426 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXII. 



one third, and taken fasting after the bath, as also after meals, a 

 cyathus at a time. It is a remarkable thing, but Xenocrates 

 assures us that he has ascertained it experimentally, that these 

 bad odours are carried off by the urine. 



CHAP. 44. THE SONCHOS ; TWO VARIETIES I FIFTEEN REMEDIES. 



The sonchos, 18 too, is edible at least, it was this that, accord- 

 ing to Callimachus, Hecale 19 set before Theseus. There are two 

 kinds, the white 20 and the black : 21 they are, both of them, 

 similar to the lettuce, except that the)^ are prickly, with a stem 

 a cubit in height, angular, and hollow within ; when broken, 

 the stem gives out an abundance of milky juice. The white 

 kind, which derives its colour from the milk it contains, is good 

 for hardness of breathing, if eaten dressed with seasoning like 

 the lettuce. Erasistratus says that it carries off calculi by 

 the urine, and that, chewed, it is a corrective of bad breath. 

 The juice of it, taken warm in doses of three cyathi, with 

 white wine and oil, facilitates delivery, but the patient must 

 be careful to walk about immediately after drinking it : it 

 is also given in broth. 



A decoction of the stalk renders the milk more abundant in 

 nursing women, and improves the complexion of the infants 

 suckled by them ; it is also remarkably beneficial for females 

 when the milk coagulates. The juice of it is used as an injection 

 for the ears, and is taken warm in doses of one cyathus, for stran- 

 gury, as also for gnawing pains of the stomach, with cucumber 

 seed and pine nuts. It is employed topically for abscesses of 

 the rectum, and is taken in drink for the stings of serpents 

 and scorpions, the root also being applied to the wounds. 

 The root, boiled in oil, with the rind of a pomegranate, is a 



18 The Sonchus oleraceus of Linnaeus, the common sow-thistle. 



19 A poor old woman, who hospitably entertained Theseus when on 

 his expedition for the purpose of slaying the Marathonian bull. Theseus 

 instituted a sacrifice at Athens in honour of her. See Ovid, Remed. Am. 

 1. 747, and Callim. Fragm. 40. 



20 The Sonchus arvensis of Linnseus, the field sow-thistle. 



21 The Sonchus oleraceus asper of Linnaeus, the prickly-leafed sow- 

 thistle. These plants are eaten as a salad in some countries. They pos- 

 sess but little energy in a medicinal point of view, but they are cooling 

 and slightly laxative. The marvels here related by Pliny, Fee says, are 

 entirely fabulous. 



