To Hercules also is attributed the discovery of the plant known as the “apollinaris,” and, among the Arabians, as the “altercum” or “altercangenum:” by the Greeks it is called “hyoscyamos.”[579] There are several varieties of it; one of them,[580] with a black seed, flowers bordering on purple, and a prickly stem, growing in Galatia. The common kind[581] again, is whiter, more shrublike, and taller than the poppy. The seed of a third variety is similar to that of irio[582] in appearance; but they have, all of them, the effect of producing vertigo and insanity. A fourth[583] kind again is soft, lanuginous, and more unctuous than the others; the seed of it is white, and it grows in maritime localities. It is this kind that medical men employ, as also that with a red seed.[584] Sometimes, however, the white seed turns of a reddish colour, if not sufficiently ripe when gathered; in which case it is rejected as unfit for use: indeed, none of these plants are gathered until they are perfectly dry. Hyoscyamos, like wine, has the property of flying to the head, and consequently of acting injuriously upon the mental faculties.
The seed is either used in its natural state, or else the juice of it is extracted: the juice also of the stem and leaves is sometimes extracted, separately from the seed. The root is sometimes made use of; but the employment of this plant in any way for medical purposes is, in my opinion, highly dangerous. For it is a fact well ascertained, that the leaves even will exercise a deleterious effect upon the mind, if more than four are taken at a time; though the ancients were of opinion that the leaves act as a febrifuge, taken in wine. From the seed, as already[585] stated, an oil is extracted, which, injected into the ears, deranges the intellect. It is a singular thing, but we find remedies mentioned for those who have taken this juice, as though for a poison, while at the same time we find it prescribed as a potion among the various remedies. In this way it is that experiments are multiplied without end, even to forcing the very poisons themselves to act as antidotes.
CHAP. 18. (5.)—LINOZOSTIS, PARTHENION, HERMUPOA, OR MERCURIALIS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.
Linozostis[586] or parthenion is a discovery attributed to Mercury: hence it is that among the Greeks it is known as “hermupoa”[587] by many, while among us it is universally known as “mercurialis.” There are two varieties of this plant, the male and the female, the last possessing more decided properties than the other, and having a stem a cubit in height, and sometimes branchy at the summit, with leaves somewhat narrower than those of ocimum. The joints of the stem lie close together, and the axils are numerous: the seed hangs downwards, having the joints for its basis. In the female plant the seed is very abundant, but in the male[588] it is less so, lies closer to the joints, and is short and wreathed. In the female plant the seed hangs more loosely, and is of a white colour. The leaves of the male plant are swarthy, while those of the female are whiter: the root, which is made no use of, is very diminutive.
Both of these plants grow in cultivated champaign localities. A marvellous property is mentioned as belonging to them: the male plant, they say,[589] ensures the conception of male children, the female plant of females; a result which is ensured by drinking the juice in raisin wine, the moment after conception, or by eating the leaves, boiled with oil and salt, or raw with vinegar. Some persons, again, boil the plant in a new earthen vessel with heliotropium and two or three ears of corn, till it is thoroughly done; and say that the decoction should be taken in drink by the female, and the plant eaten for three days successively, the regimen being commenced the second day of menstruation. This done, on the fourth day she must take a bath, immediately after which the sexual congress must take place.
Hippocrates[590] has lavished marvellous encomiums upon these plants for the maladies of females, while at the present day no physician recognizes their utility for such purpose. It was his practice to employ them for affections of the uterus, in the form of a pessary, in combination with honey, rose-oil, oil of iris, or oil of lilies. He employed them also as an emmenagogue, and for the purpose of bringing away the after-birth; effects which are equally produced, according to him, by taking them in drink, or using them in the form of a fomentation. It was his practice also, to inject the juice of these plants in cases of fetid odours of the ears, and then to wash the ear with old wine. The leaves also were used by him as a cataplasm for the abdomen, defluxions of the eyes, strangury, and affections of the bladder; a decoction too, of the plants is prescribed by him, with frankincense and myrrh.
For the purpose of relaxing[591] the bowels, or in cases of fever, a handful of this plant is boiled down to one half, in two sextarii of water, the decoction being taken with salt and honey: if a pig’s foot or a cock is boiled with it, it will be all the more beneficial. Some persons have been of opinion, that as a purgative the two kinds of mercurialis ought to be used together, or else that a decoction should be made of the plant in combination with mallows. These plants act as a detergent upon the chest, and carry off the bilious secretions, but they are apt to be injurious to the stomach. We shall have to speak further of their properties on the appropriate occasions.[592]
CHAP. 19.—THE ACHILLEOS, SIDERITIS, PANACES HERACLEON, MILLEFOLIUM, OR SCOPÆ REGIÆ; SIX VARIETIES OF IT: THREE REMEDIES.
Achilles too, the pupil of Chiron, discovered a plant which heals wounds, and which, as being his discovery, is known as the “achilleos.” It was by the aid of this plant, they say, that he cured Telephus. Other authorities, however, assert that he was the first[593] to discover that verdigris[594] is an extremely useful ingredient in plasters; and hence it is that he is sometimes represented in pictures as scraping with his sword the rust from off a spear[595] into the wound of Telephus. Some again, are of opinion that he made use of both remedies.
By some persons this plant is called “panaces heracleon,” by others, “sideritis,”[596] and by the people of our country, “millefolium:”[597] the stalk of it, they say, is a cubit in length, branchy, and covered from the bottom with leaves somewhat smaller than those of fennel. Other authorities, however, while admitting that this last plant is good for wounds, affirm that the genuine achilleos has a bluish stem a foot in length, destitute of branches, and elegantly clothed all over with isolated leaves of a round form. Others again, maintain that it has a squared stem, that the heads of it are small and like those of horehound,[598] and that the leaves are similar to those of the quercus—they say too, that this last has the property of uniting the sinews when cut asunder. Another statement is, that the sideritis[599] is a plant that grows on garden walls, and that it emits, when bruised, a fetid smell; that there is also another plant, very similar to it, but with a whiter and more unctuous leaf, a more delicate stem, and mostly found growing in vineyards.