134 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Cook XXV. 



prurigo of the head. The best hyssop is that of Mount 

 Taurus in Cilicia, next to which in quality is the produce of 

 Pamphylia and Smyrna. This plant is injurious to the 

 stomach : taken with figs, it produces alvine evacuations, and 

 used in combination with honey, it acts as an emetic. It is 

 generally thought that, beaten up with honey, salt, and cum- 

 min, it is curative of the stings of serpents. 



CHAP. 88. THE LONCHITIS I FOUR REMEDIES. 



The lonchitis 29 is not, as most writers have imagined, the 

 same plant as the xiphion 30 or phasganion, although the seed 

 of it does bear a resemblance to the point of a spear. The 

 lonchitis, in fact, has leaves like those of the leek, of a red- 

 dish colour near the root, and more numerous there than on the 

 upper part of the stem. It bears diminutive heads, which are 

 very similar to our masks of comedy, and from which a small 

 tongue protrudes : 31 the roots of it are remarkably long. It 

 grows in thirsty, arid soils. 



CHAP. 89. THE XIPHION OR PHASGANION : FOUR REMEDIES. 



The xiphion 32 or phasganion, on the other hand, is found 

 growing in humid localities. On first leaving the ground it 

 has the appearance of a sword ; the stem of it is two cubits in 

 length, and the root is fringed like a hazel nut. 33 



This root should always be taken up before harvest, and 

 dried in the shade. The upper part of it, pounded with 

 frankincense, and mixed with an equal quantity of wine, ex- 

 tracts fractured bones of the cranium, purulent matter in all 

 parts of the body, and bones of serpents, 34 when accidentally 



of Linnaeus. Littre states, however, that this last is a stranger to Greece, 

 .and that M. Fraas (Synopsis, p. 182) identifies the hyssop of Dioscorides 

 with the Origanum Smyrnseum or Syriacum. 



29 Generally identified with the Serapias lingua of Linnaeus. 



30 The same, most probably, as the Gladiolus of B. xxi. c. 67. See also 

 the next Chapter in thig JBook. 



31 This was a characteristic feature of the masks used in the Roman 

 Comedy. 



32 See Note 30 above. The medicinal properties here attributed to the 

 Xiphion, or Gladiolus communis, our common Red corn-flag, are very doubt- 

 ful, as Fee remarks. 



33 "With the outer coat on, of course. 



34 Dalechamps is probably right iu preferring the reading " carpentis " 

 to " serpentis," in which case the meaning would be, " or bones when 

 accidentally crushed by the wheels of vehicles." 



