Chap. 26.] HAAVK-WEED. 229 



IS " cassapon."^^ The leaves of this lettuce, applied as a liniment 

 kvith polenta/- are used for the cure of ulcerous sores. This 

 )lant is found growing in the fields. A third kind, again, 

 ^Tows in the woods ; the name given to it is " isatis.""*^ The 

 eaves of this last, beaten up and applied with polenta, are 

 i'ery useful for the cure of wounds. A fourth kind is used by 

 lyers of w^ool ; in the leaves it would resemble wild lapa- 

 :hum, were it not that they are more numerous and darker. 

 This lettuce has the property of stanching blood, and of heal- 

 ng phagedaenic sores and putrid spreading ulcers, as well as 

 :umours before suppuration. Both the root as well as the leaves 

 ire good, too, for erysipelas ; and a decoction of it is drunk for 

 iffections of the spleen. Such are the properties peculiar to 

 3ach of these varieties. 



CHAP. 26. UAWK-WEED : SEVENTEEN EEMEDIES. 



The properties which are common to all the wild varieties^* 

 are whiteness, a stem sometimes as much as a cubit in length, 

 and a roughness upon the stalk and leaves. Among these plants 

 there is one with round, short leaves, known to some per- 

 sons as *' hieracion ;"^* from the circumstance that the hawk 

 tears it open and sprinkles^ its eyes wath the juice, and so dis- 

 pels any dimness of sight of which it is apprehensive. The 

 juice of all these plants is white, and in its properties resem- 

 bles that of the poppy.*^ It is collected at harvest-time, by 



*i Fee thinks that this plant may be looked for among the varieties of 

 the Sonchus or the Hieracium, which belong to the same family as the 

 lettuce. 



^- See B. xviii. c. 14. 



^■^ Fee thinks that this is the Isatis tinctoria of Linnaeus in a wild state, 

 and Littre suggests that the one next mentioned is the same plant, culti- 

 vated. Fee says, however, that this plant, employed in dyeing wool, does 

 not contain any milky juice, a fact which should have cautioned Pliny 

 against classing it among tho Lactucee. 



*^ Of the lettuce, evidently. Fee says, who would recognise a lettuce, 

 with its green leaves, and smooth stalk and leaves, under this description } 

 Still, it is by no means an inaccurate description of the wild lettuce. 



*^ *' Hawk-weed," from the Greek i«pa^, " a hawk." Under this name 

 are included. Fee thinks, the varieties of the genus Crepis. 



*fi Apuleius, Metam. c. 30, says this of the eagle, when preparing to 

 soar aloft. 



*7 This is in some degree true of the juices of the wild lettuces, in a 

 medicinal point of view ; but it must be remembered that he has enume- 

 rated the Isatis among thero, which in reality has no milky juice at all. 



