Chap. 34.1 GENTIAN. 105 



the protection of the triorchis, a kind of hawk, which attacks 

 those who gather it ; a circumstance to which it owes its 

 name. Ignorant 39 persons are in the habit of confounding all 

 these characteristics, and attributing them to the centaury 

 first named. 



CHAP. 33. (7). CLYMENTJS : TWO REMEDIES. 



Clymenus is a plant so called, after a certain king. 46 It 

 has leaves like those of ivy, numerous branches, and a hollow, 

 jointed stem. The smell of it is powerful, and the seed like 

 that of ivy : it grows in wild and mountainous localities. 

 "We shall have to state hereafter, of what maladies it is curative, 

 taken in drink, but it is as well to take the present opportunity 

 of remarking that, while effecting a cure, in the male sex it 

 neutralizes the generative powers. 



The Greeks speak 41 of this plant as being similar to the 

 plantago in appearance, with a square stem, and a seed in 

 capsules, interlaced like the arms of the polypus. The juice 

 of this plant, too, is used, being possessed of refreshing pro- 

 perties in a very high degree. 



CHAP. 34. GENTIAN I THIKTEEN REMEDIES. 



Gentian 42 was first discovered by Gentius, king of Illyria. 

 It is a plant to be found everywhere, 43 but that of Illyria is 

 the finest. It has a leaf like that of the ash, 44 but equal in 

 size to a lettuce-leaf: the stem is tender, about the- thickness 

 of the thumb, hollow and empty, and covered with leaves at 

 regular intervals. This stem is sometimes three cubits in 

 length, and the root is flexible, swarthy, 45 and inodorous. It 

 is found in the greatest abundance in humid localities at the 

 foot of the Alps. The root and juice are the parts of it 

 that are used : the root is possessed of certain warming pro- 



39 Pliny himself is one of the "imperiti" here. 



40 Son of Caeneus, and king of Arcadia. The plant is identified with 

 the Lonicera periclymenum of Linnaeus, our Woodbine or Honeysuckle. 

 Sibthorp identifies the Clymenum of Dioscorides with the Convolvulus 

 sepiura of Linnaeus, andSprengel with the Lathyrus clymenum of Linnaeus. 



41 Possibly the Clymenum of Dioscorides, mentioned in the preceding 

 Note. Littre names the Calendula arvensis, the Field marigold. 



4 - The Gentiana lutea of Linnaeus. 



4 > This, Fee remarks, is not the fact. 



44 This comparison is inexact. * 5 It is not swarthy. 



