Sketch. of the Hiftory of Sugar. 203 
quoted by Ifidorus, + evidently alludes to this fub- 
ftance. He defcribes it as a fluid, prefled out from 
reeds of a large fize,; which was {weeter than honey. ~ 
Diofcorides,t * fpeaking of the different kinds of 
honey, fays, that ‘there is a kind of it, in a 
** concrete ftate,- called Saccharon, which is found 
*s in reeds in India. and Arabia Felix. -This, he 
** adds, has the appearance of falt; and, like that, 
** is brittle when chewed. It is beneficial to the 
** bowels and flomach, if taken diffolved in water ; 
“and is alfo ufeful in difeafes of the bladder and 
*‘ kidneys. Being fprinkled on the eye, it removes 
*+ thofe fubftances that obfcure the fight.” ‘The 
above is the firft account I have feen of the nedi- 
cinal virtues of fugar. 
Galen* appears to have been well acquainted 
with fugar, which he defcribes, nearly as Diofco- 
tides, 
+ Indica nam magna nimis arbore crefcit harundo; 
Illius e lentis premitur radicibus humor, . 
Dulcia cui nequeant fucco contendere mella, 
Istpor, lib, xvii. cap. 7, 
' $ Eft et aliud concreti mellis genus, quod Saccharon 
nmominatur, In India vero et felici Arabia, in harun-~ 
dinibus invenitur. Salis modo coattum eft; dentibus, ut 
fal, fragile; alvo idoneum et ftomacho utile, fi aqua 
dilutum bibatur; vexate veficz, renibusque auxiliatur. 
Illitum ea difcutit, qu tencbras oculorum pupillis offun- 
dunt. Maithioli Diofc. Cap. lxxv, 
‘ #°ALYC, 95, 2 Anno, Pott, Chrift, nat, 143, 
