14 plint's natubal history. [Book XXXII. 



the same colour as this last, covered with thin coats full of a 

 liquid of the consistency of honey mixed with wax, possessed 

 of a fetid smell, of a bitter, acrid taste, and friable to the 

 touch. 



The most efficacious castoreum is that which comes from 

 Pontus and Galatia, the next best being the produce of Africa. 

 "When inhaled, it acts as a sternutatory. Mixed with oil of 

 roses and peucedanum,*'^ and applied to the head, it is produc- 

 tive of narcotic effects — a result which is equally produced by 

 taking it in water ; for which reason it is employed in the 

 treatment of phrenitis. Used as a fumigation, it acts as an 

 excitant upon patients suffering from lethargy : and similarly 

 employed, or used in the form of a suppository, it dispels hy- 

 sterical'*^ suffocations. It acts also as an emmenagogue and as 

 an expellent of the afterbirth, being taken by the patient, in 

 doses of two drachmae, with pennyroyal,^^ in water. It is em- 

 ployed also for the cure of vertigo, opisthotony, fits of trem- 

 bling, spasms, affections of the sinews, sciatica, stomachic 

 complaints, and paralysis, the patient either being rubbed with 

 it all over, or else taking it as an electuary, bruised and incor- 

 porated with seed of vitex,''^ vinegar, and oil of roses, to the 

 consistency of honey. In the last form, too, it is taken for the 

 cure of epilepsy, and in a potion, for the purpose of dispelling 

 flatulency and gripings in the bowels, and for counteracting the 

 effects^of poison. 



When taken as a potion, the only difference is in the mode 

 of mixing it, according to the poison that it is intended to 

 neutralize ; thus, for example, when it is taken for the sting 

 of the scorpion, wine is used as the medium ; and when for 

 injuries inflicted by spiders or by the phalangium,^^ honied 

 wine where it is intended to be brought up again, and rue 

 where it is desirable that it should remain upon the stomach. 

 For injuries inflicted by the chalcis,^° it is taken with myrtle 

 wine ; for the sting of the cerastes^^ or prester^^ with panax^^ or 



85 See B. XXV. c. 70. 



8^ Castor is still given to females to inhale, when suffering from hysteria. 



8" See B. XX. c. 54. 88 gee B. xxiv. c. 38. 



89 See B. viii. c. 41, B. x. c. 95, and B. xi. cc. 24, 28. 



^'^ See B. xxix. c. 32. 9i See B. viii. c. 35, and B. xvi, c. 80. 



92 See B. XX. c. 81 ; B. xxii. c. 13 ; B. xxiii. c. 23, and B. xxiv. c. 73. 



93 See B. xii. c. 57. 



