Κεράσια,
Cerasia, Cherries; the sweet are more laxative, the austere more stomachic, but the acid agree best with pituitous and foul stomachs, owing to their being incisive. The gum of the tree smoothes asperities of the trachea, and relieves calculous affections when drunk with wine.
Commentary. This unquestionably is the Prunus Cerasus, L. We have given some account of cherries in the portion of our work devoted to ancient dietetics. Galen, in his work on Simples, treats of them with great precision; he remarks that in some the austere quality, in some the sweet, and in others the acid prevails, and that when unripe the sour is predominant. In fact, our author’s account of them is manifestly abridged from Galen. Aëtius and the other authorities, in like manner, copy from Galen. See also Serapion (c. 145.)
Κερατωνία,
Ceratonia, Carob-tree, and the fruit of it (siliquæ) are possessed of desiccant and astringent powers, with a certain share of sweetness.
Commentary. It is unquestionably the Ceratonia Siliqua, L., or Carob-tree. We have given some account of it among the articles of food in [Book I]. All the other authorities on the Materia Medica give it nearly the same characters as our author. The writer who is fullest on this head is Avicenna, who treats of it under the name of Carob, i. e. Siliqua. (ii, 2, 193.) See also Serapion (c. 135), and Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 366.) Our modern herbalists treat of it in nearly the same terms as the ancients. See Parkinson (236.) It is still used on the Continent and in Asia as an inferior article of food, and holds a place in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia.
Κεφαλαὶ,
Capita, Heads; those of pickled herrings, when burnt, acquire a desiccative power without being very acrid. They therefore relieve fissures about the anus, and chronic cases of indurated uvula. The entire head of the anchovy (smaris), when burnt, is useful in alopecia when applied with bear’s grease. The burnt head of a mouse when applied with honey does the same thing. The dried head of the kite without its feathers, when drunk in water to as great an amount as can be lifted with three fingers, relieves gouty affections. They say that the head of a lizard extracts sharp-pointed things, and removes myrmecia, acrochordon, and clavus.
Commentary. Our author’s account of the medicinal properties of Heads is taken from Galen. See also Aëtius and Serapion. Dioscorides treats of the different articles separately, and not under a general head like Galen and his successors. (See ii, 31, 32, &c.) The Arabians merely copy from Dioscorides and Galen, especially the latter. See in particular Serapion (c. 571.)