Chap. 6.] THE BlilTANNICA. 85 



(3.) It is not, however, the animals only that are endowed 

 with certain baneful and noxious properties, but, sometimes, 

 waters 29 even, and localities as well. Upon one occasion, in his 

 German campaign, Germanicus Caesar had pitched his camp 

 beyond the river Ehenus ; the only fresh water to be obtained 

 being that of a single spring in the vicinity of the sea-shore. 

 It was found, however, that within two years the habitual use 

 of this water was productive of loss of the teeth and a total 

 relaxation of the joints of the knees : the names given to 

 these maladies, by medical men, were " stomacace" 30 and 

 " sceloturbe." A remedy for them was discovered, however, 

 in the plant known as the " britannica," 31 which is good, not 

 only for diseases of the sinews and mouth, but for quinzy 32 also, 

 and injuries inflicted by serpents. This plant has dark oblong 

 leaves and a swarthy root : the name given to the flower of it 

 is " vibones," 33 and if it is gathered and eaten before thunder 

 has been heard, it will ensure safety in every respect. The 

 Frisii, a nation then on terms of friendship with us, and within 

 whose territories the Roman army was encamped, pointed out 

 this plant to our soldiers : the name 34 given to it, however, 



29 As Fee remarks, the influence of water impregnated with selenite 

 upon the health is well known. 



30 Fee says that this disease was an " intense gastritis, productive of a 

 fetid breath." It would seem, however, to be neither more nor less than 

 the malady now known as " scurvy of the gums." Galen describes the 

 "sceloturbe," as a kind of paralysis. "Stomacace" means " disease of 

 the mouth ;" " sceloturbe " ** disease of the legs." 



31 Sprengel and Desfontaines identify it with the Runiex aquaticus, but 

 Fee considers it to be the Inula Britannica of Linnaeus. The Statice 

 armeria, Statice plantaginea, and Polygonum persicaria have also been 

 suggested. 



32 The pseudo-Apuleius, in B. xxix. t. 7, says, that if gathered before 

 thunder has been heard, it will be a preservative against quinzy for a whole 

 year. 



33 The flower of the Inula Britannica, Fee says, is much more likely, 

 from its peculiarities, to have merited a peculiar name, than that of the 

 Rumex. 



34 Lipsius, in his Commentaries upon Tacitus, Ann. i. 63, has very 

 satisfactorily shown that it did not derive its name from the islands of 

 Britain, but from a local appellation, the name given by the natives to the 

 marshy tracts upon the banks of the Ems, between Lingen and Covoerden, 

 which are still known as the " Bretaasche Heyde." Munting and Poiii- 

 sinet de Sivry suggest that it may have received its name from being used 

 as a strengthener of the teeth in their sockets, being compounded of the 

 words tann, " tooth," and brita, " to break." 



