Chap. lOo.] THF HALICACABUM. 385 



more at length,^® have given it the surname of '* manicon/'-*' 

 Those, on the other hand, who have iniquitously concealed its 

 real qualities, give it the name of '' erythron" or *'neuras," 

 and others ''perisson" — details, however, which need not be 

 entered into more fully, except for the purpose of putting 

 persons upon their guard. 



There is another kind, again, also called '' halicacabum,"' 

 which possesses narcotic qualities, and is productive of death 

 even more speedily than opium : by some persons it is called 

 ** morio," and by others *'moly.""^ It has, however, been 

 highly extolled by Diodes and Evenor, and, indeed, Timaristus 

 has gone so far as to sing its praises in verse. With a wonder- 

 ful obliviousness of remedies really harmless, they tell us, for- 

 sooth, that it is an instantaneous remedy for loose teeth to 

 rinse them with halicacabum steeped in wine : but at the same 

 time they add the qualification that it must not be kept in the 

 mouth too long, or else delirium will be the result. This, how- 

 ever, is pointing out remedies with a veugeance, the employ- 

 ment of which will be attended with worse results than the 

 malady itself. 



There is a third kind^^ of halicacabum, that is esteemed as an 

 ai'ticle of food ; but even though the flavour of it may be pre- 

 ferred to garden plants, and although Xenocrates assures us that 

 there is no bodily malady for which the trychnos is not highly 

 beneficial, they are none of them so valuable as to make me 

 think it proper to speak more at length upon the subject, more 

 particularly as there are so many other remedies, which are 

 unattended with danger. Persons who wish to pass themselves 

 off for true prophets, and who know too well how to impose 

 upon the superstitions of others, take the root of the halicaca- 

 bum in drink. The remedy against this poison — and it is with 

 much greater pleasure that I state it — is to drink large quan- 

 tities of honied wine made hot. I must not omit the fact, 

 too, that this plant is naturally so baneful to the asp, that when 

 the root is placed near that reptile, the very animal which 

 kills others by striking them with torpor, is struck with torpor 



3^ " Apertius," as suggested by Sillig, is a preferable reading to " par- 

 cms." 

 " From fidvia, " madness." 



^ The Physalis somnifera of Linnajus, the somniferous nightshade. 

 '^ The Solanum melongena of Liunijeas. 

 TOL. IV. C C 



