288 plint's NATUEAL HISTOEY. [Book XV' 



is made of bitter almonds dried and beaten into a cake, after 

 which they are steeped in water, and then beaten again. An 

 oil is extracted from the laurel also, with the aid of olive oil. 

 Some persons use the berries only for this purpose, while 

 others, again, employ the leaves ^ and the outer skin of the 

 berries: some add storax also, and other odoriferous sub- 

 stances. The best kind for this purpose is the broad-leaved or 

 wild laurel, 69 with a black berry. The oil, too, of the black 

 myrtle is of a similar nature ; that with the broad leaf 70 is 

 reckoned also the best. The berries are first sprinkled with 

 warm water, and then beaten, after which they are boiled : 

 some persons take the more tender leaves, and boil them in 

 olive oil, and then subject them to pressure, while others, again, 

 steep them in oil, and leave the mixture to ripen in the sun. 

 The same method is also adopted with the cultivated myrtle, 

 but the wild variety with small berries is generally preferred ; 

 by some it is known as the oxymyrsine, by others as the cha- 

 msemyrsine, and by others, again, as the acoron, 71 from its 

 strong resemblance to that plant, it being short and branching. 

 An oil is made, too, from the citrus, 72 and from the cypress ; 

 also, from the walnut, 73 and known by the name of " caryi- 

 non," 74 and from the fruit of the cedar, being generally 

 known as " pisseheon." 75 Oil is extracted from the grain of 

 Cnidos, 76 the seed being first thoroughly cleaned, and then 



68 An essential oil may be extracted from either ; it is of acrid taste, 

 green, and aromatic ; but does not seem to have been known to the an- 

 cients. The berries give by decoction a fixed oil, of green colour, sweet, 

 and odoriferous. The oils in general here spoken of by Pliny as extracted 

 from the laurel, are medicinal oils. 



69 The Laurus latifolia of Bauhin. 



70 The Myrtus latifolia Romana of Bauhin. It yields an essential oil, 

 and by its decoction might give a fixed oil, in small quantity, but very 

 odoriferous. As boiled with olive oil, he treats it as a volatile oil. 



71 See B. xxv. c. 100. This myrtle is the Ruscus aculeatus of Linnaeus. 



72 See B. xiii. c. 29, and B xxiii. c. 45. A volatile oil might be ex- 

 tracted from the citrus, if one of the thuyae, as also from the cypress. 



73 See B. xxiii. c. 45. It is a fixed oil, still considerably used in some 

 parts of Europe. 



74 From the Greek icapva, a " walnut." 



75 " Pitch oil." See B. xxiv. c. 11. This would be a volatile oil. 



76 See B. xxiii. c. 45, also B. xiii. c. 35. Fee is of opinion, that as no 

 fixed oil can be extracted from the Daphne Cnidium or Daphne Cneoruni, 

 Pliny must allude to a medicinal composition, like the oil of wild myrtle, 

 previously mentioned. 



