DODDEK. 



Qualities. — The herb is inodorous and of a slightly bitter, 

 astringent, and acrid taste. Its sensible qualities, liowever, are 

 said to vary according to the plant on which it grows. The 

 Lesser Dodder has nearly the same properties, conjoined with 

 a pungent aroma. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Though highly extolled 

 by the ancients, this plant is now considered of little value as a 

 medicine. It was thought to be detergent, incisive, aperient, 

 and deobstruent, modified however by the nature of its foster- 

 parent. Thus, when growing on flax, it was regarded as 

 mucilaginous; on broom and nettle, as diuretic; on madder and 

 bramble, as astringent. Hippocrates* employed it in phthisis, 

 and Galen, Aetius, and Oribasius in a troop of diseases con- 

 founded under the vague name of difficulty of breathing. Pauli, 

 Ettmuller, and Wedelf, eulogized its effects in obstructions of 

 the abdominal viscera, and by others it was recommended in in- 

 termittent fevers, while those who attributed every disease to a 

 disordered state of the humours, fancied that it was of great 

 service in melancholy, hypochondriasis, and other atrabiliarious 

 affections. Haller considers it as similar in properties to House- 

 leek {Sempervivum tectorum). 



It was given in substance, in vinous infusions or aqueous 

 decoctions, or mixed with honey, but authors are as little 

 agreed upon the proper dose as they are respecting the proper- 

 ties of the herb ; Geoffroy, for instance, prescribes one, two, 

 or three handfuls. There is this advantage, that an over-dose 

 can do no harm. 



* Lib. i. de int. affect. S. i. v. 130. 

 f Ann. Mat. Bled. p. 244. 



