320 NOTES

praised in the poem SyphiLis, and was the ingredient that gave its
name to his famous compound D$ascordtum, the Confectio Fracas—
torii, for which he gives the formula p. 249. Pliny XXV. 62, says
that Lenaeus, Pompey's freedman, described scordium from the
MS. of King Mithridates; "It has leaves similar to the oak . . .
found in Pontus in rich humid soils and has a bitter taste'. L.
Fuchs (1501—1566), the physician and botanist, whose great work
on botany, De Historia Stirptum, Basle, 1542, was certainly known
to Fraeastorius and is often quoted by his correspondent Mundella,
gives a drawing of Tewcrium scordium (each flower isolated), found
in damp places, smells strongly of garlic, whence its name (Greek
Gköpoöor, garlic). 'There are several varieties, but we may suppose
that Fracastorius means the sort described by Fuchs; though when
Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), says that "water germander is
good for the lungs', we cannot be sure that this is the scordium of
the 16th cent. in Italy. 'The Teuwucrtum scordium of Linnaeus is
commonly called 'water germander'. Dioscurides III. 111 says
the flowers of skordion are like those of chamaedrys, i. e. pink, and
so too Fracastorius in SyphiLs, describing scordium, says: $psæ
comis imitata chamaedryn, flore rubens; referensque al cum voce
saporem, jäts leaves look like chamaedrys, its flower is pink, and
it tastes like garlic, as its name implies!.

*When Fracastorius had finished his treatise On£ (he Sympathy
and Antipathy of Things, which was published as an Introduction
to the present work, he submitted it to his learned friend the geo—
grapher Rannusio, who made certain criticisms and suggestions as
to problems that had been omitted. Fracastorius, therefore, wrote
a final chapter answering Rannusio, e. g. the latter had asked him
to explain why butter has this effect on boiling sugar, and Fracas—
torius answers (p. 137 of the ed. of 1554), with two pages of explana—
tion, that the very small indivisible particles of butter ^whose
combination (mis60) is very tenacious', when intermingled, hinder
the rarefaction into large bubbles caused by the excessive heat and
evaporation, so that smaller bubbles are produced. Moreover
butter has an affinity (sympathy) with sugar, on account of its
sweetness and oiliness.

8 Chalcitis is copper—ore, ez quo aes coquitur, says Pliny XXXIV.
117, "it is saffron—colored and used for ulcers'.  Dioscurides V. 99,
gives it as a styptic for erysipelata, herpes etc. Celsus V. 9, in his
list of caustics "^that cover ulcers with scabs', recommends it along
with orpiment and jfos aeris, Chalcanthus, for which the pure Latin
term is atramentum sutorium; described by Dioscurides V. 98.

* IRuptoria, sometimes, incorrectly, rucforia, represents the Greek
6p&ra&, depilatory, and is a rare term for a v»essicatorsum medica—
mentum; derived from Latin rwmpo, because it breaks the skin.
*Dropax and Sinapismus by plasters to raise blisters, because sear—
ing with hot irons, lancings etc. are terrible", says Burton.

ï Bacci, of Rome, in his De Naturali Vinorum Historia, Ascoli,
1596, says:  *^In all vinegar you will find immense progeny of tiny
worms,—atoms indeed, but living atoms. . . . It is my opinion that