previous next

CHAP. 106.—THE RESEDA: TWO REMEDIES.

In the vicinity of Ariminum, there is a well-known plant called "reseda:"1 it disperses abscesses and all kinds of inflammations. Those who employ it for these purposes, add the following words: "Reseda,"2 allay this disease! knowest thou not, knowest thou not, what chick it is that has torn up these roots? Let it have nor head nor feet!"3 This formula is repeated thrice, the party spitting on the ground each time.

1 Possibly the Reseda alba of Linnæus.

2 "Reseda, morbos reseda." A pun upon the name of the plant, and the verb "resedo."

3 Like the silly charm itself, "neither head nor tail."

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