Oripasius’ Busonion 165 
preceded in his use of the name Bubonion by Galen, his medical 
exemplar. 
Unfortunately, the Greek original of this description of Aster is 
not yet properly accessible, being contained in the omitted part of 
Oribasius’ Collectanea,—printed by Mathaei; but omitted by the 
editors of the critical edition of Paris, 1851-4, because merely a 
transcription of Dioscorides—but in behalf of which within the 
next year, Meyer (2: 268) was uttering a strong plea. Compari- 
sons with Dioscorides have long been made however by means of 
Rasarius’ Latin translation of about 1554, and in many places, 
says Sprengel, this suggests very valuable readings. 
LATER ROMAN WRITERS 
XIV. SAMMONICUS 
Some confusion has arisen at times between Aster Atticus and 
Chelidonium. There was a widespread belief at the beginning of 
the Renaissance that the two were identical, Chelidoninm minor * 
being the plant then so identified. Matthioli was summoning 
arguments against this belief in 1568, and Bodaeus y Stapel was 
still doing so in 1646. Similarity of reputed properties in Chelt- 
donium majus and in Aster seems to have been the source of the 
confusion. + 
* The lesser Celandine, Ficaria ranunculoides. 
t Dioscorides had recommended Chelidonium forthe King’s Evil and for clearing 
films from the eyes; as Aster Atticus was also recommended, 
Our Chelidonium majus was to the Greeks the plant of the swallow, swallow-wort ; 
they called it Chelidonion or Chelidonia, and Theophrastus mentions its blooming with 
same, Anim. Nat., bk. iii, c. 25. Celsus explains (Comm., book vi) the process by 
which a stroke should liberate the eye ; all set forth again at length by Ruellius in 1536. 
The reputation of the Celandine: for removing films from the bird’s eye, assed 
readily to the human eve; ‘+a sovereign remedy for films upon the eyes,’’ Pliny calls 
» n¢ Plant, bk. 25,¢. 50. For this purpose the Greek practice was to use the expressed 
oot the flowers, mixed with Attic honey, brought to boil in a brazen urn over coals 
—""in aeneo vase cum melle Attico leniter cinere ferventi.”’ ‘ 
_ Chelidonia, says Dioscorides, was also a remedy for the king’s evil ; here meaning 
“Pparently scrofula but often understood as epilepsy. 
