Chap. 33.] THE HALIMOtf. 419 



a diuretic and eramenagogue ; it is good also for pains in the 

 sides, ruptures, convulsions, and coughs, in doses of one drachma, 

 taken in wine. Chewed, the root promotes vomiting, but the 

 seed, taken internally, disorders the bowels. 



Chrysermus used to employ a decoction of the root, in wine, 

 for imposthumes of the parotid glands ; and he has prescribed 

 it, in combination with cachrys, 80 in wine, for the cure of 

 scrofulous sores. Some persons say that if, after applying the 

 root to the sores, a part of it is hung up in the smoke to dry, 

 and not taken down till the end of four days, the sores 

 will gradually dry up with this portion of the root. Sophocles 81 

 used to employ it both ways, boiled and raw, for the cure of 

 gout ; and he prescribes it, boiled in oil, for chilblains, and, 

 in vinegar, for jaundice and dropsy. It has been stated, 

 also, that, used as a friction with wine and honey, or taken in 

 drink, it acts as an aphrodisiac. Xenocrates assures us, too, 

 that a decoction of the root in vinegar removes lichens, itch- 

 scabs, and leprous sores ; and that a decoction of it, with hen- 

 bane and tar, has a similar effect, and is good also for the re- 

 moval of bad odours 82 of the armpits and thighs : he states, 

 also, that if the head is well rubbed with the root, being first 

 shaved, the hair will curl all the better for it. Simus pre- 

 scribes a decoction of it, in wine, to be taken for calculi in 

 the kidneys ; and Hippocrates recommends the seed for ob- 

 structions of the spleen. The root, or else a decoction of it, 

 applied topically, restores the hair in beasts of burden, where it 

 lias been lost by ulcerations or scab. It has the effect, too, of 

 driving away rats and mice, and of exterminating them, if 

 placed before their holes. 



CHAP. 33. THE HAL1MON ! FOTJRTEElf REMEDIES. 



Some authors have thought that it is the asphodel that is 

 called " halimon" by Hesiod, an opinion which appears to me 

 ill-founded; halimon 83 being the name of a distinct plant, 



80 See B. xvi. c. 11. 



81 Other readings are Diocles, Socles, and Socrates. If " Sophocles" is 

 the correct reading, all memorials of this physician have perished, beyond 

 the mention made of him by Cselius Aurelianus, Chron. c. i. 



82 "Vitia." 



88 The Atriplex halimus of Linnaeus, sea orach. Belon says that it is 

 found in great abundance in Candia, the ancient Crete, where it is known 

 as " halimatia," and the tops of the stalks are used as food. 



E E 2 



