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.

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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.”

Ἐχίνος,

Echinus; the herb is austere, repellent, and desiccant. Of the Land Echinus, or _Hedgehog_, the flesh when strongly dried is discutient and desiccant; when taken in a draught, therefore, it is beneficial in elephantiasis, cachexia, and many other complaints. Its skin, when burnt, becomes more desiccant and discutient. It therefore cures alopecia when rubbed in with liquid pitch. Of the Sea Echinus, the edible part is diuretic, and agrees with the bowels. Its shell, when burnt, resembles that of the land echinus.

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COMMENTARY. The herb is not described by Dioscorides, Theophrastus, or Pliny. It would appear to be the same as the _Erinus_, which see. The Ἐ. χερσᾶιος is undoubtedly the _Hystrix Cristata_, and the Ἐ. θαλάττιος the _Echinus Esculentus_. Dioscorides and Galen give the same account of their medicinal properties as our author. Serapion, after giving the description by Dioscorides and Galen, adds, from an Arabian authority, that the flesh of the land echinus is beneficial in protracted fevers. (De Simpl. 435.) Avicenna (ii, 2, 234,) treats of the two echini at greater length than any other ancient author, recommending the flesh of the land, in phthisis, dropsy, elephantia, scabies, scrofula, and other complaints of a formidable nature. Upon the whole, however, his account of it is mostly made up of extracts from Dioscorides and Galen. See in like manner Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 273.) He recommends the land echinus in the irretention of urine to which children are subject, adding that when frequently administered, it brings on dysuria. He and Avicenna quote Serapion as an authority for its use in protracted fevers. Both the echini disappeared from our Dispensatory a considerable time ago.

Ἔχιον,

Echium, _Viper’s Bugloss_, (some call it also _Dorias_, and others _Alcibiadium_,) is a prickly herb, which not only relieves those who have been bitten by reptiles when drunk in wine, but, if taken beforehand, it preserves them from being injured.

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COMMENTARY. It appears to us quite clear that this article is the _Echium vulgare_ or Viper’s Bugloss, which we have no doubt was introduced into Britain with other medicinal herbs by the Romans, for it is never found remote from cultivated places, and therefore we believe it not to be truly indigenous. Some have taken it for the _Echium rubrum_, from Dioscorides having described the flowers as being _purplish_, whereas, purplish signifies a bright blue, and not red as is supposed. Parkinson thus describes the colour of the flowers of the _Echium vulgare_: “The flowers are of a purplish violet colour, in them that are fully blown, but more reddish while they are in bud; but in some places of a paler purple colour,” &c. (p. 413.) We, then, have no hesitation in acknowledging it as the _Echium vulgare_. Our author borrows his account of its medicinal powers from Dioscorides. (iv, 27.) The Arabians would seem to confound it with the Anchusæ, to which it is closely allied. Our old herbalists, in treating of the viper’s bugloss, follow Dioscorides; but it has long ceased to hold a place in our Dispensatory. It still, however, is known in the shops, where its root retains the character of being aperient and slightly astringent. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. p. 54.)

Ἕψημα ἢ σίραιον,

Defrutum, _Boiled Must_; it is moderately heating and digestive, and is also emplastic and free from pungency.

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COMMENTARY. Pliny gives the following account of it: “Siræum quod alii hepsema, nostri sapam appellant, ingenii, non naturæ opus est, musto usque ad tertiam partem mensuræ decocto: quod ubi factum ad dimidiam est, defrutum vocamus.” (H. N. xiv, 11.) Harduin states that the Hepsema is called _Rob_ or _Sapa semplex_. (l. c.) Moses Charras gives the following directions for preparing it: “℞. Of the new juice of white grapes perfectly ripe, lb. xxx; boil it over a gentle fire in an earthen glazed vessel, or a copper vessel tinned within, until a third part of the juice only remains. But if you desire a _defrutum_, boil it only to the consumption of the third part.” (Roy. Phar. p. 70.) The following prescription, taken from a still later writer, will further be useful in illustrating the meaning of a term which often occurs in the course of this work, but which has now fallen into disuse. “The Simple Rob or Sapa. Take of juice newly expressed from generous and white grapes any quantity, and boil it over a slow fire, until one pint of it only remains out of three, or it becomes of a honey consistence.” Quincy’s Dispensatory (432.) Few of the other authorities treat of this article at all, and those that do, despatch their notice of it in few words. Thus, for example, Avicenna says of rob, that it is expectorant, and hence it is made an ingredient in the syrup of poppies; and that it is useful in pain of the kidneys and bladder. (ii, 2, 570.)

Ζέια,

Far, _Spelt_, has powers like the kinds of wheat, holding an intermediate place as to heating and cooling; it is also gently desiccative and emplastic.

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COMMENTARY. This, as we have explained elsewhere (Vol. I, 123), is the _Triticum Spelta_, to which our older herbalists give the names Greek Wheat, Spelt Wheat, or Spelt Corn. That the _Zeia_ of the Greeks was identical with the _Far_ of the Romans, is proved beyond all dispute from a passage of Asclepiades preserved by Galen. (De Locis Affectis, ix.) The term _spelta_ is derived from the latino-barbarous translations of the Arabians. See Serapion (122), who quotes under this head the chapter of Dioscorides on _tragus_, which was spelt deprived of its hull. The other authorities say little of spelt as a medicine; but commend it highly as an article of food. (See Vol. I, l. c.) Avicenna describes it by the name of _harcoman_ (ii, 2, 323); and Rhases by that of _haratinam_ (Cont. l. ult. i, 352.)

Ζιγγιβὲρ,

Zingiber, _Ginger_; its root is powerfully heating, but not on its first application, as it contains some crude and thick juice, on which account it readily becomes carious, but it preserves the heat.

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COMMENTARY. Without doubt the _Amomum Zingiber_. Dioscorides after describing the country of the ginger, and the characters of the best kinds of it, states its medicinal powers to be heating, digestive, mildly aperient of the bowels, and stomachic; and recommends it in nebulæ of the cornea, and adds of it, that as an ingredient in antidotes and otherwise it resembles pepper (ii, 189.) Galen writes very elaborately in explanation of the action of ginger on the animal frame; and, in accounting for the difference between it and pepper and other articles of the same class practically, his conclusions regarding it are the same as our author’s. Aëtius and Oribasius copy from him. Serapion, after quoting the opinions of Dioscorides and Galen, gives a very sensible account of the virtues of ginger from Mesue and another unknown authority. Mesue says it is beneficial in obstructions of the liver, arising from coldness and humidity; that it softens the belly, heats the stomach and the whole body; promotes digestion; is alexipharmic and aphrodisiacal; removes phlegm (water brash?) and is beneficial in obscurity of vision. The unknown authority says it improves the memory, and removes the humidity in the stomach, arising from the eating of fruit, such as melons and the like (De Simpl. 336.) In the works of Mesue, now extant, ginger is not treated of. Rhases gives very interesting extracts from Dioscorides, Galen, and various Arabian authors. Of the latter, one says of ginger, that it softens the belly, and another that it binds it. (Cont. l. ult. i, 762.) Avicenna quotes Dioscorides as stating that it is aperient, and Alcanzi as holding that it is astringent. He agrees with the latter, that ginger binds the bowels, when their loose state arises from indigestion and viscid humours. He agrees also with the other authorities, that it is stomachic and aphrodisiac. (ii, 2, 735.)

Ζύθος,

Zythus, _Ale_, is of a compound nature; for it is acrid, as being formed by a putrefaction (“fermentation?”), and cold, as being possessed of an acid quality. It therefore produces bad chyle.

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COMMENTARY. The plan of our present work prohibits us from entering into an exposition of the general literature of this subject, but we think this the less necessary as in another work, to which we have often referred in this part of our Commentary, we have given an elaborate disquisition on the ancient Ales, into which we have condensed all the information which we could procure respecting them. We would also beg leave to refer to Gruner’s learned annotations on Zozimus Panopolita (De Zythorum Compositione); to Ludovicus Nonnius (De re Cibaria, iv, 15); Eustathius (Comment. in Iliad. xiii, 640); and Athenæus (Deipnos. x, 67, ed. Schweigh.) Our proper business now is to state the opinions of the medical authorities with regard to their medicinal powers. Dioscorides mentions two kinds of ale or beer, in his Mat. Med., both of them prepared from barley, but does not state wherein the difference between them consisted. The Zythus, he says, is diuretic, apt to affect the kidneys and nerves; peculiarly calculated to prove prejudicial to the membranes of the brain; is flatulent; engenders depraved humours, and occasions elephantiasis. Of the Courmi, he also says, that it occasions headache, forms bad humours, and is hurtful to the nerves; he adds, that drinks of this nature are also formed from wheat, in Spain and Britain (ii, 109, 110.) See further, Pliny (H. N. xxii, 82.) Aëtius, Oribasius, and our author, copy almost verbatim from Galen. Rhases treats of the Zythus, by the name of _foca_, first quoting the chapter of Dioscorides on the Zythus, and then adding, upon the authority of an Arabian writer, Bimasuy (Mesue the elder?), that ale prepared from barley, cloves, and rue, is prejudicial to the head; but that prepared from fine bread (similago?) mint, and parsley, forms good chyle, and is good for the stomach (Cont. l. ult. i, 306.) Avicenna’s account of Zythus, which he also describes by the name of _foca_, is entirely made up of extracts from Dioscorides and Rhases. (ii, 2, 272.) Serapion, as far as we can discover, does not treat of this article. A liquor is treated of pretty copiously by Symeon Seth, under the head of _Fucas_, which, as his editors remark, is probably a corruption of Posca. In his account of it, he introduces a short sentence from Dioscorides’s chapter on Zythus, to the effect that “ivory steeped in it becomes as ductile as wax.” It was not, strictly speaking, an ale or beer, being merely a mixture of vinegar and water, rendered more agreeable to the palate by some aromatics. See Harduin ad Plinii (H. N. xix, 29.) Respecting this beverage Seth states, as his own opinion, that it is wholesome, especially when used by persons of a hot temperature of stomach; that it quenches thirst; whets the appetite; increases the alvine and frequently the renal discharge.

Ζύμη,

Fermentum, _Leaven_; it also is composed of opposite ingredients; for it is possessed of a cold acidity and putrefactive (“fermentative?”) heat, and moreover of salts and flour. It is, therefore, heating and discutient in no ordinary degree.

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COMMENTARY. On the ancient modes of preparing Fermentum or Leaven, see ‘Geopon.’ (ii, 31); and Pliny (H. N. xviii, 26.) The kind in most common use was prepared from millet and must, or the fresh juice of the grape. Our author’s description of its medicinal powers is taken from Galen. Aëtius treats of it in nearly the same words. Dioscorides praises the leaven of wheat as being heating and epispastic, and suiting with complaints of the heels, phymata, and furunculi. (ii, 107.) Serapion under this head gives two extracts from Dioscorides and Galen, followed by one from Abenmesuai (the elder Mesue?), who recommends it in the fevers of children for quenching thirst. (De Simpl. 29.) Rhases gives a formula for a draught to be prepared from leaven, which he in like manner praises as being wonderfully efficacious in the fevers of children. (Cont. l. ult. i, 306.)

Ζωμὸς,

Jusculum, _Broth_, loosens the belly if drunk by itself or with wine, when made from fresh fish; but particularly that which is simply prepared from hakes, scorpion-fishes, rainbows, perches, and other tender fishes which dwell among rocks, with water, oil, dill, and salts. In like manner, also, the broth of the Crustacea, especially of the Tellinæ (limpets), the Chamæ (cockles), and Conchylæ (oysters). The broth of an old cock, boiled with salt to a great degree, is laxative; but that of a hen, on the other hand, is astringent.

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COMMENTARY. The account here given of the broth of fishes is taken from Dioscorides (ii, 35.) Galen directs the broth of fish to be prepared in the following manner: first pour in plenty of water, then add of oil _q. s._ with a little dill and leek; then, when the fish are half boiled, sprinkle a little salt. (De Alim. Facult. iii); (Meth. Med. ix.) Apicius in the tenth chapter of his work, gives fourteen different receipts for preparing soups from fishes. Most of them contain wine, honey, vinegar, and oil, with pepper, lovage, cumin, rue, &c., among the ingredients which enter into their composition. On the fishes mentioned under this head, see