previous next

CHAP. 75.—LAPIDIS MUSCUS, OR STONE MOSS: ONE REMEDY.

There grows near running streams, a dry, white moss,1 upon ordinary stones. One of these stones, with the addition of human saliva, is rubbed against another; after which the first stone is used for touching impetigo,2 the party so doing uttering these words:— φεύγετε χανθαρίδες, λύχος ἄγριος αἷμα διώχει.
"Cantharides3 begone, a wild wolf seeks your blood."4

1 Some kind of lichen, probably, but what in particular it is impossible to say.

2 Ring-worm or tetter.

3 Hardouin says that this herpetic disease is called "cantharides," because it attacks the body as the cantharis attacks wheat. See B. xviii. c. 44.

4 It would be superfluous to look for sense in this silly formula.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide References (3 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: