DIV1 BOTANICr. 25 



therefore be they eaten ordinarily in summer ; for they please the 

 stomacke when it is inclined to loath meate, and procvreth appetite. 

 Certes, reported it is of Augustus Caesar, late emperour of famous 

 memorie, that he escaped a dangerous disease, and was recouered by 

 the meanes of Lectuce whereunto he was directed by the discreet 

 counsell of Musa his physician." 



When Augustus was suffering from another severe attack of di- 

 sease, and immersion in hot baths had failed of relieving him, direc- 

 tions were given by Musa in concert with his brother Euphorbus, 

 who also was a physician, to have the person of his illustrious pati- 

 ent freely subjected to the action of cold water in the form of ablu- 

 tion or affusion ; according to the method, as Pliny* has it, of Musa 



lib. xix. capiti octavo. Here, the Naturalist describes several kinds of Let- 

 tuce; but, he observes, " the round kinde with smallest root and broad leaues 

 is called Astylis, the chaste or ciuil Lectuce, howbeit some giue it the name 

 Eunuchion, because of all others it cooleth most the desire of dalliance, and 

 is an enemy to the sports instigated by the divinity to whom the myrtle 

 was sacred." In a marginal note, Dr. Holland slily refers to Rhodiginus, 

 and says — " Let him tell you why this Lectuce is called AstyUs, by the wo- 

 men." Ludovico Celio Richeri (Rhodiginus) was a learned Italian critic and 



commentator : he was born about the year 1450 and died in 1525 : his work 

 is intituled Lectiones Antiques ; folio, Venetiis, 1516 ; Basilea?, 1566 ; Franco- 

 furti, 1666. Nearly two hundred years ago, "Vossins expressed astonishment 

 that a work so truly valuable should be so little known. Notions similar to 

 those recorded by Pliny concerning the properties of Lettuce were enter- 

 tained by Dioscorides and Theophrastus, by Callimachus and the poets, by 

 most of the Arabian doctors, and by the earlier European herbarists. Quite 

 generally, the patrons of " vegetable medicine" are eloquent in attributing 

 to this plant an inherent power to over-rule the first and frailest of the 

 phrenological propensities : but no one of the patrons ever surmises that the 

 cause of the emperor's cure might, on their principles, also be the cause of 

 his having no heir " of his own body begotten" to enjoy the imperial patri- 

 mony ! Now, all this being true, it would appear that the " liberal" con- 

 sumption of Lettuce, as an esculent endowed with sobering qualities, might 

 deserve the countenance of Malthusian economists, and also prove not alto- 

 gether unworthy of a " Regulation" subservient to the peripatetic philan- 

 thropy of the Poor Law Commissioners. 



• Histories Nulurulis, Libri xxv, cap. vii Another section of this immortal 



work exhibits an edifying illustration of the disingenuous selfishness with 

 which the discoveries of science are too often beclouded by vain and shallow 

 pretenders to originality. Although, with the co-operation of his brother, 

 Antonius Musa had methodized the " Psi/chrolusian Systevt" and made its 

 efficient administration the means of restoring health to the most exalted 

 personage then living; nevertheless, this system was revived by Charmis, 

 a " talented and intellectual" prescriber, with the ostentation of a new disco- 

 very, after being neglected at Rome for nearly half a century on account of 



VOL VIII., NO. XXIII. 5 



