previous next

CHAP. 82.—THE CHAMELÆA: SIX REMEDIES.

The leaves of the chamelæa1 resemble those of the olive: they are bitter, however, and odoriferous. This plant is found growing in craggy localities, and never exceeds a palm in height. It is of a purgative2 nature, and carries off phlegm and bile; for which purposes, the leaves are boiled with twice the quantity of wormwood, and the decoction taken with honey. The leaves, applied to ulcers, have a detergent effect. It is said, that if a person gathers it before sunrise, taking care to mention that he is gathering it for the cure of white specks3 in the eyes, and then wears it as an amulet, it will effect a cure: as also that, gathered in any way, it is beneficial for the eyes of beasts of burden and cattle.

1 Or "ground olive." See B. xiii. c. 35.

2 This, Fée says, is consistent with modern experience; indeed it is drastic to a dangerous extent.

3 "Albugines."

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.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

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

hide References (5 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: