16 pliky's natural history. [Book XXIV 



cough and ulcerations of the viscera. The resin of the pine, 

 too, is far from extensively used, and that of the other kinds 

 is always boiled^ before use : on the various methods of boiling 

 it, we have enlarged at sufficient length already/ 



As to the produce of the various trees, the resin of the tere- 

 binth is held in high esteem, as being the most odoriferous and 

 the lightest, the kinds ^ which come from Cyprus and Syria 

 being looked upon as the best. Both these kinds are the 

 colour of Attic honey ; but that of Cyprus has more body, and 

 dries with greater rapidity. In the dry resins the qualities 

 requisite are whiteness, purity, and transparency : but what- 

 ever the kind, the produce of mountainous® districts is always 

 preferred to that of champaign countries, and that of a north- 

 eastern aspect to that of any other quarter. Resins"' are dis- 

 solved in oil as a liniment and emollient cataplasm for wounds ; 

 but when they are used as a potion, bitter almonds^ are also 

 employed. The curative properties of resins consist in their 

 tendency to close wounds, to act as a detergent upon gatherings 

 and so disperse them, and to cure affections of the chest. 



The resin of the terebinth * * ^' it is used too, warmed, 

 as a liniment for pains in the limbs, the application being re- 

 moved after the patient has taken a walk in the sun. Among 

 slave-dealers too, there is a practice of rubbing the bodies of 

 the slaves with it, which is done with the greatest care, as a 

 corrective for an emaciated appearance ; the resin having the 

 property of relaxing the skin upon all parts of the body, and 

 rendering it more capable of being plumped out by food." 



Next after the resin of the terebinth comes that of the 



3 Boiled terebinthine, or turpentine, is still used. Fee says, in medicine ; 

 that process disengaging the essential oil. 



4 In B. xvi. c. 22. 



= Fee thinks that in reality these are terebinthines, and not resins. 



8 It has been generally remarked that aromatic plants grown on moun- 

 tains have a stronger perfume than those of the plains ; Fee queries whether 

 this extends to the resins. 



' Though of little importance in modern medicine, resins and terebin- 

 thines are still employed as the basis of certain plasters and other prepara- 

 tions. 



8 Such a potion as this, Fee says, would but ill agree with a person in 

 robust health even. 



9 There would be no necessity whatever, Fee says, for such a process, a 

 plentiful supply of food being quite sufficient for the purpose. Galen 

 recommends frictions of terebinthine for the improvement of the health. 



