Chap. 81.] THE MYRTLE. 519 



The wood, chewed, brings off phlegm, and the leaves act as 

 an " emetic ;" they are unwholesome, however, to the stomach. 

 The berries, too, are sometimes taken, fifteen in number, as a 

 purgative. 



CHAP. 81. MYETLE ; SIXTY OBSEEVATIONS UPON IT. 



The white'^ cultivated myrtle is employed for fewer medi- 

 cinal purposes than the black one."'^ The berries'^ of it are 

 good for spitting of blood, and taken in wine, they neutralize 

 the poison of fungi. They impart an agreeable smell'^ to the 

 breath, even when eaten the day before ; thus, for instance, in 

 Menander we find the Synaristosse"^ eating them. They are 

 taken also for dysentery, ^° in doses of one denarius, in wine : 

 and they are employed lukewarm, in wine, for the cure of 

 obstinate ulcers on the extremities. Mixed with polenta, they 

 are employed topically in ophthalmia, and for the cardiac 

 disease®^ they are applied to the left breast. For stings in- 

 flicted by scorpions, diseases of the bladder, head- ache, and 

 fistulas of the eye before suppuration, they are similarly em- 

 ployed ; and for tumours and pituitous eruptions, the kernels 

 are first removed and the berries are then pounded in old 

 wine. The juice of the berries^^ acts astringently upon the 

 bowels, and is diuretic : mixed with cerate it is applied topi- 

 cally to blisters, pituitous eruptions, and wounds inflicted by 

 the phalangium ; it imparts a black tint,^^ also, to the hair. 



of the Daphne mezereum, and of the Daphne laureola ; and in Aragon 

 and Catalonia, the leaves of the Thymelea are used for a similar purpose. 

 The employment of them, however, is not unattended with danger. 



'''" A variety with white berries, but which variety it appears impossible 

 to say. 



76 See B. XV. c. 37. 



'" The leaves and berries are bitter, and rich in volatile oil. 



'^ This is consistent with fact. 



■^5 A work of some kind, (perhaps a play, if the comic writer; Menander, 

 is the person alluded to) the title of which means " the Women Dining 

 together." Hardouin, with justice, ridicules the notion of Ortelius that 

 this is the name of some place or town. 



^^ The astringency communicated by the tannin which they contain 

 would probably make them useful for dysentery ; if at the same time, as 

 Fee says, they are not too exciting, by reason of their essential oil. 



81 See B. xi. c. 71. 



82 " Succus seminis." Sillig has " succus feminis," apparently a mis- 

 print — the only one that has been met with thus far in his elaborate edition. 



83 It might change the colour of the hair, but for a short time only. 



