484 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIII. 



CHAP. 33. LEES OF SAPA I FOUR REMEDIES. 



The lees 47 of sapa are used for the cure of burns, it being 

 the best plan to employ with them the down that grows on 

 the reed ; a decoction too, of these lees, is good for the cure of 

 an inveterate cough. They are boiled also in a saucepan with 

 salt aod grease as an ointment for tumours of the jaws and 

 neck. 



CHAP. 34. (3.) THE LEAVES OF THE OLIVE '. TWENTY-THREE 

 REMEDIES. 



The next rank, after the vine, clearly belongs to the olive. 

 The leaves of the olive-tree are astringent, 48 detergent, and 

 binding in the highest degree. Chewed and applied to sores, 

 they are of a healing nature ; and applied topically with oil, 

 they are good for head-ache. A decoction of them with honey 

 makes a good liniment for such parts of the body as have been 

 subjected to cauterization, as also for inflammations of the gums, 

 whitlows, and foul and putrid ulcers : combined with honey, 

 they arrest discharges of blood from the nervous 49 parts of the 

 body. The juice of olive leaves is efficacious for carbuncular 

 ulcers and pustules about the eyes, and for procidence of the 

 pupil ; hence it is much employed in the composition of eye- 

 salves, having the additional property of healing inveterate 

 runnings of the eyes, and ulcerations of the eyelids. 



This juice is extracted by pouring wine and rain-water 

 upon the leaves, and then pounding them ; after which the 

 pulp is dried and divided into lozenges. Used with wool, 

 as a pessary, this preparation arrests menstruation when in 

 excess, and is very useful for the treatment of purulent sores, 

 condylomata, erysipelas, spreading ulcers, and epinyctis. 



CHAP. 35 THE BLOSSOM OF THE OLIVE : FOUR REMEDIES. 



The blossom, 50 too, of the olive-tree possesses similar pro- 



47 The thicker parts of boiled grape-juice. These lees have no affinity 

 with those of wine or vinegar. 



48 They are rich in tannin and gallic acid, and Fee states that they 

 have been proposed as a substitute for quinine. The statements here made 

 by Pliny, he says, in reference to their properties, are hypothetical. 



49 "Nervosis." 



50 No medicinal use is now made of it, but its properties would be very 

 similar to those of the leaves. 



