Page:Chronicles of pharmacy (Volume 1).djvu/30

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that so clever a man could also bring him back to life. He therefore commanded that the magician should be put into the same vat. While perplexed at the problem before him, Polyidus saw a serpent creeping towards the vat. He seized the beast and killed him. Presently another serpent came, and looked on his dead friend. The second went out of the place for a few minutes and returned with a certain herb which he applied to the dead reptile and soon restored him to life. Polyidus took the hint and used the same herb on Glaucus with an equally satisfactory result. He restored him to his father, who loaded the sorcerer with gifts. Unfortunately in telling the other details of this history the narrator has forgotten to inform us of the name of the herb which possessed such precious properties. Polyidus, according to Pausanias, was a nephew of Melampus.


Chiron.

Chiron the Centaur was very famous for his knowledge of simples, which he learned on Mount Pelion when hunting with Diana. The Centaury owes its name to him, either because he used it as a remedy or because it was applied to his wound. His great merit was that he taught his knowledge of medicines to Æsculapius, to Hercules, to Achilles, and to various other Greek heroes. In the Iliad Homer represents Eurypylus wounded by an arrow asking Patroclus

With lukewarm water wash the gore away
With healing balms the raging smart allay
Such as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy,
Once taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.

(Il., Bk. XI., Pope's Translation.)

Chiron was shot in the foot by Hercules by an