Chap. 120.] MALADIES PECULIAB TO VARIOUS NATIONS. 271 



of any of those which have been mentioned by me ; with the 

 exception, indeed, of the sphondyle, 19 a kind of creeping 

 insect, 20 which infests them all. 



CHAP. 119. HOW THE GREATEST EFFICACY IN PLANTS HAY BE 



ENSURED. 



It is also an undoubted truth, that the virtues and properties 

 of all roots are more feebly developed, when the fruit has been 

 allowed to ripen ; and that it is the same with the seed, when 

 incisions have been previously made in the root, for the ex- 

 traction of the juice. The efficacy, too, of all plants is impaired 

 by making habitual use of them ; and these substances, if em- 

 ployed daily, lose equally their good or bad properties, when 

 required to be effectual. All plants, too, have more powerful 

 properties, when grown in soils that are cold and exposed to 

 the north-eastern blasts, or in dry localities. 



CHAP. 120. MALADIES PECULIAB TO VARIOUS NATIONS. 



There are certain differences, also, by no means inconsider- 

 able, in the predispositions of the various nations of the earth. 

 I have been informed, for instance, that the people of Egypt, 

 Arabia, Syria, and Cilicia, are subject to tapeworm and maw- 

 worm, while those of Thracia and Phrygia, on the other hand, 

 are totally exempt from them. This, however, is less sur- 

 prising than the fact that, although Attica and Bceotia are 

 adjoining territories, the Thebans are troubled with these 

 inflictions, while among the people of Athens they are un- 

 known. 



Considerations of this description lead me now to turn my 

 attention to the nature of the animated beings themselves, and 

 the medicinal properties which are inborn in them, the most 

 assured remedies, perhaps, for all diseases. 



For Nature, in fact, that parent of all things, has produced no 

 animated being for the purpose solely of eating ; she has willed 

 that it should be born to satisfy the wants of others, and in 

 its very vitals has implanted medicaments conducive to health. 

 "While she has implanted them in mute 21 and inanimate 

 objects even, she has equally willed that these, the most in- 



19 A kind of foetid beetle, Hardouin says. Probably an Aphis. 



20 " Serpentis." 21 See B. xxii. c. 3. 



