434 PLINl's KATtJllA.L HISTOilT. [Book XXII. 



by a remarkable case of a man, who, after doing so, threw 

 himself headlong from the top of a house. Besides, it is a 

 well-known fact, that if it is rubbed on the muzzle of a bull, it 

 irritates him to an extraordinary degree ; and that if it is mixed 

 with wine, it will cause serpents to burst — those reptiles being 

 extremely fond of wane. In addition to this, I should not 

 advise any one to rub the gums mth Attic honey, although 

 that practice is recommended by some. 



It would be an endless task to enumerate all the uses to 

 which laser is put, in combination with other substances ; and 

 the more so, as it is only our object to treat of simple reme- 

 dies, it being these in which Nature displays her resources. 

 In the compound remedies, too, we often find our judgment 

 deceived, and quite at fault, from our comparative inattention 

 to the sympathy or antipathy which naturally exists between 

 the ingredients employed — on this subject, however, we shall 

 have to enlarge on a future occasion.^^ 



50, (24.) — PEOPOLis: five remedies. 



Honey would be held in no less esteem than laser, were it 

 not for the fact that nearly every country produces it.^^ Laser 

 is the production of Nature herself; but, for the formation of 

 honey, she has created an insect, as already described. *^° 

 The uses to which honey is put are quite innumerable, if we 

 only consider the vast number of compositions in which it 

 forms an ingredient. First of all, there is the propolis,^^ 

 which we find in the hives, as already^' mentioned. This 

 substance has the property of extracting stings and all foreign 

 bodies from the flesh, dispersing tumours, ripening indurations, 

 allaying pains of the sinews, and cicatrizing ulcers of the most 

 obstinate nature. 



As to hotiey itself, it is of so peculiar a nature, that it pre- 

 vents putrefaction^' from supervening, by reason of its sweet- 



58 In c. 56 of this Book. 



59 It is this, in fact, combined with its utility, that ought to cause it to 

 be so highly esteemed. 



^^ In B. xi. c. 4, et seq. ^^ Bee-bread, or bee-glue. 



63 In B. xi. c, 6. It is a vegetable substance, Fee says, not elaborated 

 by the bees. It is still employed in medicine, he says, for resolutive 

 fumigations. 



63 The Babylonians employed it for the purpose of embulming. 



