Chap. 6.] THE BEITANNICA. 85 



(3.) It is not, however, the animals only that are endowed 

 with certain baneful and noxious properties, but, sometimes, 

 waters-^ even, and localities as well. Upon one occasion, in his 

 German campaign, Germanicus Caesar had pitched his camp 

 beyond the river Rhenus ; the only fresh water to be obtained 

 being that of a single spring in the vicinity of the sea-shore. 

 It was found, however, that within two years the habitual use 

 of this water was productive of loss of the teeth and a total 

 relaxation of the joints of the knees : the names given to 

 these maladies, by medical men, were " stomacace"^'' and 

 '* sceloturbe." A remedy for them was discovered, however, 

 in the plant known as the " britannica,"^^ which is good, not 

 only for diseases of the sinews and mouth, but for quinzy^- also, 

 and injuries inflicted by serpents. This plant has dark oblong 

 leaves and a swarthy root : the name given to the flower of it 

 is " vibones,"^^ and if it is gathered and eaten before thunder 

 has been heard, it will ensure safety in every respect. The 

 Frisii, a nation then on terms of friendship with us, and within 

 whose territories the Eoman arm)- was encamped, pointed out 

 this plant to our soldiers : the name^* given to it, however, 



-^ As Fee remarks, the influence of water impregnated with selenite 

 upon the health is well known, 



30 Fee says that this disease was an " intense gastritis, productive of a 

 fetid breath." It would seem, however, to be neither more nor less than 

 the malady now known as " scurvy of the gums." Galen describes the 

 " sceloturiie," as a kind of paralysis. "Stouiacace" means " disease of 

 the mouth ;" " sceloturbe " " disease of the legs." 



31 Sprengel and Desfontaines identify it with the Ruraex aquations, but 

 Fee considers it to be the Inula Britannica of Linnseus. The Statice 

 armeria, Statice plantaginea, and Polygonum persicaria have also been 

 suggested. 



" The pseudo-Apuleius, in B. xxix. t. 7, says, that if gathered before 

 thunder has been heard, it will be a preservative against quinzy for a whole 

 year. 



33 The flower of the Inula Britannica, Fee says, is much more likely, 

 from its peculiarities, to have merited a peculiar name, than that of the 

 Euraex. 



31 Lipsius, in his Commentaries upon Tacitus, Ann. i. 63, has very 

 satisfactorily shown that it did not derive its name from the islands of 

 Britain, but from a local appellation, the name given by the natives to the 

 marshy tracts upon the banks of the Ems, between Lingen and Covoerden, 

 Avhich are still known as the " Eretaasche Heyde." Munting and Poin- 

 Binet de Sivry suggest tliat it may have received its name from being used 

 as a strengthcner of the teeth in their sockets, being compounded of the 

 words taun, " tooth," and driia, " to break." 



