| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 32.51 | Plin. Nat. 32.52 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 32.53 |
Among the aquatic productions ought also to be mentioned calamochnos, in Latin known as "adarea," [Note] a substance which collects about small reeds, from a mixture of the foam of fresh and of sea water. It possesses certain caustic properties, and hence it is that it is so useful as an ingredient in "acopa" [Note] and as a remedy for cold shiverings; it is used too, for removing freckles upon the face of females. And now we are speaking of adarca, the reed ought equally to be mentioned. The root of that known as the "phragmites," [Note] pounded fresh, is curative of sprains, and, applied topically with vinegar, removes pains in the spine. The calcined bark, too, of the Cyprian [Note] reed, known as the "donax," is curative of alopecy and inveterate ulcers; and its leaves are good for the extraction of foreign bodies adhering to the flesh, and for the cure of erysipelas: should, however, the flower of the panicle happen to enter the ears, deafness [Note] is the consequence.
The ink of the sæpia [Note] is possessed of such remarkable potency, that if it is put into a lamp, Anaxilaüs tells us, the light will become entirely changed, [Note] and all present will look as black as Æthiopians. The bramble-frog, boiled in water, and given to swine with their drink, is curative of the maladies with which they are affected; an effect equally produced by the ashes of any other kind of frog. If wood is rubbed with the pulmo marinus, [Note] it will have all the appearance of being
on fire; so much so, indeed, that a walking-stick, thus treated, will light the way like a torch. [Note]
| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 32.51 | Plin. Nat. 32.52 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 32.53 |
