Chap. 46.] - THE OESTROS. Ill 



Mseotis. Among its other properties, this plant is remarkably 

 sweet, and extremely useful for the affection known as 

 '' asthma." It is also possessed of another great recommenda- 

 tion — so long as a person keeps it in his mouth, he will never^ 

 experience hunger or thirst. 



CHAP. 44. THE HIPPACE : THREE REMEDIES. 



The hippace,^^ another plant that grows in Scythia, is 

 possessed of similar properties : it owes"^ its name to the 

 circumstance that it produces the like effect upon horses. By 

 the aid of these two plants, the Scythse, they say, are enabled 

 to endure hunger and thirst, so long as twelve days even. 



CHAP. 45. THE ISCHJEMON : TWO REMEDIES. 



The Thracians were the first to discover the ischseraon,^ 

 which, it is said, has the property of stanching the flow of 

 blood, not only when a vein has been opened, but when it has 

 been cut asunder even. This is a creeping plant ; it is like 

 millet in appearance, and the leaves of it are rough and lanugi- 

 nous. It is used as a plug®*^ for the nostrils. The kind that 

 grows in Italy, attached to the body as an amulet, has the pro- 

 perty of arresting haemorrhage. 



CHAP. 46. THE CESTROS, PSTCH0TR0PH0N-, VETTONICA, OR SERRA- 



TULA : FORTY- EIGHT REMEDIES. 



The Vettones, a people of Spain, were the original discoverers 

 of the plant known as the ** vettonica"®^ in Gaul, the " serra- 

 tula"*^ in Italy, and the *' cestros" or *' psychotrophon"^^ in 



^* Liquorice certainly palls the appetite, but it is very apt to create thirst. 



^^ In copying from the Greek, Pliny has mistaken "hippace," a cheese 

 made from mare's milk, for a plant ! It is very likely, however, that it 

 would tend, like any other cheese, to appease hunger, though, probably, 

 not thirst. 



^ He has probably invented this reason himself, as it is hardly probable 

 that the Scythians would feed their horses with cheese, even though made 

 from mare's milk. 



^'' Sprengel identifies it with the Andropogon ischaemon of Linnaeus, the 

 Woolly andropogon. Fee expresses his doubts as to its identification. It 

 derives its name "ischaemon," from its property of stanching blood. 



** To arrest epistaxis or bleeding at the nose. 



''^ The Betonica alopecuros of Linnaeus, the Fox-tail betony. 



«" The " little saw." 



^^ '' Nurtured by breezes." IL Fraas thinks that the Cestros of fhe 



