Chap. 78.] HAZEL- NTJTS. 515 



are employed for the cure of lichens and dysentery, and the 

 leaves are beaten up with vinegar as an application for ear- 

 ache. 42 



After the defeat of that mighty monarch, Mithridates, Cneius 

 Pompeius found in his private cabinet a recipe for an antidote 

 in his own hand- writing ; it was to the following effect : 43 

 Take two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue ; 

 pound them all together, with the addition of a grain of salt ; 

 if a person takes this mixture fasting, he will be proof against 

 all poisons for that day. 44 Walnut kernels, chewed by a man 

 fasting, and applied to the wound, effect an instantaneous cure, 

 it is said, of bites inflicted by a mad dog. 



CHAP. 78. HAZEL-NUTS: THREE OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM. 

 PISTACHIO-NUTS : EIGHT OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM. CHESNUTS : 



FIVE OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM. 



Hazel-nuts ** are productive of head-ache, and flatulency of 

 the stomach ; they contribute, however, to the increase of flesh 

 more than would be imagined. Parched, they are remedial for 

 catarrhs, and beaten up and taken with hydromel, 46 they are 

 good for an inveterate cough. Some persons add grains of 

 pepper, 47 and others take them in raisin wine. 



Pistachio-nuts 48 have the same properties, and are produc- 

 tive of the same effects, as pine-nuts ; in addition to which, 

 they are used as an antidote to the venom; 19 of serpents, eaten 

 or taken in drink. 



42 This asserted use of them has not been verified by modern experience . 



43 The various receipts for the preparation of this Mithridate or anti- 

 dote differ very widely ; and, indeed, the probability is, as Dr. Heberden 

 says, that Mithridates was as much a stranger to his own antidote, as 

 modern physicians have since been to the medicines daily advertised under 

 their names. Mithridates is said to have so fortified himself against all 

 noxious drugs and poisons, that none would produce any effect when he 

 attempted to destroy himself a mere fable, no doubt. 



44 This, we are told by Galen, was regularly done by the Emperor 

 Marcus Aurelius, De Antid. B. i. c. i. 



45 See B. xv. c. 24. 



46 An emulsion of them fresh, with honey, might be useful, Fee thinks, 

 in such a case. 



47 Either of these additions would certainly neutralize the good effects 

 of the emulsion. The addition of raisin wine, however, is recommended 

 by Dioscorides. 



48 See B. xiii. c. 10. 



49 They are of no efficacy whatever for such a purpose. 



L L 2 



