Chap. 30.] CENTAURIOHT. 103 



hanging from the extremities, and a black seed. In other 

 respects, it bears a resemblance to rue, and is found growing 

 in mountainous localities. 



CHAP. 29. THE ETJPATOBIA: ONE BEMEDY. 



The eupatoria 28 also is a plant under royal patronage. The 

 stem of it is ligneous, hairy, and swarthy, and a cubit or more 

 in length. The leaves, arranged at regular intervals, resemble 

 those of cinquefoil or hemp ; they have five indentations at the 

 edge, and are swarthy like the stem, and downy. The root is 

 never used. The seed, taken in wine, is a sovereign, remedy 

 for dysentery. 



CHAP. 30. CENTATJKION OR CHIRONION : TWENTY REMEDIES. 



Centaury, 29 it is said, effected a cure for Chiron, on the 

 occasion when, while handling the arms of Hercules, his 

 guest, he let one of the arrows fall upon his foot : hence it is 

 that by some it is called " chironion." The leaves of it are 

 large and oblong, serrated at the edge, and growing in 

 thick tufts from the root upwards. The stems, some three 

 cubits in height and jointed, bear heads resembling those of 

 the poppy. The root is large and spreading, of a reddish, 

 colour, tender and brittle, a couple of cubits in length, and full 

 of a bitter juice, somewhat inclining to sweet. 



This plant grows in rich soils upon declivities ; the best in 

 quality being that of Arcadia, Elis, Messenia, Mount Pholoe, and 

 Mount Lyca3us : it grows also upon the Alps, and in numerous 

 other localities, and in Lycia they prepare a lycium 30 from it. 

 So remarkable are its properties for closing wounds, that 

 pieces of meat even, it is said, are soldered together, when boiled 

 with it. The root is the only part in use, being administered 

 in dt>ses of two drachmae in the several cases hereafter 31 men- 



28 So called probably from a king Eupator. Sprengel and Desfontaines 

 identify it with the Agrimonia eupatorium, but Fee prefers the Eupatorium 

 cannabinum of Linnaeus, relying upon the description given by Dioscorides. 

 B. iv. c. 41. 



29 Fee considers this to be the same with the Panacea centaurion or 

 Pharnaceon of c. 14 of this Book, the greater Centaury. Littre also 

 names the Centaurea centaureum of Linnasus. 



30 See B. xii. c. 15. B. xxiii. cc. 58, 60, and B. xxiv. c. 77, for a pre- 

 paration with a similar name, but, as Fee says, of an entirely different 

 character. 



31 In B. xxvi. cc, 15, 19, 34, 55, 66, 76, 85, and 91. 



