Chap. 76.] GREEK NUTS. 513 



they act, also, as a diuretic and as an emmenagogue. They 

 are used topically for head- ache, when there is fever more par- 

 ticularly. Should the head-ache proceed from inebriation,-* 

 they are applied with vinegar, rose-oil, and one sextarius of 

 water. Used in combination with amylum ^^ and mint, they 

 arrest haemorrhage. They are useful, also, for lethargy and 

 epilepsy, and the head is anointed with them for the cure of 

 epinyctis. In combination with wine, they heal putrid ulcers 

 of an inveterate nature, and, with honey, bites inflicted by 

 dogs.-^ They are employed, also, for the cure of scaly erup- 

 tions of the face, the parts affected being fomented first. 



Taken in water, or, as is often done, in an electuary, with 

 resin of terebinth,-'' they remove pains in the liver and kidneys; 

 used with raisin wine, they are good for calculus and strangury. 

 Bruised in hydromel, they are useful for cleansing the skin ; 

 and taken in an electuary Avith the addition of a small propor- 

 tion of elelisphacus,^® they are good for diseases of the liver, 

 cough, and colic, a piece about the size of a hazel-nut being 

 taken in honey. It is said that if five bitter almonds are taken 

 by a person before sitting down to drink, he will be proof 

 against inebriation ;-^ and that foxes, if they eat bitter al- 

 monds, ^° will be sure to die immediately, if they cannot find 

 water to lap. 



As to sweet almonds, their remedial properties are not ^^ so 

 extensive ; still, however, they are of a pui'gative nature, and 

 are diuretic. Eaten fresh, they are difficult ^^ of digestion. 



CHAP. 76. GEEEK KUTS I ONE EEIIEDY. 



'; Greek nuts,^^ taken in vinegar with wormwood seed, are said 



"^ Almonds "were a faTourite food with the monks in the middle ages ; 

 not improbably because they tended to dispel the fumes of wine. Almond 

 milk, similar to our custard, was a standing dish at their " charities" anil 

 anniversaries. '-^ See B. xviii. c. 17. 



26 They would be of no use whatever in these cases. 



27 Otherwise turpentine. '^^ See B. xxii. c. 71. 

 23 See Note -^ above. Plutarch tells us that Drusus, the brother of 



Tiberius, one of the greatest drinkers of his time, used almonds for thi.-j 

 purpose. Fee will not believe that they have any such preventive effect. 

 "" Almonds will kill small animals, birds, for instance, 

 2^ They are much more used in modern medicine tlian bitter almonds. 

 ^2 There is some ground, Fee says, for this assertion, 

 33 See B. XV, c. 24, where Pliny expresses himself at a loss as to their 

 identification. 



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