52 



An Account of Plants, $c. 



justly remarks, " miro, nec adhuc investigato mechanismo, 

 propelluntur semina."* The plant grows in abundance about 

 Constantinople, and the inspissated juice is used here in me- 

 dicine, as in England, but the Turks, Greeks, and Armenians, 

 apply the capsule itself to a curious medical purpose : in 

 cases of jaundice, they rub the interior membrane of the nose 

 with the rough surface, till it excites sneezing, and they attri- 

 bute some specific quality to this process, besides the mecha- 

 nical excitement, for they suppose that sneezing caused by 

 this plant, in particular, is highly beneficial in the disease. 

 DioscoRiDEsf directs the juice to be rubbed in the same 

 manner for the same disease, so that it is probable that the 

 practice is derived from him ; the manner of preparing the 

 Elaterium, or inspissated juice, is precisely the same as that 

 which he directs. The plant is sometimes called here Ass's 

 Cucumber. 



Solanum Egyptiacum. 



Sodomeum. 



Melongena. 



These plants, though now so abundant in the East, do not 

 seem to have been known to the ancients ; neither the Zt?v%vov 

 of Dioscorides,! or the Strychnum of Pliny,|| resembled 

 them. 



The first of them bears a bright scarlet fruit ; and is a rare 

 plant at Constantinople, never sold in the markets, and 

 seldom met with in private gardens. It is used in soups. 

 The second bears a large rich dark purple fruit, which 



* Flor. Eg. Arab. 34. f Lib. iv. cap. 255. 



\ Lib. iv. cap. 7- ;| Hist. Nat. xxi. cap. 105. 



