6 PLINY 3 NATCllAL HISTORY. [Book XXIV, 



which it is prepared. Some persons, after bruising the berries, 

 boil them in water, till nothing appears on the surface, while 

 others, again, bite the berries with the teeth, and reject the 

 skins. ^^ The best kind of viscus is that which has none of 

 the outer skin in it, is extremely light, yellow without, and 

 of a leek-green colour within. There is no substance more 

 glutinous than this : it is of an emollient nature, disperses 

 tumours, and acts as a desiccative upon scrofulous sores ; com- 

 bined with resin and wax, it heals inflamed swellings of every 

 description. Some persons add galbanum as well, using equal 

 proportions of each ingredient, and this preparation they em- 

 ploy also for the treatment of wounds. 



The Yiscus of the mistletoe has the additional property also 

 of rectifying malformed nails ; but to effect this it must be 

 taken off at the end of seven days, and the nails must be 

 washed with a solution of nitre. ^^* Some persons have a sort of 

 superstitious notion that the viscus will be all the more effi- 

 cacious if the berries are gathered from the robur at new moon, 

 and without the aid of iron. They have an impression too, 

 that if it has not touched the ground, it will cure epilepsy,^ 

 that it will promote conception in females if they make a 

 practice of carrying it about them : the berries, chewed and 

 applied to ulcers, are remarkably efficacious for their cure, it is 

 said. 



CHAP. 7. THE EXCEESCENCES WHICH GROW ON THE ROBUR : 



ONE REMEDY. THE CERRUS : EIGHT REMEDIES. 



The round excrescences^^ which grow on the robur * * * 

 and mixed with bear's grease, are remedial in cases of loss of 

 the hair by alopecy. 



The leaves, bark, and acorns of the cerrus^ act as a desic- 

 cative upon gatherings and suppurations, and arrest fluxes. A 

 decoction^^ of them, used as a fomentation, strengthens such 

 parts of the body as are paralyzed ; and it is a very good plan 



'* This passage, as Fee remarks, is somewhat obscure. 



^' As to the identity of the " nitrum" of Pliny, see E. xxxi. cc. 22, 46. 



36 Fee says, that till very recently it was a common belief that the oak 

 mistletoe is curative of epilepsy. It was also employed as an ingredient 

 in certain antispasmodic powders. 



37 See B. xvi. c. 10. 38 gee B. xvi. c. 8. 



"> This decoction would be of a tonic and astringent nature, owing to 

 the tannin and gallic acid which the leaves and bark contain. 



