66 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



" ydrargyros." is mentioned by Aristotle, Vitruvius, Dioscorides, Pliny, 

 and Galen ; and also by the Arab medical writers. 



Pliny xxxiii. 38, remarks, that kinnabap is an Indian word, and is 

 applied to " saniem draconis," or dragons blood (said to be the product 

 of Draccena draco) : and he further speaks of serious mistakes in the 

 practice of medicine, arising from this confusion of names. — The medi- 

 cinal use of dragon's blood, is also mentioned by Paulus iEgineta, 

 Constantinus, and the Arab writers. 



The MANArAroror of the treatise "2 De Morbis" (quoted by Galen 

 as a work of Euryphon), and of Demosthenes 133, 1, Theophrastus, 

 and Dioscorides, according to the received opinion and Sibthorp's ac- 

 count of the Greek usage, is the Atropa mandragora. — This is an in- 

 digenous plant of Greece and other parts of Europe; and Forskal (Mat. 

 Med.) notices the medicinal use in Egypt of the imported roots. 



The AiNoznsTis of Euryphon (2 De Morbis 12 and 77), Dioscorides, 

 and Pliny, and the "herba mercurialis" mentioned by Cato as both 

 esculent and medicinal, are usually referred to one or more species of 

 Mercurialis. — The M. annua was seen by Sibthorp in Greece; by 

 Hasselquist in Palestine ; and by Delile, growing spontaneously at 

 Alexandria, 



The rnEriKON of Euryphon (2 De Morb. 52 and 62), Nicander (Alex. 

 616), and Dioscorides, according to Sibthorp's account of the Greek 

 usage, would seem to be the Hypericum crispum.. — Plants of this genus 

 have not been found growing in Egypt ; but a species is imported for 

 medicinal use, as appears from Alpinus and the Materia Medica of 

 Forskal. 



In Egypt, the Erythrma centaurium is called " kantarian ;" in which 

 word we recognise, the kentaypion of Euryphon (2 De Morb. 52), 

 Theophrastus, Lucretius ii. 401, and Celsus. — Forskal speaks of the 

 medicinal use in Egypt of the E. centaurium ; seen by him growing 

 spontaneously at Cairo. 



The nENTA^rAAor pizhn of Euryphon (2 De Morb. 38), Theophras- 

 tus, Celsus vi. 18, and Dioscorides, according to the received opinion 

 and Sibthorp's account of the Greek usage, is the Potentilla reptans. — 

 Alpinus and Forskal (Mat. Med.) speak of the medicinal use in Egypt 

 of "pentaphyllum" root. An allied species, P. supina, was seen by 

 Forskal and Delile, growing spontaneously at Cairo ; doubtless by 

 some means introduced. 



The akth of Euryphon (2 De Morb. 19), Theophrastus, and Dios- 



