Latin Texts & Translations

We have now set forth the various properties, medicinal or otherwise, as well of the cereals as of the other productions which lie upon ^[Note] the surface of the earth, for the purpose either of serving us for food, or for the gratification of our senses with their flowers or perfumes. In the trees, however, Pomona has entered the lists with them, and has imparted certain medicinal properties to the fruits as they hang. Not content with protecting and nourishing, under the shadow of the trees, the various plants which we have ^[Note] already described, she would even appear to be indignant, as it were, at the thought that we should derive more succour from those productions which are further removed from the canopy of heaven, and which have only come into use in times comparatively recent. For she bids man bear in mind that it was the fruits of the trees which formed his first nourishment, and that it was these which first led him to look upwards towards the heavens: and not only this, but she reminds him, too, that even still it is quite possible for him to derive his aliment from the trees, without being indebted to grain for his subsistence.

But, by Hercules! it is the vine more particularly to which she has accorded these medicinal properties, as though she were not contented with her generosity in providing it with such delicious flavours, and perfumes, and essences, in its omphacium, its œnanthe, and its massaris, preparations upon which we have already ^[Note] enlarged. "It is to me," she says, "that man is indebted for the greater part of his enjoyments,

it is I that produce for him the flowing wine and the trickling oil, it is I that ripen the date and other fruits in numbers so varied; and all this, not insisting, like the earth, on their purchase at the cost of fatigues and labours. No necessity do I create for ploughing with the aid of oxen, for beating out upon the threshing-floor, or for bruising under the millstone, and all in order that man may earn his food at some indefinite time by this vast expenditure of toil. As for me, all my gifts are presented to him ready prepared: for no anxieties or flatigues do they call, but, on the contrary, they offer them- selves spontaneously, and even fall to the ground, if man should be too indolent to reach them as they hang." Vying even with herself, Pomona has done still more for our practical advantage than for the mere gratification of our pleasures and caprices.

^[Note]The leaves and shoots of the vine, employed with polenta, allay head-ache and reduce inflammations: ^[Note] the leaves, too, applied by themselves with cold water, are good for burning pains in the stomach; and, used with barley-meal, are excellent applications for diseases of the joints. The shoots, beaten up and applied, have the property of drying up all kinds of running tumours, and the juice extracted from them is used as an injection for the cure of dysentery. The tears of the vine, which would appear to be a sort of gum, will heal leproussores, lichens, and itch-scabs, if treated first with nitre: used with oil, and applied frequently to superfluous hairs, they act as a depilatory, those more particularly which exude from the vine when burnt in a green state: this last liquid has the effect, too, of removing warts. An infusion of the shoots in water, taken in drink, is good for persons troubled with spitting of blood, and for the fainting fits which sometimes ensue upon conception.

The bark of the vine and the dried leaves arrest the flowing of blood from wounds, and make the sores cicatrize more rapidly. The juice of the white vine, ^[Note] extracted from it while green, effectually removes cutaneous ^[Note] eruptions. The ashes ^[Note] of the cuttings of vines, and of the husks of the grapes, ap- plied with vinegar, are curative of condylomata and diseases of the fundament; as also of sprains, burns, and swellings of the spleen, applied with rose-oil, rue, and vinegar. Used with wine, but without oil, they make a fomentation for erysipelas and parts of the body which are chafed; they act as a depilatory also. ^[Note] For affections of the spleen the ashes of vine- cuttings, moistened with vinegar, are administered in drink, being taken in doses of two cyathi in warm water; after which the patient must take due care to lie upon the side in which the spleen is situate.

The tendrils, too, which the vine throws out as it climbs, beaten up in water and drunk, have the effect of arresting habitual vomiting. The ashes of the vine, used with stale axle-grease, are good for tumours, act as a detergent upon fistulas, and speedily effect a radical cure; the same, too, with pains and contractions of the sinews, occasioned by cold. Applied with oil, they are useful for contusions, and with vinegar and nitre, for fleshy excrescences upon the bones: in combination with oil, they are good, too, for wounds inflicted by scorpions and dogs. The ashes of the bark, employed by themselves, restore the hair to such parts of the body as have suffered from the action of fire.

We have already ^[Note] mentioned, when speaking of the composition of unguents, how omphacium is made from the grape, when it is just beginning to form: we shall now proceed to speak of its medicinal properties. Omphacium heals ulcerations of the humid parts of the body, such as the mouth, tonsillary

glands, and generative organs, for example; it is very good, too, for the sight, for rough spots upon the eyelids, ulcers at the corners of the eyes, films upon the eyes, running sores on all parts of the body, cicatrizations ^[Note] slow in forming, and purulent discharges from the ears. The powerful action of omphacium is modified by the admixture of honey or raisin wine. It is very useful, too, for dysentery, spitting of blood, and quinsy.

Next to omphacium comes œnanthe, a product of the wild vine, described by us already ^[Note] when treating of the unguents. The most esteemed kind is that of Syria, the produce of the white vine ^[Note] in the vicinity of the mountains of Antiochia and Laodicea in particular. Being of a cooling, astringent nature, it is used for sprinkling upon sores, and is employed as a topical application for diseases of the stomach. It acts also as a diuretic, and is good for maladies of the liver, head-ache, dysentery, cœliac affections, and attacks of cholera: for nausea, it is taken in doses of one obolus in vinegar. It acts as a desiccative upon running eruptions of the head, and is extremely efficacious for maladies of the humid parts of the body; hence it is that it is employed, with honey and saffron, for ulcers of the mouth, and for diseases of the generative organs and the fundament. It arrests looseness of the bowels, and heals erup- tions of the eyelids and runnings at the eyes: taken with wine, it cures derangements of the stomach, and with cold water, spitting of blood.

The ashes of œnanthe are highly esteemed as an ingredient in eye-salves, and as a detergent for ulcers, whitlows, and hang-nails; ^[Note] to obtain these ashes, it is put into an oven, and left there till the bread is thoroughly baked.

As to massaris, ^[Note] it is used as a perfume only. The renown attached to all these preparations is due solely to the innate greediness of mankind, which has racked its invention to gather the productions of the earth before they have arrived at maturity.

As to grapes when allowed to gain maturity, the black ones have more marked properties ^[Note] than the others; and hence it is, that the wine made from them is not so agreeable. The white grapes, on the other hand, are sweeter, for, being transparent, the air penetrates them with greater facility.

Grapes fresh gathered are productive of flatulency, and disturb the stomach and bowels; hence it is that they are avoided in fevers, in large quantities more particularly. Indeed, they are very apt to produce oppression of the head, and to bring on the malady known as lethargy. ^[Note] Grapes which have been gathered, and left to hang for some time, are much less ^[Note] injurious, the exposure to the air rendering them beneficial even to the stomach, and refreshing to the patient, as they are slightly cooling, and tend to remove nausea and qualmishness.

Grapes which have been preserved in wine or in must are trying to the head. Next to the grapes which have been left to hang in the air, are those which have been kept in chaff; but as to those which have been preserved among grape husks, they are injurious ^[Note] to the head, the bladder, and the stomach,

though at the same time they arrest looseness of the bowels, and are extremely good for patients troubled with spitting of blood. When preserved in must, they are worse even in their effects than when kept among husks; boiled ^[Note] must, too, renders them injurious to the stomach. It is the opinion of medical writers, that grapes kept ^[Note] in rain-water are the most wholesome of all, even though they are by no means agreeable eating; for the benefit of them is particularly experienced in burning pains of the stomach, biliousness arising from a disordered liver, vomiting of bile, and attacks of cholera, as also dropsy and burning fevers.

Grapes kept in earthen pots sharpen the taste, the stomach, and the appetite; it is thought, however, that they are rendered a little heavy ^[Note] by the exhalations from the husks with which they are covered. ^[Note] If vine-blossoms are given to poultry, mixed with their food, they will never touch the grapes. ^[Note]

Such cuttings of the vine as have borne grapes, have an astringent effect, when they are preserved in earthen ^[Note] pots, more particularly.

Grape-stones, also, have a similar ^[Note] property; it is through them that wine is so apt to produce head-ache. Parched and then pounded, they are beneficial for the stomach; and this powder is sprinkled, like polenta, in the beverage of patients suffering from dysentery, cœliac affections, and derangements of the stomach. A decoction of them is useful, also, as a fomentation for itch-scabs and prurigo.

Grape-husks, used by themselves, are less injurious to the head and bladder than grape-stones are: beaten up with salt, they form an excellent liniment for inflammations of the ma- millæ. A decoction of them, taken in drink, or employed as a fomentation, is good for inveterate dysentery, and cœliac affections.

The grape of the theriaca, of which we have already made mention ^[Note] on the appropriate occasion, is eaten by way of antidote to the stings of serpents. It is recommended, too, to eat the young shoots of this tree, and to apply them topically. The wine and vinegar made from these grapes are productive of a similar salutary effect. ^[Note]

Raisins, the name given to which is "astaphis," would be injurious to the stomach, abdomen, and intestines, were it not for the stones within them, which act as a corrective. ^[Note] When the stones are removed, raisins, it is thought, are beneficial to the bladder, and good for cough: ^[Note] in the last case, the raisin of the white grape is considered the best. Raisins are good also for the trachea and the kidneys, and the wine made from them is particularly efficacious for the sting of the serpent called hæmorrhoïs. ^[Note] In combination with meal of cummin or coriander, they are employed topically for inflammations of the testes. For carbuncles and diseases of the joints, the stones are removed, and the raisins are pounded with rue; if used for ulcers, the sores must be first fomented with wine.

Used with the stones, raisins are a cure for epinyctis, honeycomb ulcers, ^[Note] and dysentery; and for gangrenes they are applied topically with radish rind and honey, being first boiled in oil. They are used with panax, ^[Note] for gout and loose nails; and they

are sometimes eaten by themselves, in combination with pep- per, for the purpose of cleansing the mouth and clearing the brain.

The wild astaphis, otherwise called staphis, ^[Note] is by some persons erroneously called "uva taminia;" ^[Note] for it is altogether a distinct plant from the other. It has a black, upright stein, with leaves resembling those of the labrusca, ^[Note] and bears what we may call a pod, ^[Note] rather than a grape, green, similar to a chick-pea in appearance, and enclosing a kernel of triangular form. The fruit of it ripens with the vintage and turns black, while the berries of the taminia, ^[Note] as is well known, are red; this last, too, as we are aware, grows only in shaded spots, while the wild astaphis, on the other hand, loves a site that is exposed to the sun.

I would not recommend any one to use the kernels ^[Note] of the wild astaphis as a purgative, as it is very doubtful whether they might not choke the patient; nor would I advise them to be employed for the purpose of attenuating the phlegm, as they are extremely irritating to the throat. Beaten up, however, and applied topically, they kill vermin ^[Note] in the head and other parts of the body, more particularly if they are used with sandarach; they are very useful, too, for itch-scabs and prurigo. A decoction of the kernels is made with vinegar, for the cure of tooth-ache, diseases of the ears, cicatrices ^[Note] that are slow in healing, and running sores.

The blossoms of the plant are beaten up and taken in wine

for stings ^[Note] inflicted by serpents; but, as to the seed, I would strongly recommend its rejection, on account of its extremely pungent properties. Some persons give to this plant the name of "pituitaria," ^[Note] and use it as a common application for stings inflicted by serpents.

The labrusca, too, produces an œnanthe, which has been described at sufficient length already: ^[Note] by the Greeks the labrusca is known as the wild vine. ^[Note] The leaves of it are thick and of a whitish colour, the stem is jointed, and the bark full of fissures: it bears grapes of a scarlet ^[Note] hue, like the coccus, which are made use of by females for the purpose of improving the complexion, and removing spots upon the face. Pounded with the leaves and the juice extracted from the tree, these grapes are usefully employed for the treatment of lumbago and sciatica. A decoction of the root ^[Note] in water, taken in two cyathi of Coan wine, promotes an alvine evacuation of aqueous secretions; for which reason it is prescribed for dropsy.

I am inclined to think that; this is the plant that is commonly known as the "uva taminia;" ^[Note] it is in great request as an amulet, and is employed, though as a gargle only, in cases of spitting blood; for which purpose, salt, thyme, and oxymel are added to it, care being taken not to swallow any of the mixture. It is generally looked upon as unsafe to employ it as a purgative.

There is another plant, ^[Note] similar to the labrusca, but found

growing in willow-beds; for which reason it is known by a distinct name, though the uses to which it is applied are just the same. The name given to it is "salicastrum;" beaten up with oxymel, it displays marvellous efficacy in the removal of itch-scab and prurigo in men and cattle.

The white vine ^[Note] is known to the Greeks by the various names of ampeloleuce, staphyle, melothron, psilotrum, archezostis, cedrostis, and madon. The twigs of this tree are jointed, thin, and climbing, with considerable interstices between the knots. ^[Note] The leaves, attached to the numerous shoots, and about the size of an ivy leaf, are jagged at the edges, like that of the vine. The root of it is large and white, and very like a radish ^[Note] at first; from it issue several stems, Similar to asparagus in appearance. These stems, eaten boiled, are both purgative and diuretic. The leaves, too, as well as the stems, are possessed of caustic ^[Note] properties; for which reason they are employed topically with salt, for phagedænic sores, gangrenes, and putrid ulcers of the legs. The fruit of the tree is in the form of grapes thinly scattered, the juice of which is red at first, and afterwards of a saffron colour. This fruit ^[Note] is well known to curriers, who are in the habit of using it in preparing leather. It is employed also in the form of a liniment for itch-scabs and leprous spots; and a decoction of it with wheat, taken in drink, increases the milk in women when nursing. The root of this tree, so renowned for the numerous medicinal purposes to which it is applied, is pounded and taken in wine, in doses of two drachmæ, for the cure of stings inflicted by serpents: ^[Note] it has the effect, also, of

removing spots upon the face, moles and freckles, as well as scars and bruises: a decoction of it in oil is productive of a similar effect. A decoction of it is given to drink for epilepsy, ^[Note] and to persons troubled with a disordered mind or suffering from vertigo, the dose being one drachma daily, for a whole year: taken in larger quantities, it is apt sometimes to disorder ^[Note] the senses. It is possessed, also, of one very remarkable property, applied with water in the same manner as bryonia, of extracting splintered bones, for which reason it is known to some persons by the name of white bryonia: the other kind, however, which is black, is found to answer the purpose better, in combination with honey and frankincense.

The white vine disperses incipient suppurations, ripens them when they are inveterate, and acts as a detergent: it operates also as an emmenagogue and diuretic. An electuary is prepared from it for asthma and pains in the sides, as also for convulsions and ruptures. Taken in drink for thirty days together, in doses of three oboli, it has the effect of reducing the spleen; and it is used, in combination with figs, for the cure of hangnails ^[Note] on the fingers. Applied with wine, it brings away the after-birth, and, taken in hydromel, in doses of one drachma, it carries off phlegm. The juice of the root should be extracted before the fruit ripens; applied either by itself or with meal of fitches, it imparts an improved com- plexion and a certain degree of suppleness to the skin: it has the effect also of repelling serpents. The root itself, too, beaten up with a pulpy fig, will remove wrinkles on the body, if the person using it takes care to walk a couple of stadia immediately after the application; otherwise it would leave marks upon the skin, unless, indeed, it were washed off immediately with cold water. The black vine, too, is better for this purpose than the white one, as the latter is very apt to be pro- ductive of itching.

For there is also a black vine, properly known as the "bryonia," ^[Note] though by some persons it is called the "chironia," and by others the "gynæcanthe," or "apronia." It differs only from the one previously mentioned in its colour, which, as already stated, ^[Note] is black. The shoots of this tree, which resemble asparagus in appearance, are preferred by Diodes for eating to real asparagus, ^[Note] as a diuretic and for its property of reducing the spleen. It is found growing in shrubberies or reed-beds more particularly. The root of it, which is black outside, and of the colour of box within, is even more efficacious for the extraction of splintered bones than the plant last mentioned; in addition to which, it has the property of being a specific for excoriations of the neck in cattle. It is said, too, that if a person plants it around a farm, it will be sure to keep hawks away, and to preserve the poultry-yard ^[Note] in perfect safety. Attached to the ankles, it tends to disperse the blood, congested or otherwise, which may have settled in those parts of the body, whether in human beings or in beasts of burden.

Thus much with reference to the various species of vines.

The various kinds of must ^[Note] have different properties; some of them being black, some white, and others of intermediate shades of colour. There is a difference, too, between the kinds of must from which wine is made, and those from which raisin wine is prepared. The various degrees of care and attention on the part of the maker, render the differences that

already exist, quite innumerable; we shall therefore content ourselves with taking a general view only of their medicinal uses.

Every kind of must is unwholesome to the stomach, but of a soothing nature to the venous system. Taken off at a draught, immediately after the bath, must is fatal ^[Note] in its effects. It acts as an antidote ^[Note] to cantharides and stings inflicted by serpents, those of the hæmorrhois and the salamandra ^[Note] in particular. It is productive of head-ache, and is prejudicial to the throat, but it is good for the kidneys, liver, and inner coat of the bladder, by reason of its lubricating properties. It is particularly effectual also in cases of injuries inflicted by the insect known as the "buprestis." ^[Note]

Taken with oil as a vomit, it neutralizes the bad effects of opium, ^[Note] milk that has curdled upon the stomach, hemlock, dorycnium, ^[Note] and other poisons. ^[Note] For all these purposes, however, white must is not so efficacious, while must prepared from raisins of the sun has a more pleasant flavour, and is productive of a less degree of oppression to the head.

We have already ^[Note] described the various kinds of wine, the numerous differences which exist between them, and most of the properties which each kind possesses. There is no subject that presents greater difficulties than this, or, indeed, a more varied field for discussion, it being extremely difficult to pronounce whether wine is more generally injurious in its effects, or beneficial. And then, in addition to this, how very uncertain is it, whether, the moment we have drunk it, it will be productive of salutary results, or turn out no better than so much poison! However, it is only with reference to its medicinal properties, that we are now about to speak of it.

Asclepiades has composed a whole treatise (which has thence received its name ^[Note]) on the proper methods of administering wine; and the number of commentators who have since written on this treatise, is almost innumerable. For my own part, with all that gravity which becomes a Roman, and one zealous for the furtherance of liberal pursuits, I shall enter into a careful examination of this subject, not, indeed, in the character of a physician, but as a careful investigator of the effects which wine is likely to produce upon the health of man- kind. To treat, however, of the medicinal properties of each individual kind, would be a labour without end, and quite inexhaustible; the more so, as the opinions of medical men are so entirely at variance upon the subject.

Our ancestors set the highest value upon the wines of Surrentum; ^[Note] but at a later period the preference was given to the Alban, or the Falernian wines. More recently, again, other varieties of wine have come into fashion, quite in accordance with that most unreasonable mode of proceeding, according to which, each person, as he finds a wine most to his taste, extols it as superior to all others. Suppose, now, that all persons were quite agreed as to the superiority of some particular kind of wine, how small a proportion of mankind would be enabled to make use of it! As it is, even the rich never drink it in an unsophisticated state; the morals of the age being such, that it is the name only of a vintage that is sold, the wines being adulterated the very moment they enter the vat. Hence it is, by Hercules!—a thing truly astounding—that, in reality, a wine is more innoxious in its effects, in pro- portion as it enjoys a less extended renown. The three kinds, however, of which we have made mention, appear to have maintained, with the least diminution, their ancient repute.

The Falernian wine, it a person should be desirous to know the marked characteristics of wines according to age, is injurious to the health, either too new or too old; at fifteen

years it begins to be of medium age. Falernian wine of this age, taken cold, is good for the stomach, but not when taken warm. For an inveterate cough and for quartan fevers, it is a good plan to drink it neat, fisting. There is no wine that quickens the action of the venous system so much as this; it acts astringently upon the bowels, and is feeding to the body. It has been thought, however, that this wine is productive of injury to the sight, and that it is far from beneficial to the nerves ^[Note] and the bladder.

The Alban wines are more salutary to the nervous system, but the sweet kinds are not so beneficial to the stomach. The rough wines of Alba are even better than those of Falernum, but they do not promote the digestion so well, and have a slight tendency to overload the stomach.

As to the Surrentine wines, they have no such effect upon the stomach, nor are they at all trying to the head; they have the property also of arresting defluxions of the stomach and intestines. The Cæcuban wines are no longer grown.

Among the wines, however, which still exist, those of Setia ^[Note] promote the digestion, having more strength than the Surrentine wines, and more roughness than those of Alba. The wines of Falernum are not so powerful. Those of Stata are but very little inferior in quality to the wines already mentioned. It is universally agreed that the wines of Signia are extremely beneficial in cases of derangement of the bowels.

As to the other wines, they may be spoken of in general terms. By the use of wine, the human vigour, blood, and complexion are improved. It is wine that makes up for all the difference between the middle or temperate zone, and those which lie on either side of it, the juice of the vine conferring as much vigour and robustness upon the inhabitants of our part of the earth as the rigorousness ^[Note] of the climate does

upon the people there. Milk, used as a beverage, strengthens the bones, liquids extracted from the cereals nourish the sinews, and water imparts nutriment to the flesh: hence it is that persons who confine themselves to these several liquids as a beverage, are of a less ruddy complexion than the winedrinker, less robust, and less able to endure fatigue. By the use of wine in moderation the sinews are strengthened, but taken in excess it proves injurious to them; the same, too, with the eves. Wine refreshes the stomach, sharpens the appetite, takes off the keen edge of sorrows and anxieties, warms the body, acts beneficially as a diuretic, and invites sleep. In addition to these properties, it arrests vomiting, and we find that pledgets of wool, soaked in wine, and applied to abscesses, are extremely beneficial. According to Asclepiades, the virtues possessed by wine are hardly equalled by the majestic attributes of the gods themselves.

Old wine bears admixture with a larger quantity of water, and acts more powerfully as a diuretic, though at the same time it is less effectual for quenching thirst. Sweet wine, again, is less inebriating, but stays longer on the stomach, while rough wine is more easy of digestion. The wine that becomes mellow with the greatest rapidity is the lightest, and that which becomes sweeter the older it is, is not so injurious to the nerves. Wines that are rich and black, ^[Note] are not so beneficial to the stomach; but, at the same time, they are more feeding to the body. Thin-bodied rough wines are not so feeding, but are more wholesome to the stomach, and pass off more speedily by urine, though they are all the more liable to fly to the head; a remark which will apply, once for all, to liquids of every kind.

Wine that has been mellowed by the agency of smoke is extremely unwholesome—a fraudulent method of preparation that has been invented in the wine-lofts ^[Note] of the retail dealers. At the present day, however, this plan is adopted in private families even, when it is wished to give the appearance of maturity to wines that have become carious. ^[Note] Indeed, this term carious has been used very appositely by the ancients with reference to wines; for we find that in the case of wood even, smoke exercises a caustic effect upon the carious parts, and

eats them away; and yet we, on the other hand, persuade ourselves that an adventitious age may be imparted to wines by the bitter twang derived from smoke! ^[Note]

Those wines which are extremely pale, become more wholesome the older they are. The more generous ^[Note] a wine is, the thicker it becomes with age; while, at the same time, it contracts a bitter flavour, which is far from exercising a beneficial effect upon the health. To season another wine, that is not so old, with this, is nothing less than to make an unwholesome preparation. The more of its own natural flavour ^[Note] a wine possesses, the more wholesome it is; and the best age for a wine is that which naturally belongs to it, a medium age being the one that is the most generally esteemed.

Persons whose wish it is to make flesh, or to keep the bowels relaxed, will do well to drink while taking their food. Those, on the other hand, who wish to reduce themselves, or prevent the bowels from being relaxed, should abstain from drinking while taking their meals, and drink but a very little only when they have done eating. To drink wine fasting is a fashion of recent introduction ^[Note] only, and an extremely bad one for persons engaged in matters of importance, and requiring a continued application of the mental faculties. Wine, no doubt, was taken fasting in ancient times, but then it was as a preparative for sleep and repose from worldly cares; and it is for this reason that, in Homer, ^[Note] we find Helen presenting it to the guests before the repast. It is upon this fact, too, that the common proverb is founded, which says that "wisdom is obscured by wine." ^[Note] It is to wine that we men are indebted for being the only animated beings that drink without being thirsty. When drinking wine, it is a very good plan to take a draught of water every now and then; and to take one long draught of it at the last, cold water taken internally having the effect of instantaneously dispelling inebriation.

It is strongly recommended by Hesiod ^[Note] to drink undiluted wine ^[Note] for twenty days before the rising of the Dog-star, and as many after. Pure wine, too, acts as an antidote to hemlock, coriander, ^[Note] henbane, mistletoe, opium, mercury, as also to stings inflicted by bees, wasps, hornets, the phalangium, serpents, and scorpions; all kinds of poison, in fact, which are of a cold nature, the venom of the hæmorrhois and the prester, ^[Note] in particular, and the noxious effects of fungi. Undiluted wine is good, too, in cases of flatulency, gnawing pains in the thoracic organs, excessive vomitings at the stomach, fluxes of the bowels and intestines, dysentery, excessive perspirations after prolonged fits of coughing, and defluxions of various kinds. In the cardiac ^[Note] disease, it is a good plan to apply a sponge soaked in neat wine to the left breast: in all these cases, however, old white wine is the best. A fomentation of hot wine applied to the genitals of beasts of burden is found to be very beneficial; and, introduced into the mouth, with the aid of a horn, it has the effect of removing all sensations of fatigue. ^[Note] It is asserted that in apes, and other quadrupeds with toes, the growth will be impeded if they are accustomed to drink undiluted wine. ^[Note]

We shall now proceed to speak of wine in relation to its medicinal uses. The wines of Campania ^[Note] which have the least body, are the most wholesome beverage for persons of rank and station; and for the lower classes ^[Note] the best kind of wine is that which is the most pleasant to the person who drinks it, provided he is in robust health. For persons of all ranks, however, the most serviceable wine is that the strength

of which has been reduced by the strainer; ^[Note] for we must bear in mind that wine is nothing else but juice of grapes which has acquired strength by the process of fermentation. A mixture of numerous kinds of wine is universally bad, and the most wholesome wine of all is that to which no ingredient has been added when in a state of must; indeed, it is still better if the vessels even in which it is kept have never been pitched. ^[Note] As to wines which have been treated with marble, gypsum, or lime, ^[Note] where is the man, however robust he may be, that has not stood in dread of them?

Wines which have been prepared with sea-water ^[Note] are par- ticularly injurious to the stomach, nerves, and bladder. Those which have been seasoned with resin are generally looked upon as beneficial to a cold stomach, but are considered unsuitable where there is a tendency to vomit: the same, too, with must, boiled grape-juice, ^[Note] and raisin wine. New wines sea- soned with resin are good for no one, being productive of vertigo and head-ache: hence it is that the name of "crapula" ^[Note] has been given equally to new resined wines, and to the surfeit and head-ache which they produce.

The wines above mentioned ^[Note] by name, are good for cough and catarrh, as also for cœliac affections, dysentery, and the catamenia. Those wines of this sort which are red ^[Note] or black, ^[Note] are more astringent and more heating than the others. Wines which have been seasoned with pitch only, are not so injurious; but at the same time we must bear in mind that pitch is neither more nor less than resin liquefied ^[Note] by the action of fire, These pitched wines are of a heating nature, promote the digestion, and act as a purgative; they are good, also, for the chest and the bowels, for pains in the uterus, if there are no signs of fever, for inveterate fluxes, ulcerations, ruptures, spasms, suppurated abscesses, debility of the sinews, flatulency,

cough, asthma, and sprains, in which last case they are applied in uncleansed wool. For all these purposes the wine is preferred which has naturally the flavour of pitch, ^[Note] and is thence known as "picatum:" it is generally agreed, however, that the produce of the vine called "helvennaca," ^[Note] if taken in too large a quantity, is trying to the head.

In reference to the treatment of fever, it is well known that wine should never be given, unless the patient is an aged person, or the symptoms are beginning to abate. In cases of acute fever, wine must never be given, under any circumstance, except when there is an evident remission of the attack, and more particularly if this takes place in the night, for then the danger is diminished by one half, there being the probability of the patient sleeping off the effects of the wine. It is equally forbidden, also, to females just after delivery or a miscarriage, and to patients suffering from over-indulgence of the sexual passions; nor should it be given in cases of head-ache, of maladies in which the attacks are attended with chills at the extremities, of fever accompanied with cough, of tremulousness ^[Note] in the sinews, of pains in the fauces, or where the disease is found to concentrate itself in the iliac regions. Wine is strictly forbidden, too, in cases of induration of the thoracic organs, violent throbbings of the veins, opisthotony, tetanus, asthma, and hardness of breathing attended with fever.

Wine is far from beneficial for a patient, when the eyes are fixed and rigid, and when the eyelids are immoveable, or else relaxed and heavy; in cases, too, where, with an incessant nictation, the eyes are more than usually brilliant, or where the eyelids refuse to close—the same, too, if that symptom should occur in sleep—or where the eyes are suffused with blood, or congealed matter makes its appearance in the corners of those organs. The same rule should be observed, also, when the tongue is heavy and swollen, or when there is an impediment from time to time in the speech, when the urine is passed with difficulty, or when a person has been seized with a sudden fright, with spasms, or recurrent fits of torpor, or experiences seminal discharges during sleep.

It is a well-ascertained fact, that in the cardiac ^[Note] disease the only resource is wine. According to some authorities, however, wine should only be given when the attacks come on, while others, again, are of opinion, that it must only be administered between the attacks; it being the object with the former to arrest the profuse perspirations, while the latter base their practice on an impression that it may be given with more safety at a moment when the malady has diminished in intensity; and this I find is the opinion entertained by most people. In all cases, wine must only be administered just after taking food, never after sleep, and under no circumstances after any other kind of drink, or in other words, only when the patient is thirsty; in no case whatever should it be given, except at the very last extremity. Wine is better suited to males than to females, to aged people than to youths, to youths than to children, and to persons who are used to it than to those who are not in the habit of taking it; winter, too, is a better time for using it than summer. As to the quantity to be prescribed, and the proportion of water to be mixed with it, that depends entirely upon the strength of the wine; it is generally thought, however, that the best proportions are one cyathus of wine and two of water. If, however, there is a derangement of the stomach, and if the food does not pass downward, the wine must be given in a larger proportion.

Among the artificial wines, the preparation of which we have ^[Note] described, [there are some which], ^[Note] I think, are no longer made; in addition to which, it would be a mere loss of time to enlarge upon their medicinal effects, having expatiated elsewhere upon the properties of the various elements of which they are composed. And then, besides, the conceits of the medical men in relation to these wines have really passed all bounds; they pretend, for instance, that a wine extracted

from turnips ^[Note] is good for recruiting the exhausted strength, after exercises in arms or on horseback; and, not to speak of other preparations, they attribute a similar effect to wine of juniper. ^[Note] Who is there, too, that would think of looking upon wormwood wine ^[Note] as superior in its effects to wormwood itself?

I shall pass in silence the rest of these preparations, and among them palm wine, ^[Note] which is injurious to the head, and is beneficial only as a laxative to the bowels, and as a cure for spitting of blood. We cannot, however, look upon the liquor which we have spoken of ^[Note] under the name of "bion," as being an artificial wine; for the whole art of making it consists merely in the employment of grapes before they have arrived at maturity. This preparation is extremely good for a deranged stomach or an imperfect digestion, as also for pregnancy, fainting fits, paralysis, fits of trembling, vertigo, gripings of the bowels, and sciatica. It is said, too, that in times of pestilence, and for persons on a long journey, this liquid forms a beverage of remarkable efficacy.

Wine, even when it has lost its vinous properties, still retains some medicinal virtues. Vinegar possesses cooling properties in the very highest degree, and is no less efficacious as a resolvent; it has the property, too, of effervescing, ^[Note] when poured upon the ground. We have frequently had occasion, and shall again have occasion, to mention the various medicinal compositions in which it forms an ingredient. Taken by itself it dispels nausea and arrests hiccup, and if smelt at, it will prevent sneezing: retained in the mouth, it prevents a person from being inconvenienced by the heat ^[Note] of the bath. It is used as a beverage also, in combination with water, ^[Note] and employed

as a gargle, it is found by many to be very wholesome to the stomach, particularly convalescents and persons suffering from sun-stroke; used as a fomentation, too, this mixture is extremely beneficial to the eyes. Vinegar is used remedially when a leech has been swallowed; ^[Note] and it has the property of healing leprous sores, ^[Note] scorbutic eruptions, running ulcers, wounds inflicted by dogs, scorpions, and scolopendræ, and the bite of the shrew-mouse. It is good, too, as a preventive of the itching sensations produced by the venom of all stinging animals, and as an antidote to the bite or the millepede.

Applied warm in a sponge, in the proportion of three sextarii to two ounces of sulphur or a bunch of hyssop, vinegar is a remedy for maladies of the fundament. To arrest the hemorrhage which ensues upon the operation ^[Note] of lithotomy, and, indeed, all other operations of a similar nature, it is usual to apply vinegar in a sponge, and at the same time to administer it internally in doses of two cyathi, the very strongest possible being employed. Vinegar has the effect also of dissolving coagulated blood; for the cure of lichens, it is used both internally and externally. Used as an injection, it arrests looseness of the bowels and fluxes of the intestines; it is similarly employed, too, for procidence of the rectum and uterus.

Vinegar acts as a cure for inveterate coughs, defluxions of the throat, hardness of breathing, and looseness of the teeth: but it acts injuriously upon the bladder and the sinews, when relaxed. Medical men were for a long time in ignorance how beneficial vinegar is for the sting of the asp; for it was only recently that a man, while carrying a bladder ^[Note] of vinegar, happening to be stung by an asp upon which he trod, found to his surprise that whenever he put down the bladder he felt the sting, but that when he took it up again, he seemed as though he had never been hurt; a circumstance which at once suggested to him the remedial properties of the vinegar, upon drinking some of which he experienced a cure. It is with vinegar, too,

and nothing else, that persons rinse the mouth after sucking the poison from a wound. This liquid, in fact, exercises a predominance not only upon various articles of food, but upon many other substances as well. Poured upon rocks in con- siderable quantities, it has the effect of splitting ^[Note] them, when the action of fire alone has been unable to produce any effect thereon. As a seasoning, too, there is no kind that is more agreeable than vinegar, or that has a greater tendency to heighten the flavour of food. When it is employed for this purpose, its extreme tartness is modified with burnt bread or wine, or else it is heightened by the addition of pepper, and of laser; ^[Note] in all cases, too, salt modifies its strength.

While speaking of vinegar, we must not omit to mention a very remarkable case in connexion with it: in the latter years of his life, M. Agrippa was dreadfully afflicted with gout, so much so, in fact, that he was quite unable to endure the tor- ments to which he was subjected. Upon this, guided by the ominous advice of one of his medical attendants, though un- known to Augustus, at the moment of an extremely severe attack he plunged his legs into hot vinegar, content to pur- chase exemption from such cruel torments as he suffered, if even at the price of all use and sensation in those limbs, * * * * *. ^[Note]

Squill vinegar is the more esteemed, the older it is. In addition to the properties which we have already ^[Note] mentioned, it is useful in cases where the food turns sour upon the sto- mach, a mere taste of it being sufficient to act as a corrective. It is good, too, when persons are seized with vomiting, while

fasting, having the effect of indurating the passages of the throat and stomach. It is a corrective, also, of bad breath, strengthens the teeth and gums, and improves the complexion.

Used as a gargle, squill vinegar remedies hardness of hearing, and opens the passages of the ears, while at the same time it tends to improve the sight. It is very good, too, for epilepsy, melancholy, vertigo, hysterical suffocations, blows, falls with violence, and extravasations of blood in consequence, as also for debility of the sinews, and diseases of the kidneys. In cases of internal ulceration, however, the use of it must be avoided.

The following, as we learn from Dieuches, was the manner in which oxymeli ^[Note] was prepared by the ancients. In a cauldron they used to put ten minæ of honey, five heminæ of old vinegar, a pound and a quarter of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water; the mixture was then boiled together till it had simmered some ten times, after which it was poured off, and put by for keeping. Asclepiades, however, condemned this preparation, and put an end to the use of it, though before his time it used to be given in fevers even. Still, however, it is generally admitted that it was useful for the cure of stings inflicted by the serpent known as the "seps," ^[Note] and that it acted as an antidote to opium ^[Note] and mistletoe. It was usefully employed also, warm, as a gargle for quinsy and maladies of the ears, and for affections of the mouth and throat; for all these purposes, however, at the present day, oxalme is employed, the best kind of which is made with salt and fresh vinegar.

Sapa, ^[Note] has a close affinity with wine, being nothing else

but must boiled down to one third: that which is prepared from white must is the best. It is used medicinally in cases of injuries inflicted by cantharides, the buprestis, ^[Note] the pinecaterpillars known as pityocampæ, ^[Note] salamanders, and all venomous bites and stings. Taken with onions it has the effect of bringing away the dead fœtus and the after-birth. According to Fabianus, it acts as a poison, if taken by a person fasting, immediately after the bath. ^[Note]

Next in the natural order come the lees of these several liquids. The lees of ^[Note] wine are so extremely powerful as to prove fatal to persons on descending into the vats. ^[Note] The proper precaution for preventing this, is to let down a light first, which so long as it refuses to burn, is significant of danger. Wine-lees, in an unrinsed ^[Note] state, form an ingredient in several medicinal preparations: with an equal proportion of iris, ^[Note] a liniment is prepared from them for purulent eruptions; and either moist or dried, they are used for stings inflicted by the phalangium, and for inflammations ^[Note] of tile testes, marmillæ, or other parts of the bolly. A decoction of wine-lees is pre- pared, too, with barley-meal and powdered frankincense; after which it is first parched and then dried. The test of its being properly boiled, is its imparting, when cold, a burning sensa- tion to the tongue. When left exposed to the air, wine-lees very rapidly lose their virtues; which, on the other hand, are greatly heightened by the action of fire.

Wine-lees arc very useful, too, boiled with figs, for the cure

of lichens and cutaneous eruptions; they are applied also in a similar manner to leprous sores and running ulcers. Taken in drink, they act as an antidote to the poison of fungi, and more particularly if they are undiluted; boiled and then rinsed, they are used in preparations for the eyes. They are employed also topically for diseases of the testes and generative organs, and are taken in wine for strangury. When wine-lees have lost their strength, they are still useful for cleansing the body and scouring clothes, in which case they act as a substitute for gum acacia. ^[Note]

The lees of vinegar, ^[Note] as a matter of course, considering the material from which they are derived, are much more acrid than these of wine, and more caustic in their effects. This substance prevents the increase of suppuration, and, employed topically, is good for the stomach, intestines, and regions of the abdomen. It has the property also of arresting fluxes of those parts, and the catamenia when in excess; it disperses inflamed tumours which have not come to a head, and is a cure for quinsy. Applied with wax, it is curative of erysipelas. It reduces swellings of the mamillæ when gorged with milk, and removes malformed nails. Employed with polenta, it is very efficacious for the cure of stings inflicted by the serpent called cerastes; ^[Note] and in combination with melanthium, ^[Note] it heals bites inflicted by crocodiles and dogs.

Vinegar lees, too, by being subjected to the action of fire, acquire additional strength. ^[Note] Mixed in this state with oil of mastich, and applied to the hair, they turn ^[Note] it red in a single night. Applied with water in linen, as a pessary, they act as a detergent upon the uterus.

The lees ^[Note] of sapa are used for the cure of burns, it being the best plan to employ with them the down that grows on the reed; a decoction too, of these lees, is good for the cure of an inveterate cough. They are boiled also in a saucepan with salt and grease as an ointment for tumours of the jaws and neck.

The next rank, after the vine, clearly belongs to the olive. The leaves of the olive-tree are astringent, ^[Note] detergent, and binding in the highest degree. Chewed and applied to sores, they are of a healing nature; and applied topically with oil, they are good for head-ache. A decoction of them with honey makes a good liniment for such parts of the body as have been subjected to cauterization, as also for inflammations of the gums, whitlows, and foul and putrid ulcers: combined with honey, they arrest discharges of blood from the nervous ^[Note] parts of the body. The juice of olive leaves is efficacious for carbuncular ulcers and pustules about the eyes, and for procidence of the pupil; hence it is much employed in the composition of eye- salves, having the additional property of healing inveterate runnings of the eyes, and ulcerations of the eyelids.

This juice is extracted by pouring wine and rain-water upon the leaves, and then pounding them; after which the pulp is dried and divided into lozenges. Used with wool, as a pessary, this preparation arrests menstruation when in excess, and is very useful for the treatment of purulent sores, condylomata, erysipelas, spreading ulcers, and epinyctis.

The blossom, ^[Note] of too, of the olive-tree possesses similar pro-

perties. The young branches are burnt when just beginning to blossom, and of the ashes a substitute for spodium ^[Note] is made, upon which wine is poured, and it is then burnt afresh. To suppurations and inflamed tumours these ashes are applied, or else the leaves, beaten up with honey; for the eyes, they are used with polenta. The juice which exudes ^[Note] from the wood, when burnt in a green state, heals lichens, scaly eruptions, and running ulcers.

As to the juice ^[Note] which exudes naturally from the olivetree, and more particularly that of Æthiopia, we cannot be sufficiently surprised that authors should have been found to recommend it as an application for tooth-ache, and to tell us at the same time that it is a poison, and even that we must have recourse to the wild olive for it. The bark of the roots of the olive, as young and tender a tree as possible being selected, scraped and taken every now and then in honey, is good ^[Note] for patients suffering from spitting of blood and purulent expectorations. The ashes of the tree itself, mixed with axle-grease, are useful for the cure of tumours, and heal fistulas by the extraction of the vicious humours which they contain.

White olives are wholesome for the upper regions of the stomach, but not so good for the bowels. Eaten by themselves, habitually as a diet, quite fresh and before they are preserved, they are remarkably serviceable, having the effect of curing gravel, ^[Note] and of strengthening the teeth when worn or loosened by the use of meat.

Black olives, on the other hand, are not so wholesome for the upper regions of the stomach, but are better for the bowels; they are not good, however, for the head or for the eves. Both kinds, pounded and applied topically, are good for the cure of burns, but the black olive is sometimes chewed first, and instantly applied to the sore, for the purpose of preventing blisters from forming. Colymbades ^[Note] act as a deter- gent for foul ulcers, but they are bad for persons suffering from strangury.

As to the amurca of olives, we might appear to have said enough on the subject already, ^[Note] taking Cato as our guide; it remains, however, to speak of the medicinal uses of this substance. It is extremely serviceable as a strengthener of the gums, ^[Note] and for the cure of ulcers of the mouth; it has the effect, also, of strengthening loose teeth in the sockets, and an application of it is good for erysipelas and spreading ulcers. For chilblains, the amurca of the black olive is the best, as also as a fomentation for infants; that of the white olive is used, with wool, as a pessary for affections of the uterus. Of both kinds, however, the amurca is much more serviceable when boiled; this being done in a vessel of Cyprian copper, to the consistency of honey. Thus prepared, it is used, according to the necessities of the case, with either vinegar, old wine, or honied wine, for the treatment of maladies of the mouth, teeth, and ears, and for running ulcers, ^[Note] diseases of the generative organs, and chaps on various parts of the body. It is employed topically, for the cure of wounds, in a linen pledget, and for sprains, in wool: as a medicament, it is of great utility, more particularly when old, as in such case it effects the cure of fistula. ^[Note]

It is used as an injection for ulcerations of the fundament, the generative organs, and the uterus, and is employed topically for incipient gout and diseases of the joints. Boiled

down again, with omphacium, ^[Note] to the consistency of honey, it extracts decayed teeth; and, in combination with a decoction of lupines and the plant chamæleon, ^[Note] it is a marvellous cure for itch in beasts of burden. ^[Note] Fomentations of amurca in a raw state ^[Note] are extremely good for gout.

The leaves of the wild olive are possessed of similar properties. The spodium ^[Note] that is made by burning the young branches is of remarkable efficacy for arresting fluxes; it allays inflammations of the eyes also, acts as a detergent upon ulcerous sores, makes the flesh grow on wounds from which it has been removed, and acts gently as a caustic upon fleshy excrescences, drying them up and making them cicatrize. The rest of its properties are similar to those of the cultivated olive. There is, however, one peculiarity in it; the leaves, boiled with honey, are given in doses of a spoonful for spitting of blood. ^[Note] The oil, too, of the wild olive is more acrid, and possesses greater energy than that of the cultivated olive; hence it is that it is usual to rinse the mouth with it for the purpose of strengthening the teeth. ^[Note]

The leaves, too, are applied topically, with wine, to whitlows, carbuncles, and all kinds of gatherings; and, with honey, to sores which require a detergent. Both a decoction of the leaves and the natural juices of the wild olive form ingredients in medicaments for the eyes; and the latter are found useful as an injection for the ears, in the case of puru- lent discharges even. From the blossom of the wild olive a liniment is prepared for condylomata and epinyctis: it is applied also to the abdomen, with barley-meal, for fluxes, and to the head, with oil, for head-ache. In cases where the scalp becomes detached from the cranium, the young branches,

boiled and applied with honey, have a healing effect. These branches, too, when arrived at maturity, taken with the food, arrest diarrhœa: parched and beaten up with honey, they act as a detergent upon corroding sores, and bring carbuncles to a head and dispers them.

As to olive oil, we have abundantly treated of its nature and elements already. ^[Note] It now remains to speak of the medicinal properties of the various kinds of oil. The most useful of all is omphacium, ^[Note] and next to that, green oil; ^[Note] in addition to which, we may remark that oil ought to be as fresh as possible, except in cases where old oil is absolutely required. For medicinal purposes, too, oil should be extremely fluid, have an agreeable smell, and be free from ^[Note] all taste, just the converse, in fact, of the property which we look for in food. Omphacium is good for the gums, and if kept from time to time in the mouth, there is nothing better as a preservative of the whiteness of the teeth. It checks profuse perspirations.

Oil of œnanthe ^[Note] has just the same properties as oil of roses. Like oil in general, it makes the body supple, and imparts to it strength and vigour; it is injurious to the stomach, promotes the increase of ulcers, irritates the fauces, and deadens the effect of all poisons, white-lead and gypsum in particular, if taken in hydromel or a decoction of dried figs. Taken with water, it is good as an antidote to the effects of opium, and to injuries inflicted by cantharides, the buprestis, the salamandra, and the pine caterpillar. ^[Note] Taken pure as an emetic, it is highly esteemed as an antidote in all the before-mentioned cases. It is also a refreshing remedy for extreme lassitude, and for fits of shivering from cold. Taken warm, in doses of six cyathi, and more particularly when boiled with rue, ^[Note] it

relieves gripings of the stomach and expels intestinal worms, Taken in doses of one hemina with wine and warm water, or else with barley water, ^[Note] it acts as a purgative upon the bowels. It is useful, also, in the composition of plasters for wounds, and it cleanses the complexion of the face. Injected into the nostrils of oxen, till it produces eructation, it cures attacks of flatulency.

When old it is of a more warming nature than when new, and acts more energetically as a sudorific, and as a resolvent for indurations. It is very efficacious ^[Note] in cases of lethargy, and more particularly in the decline of the disease. Mixed with an equal proportion of honey which has not been smoked, ^[Note] it contributes in some degree to the improvement of the sight. It is a remedy, also for head-ache; and, in combination with water, for the burning attacks in fevers. If old oil should happen not to be at hand, the new oil is boiled to act as a substitute for it.

Castor ^[Note] oil, taken with an equal quantity of warm water, acts as a purgative ^[Note] upon the bowels. It is said, too, that as a purgative this oil acts more particularly upon the regions of the diaphragm. ^[Note] It is very useful for diseases of the joints, all kinds of indurations, affections of the uterus and ears, and for burns: employed with the ashes of the murex, ^[Note] it heals itch-scabs and inflammations of the fundament. It improves the complexion also, and by its fertilizing tendencies promotes the growth of the hair. The cicus, or seed from which this oil is made, no animal will touch; and from these grape-like seeds ^[Note] wicks are made, ^[Note] which burn with a peculiar brilliancy;

the light, however, that is produced by the oil is very dim, in consequence of its extreme thickness. The leaves are applied topically with vinegar for erysipelas, and fresh-gathered, they are used by themselves for diseases of the mamillæ and de- fluxions; a decoction of them in wine, with polenta and saf- fron, is good for inflammations of various kinds. Boiled by themselves, and applied to the face for three successive days, they improve the complexion.

Oil of almonds is of a purgative and emollient nature; it effaces wrinkles on the skin, improves the complexion, and, in combination with honey, removes spots on the face. A decoc- tion of it with oil of roses, honey, and pomegranate rind, is good for the ears, and exterminates the small worms that breed there; it has the effect also, of dispelling hardness of hearing, recurrent tinglings and singing in the ears, and is curative of head-ache and pains in the eyes. Used with wax, it cures boils, and scorches by exposure to the sun; ^[Note] in combination with wine it heals running ulcers and scaly eruptions, and with melilote, condylomatous swellings. Applied by itself to the head, it invites sleep. ^[Note]

As to oil of laurel, ^[Note] the fresher and greener it is, the more valuable are its properties. It is of a heating nature, and is consequently applied, warm, in a pomegranate rind, for paralysis, spasms, sciatica, bruises, head-ache, catarrhs of long standing, and diseases of the ears.

Oil of myrtle has similar properties. ^[Note] It is of an astringent and indurative nature; mixed with the scoria of copper, and

wax, it cures diseases of the gums, tooth-ache, dysentery, ulcerations of the uterus, affections of the bladder, inveterate or running ulcers, eruptions, and burns. It exercises a healing effect also, upon excoriations, scaly eruptions, chaps, condylomata, and sprains, and it neutralizes offensive odours of the body. This oil is an antidote ^[Note] to cantharides, the buprestis, and other dangerous poisons of a corrosive nature.

Oil of chamæmyrsine, or oxymyrsine, ^[Note] possesses similar properties. Oil of cypress ^[Note] also, produces the same effects as oil of myrtle, and the same as to oil of citrus. ^[Note] Oil of walnuts, which we have previously mentioned ^[Note] as being called "caryinon," is good for alopecy, and is injected into the ears for the cure of hardness of hearing. Used as a liniment, it relieves head-ache; but in other respects it is of an inert nature and disagreeable taste; indeed, if part only of one of the kernels should happen to be decayed, the whole making is spoilt. The oil extracted from the grain of Cnidos ^[Note] has similar properties to castor ^[Note] oil. Oil of mastich ^[Note] is very useful as an ingredient in the medicinal preparation known as "acopum;" ^[Note] indeed it would be fully as efficacious as oil of roses, were it not found to be somewhat too styptic in its effects. It is employed in cases of too profuse perspiration, and for the cure of pimples produced thereby. It is extremely efficacious also

or itch in beasts of burden. Oil of balanus ^[Note] removes spots on the skin, boils, freckles, and maladies of the gums. ^[Note]

We have already enlarged ^[Note] upon the nature of the cyprus, and the method of preparing oil of cyprus. This oil is natu- rally warming, and relaxes the sinews. The leaves of the tree are used as an application to the stomach, ^[Note] and the juice of them is applied in a pessary for irritations of the uterus. Fresh gathered and chewed, the leaves are applied to running ulcers of the head, ulcerations of the mouth, gatherings, and condylomatous sores. A decoction of the leaves is very useful also for burns and sprains. Beaten up and applied with the juice of the strutheum, ^[Note] they turn the hair red. The blos- soms, applied to the head with vinegar, relieve head-ache, and the ashes of them, burnt in a pot of raw earth, are curative of corrosive sores and putrid ulcers, either employed by themselves, or in combination with honey. The odour ^[Note] exhaled by these blossoms induces sleep.

The oil called "gleucinum" ^[Note] has certain astringent and refreshing properties similar to those of oil of œnanthe.

The oil of balsamum is by far the most valuable of them all, as already stated ^[Note] by us, when treating of the unguents. It is extremely efficacious for the venom of all kinds of serpents,

is very beneficial to the eyesight, disperses films upon the eyes, assuages hardness of breathing, and acts emolliently upon all kinds of gatherings and indurations. It has the effect, also, of preventing the blood from coagulating, acts as a detergent upon ulcers, and is remarkably beneficial for diseases of the ears, head-ache, trembling, ^[Note] spasms, and ruptures. Taken in milk, it is an antidote to the poison of aconite, and used as a liniment upon the access of the shivering fits in fevers, it modifies their violence. Still, however, it should be used but sparingly, as it is of a very caustic nature, and, if not employed in moderation, is apt to augment the malady.

We have already ^[Note] spoken, also, of the nature of malobathrum, and the various kinds of it. It acts as a diuretic, and, sprinkled in wine upon the eyes, it is used very advantageously for defluxions of those organs. It is applied also to the forehead, for the purpose of promoting sleep; but it acts with still greater efficacy, if the nostrils are rubbed with it, or if it is taken in water. The leaves, placed beneath the tongue, impart a sweetness to the mouth and breath, and put among clothes, they produce a similar effect.

Oil of henbane ^[Note] is of an emollient nature, but it is bad for the nerves; taken in drink, it disturbs the brain. Thermal- num, ^[Note] or oil of lupines, is emollient, and very similar to oil of roses in its effects. As to oil of narcissus, we have already ^[Note] spoken of it when describing that flower. Oil of radishes ^[Note]

cures phthiriasis ^[Note] contracted in a long illness, and removes roughness of the skin upon the face. Oil of sesame is curative of pains in the ears, spreading ulcers, and the cancer ^[Note] known as "cacoethes." Oil of lilies, which we have previously ^[Note] mentioned as being called oil of Phaselis and oil of Syria, is extremely good for the kidneys and for promoting perspiration, as also as an emollient for the uterus, and as tending to bring internal tumours to a head. As to oil of Selga, we have already ^[Note] spoken of it as being strengthening to the tendons which is the case, also, with the herbaceous ^[Note] oil which the people of Iguvium ^[Note] sell, on the Flaminian Way.

Elæomeli, which, as we have already ^[Note] stated, exudes from the olive-trees of Syria, has a flavour like that of honey, but not without a certain nauseous taste. It relaxes the bowels, and carries off the bilious secretions more particularly, if taken in doses of two cyathi, in a semisextarius of water. After drinking it, the patient falls into a torpor, and requires to be aroused every now and then. Persons, when about to drink for a wager, are in the habit of taking ^[Note] a cyathus of it, by way of prelude. Oil of pitch ^[Note] is employed for the cure of cough, and of itch in cattle.

Next in rank after the vine and the olive comes the palm. Dates fresh-gathered have an inebriating ^[Note] effect, and are productive of head-ache; when dried, they are not so injurious. It would appear, too, that they are not wholesome to the stomach; they have an irritating ^[Note] effect on coughs, but are very

nourishing to the body. The ancients used to give a decoction of them to patients, as a substitute for hydromel, with the view of recruiting the strength and allaying thirst, the Thebaic date being held in preference for the purpose. Dates are very use- ful, too, for persons troubled with spitting of blood, when taken in the food more particularly. The dates called caryotæ, ^[Note] in combination with quinces, wax, and saffron, are applied topically for affections of the stomach, bladder, abdomen, and in- testines: they are good for bruises also. Date-stones, ^[Note] burnt in a new earthen vessel, produce an ash which, when rinsed, is employed as a substitute for spodium, ^[Note] and is used as an ingredient in eye-salves, and, with the addition of nard, in washes for the eye-brows. ^[Note]

Of the palm which produces myrobalanum, ^[Note] the most esteemed kind is that grown in Egypt; ^[Note] the dates of which, unlike those of the other kinds, are without stones. Used with astringent wine, they arrest ^[Note] diarrhœa and the catamenia, and promote the cicatrization of wounds.

The palm called "elate," ^[Note] or "spathe," furnishes its buds, leaves, and bark for medicinal purposes. The leaves are applied to the thoracic regions, stomach, and liver, and to spreading ulcers, but they are adverse to cicatrization. The bark ^[Note] of the tree, while tender, mixed with wax and resin, heals itch-scab in the course of twenty days: a decoction, also, is made of it

for diseases of the testes. Used as a fumigation, it turns the hair black, and brings away the fœtus. It is given in drink, also, for diseases of the kidneys, bladder, and thoracic organs; but it acts injuriously upon the head and nerves. The decoction of this bark has the effect, also, of arresting fluxes of the uterus and the bowels: the ashes of it are used with white wine for griping pains in the stomach, and form a very efficacious remedy for affections of the uterus.

We next come to the medicinal properties of the various kinds of apples. The spring fruits of this nature are sour and unwholesome ^[Note] to the stomach, disturb the bowels, contract the bladder, and act injuriously upon the nerves; when cooked, however, they are of a more harmless nature. Quinces are more pleasant eating when cooked; still however, eaten raw, provided they are ripe, they are very useful ^[Note] for spitting of blood, dysentery, cholera, and cœliac affections; indeed, they are not of the same efficacy when cooked, as they then lose the astringent properties which belong to their juice. They are applied also to the breast in the burning attacks of fever, and, in spite of what has been stated above, they are occasionally boiled in rain-water for the various purposes before-mentioned. For pains in the stomach they are applied ^[Note] like a cerate, either raw or boiled. The down upon them heals ^[Note] carbuncles.

Boiled in wine, and applied with wax, they restore the hair, when it has been lost by alopecy. A conserve of raw quinces in honey relaxes the bowels; and they add very materially to the sweetness of the honey, and render it more wholesome to the stomach. Boiled quinces preserved in honey are beaten up with a decoction of rose-leaves, and are taken as food by some

for the cure of affections of the stomach. The juice of raw quinces is very good, also, for the spleen, hardness of breathing, dropsy, affections of the mamillæ, condylomata, and varicose veins. The blossoms, either fresh or dried, are useful for inflammations of the eyes, spitting of blood, and irregularities of the catamenia. By beating them up with sweet wine, a sooth- ing sirop is prepared, which, is very beneficial for cœliac affections and diseases of the liver: with a decoction of them a fomentation is made for procidence of the uterus and intestines.

From quinces an oil is also extracted, which we have spoken of under the name of "melinum:" ^[Note] in order to make it, the fruit must not have been grown in a damp soil; hence it is that the quinces which come from Sicily are so highly esteemed for the purpose; while, on the other hand, the strutheum, ^[Note] though of a kindred kind, is not so good.

A circle ^[Note] is traced round the root of this tree, and the root itself is then pulled up with the left hand, care being taken by the person who does so to state at the same moment the object for which it is so pulled up, and for whom. Worn as an amulet, this root is a cure for scrofula.

The apples known as "melimela," ^[Note] and the other sweet apples, relax the stomach and bowels, but are productive of heat and thirst, ^[Note] though they do not act injuriously upon the nervous system. The orbiculata ^[Note] arrest diarrhœa and vomiting, and act as a diuretic. Wild apples resemble the sour apples of spring, and act astringently upon the bowels: indeed, for this purpose they should always be used before they are ripe.

Citrons, ^[Note] either the pulp of them or the pips, are taken in wine as an antidote to poisons. A decoction of citrons, or the juice extracted from them, is used as a gargle to impart sweet- ness to the breath. ^[Note] The pips of this fruit are recommended for pregnant women to chew when affected with qualmish- ness. Citrons are good, also, for a weak stomach, but it is not easy to eat them except with vinegar. ^[Note]

It would be a mere loss of time to recapitulate the nine ^[Note] different varieties of the pomegranate. The sweet pome- granates, or, in other words, those known by the name of "apyrna," ^[Note] are generally considered to be injurious to the stomach; they are productive, also, of flatulency, and are bad for the teeth and gums. The kind which closely resembles the last in flavour, and which we have spoken of as the "vinous" pomegranate, has very diminutive pips, and is thought to be somewhat more wholesome than the others. They have an astringent effect upon the stomach and bowels, provided they are taken in moderation, and not to satiety; but even these, or, indeed, any other kind, should never be given in fevers, as neither the substance nor the juice of the fruit acts otherwise than injuriously under those circumstances. They should, also, be equally ^[Note] abstained from in cases of vomiting and bilious evacuations.

In this fruit Nature has revealed to us a grape, and, so to say, not must, but a wine ready made, both grape and wine being enclosed in a tougher skin. ^[Note] The rind of the sour pomegranate is employed for many purposes. It is in very

common use with curriers for tanning ^[Note] leather, from which circumstance it has received the name of "malicorium." ^[Note] Medical men assure us that the rind is diuretic, and that, boiled with nut-galls in vinegar, it strengthens loose teeth in the sockets. It is prescribed also for pregnant women when suf- fering from qualmishness, the flavour of it quickening the fœtus. A pomegranate is cut, and left to soak in rain-water for some three days; after which the infusion is given cold to persons suffering from cœliac affections and spitting of blood.

With the sour pomegranate a medicament is made, which is known as "stomatice," and is extremely good for affections of the mouth, nostrils, and ears, dimness of sight, films upon the eyes, ^[Note] diseases of the generative organs, corrosive sores called "nomæ," and fleshy excrescences in ulcers; it is useful, also, as an antidote to the venom of the sea-hare. ^[Note] The following, is the method of making it: the rind is taken off the fruit, and the pips are pounded, after which the juice is boiled down to one-third, and then mixed with saffron, split alum, ^[Note] myrrh, and Attic honey, the proportions being half a pound of each.

Some persons have another way of making it: a number of sour pomegranates are pounded, after which the juice is boiled down in a new cauldron to the consistency of honey. This composition is used for various affections of the generative organs and fundament, and, indeed, all those diseases which are treated with lycium. ^[Note] It is employed, also, for the cure of purulent discharges from the ears, incipient defluxions of the eyes, and red spots upon the hands. Branches of the pomegranate have the effect of repelling the attacks of serpents. ^[Note] Pomegranate rind, boiled in wine and applied, is a cure for chilblains. A pomegranate, boiled down to onethird in three heminæ of wine, is a cure for griping pains in

the bowels and for tape-worm. ^[Note] A pomegranate, put in anew earthen pot tightly covered and burnt in a furnace, and then pounded and taken in wine, arrests looseness of the bowels, and dispels griping pains in the stomach.

The Greeks have given the name of cytinus ^[Note] to the first germs of this tree when it is just beginning to blossom. These germs have a singular property, which has been re- marked by many. If a person, after taking off everything that is fastened upon the body, his girdle, for instance, shoes, and even his ring, plucks one of them with two fingers of the left hand, the thumb, namely, and the fourth finger, and, after rubbing it gently round his eyes, puts it into his mouth and swallows ^[Note] it without letting it touch his teeth, he will experience, it is said, no malady of the eyes throughout all the year. These germs, dried and pounded, check the growth of fleshy excrescences; they are good also for the gums and teeth; and if the teeth are loose a decoction of the germs will strengthen them.

The young pomegranates ^[Note] themselves are beaten up and applied as a liniment to spreading or putrid sores; they are used also for inflammations of the eyes and intestines, and nearly all the purposes for which pomegranate-rind is used. They are remedial also for the stings of scorpions.

We cannot sufficiently admire the care and diligence displayed by the ancients, who, in their enquiries into every subject, have left nothing untried. Within the cytinus, before the pomegranate itself makes its appearance, there are dimi- nutive flowers, the name given to which, as already ^[Note] stated,

is "balaustium." ^[Note] These blossoms, even, have not escaped their enquiries; it having been ascertained by them that they are an excellent remedy for stings inflicted by the scorpion. Taken in drink, they arrest the catamenia, and are curative of ulcers of the mouth, tonsillary glands, and uvula, as also of spitting of blood, derangement of the stomach and bowels, diseases of the generative organs, and running sores in all parts of the body.

The ancients also dried these blossoms, to try their efficacy in that state, and made the discovery that, pulverized, they cure patients suffering from dysentery when at the very point of death even, and that they arrest looseness of the bowels. They have not disdained, too, to make trial of the pips of the pomegranate: parched and then pounded, these pips are good for the stomach, sprinkled in the food or drink. To arrest looseness of the bowels, they are taken in rain-water. A decoction of the juices of the root, in doses of one victoriatus, ^[Note] exterminates tape-worm; ^[Note] and the root itself, boiled down in water to a thick consistency, is employed for the same purposes as lycium. ^[Note]

There is a tree, also, which is called the wild pomegranate, ^[Note] on account of its strong resemblance to the cultivated pomegranate. The roots of it have a red bark, which taken in wine in doses of one denarius, promotes sleep. The seed of

it taken in drink is curative of dropsy. Gnats are kept at a distance by the smoke of burnt pomegranate rind.

All kinds of pears, as an aliment, are indigestible, ^[Note] to persons in robust health, even; but to invalids they are forbidden as rigidly as wine. Boiled, however, they are re- markably agreeable and wholesome, those of Crustumium ^[Note] in particular. All kinds of pears, too, boiled with honey, are wholesome to the stomach. Cataplasms of a resolvent nature are made with pears, and a decoction of them is used to disperse indurations. They are efficacious, also, in cases of poisoning ^[Note] by mushrooms and fungi, as much by reason of their heaviness, as by the neutralizing effects of their juice.

The wild pear ripens but very slowly. Cut in slices and hung in the air to dry, it arrests looseness of the bowels, an effect which is equally produced by a decoction of it taken in drink; in which case the leaves also are boiled up together with the fruit. The ashes of pear-tree wood are even more efficacious ^[Note] as an antidote to the poison of fungi.

A load of apples or pears, however small, is singularly fatiguing ^[Note] to beasts of burden; the best plan to counteract this, they say, is to give the animals some to eat, or at least to shew them the fruit before starting.

The milky juice of the fig-tree possesses kindred properties with vinegar; ^[Note] hence it is, that, like rennet, it curdles milk. This juice is collected before the fruit ripens, and dried in the shade; being used with yolk of egg as a liniment, or else in drink, with amylum, ^[Note] to bring ulcers to a head and break

them, and for the purposes of an emmenagogue. With meal of fenugreek and vinegar, it is applied topically for gout; it acts also as a depilatory, ^[Note] heals eruptions of the eyelids, lichens and itch-scabs, and relaxes the bowels. The milk of the fig-tree is naturally curative of the stings of hornets, wasps, and similar insects, and is remarkably useful for wounds inflicted by scorpions. Mixed with axle-grease it removes warts. With the leaves and figs still green an application is made for scrofulous ^[Note] and other sores of a nature which requires emollients or resolvents. The leaves, too, used by themselves, are productive of a similar effect. In addition to this, they are employed for other purposes, as a friction for lichens, for example, for alopecy, and other diseases which require caustic applications. The young shoots of the branches are used as an application to the skin in cases of bites inflicted by dogs. With honey they are applied to the ulcers known as honeycomb ulcers; ^[Note] mixed with the leaves of wild poppies they extract ^[Note] splinters of bones; and the leaves beaten up in vinegar are a cure for bites inflicted by dogs. The young white shoots of the black ^[Note] fig are applied topically, with wax, to boils, and bites inflicted by the shrew-mouse: and the ashes of their leaves are used for the cure of gangrenes and the reduction of fleshy excrescences.

Ripe figs are diuretic and laxative; they promote the perspiration, and bring out pimples; hence it is that they are unwholesome in autumn, the perspirations which they excite being always attended with shivering. They are injurious also to the stomach, though for a short time only; and it is generally thought that they spoil the voice. The figs which are the last to ripen are more wholesome than the first, but those which are drugged ^[Note] for the purpose of ripening them are never wholesome. This fruit invigorates the young, and improves the health of the aged and retards the formation of wrinkles; it allays thirst, and is of a cooling nature, for

which reason it should never be declined in those fevers of an astringent tendency which are known as "stegnæ."

Dried figs are injurious to the stomach, ^[Note] but are beneficial in a marvellous degree to the throat and fauces. They are of a warming nature, are productive of thirst, and relax the bowels, but are unwholesome in stomachic complaints and fluxes of the bowels. In all cases they are beneficial for the bladder, hard- ness of breathing, and asthma, as also for diseases of the liver, kidneys, and spleen. They are nourishing and invigorating, for which reason, the athletes in former times used them as food: Pythagoras, the gymnast, being the first who intro- duced among them a flesh diet. ^[Note] Figs are extremely useful for patients recovering from a long illness, and for persons suffering from epilepsy or dropsy. They are applied topically also in all cases where sores require to be brought to a head, or dispersed; and they are still more efficacious when mixed with lime or nitre. Boiled with hyssop they act as a purgative on the pectoral organs, carry off the phlegm, and cure inveterate coughs: boiled with wine they heal maladies of the fundament, and tumours of the jaws. A decoction of them is applied also to boils, inflamed tumours, and imposthumes of the parotid glands. This decoction, too, is found very useful as a fomentation for disorders incident to females.

Boiled with fenugreek, ^[Note] figs are very useful in cases of pleurisy and peripneumony. A decoction of them with rue is good for griping pains in the bowels; in combination with verdigris, ^[Note] they are used for ulcers of the legs and imposthumes of the parotid glands; with pomegranates, for hang- nails; ^[Note] and with wax, for burns and chilblains. Boiled in wine, with wormwood and barley-meal, they are employed for dropsy. Eaten with nitre, they relax the bowels; and beaten up with salt they are applied to stings inflicted by scorpions. Boiled in wine, and applied topically, they bring carbuncles to a head. In cases of carcinoma, unattended with ulceration, it is a singularly good plan to apply to the part the

pulpiest fig that can be procured; the same, too, with phagedænic sores.

As to the ashes of the fig, those of no tree known are of a more acrid character, ^[Note] being of a detergent and astringent nature, and tending to make new flesh and to promote the cicatrization of wounds. They are also taken in drink, for the purpose of dissolving coagulated blood, as also for bruises, falls with violence, ruptures, convulsions * * * * in one cyathus respectively of water and oil. They are administered also for tetanus and spasms, and are used either in a potion, or as an injection for cœliac affections and dysentery. Employed as a liniment with oil, they have a warming effect; and kneaded into a paste with wax and rose-oil, they heal burns, leaving the slightest scar only. Applied in oil, as a liniment, they are a cure for weakness of sight, and are used as a dentifrice in diseases of the teeth.

It is said, too, that if a patient draws downward a branch of a fig-tree, and turns up his head and bites off some knot or other of it, without being seen by any one, and then wears it in a leather bag suspended by a string from his neck, it is a certain cure for scrofulous sores and imposthumes of the parotid glands. The bark of this tree, beaten up with oil, cures ulcerations of the abdomen. Green figs, applied raw, with the addition of nitre and meal, remove warts and wens. ^[Note]

The ashes of the suckers which spring from the roots are used as a substitute for spodium. ^[Note] Burnt over a second time and incorporated with white lead, they are divided into cakes which are used for the cure of ulcerations of the eyes and eruptions.

The wild fig, again, is even more efficacious in its properties than the cultivated one. It has not so large a proportion of milky juice as the other: a slip of it put into milk has the effect of curdling it and turning it into cheese. This juice, collected and indurated by being subjected to pressure, im-

parts a fine flavour ^[Note] to meat, being steeped in vinegar for the purpose, and then rubbed upon it. It is used also as an ingredient in blisters, and taken internally it relaxes the bowels. Used with amylum, ^[Note] it opens the passages of the uterus, and combined with the yolk of an egg it acts as an emmenagogue. Mixed with meal of fenugreek it is applied topically for gout, and is used for the dispersion of leprous sores, itch-scabs, lichens, and freckles: it is an antidote also to the stings of venomous animals, and to the bites of dogs. Applied to the teeth in wool, or introduced into the cavity of a carious tooth, this juice cures tooth-ache. ^[Note] The young shoots and the leaves, mixed with meal of fitches, act as an antidote to the poison of marine animals, wine being added to the prepa- ration. In boiling beef a great saving of fire-wood may be effected, by putting some of these shoots in the pot. ^[Note]

The figs in a green state, applied topically, soften and disperse scrofulous sores and all kinds of gatherings, and the leaves, to a certain extent, have a similar effect. The softer leaves are applied with vinegar for the cure of running ulcers, epinyctis, and scaly eruptions. With the leaves, mixed with honey, honeycomb ulcers ^[Note] are treated, and wounds inflicted by dogs; the leaves are applied, too, fresh, with wine, to phagledænic sores. In combination with poppy-leaves, they extract splintered bones. Wild figs, in a green state, employed as a fumigation, dispel flatulency; and an infusion of them, used as a potion, combats the deleterious effects of bullocks' blood, white-lead, and coagulated milk, taken internally. Boiled in water, and employed as a cataplasm, they cure imposthumes of the parotid glands. The shoots, or the green figs, gathered as young as possible, are taken in wine for stings inflicted by scorpions. The milky juice is also poured into the wound, and the leaves are applied to it: the bite of the shrew-mouse is treated in a similar manner. The ashes of the young branches are curative of relaxations of the uvula; and the ashes of the tree itself, mixed with honey, have the effect of healing chaps. A de-

coction of the root, boiled in wine, is good for tooth-ache. The winter wild fig, boiled in vinegar and pounded, is a cure for impetigo: the branches are first barked for the purpose and then scraped; these scrapings, which are as fine as sawdust, being applied topically to the parts affected.

There is also one medicinal property of a marvellous nature attributed to the wild fig: if a youth who has not arrived at puberty breaks off a branch, and then with his teeth tears off the bark swelling with the sap, the pith of this branch, we are assured, attached as an amulet to the person before sunrise, will prevent the formation of scrofulous sores. A branch of this tree, attached to the neck of a bull, however furious, ex- ercises such a marvellous effect upon him as to restrain his ferocity, ^[Note] and render him quite immoveable.

It will be as well to speak here, in consequence of the similarity of name, ^[Note] of the herb which is known to the Greeks as the "erineon." This plant ^[Note] is a palm in height, and has mostly five small stems: in appearance it resembles ocimum, and bears a white flower, with a small, black, seed. Beaten up with Attic honey, it is a cure for defluxions of the eyes. In whatever way it is gathered, it yields a considerable abundance of sweet, milky, juice. With the addition of a little nitre, this plant is extremely useful for pains in the ears. The leaves of it have the property of neutralizing poisons.

The leaves ^[Note] of the plum, boiled in wine, are useful for the tonsillary glands, the gums, and the uvula, the mouth being rinsed with the decoction every now and then. As for the fruit itself, it is relaxing ^[Note] to the bowels; but it is not very

wholesome to the stomach, though its bad effects are little more than momentary.

Peaches, again, are more wholesome than plums; and the same is the case with the juice of the fruit, extracted, and taken in either wine or vinegar. Indeed, what known fruit is there that is more wholesome as an aliment than this? There is none, in fact, that has a less powerful smell, ^[Note] or a greater abundance of juice, though it has a tendency to create thirst. ^[Note] The leaves of it, beaten up and applied topically, arrest hæmorrhage: the kernels, mixed with oil and vinegar, are used as a liniment for head-ache. ^[Note]

The fruit of the wild plum, or the bark of the root, ^[Note] boiled down to one-third in one hemina of astringent wine, arrests looseness of the bowels and griping pains in the stomach: the proper dose of the decoction is one cyathus.

Upon the bark of the wild and cultivated plums we find an excrescence ^[Note] growing, known to the Greeks by the name of "lichen:" it is remarkably good for chaps and condylomatous swellings.

In Egypt and in the Isle of Cyprus there are, as already

stated, ^[Note] mulberry-trees of a peculiar kind, being of a nature that is truly marvellous; for, if the outer bark is peeled off, they emit a great abundance of juice; but if a deeper incision is made, they are found to be quite dry. ^[Note] This juice is an antidote to the venom of serpents, is good for dysentery, disperses inflamed tumours and all kinds of gatherings, heals wounds, and allays both head-ache and ear-ache: it is taken in drink for affections of the spleen, and is used as a liniment for the same purpose, as also for fits of shivering. This juice, however, very soon breeds worms.

Among ourselves, too, the juice which exudes from the mulberry-tree is employed for an equal number of purposes: taken in wine, it neutralizes the noxious effects of aconite ^[Note] and the venom of spiders, relaxes the bowels, and expels tapeworm and other animals which breed in the intestines; ^[Note] the bark of the tree, pounded, has also a similar effect. The leaves, boiled in rain-water with the bark of the black fig and the vine, are used for dyeing the hair.

The juice of the fruit has a laxative effect immediately upon the bowels, though the fruit itself, for the moment, acts beneficially upon the stomach, being of a refreshing nature, but productive of thirst. If no other food is taken upon them, mulberries ^[Note] are of a swelling tendency. The juice of unripe mulberries acts astringently upon the bowels. The marvels which are presented by this tree, and of which we have made some mention ^[Note] when describing it, would almost appear to belong to a creature gifted with animation.

From the fruit of the mulberry a medicament is prepared, called "panchrestos," ^[Note] "stomatice," or "arteriace:" the following is the method employed. Three sextarii of the juice

are reduced, at a slow heat, to the consistency of honey; two denarii of dried omphacium ^[Note] or one of myrrh, with one denarius of saffron, are then added, the whole being beaten up together and mixed with the decoction. There is no medica- ment known that is more soothing than this, for affections of the mouth, the trachea, the uvula, and the stomach. There is also another mode of preparing it: two sextarii of mulberry juice and one of Attic honey are boiled down in the manner above stated.

There are some other marvellous properties, also, which are mentioned in reference to this tree. When the tree is in bud, and before the appearance of the leaves, the germs of the fruit must be gathered with the left hand—the Greeks give them the name of "ricini." ^[Note] These germs, worn as an amulet before they have touched the ground, have the effect of arresting hæmrrhage, whether proceeding from a wound, from the mouth, from the nostrils, or from piles; for which purposes they are, accordingly, put away and kept. Similar virtues are attributed to a branch just beginning to bear, broken off at full moon, provided also it has not touched the ground: this branch, it is said, attached to the arm, is peculiarly efficacious for the suppression of the catamenia when in excess. The same effect is produced, it is said, when the woman herself pulls it off, whatever time it may happen to be, care being taken not to let it touch the ground, and to wear it attached to the body. The leaves of the mulberry-tree beaten up fresh, or a decoction of them dried, are applied topically for stings inflicted by serpents: an infusion of them, taken in drink, is equally efficacious for that purpose. The juice extracted from the bark of the root, taken in wine or oxycrate, counteracts the venom of the scorpion.

We must also give some account of the method of preparing this medicament employed by the ancients: extracting the juice from the fruit, both ripe and unripe, they mixed it to- gether, and then boiled it down in a copper vessel to the con-

sistency of honey. Some persons were in the habit of adding myrrh and cypress, and then left it to harden in the sun, mixing it with a spatula three times a-day. Such was their receipt for the stomatice, which was also employed by them to promote the cicatrization of wounds. There was another method, also, of dealing with the juice of this fruit: extracting the juice, they used the dried fruit with various articles of food, ^[Note] as tending to heighten the flavour; and they were in the habit of employing it medicinally ^[Note] for corroding ulcers, pituitous expectorations, and all cases in which astringents were required for the viscera. They used it also for the purpose of cleaning ^[Note] the teeth. A third mode of employing the juices of this tree is to boil down the leaves and root, the decoction being used, with oil, ^[Note] as a liniment for the cure of burns. The leaves are also applied by themselves for the same purpose.

An incision made in the root at harvest-time, supplies a juice that is extremely useful for tooth-ache, gatherings, and suppurations; it acts, also, as a purgative upon the bowels. Mulberry-leaves, macerated in urine, remove the hair from hides.

Cherries are relaxing to the bowels and unwholesome ^[Note] to the stomach; in a dried state, however, they are astringent and diuretic. ^[Note] I find it stated by some authors, that if cherries are taken early in the morning covered with dew, the kernels being eaten with them, the bowels will be so strongly acted upon as to effect a cure for gout in the feet.

Medlars, the setania ^[Note] excepted, which has pretty nearly the same properties as the apple, act astringently upon the stomach and arrest looseness of the bowels. The same is the case, too, with dried sorbs; ^[Note] but when eaten fresh, they are beneficial to the stomach, and are good for fluxes of the bowels.

Pine-nuts, ^[Note] with the resin in them, are slightly bruised, and then boiled down in water to one-half; the proportion of water being one sextarius to each nut. This decoction, taken in doses of two cyathi, is used for the cure of spitting of blood. The bark of the tree, boiled in wine, is given for griping pains in the bowels. The kernels of the pine-nut allay thirst, and assuage acridities and gnawing pains in the stomach; they tend also to neutralize vicious humours in that region, recruit the strength, and are salutary to the kidneys and the bladder. They would seem, however, to exercise an irritating effect ^[Note] upon the fauces, and to increase cough. Taken in water, wine, raisin wine, or a decoction of dates, they carry off bile. For gnawing pains in the stomach of extreme violence, they are mixed with cucumber-seed and juice of purslain; they are employed, too, in a similar manner for ulcerations of the bladder and kidneys, ^[Note] having a diuretic effect.

A decoction of the root of the bitter almond ^[Note] clears the complexion, and gives the face a brighter colour. ^[Note] Bitter al- monds are provocative of sleep, ^[Note] and sharpen the appetite;

they act, also, as a diuretic and as an emmenagogue. They are used topically for head-ache, when there is fever more particularly. Should the head-ache proceed from inebriation, ^[Note] they are applied with vinegar, rose-oil, and one sextarius of water. Used in combination with amylum ^[Note] and mint, they arrest hæmorrhage. They are useful, also, for lethargy and epilepsy, and the head is anointed with them for the cure of epinyctis. In combination with wine, they heal putrid ulcers of an inveterate nature, and, with honey, bites inflicted by dogs. ^[Note] They are employed, also, for the cure of scaly erup- tions of the face, the parts affected being fomented first.

Taken in water, or, as is often done, in an electuary, with resin of terebinth, ^[Note] they remove pains in the liver and kidneys; used with raisin wine, they are good for calculus and strangury. Bruised in hydromel, they are useful for cleansing the skin; and taken in an electuary with the addition of a small proportion of elelisphacus, ^[Note] they are good for diseases of the liver, cough, and colic, a piece about the size of a hazel-nut being taken in honey. It is said that if five bitter almonds are taken by a person before sitting down to drink, he will be proof against inebriation; ^[Note] and that foxes, if they eat bitter almonds, ^[Note] will be sure to die immediately, if they cannot find water to lap.

As to sweet almonds, their remedial properties are not ^[Note] so extensive; still, however, they are of a purgative nature, and are diuretic. Eaten fresh, they are difficult ^[Note] of digestion.

Greek nuts, ^[Note] taken in vinegar with wormwood seed, are said

to be a cure for jaundice. Used alone, they are employed topically for the treatment of diseases of the fundament, and condylomata in particular, as also cough and spitting of blood.

Walnuts ^[Note] have received their name in Greek from being oppressive ^[Note] to the head; for, in fact, the emanations ^[Note] from the tree itself and the leaves penetrate to the brain. The kernels, also, have a similar effect when eaten, though not in so marked a degree. When fresh gathered, they are most agreeable eating; for when dry, they are more oleaginous, unwholesome to the stomach, difficult of digestion, productive of head-ache, and bad for cough, ^[Note] or for a person when about to take an emetic fasting: they are good in cases of tenesmus only, as they carry off the pituitous humours of the body. Eaten beforehand, they deaden the effects of poison, and, employed with rue and oil, they are a cure for quinsy. They act as a corrective, also, to onions, and modify their flavour. They are applied to inflammations of the ears, with a little honey, and with rue they are used for affections of the mamille, and for sprains. With onions, salt, and honey, they are applied to bites inflicted by dogs or human beings. Walnut-shells are used for cauterizing ^[Note] carious teeth; and with these shells, burnt and then beaten up in oil or wine, the heads of infants are anointed, they having a tendency to make the hair grow; hence they are used in a similar manner for alopecy also. These nuts, eaten in considerable numbers, act as an expellent upon tapeworm. ^[Note] Walnuts, when very old, are ^[Note] curative of gangrenous sores and carbuncles, of bruises also. Green walnut-shells ^[Note]

are employed for the cure of lichens and dysentery, and the leaves are beaten up with vinegar as an application for earache. ^[Note]

After the defeat of that mighty monarch, Mithridates, Cneius Pompeius found in his private cabinet a recipe for an antidote in his own hand-writing; it was to the following effect: ^[Note]— Take two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue; pound them all together, with the addition of a grain of salt; if a person takes this mixture fasting, he will be proof against all poisons for that day. ^[Note] Walnut kernels, chewed by a man fasting, and applied to the wound, effect an instantaneous cure, it is said, of bites inflicted by a mad dog.

Hazel-nuts ^[Note] are productive of head-ache, and flatulency of the stomach; they contribute, however, to the increase of flesh more than would be imagined. Parched, they are remedial for catarrhs, and beaten up and taken with hydromel, ^[Note] they are good for an inveterate cough. Some persons add grains of pepper, ^[Note] and others take them in raisin wine.

Pistachio-nuts ^[Note] have the same properties, and are productive of the same effects, as pine-nuts; in addition to which, they are used as an antidote to the venom ^[Note] of serpents, eaten or taken in drink.

Chesnuts ^[Note] have a powerful effect in arresting fluxes of the stomach and intestines, are relaxing to the bowels, are beneficial in cases of spitting of blood, and have a tendency to make flesh. ^[Note]

Fresh carobs ^[Note] are unwholesome to the stomach, and relaxing to the bowels; ^[Note] in a dried state, however, they are astringent, and are much more beneficial to the stomach; they are diuretic also. For pains in the stomach, persons boil three Syrian carobs ^[Note] with one sextarius of water, down to one-half, and drink the decoction.

The juices which exude from the branches of the cornel ^[Note] are received on a plate of red-hot iron ^[Note] without it touching the wood; the rust of which is applied for the cure of incipient lichens. The arbutus or unedo ^[Note] bears a fruit that is difficult of digestion, and injurious to the stomach.

All parts of the laurel, both the leaves, bark, and berries, are of a warming ^[Note] nature; and a decoction of them, the leaves in particular, is very useful for affections of the bladder and uterus. ^[Note] The leaves, applied topically, neutralize the poison of wasps, bees, and hornets, as also that of serpents, the seps, ^[Note] dipsas, ^[Note] and viper, in particular. Boiled in oil,

they promote the catamenia; and the more tender of the leaves beaten up with polenta, are used for inflammations of the eyes. with rue for inflammations of the testes, and with rose-oil, or oil of iris, ^[Note] for head-ache. Three leaves, chewed and swallowed for three days in succession, are a cure for cough, and beaten up with honey, for asthma. The bark of the root is dangerous to pregnant women; the root itself disperses calculi, and taken in doses of three oboli in aromatic wine, it acts beneficially on the liver. The leaves, taken in drink, act as an emetic; ^[Note] and the berries, pounded and applied as a pessary, or else taken in drink, promote menstruation. Two of the berries with the skin removed, taken in wine, are a cure for inveterate cough and hardness of breathing; if, however, this is accompanied with fever, they are given in water, or else in an electuary with raisin wine, or boiled in hydromel. Employed in a similar manner, they are good for phthisis, and for all defluxions of the chest, as they have the effect of detaching the phlegm and bringing it off.

For stings inflicted by scorpions, four laurel-berries are taken in wine. Applied with oil, they are a cure for epinyctis, freckles, running sores, ulcers of the mouth, and scaly eruptions. The juice of the berries is curative of porrigo and phthiriasis; and for pains in the ears, or hardness of hearing, it is injected into those organs with old wine and oil of roses. All venomous creatures fly at the approach of persons who have been anointed with this juice: taken in drink, the juice of the small-leaved ^[Note] laurel in particular, it is good for stings inflicted by them. The berries, ^[Note] used with wine, neu- tralize the venom of serpents, scorpions, and spiders; they are applied also, topically, with oil and vinegar, in diseases of the spleen and liver, and with honey to gangrenous sores. In cases of lassitude and shivering fits, it is a very good plan to rub the body with juice of laurel-berries mixed with nitre. Some persons are of opinion that delivery is accelerated by taking laurel-root to the amount of one acetabulum, in water, and that, used fresh, it is better than dried. It is recommended

by some authorities, to take ten of the berries in drink, for the sting of the scorpion; and in cases of relaxation of the uvula, to boil a quarter of a pound of the berries, or leaves, in three sextarii of water, down to one third, the decoction being used warm, as a gargle. For head-ache, also, it is recommended to bruise an uneven number of the berries in oil, the mixture being warmed for use.

The leaves of the Delphic laurel ^[Note] bruised and applied to the nostrils from time to time, are a preservative ^[Note] against conta- gion in pestilence, and more particularly if they are burnt. The oil of the ^[Note] Delphic laurel is employed in the preparation of cerates and the medicinal composition known as "acopum," ^[Note] and is used for fits of shivering occasioned by cold, for the relaxation of the sinews, and for the cure of pains in the side and the cold attacks in fevers. ^[Note] Warmed in the rind of a pomegranate, it is applied topically for the cure of ear-ache. A decoction of the leaves boiled down in water to one third, used as a gargle, braces the uvula, and taken in drink allays pains in the bowels and intestines. The more tender leaves, bruised in wine and applied at night, are a cure for pimples and prurigo.

The other varieties of the laurel possess properties which are nearly analogous. The root of the laurel of Alexandria, ^[Note] or of Mount Ida, ^[Note] accelerates delivery, being administered in doses of three denarii to three cyathi of sweet wine; it acts also as an emmenagogue, and brings away the after-birth. Taken in drink in a similar manner, the wild laurel, known as "daphnoides" and by the other names which we have mentioned, ^[Note] is productive of beneficial effects. The leaves of it, either fresh or dried, taken in doses of three drachmœ, in hydromel with salt, act as a purgative ^[Note] upon the bowels.

The wood, chewed, brings off phlegm, and the leaves act as an "emetic;" they are unwholesome, however, to the stomach. The berries, too, are sometimes taken, fifteen in number, as a purgative.

The white ^[Note] cultivated myrtle is employed for fewer medicinal purposes than the black one. ^[Note] The berries ^[Note] of it are good for spitting of blood, and taken in wine, they neutralize the poison of fungi. They impart an agreeable smell ^[Note] to the breath, even when eaten the day before; thus, for instance, in Menander we find the Synaristosæ ^[Note] eating them. They are taken also for dysentery, ^[Note] in doses of one denarius, in wine: and they are employed lukewarm, in wine, for the cure of obstinate ulcers on the extremities. Mixed with polenta, they are employed topically in ophthalmia, and for the cardiac disease ^[Note] they are applied to the left breast. For stings inflicted by scorpions, diseases of the bladder, head-ache, and fistulas of the eye before suppuration, they are similarly employed; and for tumours and pituitous eruptions, the kernels are first removed and the berries are then pounded in old wine. The juice of the berries ^[Note] acts astringently upon the bowels, and is diuretic: mixed with cerate it is applied topically to blisters, pituitous eruptions, and wounds inflicted by the phalangium; it imparts a black tint, ^[Note] also, to the hair.

The oil of this myrtle is of a more soothing nature than the juice, and the wine ^[Note] which is extracted from it, and which possesses the property of never inebriating, is even more so. This wine, used when old, acts astringently upon the stomach and bowels, cures griping pains in those regions, and dispels nausea.

The dried leaves, powdered and sprinkled upon the body, check profuse perspirations, in fever even; they are good, too, used as a fomentation, for cœliac affections, procidence of the uterus, diseases of the fundament, running ulcers, erysipelas, loss of the hair, scaly and other eruptions, and burns. This powder is used as an ingredient, also, in the plasters known as "liparæ;" ^[Note] and for the same reason the oil of the leaves is used for a similar purpose, being extremely efficacious as an application to the humid parts of the body, the mouth and the uterus, for example.

The leaves themselves, beaten up with wine, neutralize ^[Note] the bad effects of fungi; and they are employed, in combination with wax, for diseases of the joints, and gatherings. A decoction of them, in wine, is taken for dysentery and dropsy. Dried and reduced to powder, they are sprinkled upon ulcers and hæmorrhages. They are useful, also, for the removal of freckles, and for the cure of hang-nails, ^[Note] whitlows, condylo- mata, affections of the testes, and sordid ulcers. In combination with cerate, they are used for burns.

For purulent discharges from the ears, the ashes of the leaves are employed, as well as the juice and the decoction: the ashes are also used in the composition of antidotes. For a similar purpose the blossoms are stripped from off the young branches, which are burnt in a furnace, and then pounded in wine. The ashes of the leaves, too, are used for the cure of burns. To prevent ulcerations from causing swellings in the inguinal glands, it will suffice for the patient to carry ^[Note] a sprig of myrtle about him which has never touched the ground or any implement of iron.

We have already described the manner in which myrtidanum ^[Note] is made. Applied in a pessary, or as a fomentation or liniment, it is good for affections of the uterus, being much more efficacious than the bark of the tree, or the leaves and seed. There is a juice also extracted from the more tender leaves, which are pounded in a mortar for the purpose, astringent wine, or, according to one method, rain-water, being poured upon them a little at a time. This extract is used for the cure of ulcers of the mouth, the fundament, the uterus, and the abdomen. It is employed, also, for dyeing the hair black, the suppression of exudations at the arm-pits, ^[Note] the removal of freckles, and other purposes in which astringents are required.

The wild myrtle, oxymyrsine, ^[Note] or chamæmyrsine, differs from the cultivated myrtle in the redness of its berries and its diminutive height. The root of it is held in high esteem; a decoction of it, in wine, is taken for pains in the kidneys and strangury, more particularly when the urine is thick and fetid. Pounded in wine, it is employed for the cure of jaundice, and as a purgative for the uterus. The same method is adopted, also, with the young shoots, which are sometimes roasted in hot ashes and eaten as a substitute for asparagus. ^[Note]

The berries, taken with wine, or oil and vinegar, break calculi ^[Note] of the bladder: beaten up with rose-oil and vinegar, they allay head-ache. Taken in drink, they are curative of jaundice. Castor calls the wild myrtle with prickly leaves, or oxymyrsine, from which brooms are made, by the name of "ruscus" ^[Note]—the medicinal properties of it are just the same.

Thus much, then, with reference to the medicinal pro-

perties of the cultivated trees; let us now pass on to the wild ones.

Summary.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and eighteen.

Roman Authors Quoted.—C. Valgius, ^[Note] Pompeius Linnæus, ^[Note] Sextius Niger ^[Note] who wrote in Greek, Julius Bassus ^[Note] who wrote in Greek, Antonius Castor, ^[Note] M. Varro, ^[Note] Cornelius Celsus, ^[Note] Fabianus. ^[Note]

Foreign Authors Quoted.—Theophrastus, ^[Note] Democritus, ^[Note] Orpheus, ^[Note] Pythagoras, ^[Note] Mago, ^[Note] Menander ^[Note] who wrote the "Biochresta," Nicandcr, ^[Note] Homer, Hesiod, ^[Note] Musæus, ^[Note] Sophocles, ^[Note] Anaxilaüs. ^[Note]

Medical Authors Quoted.— Mnesitheus, ^[Note] Callimachus, ^[Note] Phanias ^[Note] the physician, Timaristus, ^[Note] Simus, ^[Note] Hippocrates, ^[Note] Chrysippus, ^[Note] Diocles, ^[Note] Ophelion, ^[Note] Heraclides ^[Note] Hicesius, ^[Note] Dionysius, ^[Note] Apollodorus ^[Note] of Citium, Apollodorus ^[Note] of Tarentum, Plistonicus, ^[Note] Medius, ^[Note] Dieuches, ^[Note] Cleophantus, ^[Note] Philistion, ^[Note] Asclepiades, ^[Note] Crateuas, ^[Note] Petronius Diodotus, ^[Note] Iollas, ^[Note]

Erasistratus, ^[Note] Diagoras, ^[Note] Andreas, ^[Note] Mnesides, ^[Note] Epicharmus, ^[Note] Damion, ^[Note] Dalion, ^[Note] Sosimenes, ^[Note] Tlepolemus, ^[Note] Metrodorus, ^[Note] Solo, ^[Note] Lycus, ^[Note] Olympias ^[Note] of Thebes, Philinus, ^[Note] Petrichus, ^[Note] Micton, ^[Note] Glaucias, ^[Note] Xenocrates. ^[Note]