Chap. 77.] ^ THE ALTSMA. l29 



and I myself have seen the Psylli, in their exhibitions, 

 irritate them by placing them iipon flat vessels made red hot,^^ 

 their bite being fatal more instantaneously than the sting even 

 of the asp. One remedy for their poison is the phrynion,^^ 

 taken in wine, which has also the additional names of "neuras"^* 

 and "poterion:" it bears a small flower, and has numerous 

 fibrous roots, with an agreeable smell. 



CHAP. 77. THE ALISMA, DAMASGXION, OR LYEON : SEVENTEEX 



REMEDIES. 



Similar, too, are the properties of the alisma,^^ known to some 

 persons as the '' damasonion," and as the *' lyron " to others. 

 The leaves of it would be exactly those of the plantago, were it 

 not that they are narrower, more jagged at the edges, and 

 bent downwards in a greater degree. In other respects, they 

 present the same veined appearance as those of the plantago. 

 This plant has a single stem, slender, a cubit in height, and 

 terminated by a spreading head.^'' The roots of it are nume- 

 rous, thin like those of black hellebore, acrid, unctuous, and 

 odoriferous : it is found growing in watery localities. 



There is another kind also, which grows in the woods, of a 

 more swarthy colour, and with larger ^leaves. The root of 

 them both is used for injuries inflicted by frogs and by the 

 sea-hare, ^^ in doses of one drachma taken in wine. Cycla- 

 minos, too, is an antidote for injuries inflicted by the sea-hare. 



The bite of the mad dog has certain venomous properties, 

 as an antidote to which we have the cynorrhodos, of which 



92 Schneider, on Nicander's Alexiph. p. 277, says that he cannot under- 

 stand this passage. There is little doubt that Sillig is right in his con- 

 jecture thai it is imperfect, for the pith of the narrative, whatever it may 

 have been, is evidently wanting. The Psylli were said to be proof against 

 all kinds of poisons. ' See B. viii. c. 38, and B. xi. c. 30 ; also Lucan's 

 Pharsalia, B. ix. 1. 192, et seq. 



'■^^ See also B. xxvii. c. 97. Fee identifies it with the Astragalus Creticus 

 of Lamarck, Desfontaines with the Astragalus poteriura. 



9* The "nerve-plant" and the "drinking-plant," apparently. 



^^ Sprengel identifies it with the Alisnia Parnassifolium of Linneeus; but 

 as that plant is not found in Greece, Sibthorp suggests the Alisma plantago 

 of Linnaeus, the Great water-plantain. It has no medicinal properties, 

 though it was esteemed till very recent times as curative of hydrophobia. 



'■'' "Capite thyrsi." 



9« See B. ix. c. 72, and B. xxxii. c. 3. 



VOL. v. K 



