Nor that it removes leprosy, clavus, and myrmecia, need it seem wonderful to one who remembers what was formerly said. And thus it relieves orthopnœa, and promotes menstruation, when it is restrained by the thickness and viscidity of the humours; and, in a word, when we wish to incide, cleanse, dry, and heat, it is a most useful medicine. (De Simpl. viii.) Having given so full an exposition of Galen’s views, we must be brief on those of the other authorities. The gith occurs in the Mat. Med. of Hippocrates, but is not to be met with in the works of Celsus. For the Arabians, see Avicenna (ii, 2, 516); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 496); Serapion (c. 328.) They all follow closely in the footsteps of Dioscorides and Galen. Though the gith has ceased for some time past to be used in medicine, it is still sometimes sought after as a spice. See Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 123.) Μέλι, Mel, _Honey_, is heating and desiccant in the second order, and is also considerably detergent. When boiled it becomes less acrid, detergent and cathartic, but more nutritious. But bitter honey, like that in Sardonia, is of mixed powers, being terrene and hot. The _Sacchar_ (Sugar) which is brought from Araby the Blessed is less sweet than that with us, but is possessed of equal powers, with the additional advantage of not injuring the stomach and occasioning thirst like it. * * * * * COMMENTARY. On the use of honey, see Book I, s. 69. “The honey of reeds” is mentioned in a fragment of Theophrastus. (ed. Heinsius.) It is distinctly noticed by Dioscorides (i, 104), Strabo (Geogr. xv), Pliny (H. N. xii, 17), Galen (Med. Simpl. vii), Oribasius (Med. Collect. xi), Isidorus (Orig. xvii, 7), Alexander Aphrodisiensis (Probl.), and Symeon Seth (in voce Sacchar.) It is alluded to by Statius in the following line: “Et quas præcoquit Æbusita cannas.”—_Silv._ i, 6, 15. Lucan also mentions it. (Pharsal. iii, 237.) All the Arabian medical authors, in a word, make frequent mention of it. It is obvious, however, as is remarked by Harduin, Salmasius, Freind, Millward, and Sprengel, that the ancient sugar was a concretion formed upon the surface of reeds by the heat of the sun, and consequently it was different from the sugar of the moderns, which is formed by boiling. Symeon Seth says of sugar that it is heating and humid in the first degree, detergent, and diaphoretic like honey. Mesue recommends it for the composition of electuaries. Dr. Hill states that although the _Bambu_ be the sugar-cane with which the ancients were most familiar, it would appear that the “tenera arundo” of Lucan was rather the common sugar-reed of our times. Μελία, Fraxinus, _the Ash_, is a well-known tree, the leaves of which, when taken in a draught, agree with the bites of vipers. Its bark, when burnt and rubbed in with water, removes leprosies. The sawdust of the wood when drunk is said to be deadly. * * * * *