148 
plii^t's natural hi stout. 
[Book XXY. 
a stem of tli8 same height, a blue flower, and a seed of which 
no use is made. The root is single, about the thiekness of 
one's finger, and an excellent remedy for diseases of the teeth ; 
for which purpose it is cut up in pieces, and boiled in vinegar, 
the decoction being used warm as a collutory. The root, too, 
is employed by itself to strengthen the teeth, being inserted for 
the purpose in those that are hollow or carious. 
Eoot of chelidonia'^^ is also beaten up with vinegar, and kept in 
the mouth. Black hellebore is sometimes inserted in carious 
teeth ; and a decoction of either of these last-mentioned plants, 
in vinegar, has the effect of strengthening loose teeth. 
CHAP. 108. THE LABIUM VEjS^EEETJM : OlSE PEMEDY. 
Labrum Venereum^^ is the name given to a plant that grows 
in running streams. It produces a small worm,^^ which is 
crushed by being rubbed upon the teeth, or else enclosed in 
wax and inserted in the hollow of the tooth. Care must be 
taken, however, that the plant, when pulled up, does not touch 
the ground. 
CHAP. 109. THE BATRACHIOlSr, PAIS^TJNCTJLUS, OH STRUMUS ; POUR 
VARIETIES OF JT I POURTEE^T REMEDIES. 
The plant known to the Greeks as batrachion,"^^ we call 
ranunculus.^^ There are four varieties of it,^^ one of which 
has no blue flower, and the same is the case with many other plants that 
have been suggested as its synonym. Fee suggests the Convallaria verti- 
cillata of Linnseus, the whorl-leaved Solomon's seal; as to which, however, 
there is the same difficulty in reference to the flower. Holland calls it the 
"May lily," otherwise the Lily of the valley, the Convallaria Maialis ; 
and this is the synonym suggested by Euchsius. Littre gives the Conval- 
laria multiflora of Linnaeus. 22 g^g q 59 of this Book. 
23 Qy "Venus' bath." Identified by Littre with the Dipsacus silvestris 
of Linnaeus, and by Fee with the Dipsacus fullonum of Linnaeus, the 
Teazel, or Fuller's thistle. It received its Eoman name from the form of 
the leaves, which are channelled, and curved at the edges. 
2* This is entirely erroneous ; he may possibly have mistranslated some 
author, who has stated that the rain-water settles in reservoirs formed by 
the leaves. 
25 He alludes to the larvse of the Curculio or weevil, which are found 
in the head of the Dipsacus, and many other plants. See B. xsvii. c. 62, 
and B. xxx. c. 8. '•^6 u I rog- plant." 
27 "Little frog." Called "Crow- foot" by us. 
28 Sprengel identifies it with the Eanunculus Seguieri, Fee with the R. 
Asiaticus, also a native of Greece. 
