Chap. 74.] THE LITHOSPEEMUM. 253 



cubit in length ; the flower is diminutive, and of a purple colour ; 

 it grows in champaign localities. In combination with barley- 

 meal, it is used as an application for erysipelas : the juice of 

 it, mixed with warm water, is employed as a sudorific, in 

 fevers. 



CHAP. 74. THE LITHOSPEEMUM, EXONYCHOIf, DIOSPYKOIir, OE 



HEEACLEOS : TWO EEMEDIES. 



Among all the plants, however, there is none of a more 

 marvellous nature than the lithospermum,''' sometimes called 

 *' exonychon," " diospyron,"^^ or "heracleos." It is about five 

 inches in height, with leaves twice the size of those of rue, and 

 small ligneous branches, about the thickness of a rush. It 

 bears close to the leaves a sort of fine beard or spike, standing 

 by itself, on the extremity of which there are small white stones, 

 as round as a pearl, about the size of a chick-pea, and as hard as 

 a pebble. These stones, ^' at the part where they adhere to 

 the stalk, have a small cavity, and contain a seed within. 



This plant is found in Italy, no doubt, but that of Crete is 

 the most esteemed. Among all the plants, there is none that 

 I ever contemplated with greater admiration than this ; so 

 beauteous is the conformation, that it might be fancied that the 

 hand of an artist^^ had aiTanged a row of lustrous pearls alter- 

 nately among the leaves ; so exquisite too the nicety in thus 

 making a stone to grow upon a plant I The authorities say 

 that this is a creeping plant, and that it lies upon the ground ; 

 but for my own part, I have only seen it when plucked, and 

 not while growing. It is well known that these small stones, 

 taken in doses of one drachma, in white wine, break and 

 expel urinary calculi, ^^ and are curative of strangury. In- 

 deed, there is no plant that so instantaneously proclaims, at 



^^ Identified by Fee and Desfontaines with the Lithospermum officinale 

 of Linnaeus, Grenjil, gromwcll, or stone-crop. Littre mentions the Lithos- 

 permum tenuiflorum of Linnpeus. 



1^ "Jove's wheat," or the "plant of Hercules." 



-- This description applies to the variety of Gremil, known as the Coix 

 lacryma of Linnajus, Job's tears, originally an Indian plant; but it may 

 have been known in Italy in Pliny's time. 



^^ A poor compliment to Nature, as Fee remarks. 



^* It has in reality no medicinal properties to speak of ; but its name, 

 "stone seed," and its appearance, would, of course, ensure its reputation as 

 an efficient cure for calculus. 



