446 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOUY. [Book XXII. 



Greeks, and as " mouse-barley" 29 by us : pounded and taken 

 in wine, it acts remarkably well as an emmenagogue. 



CHAP. 66. PTISAN : FOUR REMEDIES. 



To ptisan, 30 which is a preparation of barley, Hippocrates 31 

 has devoted a whole treatise ; praises, however, which at the 

 present day are all transferred to " alica," being, as it is, a 

 much more wholesome preparation. Hippocrates, however, 

 recommends it as a pottage, for the comparative ease with 

 which, from its lubricous nature, it is swallowed ; as also, be- 

 cause it allays thirst, never swells in the stomach, passes easily 

 through the intestines, and is the only food that admits of 

 being given twice a-day in fever, at least to patients who are 

 in the habit of taking two meals so opposed is his method 

 to that of those physicians who are for famishing their pa- 

 tients. He forbids it to be given, however, without being 

 first strained ; for no part, he says, of the ptisan, except the 

 water, 32 should be used. He says, too, that it must never be 

 taken while the feet are cold, and, indeed, that no drink of 

 any kind should be taken then. With wheat a more viscous 

 kind of ptisan is made, which is found to be still more effica- 

 cious for ulcerations of the trachea. 



CHAP. 67. AMYLTJM I EIGHT REMEDIES. OATS : ONE REMEDY. 



Amylum 33 weakens the eyesight, 34 and is bad for the throat, 

 whatever opinions may be held to the contrary. It has the 

 effect also of arresting looseness of the bowels, and curing de- 

 fluxions and ulcerations of the eyes, as also pustules and con- 

 gestions of the blood. It mollifies indurations of the eyelids, 

 and is given with egg to persons when they vomit blood. For 

 pains of the bladder, half an ounce of it is prescribed with an 

 egg, and as much raisin wine as three egg-shells will hold, 

 the mixture to be made lukewarm and taken immediately 

 after the bath. Oatmeal, boiled in vinegar, removes moles. 



29 "Hordeum murinum." Anguillara, Matthioli, and Sprengel identify 

 it with the Lolium perenne of Linnaeus ; but, as Fee says, it is clear that 

 Pliny had in view the modern Hordeum muriiium, mouse-barley. 



3C See B. xviii. c. 15. 



31 At the present day, as Fee says, oatmeal is preferred to barley-meal. 



52 Being our "barley-water/* in fact. 



36 Our " starch" probably. See B. xviii. c. 17. 



34 A prejudice, Fee says, which is totally without foundation. 



