Chap. 53.] MI>'t: 257 



the time of Pompeius ^ragnus, by a person affected with this 

 malady covering his face with the leaves for the purpose of 

 neutralizing the bad smell that arose therefrom. These leaves 

 are employed also as a liniment, and in drink, with a mixture 

 of salt, oil, and vinegar, for the stings of scorpions ; and, in 

 doses of two drachmae to two cyathi of wine, for those of sco- 

 lopendrse and serpents. A decoction, too, of the juice is given 

 for the sting of the scolopendra.^^ Leaves of wild mint are 

 kept, dried and reduced to a fine powder, as a remedy for 

 ])oisons of every description. Spread on the ground or burnt, 

 this plant has the effect of driving away scorpions. 



Taken in drink, wild mint carries off the lochia in females 

 after parturition ; but, if taken before, it is fatal to the foetus. 

 It is extremely eflScacious in cases of rupture and convulsions, 

 and, though in a somewhat less degree, for orthopnoea,^ gripings 

 of the bowels, and cholera : it is good, too, as a topical appli- 

 cation for lumbago and gout. The juice of it is injected into 

 the ears for worms breeding there ; it is taken also for jaun- 

 dice, and is employed in liniments for scrofulous sores. It 

 prevents^" the recurrence of lascivious dreams ; and taken in 

 vinegar, it expels tape-worm.^^ For tlie cure of porrigo, it is 

 put in vinegar, and the head is washed with the mixture in 

 the sun. 



CHAP. 53. — MINT : FOETT-ONE EEMEDIES. 



The very smell of mint^^ reanimates the spirits, and its 

 flavour gives a remarkable zest to food : hence it is that it is 

 so generally an ingredient in our sauces. It has the effect of 

 preventing milk from turning sour, or curdling and thickening ; 

 hence it is that it is so generally put into milk used for drink- 

 ing, to prevent any danger of persons being choked'" by it in a 



^^ Galen and Dioscorides say the same; but it is not the fact; the leaves 

 being of no utility wluitever. 



^^ Difficulty of' breathing, unless the neck is kept in a straight position. 



^'' Fee is inclined to think exactly the contrary. 



^^ Its properties as a verrnifii£:e are contested 



^3 According to ancient fable,"Minthu, the daughter of Cocytus, and be- 

 loved by Pluto, was changed by Proserpine into this plant : it was gene- 

 rally employed also in the mysteries of the Greeks. It is the Mentha 

 sativa of Linnsens. 



'" Fee says that this passage alone would prove pretty clearly that Tliny 

 had no idea of the existence of the gastric juices. 



VOL. IV. S 



