Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXVI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM PLANTS, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO PARTICULAR DISEASES., CHAP. 66.—PHYCOS THALASSION OR SEA-WEED: THREE VARIETIES OF IT. LAPPA BOARIA.

Home Collections/Texts Perseus Catalog Research Grants Open Source About Help

Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:

This text is part of:

Greek and Roman Materials

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

book : chapter

CHAP. 66.—PHYCOS THALASSION OR SEA-WEED: THREE VARIETIES OF IT. LAPPA BOARIA.

But it is the phycos thalassion, or sea-weed,¹ more particularly, that is so excellent a remedy for the gout. It resembles the lettuce in appearance, and is used as the basis in dyeing tissues with the purple of the murex.² Used before it becomes dry, it is efficacious as a topical application not only for gout, but for all diseases of the joints. There are three kinds of it; one with a broad leaf, another with a longer leaf of a reddish hue, and a third with a crisped leaf, and used in Crete for dyeing cloths.³ All these kinds have similar properties; and we find Nicander prescribing them in wine as an antidote to the venom of serpents even. The seed also of the plant which we have spoken of as "psyllion,"⁴ is useful for the cure of gout: it is first steeped in water, and one hemina of the seed is then mixed with two spoonfuls of resin of Colophon, and one spoonful of frankincense. Leaves of mandragora,⁵ too, are highly esteemed for this purpose, beaten up with polenta.

(11.) For swellings of the ankles, slime,⁶ kneaded up with oil, is wonderfully useful, and for swellings of the joints the juice of the smaller centaury; this last being remarkably good also for diseases of the sinews. Centauris,⁷ too, is very useful; and for pains in the sinews of the shoulder-blades, shoulders, vertebræ, and loins, an infusion of betony is taken in drink in the same way as for diseases of the liver.⁸ Cinquefoil is applied topically to the joints, and a similar use is made of the leaves of mandragora, mixed with polenta,⁹ or else the root, beaten up fresh with wild cucumber¹⁰ or boiled in water. For chaps upon the toes, root of polypodion¹¹ is used; and for diseases of the joints, juice of henbane with axle-grease; amomum,¹² with a decoction of the plant; centunculus,¹³ boiled; or fresh moss steeped in water, and attached to the part till it is quite dry.

The root, too, of lappa boaria,¹⁴ taken in wine, is productive of similar effects. A decoction of cyclaminos¹⁵ in water, is curative of chilblains, and all other affections resulting from cold. For chilblains, cotyledon¹⁶ is also employed with axle-grease, leaves of batrachion,¹⁷ and juice of epithymum.¹⁸ Ladanum,¹⁹ mixed with castoreum,²⁰ and vervain applied with wine, extract corns from the feet.

1 "Fucus marinus." See B. xiii. c. 48.

2 "Qui conchyliis substernitur." See Beckmann's Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 36, Bohn's Ed.

3 What Fucus or Laminaria this may have been is now unknown.

4 See B. xxv. c. 90.

5 See B. xxv. c. 94.

6 "Limus aquaticus."

7 See B. xxv. c. 32.

8 See c. 19 of this Book.

9 See B. xviii. c. 14.

10 See B. xx. c. 2.

11 See c. 37 of this Book.

12 See B. xii. c. 20.

13 See B. xxiv. c. 88.

14 "Ox lappa." Possibly the same as the Philanthropos, or else the Lappa canila, both mentioned in B. xxiv. c. 116.

15 See B. xxv. c. 67.

16 See B. xxv. c. 101.

17 See B. xx. c. 109.

18 See B. xii. c. 37, and e. 35 of this Book.

19 See B. viii.c.47.

20 See B. viii.c.47.

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.

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.

Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar:

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

This text is part of:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

CHAP. 66.—PHYCOS THALASSION OR SEA-WEED: THREE VARIETIES OF IT. LAPPA BOARIA.

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

This text is part of:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

CHAP. 66.—PHYCOS THALASSION OR SEA-WEED: THREE VARIETIES OF IT. LAPPA BOARIA.

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