BOOK XXIV. THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE FOREST TREES.

CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST AMONG TREES AND PLANTS.

Not even are the forests and the spots in which the aspect of Nature is most rugged, destitute of their peculiar remedies; for so universally has that divine parent of all things distributed her succours for the benefit of man, as to implant for him medicinal virtues in the trees of the desert even, while at every step she presents us with most wonderful illustrations of those antipathies and sympathies which exist in the vegetable world.

Between the quercus1 and the olive2 there exists a hatred so inveterate, that transplanted, either of them, to a site previously occupied by the other, they will die.3 The quercus too, if planted near the walnut, will perish. There is a mortal feud4 existing also between the cabbage and the vine; and the cabbage itself, so shunned as it is by the vine, will wither immediately if planted in the vicinity of cyclamen5 or of origanum. We find it asserted even, that aged trees fit to be felled, are cut with all the greater difficulty, and dry all the more rapidly, if touched by the hand of man before the axe is applied: it is a common belief, too, that when their load consists of fruit, beasts of burden are immediately sensible6 of it, and will instantly begin to sweat, however trifling it may be, unless the fruit is duly shown to them before starting. Fennel-giant, as a fodder, is extremely grateful to the ass, and yet to other beasts of burden it is a deadly poison: hence it is that the ass is consecrated to Father Liber,7 to which deity the fennel is also sacred.

Inanimate objects again, even of the most insignificant character, have their own peculiar antipathies. Cooks disengage meat of the brine, when it has been too highly salted, by the agency of fine meal and the inner bark8 of the linden-tree. Salt again, tends to neutralize the sickly flavour of food when over-sweet. The taste of water, when nitrous or bitter, is modified by the addition of polenta,9 so much so indeed, as to be rendered potable10 in a couple of hours: it is for a similar reason, too, that a layer of polenta is put11 in our linen wine-strainers. A similar property is possessed also by the chalk12 of Rhodes, and the argilla of our own country.

Equal affinities exist as well; pitch, for instance, is extracted by the agency of oil, both of them being of an unctuous nature: oil again, will incorporate only with lime, both of them having a natural antipathy13 to water. Gum is most14 easily removed with vinegar, and ink15 with water; in addition to which, there are numberless other instances of sympathy and antipathy which we shall be careful to mention in their appropriate places.

It is in tendencies of this description that the medical art first took its rise; though it was originally intended, no doubt, by Nature, that our only medicaments should be those which universally exist, are everywhere to be found, and are to be procured at no great outlay, the various substances, in fact, from which we derive our sustenance. But at a later period the fraudulent disposition of mankind, combined with an ingenuity prompted by lucre, invented those various laboratories,16 in which each one of us is promised an extension of his life—that is, if he will pay for it. Compositions and mixtures of an inexplicable nature forthwith have their praises sung, and the productions of Arabia and India are held in unbounded admiration in the very midst17 of us. For some trifling sore or other, a medicament is prescribed from the shores of the Red Sea; while not a day passes but what the real remedies are to be found upon the tables of the very poorest man among us.18 But if the remedies for diseases were derived from our own gardens, if the plants or shrubs were employed which grow there, there would be no art, forsooth, that would rank lower than that of medicine.

Yes, avow it we must—the Roman people, in extending its empire, has lost sight of its ancient manners, and in that we have conquered we are the conquered:19 for now we obey the natives of foreign20 lands, who by the agency of a single art have even out-generalled our generals.21 More, however, on this topic hereafter.

CHAP. 2. (2.)—THE LOTUS OF ITALY: SIX REMEDIES

We have already22 spoken in their appropriate places of the herb called lotus, and of the plant of Egypt known by the same name and as the “tree of the Syrtes.” The berries of the lotus, which is known among us as the “Grecian bean,”23 act astringently upon the bowels; and the shavings of the wood, boiled in wine, are useful in cases of dysentery, excessive menstruation, vertigo, and epilepsy: they also prevent the hair from falling off. It is a marvellous thing—but there is no substance known that is more bitter than the shavings of this wood, or sweeter than the fruit. The sawdust also of the wood is boiled in myrtle-water, and then kneaded and divided into lozenges, which form a medicament for dysentery of remarkable utility, being taken in doses of one victoriatus,24 in three cyathi of water.

CHAP. 3. (3.)—ACORNS: THIRTEEN REMEDIES

Acorns,25 pounded with salted axle-grease,26 are curative of those indurations known as “cacoethe.”27 The acorn of the holm-oak, however, is the most powerful in its effects; and in all these trees the bark is still more efficacious, as well as the inner membrane which lies beneath it. A decoction of this last is good for cœliac affections; and it is applied topically in cases of dysentery, as well as the acorns, which are employed also for the treatment of stings inflicted by serpents, fluxes, and suppurations. The leaves, acorns, and bark, as well as a decoction prepared from them, are good as counter-poisons. A decoction of the bark, boiled in cows’ milk, is used topically for stings inflicted by serpents, and is administered in wine for dysentery. The holm-oak is possessed of similar properties.

CHAP. 4. (4.)—THE KERMES-BERRY OF THE HOLM-OAK: THREE REMEDIES.

The scarlet berry28 of the holm-oak is applied to fresh wounds with vinegar; and in combination with water it is dropt into the eyes in cases of defluxion of those organs or of ecchymosis. There grows also in most parts of Attica, and in Asia, a berry of this description, which becomes transformed with great rapidity into a diminutive worm, owing to which circumstance the Greeks have given it the name of “scolecion:”29 it is held, however, in disesteem. The principal varieties of this berry have been previously30 described.

CHAP. 5.—GALL-NUTS: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

And no fewer are the varieties of the gall-nut which we have described:31 we have, for instance, the full-bodied gall-nut, the perforated one, the white, the black, the large, the small, all of them possessed of similar properties; that, however, of Commagene is generally preferred. These substances remove fleshy excrescences on the body, and are serviceable for affections of the gums and uvula,32 and for ulcerations of the mouth. Burnt, and then quenched in wine, they are applied topically in cases of cœliac affections and dysentery, and with honey, to whitlows, hangnails, malformed nails, running ulcers, condylomatous swellings, and ulcerations of the nature known as phagedænic.33 A decoction of them in wine is used as an injection for the ears, and as a liniment for the eyes, and in combination with vinegar they are employed for eruptions and tumours.

The inner part of the gall, chewed, allays tooth-ache, and is good for excoriations between the thighs, and for burns. Taken unripe in vinegar, they reduce the volume of the spleen; and, burnt and then quenched in salt and vinegar, they are used as a fomentation for excessive menstruation and procidence of the uterus. All varieties of the gall-nut stain the hair black.

CHAP. 6.—MISTLETOE: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

We have already34 stated that the best mistletoe is that which grows on the robur,35 and have described the manner in which it is prepared. Some persons, after bruising the berries, boil them in water, till nothing appears on the surface, while others, again, bite the berries with the teeth, and reject the skins.36 The best kind of viscus is that which has none of the outer skin in it, is extremely light, yellow without, and of a leek-green colour within. There is no substance more glutinous than this: it is of an emollient nature, disperses tumours, and acts as a desiccative upon scrofulous sores; combined with resin and wax, it heals inflamed swellings of every description. Some persons add galbanum as well, using equal proportions of each ingredient, and this preparation they employ also for the treatment of wounds.

The viscus of the mistletoe has the additional property also of rectifying malformed nails; but to effect this it must be taken off at the end of seven days, and the nails must be washed with a solution of nitre.37 Some persons have a sort of superstitious notion that the viscus will be all the more efficacious if the berries are gathered from the robur at new moon, and without the aid of iron. They have an impression too, that if it has not touched the ground, it will cure epilepsy,38 that it will promote conception in females if they make a practice of carrying it about them: the berries, chewed and applied to ulcers, are remarkably efficacious for their cure, it is said.

CHAP. 7.—THE EXCRESCENCES WHICH GROW ON THE ROBUR: ONE REMEDY. THE CERRUS: EIGHT REMEDIES.

The round excrescences39 which grow on the robur * * * and mixed with bear’s grease, are remedial in cases of loss of the hair by alopecy.

The leaves, bark, and acorns of the cerrus40 act as a desiccative upon gatherings and suppurations, and arrest fluxes. A decoction41 of them, used as a fomentation, strengthens such parts of the body as are paralyzed; and it is a very good plan to employ it as a sitting-bath, for its desiccative or astringent effects upon the lower extremities. The root of this tree neutralizes the venom of the scorpion.

CHAP. 8.—THE-CORK TREE: TWO REMEDIES.

The bark of the cork-tree,42 pulverized and taken in warm water, arrests hæmorrhage at the mouth and nostrils;43 and the ashes of it, taken in warm wine, are highly extolled as a cure for spitting of blood.

CHAP. 9. (5.)—THE BEECH: FOUR REMEDIES.

The leaves44 of the beech are chewed for affections of the lips and gums. A liniment is made of the ashes of beech-mast for urinary calculus, and, in combination with honey, for alopecy.

CHAP. 10.—THE CYPRESS: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

The leaves of the cypress45 are pounded and applied to wounds inflicted by serpents, and with polenta, to the head, in cases of sunstroke. They are used also for hernia, and an infusion of them is taken in drink.46 They are applied with wax to swellings of the testes, and mixed with vinegar they stain the hair black.47 Beaten up with twice the quantity of light bread, and then kneaded with Aminean48 wine, they are found very soothing for pains in the feet and sinews.

The excrescences of this tree are taken in drink for the stings of serpents and for discharges of blood from the mouth; they are used also as a topical application for gatherings. Fresh-gathered and beaten up with axle-grease and bean-meal, they are good for hernia; and an infusion of them is taken in drink for the same complaint. In combination with meal, they are applied topically to imposthumes of the parotid glands, and to scrofulous sores. From these excrescences, pounded along with the seed, a juice is extracted, which, mixed with oil, disperses films of the eyes. Taken in doses of one victoriatus,49 in wine, and applied at the same time in a pulpy, dried fig, the seeds of which have been removed, this juice cures maladies of the testes and disperses tumours: mixed with leaven, it heals scrofulous sores.

The root of the cypress, bruised with the leaves and taken in drink, is curative of diseases of the bladder, strangury, and the sting of the phalangium.50 The shavings of the wood, taken in drink, act as an emmenagogue, and neutralize the venom of the scorpion.

CHAP. 11.—THE CEDAR: THIRTEEN REMEDIES.

The larger cedar, known as the “cedrelates,”51 produces a pitch called “cedria,” which is very useful for tooth-ache, it having the effect of breaking52 the teeth and extracting them, and so allaying the pain. We have already53 stated how the juices of cedar are extracted, so remarkably useful for seasoning books,54 were it not for the head-ache they produce. This extract from the cedar preserves55 the bodies of the dead uncorrupted for ages, but exercises a noxious effect upon the bodies of the living—singular that there should be such a diversity in its properties, taking away life from animated beings, and imparting a sort of life, as it were to the dead! It injures clothing also and destroys56 animal life. It is for this reason that I cannot recommend it to be taken internally for the cure of quinzy and indigestion though there are some who advise it: I should be greatly in dread too, to rinse the teeth with it in combination with vinegar, for tooth-ache, or to use it as an injection for the ears in cases of hardness of hearing, or for worms in those organs. There is one very marvellous story told about it—if the male organs, they say, are rubbed with it just before the sexual congress, it will effectually prevent impregnation.57

Still, however, I should not hesitate to employ it as a friction for phthiriasis or porrigo. It is strongly recommended also, in raisin wine, as an antidote to the poison of the sea-hare,58 but I should be more ready to use it as a liniment for elephantiasis. Some authors have prescribed it as an ointment for foul ulcers and the fleshy excrescences which grow in them, as also for spots and films on the eyes; and have recommended it to be taken, in doses of one cyathus, for ulcerations of the lungs, and for tapeworm.

There is an oil extracted from this pitch, known as “pisselæon,”59 the properties of which are of increased activity for all the purposes before-mentioned. It is a well-known fact that the saw-dust of cedar will put serpents to flight, and that a similar effect is produced by anointing the body with the berries60 bruised in oil.

CHAP. 12.—CEDRIDES: TEN REMEDIES.

Cedrides, or in other words, the fruit of the cedar,61 is curative of coughs, acts as a diuretic, and arrests looseness of the bowels. It is good also for ruptures, convulsions, spasms, and strangury, and is employed, as a pessary, for affections of the uterus. It is used also to neutralize the venom of the sea-hare,62 and for the cure of the various affections above-mentioned, as also of gatherings and inflammations.

CHAP. 13.—GALBANUM: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

We have already63 given some description of galbanum: to be good, it should be neither too moist nor too dry, but just in the state which we have mentioned.64 It is taken by itself for inveterate coughs, asthma, ruptures, and convulsions; and it is employed externally for sciatica, pains in the sides, inflamed tumours,65 boils, denudations of the bones, scrofulous sores, nodes upon the joints, and tooth-ache. It is applied with honey also, to ulcerations of the head. In combination with oil of roses or with nard, it is used as an injection for suppurations of the ears; and the odour of it is useful for epilepsy, hysterical suffocations, and faintness at the stomach. Employed as a pessary or as a fumigation, it brings away the fœtus in cases of miscarriage; branches too of hellebore covered with it and laid beneath the patient, have a similar effect.

We have already66 stated that serpents are driven away by the fumes of burnt galbanum, and they will equally avoid persons whose body has been rubbed with it. It is curative also of the sting of the scorpion. In protracted deliveries, a piece of galbanum the size of a bean is given in one cyathus of wine: it has the effect also of reducing the uterus when displaced, and, taken with myrrh and wine, it brings away the dead fœtus. In combination with myrrh and wine too, it neutralizes poisons—those which come under the denomination of “toxica”67 in particular. The very touch of it, mixed with oil and spondylium,68 is sufficient to kill a serpent.69 It is generally thought to be productive of strangury.

CHAP. 14 (6.)—HAMMONIACUM: TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

Of a similar nature to galbanum is hammoniacum, a tearlike gum, the qualities of which are tested in manner already70 stated. It is of an emollient, warming, resolvent, and dispellent nature. Employed as an ingredient in eye-salves, it improves the sight. It disperses prurigo, effaces the marks of sores, removes spots in the eyes, and allays tooth-ache, more particularly when burnt. It is very useful too, taken in drink, for hardness of breathing, pleurisy, affections of the lungs, diseases of the bladder, bloody urine, maladies of the spleen, and sciatica: employed in a similar manner, it acts as a purgative upon the bowels. Boiled with an equal proportion of pitch or wax, and with oil of roses, it is good for diseases of the joints, and for gout. Employed with honey it ripens hard tumours, extracts corns, and has an emollient effect upon indurations. In combination with vinegar and Cyprian wax, or oil of roses, it is extremely efficacious as a liniment for affections of the spleen. In cases of extreme lassitude, it is an excellent plan to use it as a friction, with vinegar and oil, and a little nitre.

CHAP. 15.—STORAX: TEN REMEDIES.

In speaking too of the exotic trees, we have made mention71 of the properties of storax. In addition to those which we have already mentioned, it ought to be very unctuous, without alloy, and to break to pieces in whitish fragments. This substance is curative of cough, affections of the fauces, diseases of the chest, and obstructions or indurations of the uterus. Taken in drink, or employed as a pessary, it acts as an emmenagogue; it has a laxative effect also upon the bowels. I find it stated that, taken in moderate doses, storax dispels melancholy; but that when employed in large quantities, it promotes it. Used as an injection it is good for singings in the ears, and employed as a friction, for scrofulous swellings and nodes of the sinews. It neutralizes poisons of a cold nature, and consequently, hemlock.72

CHAP. 16.—SPONDYLIUM: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

At the same time we have also spoken73 of spondylium; an infusion of which is poured upon the head in cases of phrenitis and lethargy, and of head-ache of long standing. Combined with old oil, it is taken in drink for affections of the liver, jaundice, epilepsy, hardness of breathing, and hysterical suffocations, maladies for which it is equally serviceable in the shape of a fumigation. It relaxes the bowels, and with rue it is applied to ulcers of a serpiginous nature. The juice which is extracted from the blossom is a most useful injection for suppurations of the ears; but the moment it is extracted it should be covered up, as flies and other insects of a similar nature are remarkably fond of it.

Scrapings of the root, introduced into the interior of fistulas, have a caustic effect upon their callosities; and they are sometimes used, in combination with the juice, as an injection for the ears. The root itself also is prescribed for jaundice, and for diseases of the liver and uterus. If the head is rubbed with the juice, it will make the hair curl.74

CHAP. 17.—SPHAGNOS, SPHACOS, OR BRYON: FIVE REMEDIES.

Sphagnos, sphacos, or bryon, grows, as we have already75 stated, in Gaul. A decoction of it, employed as a sitting-bath, is useful for affections of the uterus: mixed with nasturtium, and beaten up in salt water, it is good for the knees and for swellings in the thighs. Taken in drink with wine and dried resin, it acts very powerfully as a diuretic. Pounded in wine with juniper berries, and taken in drink, it draws off the water in dropsy.

CHAP. 18.—THE TEREBINTH: SIX REMEDIES.

The leaves and root of the terebinth76 are used as applications for gatherings; and a decoction of them is strengthening to the stomach. The seed of it is taken in wine for head-ache and strangury: it is slightly laxative to the bowels, and acts as an aphrodisiac.

CHAP. 19.—THE PITCH-TREE AND THE LARCH: EIGHT REMEDIES.

The leaves of the pitch-tree77 and the larch,78 beaten up and boiled in vinegar, are good for tooth-ache. The ashes of the bark are used for excoriations and burns. Taken in drink this substance arrests diarrhœa, and acts as a diuretic; and used as a fumigation, it reduces the uterus when displaced. The leaves of the pitch-tree are particularly good for the liver, taken in doses of one drachma in hydromel.

It is a well-known fact that forests planted solely with trees from which pitch and resin are extracted, are remarkably beneficial for patients suffering from phthisis,79 or who are unable to recover their strength after a long illness: indeed it is said, that in such cases to breathe the air of localities thus planted, is more beneficial even than to take a voyage to Egypt,80 or to go on a summer’s journey to the mountains to drink the milk there, impregnated with the perfumes of plants.

CHAP. 20.—THE CHAMÆPITYS: TEN REMEDIES.

The chamæpitys,81 called in Latin “abiga,”82 because it promotes abortion, and known to some as “incense of the earth,”83 has branches a cubit in length, and the odour and blossoms of the pine. Another variety84 of it, which is somewhat shorter, has all the appearance of being bent85 downwards; and there is a third,86 which, though it has a similar smell, and consequently the same name, is altogether smaller, with a stem the thickness of one’s finger, and a diminutive, rough, pale leaf: it is found growing in rocky localities. All these varieties are in reality herbaceous productions; but in consequence of the resemblance of the name,87 I have thought it as well not to defer the consideration of them.

These plants are good for stings inflicted by scorpions, and are useful as an application, mixed with dates or quinces, for maladies of the liver: a decoction of them with barley-meal is used for the kidneys and the bladder. A decoction of them in water is used also for jaundice and for strangury. The kind last mentioned, in combination with honey, is good for wounds inflicted by serpents, and a pessary is made of it, with honey, as a detergent for the uterus. Taken in drink it brings away coagulated blood, and rubbed upon the body it acts as a sudorific: it is particularly useful also for the kidneys. Pills of a purgative nature are made of it for dropsy, with figs.88 Taken in wine, in doses of one victoriatus,89 it dispels lumbago, and cures coughs that are not of an inveterate description. A decoction of it in vinegar, taken in drink, will instantaneously bring away the dead fœtus, it is said.

CHAP. 21.—THE PITYUSA: SIX REMEDIES.

For a similar90 reason, too, we shall accord the same distinction to the pityusa, a plant which some persons reckon among the varieties of the tithymalus.91 It is a shrub,92 resembling the pitch-tree in appearance, and with a diminutive purple blossom. A decoction of the root, taken in doses of one hemina, carries off the bilious and pituitous secretions by93 stool, and a spoonful of the seed, used as a suppository, has a similar effect. A decoction of the leaves in vinegar removes scaly eruptions of the skin; and in combination with boiled rue, it effects the cure of diseases of the mamillæ, gripings in the bowels, wounds inflicted by serpents, and incipient gatherings of most kinds.

CHAP. 22.—RESINS: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.

In treating, first of wines,94 and then of trees,95 we have stated that resin is the produce of the trees above-mentioned, and have described the several varieties of it, and the countries in which they are respectively produced. There are two principal kinds of resin, the dry and the liquid.96 The dry resins are extracted from the pine97 and the pitch-tree,98 the liquid from the terebinth,99 the larch,100 the lentisk,101 and the cypress;102 these last producing it in the province of Asia and in Syria. It is an error103 to suppose that the resin of the pitch-tree is the same as that of the larch; for the pitch-tree yields an unctuous104 resin, and of the same consistency as frankincense, while that of the larch is thin, like honey in colour, and of a powerful odour. It is but very rarely that medical men make use of liquid resin, and when they do, it is mostly that produced by the larch, which is administered in an egg for cough and ulcerations of the viscera. The resin of the pine, too, is far from extensively used, and that of the other kinds is always boiled105 before use: on the various methods of boiling it, we have enlarged at sufficient length already.106

As to the produce of the various trees, the resin of the terebinth is held in high esteem, as being the most odoriferous and the lightest, the kinds107 which come from Cyprus and Syria being looked upon as the best. Both these kinds are the colour of Attic honey; but that of Cyprus has more body, and dries with greater rapidity. In the dry resins the qualities requisite are whiteness, purity, and transparency: but whatever the kind, the produce of mountainous108 districts is always preferred to that of champaign countries, and that of a north-eastern aspect to that of any other quarter. Resins109 are dissolved in oil as a liniment and emollient cataplasm for wounds; but when they are used as a potion, bitter almonds110 are also employed. The curative properties of resins consist in their tendency to close wounds, to act as a detergent upon gatherings and so disperse them, and to cure affections of the chest.

The resin of the terebinth * * * it is used too, warmed, as a liniment for pains in the limbs, the application being removed after the patient has taken a walk in the sun. Among slave-dealers too, there is a practice of rubbing the bodies of the slaves with it, which is done with the greatest care, as a corrective for an emaciated appearance; the resin having the property of relaxing the skin upon all parts of the body, and rendering it more capable of being plumped out by food.111

Next after the resin of the terebinth comes that of the lentisk:112 it possesses astringent properties, and is the most powerful diuretic of them all. The other resins are laxative to the bowels, promote the digestion of crudities, allay the violence of inveterate coughs, and, employed as a fumigation, disengage the uterus of foreign113 bodies with which it is surcharged: they are particularly useful too as neutralizing the effects of mistletoe; and, mixed with bull suet and honey, they are curative of inflamed tumours and affections of a similar nature. The resin of the lentisk is very convenient as a bandoline for keeping stubborn eyelashes in their place: it is useful also in cases of fractures, suppurations of the ears, and prurigo of the generative organs. The resin of the pine is the best of them all for the cure of wounds in the head.

CHAP. 23. (7.)—PITCH: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

We have also stated on a previous occasion114 from what tree pitch is extracted, and the methods employed for that purpose. Of this also there are two kinds; thick pitch and liquid pitch.115 Of the several varieties of thick pitch the most useful for medicinal purposes is that of Bruttium;116 for being both extremely unctuous and very resinous, it reunites the properties both of resin and of pitch, that of a yellow reddish colour being the most highly esteemed. As to the statement made in addition to this, that the produce of the male tree is the best, I do not believe that any such distinction is at all possible.

Pitch is of a warming, cicatrizing tendency: mixed with polenta it is particularly useful as a neutralizer of the venom of the cerastes,117 and in combination with honey it is used for quinzy, catarrhs, and fits of sneezing caused by phlegm. With oil of roses it is used as an injection for the ears, and employed as a liniment with wax it heals lichens. It relaxes118 the bowels, also, and used as an electuary, or applied with honey to the tonsillary glands, it facilitates expectoration. Applied topically, it acts as a detergent upon ulcers, and makes new flesh. Mixed with raisins and axle-grease, it forms a detergent plaster for carbuncles and putrid ulcers, and, with pine-bark or sulphur, for serpiginous sores. Pitch has been administered too by some, in doses of one cyathus, for phthisis and inveterate coughs. It heals chaps of the feet and rectum, inflamed tumours, and malformed nails; and used as a fumigation, it is curative of indurations and derangements of the uterus, and of lethargy. Boiled with barley-meal and the urine of a youth, who has not arrived at puberty, it causes scrofulous sores to suppurate. Dry pitch is used also for the cure of alopecy. For affections of the mamillæ, Bruttian pitch is warmed in wine with fine spelt meal, and applied as hot as can be borne.

CHAP. 24.—PISSELÆON AND PALIMPISSA: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

We have already119 described the way in which liquid pitch and the oil known as pisselæon are made. Some persons boil the pitch over again, and give it the name of “palimpissa.”120 For quinzy121 and affections of the uvula, liquid pitch is employed internally. It is used also for the cure of ear-ache, for the improvement of the sight, and as a salve for the lips; and is employed for hysterical suffocations, inveterate coughs, profuse expectorations, spasms, nervousness, opisthotony, paralysis, and pains in the sinews. It is a very excellent remedy too for itch in dogs and beasts of burden.

CHAP. 25.—PISSASPHALTOS: TWO REMEDIES.

There is pissasphaltos too, a natural production of the territory of the Apolloniates,122 and consisting of pitch mixed with bitumen. Some persons, however, make this mixture artificially, and employ it for the cure of itch in cattle, and of injuries done by the young sucklings to the mamillæ. The most esteemed portion of it is that which floats on the surface when boiled.

CHAP. 26.—ZOPISSA: ONE REMEDY.

We have already123 stated that zopissa is the pitch, macerated with salt-water and wax, that has been scraped from off the bottoms of ships. The best kind is that taken from ships which have been to sea for the first time. It is used as an ingredient in plasters of an emollient nature, employed to disperse gatherings.

CHAP. 27.—THE TORCH-TREE: ONE REMEDY.

A decoction in vinegar of the wood of the torch-tree124 makes a most efficacious gargle for tooth-ache.

CHAP. 28.—THE LENTISK: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.

The seed, bark, and tear-like juices of the lentisk are diuretics, and act astringently upon the bowels:125 a decoction of them, used as a fomentation, is curative of serpiginous sores, and is applied topically for humid ulcerations and erysipelas; it is employed also as a collutory for the gums. The teeth are rubbed with the leaves in cases of tooth-ache, and they are rinsed with a decoction of the leaves when loose:126 this decoction has the effect also of staining127 the hair. The gum of this tree is useful for diseases of the rectum, and all cases in which desiccatives and calorifics are needed; a decoction too of the gum is good for the stomach, acting as a carminative and diuretic; it is applied also to the head, in cases of headache, with polenta. The more tender of the leaves are used as an application for inflammations of the eyes.

The mastich128 produced by the lentisk is used as a bandoline for the hairs of the eye-lids, in compositions for giving a plumpness to the face, and in cosmetics for smoothing129 the skin. It is employed for spitting of blood and for inveterate coughs, as well as all those purposes for which gum acacia is in request. It is used also for the cure of excoriations; which are fomented either with the oil extracted from the seed, mixed with wax, or else with a decoction of the leaves in oil. Fomentations too are made of a decoction of it in water for diseases of the male organs.130 I know for a fact, that in the illness of Considia, the daughter of M. Servilius, a personage of consular rank, her malady, which had long resisted all the more severe methods of treatment, was at last successfully treated with the milk of goats that had been fed upon the leaves of the lentisk.

CHAP. 29. (8.)—THE PLANE-TREE: TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES.

The plane-tree131 neutralizes the bad effects of bites inflicted by the bat.132 The excrescences of this tree, taken in doses133 of four denarii, in wine, act as an antidote to the venom of serpents of all kinds and of scorpions, and are curative of burns. Pounded with strong vinegar, squill vinegar in particular, they arrest hæmorrhage of every kind; and with the addition of honey, they remove freckles, carcinomatous sores, and black spots of long standing on the skin.

The leaves again, and the bark of this tree, are used in the form of liniments for gatherings and suppurations, and a decoction of them is employed for a similar purpose. A decoction of the bark in vinegar is remedial for affections of the teeth, and the more tender of the leaves boiled in white wine are good for the eyes. The down which grows upon the leaves134 is injurious to both the ears and eyes. The ashes of the excrescences of this tree heal such parts of the body as have been burnt or frost-bitten. The bark, taken in wine, reduces the inflammation caused by the stings of scorpions.

CHAP. 30.—THE ASH: FIVE REMEDIES.

We have already135 made some mention of the virtues possessed by the ash as an antidote to the venom of serpents. The seed of it is enclosed in follicules, which are good for diseases of the liver, and, in combination with wine, for pains in the sides: they are employed also for drawing off the water in dropsy. They have the property, too, of diminishing obesity, and of gradually reducing the body to a state of comparative emaciation,136 the follicules being pounded in wine and administered in proportion to the bodily strength; thus, for instance, to a child, five of them are given in three cyathi of wine, but for persons in more robust health, seven are prescribed, in five cyathi of wine.

We must not omit to state that the shavings and saw-dust of this wood are of a highly dangerous nature, according to some.

CHAP. 31.—THE MAPLE: ONE REMEDY.

The root of the maple,137 beaten up in wine, is extremely efficacious as a topical application for pains in the liver.

CHAP. 32.—THE POPLAR: EIGHT REMEDIES.

We have already138 mentioned, when speaking of the unguents, the use that is made of the berries139 of the white poplar. A potion prepared from the bark is good for sciatica and strangury, and the juice of the leaves is taken warm for ear-ache. So long140 as a person holds a sprig of poplar in his hand, there is no fear of141 chafing between the thighs.

The black poplar which grows in Crete is looked upon as the most efficacious of them all. The seed of it, taken in vinegar, is good for epilepsy. This tree produces a resin also to a small extent, which is made use of for emollient plasters. The leaves, boiled in vinegar, are applied topically for gout. A moisture that exudes from the clefts of the black poplar removes warts, and pimples caused by friction. Poplars produce also on the leaves a kind of sticky142 juice, from which bees prepare their propolis:143 indeed this juice, mixed with water, has the same virtues as propolis.

CHAP. 33.—THE ELM: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

The leaves, bark, and branches of the elm144 have the property of filling up wounds and knitting the flesh together: the inner membrane145 too, of the bark, and the leaves, steeped in vinegar, are applied topically for leprosy. The bark, in doses of one denarius, taken in one hemina of cold water, acts as a purgative upon the bowels, and is particularly useful for carrying off pituitous and aqueous humours. The gum also which this tree produces is applied topically to gatherings, wounds, and burns, which it would be as well to foment with the decoction also. The moisture146 which is secreted on the follicules of the tree gives a finer colour to the skin, and improves the looks. The foot-stalks of the leaves that first appear,147 boiled in wine, are curative of tumours, and bring them to a head:148 the same, too, is the effect produced by the inner bark.

Many persons are of opinion that the bark of this tree, chewed, is a very useful application for wounds, and that the leaves, bruised and moistened with water are good for gout. The moisture too that exudes from the pith of the tree, as already149 stated, on an incision being made, applied to the head, causes the hair to grow and prevents it from falling off.

CHAP. 34.—THE LINDEN-TREE: FIVE REMEDIES.

The linden-tree150 is useful, though in a less marked degree, for nearly all the same purposes as the wild olive. The leaves, however, are the only part that is made use of for ulcers upon infants; chewed, too, or employed in the form of a decoction, they are diuretic. Used as a liniment they arrest menstruation when in excess, and an infusion of them, taken, in drink, carries off superfluous blood.

CHAP. 35.—THE ELDER: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

There are two kinds of elder, one of which grows wild and is much smaller than the other; by the Greeks it is known as the “chamæacte,” or “helion.”151 A decoction of the leaves,152 seed, or root of either kind, taken in doses of two cyathi, in old wine, though bad for the upper regions of the stomach, carries off all aqueous humours by stool. This decoction is very cooling too for inflammations, those attendant upon recent burns in particular. A poultice is made also of the more tender leaves, mixed with polenta, for bites inflicted by dogs. The juice of the elder, used as a fomentation, reduces abscesses of the brain, and more particularly of the membrane which envelopes that organ. The berries, which have not so powerful an action as the other parts of the tree, stain the hair. Taken in doses of one acetabulum, in drink, they are diuretic. The softer leaves are eaten with oil and salt, to carry off pituitous and bilious secretions.

The smaller kind is for all these purposes the more efficacious of the two. A decoction of the root in wine, taken in doses of two cyathi, brings away the water in dropsy, and acts emolliently upon the uterus: the same effects are produced also by a sitting-bath made of a decoction of the leaves. The tender shoots of the cultivated kind, boiled in a saucepan and eaten as food, have a purgative effect: the leaves taken in wine, neutralize the venom of serpents. An application of the young shoots, mixed with he-goat suet, is remarkably good for gout; and if they are macerated in water, the infusion will destroy fleas. If a decoction of the leaves is sprinkled about a place, it will exterminate flies. “Boa”153 is the name given to a malady which appears in the form of red pimples upon the body; for its cure the patient is scourged with a branch of elder. The inner bark,154 pounded and taken with white wine, relaxes the bowels.

CHAP. 36.—THE JUNIPER: TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES.

The juniper is of a warming and resolvent nature beyond all other plants: in other respects, it resembles the cedar.155 There are two species of this tree, also, one of which is larger156 than the other:157 the odour of either, burnt, repels the approach of serpents.158 The seed159 is good for pains in the stomach, chest, and sides; it dispels flatulency and sudden chills, soothes cough, and brings indurations to a head. Applied topically, it checks the growth of tumours; and the berries, taken in red wine, act astringently upon the bowels: they are applied also to tumours of the abdomen. The seed is used as an ingredient in antidotes of an aperient nature, and is diuretic160 in its effects. It is used as a liniment for defluxions of the eyes, and is prescribed for convulsions, ruptures griping pains in the bowels, affections of the uterus, and sciatica, either in a dose of four berries in white wine, or in the form of a decoction of twenty berries in wine.

There are persons who rub the body with juniper berries as a preventive of the attacks of serpents.

CHAP. 37. (9.)—THE WILLOW: FOURTEEN REMEDIES. THE WILLOW OF AMERIA: ONE REMEDY.

The fruit of the willow,161 before it arrives at maturity, is covered with a down like a spider’s web: gathered162 before it is ripe, it arrests discharges of blood from the mouth. The bark of the upper branches, reduced to ashes and mixed with water, is curative of corns and callosities: it removes spots also upon the face, being still more efficacious for that purpose if mixed with, the juices of the tree.

The juices produced by the willow form three different varieties; one163 of which exudes in the shape of a gum from the tree itself, and another distils from an incision some three fingers in width, made in the bark while the tree is in blossom. This last is very useful for dispersing humours which impede the sight, acting also as an inspissative when needed, promoting the discharge of the urine, and bringing abscesses of all kinds to a head. The third kind of juice exudes from the wounds, when the branches are lopt off with the bill. Either of these juices, warmed in a pomegranate rind, is used as an injection for diseases of the ears. The leaves, too, boiled and beaten up with wax, are employed as a liniment for similar purposes, and for gout. The bark and leaves, boiled in wine, form a decoction that is remarkably useful as a fomentation for affections of the sinews. The blossoms, bruised with the leaves, remove scaly eruptions of the face; and the leaves, bruised and taken in drink, check libidinous tendencies,164 and effectually put an end to them, if habitually employed.

The seed of the black willow of Ameria,165 mixed with litharge in equal proportions, and applied to the body just after the bath, acts as a depilatory.

CHAP. 38.—THE VITEX: THIRTY-THREE REMEDIES.

Not much unlike the willow, for the use that is made of it in wicker-work, is the vitex,166 which also resembles it in the leaves and general appearance, though the smell of it is more agreeable. The Greeks call it “lygos,” or “agnos,”167 from the fact that the matrons of Athens, during the Thesmophoria,168 a period when the strictest chastity is observed, are in the habit of strewing their beds with the leaves of this tree.

There are two species of vitex: the larger169 one, like the willow, attains the full proportions of a tree; while the other,170 which is smaller, is branchy, with a paler, downy leaf. The first kind, generally known as the “white” vitex, bears a white blossom mixed with purple, whereas the black one has a flower that is entirely purple. Both of these trees grow on level spots of a marshy nature.

The seed of these trees, taken in drink, has a sort of vinous flavour, and has the reputation of being a febrifuge. It is said also to act as a sudorific, if the body is rubbed with it mixed with oil, and to have the effect of dispelling extreme lassitude: it acts too as a diuretic171 and emmenagogue. The produce of both trees is trying to the head, like wine, and indeed the odour of them is very similar. They have the effect also of removing flatulence in the lower regions of the body, act astringently upon the bowels, and are remarkably useful for dropsy and affections of the spleen. They promote the secretion of the milk, and neutralize the venom of serpents, when of a cold nature more particularly. The smaller kind, however, is the more efficacious of the two for injuries inflicted by serpents, the seed being taken in doses of one drachma, in wine or oxycrate, or else the more tender leaves in doses of two drachmæ.

From both trees also a liniment is prepared for the bites of spiders, but it is quite sufficient to rub the wounds with the leaves; and if a fumigation is made from them, or if they are spread beneath the bed, they will repel the attacks of all venomous creatures. They act also as an antaphrodisiac, and it is by this tendency in particular that they neutralize the venom of the phalangium, the bite of which has an exciting effect upon the generative organs. The blossoms and young shoots, mixed with oil of roses, allay head-aches arising from inebriation. A decoction of the seed used as a fomentation cures head-ache, however intense it may be; and employed as a fumigation or as a pessary, the seeds acts as a detergent upon the uterus. Taken in drink with honey and penny-royal, it has a laxative effect; pounded and used with barley-meal, it quickly brings abscesses and hard tumours to a head, and has an emollient effect.

The seed, in combination with saltpetre and vinegar, removes lichens and freckles; mixed with honey, it heals ulcers and eruptions of the mouth; applied with butter and vine-leaves, it reduces swellings of the testes; used with water, as a linment, it cures chaps of the rectum; and employed with salt, nitre, and wax, it is good for sprains. The seed and leaves are used as ingredients also in emollient plasters for diseases of the sinews, and for gout; and a decoction of the seed in oil is employed as a fomentation for the head in cases of phrenitis and lethargy. Persons172 who carry a sprig of this plant in the hand, or stuck in the girdle, will be proof, it is said, against chafing between the thighs.

CHAP. 39.—THE ERICA; ONE REMEDY.

The Greeks give the name of “erice,”173 to a shrub that is but little different from the myrice.174 It has the colour, and very nearly the leaf, of rosemary. It neutralizes175 the venom of serpents, it is said.

CHAP. 40.—THE BROOM; FIVE REMEDIES.

The broom is used for making withes;176 the flowers of it are greatly sought by bees. I have my doubts whether this is not the same plant that the Greek writers have called “sparton,” and of which, in those parts of the world, as I have already177 stated, they are in the habit of making fishing-nets. I doubt also whether Homer178 has alluded to this plant, when he speaks of the seams of the ships,—“the sparta” coming asunder; for it is certain that in those times the spartum179 of Spain or Africa was not as yet in use, and that vessels made of materials sown together, were united by the agency, not of spartum, but of flax.

The seed of the plant to which the Greeks now give the name of “sparton,” grows in pods like those of the kidney-bean. It is as strongly drastic180 as hellebore, and is usually taken fasting, in doses of one drachma and a half, in four cyathi of hydromel. The branches also, with the foliage, are macerated for several days in vinegar, and are then beaten up, the infusion being recommended for sciatica, in doses of one cyathus. Some persons think it a better plan, however, to make an infusion of them in sea-water, and to inject it as a clyster. The juice of them is used also as a friction for sciatica, with the addition of oil. Some medical men, too, make use of the seed for strangury. Broom, bruised with axle-grease, is a cure for diseases of the knees.

CHAP. 41.—THE MYRICA, OTHERWISE CALLED TAMARICA, OR TAMARIX: THREE REMEDIES.

Lenæus says, that the myrice,181 otherwise known as the “erica,” is a similar plant to that of which brooms are made at Ameria.182 He states also that, boiled in wine and then beaten up and applied with honey, it heals carcinomatous sores. I would here remark, parenthetically, that some persons identify it with the tamarice. Be this as it may, it is particularly useful for affections of the spleen, the juice of it being extracted for the purpose, and taken in wine; indeed so marvellous, they say, is its antipathy to this part of the viscera, and this only, that if swine drink from troughs made of this wood,183 they will be found to lose the spleen. Hence it is that in maladies of the spleen victuals and drink are given to the patient in vessels made of this wood.

A medical author too, of high repute,184 has asserted that a sprig broken from off this tree, without being allowed to touch the earth or iron, will allay pains in the bowels, if applied to the body, and kept close to it by the clothes and girdle. The common people, as already185 stated, look upon this tree as ill-omened, because it bears no fruit, and is never propagated from seed.

CHAP. 42.—THE BRYA: TWENTY-NINE REMEDIES.

At Corinth, and in the vicinity of that city, the Greeks give the name of “brya”186 to a plant of which there are two varieties; the wild brya,187 which is altogether barren, and the cultivated one.188 This last, when found in Syria and Egypt, produces a ligneous fruit, somewhat larger than a gall-nut, in great abundance, and of an acrid flavour; medical men employ it as a substitute for galls in the compositions known as “antheræ.”189 The wood also, with the blossoms, leaves, and bark of the tree, is used for similar purposes, but their properties are not so strongly developed. The bark is pounded also, and given for190 discharges of blood from the mouth, irregularities of the catamenia, and cœliac affections: beaten up and applied to the part affected, it checks the increase of all kinds of abscesses.

The juice too is extracted from the leaves for similar purposes, and a decoction is made of them in wine; they are applied also to gangrenes, in combination with honey. A decoction of them taken in wine, or the leaves themselves applied with oil of roses and wax, has a sedative effect: it is in this form that they are used for the cure of epinyctis. This decoction is useful also for tooth-ache or ear-ache, and the root is employed for similar purposes. The leaves too have this additional use—they are applied with polenta to serpiginous sores. The seed, in doses of one drachma, is administered in drink for injuries inflicted by spiders or the phalangium; and mixed with the grease of poultry, it is applied to boils. It is very efficacious also for stings inflicted by all kinds of serpents, the asp excepted. The decoction used as a fomentation, is curative of jaundice, phthiriasis, and lice; it also arrests the catamenia when in excess. The ashes of the tree are employed for all these purposes; there is a story told, too, that mixed with the urine of an ox, and taken in the food or drink they will act most effectually as an antaphrodisiac. The charcoal too of this wood is quenched in urine of a similar nature, and kept in a shady spot. When it is the intention of the party to rekindle the flames191 of desire, it is set on fire again. The magicians say,192 that the urine of an eunuch, will have a similar effect.

CHAP. 43.—THE BLOOD-RED SHRUB: ONE REMEDY.

Nor is the blood-red193 shrub looked upon as a less ill-omened194 plant than the last. The inner bark of it is used to re-open ulcers which have healed too rapidly.

CHAP. 44.—THE SILER: THREE REMEDIES.

The leaves, of the siler,195 applied to the forehead, allay head-ache; and the seed of it, beaten up with oil, is curative of phthiriasis. Serpents also are greatly in dread of this tree, and it is for this reason that the country-people are in the habit of carrying a walking-stick made of it.

CHAP. 45.—THE PRIVET: EIGHT REMEDIES.

The ligustrum, or privet, if it is the same tree as the cyprus196 of the East, has also its own medicinal uses in Europe. The juice of it is used for affections of the sinews and joints, and for sudden chills; and the leaves are universally employed, with a sprinkling of salt, for the cure of inveterate sores and of ulcerations of the mouth. The berries are curative of phthiriasis and chafings between the thighs, for which last purpose the leaves also are employed. The berries are made use of for the cure of pip in poultry.197

CHAP. 46.—THE ALDER: ONE REMEDY.

The leaves of the alder, steeped in boiling water, are an undoubted remedy for tumours.

CHAP. 47.—THE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF THE IVY: THIRTY-NINE REMEDIES.

We have already198 enumerated some twenty varieties of the ivy. The medicinal properties of them all are of a doubtful nature; taken in considerable quantities they disturb the mental faculties and purge the brain. Taken internally they are injurious to the sinews,199 but applied topically they are beneficial to those parts of the body. Ivy possesses properties similar200 to those of vinegar. All the varieties of the ivy are of a refrigerative nature, and taken in drink they are diuretic. The softer leaves, applied to the head, allay head-ache, acting more particularly upon the brain and the membrane which envelopes that organ. For this purpose the leaves are bruised with vinegar and oil of roses and then boiled, after which some more rose-oil is added. The leaves too are applied to the forehead and the mouth is fomented with a decoction of them, with which the head is rubbed as well. They are useful also for the spleen, the leaves being applied topically, or an infusion of them taken in drink. A decoction of them is used for cold shiverings in fevers, and for pituitous eruptions; or else they are beaten up in wine for the purpose. The umbels too taken in drink or applied externally, are good for affections of the spleen, and an application of them is useful for the liver; employed as a pessary, they act as an emmenagogue.

The juice of the ivy, the white cultivated kind more particularly, cures diseases of the nostrils and removes habitually offensive smells. Injected into the nostrils it purges the head, and with the addition of nitre it is still more efficacious for that purpose. In combination with oil, the juice is injected for suppurations or pains in the ears. It is a corrective also of the deformities of scars. The juice of white ivy, heated with the aid of iron, is still more efficacious for affections of the spleen; it will be found sufficient, however, to take six of the berries in two cyathi of wine. Three berries of the white ivy, taken in oxymel, expel tape-worm, and in the treatment of such cases it is a good plan to apply them to the abdomen as well. Erasistratus prescribes twenty of the golden-coloured berries of the ivy which we have mentioned as the “chrysocarpos,”201 to be beaten up in one sextarius of wine, and he says that if three cyathi of this preparation are taken for dropsy, it will carry off by urine the water that has been secreted beneath the skin. For cases of tooth-ache he recommends five berries of the chrysocarpos to be beaten up in oil of roses, and warmed in a pomegranate-rind, and then injected into the ear opposite the side affected. The berries which yield a juice of a saffron, colour, taken beforehand in drink, are a preservative against crapulence; they are curative also of spitting of blood and of griping pains in the bowels. The whiter umbels of the black ivy, taken in drink, are productive of sterility, in males even. A decoction in wine of any kind of ivy is useful as a liniment for all sorts of ulcers, those even of the malignant kind known as “cacoethes.” The tears202 which distil from the ivy are used as a depilatory, and for the cure of phthiriasis. The blossoms too, of all the varieties, taken twice a day in astringent wine, a pinch in three fingers at a time, are curative of dysentery and looseness of the bowels: they are very useful also, applied to burns with wax. The umbels stain the hair black. The juice extracted from the root is taken in vinegar for the cure of wounds inflicted by the phalangium. I find it stated too, that patients suffering from affections of the spleen are cured by drinking from vessels made of the wood of the ivy. The berries are bruised also, and then burnt, and a liniment is prepared from them for burns, the parts being fomented with warm water first.

Incisions are sometimes made in the ivy to obtain the juice, which is used for carious teeth, it having the effect of breaking them, it is said; the adjoining teeth being fortified with wax against the powerful action of the juice. A kind of gum even is said to be found in the ivy, which, it is asserted, is extremely useful, mixed with vinegar, for the teeth.

CHAP. 48.—THE CISTHOS: FIVE REMEDIES.

The Greeks give the name of “cisthos”—a word very similar to “cissos,” the Greek name of the ivy—to a plant which is somewhat larger than thyme, and has a leaf like that of ocimum. There are two varieties of this plant; the male,203 which has a rose-coloured blossom, and the female,204 with a white one. The blossom of either kind, taken in astringent wine, a pinch in three fingers at a time, is good for dysentery and looseness of the bowels. Taken in a similar manner twice a day, it is curative of inveterate ulcers: used with wax, it heals burns, and employed by itself it cures ulcerations of the mouth. It is beneath these plants more particularly that the hypocisthis grows, of which we shall have occasion205 to speak when treating of the herbs.

CHAP. 49.—THE CISSOS ERYTHRANOS: TWO REMEDIES. THE CHAMÆCISSOS: TWO REMEDIES. THE SMILAX: THREE REMEDIES. THE CLEMATIS: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

The plant called “cissos erythranos”206 by the Greeks, is similar to the ivy: taken in wine, it is good for sciatica and lumbago. The berries, it is said, are of so powerful a nature as to produce bloody urine. “Chamæcissos”207 also is a name given by them to a creeping ivy which never rises from the surface of the ground: bruised in wine, in doses of one acetabulum, it is curative of affections of the spleen, the leaves of it being applied topically with axle-grease to burns.

The smilax208 also, otherwise known as the “anthophoros,”209 has a strong resemblance to ivy, but the leaves of it are smaller. A chaplet, they say, made of an uneven number of the leaves, is an effectual cure for head-ache. Some writers mention two kinds of smilax, one of which is all but perennial, and is found climbing the trees in umbrageous valleys, the berries hanging in clusters. These berries, they say, are remarkably efficacious for all kinds of poisons; so much so indeed, that infants to whom the juice of them has been habitually administered, are rendered proof against all poisons for the rest of their life. The other kind, it is said, manifests a predilection for cultivated localities, and is often found growing there; but as for medicinal properties, it has none. The former kind, they say, is the smilax, the wood of which we have mentioned210 as emitting a sound, if held close to the ear.

Another plant, similar to this, they call by the name of “clematis:”211 it is found adhering to trees, and has a jointed stem. The leaves of it cleanse leprous212 sores, and the seed acts as an aperient, taken in doses of one acetabulum, in one hemina of water, or in hydromel. A decoction of it is prescribed also for a similar purpose.

CHAP. 50. (11.)—THE REED: NINETEEN REMEDIES.

We have already213 treated of twenty-nine varieties of the reed, and there is none of her productions in which that mighty power of Nature,214 which in our successive Books we have described, is more fully displayed than in this. The root of the reed, pounded and applied to the part affected, extracts the prickles of fern from the body, the root of the fern having a similar effect upon splinters of the reed. Among the numerous varieties which we have described, the scented reed215 which is grown in Judæa and Syria as an ingredient in our unguents, boiled with hay-grass or parsley-seed, has a diuretic effect: employed as a pessary, it acts as an emmenagogue. Taken in drink, in doses of two oboli, it is curative of convulsions, diseases of the liver and kidneys, and dropsy. Used as a fumigation, and with resin, more particularly, it is good for coughs, and a decoction of it with myrrh is useful for scaly eruptions and running ulcers. A juice, too, is collected from it which has similar properties to those of elaterium.216

In every kind of reed the part that is the most efficacious is that which lies nearest the root; the joints also are efficacious in a high degree. The ashes of the Cyprian reed known as the “donax,”217 are curative of alopecy and putrid ulcers. The leaves of it are also used for the extraction218 of pointed bodies from the flesh, and for erysipelas and all kinds of gatherings. The common reed, beaten up quite fresh, has also considerable extractive powers, and not in the root only, for the stem, it is said, has a similar property. The root is used also in vinegar as a topical application for sprains and for pains in the spine; and beaten up fresh and taken in wine it acts as an aphrodisiac. The down that grows on reeds, put into the ears, deadens the hearing.219

CHAP. 51.—THE PAPYRUS, AND THE PAPER MADE FROM IT: THREE REMEDIES.

Of a kindred nature with the reed is the papyrus220 of Egypt; a plant that is remarkably useful, in a dried state, for dilating and drying up fistulas, and, by its expansive powers, opening an entrance for the necessary medicaments. The ashes221 of paper prepared from the papyrus are reckoned among the caustics: those of the plant, taken in wine, have a narcotic effect. The plant, applied topically in water, removes callosities of the skin.

CHAP. 52.—THE EBONY: FIVE REMEDIES.

The ebony-tree222 does not grow in Egypt even, as we have already stated, and it is not our intention to speak here of the medicinal properties of the vegetable productions of foreign climates. Still, however, the ebony must not be omitted, on account of the marvels related of it. The saw-dust of this wood, it is said, is a sovereign remedy for diseases of the eyes, and the pulp of the wood, rubbed upon a whetstone moistened with raisin wine, dispels all films which impede the sight. The root too, they say, applied with water, is curative of white specks in the eyes, and, with the addition of root of dracunculus,223 in equal proportions, and of honey, of cough. Medical men reckon ebony also in the number of the caustics.224

CHAP. 53.—THE RHODODENDRON: ONE REMEDY.

The rhododendron225 has not so much as found a Latin name among us, its other names being “rhododaphne”226 and “nerium.” It is a marvellous fact, but the leaves227 of this plant are poisonous to quadrupeds; while for man, if taken in wine with rue, they are an effectual preservative against the venom of serpents. Sheep too, and goats, it is said, if they drink water in which the leaves have been steeped, will die immediately.

CHAP. 54.—THE RHUS OR SUMACH-TREE; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: EIGHT REMEDIES. STOMATICE.

Nor yet has the tree called “rhus”228 any Latin name, although it is employed in numerous ways. Under this name are comprehended a wild plant,229 with leaves like those of myrtle, and a short stem, which is good as an expellent of tapeworm; and the shrub230 which is known as the “currier’s plant,” of a reddish colour, a cubit in height, and about the thickness of one’s finger, the leaves of which are dried and used, like pomegranate rind, for curing leather.

Medical men also employ the leaves of these plants for the treatment of contusions, and for the cure of cœliac affections, and of ulcers of the rectum and phagedænic sores; for all which, purposes they are pounded with honey and applied with vinegar. A decoction of them is injected for suppurations of the ears. With the branches, boiled, a stomatice231 is also made, which is used for the same purposes as that prepared from mulberries;232 it is more efficacious, however, mixed with alum. This preparation is applied also to reduce the swelling in dropsy.

CHAP. 55.—RHUS ERYTHROS: NINE REMEDIES.

Rhus233 erythros is the name given to the seed of this shrub. It possesses properties of an astringent and cooling nature, and is used as a seasoning234 for provisions, in place of salt. It has a laxative effect, and, used in conjunction with silphium, it gives a finer flavour to meat of all kinds. Mixed with honey, it is curative of running ulcers, pimples on the tongue,235 contusions, bruises, and excoriations. It causes ulcers of the head to cicatrize with the greatest rapidity; and taken with the food, it arrests excessive menstruation.

CHAP. 56.—THE ERYTHRODANUS: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

The erythrodanus,236 by some called “ereuthodanus,” and in Latin “rubia,” is quite a different plant. It is used for dyeing wool, and skins for leather are prepared with it. Used medicinally, it is a diuretic, and, employed with hydromel, it is curative of jaundice.237 Employed topically with vinegar, it heals lichens; and a potion is prepared from it for sciatica and paralysis, the patient while using it taking a bath daily. The root of it and the seed are effectual as an emmenagogue; they act astringently upon the bowels, and disperse gatherings. The branches, together with the leaves, are applied to wounds inflicted by serpents; the leaves too have the property of staining the hair.238 I find it stated by some writers that this shrub is curative of jaundice, even if worn as an amulet only, and looked at every now and then.

CHAP. 57.—THE ALYSSON: TWO REMEDIES.

The plant known as the “alysson”239 differs only from the preceding one in the leaves and branches, which are more diminutive. It receives its name from the fact, that, taken in vinegar and worn as an amulet, it prevents persons bitten by dogs from becoming rabid. It is a marvellous fact too, that is added, to the effect that the person bitten has only to look at this shrub, and the flow of corrupt matter from the wound will be staunched immediately.

CHAP. 58.—THE RADICULA OR STRUTHION: THIRTEEN REMEDIES. THE APOCYNUM: TWO OBSERVATIONS UPON IT.

The radicula, which we have already240 mentioned as being called “struthion” by the Greeks, is used by dyers for preparing wool. A decoction of it, taken internally, is curative of jaundice and diseases of the chest. It is diuretic also, and laxative, and acts as a detergent upon the uterus, for which reasons medical men have given it the name of the “golden beverage.”241 Taken with honey, it is a sovereign remedy for cough; and it is used for hardness of breathing, in doses of a spoonful. Applied with polenta and vinegar to the parts affected, it removes leprous sores. Used with panax and root of the caper-plant, it breaks and expels calculi, and a decoction of it in wine with barley-meal disperses inflamed tumours. It is used as an ingredient in emollient plasters and eye-salves for the sight, and is found to be one of the most useful sternutories known; it is good too for the liver and the spleen. Taken in hydromel, in doses of one denarius, it effects the cure of asthma, as also of pleurisy and all pains in the sides.

The apocynum242 is a shrub with leaves like those of ivy, but softer, and not so long in the stalk, and the seed of it is pointed and downy, with a division running down it, and a very powerful smell. Given in their food with water, the seed is poisonous243 to dogs and all other quadrupeds.

CHAP. 59.—ROSEMARY: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

There are two kinds of rosemary; one of which is barren, and the other has a stem with a resinous seed, known as “cachrys.” The leaves have the odour of frankincense.244 The root, applied fresh, effects the cure of wounds, prolapsus of the rectum, condylomata, and piles. The juice of the plant, as well as of the root, is curative of jaundice, and such diseases as require detergents; it is useful also for the sight. The seed is given in drink for inveterate diseases of the chest, and, with wine and pepper, for affections of the uterus; it acts also as an emmenagogue, and is used with meal of darnel as a liniment for gout. It acts also as a detergent upon freckles, and is used as an application in diseases which require calorifics or sudorifics, and for convulsions. The plant itself, or else the root, taken in wine, increases the milk, and the leaves and stem of the plant are applied with vinegar to scrofulous sores; used with honey, they are very useful for cough.

CHAP. 60.—THE SEED CALLED CACHRYS.

As already245 stated, there are several kinds of cachrys;246 but that which is produced by rosemary above-mentioned, when rubbed, is found to be of a resinous nature. It neutralizes poisons and the venom of animals, that of serpents excepted. It acts also as a sudorific, dispels griping pains in the bowels, and increases the milk in nursing women.

CHAP. 61.—THE HERB SAVIN: SEVEN REMEDIES.

Of the herb savin, known as “brathy” by the Greeks,247 there are two varieties, one of them248 with a leaf like that of the tamarix, the other249 with that of the cypress; for which reason some persons have called this last the Cretan cypress. It is used by many for fumigations, as a substitute for frankincense;250 employed in medicine, it is said to have the same effect as cinnamon, if taken in doses twice as large. It reduces gatherings, disperses corrosive sores, acts as a detergent upon ulcers, and, used as a pessary and as a fumigation, brings away the dead fœtus.251 It is employed as a topical application for erysipelas and carbuncles, and, taken with honey in wine, is curative of jaundice.

The smoke of this plant, they say, cures the pip in all kinds of poultry.252

CHAP. 62.—SELAGO: TWO REMEDIES.

Similar to savin is the herb known as “selago.”253 Care is taken to gather it without the use of iron, the right hand being passed for the purpose through the left sleeve of the tunic, as though the gatherer were in the act of committing a theft.254 The clothing too must be white, the feet bare and washed clean, and a sacrifice of bread and wine must be made before gathering it: it is carried also in a new napkin. The Druids of Gaul have pretended that this plant should be carried about the person as a preservative against accidents of all kinds, and that the smoke of it is extremely good for all maladies of the eyes.

CHAP. 63.—SAMOLUS: TWO REMEDIES.

The Druids, also, have given the name of “samolus”255 to a certain plant which grows in humid localities. This too, they say, must be gathered fasting with the left hand, as a preservative against the maladies to which swine and cattle are subject. The person, too, who gathers it must be careful not to look behind him, nor must it be laid anywhere but in the troughs from which the cattle drink.

CHAP. 64.—GUM: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

We have already256 spoken of the different kinds of gum; the better sort of each kind will be found the most effective. Gum is bad for the teeth; it tends to make the blood coagulate, and is consequently good for discharges257 of blood from the mouth. It is useful for burns,258 but is bad for diseases of the trachea. It exercises a diuretic effect, and tends to neutralize all acridities, being astringent in other respects. The gum of the bitter-almond tree, which has the most259 astringent properties of them all, is calorific also in its effects. Still, however, the gum of the plum, cherry, and vine is greatly preferred: all which kinds, applied topically, are productive of astringent and desiccative effects, and, used with vinegar, heal lichens upon infants. Taken in must, in doses of four oboli, they are good for inveterate coughs.

It is generally thought that gum, taken in raisin wine, improves the complexion,260 sharpens the appetite, and is good for calculi261 in the bladder. It is particularly useful too for wounds and affections of the eyes.

CHAP. 65. (12.)—THE EGYPTIAN OR ARABIAN THORN: FOUR REMEDIES.

When speaking262 of the perfumes, we have descanted upon the merits of the Egyptian or Arabian thorn. This, too, is of an astringent nature, and acts as a desiccative upon fluxes of all kinds, discharges of blood from the mouth, and excessive menstruation; for all which purposes the root is still more efficacious.

CHAP. 66.—THE WHITE THORN: TWO REMEDIES. THE ACANTHION; ONE REMEDY.

The seed of the white thorn is useful as a remedy for the stings of scorpions, and a chaplet made of it, is good for headache. Similar to this plant is that known to the Greeks as the “acanthion;”263 though it is much smaller in the leaf, which is pointed at the extremity, and covered with a down like a cobweb in appearance. This downy substance is gathered in the East, and certain textures are made of it similar to those of silk. An infusion of the leaves or root of this plant is taken for the cure of opisthotony.

CHAP. 67.—GUM ACACIA: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

Gum acacia is produced also from the white and black264 thorns of Egypt, and from a green thorn as well; the produce, however, of the former trees is by far the best. There is also a similar gum found in Galatia, but of very inferior quality, the produce of a more thorny tree265 than those last mentioned. The seed of all these trees resembles266 the lentil in appearance, only that it is smaller, as well as the pod which contains it: it is gathered in autumn, before which period it would be too powerful in its effects. The juice is left to thicken in the pods, which are steeped in rain-water for the purpose, and then pounded in a mortar; after which, the juice is extracted by means of presses. It is then dried in the mortars in the sun, and when dry is divided into tablets. A similar juice is extracted from the leaves, but it is by no means267 so useful as the other. The seed is used also, as a substitute for nut-galls in curing leather.268

The juice extracted from the leaves, as also the extremely black juice of the Galatian269 acacia, is held in no esteem. The same too with that of a deep red colour. The gum which is of a purple, or of an ashy, grey colour, and which dissolves with the greatest rapidity, possesses the most astringent and cooling qualities of them all, and is more particularly useful as an ingredient in compositions for the eyes. When required for these purposes, the tablets are steeped in water by some, while some again scorch them, and others reduce them to ashes. They are useful for dyeing the hair, and for the cure of erysipelas, serpiginous sores, ulcerations of the humid parts of the body, gatherings, contusions of the joints, chilblains, and hangnails. They are good also for cases of excessive menstruation, procidence of the uterus and rectum, affections of the eyes, and ulcerations of the generative organs270 and mouth.

CHAP. 68. (13.)—ASPALATHOS: ONE REMEDY.

The common271 thorn too, with which the fulling coppers are filled is employed for the same purposes as the radicula.272 In the provinces of Spain it is commonly employed as an ingredient in perfumes and unguents, under the name of “aspalathos.” There is no doubt, however, that there is also a wild thorn of the same name in the East, as already mentioned,273 of a white colour, and the size of an ordinary tree.

CHAP. 69.—THE ERYSISCEPTRUM, ADIPSATHEON, OR DIAXYLON: EIGHT REMEDIES.

There is also found in the islands of Nisyros and of Rhodes, a shrub of smaller size, but full as thorny, known by some as the erysisceptrum,274 by others as the adipsatheon, and by the Syrians as the diaxylon. The best kind is that which is the least275 ferulaceous in the stem, and which is of a red colour, or inclining to purple, when the bark is removed. It is found growing in many places, but is not everywhere odoriferous. We have already276 stated, how remarkably sweet the odour of it is, when the rainbow has been extended over it.

This plant cures fetid ulcers of the mouth, polypus277 of the nose, ulcerations or carbuncles of the generative organs, and chaps; taken in drink it acts as a carminative, and is curative of strangury. The bark is good for patients troubled with discharges of blood, and a decoction of it acts astringently on the bowels. It is generally thought that the wild plant is productive of the same effects.

CHAP. 70.—THE THORN CALLED APPENDIX: TWO REMEDIES. THE PYRACANTHA: ONE REMEDY.

There is a thorn also known as the appendix;278 that name being given to the red berries which hang from its branches. These berries eaten by themselves, raw, or else dried and boiled in wine, arrest looseness of the bowels and dispel griping pains in the stomach. The berries of the pyracantha279 are taken in drink for wounds inflicted by serpents.

CHAP. 71.—THE PALIURUS: TEN REMEDIES.

The paliurus,280 too, is a kind of thorn. The seed of it, known by the people of Africa as “zura,” is extremely efficacious for the sting of the scorpion, as also for urinary calculi and cough. The leaves are of an astringent nature, and the root disperses inflamed tumours, gatherings, and abscesses; taken in drink it is diuretic in its effects. A decoction of it in wine arrests diarrhœa, and neutralizes the venom of serpents: the root more particularly is administered in wine.

CHAP. 72.—THE AGRIFOLIA. THE AQUIFOLIA: ONE REMEDY. THE YEW: ONE PROPERTY BELONGING TO IT.

The agrifolia,281 pounded, with the addition of salt, is good for diseases of the joints, and the berries are used in cases of excessive menstruation, cœliac affections, dysentery, and cholera; taken in wine, they act astringently upon the bowels. A decoction of the root, applied externally, extracts foreign bodies from the flesh, and is remarkably useful for sprains and tumours.

The tree called “aquifolia,” planted282 in a town or country-house is a preservative against sorceries and spells. The blossom of it, according to Pythagoras, congeals283 water, and a staff284 made of the wood, if, when thrown at any animal, from want of strength in the party throwing it, it falls short of the mark will roll back again285 towards the thrower, of its own accord—so remarkable are the properties of this tree. The smoke of the yew kills286 rats and mice.

CHAP. 73. THE BRAMBLE: FIFTY-ONE REMEDIES.

Nor yet has Nature destined the bramble287 to be only an annoyance to mankind, for she has bestowed upon it mulberries of its own,288 or, in other words, a nutritive aliment even for mankind. These berries are of a desiccative, astringent, nature,289 and are extremely useful for maladies of the gums, tonsillary glands, and generative organs. They neutralize also the venom of those most deadly of serpents, the hæmorrhoïs290 and the prester;291 and the flowers or fruit will heal wounds inflicted by scorpions, without any danger of abscesses forming. The shoots of the bramble have a diuretic effect: and the more tender ones are pounded; and the juice extracted and then dried in the sun till it has attained the consistency of honey, being considered a most excellent remedy, taken in drink or applied externally, for maladies of the mouth and eyes, discharges of blood from the mouth, quinzy, affections of the uterus, diseases of the rectum, and cœliac affections. The leaves, chewed, are good for diseases of the mouth, and a topical application is made of them for running ulcers and other maladies of the head. In the cardiac disease they are similarly applied to the left breast by themselves. They are applied topically also for pains in the stomach and for procidence of the eyes. The juice of them is used as an injection for the ears, and, in combination with cerate of roses, it heals condylomata.

A decoction of the young shoots in wine is an instantaneous remedy for diseases of the uvula; and eaten by themselves like cymæ,292 or boiled in astringent wine, they strengthen loose teeth. They arrest fluxes of the bowels also, and discharges of blood, and are very useful for dysentery. Dried in the shade and then burnt, the ashes of them are curative of procidence of the uvula. The leaves too, dried and pounded, are very useful, it is said, for ulcers upon beasts of burden. The berries produced by this plant would seem to furnish a stomatice293 superior even to that prepared from the cultivated mulberry. Under this form, or else only with hypocisthis294 and honey, the berries are administered for cholera, the cardiac disease, and wounds inflicted by spiders.295

Among the medicaments known as “styptics,”296 there is none that is more efficacious than a decoction of the root of the bramble in wine, boiled down to one third. Ulcerations of the mouth and rectum are bathed with it, and fomentations of it are used for a similar purpose; indeed, it is so remarkably powerful in its effects, that the very sponges which are used become as hard as a stone.297

CHAP. 74. THE CYNOSBATOS: THREE REMEDIES.

There is another kind of bramble also,298 which bears a rose. It produces a round excrescence,299 similar to a chesnut in appearance, which is remarkably valuable as a remedy for calculus. This is quite a different production from the “cynorrhoda,” which we shall have occasion to speak of in the succeeding Book.300

(14.) The cynosbatos301 is by some called “cynapanxis,”302 and by others “neurospastos;”303 the leaf resembles the human footstep in shape. It bears also a black grape, in the berries of which there is a nerve, to which it is indebted for its name of “neurospastos.” It is quite a different plant from the capparis304 or caper, to which medical men have also given the name of “cynosbatos.” The clusters305 of it, pickled in vinegar, are eaten as a remedy for diseases of the spleen, and flatulency: and the string found in the berries, chewed with Chian mastich, cleanses the mouth.

The rose306 of the bramble, mixed with axle-grease, is curative of alopecy: and the bramble-berries themselves, combined with oil of omphacium,307 stain308 the hair. The blossom of the bramble is gathered at harvest, and the white blossom, taken in wine, is an excellent remedy for pleurisy and cœliac affections. The root, boiled down to one third, arrests looseness of the bowels and hæmorrhage, and a decoction of it, used as a gargle, is good for the teeth: the juice too is employed as a fomentation for ulcers of the rectum and generative organs. The ashes of the root are curative of relaxations of the uvula.

CHAP. 75.—THE IDÆAN BRAMBLE.

The Idæan bramble309 is so called from the fact that it is the only plant of the kind found growing upon Mount Ida. It is of a more delicate nature than the others, and smaller; the canes too are thinner, and not310 so prickly: it mostly grows beneath the shade of trees. The blossom of it, mixed with honey, is applied topically for defluxions of the eyes, and is administered in water for erysipelas and affections of the stomach.311 In other respects, it has properties similar to those of the plants312 already mentioned.

CHAP. 76.—THE RHAMNOS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: FIVE REMEDIES.

Among the several kinds313 of bramble is reckoned the plant called “rhamnos” by the Greeks. One variety of it is whiter314 than the other, and has a more shrublike appearance, throwing out branches armed with straight thorns, and not hooked, like those of the other kinds; the leaves too are larger. The other kind,315 which is found growing wild, is of a more swarthy hue, in some measure inclining to red; it bears too a sort316 of pod. With the root of it boiled in water a medicament is made, known as “lycium:”317 the seed of it is useful for bringing away the after-birth. The white kind, however, is of a more astringent and cooling nature, and better adapted for the treatment of gatherings and wounds. The leaves of both kinds, either raw or boiled, are employed topically with oil.

CHAP. 77.—LYCIUM: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

The best lycium,318 they say, is that prepared from the thorn of that name, known also as the “Chironian pyxacanthus,”319 and mentioned by us when speaking of the trees of India, the lycium of those regions being generally looked upon as by far the best. The branches and roots, which are intensely bitter,320 are first pounded and then boiled for three days in a copper vessel, after which the woody parts are removed, and the decoction is boiled again, till it has attained the consistency of honey. It is adulterated with various bitter extracts,321 as also with amurca of olive oil and ox-gall. The froth or flower322 of this decoction is used as an ingredient in compositions for the eyes: and the other part of it is employed as a cosmetic for the face, and for the cure of itch-scabs, corroding sores in the corners of the eyes, inveterate fluxes, and suppurations of the ears. It is useful too for diseases of the tonsillary glands and gums, for coughs, and for discharges of blood from the mouth, being generally taken in pieces the size of a bean. For the cure of discharges from wounds, it is applied to the part affected; and it is similarly used for chaps, ulcerations of the genitals, excoriations, ulcers, whether putrid, serpiginous, or of recent date, hard excrescences323 of the nostrils, and suppurations. It is taken also by females, in milk, for the purpose of arresting the catamenia when in excess.

The Indian lycium is distinguished from the other kinds by its colour, the lumps being black outside, and, when broken, red within, though they turn black very quickly.324 It is bitter and remarkably astringent, and is employed for all the purposes above mentioned, diseases of the generative organs in particular.

CHAP. 78.—SARCOCOLLA: TWO REMEDIES.

Some authors are of opinion that sarcocolla325 is a tearlike gum which exudes from a kind of thorn;326 it is similar to powdered incense in appearance, has a sweet flavour with a slight degree of bitter, and is of the consistency of gum. Pounded in wine, it arrests defluxions, and is used as a topical application for infants more particularly. This substance too becomes black327 when old; the whiter it is, the more highly it is esteemed.

CHAP. 79.—OPORICE: TWO REMEDIES.

We are indebted too to the medicinal properties of trees for one very celebrated medicament, known as “oporice.”328 This preparation is used for dysentery and various affections of the stomach; the following being the method of preparing it. Five quinces, seeds and all, with the same number of pomegranates, one sextarius of sorbs, a similar quantity of Syrian rhus,329 and half an ounce of saffron, are boiled in one congius of white grape-juice at a slow heat, till the whole mixture is reduced to the consistency of honey.

CHAP. 80.—THE TRIXAGO, CHAMÆDRYS, CHAMÆDROPS, OR TEUCRIA: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

We shall now add to these plants, certain vegetable productions to which the Greeks have given names belonging to trees, so that it would be doubtful whether they themselves are not trees as well.

(15.) The chamædrys330 is the same plant that in Latin is called “trixago;” some persons, however, call it “chamædrops,” and others “teucria.” The leaves of it are the size of those of mint, but in their colour and indentations they resemble those of the oak. According to some, the leaves are serrated, and it was these, they say, that first suggested the idea of the saw:331 the flower of it borders closely upon purple. This plant is gathered in rough craggy localities, when it is replete with juice; and, whether taken332 internally or applied topically, it is extremely efficacious for the stings of venomous serpents, diseases of the stomach, inveterate coughs, collections of phlegm in the throat, ruptures, convulsions, and pains in the sides. It diminishes the volume of the spleen, and acts as a diuretic and emmenagogue; for which reasons it is very useful in incipient dropsy, the usual dose being a handful of the sprigs boiled down to one third in three heminæ of water. Lozenges too are made of it for the above-named purposes, by bruising it in water. In combination with honey, it heals abscesses and inveterate or sordid ulcers: a wine333 too is prepared from it for diseases of the chest. The juice of the leaves, mixed with oil, disperses films on the eyes; it is taken also, in vinegar, for diseases of the spleen; employed as a friction, it is of a warming nature.

CHAP. 81.—THE CHAMÆDAPHNE: FIVE REMEDIES.

The chamædaphne334 consists of a single diminutive stem, about a cubit in height, the limbs of it being smaller than those of the laurel. These leaves * * * The seed, which is of a red colour, and attached to the leaves, is applied fresh for head-ache, is of a cooling nature for burning heats, and is taken for griping pains in the bowels, with wine. The juice of this plant, taken in wine, acts as an emmenagogue and diuretic; and applied as a pessary in wool, it facilitates laborious deliveries.

CHAP. 82.—THE CHAMELÆA: SIX REMEDIES.

The leaves of the chamelæa335 resemble those of the olive; they are bitter, however, and odoriferous. This plant is found growing in craggy localities, and never exceeds a palm in height. It is of a purgative336 nature, and carries off phlegm and bile; for which purposes, the leaves are boiled with twice the quantity of wormwood, and the decoction taken with honey. The leaves, applied to ulcers, have a detergent effect. It is said, that if a person gathers it before sunrise, taking care to mention that he is gathering it for the cure of white specks337 in the eyes, and then wears it as an amulet, it will effect a cure: as also that, gathered in any way, it is beneficial for the eyes of beasts of burden and cattle.

CHAP. 83.—THE CHAMÆSYCE: EIGHT REMEDIES.

The chamæsyce338 has leaves similar to those of the lentil, and lying close to the ground; it is found growing in dry, rocky, localities. A decoction of it in wine is remarkably useful as a liniment for improving339 the sight, and for dispersing cataract, cicatrizations, films, and cloudiness of the eyes. Applied in a pledget of linen, as a pessary, it allays pains in the uterus; and used topically340 it removes warts and excrescences of all kinds. It is very useful also for hardness of breathing.

CHAP. 84.—THE CHAMÆCISSOS: ONE REMEDY.

The chamæcissos341 has ears like342 those of wheat, with numerous leaves, and small branches, about five in number. When in blossom it might almost be taken for the white violet: the root of it is diminutive. For sciatica, the leaves of it are taken, seven days consecutively, in doses of three oboli, in two cyathi of wine: this is a very bitter potion, however.

CHAP. 85.—THE CHAMÆLEUCE, FARFARUM, OR FARFUGIUM: ONE REMEDY.

The chamæleuce343 is known among us as the “farfarum” or “farfugium:” it grows on the banks of rivers, and has a leaf like that of the poplar, only larger. The root of it is burnt upon cypress charcoal, and, by the aid of a funnel,344 the smoke inhaled, in cases of inveterate cough.

CHAP. 86.—THE CHAMÆPEUCE: FIVE REMEDIES. THE CHAMÆCYPARISSOS: TWO REMEDIES. THE AMPELOPRASON; SIX REMEDIES. THE STACHYS: ONE REMEDY.

The chamæpeuce345 has a leaf which resembles that of the larch, and is useful more particularly for lumbago and pains in the back. The chamæcyparissos346 is a herb which, taken in wine, counteracts the venom of serpents of all kinds, and of scorpions.

The ampeloprason347 is found growing in vineyards; it has leaves like those of the leek, and produces offensive eructations. It is highly efficacious for the stings of serpents, and acts as an emmenagogue and diuretic. Taken in drink or applied externally, it arrests discharges of blood from the generative organs. It is prescribed also for females after delivery, and is used for bites inflicted by dogs.

The plant known as “stachys” bears a strong resemblance also to a leek,348 but the leaves of it are longer and more numerous. It has an agreeable smell, and in colour inclines to yellow. It promotes menstruation.

CHAP. 87.—THE CLINOPODION, CLEONICION, ZOPYRON, OR OCIMOÏDES: THREE REMEDIES.

The clinopodion,349 cleonicion, zopyron, or ocimoïdes, resembles wild thyme in appearance. The stem of it is tough and ligneous, and it is a palm in height. It grows in stony soils, and the leaves are trained regularly around the stem,350 which resembles a bed-post in appearance. This plant is taken in drink, for convulsions, ruptures, strangury, and wounds inflicted by serpents: a decoction is also made of it, and the juice is similarly employed.

CHAP. 88.—THE CLEMATIS CENTUNCULUS; THREE REMEDIES.

We shall now have to annex some plants, of a marvellous nature no doubt, but not so well known, reserving those of a higher reputation for the succeeding Books.

Our people give the name of “centunculus,”351 to a creeping plant that grows in the fields, the leaves of which bear a strong resemblance to the hoods attached to our cloaks. By the Greeks it is known as the “clematis.” Taken in astringent wine it is wonderfully effectual for arresting352 diarrhœa: beaten up, in doses of one denarius, in five cyathi of oxymel or of warm water, it arrests hæmorrhage, and facilitates the after-birth.

CHAP. 89.—THE CLEMATIS ECHITES, OR LAGINE.

The Greeks have other varieties also of the clematis, one of which is known as “echites”353 or “lagine,” and by some as the “little scammony.” Its stems are about two feet in height, and covered with leaves: in general appearance it is not unlike scammony, were it not that the leaves are darker and more diminutive; it is found growing in vineyards and cultivated soils. It is eaten as a vegetable, with oil and salt, and acts as a laxative upon the bowels. It is taken354 also for dysentery, with linseed, in astringent wine. The leaves of this plant are applied with polenta for defluxions of the eyes, the part affected being first covered with a pledget of wet linen. Applied to scrofulous sores, they cause them to suppurate, and if some axle-grease is then applied, a perfect cure will be effected. They are applied also to piles, with green oil, and are good for phthisis, in combination with honey. Taken with the food, they increase the milk in nursing women, and, rubbed upon the heads of infants, they promote the rapid growth of the hair. Eaten with vinegar, they act as an aphrodisiac.