18t> bin BOTANICI. 



Still farther strengthened is this conclusion by the fact, that the 

 Spurge is not mentioned by Theophrastus*, who flourished at the 

 long interval of three centuries and a half before the age of the 

 distinguished Mauritanian prince, and his physician. Without 

 limitation also, it is declared by Dioscoridest, who compiled his 

 Phvtology soon after Philo's decease, " that confessedly the Euphor- 

 bium was discovered on Mount Atlas during Juba's reign ;" while, 

 on the other hand no tradition, and no record either, exist to shew 

 that even the admired Pkilonium itself was divulged for practical 

 use antecedently to the period here specified. Again and expressly, 

 there comes the definite affirmation of Pliny J, who was born in the 

 year of Philo's mid-age, that the Euphorbia was actually discovered 

 and denominated by the Mauritanian king and his associates in the 

 pleasant exercises of " herbarization." Furthermore and conclu- 

 sively, about two hundred years subsequent to its discovery, Galen || 

 essayed to describe the Philonium and to unriddle the cryptical 

 metres which enumerate its elements, in an exposition of these and 

 their salutary qualities ; and, in this also, he admits for an esta- 

 blished truth the statement of Pliny, " volumen Jubse quoque extol 

 de herba Euphorbia, ct clarum ejus prseconium," the existence of 

 Juba's book on the Spurge, and its high reputation. Throughout 

 succeeding ages, even to the present time, and with one exception§ 



* Theophrasti Eresii de Historia Plantarum libri decern grace 1 I latine, cur& 

 Joannes Bodcci ex Stapel ; folio, Amstehdami ; 1644 — Theophrastus was a 

 diligent collector of materials for his unartificial, or rather natural, system of 

 Botany ; and in the fact of the Euphorbmm being unknown to him, there is 

 something in favour of the claim, that its discovery should be ascribed to 

 Juba's physician. In his commentaries on Book XI, chapter x, the learned 

 Editor introduces an elaborate dissertation on the Euphorbium, its discovery, 

 name, description, preparation, and medicinal qualities; p. 1050 — 1058. 



■f Pedacius Dioscorides: Opera qua extant omnia, grace el latine; curanle 

 J. A. Saraceno, M.D. folio, Franeofurti, 1598 : Lib. iii, cap. xcvi, p. 214. 



£ Historia Mundi, libri xxxvii ; folio, Lugduni, 1561 ; Lib. v, cap. 1, p. 67. 

 Here the naturalist represents Euphorbus as the discoverer of the plant, in 

 express terms founded on Juba's recognized authority. The king composed 

 a natural history of Mount Atlas ; and, says Pliny, concerning this region, 

 prodidit preslerque gig> i ibi herbam Euphorbiam nomine, ah inrentore medico suo 

 nppellnlam, he related moreover that there grows on that mountain the herb 

 named Euphorbia, from his physician, its discoverer. 



|| Claudius Galenus : De Compositions Medtcamentorum secundum loca, curis 

 Cornmm et Maochelli ; 12mo, Lugduni, 1540 — Galen settled at Rome as a 

 physician in A.D. 165, about one hundred years after the publication of Ju- 

 ba's books on the Euphorbium, and the Natural History of his kingdom. 



^ This was propounded by Claude de Saumaise, in latin Salmasius, an in- 

 genious French scholar who acquired an extraordinary celebrity in criticism 



