196 PLIN-y's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXVI. 



uame given in common to bulimia®^ and to a corrosive kind 

 of ulcer, tithymalos^^ is taken in combination with sesame. 



CHAP, 69. THE ONOTHEKAS OE ONEAK I THEEE EEMEDIES. 



Among the various e\dls by which the whole of the body in 

 common is afflicted, that of wakefulness is the most common. 

 Among the remedies for it we find panaces^^ mentioned, 

 clymenus," and aristolochia,^ the odour of the plant being 

 inhaled and the head rubbed with it. Aizoiim, or houseleek, 

 is beneficial, wrapped in black cloth and placed beneath the 

 pillow, without the patient being aware of it. The onotheras** 

 too, or onear, taken in wine, has certain exhilarating pro- 

 perties ; it has leaves like those of the almond tree, a rose- 

 coloured flower, numerous branches, and a long root, with a 

 vmous smell when dried : an infusion of this root has a 

 soothing effect upon wild beasts even. 



For fits of iudigestion" attended with nausea, betony is 

 taken in drink : used similarly after the evening meal, it faci- 

 litates the digestion. Taken in the proportion of one drachma 

 to three cyathi of oxymel, it dispels crapulence. The same is 

 the case, too, with agaric, taken in warm water after eating. 

 Betony is curative of paralysis, it is said; the same, too, with 

 iberis, as already stated.^^ 'This last is good, too, for numbness 

 of the limbs ; the same being the case with argemonia,^^ a 

 plant which disperses those affections which might otherwise 

 necessitate the application of the knife. 



CHAP. 70. REMEDIES FOR EPILEPSY. 



Epilepsy is cured by the root of the panaces which we have 

 spoken''" of as the " heraclion," taken in drink with sea-calf's 

 rennet, the proportions being three parts of panaces and one of 

 rennet. For the same purpose an infusion of plantago''^ is 

 taken, or else betony or agaric, with oxymel, the former in 

 doses of one drachma, the latter in doses of three oboli ; leaves 



^- Voracious appetite — " sine modo esurientium." 



•^'- See B. xxvi. c. 39. ^^ See B. xxv. cc. 11 and 12. 



'■' See B. xxv. c. 33. ^5 gee B. xxv. c. .54. 



'''^ Identified with the Epilobium roseum of Linnaeus, Rose-coloured 



willow-herb. ^^ See c. 25 of this Book. 



'■' In B. xxv. c. 49. 69 See B. xxv. c. 56. 



"" In B. xxv. c. 12. ''I See B. xxv. c. 39. 



