Chap. 76.] GREEK NUTS. 



they act, also, as a diuretic and as an emmenagogue. They 

 are used topically for head-ache, when there is fever more par- 

 ticularly. Should the head-ache proceed from inebriation, 24 

 they are applied with vinegar, rose-oil, and one sextarius of 

 water. Used in combination with amylum 25 and mint, they 

 arrest haemorrhage. They are useful, also, for lethargy and 

 epilepsy, and the head is anointed with them for the cure of 

 epinyctis. In combination with wine, they heal putrid ulcers 

 of an inveterate nature, and, with honey, bites inflicted by 

 dogs. 26 They are employed, also, for the cure of scaly erup- 

 tions of the face, the parts affected being fomented first. 



Taken in water, or, as is often done, in an electuary, with 

 resin of terebinth, 27 they remove pains in the liver and kidneys; 

 used with raisin wine, they are good for calculus and strangury. 

 Bruised in hydromel, they are useful for cleansing the skin ; 

 arid taken in an electuary with the addition of a small propor- 

 tion of elelisphacus, 28 they are good for diseases of the liver, 

 cough, and colic, a piece about the size of a hazel-nut being 

 taken in honey. It is said that if five bitter almonds are taken 

 by a person before sitting down to drink, he will be proof 

 against inebriation ; 29 and that foxes, if they eat bitter al- 

 monds, 30 will be sure to die immediately, if they cannot find 

 water to lap. 



As to sweet almonds, their remedial properties are not 31 so 

 extensive ; still, however, they are of a purgative nature, and 

 are diuretic. Eaten fresh, they are difficult 32 of digestion. 



CHAP. 76. GREEK NUTS : ONE REMEDY. 



Greek nuts, 33 taken in vinegar with wormwood seed, are said 



24 Almonds were a farourite food with the monks in the middle ages ; 

 not improbably because they tended to dispel the fumes of wine. Almond 

 milk, similar to our custard, was a standing dish at their " charities" and 

 anniversaries. <25 See B. xviii. c. 17. 



26 They would be of no use whatever in these cases. 



27 Otherwise turpentine. 28 See B. xxii. c. 71. 



29 See Note 24 above. Plutarch tells us that Drusus, the brother of 

 Tiberius, one of the greatest drinkers jf his time, used almonds for this 

 purpose. Fee will not believe that they have any such preventive effect. 



30 Almonds will kill small animals, birds, for instance. 



31 They are much more used in modern medicine than bitter almonds. 

 33 There is some ground, Fee says, for this assertion. 



33 See B. xv. c. 24, where Pliny expresses himself at a loss as to their 

 identification. 



VOL. IV. L L 



