The costus, as far as we have been able to discover, does not occur in the works of Hippocrates. Celsus mentions it along with other aromatics (iv, 14, et alibi). It is often noticed as a precious ointment and aromatic by the classic authors. See Pliny (H. N. xii, 24); Columella (xii, 20); Propertius (iv, 6, 5); Lucan (ix, 917); Horace (Carm. iii, 1, 44); Ovid (Met. x, 308.) Κοτυληδὼν, Cotyledon, _Navel-wort_, is cooling, repellent, detergent, and discutient. It is believed that when the leaves of it are eaten along with the root, they prove lithontriptic and diuretic. * * * * * COMMENTARY. Dioscorides describes two species, which are the _Cotyledon umbilicus_, and the _C. serrata_. Our author’s description applies to the former of these, and is abridged from Galen. Galen further recommends it strongly as an application to inflammatory erysipelas and erysipelatous inflammation, the nice distinction between which he has stated under coriander, and in his work Therap. ad Glauc. (ii.) See Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 138.) Κοχλίαι, Cochleæ, _Snails_, when burnt are of a moderately desiccative nature, and somewhat heating. They are useful in dysenteries when mortification has not yet taken place, if to four parts of them, one part of white pepper, and two parts of galls be added. Unburnt, they are triturated and applied whole to the belly in dropsical complaints, and to the joints in arthritic, with advantage, being allowed to remain until they drop off spontaneously; and upon the whole they dry strongly deep-seated humours. * * * * * COMMENTARY. The κ. χἔρσᾶιος is the _Helix Pomatia_, _Escargot_, or _Vinegar Snail_. The snail was esteemed a delicacy by the Roman gourmands. See Varro (de R. R. iii, 14) and Pliny (H. N. ix, 25.) The use of it, however, was forbidden by the Mosaic law. In one of the Hippocratic treatises, the cochleæ are recommended for procidentia ani. (De fistul.) Pliny, in like manner, recommends them in dysentery. (H. N. vii, 30.) Dioscorides and Galen give nearly the same account of their medicinal properties as our author. The latter says that they are difficult to digest, but very nutritious when digested. Celsus, on the other hand, ranks them among the weak articles of food. Horace seems to say that they whet the appetite. Tostis marcentem squillis recreabis et Afrâ Potorem cochleâ.—_Satir._ Κρανέα, Cornus, _the Cornel_; the fruit of the tree being sour, proves strongly astringent of the belly when eaten. The leaves and shoots, by their sourness, are strongly desiccative, so as to agglutinate the largest wounds of hard bodies. * * * * *