492 PLINY'S NATUIIAL ITISTOIIY. [Book XXI JI, 



for itch in beasts of burden. Oil of balanus 96 removes spots 

 on the skin, boils, freckles, and maladies of the gums. 97 



CHAP, 46. THE CYPBUS, AND THE OIL EXTRACTED EEOM IT; 



SIXTEEN REMEDIES. GLEUCINTJM ! ONE KEMEDY. 



We have already enlarged 98 upon the nature of the Cyprus, 

 and the method of preparing oil of Cyprus. This oil is natu- 

 rally warming, and relaxes the sinews. The leaves of the 

 tree are used as an application to the stomach, 99 and the juice 

 of them is applied in a pessary for irritations of the uterus. 

 Fresh gathered and chewed, the leaves are applied to running 

 ulcers of the head, ulcerations of the mouth, gatherings, and 

 condylomatous sores. A decoction of the leaves is very useful 

 also for burns and sprains. Beaten up and applied with the 

 juice of the strutheum, 1 they turn the hair red. The blos- 

 soms, applied to the head with vinegar, relieve head-ache, 

 and the ashes of them, burnt in a pot of raw earth, are cura- 

 tive of corrosive sores and putrid ulcers, either employed by 

 themselves, or in combination with honey . The odour 2 exhaled 

 by these blossoms induces sleep. 



The oil called " gleucinum" 3 has certain astringent and re- 

 freshing properties similar to those of oil of cenanthe. 



CHAP. 47. OIL OF BALSAMUM : FIFTEEN REMEDIES. 



The oil of balsamum is by far the most valuable of them all, 

 as already stated 4 by us, when treating of the unguents. It 

 is extremely efficacious for the venom of all kinds of serpents, 



96 Or "ben." See B. xii c. 46, and B. xv. c. 7. Oil of ben is still 

 made, but it has no such effects as those mentioned by our author. 



97 Pliny appears to have made the same error here in compiling from 

 the Greek, as ne has done in Chapters 4 and 13, in mistaking the Greek 

 word signifying " scars," for that meaning "gums." 



98 In B. xii. c. 61, and B. xv. c. 7. 



99 The Cyprus, or henna, is but little known in Europe : but it is em- 

 ployed for many purposes in the East. The leaves, which have a powerful 

 smell, are used for the purpose of dyeing and staining various parts of the 

 body. 



1 Pliny has most probably committed an error here in mentioning the 

 " strutheum," or sparrow-quince ; for the corresponding passage in Dios- 

 corides, B. i. c. 124, speaks of the " struthion," the Gypsophila struthium 

 of Linnaeus, or possibly, as Littre thinks, the Sapouaria officinalis. See 

 B. xix. c. 18. 



2 This, Fee thinks, may probably be the case. 



3 See B. xv. c. 7. 



4 In B. xii. c. 54. Balm, of Mecca, Fee says, possesses properties little 

 different from the turpentines extracted from, the Conifers. 



