COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the _Lilium candidum_. Dioscorides praises the seed of the lily, given in wine, as an antidote to poisonous serpents; and, by the way, the same character is given of it by Walafridus Strabo in the ninth century, and by Macer Floridus in the tenth. Dioscorides further recommends it as an application to burns, ulcers, erysipelas, and so forth. He further describes a species of lilium with purple flowers, which grows in Syria and Pisidia of Pamphylia, and was famous for the composition of unguents. This might be the _Lilium Martagon_. Galen writes elaborately on this article, but in the main agrees with Dioscorides as to the medicinal virtues of the lily, of which he mentions only the former species. He recommends it principally in external applications to wounds, ulcers, and diseases of the skin, such as scabies, leprosy, and achores, and also very particularly to diseases of the uterus. Aëtius and Oribasius briefly give it the same characters. Celsus mentions a decoction of the leaves of the lily boiled in old wine and oil, as an application to burns. (v, 17, 18.) For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 436); Serapion (c. 189); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 422); Ebn Baithar (ii, 68.) They commend it as a general alexipharmic, both when applied to the bites of venomous animals, and as an antidote to hyoscyamus, coriander, and mushrooms. They all agree that it is one of the best applications to burning with hot water. Avicenna says the oil of lilies given internally, is useful in ileos. Ebn Baithar treats of the lily at very great length. Κροκοδείλιον, Crocodilium; the seed and juice of it are possessed of desiccative, heating, and discutient powers, and are, therefore, diuretic and emmenagogue; the root is of great use as an expectorant, and occasions a discharge of blood by the nose. * * * * * COMMENTARY. Dioscorides describes it immediately after the black chamæleon to which he compares it. We therefore are inclined to join the modern commentators and herbalists, who hold it to have been the _Carlina vulgaris_, rather than those who refer it to the _Eryngium maritimum_. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 971, 988) and Sprengel (Ad Dioscor. iii, 10.) Galen calls its seed aromatic and acrid, and says it is diuretic and emmenagogue. The juice of the seed and stalk being possessed, he says, of similar powers, is useful in nephritic diseases. The root is expectorant, and produces a discharge of blood from the nostrils. (De Simpl. vii.) We have not been able to discover any traces of it in the Mat. Med. of the Arabians, except in Ebn Baithar. (ii, 253.) His German translator holds it to be the _Eryngium maritimum_. Κρόκος, Crocus, _Saffron_, is of the second order of heating and of the first of desiccative medicines. It is also astringent and digestive. * * * * *