288 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX. 



washed in rain-water, with the addition of a piece of gum 

 acacia, about the size of a lentil, is good for patients troubled 

 with spitting of blood. 27 Most excellent lozenges are made of 

 the leaves and root of this plant, with the addition of nitre 

 and a little incense. When wanted for use, they are first 

 steeped in vinegar. 



CHAP. 86. CULTIVATED LAPATHUM I TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES. 



BULAPATHTJM I ONE REMEDY. 



As to garden lapathum, 28 it is good in liniments on the 

 forehead for defluxioiis of the eyes. The root of it cures 

 lichens and leprous sores, and a decoction of it in wine is 

 remedial for scrofulous swellings, imposthumes of the parotid 

 glands, and calculus of the bladder. Taken in wine it is a 

 cure for affections of the spleen, and employed as a fomenta- 

 tion, it is equally good for cceliac affections, dysentery, and 

 tenesmus. For all these purposes, the juice of lapathum is 

 found to be even still more efficacious. It acts as a car- 

 minative and diuretic, and dispels films on the eyes : put 

 into the bath, or else rubbed upon the bod}^ without oil, 

 before taking the bath, it effectually removes all itching sen- 

 sations. The root of it, chewed, strengthens the teeth, and a 

 decoction of it in wine arrests 29 looseness of the stomach : 

 the leaves, on the other hand, relax it. 



Not to omit any particulars, Solo has added to the above 

 varieties a bulapathon, 30 which differs only from the others in 

 the length of the root. This root, taken in wine, is very 

 beneficial for dysentery. 



CHAP. 87. (22.) MUSTARD, THE THREE KINDS OF IT: TORTY-FOUR 



REMEDIES. 



Mustard, of which we have mentioned 31 three different 



27 It would be of no utility in such a case, Fee says. 



28 Supposed by Fee to be the same as the wild lapathum of the last 

 Chapter, the Rumex acetosella of Linnaeus ; small sorrel. 



39 Fee remarks that no part of lapathum is naturally astringent. 



so Q r ox lapathum." Fee considers this to be identical with the 

 " hippolapathon " of the last Chapter. 



31 In U. xix. c. 54. Fee identifies these three varieties of mustard as 

 follows ; the slender-stemmed mustard of Pliny he identifies with the Sina- 

 pis alba of Linnaeus, mustard with white seeds. The mustard mentioned 

 as having the leaves of rape he considers to be the same as the Sinapis 



