Chap. 9.] THE ERYNGIUM. 397 



merit, for wounds, and is found to be particularly efficacious 

 for those inflicted by water-snakes or frogs. The physician 

 Heraclides states it as his opinion that, boiled in goose-broth, 

 it is a more valuable remedy than any other known, for aco- 

 nite 44 and other poisons. 45 Apollodorus recommends that, in 

 cases of poisoning, it should be boiled with a frog, and other 

 authorities, in water only. It is a hardy plant, having much 

 the appearance of a shrub, with prickly leaves and a jointed 

 stem ; it grows a cubit or more in height. Sometimes it is 

 found of a whitish colour, and sometimes black, 46 the root of it 

 being odoriferous. It is cultivated in gardens, but it is fre- 

 quently to be found growing 47 spontaneously in rugged and 

 craggy localities. It grows, too, on the sea-shore, in which case 

 it is tougher and darker than usual, the leaf resembling that of 

 parsley. 48 



CHAP. 9. (8.) THE EE5TNGITJM, CALLED CENTUM CAPITA ! THIKTY 

 EEMEDIES. 



The white variety of the eryngium is known in our lan- 

 guage as the " centum capita." 49 It has all the properties above- 

 mentioned, and the Greeks employ both the stalk and the root 

 as an article of food, 50 either boiled or raw. There are some 

 marvellous facts related in connexion with this plant ; the root 51 



44 See B. xxvii. c. 2. 



45 By the word " toxica," Poinsinet would understand, not poisons in 

 general, but the venom of the toad, which was called, he says, in the 

 Celtic and Celto-Scythic languages, toussac and tossa. Fee ridicules the 

 notion. 



15 Or rather, Fee says, deep blue. He identifies this with the Eryngium 

 cyaneum of Liimseus, the eringo, with a blue flower. 



47 This, as well as the next, is identical, probably, with the Eryngium 

 maritimum of Linnaeus ; our sea-holly. The species found in Greece, in 

 addition to the above; are the Eryngium tricuspidatum, multifidum, and 

 parviflonun. 



48 Pliny probably maTces a mistake here, and reads ve\ivov, " parsley," 

 for <TKO\VIJLOQ, a ** thistle." Dalecharnps is of this opinion, from an ex- 

 amination of the leaf; and Brotier adopts it. 



49 Or " hundred heads," the ordinary Eryngium campestre of Linnaeus. 

 It is still called panicaut a cent tetes, by the French. 



50 It is no longer used for this purpose ; but Fee is of opinion that it 

 owes its French name of " panicaut," from having been used in former 

 times as a substitute for bread pain. 



51 It is not improbable that this plant is the same as the mandrake of 

 Geitesis, c. xxx. 14 ; which is said to have borne some resemblance to the 

 human figure, and is spoken of by the commentators as male and female. 



