210 PLINY* S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX. 



sprinkled with a decoction of this plant will never be touched 

 by mice. The same authors 22 say, too, that a decoction of it in 

 vinegar, externally applied, gives instantaneous relief in cases 

 of gout and diseases of the joints. As a remedy, too, for lum- 

 bago, the seed of it is dried in the sun and pounded, being 

 given in doses of twenty denarii to half a sextarius of water. 

 Mixed with woman's milk and applied as a liniment, it is a 

 cure for tumours which have suddenly formed. 



Elaterium promotes the menstrual discharge ; but if taken 

 by females when pregnant, it is productive of abortion. It 

 is good, also, for asthma, and, injected into the nostrils, for 

 the jaundice. 23 Rubbed upon the face in the sun, it removes 

 freckles 24 and spots upon the skin. 



CHAP. 5. THE CULTIVATED CUCUMBER I NINE REMEDIES. 



Marjy persons attribute all these properties to the cultivated 

 cucumber 25 as well, a plant which even without them would 

 be of very considerable importance, in a medicinal point of 

 view. A pinch of the seed, for instance, in three fingers, 

 beaten up with cummin and taken in wine, is extremely bene- 

 ficial for a cough : for phrenitis, also, doses of it are adminis- 

 tered in woman's milk, and doses of one acetabulum for dysen- 

 tery. As a remedy for purulent expectorations, it is taken 

 with an equal quantity of cummin ; 26 and it is used with hy- 

 dromel for diseases of the liver. Taken in sweet wine, it is a 

 diuretic ; and, in combination with cummin, 26 it is used as an 

 injection for affections of the kidneys. 



from India, and it is more thau probable that it was not known by the 

 ancients ; in addition to which, it is possessed of no medicinal properties 

 whatever. He looks upon it as an indigenous plant not identified. 



22 So Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 154. 



23 Morbus regius ;" literally, the " royal disease." 



24 " Lentigo." 



25 See B. xix. c. 23. It is but little appreciated for its medicinal pro- 

 perties by the moderns. Emulsions are sometimes made of the seeds, 

 which are of an oily nature. Fee says that the French ladies esteem 

 pommade of cucumber as an excellent cosmetic ; which is, however, an 

 erroneous notion. 



26 The combination of cummin with cucumber seed is in opposition, 

 Fee remarks, with their medicinal properties, the one being soothing, and 

 the other moderately exciting. 



