196 
Medicinal  Plants  of  Greece. 
Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1876 
because  they  enjoyed  great  reputation  amongst  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
against  execrations,  apparitions,  witchcraft  and  other  demoniacal  influ- 
ences.   The  priests  using  these  plants  were  called  verbenarii. 
Arum  Dracunculus,  maculatum,  &c. — All  plants  which,  in  their  flow- 
ers or  roots,  either  by  color  or  form,  have  some  resemblance  to  a  snake 
or  scorpion,  are  called  ophidochorton  (o<pcq,  a  snake),  ophidobotanon, 
or  skorpidochorton.  Such  plants  are  Heliotropium  hirsutum,  Scolopen- 
drum  officinale,  Lithospermum  apulum,  Echinum  vulgare,  and  principally 
Arum  dracunculus,  so  named  from  its  resemblance  in  color  to  the  skin 
of  some  serpents  and  the  tiger  ;  its  horrible  odor  resembles  that  of  the 
cadavers  of  some  animals.  All  the  above-named  plants  are  used  in 
the  Orient  by  the  common  people  as  a  prophylactic  as  well  as  a  cure 
of  the  bites  of  venomous  snakes  and  scorpions,  which,  in  Greece,  have 
frequently  resulted  in  death. 
Eruca  sativa  is  extensively  cultivated  in  oriental  countries  as  a  pot- 
herb and  salad.  The  seeds,  which  have  a  biting  flavor  when  masti- 
cated— hence  the  name  from  spuco,  I  draw — are  collected  in  Macedo- 
nia and  often  exported  to  France,  where  they  are  probably  used  as  an 
admixture  to  white  mustard. 
Cataplasms  are  almost  universally  employed  in  all  oriental  countries, 
and  are  popularly  resorted  to  as  the  beginning  of  the  treatment  in  nearly 
all  complaints.  The  principal  articles  used  for  this  purpose  are  flax- 
seed and  mallow  flowers,  okra  fruit  (Hibiscus  esculentus\  Corinthian 
raisins  and  figs  ;  a  mixture  of  wax  and  honey  is  likewise  frequently 
used.  Against  the  bites  of  venomous  snakes  and  scorpions,  the  leaves 
of  Solanum  Mehngena,  called  meltsanes,  are  used  in  the  form  of  cata- 
plasms, besides  the  various  parts  of  plants  mentioned  above,  which 
appear  to  be  used  mainly  on  the  principle  :  Similia  similibus  curantur. 
Cataplasms  are  often  made  with  wine,  and  with  wine  must  and  milk. 
A  very  curious  cataplasm  was  used  during  the  visit  of  the  plague  for 
accelerating  the  suppuration  of  the  buboes  ;  it  consisted  of  a  mixture 
of  caviar  and  flaxseed,  and  was  used  with  good  success,  upon  the  advice 
of  the  nurses,  in  my  own  case,  after  having  been  infected  by  a  pesti- 
lential cat  in  the  island  of  Paros,  where  I  had  been  sent  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  assist  in  arresting  this  horrible  disease. 
The  fever  plant,  thermochorton,  in  the  times  of  Hippocrates  was  the 
lesser  centaury,  Erythrcea  centaurium,  which  is  still  used  with  marked 
