Commentary. That the Eupatorium of Dioscorides and the other Greek authorities is the Agrimonia Eupatorium, will hardly be questioned now by any competent judge who has investigated the question. Dioscorides recommends its leaves in ill-conditioned ulcers, and its seed and stalk in wine, for dysentery and the stings of reptiles. (iv, 41.) Galen makes it to be deobstruent and tonic. Serapion copies from Dioscorides and Galen, and merely adds, in the end, from Rhases, that southernwood is more suitable in complaints of the liver; and from Mesue, that it is good in protracted fevers. (De Simpl. 77.) Avicenna’s chapter on Eupatorium is entirely compiled from Dioscorides, Galen, and Serapion, without the slightest change or addition. (ii, 2, 239.) No one who has examined into the matter can therefore doubt that the Eu. of these two Arabians, was the same as that of the Greeks. The Eupatorium of Mesue, however, has been generally held to be a very different plant, namely, the Eupatorium Cannabinum, according to some, from his comparing the leaves to those of the lesser centaury. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the Latin translations of the Arabians are not to be trusted in small matters, and therefore this comparison may be all a mistake. And that the Eu. of Mesue was the same as that of the others, seems highly probable from his recommending it in the same complaints, namely, in obstructions of the liver, and chronic fevers. (De Simpl. 15.) Such is the conclusion to which an impartial examination of the question has brought us. It is but fair to mention, however, that all the old herbalists and writers on the Mat. Med. down to Rutty and Quincy, are against us, and hold that the Eupatorium of Mesue was different from that of the Greeks. See Matthiolus (in Dioscor.); Parkinson (Theatre of Plants); and the commentators on Mesue.
Ἐυφόρβιον,
Euphorbium, is possessed of caustic powers, and consists of subtile particles like the other juices.
Commentary. A gum-resin produced from some species of Euphorbia still holds its place in the Materia Medica. Alston remarks, “neither Dioscorides nor Galen take any notice of the cathartic quality of the Euphorbium, but Pliny does, as do also Aëtius, Paulus, and the Arabians; but all make it excessively acrid, upon account of which its internal use is now generally condemned.” Mesue particularly commends it in diseases of the joints. It was formerly supposed that Euphorbium is procured from a species called the E. antiquorum, but it is now admitted that the species is still undetermined. See Pereira (1127.) Probably, as stated in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia, it is procured from several species of the Euphorbia. (66.)
Ἐφήμερον,
Ephemerum (or Colchicum Autumnale?), not the poisonous species but that which is called the Wild Iris. It is possessed of mixed powers, repellent, and discutient.
Commentary. See Ἑρμοδάκτυλος, and [Book V (48.)] The E., here said to be the same as the wild iris, is the Convallaria verticillata. Dioscorides recommends its root in toothache, and its leaves as possessing discutient powers when applied to swellings and tumours. (iv, 75.) Galen is at great pains to explain its modus operandi agreeably to his theory of the action of medicines.
Ἐχίδνα,
Vipera, the Viper; its flesh is decidedly hot and dry in temperament, so that it cleanses the whole body by the skin. Wherefore many persons affected with elephantiasis, by eating or drinking of it have been cured. Those which live by the sea-side, or in other dry situations, rather occasion thirst.
Commentary. As stated by us in the [Fifth Book], the Echidna Asiatica of Nicander is the Coluber Ægyptius, and the E. Europæa the C. Berus. The ἔχις, probably is the C. Amodytes. Dioscorides recommends vipers, having their head and tail cut off, and the entrails taken out, boiled with oil, wine, a little salts and dill, for nervous affections and scrofula. He gives no credit, however, to the vulgar belief of his time, that living upon vipers prolonged life, or that they prevented lice from forming on the body. He describes distinctly the process of preparing salts from vipers, but says they have not the same efficacy as the flesh. (ii, 18.) The Arabians display much more credulity than Dioscorides, in describing the medicinal virtues of vipers, ascribing to them wonderful powers, not only of preserving life, but even of restoring youth. See in particular, Avicenna (ii, 2, 608), and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 731.) Galen gives a very lengthened disquisition on the medicinal virtues of vipers. (De Simpl. xi.) Aëtius abridges the same. (ii, 160.) See Oribasius (Med. Collect. xv, 2.) We shall have occasion, however, to treat further of the medicinal properties of the viper when describing the composition of the theriac; and, instead of collecting the sentiments of the ancient authorities on this head, we shall in this place merely subjoin the opinion of a modern author, who appears to have been familiar with the use of it: “The powder of vipers is very much enlivened with the volatile salt wherewith the vipers abound, which enables it to force its virtues through the pores, though never so close shut, to the more remote parts of the body. It is a singular medicine to cure scabs, itches, and erysipelas, and particularly the leprosy. It restores plumpness of body to persons wasted with long agues and tedious diseases. It is to be taken fasting, in broths, wine, or any other cordial liquor, or else incorporated with some syrup, or in some confection like a bolus.” (Moses Charras.) In Scotland the adder (which is a variety of the Coluber Berus) is a popular remedy for malignant diseases of the skin. It is taken in the form of soup, as described by Dioscorides. The viper broth is described in Quince’s Dispensatory (400) in nearly the same terms as by Dioscorides, and recommended “as doing good service in leprous and other obstinate cutaneous complaints.”