INTRODUCTION 



with so fuUy, but he often speak'=; of two other 

 dan^erous forms, phremtis and lethargus, the former 

 eharaeterised by wild delirium, the latter by heavy 

 coma. As we should expect, the terms are often 

 used to describe, not the disease, but its charac- 

 teristic symptom, even when that was not due to 

 pernicious malaria. 



Malaria is most common in marshy places, and is 

 epidemic in summer and autumn. One of its usual 

 sequelae is an enlarged spleen, which is not so often 

 heard of in countries free from malaria. As the 

 anciejits thought that malaria was caused by black 

 bile {jJieXaLva xoX-q), )U.eAay;^oAt'a and /LteAay^^oAtKoS' 

 were often used to describe the depressed mental 

 condition that tends to accompanv or to follow it. 

 Phnv refers to melancholici about a dozen times, but 

 we cannot be certain that he is speaking of malaria) 

 melanchoHa, and not of chronic biliousness. 



Remedies and Drugs. 



The remedies mentioned in Pliny's prescriptions 

 are chieflv hei-bal, and the chemicals used are mostly 

 for external appUcation. Writing for la\Tnen, he is 

 concerned almost entirely with what may be called 

 home medicines, but the number of these is enor- 

 mous. The simple, often superstitious, remedies of 

 the countrvside were at an early date prepared for 

 town dwellers by druggists {(j^apiJbaKOTTOjXaC), who 

 are referred to by Aristophanes" and other writers, 

 although the contemporarv phvsicians of the Hippo- 

 cratic school made little use of drugs, relying on 

 regimen and the vis naturae medicatrix to bring about 



« See Clouds 767. These druggists had their "side-lines,'' 

 dyes, poisons and probably charms. 



