234 plent's natiteal histoey. [Book XXVII. 



gently to the consistency of honey, in the same way as the juice 

 is extracted from the smaller centaury. The juice, however, 

 of wormwood, thus extracted, is bad for the head and stomach ; 

 whereas the decoction, on the other hand, is wholesome in the 

 highest degree, as it acts astringently upon the stomach, carries 

 off bile, is a powerful diuretic, has a soothing effect upon the 

 bowels, and assuages pains in the intestines. With the addi- 

 tion of sile,^* Gallic nard, and a little vinegar, it dispels nausea 

 and flatulency, and expels intestinal worms. It removes 

 qualmishness, promotes the digestion, and, with the addition 

 of rue, pepper, and salt, disperses crudities of the stomach. 



The ancients were in the habit of giving wormwood as a 

 purgative, the dose being six drachmae of the seed with three 

 of salt and one cyathus of honey, in one sextarius of sea water 

 kept for some time. This preparation, however, is rendered 

 more efficacious by doubling the proportion of salt ; the seed, 

 too, must be bruised with the greatest care, as there is con- 

 siderable difficulty in pounding it. Some authorities have 

 prescribed the dose above mentioned to be given in polenta,^ 

 with the addition of pennyroyal; while others recommend 

 the leaves to be given to children in a dried fig, to disguise 

 their bitterness. Taken with iris,^^ wormwood acts as a 

 detergent upon the thoracic organs : for jaundice it is used 

 raw, with parsley or adiantum.^^ In cases of flatulency, it is 

 sipped every now and then, warmed in water ; for liver com- 

 plaints it is taken with Gallic nard, and for diseases of the 

 spleen, with vinegar, pap,^ or figs. Taken in vinegar it neu- 

 tralizes the bad effects of fungi and of viscus :^^ in wine it is 

 an antidote to the poison of hemlock, and to the bite of the 

 shrew-mouse, and is curative of wounds inflicted by the sea- 

 dragon^ and the scorpion. It contributes also very greatly to 

 the improvement of the sight, and is used as an external appli- 

 cation, with raisin wine, for defluxions of the eyes, and with 

 honey, for bruises. 



9* See B. XX. c. 18. 95 See B. xviii. c. 14. 



96 See B. xxi. c. 19. 9' See B. xxii. c. 30. 



98 " Puis." See B. xviii. c. 19. 



99 From a passage in Scribonius Largus, c. 191, it has been concluded 

 that by the word " visco," he means the juice of the Ixias or Chamaeleon, 

 mentioned in B. xxii. c. 21. 



i See B. ix. c. 43, and B. xxxii. c. 53. 



