Chap. 32.] THE ASPHODEL. 417 



and dropsy. In combination with wormwood, they form a 

 liniment for strangury and affections of the kidneys ; they 

 have the effect also of bringing away the after-birth, and act 

 as an emmenagogue. Taken with vinegar or juice of bramble- 

 berries, they arrest haemorrhage. Combined with rose-oil 

 they are employed as a liniment for excoriations on infants, 

 the parts affected being first fomented with wine. The leaves, 

 steeped in the urine of a youth who has not arrived at puberty, 

 and beaten up with saltpetre, compose a liniment which, it is 

 said, prevents wrinkles from forming on the abdomen in 

 females. It is a general belief that partridges and cocks are 

 rendered more pugnacious if this plant is mixed with their 

 food; and it is looked upon as particularly beneficial for 

 cattle. 



CHAP. 31. (22.) THE PICRIS; ONE REMEDY. THE THESION ; 



ONE EEMEDY. 



The picris^** derives its name from its intense bitterness, as 

 we have previously stated. The leaf of it is round ; it is re- 

 markably efficacious for the removal of warts. 



The thesium,^^ too, has a bitterness not unlike it : it is a 

 powerful purgative, for which purpose it is employed bruised 

 in water. 



CHAP. 32. THE ASPHODEL ; FIFTY-ONE EEMEDIES. 



The asphodeP' is one of the most celebrated of all the plants, 

 BO much so, indeed, that by some persons it has been called 

 " heroum." ^^ Hesiod has mentioned the fact of its growing in 

 rivers, and Dionysius distinguishes it into male and female." 

 It has been observed that the bulbs of it, boiled with a ptisan, 

 are remarkably good for consumption and phthisis,'^ and that 



'° See B. xxi. c. 65. The Picris asplenioides of Linnaeus, Fee thinks, 

 though Sprengel identifies it with the Helminthia echioides of Linnaeus ; 

 but the leaves of that plant are not round. 



71 See B. xxi. c. 67. '2 See B. xii. c. 68. 



" " Plant of the heroes." 



''^ Mere varieties of the plant, so called with reference, probably, to the 

 relative energy of their properties. 



'5 Eegarded in a medicinal point of view the bulb of the asphodel pos- 

 sesses some emollient properties, and nothing more. As an application to 

 sores and abscesses it may reduce the inflammation, and being rich in 

 mucilage, the pulp may form a nourishing food. All the other statements 

 aa to its medicinal properties are, as Fee remarks, quite fabulous. 



VOL. IV. E E 



