396 Pliny's is^atueal histoky. [Book XXII. 



dies for our use in the most despised even of the vegetable pro- 

 ductions, medicaments in plants which repel us with their 

 thorns. 



It is of these, in fact, that it remains for us now to speak, as 

 next in succession to those which we have mentioned in the 

 preceding Book ; and here we cannot sufficiently admire, and, 

 indeed, adore,*^ the wondrous providence displayed by Nature. 

 She had given us, as already*- shewn, plants soft to the touch, 

 and agreeable to the palate ; in the llowers she had painted 

 the remedies for our diseases with her varied tints, and, while 

 commingling the useful Avith the delicious, had attracted our 

 attention by means of the pleasures of the eye. Here, how- 

 ever, she has devised another class of plants, bristling and re- 

 pulsive to the sight, and dangerous to the touch ; so much so, 

 indeed, that we fancy we all but hear the voice of her who 

 made them as she reveals to us her motives for so doing. It is 

 her wish, she says, that no ravening cattle may browse upon 

 them, that no wanton hand may tear them up, that no heed- 

 less footstep may tread them down, that no bird, perching there, 

 may break tliem : and in thus fortifying them with thorns, and 

 arming them with weapons, it has been lier grand object 

 to save and protect the remedies which they afford to man. 

 Thus we see, the very qualities even which we hold in such 

 aversion, have been devised by Nature for the benefit and ad- 

 vantage of mankind. 



"O^ 



CHAP. 8. (7.) — THE ERYNGE OR ERYNGIFM. 



In the first rank of the plants armed with prickles, the 

 erj-nge^^ or erj-ngion stands pre-eminent, a vegetable production 

 held in high esteem as an antidote formed for the poison of ser- 

 pents and all venomous substances. For stings and bites of 

 this nature, the root is taken in wine in doses of one drachma, 

 or if, as generally is the case, the wound is attended with 

 fever, in water. It is employed also, in the form of a lini- 



*i " Araplecti." 42 i^ the Twentieth Book. 



*3 It has been tliought by some that this is the Scolymus maculatiis of 

 Linnaeus; the spotted yellow thistle. I^ut the more general opinion is 

 that it is the cringo, or Eryngium canipestre of Linnaeus. It derives its 

 name from the Greek ipfvytiv, from its asserted property of dispelling 

 flatulent eructations. It is possessed in reality of few medicinal proper- 

 ties, and is only used occasiouully, at the present day, as a diuietic. See 

 B. xxi, c. 56. 



