204 PLINY'S NATUEAL HISTOBY. [Book XXVI. 



purpose it is boiled down in a new earthen vessel to one third, 

 the vessel being filled to the brim, and the decoction taken 

 in doses of one hemina for three successive days. It is strictly 

 forbidden, however, to eat any food of a greasy nature the day 

 before taking it. 



Among the Greeks there are various opinions in relation to 

 this plant, According to some, who give it the same name of 

 " hippuris," it has leaves like those of the pine tree, and of a 

 swarthy hue ; and, if we are to believe them, it is possessed of 

 virtues of such a marvellous nature, that if touched by the 

 patient only, it will arrest haemorrhage. Some authorities call it 

 " hippuris, "others, again, "ephedron," and others "anabasis;" 

 and they tell us that it grows near trees, the trunks of which it 

 ascends, and hangs down therefrom in numerous tufts of black, 

 rush-like hair, much like a horse's tail in appearance. The 

 branches, we are told, are thin and articulated, and the leaves, 

 few in number, small, and thin, the seed round, and similar to 

 coriander in appearance, and the root ligneous : it grows, they 

 say, in plantations more particularly. 



This plant is possessed of astringent properties. The juice 

 of it, kept in the nostrils, arrests bleeding therefrom, and it 

 acts astringently upon the bowels. Taken in doses of three 

 cyathi, in sweet wine, it is a cure for dysentery, is an efficient 

 diuretic, and is curative of cough, hardness of breathing, rup- 

 tures, and serpiginous affections. For diseases of the intestines 

 and bladder, the leaves are taken in drink ; it has the property, 

 also, of reducing ruptures of the groin. 



The Greek writers describe another 75 hippuris, also, with 

 shorter tufts, softer and whiter. This last, they say, is remark- 

 ably good for sciatica, and, applied with vinegar, for wounds, 

 it having the property of stanching the blood. Bruised nym- 

 phaea 76 is also applied to wounds. Peucedanum 77 is taken in drink 

 with cypress seed, for discharges of blood at the mouth or by 

 the lower passages. Sideritis 79 is possessed of such remark- 

 able virtues, that applied to the wound of a gladiator just 

 inflicted, it will stop the flow of blood ; an effect which is equally 

 produced by an application of charred fennel-giant, or of the 



75 Identified by Littre with the Ephedra fragilis of Linnaeus. Fee gives 

 as its synonym the Equisaetum arvense of Linnaeus, the Common horse-tail, 

 or Corn horse-tail. 76 See B. xxv. c. 37. 



77 See B. xxv. c. 70. See B. xxv. c. 15. 



