386 pliny's natural history. [Book XXI. 



itself; hence it is, that, beaten up with oil, it is used as a cure 

 for the sting of the asp. 



CHAP. 106. — SIX MEDICINES DERIVED FEOM THE COR- 

 CHORUS. 



The corchorus*'' is a plant which is used at Alexandria as an 

 article of food : the leaves of it are rolled up, one upon the 

 other, like those of the mulberrj^ and it is wholesome, it is 

 said, for the viscera, and in cases of alopecy, being good also 

 for the removal of freckles. I find it stated also, that it cures 

 the scab in cattle very rapidly : and, according to Nicander,^^ 

 it is a remedy for the stings of serpents, if gathered before it 

 blossoms. 



CHAP. 107. — THREE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CNECOS. 



There would be no necessity to speak at any length of the 

 cnecos or atractylis,^- an Egyptian plant, were it not for the fact 

 that it offers a most efficacious remedy for the stings of veno- 

 mous animals, as also in cases of poisoning by fungi. It is 

 a well-known fact, that persons, when stung by the scorpion, 

 arc not sensible of any painful effects so long as they hold this 

 plant in their hand. 



CHAP. 108. (33.) — ONE REMEDY DERIVED FROM THE 

 PESOLUTA. 



The Egyptians also cultivate the pesoluta'*'"' in their gardens, 

 for chaplets. There are two kinds of this plant, the male and 

 the female : either of them, it is said, placed beneath the per- 

 son, when in bed, acts as an antaphrodisiac, upon the male sex 

 more particularly. 



CHAP. 109. (34.) AN EXPLANATION OF GREEK TERMS RE- 

 LATIVE TO WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



As we have occasion to make use of Greek names very fre- 

 quently when speaking of weights and measures,** I shall here 

 subjoin, once for all, some explanation of them. 



The Attic di-aclima — for it is generally the Attic reckoning 



40 Tlie Corchorus oUtorius of Linnieus. See B. xxv. c. 92. 



41 Theriaca, p. 44. *2 gee c. 53 of this Book. 

 *3 It has not been identified. Dalechamps, without any proof, identifies 



it with the Tussilago pctasites of modern botany. 

 ^* See the Introduction to A'ol. 111. 



