38 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



that it was not uncommon to see eighty bulbs 

 or roots clustered together. The seed of this 

 vegetable was also eaten when parched or 

 fried, and it was generally planted by the 

 Roman husbandmen before the gates of their 

 farms, with the superstitious idea that it 

 would preserve the place from charms and 

 sorceries. According to the fiction of Lucian, 

 asphodels are eaten by the ghosts of the 

 condemned in the infernal regions. Among 

 the physicians of ancient celebrity who wrote 

 on this plant, Nicander recommends it as an 

 antidote against the poison of serpents and 

 scorpions, if either the seeds or roots be 

 drunk in wine ; and asserts, that by laying 

 the plant under the pillow, these and other 

 reptiles will be kept from the bed : this was 

 a most important discovery for the armies, 

 who were obliged to sleep in fields abounding 

 with creatures whose bite or sting was deadly. 

 Dioscorides and iEtius prescribed the wine 

 in which asphodel roots were boiled as an 

 excellent diuretic. Galen says, the roots 

 burnt to ashes and mixed with the fat of 

 ducks, are the best remedy for alopecy, and 

 that it will recover the hair that has fallen 

 off by that disease. Xenocrates affirmed, 

 that a decoction of the root in vinegar was 



