500 PLINT's NATUEAL HISTOET. [Book XXIII. 



the bowels and for tape-worm.^ A'pomegranate, put in a new 

 earthen pot tightly coYered and burnt in a furnace, and then 

 pounded and taken in wine, arrests looseness of the bowels, 

 and dispels griping pains in the stomach. 



CHAP. 59. CYTINUS I EIGHT REMEDIES. 



The Greeks have given the name of cytinus ^^ to the first 

 germs of this tree when it is just beginning to blossom. 

 These germs have a singular property, which has been re- 

 marked by many. If a person, after taking ofi" everything 

 that is fastened upon the body, his girdle, for instance, shoes, 

 and even his ring, plucks one of them with two fingers of 

 the left hand, the thumb, namely, and the fourth finger, and, 

 after rubbing it gently round his eyes, puts it into his mouth 

 and swallows ^'^ it without letting it touch his teeth, he will 

 experience, it is said, no malady of the eyes throughout all 

 the year. These germs, dried and pounded, check the growth 

 of fleshy excrescences ; they are good also for the gums and 

 teeth ; and if the teeth are loose a decoction of the germs will 

 strengthen them. 



The young pomegranates ^^ themselves are beaten up and 

 applied as a liniment to spreading or putrid sores ; they are 

 used also for inflammations of the eyes and intestines, and 

 nearly all the purposes for which pomegranate-rind is used. 

 They are remedial also for the stings of scorpions. 



CHAP. 60. — BALAUSTIUM : TWELVE REMEDIES. 



AVe cannot sufiiciently admire the care and diligence dis- 

 played by the ancients, who, in their enquiries into every 

 subject, have left nothing untried. Within the cytinus, before 

 the pomegranate itself makes its appearance, there are dimi- 

 nutive flowers, the name given to which, as already ^^ stated, 



^5 All vegetable productions rich in tannin are thought to possess the 

 property of acting as a vermifuge. 



5<i The calyx of the blossom of the pomegranate. Its properties are 

 remarkably astringent. 



^' Tbis would be nearly an impossibilit)', as the calyx is hard and co- 

 riaceous, and of considerable size. JS^othing, however, is allowed to stand 

 in the way of superstition. 



^^ " Ipsa corpuscula." The exact meaning of this expression is some- 

 what doubtful : Ilardouiu takes it to be the lower part of the cytinus. 



59 In B. xiii. c. 34. 



