Chap. 89.] THYME. 375 



ticularly good for the stings of serpents and scorpions, the seed 

 being taken in doses of twenty grains, with either wine or 

 oxycrate ; or else the leaves and the plant itself are boiled toge- 

 ther, and a decoction made of them ; indeed, it is stated, that 

 a serpent is never to be seen among trefoil. Celebrated authors, 

 too, I find, have asserted that twenty-five grains of the seed of 

 the kind of trefoil which we have^^ spoken of as the "minyan- 

 thes," are a sufficient antidote for all kinds of poisons : in ad- 

 dition to which, there are numerous other remedial virtues 

 ascribed to it. 



But these notions, in my opinion, are counterbalanced by 

 the authority of a writer of the very highest repute : for wc 

 find the poet Sophocles asserting that the trefoil is a venomous 

 plant. Simus, too, the physician, maintains that a decoction 

 of it, or the juice, poured upon the human body, is productive 

 of burning sensations similar to those experienced by persons 

 when they have been stung by a serpent and have trefoil ap- 

 plied to the wound. It is my opinion, then, that trefoil should 

 never be used in any other capacity than as a counter-poison ; 

 for it is not improbable that the venom of this plant has a 

 natural antipathy to all other kinds of poisons, a phaenomenon 

 which has been observed in many other cases as well. I find 

 it stated, also, that the seed of the trefoil with an extremely 

 diminutive leaf, applied in washes to the face, is extremely 

 beneficial for preserving the freshness of the skin in females. 



CHAP. 89. TWENTY-EIGHT EEMEDIES DERIVED FEOM THYME. 



Thyme ^ should be gathered while it is in flower, and dried 

 in the shade. There are two kinds of thyme : the white thyme 

 with a ligneous root, which grows upon declivities, and is the 

 most esteemed of the two, and another variety, which is of a 

 darker colour, and bears a swarthy flower. They are, both of 

 them, considered to be extremely beneficial to the sight, whe- 

 ther used as an article of food or as a medicament, and to be 

 good for inveterate coughs. Used as an electuary, with vine- 

 gar and salt, they facilitate expectoration, and taken with 

 honey, they prevent the blood from coagulating. Applied ex- 



w In c. 30 of this Book. 



^ See c. 31 of this Book. Thyme }-ields an essential oil, possessed of 

 stimulating properties. Most of the assertions here made as to its virtues 

 are quite unfounded. 



