.MtT. 15. 



HISTORY OF MEDICIXK EXHIBITS WHITEBREAD. 



39 



Sage. 



Salt. 



Samphire. 



Sandarach. 



Scammony. 



Sea water. 



Secundines of a woman. 



Sepia. 



Serpent. 



Sesame. 



Seseli. 



Silver. 



Sisymbrium. 



Solaniim. 



Spurge. 



Squill. 



Stag. 



Stavesacre. 



Styrax. 



Suecinum. 



Sulphur. 



Sweat. 



Tarragon. 



Tetragonum. 



Thaspia. 



Thistles. 



Thlapsi. 



Thuja. 



Thyme. 



Tdrpedo (tisli). 



This list may be taken to liave comprised pretty fairly the materia 

 iiiedica of the Greeks as it ^Yas known to them when Hippocrates 

 jjracticed. and as it is not claimed that he introduced any new medi- 

 cines it may be assumed that these formed the basis of the remedies 

 used in the temples of Aesculapius, though perhaps some of them 

 were only popular medicines." Chronicles of Pharmacy. — Wootton. 



Trigonum. 



Tribulus. 



Turpentine. 



Turtle. 



Umbilicus veneris. 



Verbascum. 



Verbena. 



Verdigi'is. 



Verjuice. 



Violet. 



Wax. 



Willow. 



Woad. 



Worms. 



Worm seed. 



SOME MEDICINAL INIATERIALS OF ANCIENT GREEKS AND I10:MANS. 



Vegetable Dkugs. 



Mustard. — The seeds of Brassicn iiiffra. According to Dioscorides (77 

 A. D. ) as a gargle "it is useful in swelling of the tonsils and chronic rough- 

 ness of the windpipe. Moistened and put in the nostrils, it excites sneezing, is 

 useful in epilepsy, and arouses women from the paroxysms of hysteria. IVIixed 

 with figs and applied until the part becomes very red, it is good for sciatica 

 and all chronic pains in which we seek to draw the humors from within out- 

 ward, removing the- disease from one place to anothei*. Mixed with vinegar, it 

 is a useful application for the itch and ringworm." Cat. No. 50.142, U.S.N.M. 



Licorice. — Mentioned by Theophrastus (third century B. C.) as "the sweet 

 Scythian root, good for asthma, dry cough, and all diseases of the cliest." 

 The expressed juice, equivalent to the modern " extract," is reconnnended by 

 Dioscorides for irritation of the bronchial tubes, for burnings in the stomach 

 (heart-burn), and diseases of the chest and liver. Taken with wine for ir- 

 ritation of the bladder and kidneys. Applied, in solution, as a healing lotion 

 for wounds, and, in powder, for the cure of excrescent es upon the eyelids. Cat. 

 No. 50,154, U.S.N.M. 



Stajihisagria. — The seeds of Delphinium stciphisagria. It was one of the 

 medicines of Hippocrates, nnd was used, as now. for the destruction of vermin 

 infesting the human body. Like many other violently irritant medicines it 

 was used internally as well as externally. " In the dose of 10 or 15 grains, 

 taken with honey and water, it purges tlie gross humors by vomiting. One 

 who has taken it should walk fdiout. and continue the hydi-omol, for it pro- 

 duces a feeling of suffocation, and burns unceasingly the llimat."" Dioscorides 

 (first century A. D.). Cat. No. 50,P,(:7. U.S.N M. 



Maifloiliair fern. — The fronds of Ailiantum capillu.'^ veneris. LTsed as a 

 remedy for croup. Cat. No. 52,445, U.S.N.M. 



