previous next

CHAP. 103.—THE ANDRACHLE AGRIA OR ILLECEBRA: THIRTY-TWO REMEDIES.

A similar plant is that known to the Greeks by the name of "andrachle agria,"1 and by the people of Italy as the "illece- bra." Its leaves, though small, are larger than those of the last-named plant, but growing on a shorter stem. It grows in craggy localities, and is gathered for use as food. All these plants have the same properties, being cooling and astringent. The leaves, applied topically, or the juice, in form of a liniment, are curative of defluxions of the eyes: this juice too acts as a detergent upon ulcers of the eyes, makes new flesh, and causes them to cicatrize; it2 cleanses the eyelids also of viscous matter. Applied to the temples, both the leaves and the juice of these plants are remedial for head-ache; they neutralize the venom also of the phalangium; and the greater aizoüm, in particular, is an antidote to aconite. It is asserted, too, that those who carry this last plant about them will never be stung by the scorpion.

These plants are curative of pains in the ears; which is the case also with juice of henbane, applied in moderate quantities, of achillea,3 of the smaller centaury and plantago, of peucedanum in combination with rose-oil and opium, and of acoron4 mixed with rose-leaves. In all these cases, the liquid is made warm, and introduced into the ear with the aid of a syringe.5 The cotyledon is good, too, for suppurations in the ears, mixed with deer's marrow made hot. The juice of pounded root of ebulum6 is strained through a linen cloth, and then left to thicken in the sun: when wanted for use, it is moistened with oil of roses, and made hot, being employed for the cure of imposthumes of the parotid glands. Vervain and plantago are likewise used for the cure of the same malady, as also sideritis,7 mixed with stale axle-grease.

1 "Wild andrachle." Desfontaines identifies it with the Sedum satellite; Fée, though with some hesitation, with the sedum reflexum of Linnæus, the Sharp-pointed stone-crop, or Prick-madam. The Sedum, however, is of a caustic and slightly corrosive nature, and not edible; in which it certainly differs from the Andrachle agria of our author. Holland calls it "Wild purslain."

2 This is probably the meaning of "palpebras deglutinat."

3 See c. 19 of this Book.

4 See c.100 of this book

5 "Strigil." This in general means a "body-scraper;" but it most probably signifies a "syringe," in the present instance. See B. xxix. c, 39, and B. xxxi c. 47.

6 See B. xxiv. c. 35.

7 See c. 19 of this Book.

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 (3 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (3):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: