482 plint's natueal histoet. [BookXXIII. 



but must boiled down to one third : that which is prepared 

 from white must ia the best. It is used medicinally in cases 

 of injuries inflicted by cantharides, the buprestis,'- the pine- 

 caterpillars known as pityocampae/^^ salamanders, and all ve- 

 nomous bites and stings. Taken with onions it has the effect 

 of bringing away the dead foetus and the after-birth. Accord- 

 ing to Fabianus, it acts as a poison, if taken by a person fast- 

 ing, immediately after the bath.^* 



CHAP. 31. LEES OF WINE: TWELVE REMEDIES, 



Next in the natural order come the lees of these several 

 liquids. The lees of^^ wine are so extremely powerful as to 

 prove fatal to persons on descending into the vats.^^ The 

 proper precaution for preventing this, is to let down a light first, 

 which so long as it refuses to burn, is significant of danger. 

 "Wine-lees, in an unrinsed^' state, form an ingredient in several 

 medicinal preparations : with an equal proportion of iris,^^ a 

 liniment is prepared from them for purulent eruptions ; and 

 either moist or dried, they are used for stings inflicted by the 

 phalangium, and for inflammations"^ of the testes, mamillae, 

 or other parts of the body. A deeoction of wine-lees is pre- 

 pared, too, with barley-meal and powdered frankincense ; after 

 which it is first parched and then dried. The test of its being 

 properly boiled, is its imparting, when cold, a burning sensa- 

 tion to the tongue. When left exposed to the air, wine-lees 

 very rapidly lose their virtues ; which, on the other hand, are 

 greatly heightened by the action of fire. 



Wine-lees are very useful, too, boiled with figs, for the cure 



3- See c. 18 of this Book. The account here given of the medicinal 

 properties of sapa is altogether unfounded. 



3» A worm that grows in the pine-tree, the Phalaena bombyx pityocampa 

 of Linn?eus. 



2* A mere absurdity, of course. See c. 18 of this Book. 



^ The lees of wine are charged with sub-tartarate of potash, a quan- 

 tity of colouring matter more or less, and a small proportion of wine. They 

 are no longer used in medicine. Under the term "fa?x vini," Pliny includes 

 the pulp or husks of grapes after the must has been expressed. 



3* In consequence of the carbonic gas disengaged before the fermenta- 

 tion is finished, asphyxia being tlie result. 



^'^ By the use of this term lie evidently means grape husks. 



38 Or flower-de-luce. See B. xxi. cc. 19, 83. 



*9 Wine-lees would only -have the effect of increasing the inflammation. 



