172 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOBY. [Book XXVI. 



injection for the ears ; with the addition of salt, it is employed 

 for the cure of furfuraceous eruptions of the skin, and for run- 

 ning ulcers. Taken with storax, it is good for chronic cough ; 

 it is also extremely efficacious as a carminative. 



CHAP. 31. CHONDRIS OR PSETJDODICTAMNON I ONE REMEDY. HYPO- 

 CISTHIS OR OROBETHRON ' TWO VARIETIES ! EIGHT REMEDIES. 



Chondris, too, or pseudodictamnon, 43 acts astringently on the 

 bowels. Hypocisthis, 44 by some known also as " orobethron," 

 is similar to an unripe pomegranate in appearance ; it grows, 

 as already stated, 45 beneath the cisthus, whence its name. 

 Dried in the shade, and taken in astringent, red wine, these 

 plants arrest diarrhoea for there are two kinds of hypocisthis, 

 it must be remembered, the white and the red. It is the juice 

 of the plant that is used, being of an astringent, desiccative, 

 natuue : that of the red kind, however, is the best for fluxes 

 of the stomach. Taken in drink, in doses of three oboli, with 

 amylum, 46 it arrests spitting of blood ; and, employed either as 

 a potion or as an injection, it is useful for dysentery. Vervain, 

 too, is good for similar complaints, either taken in water, or, 

 when there are no symptoms of fever, in Aminean 47 wine, the 

 proportion being five spoonfuls to three cyathi of wine. 



CHAP. 32. LAYER OR SlOtf : TWO REMEDIES. 



Laver, 48 too, a plant which grows in streams, preserved and 

 boiled, is curative of griping pains in the bowels. 



CHAP. 33. POTAMOGITON I EIGHT REMEDIES. THE STATIC E : 



THREE REMEDIES. 



Potamogiton, 49 too, taken in wine, is useful for dysentery 

 and cceliac affections : it is a plant similar to beet in the leaves, 

 but smaller and more hairy, and rising but little above the 

 surface of the water. It is the leaves that are used, being of 

 a refreshing, astringent nature, and particularly good for 

 diseases of the legs, and, with honey or vinegar, for corrosive 

 ulcers. 



13 " False-dittany," or " bastard dittany." See B. xxv. c. 53. 

 44 The Cytinus hypocisthis of Linnaeus. 



15 In B. xxiv. c. 28. 46 See B. xviii. c. 17, and B. xxii. c. 67. 



*7 See B. xiv. c. 5. The Shim of B. xxii. c. 41. 



49 Probably the Potamogeton natans of Linnaeus, Broad-leaved pond- 

 weed, or some kindred plant. Its name signifies " the neighbour of rivers." 



