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eR Se Rae Pe eS a ee th ee ee a eR Pe ee Se ee ee ee ee ee 
ASTER SAMIUS 87 
medical use “for the eyes and bleeding, and against poisons and 
stings.” 
From Dioscorides (the younger, 100 A. D.?), 5, 172-3, “ Of 
Samian earth (apac y7>) the white is much preferred, smooth 
and adhering if touched to the tongue like glue, juicy, soft and 
friable ; which is the kind that some call collyrium, For there 
are two kinds of this, namely that which is now mentioned, and 
that which is called Aster, (zaio)pevog Aozyp), lumpy or full of 
clods, and dense in feeling like a whetstone (zuxv0¢ wg dxovy). It is 
used like the Eretrian earth and has similar strength ; it stops a flow 
of blood ; and bleeding from the vulva in labor; if given with the 
flower of the wild pomegranate (av Sadavate@). It also allays 
inflammations of the testes and of the mammae if rubbed on with 
rosewater ; and it moderates sweats; and finally it is a remedy 
against poisonous bites and against deadly drugs, if taken to 
drink in wine. 
“The Samian stone (Samius lapis in Samia terra) is found in 
Samian earth, which goldsmiths use for polishing and brightening 
gold. It exists in two kinds, white and gray. It has an astrin- 
gent and refrigerant power, on account of which it is used to drink, 
for stomach troubles ; it is also efficacious as an aid to foster the 
organs of the body and to protect them from injury ; itis a remedy, 
applied with milk, for discharges from the eyes and for ulcers. 
It is believed also when tied on by women as an amulet (¢gu/ax- 
t#oeov) to promote parturition and conception.” 
From the Euporista, ascribed to Dioscorides; among the 72 
plants to be taken in drink with wine, against viper-bites, occurs 
Vic captac to) dotépor < /. 
or, as Saracenus renders it, asteris samii drachmea ii—/. ¢., Take 
of Samian earth of the kind called Aster, two drachms. 
This is the only ancient reference of which I am sure in which 
both Aster Atticus and the Aster Samius occur in the same con- 
text, their place in the long list being but five items apart, that part 
of this list of snake remedies reading, in translation, 
Asclepiadis radix, flos Asteris Attici, Atractylidis flores et 
folia, Piper, Pistachia, Balsam, Gentianae radix, Asteris Samii 
drachmae ii, Daucus, Quercus, Iris, Helenium decoctum, etc., etc. 
