DIVI BOTANICI. 197 



Dioscorides treats of the Balm with his accustomed brevity. He 

 recommends a decoction or vinous infusion of the herb as a pleasant 

 remedy for tooth-ache, and as a good wash for bracing the mouth 

 and gums. Into the subject, however, Pliny* entered more largely: 

 this is one of his observations : — " Touching Baulm, if bee-hives be 

 rubbed all ouer and besmeared with the juice thereof, the bees will 

 neuer away, for there is not a floure whereof they be more desirous 

 and faine, than of it : and, in truth, looke in what garden there 

 groweth abundance of this hearbe, the bees there when they 

 swarrae, will be soone intreated to tarie and not be hastie to wander 

 far abroad. The Baulm is a most present remedy not onlie against 

 their stings, but also of wespes, spiders, and scorpions." Modern 

 bee-breeders need not despise these aphorisms, because they have 

 become venerable for their antiquity. 



Serapion ascribes important qualities to this vegetable. It is the 

 property of Balm, he says.t to cause the mind and heart to become 

 merry : to revive those who are fainting, and to prevent fits of 

 swooning, especially such as occur during sleep and stop the motions 

 of the pulse : to drive away all troublesome cares and thoughts : and 

 to alleviate the oppressive feelings of peevishness, discontent and 

 mental depression. This pathetic view of the Balm's enlivening 

 influences enters into Avicenna's " spiritual creed," without hesita- 

 tion or disconfidence ; and, reckoning on the universality of its 



* Dr. Holland's Pliny's Natural History of the World; Book XXI, Chap. 

 xx, Vol. ii, p. 106. 



•j- John Serapion : Insignium Medicorum Volumen in quo conlinenlur — Jo. 

 Serapionis, Ambis, de Simplicibus Medicinis opus prceclarum el ingens ; — Arer- 

 rhois de lisdem liber eximius ; — Rhazis filii Zacharice de Eisdem opusculum pe- 

 1 utile ; — Incerti Anloris dc Centnura libetlus, hactenus Galeno inscriptus ; — 

 Dictionum Arabicarum junta atque Lalinarum index valde necessnrius : in quo- 

 rum eimndatd excusione nequid omnino dcsidcraretur, Oltonis Brunfilsii singulari 

 fide el diligentia can turn est ; folio, A rgcntorati, 1531. — Otto Brunfels, M.D. 

 was a laborious and admirable scholar. In early life, he studied philosophy 

 and theology ; and, in due course, he became a monk. Afterwards he adopt- 

 ed the principles of the Protestant Reformers, and succeeded in making 

 numerous converts to their doctrines. Finding his health incapable of sus- 

 taining the toils of his position, he renounced divinity ; and, on graduating 

 in medicine, he settled at Berne as a physician. He died in that city in 

 1534, leaving many excellent writings, the fruits of his extraordinary eru- 

 dition and industry. His Ialron, Onomnslicon, and Herbarum Icoius are 

 esteemed productions, both for their intrinsic value and for the importance 

 conferred upon tliem as being "scarce books." Their author's celebrity is 

 commemorated by t lit- Hruu/elsia, a generic appellation in the order Solanc;e 

 which) from their foetid and narcotic energy, were termed by Linnaeus the 

 Lurida or gloomy tribe of plants. 



