The seed is either used in its natural state, or else the juice of it is extracted: the juice also of the stem and leaves is sometimes extracted, separately from the seed. The root is sometimes made use of; but the employment of this plant in any way for medical purposes is, in my opinion, highly dangerous. For it is a fact well ascertained, that the leaves even will exercise a deleterious effect upon the mind, if more than four are taken at a time; though the ancients were of opinion that the leaves act as a febrifuge, taken in wine. From the seed, as already[585] stated, an oil is extracted, which, injected into the ears, deranges the intellect. It is a singular thing, but we find remedies mentioned for those who have taken this juice, as though for a poison, while at the same time we find it prescribed as a potion among the various remedies. In this way it is that experiments are multiplied without end, even to forcing the very poisons themselves to act as antidotes. CHAP. 18. (5.)—LINOZOSTIS, PARTHENION, HERMUPOA, OR MERCURIALIS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES. Linozostis[586] or parthenion is a discovery attributed to Mercury: hence it is that among the Greeks it is known as “hermupoa”[587] by many, while among us it is universally known as “mercurialis.” There are two varieties of this plant, the male and the female, the last possessing more decided properties than the other, and having a stem a cubit in height, and sometimes branchy at the summit, with leaves somewhat narrower than those of ocimum. The joints of the stem lie close together, and the axils are numerous: the seed hangs downwards, having the joints for its basis. In the female plant the seed is very abundant, but in the male[588] it is less so, lies closer to the joints, and is short and wreathed. In the female plant the seed hangs more loosely, and is of a white colour. The leaves of the male plant are swarthy, while those of the female are whiter: the root, which is made no use of, is very diminutive. Both of these plants grow in cultivated champaign localities. A marvellous property is mentioned as belonging to them: the male plant, they say,[589] ensures the conception of male children, the female plant of females; a result which is ensured by drinking the juice in raisin wine, the moment after conception, or by eating the leaves, boiled with oil and salt, or raw with vinegar. Some persons, again, boil the plant in a new earthen vessel with heliotropium and two or three ears of corn, till it is thoroughly done; and say that the decoction should be taken in drink by the female, and the plant eaten for three days successively, the regimen being commenced the second day of menstruation. This done, on the fourth day she must take a bath, immediately after which the sexual congress must take place.