Chap. 80.] THE POrPT CALLED TITHTMA-LON. 279 



by some persons, and as " aphron " by others. The leaves of 

 it, when seen from a distance, have all the appearance of spar- 

 rows ;'^ the root lies on the surface of the ground, and the seed 

 has exactly the colour of foam.''' This plant is used for the 

 purpose of bleaching linen "^ cloths in summer. It is bruised 

 in a mortar for epilepsy, being given in white wine, in doses 

 of one acetabulum, and acting as an emetic. 



This plant is extremely useful, also, for the composition of 

 the medicament known as " diacodion,"" and '' arteriace." 

 This preparation is made with one hundred and twenty heads^ 

 of this or any other kind of wild poppy, steeped for two days 

 in three sextarii of rain water, after which they are boiled in 

 it. You must then dry the heads ; which done, boil them 

 down with honey to one half, at a slow heat. More recently, 

 there have been added to the mixture, six drachmae of saffron, 

 hypocisthis,^^ frankincense, and gum acacia, with one sextarius 

 of raisin wine of Crete. All this, however, is only so much 

 ostentation ; for the virtue of this simple and ancient prepara- 

 tion depends solely upon the poppy and the honey. 



CHAP. 80. — THE POPPY CALLED TITHTMALON, OK PAEALION : THREE 

 EEMEDIES. 



There is a third kind, again, called "tithymalon;"®- some 



milky juice found in the stalk and leaves have caused it to be classed 

 among the poppies, as other varieties of Euphorbiaceae appear to have 

 been, among the wild lettuces. 



■^ Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 31, compares this plant with the 

 Struthium — (see B. xix. c. 18). Pliny, or his scribes, have supposed him 

 to be speaking of the arpovBoQ, or " sparrow" — hence the present mistake. 

 The Struthium itself has received that name from the resemblance which 

 its flower bears to a bird with the wings expanded. 



'^ Hence its name, " aphron." 



'* See B. xix. c. 4. Pliny has here mistaken a passage of Theophrastus, 

 Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 31 ; where he attributes this quality to the Struthium, 

 and not the Heraclium. 



■'^ See c. 76 of this Book. It is difficult to conjecture how one of the 

 Euphorbiaceae, a powerful drastic, could enter into the composition of a 

 soothing preparation, such as the diacodion is said to have been. 



^ " Capitibus." As Fee remarks, the capsules of Euphorbia bear no 

 resemblance whatever to the heads of the poppy. Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 67, 

 similarly confounds these two plants. 



81 See B. xxvi. c. 31. 



^2 See B. xxvi. c. 41. Probably the Euphorbia paralias of Linnaeus, or 

 Sea euphorbia. Its medicinal properties are similar to those of the Eu- 

 phorbia esula above mentioned. 



