20 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIV. 



and diuretic ; it is applied also to the head, in cases of head- 

 ache, with polenta. The more tender of the leaves are used as 

 an application for inflammations of the eyes. 



The mastich 26 produced by the lentisk is used as a bando- 

 line for the hairs of the eye-lids, in compositions for giving 

 a plumpness to the face, and in cosmetics for smoothing 27 the 

 skin. It is employed for spitting of blood and for inveterate 

 coughs, as well as all those purposes for which gum acacia is 

 in request. It is used also for the cure of excoriations ; which 

 are fomented either with the oil extracted from the seed, 

 mixed with wax, or else with a decoction of the leaves in 

 oil. Fomentations too are made of a decoction of it in water 

 for diseases of the male organs. 28 I know for a fact, that in 

 the illness of Considia, the daughter of M. Servilius, a per- 

 sonage of consular rank, her malad}^ which had long resisted 

 all the more severe methods of treatment, was at last success- 

 fully treated with the milk of goats that had been fed urjon the 

 leaves of the lentisk. 



CHAP. 29. (8.) THE PLANE-TREE: TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES. 



The plane-tree 29 neutralizes the bad effects of bites in- 

 flicted by the bat. 30 The excrescences of this tree, taken in 

 doses 31 of four denarii, in wine, act as an antidote to the 

 venom of serpents of all kinds and of scorpions, and are cura- 

 tive of burns. Pounded with strong vinegar, squill vinegar 

 in particular, they arrest haemorrhage of every kind ; and 

 with the addition of honey, they remove freckles, carcino- 

 matous sores, and black spots of long standing on the skin. 



The leaves again, and the bark of this tree, are used in the 

 form of liniments for gatherings and suppurations, and a 

 decoction of them is employed for a similar purpose. A de- 

 coction of the bark in vinegar is remedial for affections of 

 the teeth, and the more tender of the leaves boiled in white 

 wine are good for the eyes. The down which grows upon the 



2(5 See B. xii. c. 36, and B. xiv. c. 25. 



27 " Smegmata." 



28 Littre thus reads the whole passage, "Sive cum aqua, ut ita foveantur," 

 " A decoction of it is made with water for the purpose of fomentation." 



29 See B. xii. c. 3. 



30 " Adversantur vespertilionihus." Fee se^s difficulties in this passage, 

 which really do not seem to exist. 



yi Hie produce of the plane is no longer employed in medicine. 



