Foreign Vegetables. 309 
tuary. The Dole is 33. againft too much Sleep 
occafioned by taking Opium or other Narco- 
ticks. 
Artic. III. Of Bdellium. 
We are not fufficiently acquainted with the Hiltory 
of the B <h'AAa or B&AAiov of the ancient Greeks to de- 
termine with Certainty what it was, or whether that 
Drug has come down to us. 
Diofcorides diftinguifhes three Kinds of Bdellium. 
The firft is the Tear of a Plant growing in the 
Country of th tSarracens. It is a tranfparent Gum, 
like Glue, within fat, eafily melting, free from the 
Mixture of Wood and Filth, of a bitter Tafte, and 
Smelling, when burnt, like the Unguis odoratus *. 
The fecond is fordid, black, in large Glebes, with 
the Smell of Afpalathum , and brought from the 
Indies. The third, coming from a Town called 
Petra , is dry, refinous, and livid ; but with Re- 
Ipe6t to Virtue he reckons this the fecond. 
Galen ) in his Book on Simple Medicines, makes 
mention of two Sorts of Bdellium : One from Scy - 
thia 7 which is blacker and more refinous *, and ano- 
ther from Arabia , of a clearer Colour, and moift, 
and eafily growing foft. . 
* The words of Diofcorides are thefe. B&AAtov Ir* Ivw&s lv ri? 
Svpiclas^ xj lo ix.o; ow^iy i. e. Bdellium eft odoratum in Sujjitu , et 
Jimile JJngui. Some Authors fuppofe the Word Onyx or Unguis 
to figriify the Nail of the Hand, of which they imagine Bdel- 
lium to have a Refemblance, in being fometimes, like that, 
marked with Spots. But it is more probable that Diofcorides 
here means the Unguis odoratus , which was Part of a Shell 
found in the Red Sea , and other Places, of a Subftance like 
Horn, nearly refembling our Blatta Byzantina, if not the fame. 
See Dale's Pharmacologia, p. 522. and p. 549, 550, &c. 
