49C LILIACEM 



physicians ; it is first mentioned by Alexander of Tralles, wlio 

 flourished A.D. 660. (Lib. XI.) It is descrvins? of s 



o 



Herniodacty 



comprehends the koXx««o»' and ((tiwtpov of Dioscorides and the 



p. 166.) Masih 



JEgineta.* {Pereim, Vol. II., Pt. I., 



Hermodactj 



g leaves like a leek 



they are followed by most of the more recent Mahometan 

 writers. According to Ibn Sina, the flower of the Surinjan is 

 the first flower which appears in spring in the moist valleys 

 beneath the mountains ; the leaves, he says, lie flat upon the 

 ground, the flowers are yellow and white. Mir Muhammad 

 Ilu&ain states in the Makhzan that the white is the best, and that 

 it is not bitter ; next the yellow ; both may be used internally ; 

 the black, he says, is poisonous and only to be used externally. 

 He describes the Ilermodactyl plant as havii 

 and a yellow flower ; it is called in Persia Shamhalid ; the black 

 variety, he says, has red flowers. 



Aitchison states that the corms of Merendera pcrdca (Boiss.), 

 a plant with pale pink or white flowers, are sold at Meshed as 

 Shambctlld, and are one of the kinds of Hermodactyl; they may 

 occasionally be mixed with those of CoMiicum spcciosum (Stev.), 

 also a common plant in the Badghis and Khorasan. The 

 Kashmir Hermodactyls { Surinjan-i-talk ) are, he says, un- 

 doubtedly the corms of Cokhimm hitcum (Baker). Mahometan 

 physicians consider the drug to be deobstruent, alterative, and 

 aperient, especially useful in gout, rheumatism, liver, and 

 spleen. In gout they combine it with aloes : with ginger and 

 pepper it is lauded as an aphrodisiac ; a paste made of the 

 bitter kind with saffron and eggs is applied to rheumatic and 

 other swellings ;. the powdered root is sprinkled on wounds to 

 promote cicatrization. Two kinds of Surinj un are met with in 

 Indian shops, hitter and siceet. European physicians in India 

 who have tried the drug consider the sweet Hermodactyl to ho 

 inert or nearly so, and the bitter to have properties similar to 



Colchicum 



>f 



* Cojjf. Dius. iv., 82, 83. Paulas M 



