148 PLINY'S KATUEAL HISTORY. [Book XXY. 



a stem of the same height, a blue flower, and a seed of which 

 no use is made. The root is single, about the thickness of 

 one's finger, and an excellent remedy for diseases of the teeth ; 

 for which purpose it is cut up in pieces, and boiled in vinegar, 

 the decoction being used warm as a collutory. The root, too, 

 is employed by itself to strengthen the teeth, being inserted for 

 the purpose in those that are hollow or carious. 



Boot of chelidonia 22 is also beaten up with vinegar, and kept in 

 the mouth. Black hellebore is sometimes inserted in carious 

 teeth ; and a decoction of either of these last-mentioned plants, 

 in vinegar, has the effect of strengthening loose teeth. 



CHAP. 108 THE LABKIjM VE2TERETJM : OKE REMEDY. 



Labrum Venereum 23 is the name given to a plant that grows 

 in running streams. 24 It produces a small worm, 25 which is 

 crushed by being rubbed upon the teeth, or else enclosed in 

 wax and inserted in the hollow of the tooth. Care must be 

 taken, however, that the plant, when pulled up, does not touch 

 the ground. 



CHAP. 109. THE BATRACHION, RANUNCULUS. OR STRUMUS J POUR 



VARIETIES OF IT : FOURTEEN REMEDIES. 



The plant known to the Greeks as " batrachion," 26 we call 

 ranunculus. 27 There are four varieties of it, 28 one of which 



has no blue flower, and the same is the case with many other plants that 

 have been suggested as its synonym. Fee suggests the Convallaria verti- 

 cillata of Linna3us, the whorl-leaved Solomon's seal ; as to which, however, 

 there is the same difficulty in reference to the flower. Holland calls it the 

 " May lily," otherwise the Lily of the valley, the Convallaria Maialis ; 

 and this is the synonym suggested by Fuchsius. Littre gives the Conval- 

 laria multiflora of Linnaeus. 22 See c. 50 of this Book. 



23 Or "Venus' bath." Identified by Littre with the Dipsacus silvestris 

 of Linnaeus, and by Fee with the Dipsacus fullonum of Linnaeus, the 

 Teazel, or Fuller's thistle. It received its Roman name from the form of 

 the leaves, which are channelled, and curved at the edges. 



24 This is entirely erroneous ; he may possibly have mistranslated some 

 author, who has stated that the rain-water settles in reservoirs formed by 

 the leaves. 



25 He alludes to the larvae of the Curculio or weevil, which are found 

 in the head of the Dipsacus, and many other plants.* See B. xxvii. c. 62, 

 and B. xxx. c. 8. 26 " Frog-plant." 



1 " Little frog." Called " Crow-foot" by us. 



28 Sprengel identifies it with the Ranunculus Seguieri, Fee with the R. 

 Asiaticus, also a native of Greece. 



