252 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX. 



pitch it disperses tumours, and extracts thorns from the body ; 

 and, employed as a liniment, with vinegar, it removes spots 

 upon the body. "When used for the cure of carcinoma, white 

 of eggs is added to it. With vinegar it is employed also as 

 a liniment for affections of the spleen, and with honey it is 

 found to be very useful for the complaints of infants. 



Sextius adds, that the smell of burnt nasturtium drives 

 away serpents, neutralizes the venom of scorpions, and gives 

 relief in head-ache; with the addition too, of mustard, he says, 

 it is a cure for alopecy, and applied to the ears with a fig, it 

 is a remedy for hardness of hearing. The juice of it, he says, 

 if injected into the ears, will effect the cure of tooth-ache, and 

 employed with goose-grease it is a remedy for porrigo and 

 ulcerous sores of the head. Applied with leaven it brings 

 boils 47 to a head, and makes carbuncles suppurate and break : 

 used with honey, too, it is good for cleansing phagedaDaic 

 ulcers. Topical applications are made of it, combined with 

 vinegar and polenta, in cases of sciatica aud lumbago : it is 

 similarly employed, too, for lichens and malformed 48 nails, 

 its qualities being naturally caustic. The best nasturtium of 

 all is that of Babylonia; the wild 49 variety possesses the same 

 qualities as the cultivated in every respect, but in a more 

 powerful degree. 



CHAP. 51. RUE : EIGHTY-FOUR REMEDIES. 



One of the most active, however, of all the medicinal 

 plants, is rue. 50 The cultivated kind has broader leaves and 

 more numerous branches than the other. Wild rue is more 

 violent in its effects, and more active in every respect. The 

 juice of it is extracted by beating it up, and moistening it 

 moderately with water ; after which it is kept for use in 



47 Furunculos." Gangrenous sores, probably. 



48 "Unguibus scabris," i. e. for tbe removal of malformed nails, with 

 the view to the improvement of their appearance. 



49 The Lepidium Iberis of Linnaeus, Fee thinks. 



60 The Ruta graveolens of Linnaeus. The Romans, singularly enough, 

 valued this offensive plant as a condiment for their dishes, and a seasoning 

 for their wines. See B. xiv. c. 19 : and at the present day even, it is ad- 

 mired for its smell, Fee says, by the ladies of Naples. The Italians use 

 it also for their salads. Its smell is thought to prevent infection, for which 

 reason it is still used, in country-places, at funerals, and is placed before 

 prisoners when tried criminally, for the prevention, it is said, of gaol fever. 



