Κηρ αχέι μεγάλω βεβολημένος

and the manner in which the eyes are affected by it, sometimes extending to the loss of sight, is noticed in the remainder of that line,

ενδε οι οσσε

Δακρυόφιν πιμπλαντο

the loss of hair (394),

Τον δ' εκ μεν μελέων τριχες ερρειν

and the horrible mutilations and debilities often caused by the disease, are repeatedly noticed, as, among other places, in the 301st line,

Μη σ' απογυμνωθεντα κακον και ανήνορα θεσης.

It may be said, perhaps that some of the symptoms which I have mentioned are rather ascribable to the means adopted by the moderns for the cure of the disease, than to the disease itself; what then should be the astonishment of the reader to find those very means of cure,

recorded by the poet, in the clearest manner, to have been used by the ancients also? The hints at bathing and the use of ointments are frequent,

επει λέσετε και εχρισε λιπ' ελαίω. (450) Ενδυκέως λεσεν τε

and in the 266th line

αλλα λιπ' αυτε :

the subject of anointing is openly mentioned again in the 392d,

Ερχομενη προσαλείφεν εκάςω φαρμακον αλλο

and the complete and perfect cure effected by these remedies, is shortly afterwards noticed (395),

Ανδρες δ' αιψ' εγενοντο νεώτεροι η παρος ήσαν Και πολυ καλλιονες τε και μείζονες εισοροωσθαι.

That the ointments in question were mercurial, is most certain; for who was it that brought Ulys

ses the antidote against the poison of Circe? Who, but Ερμειας, Mercury ? and in the following lines we have evidently, in the poet's remedy, a description of quicksilver itself, in which lines the appearance of quicksilver, when in a crude state, as contrasted with that of its semi-liquid state is most beautifully noticed (302) :

Ως άρα φωνήσας πορε Φαρμακον Αργειφόντης Εκ γαίης ερυσας και μοι φυσιν αυτό εδειξεν Ρίζη μεν μελαν εσκε γαλακτι δε είκελον ανθος

and in order to put the matter out of all doubt, the peculiar medicinal preparation of mercury, called calomel, is covertly named by the words καλεσσι, χαλεπον, and μωλυ, in the next line,

Μωλυ δε μιν καλεσσι θεοι χαλεπον δε τ ̓

ορύσσειν.

And, that I may close this part of the subject, I shall here claim for my countrymen the original invention of this method of cure for the odious malady, now so habitually practised as to cease to

strike us with due wonder; grounding their claim to it, as well upon other circumstances, as upon the three following expressions, first, the excla mation of Circe to Ulysses (England) when she saw her poison rendered ineffectual by the use of his antidote (330),

Η συ γ' Οδυσσεύς εσσι πολύτροπος ον τε μοι αιει Φασκεν ελευσεσθαι χρυσορραπίς Αργειφόντης

(which lines obliquely insinuate also, that Ulysses was the first discoverer of America ;) secondly, the observation of Ulysses himself, after having turned his companions from swine into men again, or effected their cure, viz. " that they acknowledged him" (that is, acknowledged him to be the author or inventor of the means of their cure) (392) εγνωσαν δε με κεινοι; and lastly, the evident import of the words above cited in the 303d line, which state the remedy to have been shewn by Mercury to Ulysses (303),

—και μοι φυσιν αυτό έδειξεν.

VOL. VI.

D

Neither ought it to be omitted here that the hero of the Iliad, who is sent to conduct Chryseis to her Father Chryses, which restoration of her to her father was to have the effect of putting a stop to the pestilence, (with the account of which the poem of the Iliad opens) was Ulysses also, who represents England; i. e. in other words, as before explained, the knowledge of the Peruvian bark, was introduced into the Old World, by means of voyages of the English nation.

the

But besides the account of this disease, and its cure, the passages lately cited or referred to, seem to have been intended also to convey a description of the original natives of America: In the following lines for instance, (278),

νεηνιη ανδρι εοικως

Πρωτον υπήνητη οταν χαριεςατος ηβη,

by xae, and by 6, there appears to be an allusion to the very name of the Caribbees; by WeWTOV UTTиVиTM, to the circumstance of their having little or no beards, or other marks of puberty; and by vɛnvin avdei coins, to their dimi