Chap. 20.] THE CHAMJEPITYS. 13 



tions for gatherings ; and a decoction of them is strengthening 

 to the stomach. The seed of it is taken in wine for head-ache 

 and strangury : it is slightly laxative to the bowels, and acts 

 as an aphrodisiac. 



CHAP. 19. THE PITCH-TREE AND THE LARCH I EIGHT REMEDIES. 



The leaves of the pitch-tree 75 and the larch, 76 beaten up 

 and boiled in vinegar, are good for tooth-ache. The ashes of 

 the bark are used for excoriations and burns. Taken in drink 

 this substance arrests diarrhoea, and acts as a diuretic ; and 

 used as a fumigation, it reduces the uterus when displaced. 

 The leaves of the pitch- tree are particularly good for the liver, 

 taken in doses of one drachma in hydromel. 



It is a well-known fact that forests planted solely with trees 

 from which pitch and resin are extracted, are remarkably 

 beneficial for patients suffering from phthisis, 77 or who are un- 

 able to recover their strength after a long illness : indeed it is 

 said, that in such cases to breathe the air of localities thus 

 planted, is more beneficial even than to take a voyage to Egypt, 78 

 or to go on a summer's journey to the mountains to drink the 

 milk there, impregnated with the perfumes of plants. 



CHAP. 20. THE CHAMJEPITYS : TEN REMEDIES. 



The chamaepitys, 79 called in Latin " abiga," 80 because it 

 promotes abortion, and known to some as " incense of the 

 earth," 81 has branches a cubit in length, and the odour and 



75 See B. xvi. c. 18. 



76 See B, xvi. c. 19. The leaves of these trees are of an astringent 

 and acid nature, Fee says, but they are no longer employed in medicine. 

 All that Pliny here states relative to them is very problematical. 



77 Fee says that it is still the practice of the Turkish physicians to re- 

 commend to their patients the air of the cypress groves of Candia. He 

 states also, that it is a very general supposition that resins, balms, and bal- 

 sams are good for pulmonary phthisis, but is of opinion that the notion is 

 founded upon no solid basis. 



78 See B. xxxi. c. 33, also Celsus, B. iii. c. 22. Similar to a voyage to 

 Madeira, recommended to our consumptive patients at the present day. 



78 Or "ground-pine." 



80 From "abigo," to "drive away," it would appear. 



81 <; Thus terrae." The Teucrinm Iva of Linnaeus, Fee says, or Chamae- 

 pitys moschata. Fee remarks that Pliny commits a great error in giving to 

 it the blossoms of the pine, and that he assigns larger proportions than really 

 belong to it. The name " incense of the earth," is very inappropriate ; for 

 it has none of the odour of incense, but merely a resinous smell. 



