422 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXII. 



scrofulous sores. The root is prescribed in wine for the stings 

 of serpents, and as a diuretic. 



CHAP. 36. THE BUPRESTIS I ONE BEMEDY. 



"With a remarkable degree of inconsistency, the Greek writers, 

 while praising the buprestis 94 as an aliment, point out certain 

 antidotes 95 to it, as though it were a poison. The very name, 

 however, proves to a certainty that it is poisonous to cattle, 

 and it is generally admitted that, on tasting it, they burst 36 

 asunder : we shall, therefore, say no more about it. Is there 

 any reason, in fact, why, when we are speaking of the mate- 

 rials employed in making our grass crowns, we should de- 

 scribe a poison ? or really ought we to enlarge upon it only to 

 please the libidinous fancies of those who imagine that there is 

 not a more powerful aphrodisiac in existence than this, when 

 taken in drink ? 



CHAP. 37. THE ELAPHOBOSCON : NINE BEMED1ES. 



The elaphoboscon 97 is a ferulaceous plant, articulated, and 

 about a finger in thickness. The seed of it is like that of dill, 

 hanging in umbels resembling those of hart- wort in appearance, 

 but not bitter. The leaves are very like those of olusatrum. 98 

 This plant, too, is highly spoken of as an article of food ; in 

 addition to which, it is preserved and kept as a diuretic 99 and 

 for the purpose of assuaging pains in the sides, curing rup- 

 tures and convulsions, and dispelling flatulency and colic. It 



94 Sprengel and Desfontaines consider it to be the Buplevrum rotundi- 

 folium : but Fee is of a contrary opinion, and thinks that it is impossible 

 to identify it. 



95 Though Hardouin attempts to defend him, it is more than probable 

 that it is Pliny himself who is in error here ; and that he has confounded 

 the plant Buprestis with the insect of that name, which belongs to the 

 class of Cantharides, and received its name (burn-cow) from its fatal ef- 

 fects when eaten by cattle. 



96 See B. xxx. c. 10. 



97 " Stag's food." Fee adopts the opinion of Sprengel and Sibthorpe, 

 that this is the Pastinaca sativa of Linnaeus, the cultivated parsnip. 

 Desfontaines identifies it with the Sium sisarum ; but, as Fee says, that 

 plant is but rarely found in Greece. 



99 See B. xx. c. 18. For the olusatrum, see B. xx. c. 46. 



99 The parsnip is no longer employed for its medicinal properties ; but 

 for a long time, the seed was looked upon as a diuretic and febrifuge. 

 The root contains a considerable quantity of saccharine matter. 



