Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXVI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM PLANTS, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO PARTICULAR DISEASES., CHAP. 35.

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CHAP. 35.—EPITHYMON OR HIPPOPHEOS: EIGHT REMEDIES.

The two kinds of anagallis, taken in hydromel, are purgative; the same, too, with epithymon,¹ which is the blossom of a sort² of thyme similar to savory; the only difference being that the flower of this plant is nearer grass green, while that of the other thyme is white. Some persons call it "hippopheos."³ This plant is by no means wholesome to the stomach, as it is apt to cause vomiting, but at the same time it disperses flatulency and gripings of the bowels. It is taken also, in the form of an electuary, for affections of the chest, with honey, or in some cases, with iris.⁴ Taken in doses of from four to six drachmæ, with honey and a little salt and vinegar, it relaxes the bowels.

Some persons, again, give a different description of epithymon: according to them, it is a plant without⁵ a root, diminutive, and bearing a flower resembling a small hood, and of a red colour. They tell us, too, that it is dried in the shade and taken in water, in doses of half an acetabulum; and that it has a slightly laxative effect upon the bowels, and carries off the pituitous humours and bile. Nymphæa⁶ is taken for similar purposes, in astringent wine.

1 Identical with the Orobanche of B. xviii. c. 44, the Cuscuta Europræa of Linnæus, Dodder, Hell-weed, or Devil's guts; or else the Cuscuta minor, or epithymum of Linnæus. See also B. xii. cc. 78, 80.

2 He is in error here.

3 Hardouin suggests "hypopheos," as "springing up under the Pheos" or Stœbe, mentioned in B. xxii. c. 13.

4 See B. xxi. c. 19.

5 It has a root originally, but the root withers as soon as it has attached itself to the stem of the plant to which it clings.

6 See B. xxv. c. 37. Holland says, on the contrary, that it is a binding plant.

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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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 35.—EPITHYMON OR HIPPOPHEOS: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 35.—EPITHYMON OR HIPPOPHEOS: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.