Dioscoridés

Dioscoridés, PEDACIUS, or PEDANIUS, a Greek physician, was a native of Anazarba in Cilicia, and, probably in the 2d century of our era, accompanied the Roman armies as physician through many countries. He has left a great work on materia medica, in five books, in which he treats of all the then known medicinal substances and their properties, real or reputed. His authority in botany and materia medica was long undisputed, and is still maintained in the East. The best editions of Dioscorides, including some smaller works bearing his name, are by Saracenus (1598) and Sprengel (2 vols. 1829-30).