432 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOEY. [Book XXII. 



aromatic wine, and taken in doses of one acetabulum, imme- 

 diately after the bath. The root of it is good for irritations of 

 the trachea, and is employed topically for extravasated blood ; 

 but, used as an aliment, it is difficult of digestion, being pro- 

 ductive of flatulency and eructations : it is injurious, also, to 

 the urinary secretions. Combined with wine and oil, it is ex- 

 tremely good for bruises, and, with wax, for the cure of scro- 

 fulous sores. Kepeated fumigations with the root cause ex- 

 crescences of the anus to subside. 



CHAP. 49. LASER : THIRTY-NINE REMEDIES. 



Laser, a juice which distils from silphium, as we have al- 

 ready 51 stated, and reckoned among the most precious gifts 

 presented to us by Nature, is made use of in numerous medi- 

 cinal preparations. Employed by itself, it warms and revives 

 persons benumbed with cold, and, taken in drink, it alleviates 

 affections of the sinews. It is given to females in wine, and 

 is used with soft wool as a pessary to promote the menstrual 

 discharge. Mixed with wax, it extracts corns on the feet, 

 after they have been first loosened with the knife : a piece of 

 it, the size of a chick-pea, melted in water, acts as a diuretic. 

 Ajadreas assures us that, taken in considerable doses even, it is 

 never productive of flatulency, and that it greatly promotes 

 the digestion, both in aged people and females ; he says, too, 

 that it is better used in winter than in summer, and that even 

 then, it is best suited for those whose beverage is water : but 

 due care must be taken that there is no internal ulceration. 

 Taken with the food, it is very refreshing for patients just re- 

 covering from an illness ; indeed, if it is used at the proper 

 time, it has all the virtues of a desiccatory, 62 though it is more 

 wholesome for persons who are in the habit of using it than 

 for those who do not ordinarily employ it. 



As to external maladies, the undoubted virtues .of this medi- 

 cament are universally acknowledged : taken in drink, it has 



61 In B. xix. c. 15. Asafcetida, Fee says, if it bears any relation to the 

 laser of the ancients, had till very recently the reputation of being an em- 

 menagogue, a hydragogue, a vermifuge, and a purgative. Applied topi- 

 cally, too, it is emollient, and is used for the cure of corns and tumours. 

 Whatever Laser may have been,, there is little doubt that much that is here 

 stated by Pliny is either fabulous or erroneous. 



62 *' Cauterium." 



