Chap. 32.] THE ASPHODEL. 417 



and dropsy. In combination with wormwood, they form a 

 liniment for strangury and affections of the kidneys ; they 

 have the effect also of bringing away the after-birth, and act 

 as an emmenagogue. Taken with vinegar or juice of bramble- 

 berries, they arrest hsemorrhage. Combined with rose-oil 

 they are employed as a liniment for excoriations on infants, 

 the parts affected being first fomented with wine. The leaves, 

 steeped in the urine of a youth who has not arrived at puberty, 

 and beaten up with saltpetre, compose a liniment which, it is 

 said, prevents wrinkles from forming on the abdomen in 

 females. It is a general belief that partridges and cocks are 

 rendered more pugnacious if this plant is mixed with their 

 food; and it is looked upon as particularly beneficial for 

 cattle. 



CHAP. 31. (22.) THE PICHISJ ONE BEMEDY. THE THESION J 



ONE HEMEDY. 



The picris 70 derives its name from its intense bitterness, as 

 we have previously stated. The leaf of it is round ; it is re- 

 markably efficacious for the removal of warts. 



The thesium, 71 too, has a bitterness not unlike it : it is a 

 powerful purgative, for which purpose it is employed bruised 

 in water. 



CHAP. 32. THE ASPHODEL J FIFTY-ONE REMEDIES. 



The asphodel 72 is one of the most celebrated of all the plants, 

 BO much so, indeed, that by some persons it has been called 

 " heroum." 73 Hesiod has mentioned the fact of its growing in 

 rivers, and Dionysius distinguishes it into male and female. 74 

 It has been observed that the bulbs of it, boiled with a ptisaa, 

 are remarkably good for consumption and phthisis, 75 and that 



70 See B. xxi. c. 65. The Picris asplenioides of Linnaeus, Fee thinks, 

 though Sprengel identifies it with the Helminthia echioides of Linnaeus ; 

 but the leaves of that plant are not round. 



71 See B. xxi. c. 67. 72 See B. xxi. c. 68. 



73 " Plant of the heroes." 



74 Mere varieties of the plant, so called with reference, probably, to the 

 relative energy of their properties. 



75 Kegarded in a medicinal point of view the bulb of the asphodel pos- 

 sesses some emollient properties, and nothing more. As an application to 

 sores and abscesses it may reduce the inflammation, and being rich in 

 mucilage, the pulp may form a nourishing food. All the other statements 

 as to its medicinal properties are, as Fee remarks, quite fabulous. 



VOL. IV. B B 



