Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

Tussilago, _Coltsfoot_, it is also called Bechicon; it is so named from its proving useful for coughs, and orthopnœa in fumigations; and it is composed of a hot and watery substance.

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COMMENTARY. It is the _Tussilago Farfara_, or _Coltsfoot_. Both Dioscorides and Galen recommend it in fumigations for the cure of coughs, and this reputation it has retained down to the present day. Though now expelled from our Dispensatories, a patent medicine, prepared from coltsfoot, is still in considerable celebrity. It is retained in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia (p. 67.)

Βλίτον,

Blitum, _Blite_, is an esculent potherb, which is humid and cold in the second degree.

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COMMENTARY. The blite, or _Amaranthus Blitum_, has been long celebrated as a culinary and medicinal herb. (See vol. i, 114.) Galen and Dioscorides, like our author, treat of its medicinal powers in very brief terms. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 518); Serapion (De Simpl. 148); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 41); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 128); Ebn Baithar (i, 154.) These Arabian authorities commend it strongly as an application in diseases of the skin, and in phthiriasis, and also in alopecia and apostemes. Archigenes, as quoted by Rhases, says, the blite is more laxative than the mallow. It is treated of by our older herbalists; but has long since ceased to occupy a place in our Dispensatories.

Βολβὸς,

Bulbus; the esculent is possessed of a certain degree of bitterness, and at the same time of astringency, and is desiccative and agglutinative of wounds, and also detergent. The emetic is hotter in its properties.

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COMMENTARY. We have mentioned in the First Book that Harduin considers the esculent bulbus to have been a species of onion, but that Sprengel refers it to the _Muscari comosum_. In addition to the reasons there mentioned for preferring the conjecture of Harduin, we have to add the account of it given by the Scholiast on Theocritus: βολβὸς ἔιδος βοτἀνης ὀμοίας κρομμύῳ Κολχικῷ. (Idyll, xiv.) There is also a good deal of uncertainty with regard to the emetic bulbus; but the predominance of authority is in favour of its being the _Hyacinthus comosus_. The fact of the matter, however, we believe to be that various plants having bulbous roots are possessed of emetic powers, and that the name emetic bulbus was often applied in a loose manner. Dioscorides merely says of its medicinal properties, that when eaten by itself, and when its decoction is drunk, it cures diseases of the bladder and produces vomiting (ii, 200, 201.) Galen and the succeeding authorities, like our author, treat very succinctly of it. The Arabians, also, merely copy from Dioscorides and Galen. See particularly Avicenna (ii, 2, 85); Serapion (c. 355.)

Βότρυς,

Botrys, _Goosefoot_; some call it Ambrosia, and others Mugwort. It is a plant sufficiently fragrant, and when drunk with wine cures orthopnœa.

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COMMENTARY. There seems no reason to doubt that this is the plant described by our old herbalists under the name of Oak of Jerusalem. It has now got the scientific name of _Chenopodium Botrys_. It is briefly recommended in orthopnœa by Dioscorides (iii, 120), and Pliny (N. H. xxvii, 31.) It is not noticed by Galen, Aëtius, Oribasius, Celsus, nor we believe by any of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, yet it held a place in our English Dispensatory as late as the time of Quincy.

Βουβώνιον,

Bubonium, has been described under Aster Atticus.

Βούγλωσσον,

Buglossum, _Bugloss_, is humid and hot in its temperament. Hence when added to wines it is said to produce hilarity.

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COMMENTARY. The Borage, or _Anchusa Buglossum_, long held a place in the Materia Medica. From Dioscorides down to Boerhaave, it had the reputation of being a good cordial. See Dioscorides (iv, 126); Avicenna (ii, 2, 375.) We believe it is not met with in the works either of Hippocrates or Celsus.

Βούνειον,

Bunium (or Arctium), _Rape_; it is hot, diuretic, and emmenagogue; and the Pseudobunium in like manner.

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COMMENTARY. We treated of this article, which, notwithstanding the disagreement of the commentators and herbalists, we are willing to believe to be the _Bunium Bulbocastanum_, or Earth-nut, as a culinary herb in the First Book. The pseudobunium may be the _Pimpinella tenuis_. Dioscorides represents it to be diuretic, calefacient, possessing powers to promote the lochial discharge, and useful in affections of the spleen, kidneys, and bladder (iv, 122.) Galen and the other authorities give the same account of it as our author. It long held a place in our modern Dispensatories.

Βόυπρηστις,

Buprestis, _Burncow_, is an insect resembling the Cantharis, and may therefore be prepared like it.

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COMMENTARY. Whatever doubts others may have entertained respecting the _Buprestis_ of the ancients, we are well satisfied that it was the _Meloe vesicatoria_. We have treated fully of it as a poison in the Fifth Book § 31. Occasional mention of it is made in the Hipprocratic treatises. (De Mulieb. i, et alibi.)

Βόυτυρον,

Butyrum, _Butter_, is possessed of digestive and moderately discutient properties when applied to soft bodies; it is therefore of use for buboes and parotis; it attenuates the gums, more especially of children during the time of dentition, and in a linctus it concocts humours lodged in the chest.

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COMMENTARY. Though it certainly be true, as stated by Beckmann (History of Inventions), that the Greeks and Romans made very little use of butter as an article of food compared with the moderns, it is equally clear that they were well acquainted with various kinds of it, and their medicinal virtues. If, as he and Michaelis suppose, the Hebrew word, which, in the Septuagint Scripture, is rendered _boutyron_, signifies cream, or sour thick milk, the first mention of butter which occurs in ancient literature is in the following passage of Hippocrates: “These people (the Scythians) pour the milk of their mares into wooden vessels, cause it to be violently stirred or shaken by their blind slaves, and separate the part which arises to the surface, as they consider it more valuable and more delicious than that which is collected below it.” (De Aere, Aquis, etc.) The _Hippace_ is also described in another of the Hippocratic treatises (De Morbis, iv.) Beckmann quotes a passage of the poet Anaxandrides, preserved by Athenæus (iv, 131, ed. Casaubon), to prove that butter is of Thracian origin. We having thus described the origin of butter, shall now give a description of its medicinal uses from the works of the medical authorities. In the Hippocratic treatises butter is several times mentioned as an external medicine. (De Natura Mulierum, v; De Morbis Mulierum, ii, 5.) But Dioscorides is the first author who gives a distinct account of its medicinal properties. Butter, he says, is possessed of emollient and oily powers, whence it loosens the bowels when drunk in large quantity, and is useful in the treatment of poisoning by deadly substances in the absence of oil; when mixed with honey, and rubbed in, it is useful for painful dentition, pruritus of the gums in children, and aphthæ; when rubbed in externally it preserves the body plump and free from watery pustules (psydracia); it is beneficial for inflammations and hardness of the womb, when not fetid or old; for dysentery and ulceration of the colon, in a clyster; it is mixed advantageously with suppurative applications, and more especially in wounds of the nerves, membranes of the brain, the bladder, and neck; it fills up, cleanses, incarnates, and proves useful as an application in cases of persons bitten by the asp. Fresh butter in cookery is used instead of oil, and in cakes instead of suet. His chapter on butter concludes with directions for preparing the sort of butter, which he represents as being desiccative and astringent in ophthalmic applications, and capable of stopping defluxions and cicatrizing ulcers. (ii, 81.) Pliny’s account of milk being mostly taken from Dioscorides, we shall not dwell upon it. He is original, however, in stating that most butter is got from cow’s milk. (H. N. xxviii, 35.) Celsus merely enumerates butter among the articles which incarnate and fill up sores. (v, 14.) Galen states that butter is contained in greatest quantity in the milk of cows, and hence it derives its name. That it has concoctive powers with a small portion of discutient, and is of intermediate powers with regard to softness and hardness of the body, by which he means that it has no powers to discuss preternatural tumours of very hard bodies, but that it concocts and discusses soft inflammations, such as parotis, bubo, boils in the mouth, and many others of a like nature. He recommends it also in dentition and inflammatory affections of the mouth in children. He also mentions it as a useful expectorant in pleurisy and pneumonia, both when drunk and in the form of a linctus. (De Simpl. ix.) Aëtius copies the description which he gives of butter from Galen. (ii, 104.) Oribasius borrows from Dioscorides. (xv, 2.) Rhases quotes Dioscorides, Galen, Oribasius, and Paulus, and gives nothing of his own. (l. ult. 133.) Avicenna also recommends butter in exactly the same cases as Dioscorides and Galen. (ii, 2, 110.) Serapion literally translates Dioscorides and Galen. (De Simpl. 457.)

Βούφθαλμον,

Buphthalmum, _Oxeye_, has a flower like that of the camomile, but much larger and more acrid. It is therefore discutient, so as to cure indurations when mixed with cerate.

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COMMENTARY. The old herbalists were much puzzled what to make of the _Buphthalmum_, some contending for its being _Helleborus niger_, some a species of _Consiligo_, some a _Chrysanthemum_, and so forth. See Gerard (Herbal) and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor.) It would seem likely that it is the _Anthemis Valentina_. Our author borrows all that was worth copying in the chapter of Dioscorides (iii, 146.) Galen expresses himself respecting it in nearly the same terms as Dioscorides. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 97.) It is not mentioned in the Hippocratic collection.

Βράθυς,

Sabina, _Savin_, being like the Cypress, it is heating and desiccative in the third degree; and consisting of subtile particles, it is possessed of subtilizing and discutient powers if drunk. It is applied to mortifications like the Cypress.

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COMMENTARY. The two species of savine described by Dioscorides are probably the _Sabina cypressifolia_ and _tamariscifolia_. He recommends it principally as an external application to spreading sores and carbuncles. He says it produces bloody water and abortion when drunk in wine, and when applied externally, or in the form of fumigation. (i, 104.) All the ancient authorities, including Macer Floridus (but his works, we are well aware, are not generally reputed genuine), hold it to be an uterine medicine. Its medicinal and deleterious powers are given in like manner by the Arabians. See in particular Avicenna (ii, 2, 6); Serapion (c. 255); Ebn Baithar (i, 5.) Apuleius praises it strongly in jaundice. We need scarcely mention that savin still retains its place in our Dispensatory, being, according to Pereira, “the most certain and powerful emmenagogue of the whole Materia Medica.” With regard to its action on the animal economy, “it operates,” according to Sundelin, as quoted by Pereira, “as a specific excitant and irritant on the kidneys, and yet more obviously on the uterus.” All this shows how correctly the ancient authorities had judged of its powers.

Βρεττανίκη,

Bretannica, _Water-dock_, is possessed of astringent and agglutinative powers, and in appearance resembles the Wild-dock. The juice of it cures mortifications in the mouth.

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COMMENTARY. It would not be worth while, even if this were the proper place, to touch upon the lengthened controversy which has prevailed among the old herbalists and botanical authorities with regard to this plant. Whoever would wish to investigate the subject may consult Professor Munting’s elaborate work ‘De Vera Herba Britannica,’ (Amst. 1698,) and Sprengel’s ‘Annotations on Dioscorides’ (iv, 2.) Suffice it to say, that, in all probability, the plant in question was some species of water-dock. All the authorities who treat of it give it much the same character as our author. See particularly Avicenna (ii, 2, 102); Serapion (c. 222.) It held a place in our English Dispensatory as late as Quincy, who represents it (“the hydrolopathum, supposed to be the Bretannica of the ancients”) as a specific for scurvy.

Βρόμος,

Avena, _Oats_, has powers resembling those of barley. It is desiccative, and moderately discutient without pungency. It has also some astringency, whence it cures diarrhœas.

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COMMENTARY. It is not well ascertained whether this be an _Avena_ or _Secale_. The chapter of Dioscorides under this head is probably spurious. Our author abridges Galen. It is not treated of by Celsus nor the Arabians.

Βρύον,

Bryum; the sea-bryum or lichen is cooling and astringent, and is therefore useful when applied as a cataplasm to hot inflammations; that kind which is called splanchnon, being found on oaks, white poplars, and pitch-trees, is at the same time discutient and moderately emollient, more especially that upon cedars.

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COMMENTARY. It appears evident that it is a species of _Lichen_ or _Usnea_, but what species is not clear. The term usnea is borrowed from the Arabian authors. Our author copies closely from Galen. Dioscorides recommends it as an astringent principally in affections of the womb, in the form of a hip-bath or fumigation. Avicenna (ii, 2, 713) and Serapion (c. 247) briefly notice several species of _usnea_ without appearing to identify it with the bryon of the Greeks. Rhases, however, is quite aware of their identity. (Contin. l. ult. i, 753.) Avicenna says it is emmenagogue, and procures the delivery of the fœtus either dead or alive. He adds that, in a dose of 10 drs. it acts as a deadly poison. Serapion recommends it principally as being diuretic and emmenagogue. Several species of the genera lichen and usnea are still to be found in the shops, and have the reputation of being powerful astringents. See Gray (Suppl. to the Pharmacop. pp. 11, 12.)

Βρυωνία,

Bryonia, _Bryony_; the White Vine is so named.

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COMMENTARY. See under ἄμπελος. Mesue recommends it as a phlegmagogue, deobstruent, and diuretic medicine; for epilepsy, vertigo, coldness of the nerves, coughs, asthmas, especially in a linctus, in pleurisy, and as an external application to hard aspostemes, inflammations of the spleen, in the form of a plaster, with figs and wine; for the removal of whitlow, spiculæ of bones, thorns, and the like. In a draught, he says, it proves emmenagogue and procures abortion. He also commends it as a cosmetic in diseases of the face. Both internally and externally he praises it in scrofula. He adds further, that it is useful in the cure of persons who have been bitten by venomous animals. In a word, no ancient author has bestowed so flattering an eulogium upon bryony as Mesue (De Simplicibus.) We need scarcely say that bryony (_Bryonia dioica_ or _alba_) is now regarded in the light of a poison rather than a medicine. See Orfila (Toxicol. Gen. i, 679), and Christison on Poisons (p. 445, First edition.)

Γἀλα,

Lac, _Milk_; every sort of milk consists of three substances, a cheesy, a serous, and a fatty part, which last is contained in greatest abundance in the cow’s milk, and from it butter is formed. Whey is possessed of detergent properties, and hence it loosens the belly if separated by boiling. The cheesy and thick part is more compact, and on that account blunts acrid humours. When milk is boiled either by hot pebbles or any other way, it is an excellent remedy for dysenteries and other acrid defluxions on the bowels. The whole contents of milk are suitable applications for acrid humours of the eye, and all other acrimonies. The milk of a woman is of the best regulated temperament; after which the goat’s, and then that of the ass and sheep; and last of all the milk of cows.

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COMMENTARY. We have treated of the properties of milk so fully in the First Book that we need not enlarge on the subject in this place. Our author’s account of it is abridged from Galen. Dioscorides, Galen, Celsus, Serapion, and most of the authorities, recommend milk as a remedy when acrid substances, such as cantharides or arsenic, have been swallowed. Dioscorides says whey is beneficial in cases of melancholy, epilepsy, lepra, elephantiasis, and exanthemata in all parts of the body. He recommends new milk as a gargle in all ulcerations of the mouth, and in defluxions on the bowels with ulceration and tenesmus. He says, the milk of sheep, cows, or goats stops them, when boiled with pebbles, and injected either by itself or with ptisan, or the decoction of chondrus; it is also injected, he adds, in ulcerations of the womb. A woman’s milk, he says, when sucked from the breast, relieves erosion of the stomach and phthisis; it suits the cure of those who have drunk of the sea-hare, and is otherwise useful as an application to the eyes, and to the gout. All kinds of milk, he adds, are inapplicable in diseased spleen, diseased liver, vertigo, epilepsy, all nervous affections, fevers, and headaches, unless when the schiston is given to move the bowels. What the schiston was we have explained in the First Book (§ 88.) All the other authorities, whether Greek or Arabian, in treating of milk, follow Dioscorides and Galen. See in particular Serapion (De Simpl. 457.) Celsus entertained nearly the same views, with regard to milk, as the Greek authorities. Thus he recommends it in phthisis, and as an antidote to various poisons, but condemns it in headaches and acute fevers. Hippocrates prescribes milk in various instances, and seems to have been very partial to the use of it. He recommends the schiston, prepared with pebbles, in affections of the bowels. (Epidem. vii.)

Γαλὴ,

Mustella, _the Weasel_; when burnt, its ashes are discutient. Wherefore when rubbed in along with vinegar it relieves gout and rheumatism; when prepared and dried it answers with epilepsies.

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COMMENTARY. According to Sprengel, the Γαλη is a species of mustella, but neither the _M. communis_, called _weasel_ in English, nor the _M. Furo_, or _Ferret_. Our author’s description of its medicinal virtues is taken from Dioscorides.

Γάλιον,

Galium, _Yellow Ladies’ Bedstraw_, or _Cheese Rennet_; it derives its name of Galium from its coagulating milk. It resembles the cleavers, and is desiccative and subacrid. The flower of it suits with hemorrhages and burns.

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COMMENTARY. The very name, _Galium verum_, now generally given to the yellow bed-straw, implies that it is generally admitted to be the galium of the ancients. Dioscorides, besides assigning to it the virtues enumerated by our author, states, that it is aphrodisiacal (iv, 94.) It was principally celebrated, however, as a styptic, and this character it continued to hold as long as it obtained a place in the Dispensatory. See Quincy. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 317); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 327); Ebn Baithar (ii, 229.) They all merely copy from Dioscorides and Galen. We have not been able to find it in the works of either Hippocrates or Celsus.

Γαλίοψις,

Galiopsis (called also Galiobdolon), is like the nettle, but smoother and fetid, and acts as a discutient and emollient application to indurated tumours. It also agrees with spreading ulcers in the form of a cataplasm.

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COMMENTARY. Our old herbalists generally held the galiopsis of Dioscorides to be a species of _Lamium_. (See Gerard and Parkinson.) But whether it be that or a species of figwort (the _Scrofularia peregrina_) cannot be positively determined. Rutty says the _Lamium maximum_ of C. Bauhin has all the marks which Dioscorides gives to the galiopsis. It was used only externally in applications to foul ulcers, and this character secured it a place in our Dispensatory until recent times. See particularly Dioscorides (iv, 94.) Few of the other authorities have noticed it.

Γάρος,

Garum, _Brine of Pickled Fish_, is powerfully calefacient and desiccative, and is therefore used as an external application to putrid ulcers, and is administered as an injection in dysentery and ischiatic diseases.

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COMMENTARY. “Garum est exquisiti liquoris genus, intestinis piscium cæterisque quæ abjicienda sunt sale maceratis.” Rendtorpi Notæ ap. Fabricii Bibl. Gr. iv, 333; Geopon. xx, 46; Pliny (H. N. xxxi, 43); Athenæus (Deipnos. ii); Apicius (c. vii.) Coray defines it, “the juice or brine of pickled fishes.” (Ad Xenocrat. Fragment.) Sauce prepared by macerating the intestines of the tunny was particularly esteemed. Cælius Aurelianus praises that from the silurus. (Tard. Pass. ii, 1.) Dioscorides recommends the sauce of pickled fishes as a cataplasm to persons bitten by dogs, and as an injection in dysentery and sciatica (ii, 34.) All the other authorities that treat of it give it the same character. See Aëtius (ii); Avicenna (ii, 2, 486); Serapion (c. 184.) It occurs in the works of Celsus (ii, 21), and also frequently in those of Hippocrates. Foës gives a learned dissertation on this article in ‘Œconom. Hippocrat.’

Γεντιανὴ,

Gentiana, _Gentian_; the root is sufficiently efficacious in subtilising and cleansing, and as a detergent and deobstruent medicine.

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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides states that the gentian (_Gentiana lutea?_) has a heating and astringent faculty; that it is a remedy in cases of persons bitten by venomous animals, with pepper and rue; that it is useful in hepatic and stomachic affections; that it procures abortion when applied in a collyrium; that it is a vulnerary herb, and is used for many ulcers and other cutaneous affections. (iii, 3.) Galen justly remarks that it owes its attenuant and deobstruent powers to its being intensely bitter. (De Simpl. v.) Apuleius, like Dioscorides, recommends it as an application for the bites of serpents. Hence it always obtained a place in the Theriac. See Celsus (v, 23.) Serapion says it is the best of all remedies in cases of hydrophobia, and this character it has obtained in modern times. Avicenna gives a very circumstantial account of it, enumerating all its virtues as stated by the Greek authorities, namely, its abstergent, attenuant, deobstruent, diuretic, and emmenagogue powers, and recommends it particularly as an application to parts stung by venomous animals. (ii, 2, 281.) Ebn Baithar gives very interesting extracts from Arabian authorities on this head. (i, 260.) It is found in the Hippocratic collection. In the modern Greek Pharmacopœia it is stated that the _G. lutea_ grows in the Alps of Switzerland. This would seem to imply that it is not a native of Greece.

Γεράνιον,

Geranium, _Cranebill_; that species, the leaves of which resemble those of the Anemone, and has edible roots, when drunk with wine to the amount of a drachm, removes inflation of the uterus. The other species is of no use in medicine.

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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides and the other ancient authorities describe only two species of the _Geranium_, the former of which would certainly seem to be the _tuberosum_, and the other the _rotundifolium_. They were not acquainted with the _Geranium Robertianum_. Dioscorides merely says of the geranium that when drunk in wine, to the amount of a drachm, it cures inflation of the womb (iii, 121.) Few of the other authorities notice it. See Ebn Baithar (i, 10.) The geraniums held a place in our English Dispensatory until a recent period. See Quincy (p. 88.)

Γῆ,

Terra, _Earth_; all kinds are desiccants; that which is unmixed with any other substance is also free of pungency; but if any fiery quality is mixed with it, it lays the same aside when washed. The fatty part, then, of wrought earth is an useful application to all organs that require drying; they use therefore the clay of _Egyptian earth_ to dropsical and splenitic affections, and to soft swellings, with manifest advantage. Of medicinal earths, the _Lemnia rubrica_, or _Sigillum_, as it is called, in addition to its being moderately desiccative and astringent, proves an antidote to deleterious medicines, cures malignant ulcers with wine or vinegar, stops all kinds of hemorrhage, and removes dysentery and spreading ulcers of the intestines, the gut being first washed out by an injection of honied water, and then of brine. The _Rubrica Sinopica_, or _vermilion_, being stronger than the Lemnian, is used as an ingredient in plasters, and when drunk it kills worms. The _Samian_ is much more emollient than the Lemnian, as being glutinous and viscid. It is to be used then in all cases in which emollients are indicated; but it also cures spitting of blood from whatever part it proceed. The _Selenusian_ and the _Chian_ are more detergent, and are therefore used by some women in the cleansing applications to their faces. It also produces the incarnation and cicatrization of ulcers, more especially of burns. The unwashed _Cimolian_ is possessed of mixed powers, being refrigerant and discutient; but the washed is more cooling, and cures burns with oxycrate. The _Terra Ampelitis_ (it is the kind of earth which is rubbed upon vines to destroy the worms which breed in them) is powerfully desiccant and discutient, but not without pungency. The _Cretan_ is full of air and detergent, without pungency. The _Eretrian_ is decidedly astringent, but when burnt and washed it is desiccant without pungency; but the cineritious is preferable. The _Pnigitis_ has powers resembling the Cimolian, but is black. The _Armenian_, called also _Bole_, is powerfully desiccative, and therefore agrees excellently with dysenteric cases, fluxes of the belly, spitting of blood, consumption, dyspnœa from humidity, humid ulcers, and pestilential affections. It is drunk with a thin diluted wine, or, if fever be present, with water. The _Alanabolus_ is possessed of similar powers to the Armenian. _Ochre_ is discutient and septic in its powers; it therefore restrains the fungous flesh of ulcers, and fills hollow ones when mixed with cerate.

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COMMENTARY. We shall now give a brief explanation of the medicinal earths of the ancients, and for a fuller account of them we would beg to refer to the Appendix to Dunbar’s ‘English and Greek Lexicon,’ to Hill’s ‘Annotations on Theophrastus on Stones,’ and to Sprengel’s ‘Notes on Dioscorides.’ Of the ancient writers, Dioscorides and Galen give the fullest account of them. The Arabians, also, especially Rhases, Avicenna, and Serapion, treat of them in the most ample manner, but supply little additional information. Geoffroy says of the _Lemnian earth_, that it is “a fat, viscid, slippery clay, of a pale red colour.” The Lemnian ruddle (μίλτος) was the red Armenian bole, consisting of silex, alumine, oxyd of iron, &c. The Lemnium Sigillum was the Lemnian earth, made into cakes and stamped with a seal, as a guarantee of its purity. The _Cretan earth_ is white chalk. The _Samian earth_, as Sprengel states, appears to have been pure argil; Kidd supposes it to have been pipeclay. The kind called aster was globose and thick. The _Chian_, _Selenusian_, and _Pnigitid earths_, are also argils, more or less pure. The Sinopic ruddle was a compact kind of ochre or marl, nearly resembling the Lemnian earth. Pliny ranks the _Cimolian earth_ among the chalks or clays (cretæ.) Sprengel and Kidd suppose it an argil. The purple Cimolian earth of the ancients was our steatitis or _soap-rock_. From Dioscorides’s account of the _Melian earth_, it appears to have consisted principally of alum, and was different from the _Terra Melia_ of Theophrastus. The _Ampelites_ would seem to have been a bituminous earth, formed from stone-coal, probably resembling cannel coal. The _Armenian earth_, as Matthiolus remarks, was different from the _Armenian bole_ now brought from the East. The ancient is described to be a very dry clay, having the appearance of stone, and very triturable, like lime. It was much celebrated as a remedy for the plague. See Galen, Aëtius, and Serapion. It was introduced into practice by Galen. It is clear, as Dr. Hill remarks, that it was the _yellow Armenian bole_ which Galen used; the red being first used by the Arabians. Dr. Hill found it an excellent astringent and absorbent. The _Eretrian earth_ was an impure argil, of a snow-white colour. Geber makes frequent mention of _magnesia_.

Γήρας ὄφεως,

_Senecta Serpentis_, the Slough of a Serpent, is decidedly desiccative: when boiled with vinegar it, therefore, cures toothache. That of the asp, when triturated with honey and rubbed in, sharpens the powers of vision.

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COMMENTARY. Galen and Serapion likewise recommend the skin of a snake, when boiled in wine or vinegar, as a remedy for earache and toothache. See also Haly Abbas (Pract. ii, 49, 530.) Dioscorides gives nearly the same account of it, only he recommends the cast skin of the viper as an ophthalmic remedy. (ii, 19.) The serpent’s slough is still used medicinally in the East. See Ainslie (Materia Medica, ii, 291.)

Γῆς ἔντερα,

Vermes terreni, _Earthworms_, when pounded and applied to wounded nerves, have immediately the most wonderful effects.

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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says that earthworms, pounded and applied, agglutinate divided nerves, and stop tertians; that, when boiled with the grease of a goose, they cure affections of the ears when injected; that, in like manner, when boiled in oil and injected into the opposite ear, they relieve toothache; and that they promote the flow of urine when pounded and drunk in wine. (ii, 72.) Galen commends earthworms as being diuretic when drunk in must. He mentions further, that, according to the report of certain physicians, earthworms have been given internally and applied externally without burning or boiling. Of all the ancient authorities, Aëtius is the fullest on the medicinal virtues of earthworms. (ii, 168.) The Arabians do little more under this head than copy the descriptions of them given by Dioscorides, Galen, and Paulus. Avicenna recommends them, when pounded and drunk in wine, not only as being diuretic but also lithontriptic. (ii, 2, 198.) The Lumbrici terrestres, or earthworms, are described and very much commended for their medicinal virtues in Quincy’s ‘Dispensatory’ (p. 140), and Lewis’s ‘Materia Medica’ (ii, 76.)

Γίγαρτα,

Gigarta vinacea, _Grape-stones_, are desiccative in the second degree, but refrigerant in the first. Being, therefore, cooling, they agree with all defluxions.

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COMMENTARY. Galen mentions _Grape-stones_ as sour and astringent remedies, and, therefore, applicable in all defluxions from the bowels. Avicenna recommends the ashes of grape-stones with vinegar in torsion of the nerves, and along with oil for contusion of the limbs and softening of the joints. (ii, 2, 723.) See also Rhases (l. ult. Cont. i, 745.)

Γιγγίδιον,

Gingidium, _Toothpick Fennel_, is possessed of no manifest heat, but is desiccative in the third degree, and astringent. It is, therefore, stomachic.

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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides says of the _Daucus gingidium_, that it is a good potherb, and that as a medicine, when taken in a decoction with wine, it is diuretic and lithontriptic. (ii, 166.) Galen defines its virtues to be considerable astringency with slightly heating powers. The others treat of it in like terms. Few if any of the Arabians have noticed it.

Γλαύκιον,

Glaucium, _Horned Poppy_, is rather disagreeably astringent, but decidedly refrigerant, so that it cures erysipelas when the attack is not severe.

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COMMENTARY. In the Fifth Book we have treated of the different species of poppy used by the ancients. It appears from Dioscorides that it was its expressed juice which was used in practice. It was used principally in applications to the eyes. Our author borrows from Galen, and he follows Dioscorides (iii, 90.) The Arabians recommend it, not only in affections of the eyes, but also in boils and erysipelas. See particularly Avicenna (ii, 2, 470); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 464.) As far as we can discover, it does not occur in the works of the Hippocratists, nor in those of Celsus. It has been scarcely known in the modern practice of medicine.

Γλαὺξ,

Glaux, _Milkwort_; the herb is hot and humid in temperament, and, therefore, promotes the formation of milk.

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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides gives a very circumstantial description of it, from which it has been concluded that the _Glaux_ was a species of _Astragalus_. (iv, 139.) All the authorities mention it in the same light as our author, but few of them have described it. We are not aware of its having been used in modern practice.

Γλήχων,

Pulegium, _Pennyroyal_, is strongly calefacient and attenuant. Hence, when applied externally, it proves rubefacient. It also promotes the expectoration of thick and viscid humours lodged in the chest and lungs.

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COMMENTARY. Dioscorides commends the _Mentha Pulegium_ as an emmenagogue, and for forwarding delivery; and the same character has descended to it down to recent times. See Gerard, Culpeper, Quincy, and Hill. Even at the present day it holds a place in our Dispensatories, but with a diminished reputation: stat magni nominis umbra! The Arabians generally treated of it along with the dittany. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 461); Serapion (De Simpl. 310.)

Γλοιὸς,

Sordes, that of baths, is moderately heating, emollient, and discutient. It, therefore, agrees with fissures and condylomata.

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COMMENTARY. See Dioscorides, with the commentaries of Matthiolus and Sprengel. Suffice it to say, that the _Sordes balneorum_ was nothing but the sweat scraped from the bodies of persons who were _shampooed_, in an apartment of the bath for this purpose, namely, in the Laconicum. (See