90 pfant "l^ore, Tsege'r^ti/, and. "b^ric/-. 



" The plant called Apium risiis is noxious, through causing those 

 who partake of it to die of excessive laughter. Apuleius says that 

 this is more particularly the case when the herb is taken by a 

 person who has not broken his fast. From the fact that the plant 

 was also known as Sardonia arose the expression " sardonic smile." 

 People who taste it do not die at once from laughter, but, as 

 Salustius relates, rather from the contraction of the nerves of the 

 lips and the muscles of the mouth ; but they appear to die by 

 laughing. 



" In Bactria and around the Dnieper, a plant called Gelotophyllis 

 is said to grow, which, if it be drunk with wine and myrrh, produces 

 continuous laughter. A similar result is produced by Artini ^gyp- 

 tiacum, when eaten, and by the flowers or seed of the Datura. 



" Therionarca grows in Cappadocia and Mj^sia. All wild animals 

 which touch it become torpid, and can only regain animation by 

 being besprinkled with the water voided by hyaenas." 



