232 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX. 



too, for such maladies of the eyes as result from the action of 

 cold. 



I find other marvellous praises lavished upon the lettuce, 

 such, for instance, as that, mixed with Attic honey, it is no 

 less beneficial for affections of the chest than abrotonura ;^ 

 that the menstrual discharge is promoted in females by using 

 it as a diet ; that the seed, too, of the cultivated lettuce is 

 administered as a remedy for the stings of scorpions, and 

 that pounded, and taken in wine, it arrests all libidinous 

 dreams and imaginations during sleep; that water, too, which' 

 aftects'^' the brain will have no injurious effects upon those who 

 eat lettuce. Some persons have stated, however, that if let- 

 tuces are eaten too frequently they will prove injurious to 

 the eyesight. 



CHAP. 27. (8.) — beet: twenty-fottr remedies. 



Nor are the two varieties of the beet without their remedial 

 properties. ^° The root of either white or black beet, if hung by 

 a string, fresh- gathered, and softened with water, is said to 

 be efficacious for the stings of serpents. White beet, boiled 

 and eaten with raw garlic, is taken for tapeworm ; the root, 

 too, of the black kind, similarly boiled in water, removes por- 

 rigo ; indeed, it is generally stated, that the black beet is the 

 more efficacious®' of the two. The juice of black beet is good 

 for inveterate head-aches and vertigo, and injected into the 

 ears, it stops singing in those organs. It is a diuretic, also, 

 and employed in injections is a cure for dysentery and jaun- 

 dice. 



This juice, used as a liniment, allays tooth-ache, and is good 

 for the stings of serpents ; but due care must be taken that it is 

 extracted from this root only. A decoction, too, of beet-root 

 is a remedy for chilblains. 



A liniment of white beet-root applied to the forehead, 

 arrests defluxions of the eyes, and mixed with a little alum it 

 is an excellent remedy for erysipelas. Beaten up, and applied 



* Or southern-vrood. See "R. xxi. c. 34. 



^ See B. xxxi. cc. 11 and 12. 



«" There are few plants, Fee says, which are so utterly destitute of all 

 remedial properties as the beet. See B. xix. c. 40. 



^1 Fee says that the leaves of beet are not at all efficacious except as 

 applications for inflammations of the body. 



