374 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXI. 



or meiittaena, the bees will never desert them ; for there is no 

 flower in which they take greater delight. If branches 91 of 

 this plant are used, the bees may be kept within bounds with- 

 out any difficulty. It is an excellent remedy, also, for the 

 stings of bees, wasps, and similar insects, as also for wounds 

 made by spiders and scorpions ; it is used, too, for hysterical 

 suffocations, in combination with nitre, and for gripings of the 

 bowels, with wine. The leaves of it are employed topically 

 for scrofulous sores, and, in combination with salt, for maladies 

 of the fundament. A decoction of the juice promotes the men- 

 strual discharge, dispels inflammations, and heals ulcerous 

 sores : it is good, too, for diseases of the joints and the bites 

 of dogs, and is beneficial in cases of inveterate dysentery, and 

 for cceliac affections, hardness of breathing, diseases of the 

 spleen, and ulcerations of the thoracic organs. For films on 

 the eyes, it is considered a most excellent plan to anoint them 

 with the juice of this plant mixed with honey. 



CHAP. 87. THIRTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE MELILOTE. 



The melilote, 92 again, applied with the yolk of an egg, or 

 else linseed, effects the cure of diseases of the eyes. It assuages 

 pains, too, in the jaws and head, applied with rose oil ; and, 

 employed with raisin wine, it is good for pains in the ears, and 

 all kinds of swellings or eruptions on the hands. A decoction 

 of it in wine, or else the plant itself beaten up raw, is good 

 for pains in the stomach. It is equally beneficial, too, for 

 maladies of the uterus ; and for diseases of the testes, prolapsus 

 of the fundament, and all other diseases of those parts, a de- 

 coction is made of it, fresh-gathered, in water or in raisin wine. 

 With the addition of rose oil, it is used as a liniment for carci- 

 noma. Eoiled in sweet wine, it is particularly useful for the 

 treatment of the ulcers known as " melicerides." 93 



CHAP. 88. (21.) FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM TREFOIL. 



The trefoil, 94 1 know, is generally looked upon as being par- 



91 " Scopis." He may possibly mean small brooms made of the sprigs 

 of the plant. 



93 See c. 29 of this Book. The melilote is possessed of no peculiar 

 energy, but decoctions of it are sometimes employed as a lotion. 



93 Sores " resembling a honey-comb." 



4 See c. 30 of this Book. 



