Chap. 81.] THE MYETLE. 519 



The wood, chewed, brings off phlegm, and the leaves act as 

 an " emetic ;" they are unwholesome, however, to the stomach. 

 The berries, too, are sometimes taken, fifteen in number, as a 

 purgative. 



CHAP. 81. MTETLE ; SIXTY OBSERVATIONS UPON IT. 



The white 75 cultivated myrtle is employed for fewer medi- 

 cinal purposes than the black one. 76 The berries 77 of it are 

 good for spitting of blood, and taken in wine, they neutralize 

 the poison of fungi. They impart an agreeable smell 78 to the 

 breath, even when eaten the day before ; thus, for instance, in 

 Menander we find the Synaristosae 79 eating them. They are 

 taken also for dysentery, 80 in doses of one denarius, in wine : 

 and they are employed lukewarm, in wine, for the cure of 

 obstinate ulcers on the extremities. Mixed with polenta, they 

 are employed topically in ophthalmia, and for the cardiac 

 disease 81 they are applied to the left breast. For stings in- 

 flicted by scorpions, diseases of the bladder, head- ache, and 

 fistulas of the eye before suppuration, they are similarly em- 

 ployed ; and for tumours and pituitous eruptions, the kernels 

 are first removed and the berries are then pounded in old 

 wine. The juice of the berries 82 acts astringently upon the 

 bowels, and is diuretic : mixed with cerate it is applied topi- 

 cally to blisters, pituitous eruptions, and wounds inflicted by 

 the phalangium ; it imparts a black tint, 83 also, to the hair. 



of the Daphne mezereum, and of the Daphne laureola ; and in Aragon 

 and Catalonia, the leaves of the Thymelea are used for a similar purpose. 

 The employment of them, however, is not unattended with danger. 



75 A variety with white berries, but which variety it appears impossible 

 to say. 



76 See B. xv. c. 37. 



7 The leaves and berries are bitter, and rich in volatile oil. 



78 This is consistent with fact. 



79 A work of some kind, (perhaps a play, if the comic writer; Menander, 

 is the person alluded to) the title of which means " the Women Dining 

 together." Hardouin, with justice, ridicules the notion of Ortelius that 

 this is the name of some place or town. 



80 The astringency communicated by the tannin which they contain 

 would probably make them useful for dysentery ; if at the same time, as 

 Fee says, they are not too exciting, by reason of their essential oil. 



81 See B. xi. c. 71. 



82 " Succus seminis." Sillig has " succus feminis," apparently a mis- 

 printthe only one that has been met with thus far in his elaborate edition. 



83 It might change the colour of the hair, but for a short time only. 



