412 pltny's natural uistout. [Book XXII. 



for the purpose of making chaplets. At the same season, too, 

 medical men pound the leaves, and make them up into lozenges, 

 the same being done with the flowers also, and the root. All 

 the parts of this plant are administered together, in doses of one 

 drachma, for the stings of serpents of all kinds. Taken in drink, 

 too, they bring away the dead foetus, act as an emmenagogue 

 and diuretic, and disperse calculi of the bladder. The anthe- 

 mis is employed, also, for the cure of flatulency, afl'ections of 

 the liver, excessive secretions of the bile, and fistulas of the 

 eye ; chewed, it heals running sores. Of all the diff'erent 

 varieties, the one that is most efficacious for the treatment of 

 calculi is that with the purple flower, ^Hhe leaves and stem*" of 

 which are somewhat larger than those of the other kinds. 

 Some persons, and with strict propriety, give to this last the 

 name of *' eranthemis." 



CHAP. 27. THE LOTUS PLANT : FOUR REMEDIES. 



Those who think that the lotus is nothing but a tree only, 

 can easily be refuted, if upon the authority of Homer *^ only ; 

 for that poet names the lotus first of all among the herbs which 

 grow to administer to the pleasures of the gods. The leaves 

 of this plant, ^•^ mixed with honey, disperse the marks of sores, 

 argema/^ and films upon the eyes. 



CHAP. 28. — THE LOTOMETRA I TWO REMEDIES. 



The lotometra ** is a cultivated lotus ; with the seed of it, 

 which resembles millet, the shepherds in Egypt make a coarse 

 bread, which they mostly knead with water or milk. It is 

 said, however, that there is nothing lighter or more wholesome 

 than this bread, so long as it is eaten warm ; but that when it 

 gets cold, it becomes heavy and more difficult of digestion. 

 It is a well-known fact, that persons who use it as a diet are 



59 See Note 3*. 



^^ " Fruticis." The camomile is still extensively used in medicine for 

 fomentations, and the decoction of it is highly esteemed, taken fasting, as 

 a tonic. 4i II. xiv. 347. 



^2 The Melilotus officinalis of Linnaeus. See B. xiii. c. 32, and the 

 Notes. 



43 White specks in the black of the eye, with a red tinge. 



4* Or " Mother of the Lotus ;" the Nymphsea lotus of Linnseus. See B. 

 xiii. c. 32. "Ex loto sata" may probably mean that it springs from the 

 seed of the lotus, in which case, as Fee remarks, it must be identified with 

 the Lotus. 



