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CHAP. 68.—THE GERANION, MYRRHIS, OR MYRTIS; THREE VARIE- TIES OF IT: SIX REMEDIES.

The plant geranion has the additional names of "myrrhis"1 and "myrtis." It is similar to hemlock in appearance, but has a smaller leaf and a shorter stem, rounded, and of a pleasant taste and odour. Such, at all events, is the description given of it by our herbalists; but the Greeks speak of it as bearing leaves a little whiter than those of the mallow, thin downy stems, and branches at intervals some two palms in length, with small heads at their extremities, in the midst of the leaves, resembling the bill2 of a crane.3 There is also another4 variety of this plant, with leaves like those of the anemone, but with deeper incisions, and a root rounded like an apple, sweet, and extremely useful and refreshing5 for invalids when recovering their strength; this last would a- most seem to be the true geranion.

For phthisis this plant is taken, in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of wine, twice a day; as also for flatulency. Eaten raw, it is productive of similar effects. The juice of the root is remedial for diseases of the ear; and for opisthotony the seed is taken in drink, in doses of four drachmæ, with pepper and myrrh. Juice of plantago,6 taken in drink is curative of phthisis, and a decoction of it is equally good for the purpose. Plantago taken as a food with oil and salt immediately after rising in the morning, is extremely refreshing; it is prescribed, too, in cases of atrophy, on alternate day. Betony is given with honey, in the form of an electuary, for phthisis, in pieces the size of a bean; agaric, too, is taken in doses of two oboli in raisin wine, or else daucus7 with the greater centaury in wine. For the cure of phagedæna.a <*>une given in common to bulimia8 and to a corrosive kind of ulcer, tithymalos9 is taken in combination with sesame.

1 Not in reality the same plant as the Geranion; see B. xxiv. c.97 Littré however, gives the Erodiul moschatum of Linnæus as the synonym of this Geranion myrrhis.

2 Hence its name, from the Greek γέρανος, a "crane."

3 This kind of Geranion has been identified with the Geranium mollik or Erodium malacoides of Linnæus, the Common dove's-foot crane's bill.

4 Identified with the Geranium tuberosum of Linnæus.

5 Fée remarks that all his assertions as to the medicinal properties at the Geranion are erroneous.

6 See B.xxv. c. 39.

7 See B. xxv. c. 64.

8 Voracious appetite—"sine modo esurientium."

9 See B. xxvi. c.39.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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