266 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX. 



wound ; which is also rubbed with them as a friction. The 

 tortoise, 9 when about to engage in combat with the serpent, 

 employs this plant as a preservative against the effects of its 

 sting ; some persons, for this reason, have given it the name of 

 " panacea." 10 It has the effect also of dispersing tumours and 

 maladies of the male organs, the leaves being dried for the 

 purpose, or else beaten up fresh and applied to the part affected. 

 For every purpose for which it is employed it combines re- 

 markably well with wine. 



CHAP. 62. CUNILA GALLINACEA, OR ORIGANUM : FIVE REMEDIES. 



There is another variety, again, known to our people as 

 " cunila gallinacea," 11 and to the Greeks as Heracleotic origa- 

 num. 12 Beaten up with salt, this plant is good for the eyes ; 

 and it is a remedy for cough and affections of the liver. 

 Mixed with meal, and taken as a broth, with oil and vino- 

 gar, it is good for pains in the side, and the stings of serpents 

 in particular. 



CHAP. 63. CUNILAGO *. EIGHT REMEDIES. 



There is a third species, also, known to the Greeks as " male 

 cunila," and to us as "cunilago." 13 This plant has a fostid smell, 

 a ligneous root, and a rough leaf. Of all the varieties of cunila, 

 this one, it is said, is possessed of the most active properties. 

 If a handful of it is thrown anywhere, all the beetles in the 

 house, they say, will be attracted to it ; and, taken in vinegar 

 and water, it is good for the stings of scorpions more particularly. 

 It is stated, also, that if a person is rubbed with three leaves 

 of it, steeped in oil, it will have the effect of keeping all ser- 

 pents at a distance. 



OHAP. 64. SOFT CUNILA I THREE REMEDIES. LIBANOTIS I 



THREE REMEDIES. 



The variety, on the other hand, known as soft 14 cunila, has a 



9 See B. viii. cc. 41 and 44. 



10 Universal remedy, or " all-heal." 



11 Or "Poultry cunila :" the Origanum Heracleoticum of Linnaeus. 



12 SeeB. xxv. c. 12. 



33 An Umbellifera, Fee says, of the modern genus Conyza. See B. xxi. 

 c. 32. 



14 Fee is of opinion that Pliny has here confounded "cunila" \vitli 

 "conyza," and that he means the icovvZa fjuicpd of Dioscorides, B. in. c. 

 136, the Kovv'C,a QII\VQ of Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 2, supposed 

 to be the Inula pulicaria of Limiseus. See B. xxi. c. 32. 



