372 PLINY.' s NATTJEAL HISTOEY. [Book XXI. 



Some persons give the name of " xyris" 81 to the wild iris. 

 This plant disperses scrofulous sores, as well as tumours and 

 inguinal swellings ; but it is generally recommended that when 

 wanted for these purposes it should be pulled up with the left 

 hand, the party gathering it mentioning the name of the pa- 

 tient and of the disease for which it is intended to be employed. 

 While speaking of this subject, I will take the opportunity of 

 disclosing the criminal practices of some herbalists they 

 keep back a portion of the iris, and of some other plants as 

 well, the plantago for instance, and, if they think that they 

 have not been sufficiently well paid and wish to be employed 

 a second time, bury the part they have kept back in the same 

 place ; their object being, I suppose, 82 to revive the malady 

 which has just been cured. 



The root of the saliunca 83 boiled in wine, arrests vomiting 

 and strengthens the stomach. 



CHAP. 84. EIGHTEEN REMEDIES DEEIVED PROM THE POLITJM. 



Those persons, according to Musseus and Hesiod, who are 

 desirous of gaining honour and glory, should rub the body 

 all over with polium, 84 and handle and cultivate it as much 

 as possible. They say, too, that it should be kept about the 

 person as an antidote to poison, and that to keep serpents away it 

 should be strewed beneath the bed, burnt, or else carried on the 

 person ; decoctions of it in wine, either fresh-gathered or dried, 

 should be used too as a liniment for the body. Medical men 

 prescribe it in vinegar for affections of the spleen, and in wine 

 for the jaundice ; a decoction of it in wine is recommended 

 also for incipient dropsy ; and in this way too, it is employed as a 

 liniment for wounds. This plant has the effect of bringing 

 away the after-birth and the dead foetus, and of dispelling 

 pains in various parts of the body : it empties the bladder also, 

 and is employed in liniments for denuxions of the eyes. In- 



81 The Iris foetidissima of Linnaeus. It grows near Constantinople, and 

 the smell of it is so like that of roast meat, that it is commonly called, Fee 

 says, the " leg of mutton iris." 



82 " Credo." It does not exactly appear that Pliny puts faith in this 

 superstition, as Fee and Desfontaines seem to think ; but he merely hazards 

 a supposition as to what are the intentions of these avaricious herbalists. 



83 See c. 20 of this Book. 



84 See c. 21 of this Book. Fee remarks, that in reality it possesses none 

 of the qualities that are attributed to it. 



