. Med. p. 44); Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. p. 57.)
Ἄσκυρρον is treated of under Androsæmon.
Commentary. We have stated under [ἀνδρόσαιμον] the difficulty there is in distinguishing the different species of Hypericum described by the ancients. We cannot pretend to decide whether the present article be the androsæmum or the perforatum. Dioscorides recommends the ascyrron as an emmenagogue, in sciatica, and as an application to burns. (iii, 163.) The Arabians treat of it only as being identical either with the hypericum or the androsæmum. See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 59); Avicenna (ii, 2. 354.)