Chap. 61.] THE WILD POMEGEANATE. 50 1 



is *' balaustium." ^^ These blossoms, even, have not escaped 

 their enquiries ; it having been ascertained by them that they 

 are an excellent remedy for stings inflicted by the scorpion. 

 Taken in drink, thej^ arrest the catamenia, and are curative 

 of ulcers of the mouth, tonsillary glands, and uvula, as also of 

 spitting of blood, derangement of the. stomach and bowels, 

 diseases of the generative organs, and running sores in all 

 parts of the body. 



The ancients also dried these blossoms, to try their efficacy 

 in that state, and made the discovery that, pulverized, they 

 cure patients suffering from dysentery when at the very point 

 of death even, and that they arrest looseness of the bowels. 

 They have not disdained, too, to make trial of tlie pips of the 

 pomegranate : parched and then pounded, these pips are good 

 for the stomach, sprinkled in the food or drink. To arrest 

 looseness of the bowels, they are taken in rain-water. A 

 decoction of the juices of the root, in doses of one victori- 

 atus,^^ exterminates tape- worm ;^- and the root itself, boiled 

 down in water to a thick consistency, is employed for the 

 same purposes as lycium.^^ 



CHAP. 61. — THE WILD POMEGliANATE. 



There is a tree, also, which is called the wild pomegranate,** 

 on account of its strong resemblance to the cultivated pome- 

 granate. The roots of it have a red bark, which taken in 

 wine in doses of one denarius, promotes sleep. The seed of 



60 The corolla of the flower. Dioscoridcs, B. i. c. 152, makes the "ba- 

 laustium" to be the blossom of the wild pomegranate, and the " cytinus" 

 to be that of the cultivated fruit. Theophrastus, however, and Galen, 

 give the same account of the cytinus as Pliny. Holland has this quaint 

 marginal Note on the passage : " Here is Pliny out of the way ;"..not im- 

 probably in reference to the statement of Dioscorides. 



61 Or Quinarius. See Introduction to Vol. III. 



62 These statements, Fee says, are quite unfounded. 



63 See B. xii. c. 15, and B. xxiv. c. 77. 



^ Fee thinks that there is no doubt tliat this was really the pomegranate, 

 left to grow wild. Dalechamps and Fee suggest that, misled by the 

 resemblance of the Greek names, Pliny has here attributed to the wild 



?omegranate the properties attributed to the red poppy, or corn poppy, 

 [ardouin, however, is not of that opinion, and thinks that the mention of 

 the roots of the plant proves that Pliny has not committed any error here ; 

 as in B. xx. c. 77, he has attributed the narcotic effects of the poppy to 

 the head only. 



