Chap. 14.] THE HIPPOPHAES. 401 



root, if gathered by persons in a state of chastity and purity, 71 

 disperses scrofulous sores ; and the seed, used as an amulet, 

 a] lays the pains attendant upon varicose veins : pounded and 

 mixed with water, it destroys fleas. 



CHAP. 13. (11.) THE 8TXEBE OR PIIEOS. 



The stcebe, 72 by some persons known as the "pheos," boiled 



in wine, is particularly good for the cure of suppurations of the 



and for extravasations of blood in the eyes from the effects 



of a blow. It is employed also in injections for haemorrhage 



and dysentery. 



CHAP. 14. (12.) TWO VARIETIES OF THE HIPPOPHAES : TWO 

 REMEDIES. 



The hippophaee 7 ' grows in sandy soils, and on the sea-shore. 

 It is a plant with white thorns, and covered with clusters, like 

 the ivy, the }.< -nii -s being white, and partly red. The root of 

 it is full of a juice which is eitli'-r usi-d by itself, or else is made 

 lip into lozenges with im-ul of liu-hcs : taken in doses of on 

 bolus, it curries off bile, and it is extremely beneficial if 

 with honied wine. There is another 7 * hippophaes, with- 

 out cither stalk or flowers, and consisting only of diminutive 

 9 : the juice of this also is wonderfully useful for dropsy. 



These plants would appear, too, to be remarkably well 

 adapted to the constitution of the horse, as it can be for no 

 other reason than this that they have received their name. 78 



but would have the effect of imparting nutriment in a very high degree, 

 /without overloading the stomach. 



71 A harmless, or, perhaps,, beneficial, superstition. 



72 The synonym of this plant is probably unknown. Dalechamps iden- 

 tities it with the Sagittaria sagittifolia, C. Bauhin with the Cemav.rca cal- 

 dtrapa, and Clusius, Belli, and Sprengel, with the Poterium spinosum. 

 Nom 1 or' these plants, however, are prickly and aquatic, characteristics, ac- 

 cording to Theophrastus, of the Stcebe: Hist. Plant. 13. iv. c. 11. Fee 



ss its identification next to impossible. 



' 3 Probably the Hippophaes rhamnoides of Linnaeus. This, however, 

 vs, has no milky juice, but a dry, tough, ligneous root. Sprengel 

 Identifies it with the Euphorbia spinosa of Linnaeus, on account of its 

 milky juice; but that plant, as Fee remarks, does not bear berries, pro- 

 perly so called, and the fruit is yellow and prickly. 



74 See B. xxvii. c. 66. It is identified by Fee with the Carduus stellatus 

 or Centaureu calcitrapa of Linnaeus, the common star-thistle. 



73 As compounds ot'iTTTroc, a "horse." Hurdouiii, however, thmkg r.hat 

 VOL. IV. D D 



