in'.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 75 



prepared the medicament called Lycium, which Sib- 

 thorp identifies with the A.VKIOV of Dioscorides, 

 considering it, in his MS. notes, as derived from, 

 the Khamnus infectorius, which, he says, agrees very 

 well with the account given by Dioscorides. 



The latter describes this plant as follows: 

 " Lycium, which some call Pyzacantha, is a thorny 

 tree with twigs, three cubits, or even more, in 

 length, round which are leaves like the box, and 

 thick. It has a fruit like the pepper, black, thick, 

 and smooth, a bark of a pale colour like a diluted 

 solution of its extract, and numerous oblique ligne- 

 ous roots. It is chiefly found in Cappadocia, Lycia, 

 &c. ; and loves rugged places. A juice is extracted 

 from its roots, after many days' maceration with 

 the stem, by boiling, and then by concentrating the 

 liquor. It has virtues of an astringent kind, and 

 is good for the eyes." 



Now it is quite possible that this may refer to 

 a different plant from the Indian Lycium, which he 

 afterwards alludes to, and which Royle, as I have 

 already stated, considers to have been extracted 

 from a Berber is. 



But in identifying it with the Rhamnus of modern 

 botanists, we are met with the difficulty, that the 

 species of this genus generally possess those pur- 

 gative properties which are so manifest in our 

 common Buckthorn, R. catharticus, whilst A.VKLOV 

 is represented as being astringent. 



Hence it has been suggested, that the Rhamnus 

 of Pliny may be the Zizyphus Jujuba of modern 



