BOOK XX. VI. E2-VIIT. r6 



hairy legs, and is particularly harmful to cattle. 

 The bite is followed by swelling, the wound sup- 

 purating. The cucumber itself by its smell revives 

 those who have fainted. When peeled and cooked 

 in oil, vinegar and honey, cucumbers are, it is firmly 

 held, more pleasant to the taste. 



\TI. There is also found a wild gourd, called by To/dj^dc. 

 the Greeks aoii<j)6s, hollow inside (whence its name), 

 of the thickness of a finger, growing only in rocky 

 soils. If it be chewed the juice is very beneficial 

 to the stomach. 



^TIl. Another kind of wild gourd is called roioci/ntfiii. 

 colocynthis. The fruit is smaller than the cultivated, 

 and full of seed. The pale variety is more useful 

 than the grass-grcen. Taken by itself when dried it 

 is a drastic purge. Used also as an enema an injection 

 is a remedy for all complaints of the bowels, of tlie 

 kidneys, and of the loins, as well as for paralysis. 

 After the seed has been pickcd out, hydromel is 

 added and boiled down to one half, which gives a 

 very safe strength for an injection of four oboli. 

 The stomach is benefited also by taking pills made 

 of the dry powder niixed with boiled honey. In 

 jaundice seven seeds of it are taken, to be followed 

 immediately by hydromel. The pulp added to worm- 

 wood and salt cures toothache, while its juice warnied 

 with vinegar makes loose teeth firm. Rubbed on 

 with oil it likewise relieves pains of spine, loins anJ 

 hips. Moreover, wonderful to relate, an equal" 

 number of its seeds, fastened to the body in a cloth, 

 is said to reduce those fevers which the Greeks call 

 periodic. The warmed juice, also, of the shredded 

 cultivated colocynthis cures ear-ache, and its inner 

 pulp without the seed corns on the feet, as well as 



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