412 plint's natueal history. [Book XVI. 



one variety of it, known as the cynosbatos, 70 bears a flower 

 similar to- the rose. There is a third variety, known to the 

 Greeks as the Idaean 71 bramble, from the place where it grows : 

 it is slighter than the others, with smaller thorns, and not so 

 hooked. Its flower, mixed with honey, is employed as an 

 ointment for sore eyes and erysipelas : and an infusion of it 

 in water is used for diseases of the stomach. 72 



The elder 72 ' bears a small black berry, which contains a vis- 

 cous juice, employed more particularly for staining 73 the hair. 

 The berries, too, are boiled in water and eaten. 74 



CHAP. 72. (38.) THE JUICES OF TREES. 



There is a juice in the bark of trees, which must be looked 

 upon as their blood, though it is not of a similar nature in all. 

 In the fig it is of a milky consistency, and has the peculiar 

 property of curdling milk, and so forming cheese. 75 In the 

 cherry-tree this juice is gummy, in the elm clammy, in the 

 apple viscous and fatty, while in the vine and the pear it is 

 watery. The more viscous this humour is, the more long- 

 lived the tree. • In a word, we find in the bodies of trees — as 

 with all other beings that are animated — skin, blood, flesh, 

 sinews, veins, bones, and marrow ; the bark serving them in 

 place of skin. It is a singular fact connected with the mul- 

 berry-tree, that when the medical men wish to extract its juice, 

 if the incision is lightly made, by a blow with a stone, and at 

 the second hour of the day in spring, the juice will flow : but 

 if, on the other hand, a wound is inflicted to any depth, it has 

 all the appearance of being dried up. 



Immediately beneath the bark in most trees there is a fatty 

 substance, which, from its colour, has obtained the name of 

 alburnum : 76 it is soft, and is the very worst part of the wood, 



Linnaeus ; the same as the Rubus tomentosus, and the Rubus corylifolius 

 of other modern botanists. 



70 The Rosa canina of Linnaeus : the dog-rose or Eglantine. 



71 The Rubus Idaeus of botanists ; the ordinary raspberry. 



72 See B. xxiv. c. 75. 72 * See B. xxiv. c. 3-5. 



73 They are still used for dyeing, but not for staining the hair. 



74 Only as a purgative, probably. 



75 Though the acid it contains would curdle milk, still its natural 

 acridity would disqualify it from being used for making cheese. 



76 The white sap or inner bark ; the aubier of the French. Fee re- 

 marks, that its supposed analogy with fat is incorrect. 



