408 pliny's natural history. [Book XXII. 



it is sweet, and the odour very powerful. In some places 

 it secretes, just as they say incense ^' is produced, a white vis- 

 cous substance beneath the axils of the leaves, about the rising 

 of the Dog-star more particularly. To this viscous nature it 

 owes its name of " ixias ;" "* females^^ make use of it as a sub- 

 stitute for mastich. As to its name of "chamseleon,"^^ that 

 is given to it from the varying tints of the leaves ; for it 

 changes its colours, in fact, just according to the soil, being 

 black in one place, green in another, blue in a third, yellow 

 elsewhere, and of various other colours as well. 



A decoction of the root of the white chamgeleon is em- 

 ployed for the cure^° of dropsy, being taken in doses of one 

 drachma in raisin wine. This decoction, taken in doses of 

 one acetabulum, in astringent wine, with some sprigs of ori- 

 ganum in it, has the effect of expelling intestinal worms : it is 

 good, too, as a diuretic. Mixed with polenta, the juice of it 

 will kill dogs and swine ; with the addition of water and oil, 

 it will attract mice to it and destroy^^ them, unless they imme- 

 diately drink water to counteract its effects. Some persons 

 recommend the root of it to be kept, cut in small pieces, and 

 suspended from the ceiling; when wanted, it must be boiled 

 and taken with the food, for the cure of those fluxes to which 

 the Greeks have given the name of ''rheumatismi."^^ 



In reference to the dark kind, some writers say that the one 

 which bears a purple flower is the male, and that with a violet 

 flower, the female. They grow together, upon a stem, a cubit 

 in length, and a finger in thickness. The root of these j)lants, 

 boiled with sulphur and bitumen, is employed for the cure of 

 lichens ; and they are chewed, or a decoction of them made 

 in vinegar, to fasten loose teeth. The juice of them is em- 

 ployed for the cure of scab in animals, and it has the property 

 of killing ticks upon dogs. Upon steers it takes effect like a 



1^ See B. xii. c. 33. i^' Viscus. 



^^ Olivier states ( Voyage dans V Empire Ottoman, i. 312) that the women 

 in the isles of Naxos and Scio still chew this glutinous substance, in the 

 same manner that mastich is used in other places. 



19 Fee is inclined to doubt tliis, and thinks that, as it is a creeping 

 plant, the name may have been derived from xanai, ''on the ground." 



-" Theophrastus, Galen, and Dioscorides state to tlie same elfect, and 

 Fee thinks it possible it may possess a certain degree of activity. 



2"' Fee says that it possesses no such poisonous properties. 



^■■^ Rheum, or catarrhs. 



