92 
pliny's katijral histoey. 
[Book XXV. 
employ, as also that with a red seed."^^ Sometimes, however, 
the white seed turns of a reddish colour, if not sufficiently 
ripe when gathered ; in which case it is rejected as unfit for 
use : indeed, none of these plants are gathered until they are 
perfectly dry. Hyoscyamos, like wine, has the property of 
Ajdng to the head, and consequently of acting injuriously upon 
the mental faculties. 
The seed is either used in its natural state, or else the juice 
of it is extracted : the juice also of the stem and leaves is 
sometimes extracted, separately from the seed. The root is 
sometimes made use of; but the employment of this plant in 
any way for medical purposes is, in my opinion, highly dan- 
gerous. For it is a fact well ascertained, that the leaves even 
will exercise a deleterious effect upon the mind, if more than 
four are taken at a time; though the ancients were of opinion 
that the leaves act as a febrifuge, taken in wine. From the 
seed, as already^^ stated, an oil is extracted, which, injected 
into the ears, deranges the intellect. It is a singular thing, 
but we find remedies mentioned for those who have taken 
this juice, as though for a poison, while at the same time we 
find it prescribed as a potion among the various remedies. 
In this way it is that experiments are multiplied without end, 
even to forcing the very poisons themselves to act as an- 
tidotes. 
CHAP. 18. (5.) LTNOZOSTIS, PAHTHENIOIS', HEEMIJPOA, OE MER- 
CURIALIS ; TWO VAlllETIES OF IT I TAVENTY-TWO EEMEDIES. 
Linozostis*^^ or parthenion is a discovery attributed to Mer- 
cury : hence it is that among the Greeks it is known as 
hermupoa"'^ by many, while among us it is universally 
known as mercurialis." There are two varieties of this 
plant, the male and the female, the last possessing more 
decided properties than the other, and having a stem a cubit in 
height, and sometimes branchy at the summit, with leaves 
somewhat narrower than those of ocimum. The joints of the 
stem lie close together, and the axils are numerous : the seed 
hangs downwards, having the joints for its basis. In the 
The third kind mentioned above. 
In B. XV. c. 7, and B. xxiii. c. 49. This cannot have been a fixed oil. 
The Mercuralis annua of Linnaeus, male and female ; the herb mercury. 
78 a of Hermes." 
