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CHAP. 38.—THE CIRCÆA: THREE REMEDIES.

The circæa1 resembles the cultivated trychnon2 in appearance. It has a small swarthy flower, a diminutive seed, like millet, growing in small horn-shaped pods, and a root half a foot in length, generally triple or fourfold, white, odoriferous, and hot in the mouth. It is found growing upon rocks exposed to the sun. An infusion of it is prepared with wine, and administered for pains and affections of the uterus: to make it, three ounces of the pounded root should be steeped in three sextarii of wine a day and a night. This potion is effectual also for bringing away the after-birth. The seed of this plant, taken in wine or hydromel, diminishes the milk in nursing women.

1 Sprengel identifies it with the Asclepias nigra, Black swallow-wort, but Fée considers it to be the Circæa Lutetiana of Linnæus, Parisian circæa, or enchanter's nightshade. Other authorities have suggested the Capsicum annuum of Linnæus, Indian or Guinea pepper, and the Celosia margaritacea of Linnæus, Pearly celosia, or cock's comb. M. Fraäs suggests, though with some doubt, the Cynanchum Monspeliacum, the Montpellier dog's-bane.

2 See B. xxi. c. 105.

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    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SA´NTONES
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