Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder
Page 172
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CHAP. 16.
SPONDYLIUM: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.
At the same time we have also spoken of spondylium; an infusion of which is poured upon the head in cases of phrenitis and lethargy, and of head-ache of long standing. Combined with old oil, it is taken in drink for affections of the liver, jaundice, epilepsy, hardness of breathing, and hysterical suffocations, maladies for which it is equally serviceable in the shape of a fumigation. It relaxes the bowels, and with rue it is applied to ulcers of a serpiginous nature. The juice which is extracted from the blossom is a most useful injection for suppurations of the ears; but the moment it is extracted it should be covered up, as flies and other insects of a similar nature are remarkably fond of it. Scrapings of the root, introduced into the interior of fistulas, have a caustic effect upon their callosities; and they are some- times used, in combination with the juice, as an injection for the ears. The root itself also is prescribed for jaundice, and for diseases of the liver and uterus. If the head is rubbed with the juice, it will make the hair curl.
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CHAP. 17.
SPHAGNOS, SPHACOS, OR BRYON: FIVE REMEDIES.
Sphagnos, sphacos, or bryon, grows, as we have already stated, in Gaul. A decoction of it, employed as a sitting-bath, is useful for affections of the uterus: mixed with nasturtium, and beaten up in salt water, it is good for the knees and for swellings in the thighs. Taken in drink with wine and dried resin, it acts very powerfully as a diuretic. Pounded in wine with juniper berries, and taken in drink, it draws off the water in dropsy.
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CHAP. 18.
THE TEREBINTH: SIX REMEDIES.
The leaves and root of the terebinth are used as applica- tions for gatherings; and a decoction of them is strengthening to the stomach. The seed of it is taken in wine for head-ache and strangury: it is slightly laxative to the bowels, and acts as an aphrodisiac.
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CHAP. 19.
THE PITCH-TREE AND THE LARCH: EIGHT REMEDIES.
The leaves of the pitch-tree and the larch, beaten up and boiled in vinegar, are good for tooth-ache. The ashes of the bark are used for excoriations and burns. Taken in drink this substance arrests diarrhœa, and acts as a diuretic; and used as a fumigation, it reduces the uterus when displaced. The leaves of the pitch-tree are particularly good for the liver, taken in doses of one drachma in hydromel.
It is a well-known fact that forests planted solely with trees from which pitch and resin are extracted, are remarkably beneficial for patients suffering from phthisis, or who are un- able to recover their strength after a long illness: indeed it is said, that in such cases to breathe the air of localities thus planted, is more beneficial even than to take a voyage to Egypt. or to go on a summer’s journey to the mountains to drink the milk there, impregnated with the perfumes of plants.
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CHAP. 20.
THE CHAMÆPITYS: TEN REMEDIES.
The chamæpitys, called in Latin “abiga,” because it promotes abortion, and known to some as “incense of the earth,” has branches a cubit in length, and the odour and blossoms of the pine. Another variety of it, which is somewhat shorter, has all the appearance of being bent down- wards; and there is a third, which, though it has a similar smell, and consequently the same name, is altogether smaller, with a stem the thickness of one’s finger, and a diminutive, rough, pale leaf: it is found growing in rocky localities. All these varieties are in reality herbaceous productions; but in consequence of the resemblance of the name, I have thought it as well not to defer the consideration of them.
These plants are good for stings inflicted by scorpions, and are useful as an application, mixed with dates or quinces, for maladies of the liver: a decoction of them with barley-meal is used for the kidneys and the bladder. A decoction of them in water is used also for jaundice and for strangury. The kind last mentioned, in combination with honey, is good for wounds inflicted by serpents, and a pessary is made of it, with honey, as a detergent for the uterus. Taken in drink it brings away coagulated blood, and rubbed upon the body it acts as a sudorific: it is particularly useful also for the kidneys. Pills of a purgative nature are made of it for dropsy, with figs. Taken in wine, in doses of one victoriatus, it dispels lumbago, and cures coughs that are not of an inveterate description. A decoction of it in vinegar, taken in drink, will instantaneously bring away the dead fœtus, it is said.
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CHAP. 21.
THE PITYUSA: SIX REMEDIES.
For a similar reason, too, we shall accord the same distinction to the pityusa, a plant which some persons reckon among the varieties of the tithymalus. It is a shrub, re- sembling the pitch-tree in appearance, and with a diminutive purple blossom. A decoction of the root, taken in doses of one hemina, carries off the bilious and pituitous secretions by stool, and a spoonful of the seed, used as a suppository, has a similar effect. A decoction of the leaves in vinegar removes scaly eruptions of the skin; and in combination with boiled rue, it effects the cure of diseases of the mamillæ, gripings in the bowels, wounds inflicted by serpents, and incipient gatherings of most kinds.
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CHAP. 22.
RESINS: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.
In treating, first of wines, and then of trees, we have stated that resin is the produce of the trees above-mentioned, and have described the several varieties of it, and the countries in which they are respectively produced. There are two principal kinds of resin, the dry and the liquid. The dry resins are extracted from the pine and the pitch-tree, the liquid from the terebinth, the larch, the lentisk, and the cypress; these last producing it in the province of Asia and in Syria. It is an error to suppose that the resin of the pitch- tree is the same as that of the larch; for the pitch-tree yields an unctuous resin, and of the same consistency as frankincense, while that of the larch is thin, like honey in colour, and of a powerful odour. It is but very rarely that medical men make use of liquid resin, and when they do, it is mostly that produced by the larch, which is administered in an egg for cough and ulcerations of the viscera. The resin of the pine, too, is far from extensively used, and that of the other kinds is always boiled before use: on the various methods of boiling it, we have enlarged at sufficient length already.
As to the produce of the various trees, the resin of the terebinth is held in high esteem, as being the most odoriferous and the lightest, the kinds which come from Cyprus and Syria being looked upon as the best. Both these kinds are the colour of Attic honey; but that of Cyprus has more body, and dries with greater rapidity. In the dry resins the qualities requisite are whiteness, purity, and transparency: but whatever the kind, the produce of mountainous districts is always preferred to that of champaign countries, and that of a north- eastern aspect to that of any other quarter. Resins are dissolved in oil as a liniment and emollient cataplasm for wounds; but when they are used as a potion, bitter almonds are also employed. The curative properties of resins consist in their tendency to close wounds, to act as a detergent upon gatherings and so disperse them, and to cure affections of the chest.
The resin of the terebinth * * * it is used too, warmed, as a liniment for pains in the limbs, the application being removed after the patient has taken a walk in the sun. Among slave-dealers too, there is a practice of rubbing the bodies of the slaves with it, which is done with the greatest care, as a corrective for an emaciated appearance; the resin having the property of relaxing the skin upon all parts of the body, and rendering it more capable of being plumped out by food.
Next after the resin of the terebinth comes that of the lentisk; it possesses astringent properties, and is the most powerful diuretic of them all. The other resins are laxative to the bowels, promote the digestion of crudities, allay the violence of inveterate coughs, and, employed as a fumigation, disengage the uterus of foreign bodies with which
it is surcharged: they are particularly useful too as neutralizing the effects of mistletoe; and, mixed with bull suet and honey, they are curative of inflamed tumours and affections of a similar nature. The resin of the lentisk is very convenient as a bandoline for keeping stubborn eyelashes in their place: it is useful also in cases of fractures, suppurations of the ears, and prurigo of the generative organs. The resin of the pine is the best of them all for the cure of wounds in the head.
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CHAP. 23. (7.)
PITCH: TWENTY-THEEE REMEDIES.
We have also stated on a previous occasion from what tree pitch is extracted, and the methods employed for that purpose. Of this also there are two kinds; thick pitch and liquid pitch. Of the several varieties of thick pitch the most useful for medicinal purposes is that of Bruttium; for being both extremely unctuous and very resinous, it reunites the properties both of resin and of pitch, that of a yellow reddish colour being the most highly esteemed. As to the statement made in addition to this, that the produce of the male tree is the best, I do not believe that any such distinction is at all possible.
Pitch is of a warming, cicatrizing tendency: mixed with polenta it is particularly useful as a neutralizer of the venom of the cerastes, and in combination with honey it is used for quinzy, catarrhs, and fits of sneezing caused by phlegm. With oil of roses it is used as an injection for the ears, and employed as a liniment with wax it heals lichens. It relaxes the bowels, also, and used as an electuary, or applied with honey to the tonsillary glands, it facilitates expectoration. Applied topically, it acts as a detergent upon ulcers, and makes new flesh. Mixed with raisins and axle-grease, it forms a detergent plaster for carbuncles and putrid ulcers, and, with pine-bark or sulphur, for serpiginous sores. Pitch has been administered too by some, in doses of one cyathus, for phthisis and inveterate coughs. It heals chaps of the Feet and rectum, inflamed tumours, and malformed nails; and used as a fumigation, it is curative of indurations and derangements of the uterus, and of lethargy. Boiled with barley-meal and the urine of a youth who has not arrived at puberty, it causes scrofulous sores to suppurate. Dry pitch is used also for the cure of alopecy. For affections of the mamillæ, Bruttian pitch is warmed in wine with fine spelt meal, and applied as hot as can be borne.
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CHAP. 24.
PISSELÆON AND PALIMPISSA: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.
We have already described the way in which liquid pitch and the oil known as pisselæon are made. Some persons boil the pitch over again, and give it the name of “palimpissa.” For quinzy and affections of the uvula, liquid pitch is employed internally. It is used also for the cure of ear-ache, for the improvement of the sight, and as a salve for the lips; and is employed for hysterical suffocations, inveterate coughs, profuse expectorations, spasms, nervousness, opisthotony, paralysis, and pains in the sinews. It is a very excellent remedy too for itch in dogs and beasts of burden.
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CHAP. 25.
PISSASPHALTOS: TWO REMEDIES.
There is pissasphaltos too, a natural production of the territory of the Apolloniates, and consisting of pitch mixed with bitumen. Some persons, however, make this mixture artificially, and employ it for the cure of itch in cattle, and of injuries done by the young sucklings to the mamillæ. The most esteemed portion of it is that which floats on the surface when boiled.
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CHAP. 26.
ZOPISSA: ONE REMEDY.
We have already stated that zopissa is the pitch, macerated with salt-water and wax, that has been scraped from off the bottoms of ships. The best kind is that taken from ships which have been to sea for the first time. It is used as an ingredient in plasters of an emollient nature, employed to disperse gatherings.
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CHAP. 27.
THE TORCH-TREE: ONE BEMEDY.
A decoction in vinegar of the wood of the torch-tree makes a most efficacious gargle for tooth-ache.
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CHAP. 28.
THE LENTISK: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.
The seed, bark, and tear-like juices of the lentisk are diuretics, and act astringently upon the bowels: a decoction of them, used as a fomentation, is curative of serpiginous sores, and is applied topically for humid ulcerations and erysipelas; it is employed also as a collutory for the gums. The teeth are rubbed with the leaves in cases of tooth-ache, and they are rinsed with a decoction of the leaves when loose: this decoction has the effect also of staining the hair. The gum of this tree is useful for diseases of the rectum, and all cases in which desiccatives and calorifics are needed; a decoction too of the gum is good for the stomach, acting as a carminative and diuretic; it is applied also to the head, in cases of headache, with polenta. The more tender of the leaves are used as an application for inflammations of the eyes.
The mastich produced by the lentisk is used as a bandoline for the hairs of the eye-lids, in compositions for giving a plumpness to the face, and in cosmetics for smoothing the skin. It is employed for spitting of blood and for inveterate coughs, as well as all those purposes for which gum acacia is in request. It is used also for the cure of excoriations; which are fomented either with the oil extracted from the seed, mixed with wax, or else with a decoction of the leaves in oil. Fomentations too are made of a decoction of it in water for diseases of the male organs. I know for a fact, that in the illness of Considia, the daughter of M. Servilius, a personage of consular rank, her malady, which had long resisted all the more severe methods of treatment, was at last successfully treated with the milk of goats that had been fed upon the leaves of the lentisk.
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CHAP. 29. (8.)
THE PLANE-TREE: TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES.
The plane-tree neutralizes the bad effects of bites inflicted by the bat. The excrescences of this tree, taken in doses of four denarii, in wine, act as an antidote to the venom of serpents of all kinds and of scorpions, and are curative of burns. Pounded with strong vinegar, squill vinegar in particular, they arrest hæmorrhage of every kind; and with the addition of honey, they remove freckles, carcinomatous sores, and black spots of long standing on the skin.
The leaves again, and the bark of this tree, are used in the form of liniments for gatherings and suppurations, and a decoction of them is employed for a similar purpose. A decoction of the bark in vinegar is remedial for affections of the teeth, and the more tender of the leaves boiled in white wine are good for the eyes. The down which grows upon the leaves is injurious to both the ears and eyes. The ashes of the excrescences of this tree heal such parts of the body as have been burnt or frost-bitten. The bark, taken in wine, reduces the inflammation caused by the stings of scorpions.
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CHAP. 30.
THE ASH: FIVE REMEDIES.
We have already made some mention of the virtues possessed by the ash as an antidote to the venom of serpents. The seed of it is enclosed in follicules, which are good for diseases of the liver, and, in combination with wine, for pains in the sides: they are employed also for drawing off the water in dropsy. They have the property, too, of diminishing obesity, and of gradually reducing the body to a state of comparative emaciation, the follicules being pounded in wine and administered in proportion to the bodily strength; thus, for instance, to a child, five of them are given in three cyathi of wine, but for persons in more robust health, seven are prescribed, in five cyathi of wine.
We must not omit to state that the shavings and saw-dust of this wood are of a highly dangerous nature, according to some.
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CHAP. 31.
THE MAPLE: ONE REMEDY.
The root of the maple, beaten up in wine, is extremely efficacious as a topical application for pains in the liver.
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CHAP. 32.
THE POPLAR: EIGHT REMEDIES.
The black poplar which grows in Crete is looked upon as the most efficacious of them all. The seed of it, taken in vinegar, is good for epilepsy. This tree produces a resin also to a small extent, which is made use of for emollient plasters. The leaves, boiled in vinegar, are applied topically for gout. A moisture that exudes from the clefts of the black poplar removes warts, and pimples caused by friction. Poplars produce also on the leaves a kind of sticky juice, from which bees prepare their propolis: indeed this juice, mixed with water, has the same virtues as propolis.