126 ' PLINY's NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book XXV. 



acrid, viscous taste. They are dried in the shade, after which 

 they are pounded and divided into lozenges. 



Chap. 69. — the ctclaminos cham^cissos : theee eemedies. 



A third kind" of cyclaminos has also been shown to me, the 

 additional name of which is **chama3cissos." It consists of 

 but a single leaf, with a branchy root, formerly employed for 

 killing fish. 



CHAP. 70. PEITCEDANUM : TWENTY-EIGHT REMEDIES. 



But in the very first rank among these plants, stands peuceda- 

 num,^^ the most esteemed kind of which is that of Arcadia, the 

 next best being that of Samothrace. The stem resembles that of 

 fennel, is thin and long, covered with leaves close to the ground, 

 and terminating in athick black juicy root, with apowerful smell. 

 It grows on umbrageous mountains, and is taken up at the end 

 of autumn. The largest and tenderest roots are the most es- 

 teemed ; they are cut with bone-knives into slips four fingers 

 in length, and left to shed their juice'^ in the shade ; the persons 

 employed taking the precaution of rubbing the head and nos- 

 trils with rose-oil, as a preservative against vertigo. 



There is also another kind of juice, which adheres to the 

 stems, and exudes from incisions made therein. It is con- 

 sidered best when it has arrived at the consistency of honey : 

 the colour of it is red, and it has a strong but agreeable smell, 

 and a hot, acrid taste. This juice, as well as the root and a 

 decoction of it, enters into the composition of numerous medica- 

 ments, but the juice has the most powerful properties of 

 the two. Diluted with bitter almonds or rue, it is taken in 

 drink as a remedy for injuries inflicted by serpents. Bubbed 

 upon the body with oil, it is a preservative against the attacks 

 of those reptiles. 



■'^ According to Brotcro, it is the Parnassia pahistris of Tournefort, an 

 opinion with which Fee is inclined to agree. Sprengel considers it to be 

 the same as the Convallaria bifolia of Linnaeus, our Small lily of the valley, 

 and identifies it with the one-leafed Ceratia of B. xxvi. c. 34. Littre 

 names the Antirrhinnm asarina of Linnicus, the Bastard asarum, 



'^ The Peucedanum officinale of Linna?us, Sulphur-wort, or Hog's fennel. 

 It receives its name from a fancied resemblance between its fruit and that 

 of the " Pence," or pitch-tree. 



"^ This juice, Fee remarks, is no longer known. 



