Chap. 58.] THE EADICULA.. 39 



in Latin, *'rubia," is quite a different plant. It is used for 

 dyeing wool, and skins for leather are prepared with it. Used 

 medicinally, it is a diuretic, and, employed with liydroniel, it 

 is curative of jaundice.^° Employed topically with vinegar, 

 it heals lichens ; and a potion is prepared from it for sciatica 

 and paralysis, the patient while using it taking a bath daily. 

 The root of it and the seed are effectual as an emmenagogue ; 

 they act astringently upon the bowels, and disperse gatherings. 

 The branches, together with the leaves, are applied to wounds 

 inflicted by serpents ; the leaves too have the property of 

 staining the hair.^^ I find it stated by some writers that this 

 shrub is curative of jaundice, even if worn as an amulet only, 

 and looked at every now and then. 



CHAP. 57. THE ALYSSON : TWO REMEDIES. 



The plant known as the " alysson"^'^ differs only from the 

 preceding one in the leaves and branches, which are more di- 

 minutive. It receives its name from the fact, that, taken in 

 vinegar and worn as an amulet, it prevents persons bitten by 

 dogs from becoming rabid. It is a marvellous fact too, that is 

 added, to the effect that the person bitten has only to look 

 at this shrub, and the flow of corrupt matter from the wound 

 will be staunched immediately. 



CHAP. 58. THE RADICULA. OR STRUTHION ! THIRTEEIf REMEDIES. 



THE APOCYNUM I TWO OBSERVATIONS UPON IT. 



The radicula, which we have already ^^" mentioned as being 

 called ''struthion" by the Greeks, is used by dyers for pre- 

 paring wool. A decoction of it, taken internally, is curative 

 of jaundice and diseases of the chest. It is diuretic also, and 

 laxative, and acts as a detergent upon the uterus, for which 

 reasons medical men have given it the name of the ''golden 



opinion that the "sandix" of B. xxxv. c. 12, is our madder, and identical 

 with the Rubia. It is not improbable, however, that in reality it was a 

 mineral. See Beckmann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 110, BoJm's Ed. 



'^^ Fee saj's that it does not possess this property. 



36 Madder has no colouring matter which can produce any effect upon 

 the hair. 



^^ Or " anti-frantrc " plant. C. Bauhin identifies it with the Rubia 

 silvestris l^evis, or wild madder ; Fee is at a loss for its identification, but 

 is inclined to think that it was a species of cultivated madder. 



^ In B. xix. c. 18. The Gypsophila struthium, or soap-plant, possibly. 

 Its identity is discussed at great length by Beckmann, Eist. Inv. Vol. II. 

 p. 98—102, Bohn's Ed. 



