Latin Texts & Translations

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]