RANDOLPH. — MANDRAGORA IN FOLK-LORE AND MEDICINE. 511 



Apuleius relates a striking story of a youth put to sleep by raaiiflra- 

 gora ; he makes a physician say : 



Metamorph., 10. 11 : I did give liim a drug, but it was a soporific, — the 

 famous raaudragora, celebrated for the lethargy which it is known to pro- 

 duce, and causing a stupor very like death. 



Macrobius alludes to mandragora as a remedy for insomnia: 



Saturn., 7. 6. 7 : Physicians apply cooling preparations — the juice of 

 poppy, mandragora, and the like — to persons suffering from insomnia.* 



The patristic writers, whose interest centres in the question vrliy 

 Rachel desired Leah's son's " mandrakes," occasionally refer incidentally 

 to the use of mandragora in medicine, and a few mention its use as a 

 soporific. 



Cyrillus, in a commentary on Genesis, writes : 



Ad Gen. 30. 14 : Mandragora is a soporific, and overcomes with a deep 

 stupor those who partake of it. 



In the commentary of Theodoretus on Canticles we have: 



Ad Cantic. 7. 13: Mandragora has the property of producing sleep, as 

 the physicians say. . . . Those who ha\e drunk mandragora have no 

 perception of matters affecting the body. 



These are the words of Basilius : 



Horn. 5. : Physicians induce sleep by means of mandragora. 



It is evident that its soporific power was regarded by the lexicogra- 

 phers as its most important characteristic. 



Hesychius says, under the word /AavSpayopas : 



A kind of plant, intoxicating and soporific. 



And under the word vttvotlkov : 

 The mandragora. t 



* A number of references to the medical and botanical writers may be cited 

 here ; they are of the same import, and it does not seem necessary to quote tliem : 

 (Theophr., Hist. Plant., 9. 9. 1, Caus. Plant., 6. 4. 5) ; Cels., 3. 18 (p. 100 Dareml)erg), 

 6. 25. 2 ; Diosc, 1. 571 f., 736 ; Plin., 25. 150 ; Seren. Samon., 998 ; Coel. Aurel., 

 Acut. Morb., 2. 4; Alex. Trail., 1. 11 (p. 18 Andern.) ; Theoph. Non., Epit., capp. 

 25 and 145. 



t Hesyciiius also gives tiiavSpaySpas ■ 6 Zeus, whicii no one seems able to explain. 

 Is there possibly some connection witli Lucian, Timon, 2, quoted above ? 



