114 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXV. 



is never applied, however, so long as the inflammation is at its 

 height, but only when it has somewhat abated. 



CHAP. 50. PLANTS WHICH HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED BY CERTAIN 



ANIMALS. CHELIDONIA : SIX REMEDIES. 



The brute animals also have been the discoverers of certain 

 plants : among them, we will name chelidonia first of all. It 

 is by the aid of this plant that the swallow restores the sight 

 of the young birds in the nest, and even, as some persons will 

 have it, when the eyes have been plucked out. There are two 

 varieties of this plant ; the larger 1 kind has a branchy stem, and 

 a leaf somewhat similar to that of the wild parsnip, 2 but 

 larger. The plant itself is some two cubits in height, and of 

 a whitish colour, that of the flower being yellow. The smaller 3 

 kind has leaves like those of ivy, only rounder and not so 

 white. The juice of it is pungent, and resembles saffron in 

 colour, and the seed is similar to that of the poppy. 



These plants blossom, 4 both of them, at the arrival of the 

 swallow, and wither at the time of its departure. The juice 

 is extracted while they are in flower, and is boiled gently in a 

 copper vessel on hot ashes, with Attic honey, being esteemed 

 a sovereign remedy for films upon the eyes. This juice is 

 employed also, unmixed with any other substance, for the 

 eyesalves, 5 which from it take their name of " chelidonia." 



CHAP. 51. THE DOG-PLANT ! ONE REMEDY. 



Dogs, too, are in the habit of seeking a certain plant, as a 

 stimulant to the appetite ; but although they eat it in our 

 presence, it has never yet been discovered what it is, it being 

 quite impossible to recognize it when seen half-chewed. 

 There has also been remarked another bit of spitefulness in 

 this animal, though in a much greater degree, in reference to 



1 The Chelidonium majus of Linnaeus, the Greater celandine or swallow- 

 wort. 2 " Pastinaca erratica." See c. 64 of this Book. 



3 Identified with the Ranunculus ficaria of Linnaeus, the Pilewort, or 

 Lesser celandine. 



4 The same is the case, Fee remarks, with numbers of other plants. 



5 "Collyriis." 



6 The Dactylos of B. xxiv. c. 119, is supposed to be the plant alluded to. 

 The word " canariam " is found here in former editions, but Sillig 1 omits 

 it. Indeed Pliny seems to say that it is quite unknown to him. 



