NOTES 323

IX. 9. 5, says the leaves pounded in olive oil are used for fractures,
wounds and sores.

26 LDiddamon (Greek öixrauro»), Origanum dicdamnus, because
said to have been found on Mt. Dikte in Crete; also on Parnassus,
Theophrastus IX. 16, who says it is **marvellous in virtue, especia!ly
for women in child—birth^.  He then describes false dictamnus', also
Cretan. Pliny XXV. 92, gives the various kinds, and says the
true kind looks like flea—bane, and the smallest quantity *inflames
the mouth'". 'The Italian plant mentioned by Fracastorius may
be our dittany, Dictamnus frazinella, Rutacea, gas—plant, or burning
bush, so called because its volatile oil is reputed to make the air
about it highly inflammable; leaves and flowers still used for veno—
mous bites.  Several kinds were used in theriae, Mithridatum and
diascordium.

: Thlaspi capsella, Bursa pastoris, shepherd'/s purse, & crucifer,
still prescribed by herbalists for hemorrhage of the lungs. Pliny
XXVII. 139 says the seed 'draws out bile and pituita'". The de—
scriptign of 0^X&cm in Dioscurides II. 156 suits Bursa pastoris well
enough.

s5 Cnicus benedictus (blessed yellow thistle), a Mediterranean
plant much cultivated in Europe and used by Continental herbalists
as chardon be6nit; dried leaves and yellow flowers in powder, infusion
and decoction as sudorific, febrifuge, aperitive etc. It would be
risky indeed to identify this with any one of the spmous plants
described by Theophrastus VI. 4, or the spinous «»ü«os (i. e.
cnicus, yellow) of Dioscurides IV,. 188. ^Carduus benedictus is
often prescribed by Montanus, the contemporary of Fracastorius,
in his Consultationes.

* Singer, The Herbal in Antiquity, gives two drawings from the
Juliana Anicia Codex, Vienna (512 A. p.), of 1) Greater Aristolochia,
sempervirens, birth—wort, as its name 1mp11es, 'with pepper and
myrrh it expels the dlscharges after childbirth'; as &a plaster, draws
out the venom of reptiles, etc. 2) Round Arlstolochla pallida, for
snake—bites, other antldotes and compound medicines for gout,
and plasters; for abscesses, etc.; ; it has a large, globular root. Phny
XXV. 54, dlstlngulshes four kinds found in Italy, and says the root
only was used.

so Smyrnium (cub6præ, myrrh), & plans that smells like myrrh,
described at length, with the many uses of root, leaves and seed, by
Phnïf XXVII. 133. Dioscurides III. 68, says it is also called rock—
parsley.

s: Probably Acorws calamus (Ihizoma calami), sweet flag, of
Asiatic origin, now common in European marshes. Root used as
Bowder, tincture etc. Pliny XII. 104 says that Syrian calamus is

est.

12 Macer (in Pliny, macir), an astringent African and Indian bark
used in decoction for hemorrhage etc. Mundella, Episfolae, says:
non est radicis cortex, sed cortex simplcüer. Dioscurides I. 82,
[A&Ktp. i