2/0 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX, 



tenuates the phlegm, when very thick and black ; and beaten 

 up with oil, it is injected into the nostrils for jaundice. When 

 persons are affected with lassitude, the body is well rubbed 

 with it, care being taken not to touch the abdomen. Used with 

 pitch, it is a cure for epinyctis, and, applied with a roasted 

 fig, it brings boils to a head. Employed with oil and vinegar, 

 and barley-meal, it is good for scrofulous swellings ; and ap- 

 plied topically in a fig, it is a cure for pains in the sides. 

 Beaten up, and applied with vinegar, it is employed as a lini- 

 ment for bloody fluxes of the generative organs, and it accele- 

 rates the lochial discharge after child-birth. 



CHAP. 70. -DITTANDER : THREE REMEDIES. 



Dittander 32 is generally considered to rank among the caustic 

 plants. It is owing to this property that it clears the skin of the 

 face, not, however, without excoriating it ; though, at the same 

 time, the excoriations are easily healed by employing wax and 

 rose oil. It is owing to this property, too, that it always re- 

 moves, without difficulty, leprous sores and itch- scabs, as well 

 as the scars left by ulcers. It is said, that in cases of tooth- 

 ache, if this plant is attached to the arm on the suffering side, 

 it will have the effect of drawing the pain to it. 



CHAP. 71. GITH, OR MELANTHION I TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES. 



Gith 33 is by some Greek writers called " melanthion," 34 and 

 by others " melaspermon.'* 35 That is looked upon as the 

 best which has the most pungent odour and is the darkest in 

 appearance. It is employed as a remedy for wounds made by 

 serpents and scorpions : I find that for this purpose it is ap- 

 plied topically with vinegar and honey, and that by burning 

 it serpents are kept at a distance. 36 It is taken, also, in doses 

 of one drachma for the bites of spiders. Eeaten up, and smelt 

 at in a piece of linen cloth, it is a cure for running at the nos- 

 trils; and, applied as a liniment with vinegar and injected 



33 Dittander, or pepperwort : the Lepidium latifolium of Linnseus. 



33 Or fennel-flower : the Nigella sativa of Linnaeus. Fee suggests that 

 its name, "gith," is from the ancient Egyptian. 



34 " Black flower/' 35 " Black seed." 



36 It is no longer used in medicine, but it is esteemed as a seasoning in 

 the East. All that Pliny states as to its medicinal properties, Fee con- 

 siders to be erroneous. The action of the seed is irritating, and reduced 

 to powder, it causes sneezing. 



