386 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXL 



itself; hence it is, that, beaten up with oil, it is used as a cure 

 for the sting of the asp. 



CHAP. 106. SIX MEDICINES DERIVED FEOM THE COR- 

 CHORTJS. 



The corchorus 40 is a plant which is used at Alexandria as an 

 article of food : the leaves of it are rolled up, one upon ^the 

 other, like those of the mulberry, and it is wholesome, it is 

 said for the viscera, and in cases of alopecy, being good also 

 for the removal of freckles. I find it stated also, that it cures 

 the scab in cattle very rapidly : and, according to Nicander, 

 it is a remedy for the stings of serpents, if gathered beto 

 blossoms. 



CHAP. 107. THREE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CNECOS. 



There would be no necessity to speak at any length of the 

 cnecos or atractylis, 42 an Egyptian plant, were it not for the fact 

 that it offers a most efficacious remedy for the stings of veno- 

 mous animals, as also in cases of poisoning by fungi. It is 

 a well-known fact, that persons, when stung by the scorpion, 

 are not sensible of any painful effects so long as they hold this 

 plant in their hand. 



CHAP. 108. (33.) ONE REMEDY DERIVED FROM THE 

 PESOLUTA. 



The Egyptians also cultivate the pesoluta 43 in their gardens, 

 for chaplets. There are two kinds of this plant, the male and 

 tl-e female : either of them, it is said, placed beneath the per- 

 Brn, when in bed, acts as an antaphrodisiac, upon the male, sex 

 mote particularly. 



C1"P. 109. (34.) AN EXPLANATION OF GREEK TERMS RE- 

 LATIVE TO WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



As we have occasion to make use of Greek names very fre- 

 quently when speaking of weights and measures, 44 1 shall here 

 subjoin, once for all, some explanation of them. 



The Attic drachma for it is generally the Attic reckoning 



* The Corchorus olitorius of Linnaeus. See B. xxv. c. 92. 



Theriaca, p. 44. 4 * See c. 53 of this Book. 



" It has not been identified. Dalechamps, without any proof, identifies 

 ii with the Tussilugo petasites of modern botany. 



** See the Introduction to Vol. 111. 



