Chap. 94.] 
MATS^DEAGORA. 
139 
one^ are broader, and similar to those of garden lapatlium^^ in 
appearance. Persons, when about to gather this plant, take 
every precaution not to have the wind blowing in their face ; 
and, after tracing three circles round it with a sword, turn 
towards the west and dig it up.'^^ The juice is extracted both 
from the fruit and from the stalk, the top being first removed ; 
also from the root, which is punctured for the purpose, or else 
a decoction is made of it. The filaments, too, of the root are 
made use of, and it is sometimes cut up into segments and 
kept in wine. 
It is not the mandragora of every country that will yield a 
juice, but where it does, it is about vintage time that it is 
collected : it has in all cases a powerful odour, that of the 
root and fruit the most so. The fruit is gathered when ripe, 
and dried in the shade ; and the juice, when extracted, is left 
to thicken in the sun. The same is the case, too, with the 
juice of the root, which is extracted either by pounding it or 
by boiling it down to one third in red wine. The leaves 
are best, kept in brine ; indeed, when fresh, the juice of them 
is a baneful poison,*^^ and these noxious properties are far from 
being entirely removed, even when they are preserved in 
brine. The very odour of them is highly oppressive to the 
head, although there are countries in which the fruit is eaten. 
Persons ignorant of its properties are apt to be struck dumb 
by the odour of this plant when in excess, and too strong a 
dose of the juice is productive of fatal efiects. 
Administered in doses proportioned to the strength of the 
patient, this juice has a narcotic effect ; a middling dose being 
one cyathus. It is given, too, for injuries inflicted by serpents, 
and before incisions or punctures are made in the body, in 
6^ The female, or black, mandrake. 
69 See B. XX. c. 85. 
The superstitions with reference to the Mandrake extended from the 
earliest times till a very recent period. It was used in philtres, and was 
supposed to utter piercing cries when taken up ; Josephus counsels those 
whose business it is to do so, to employ a dog for the purpose, if they would 
avoid dreadful misfortunes. All these notions probably arose from the re- 
semblance which the root bears to the legs and lower part of the human 
body. See B. xxii. c. 9, where we have queried in a Note whether the 
Eryngium may not have been the " mandrake," the possession of which 
was so much coveted by the wives of Jacob. 
"Pestis est." 
