BOOK XX. Liv. 154-LV. 157 



displared uterus and expols the dead foetus. Its 

 seed is given to smell in cases of aphasia ; to epi- 

 leptics it is adniinistered with vinegar in doses of 

 one cyathus. If unwholesome water has to be 

 drunk, pounded pennyroyal is sprinkled on it. It 

 relieves physical tiredness if taken in wine ; it is 

 rubbed with salt and vinegar on the sinews, and when 

 Ihese are contracted," and with honey for opisthotonic 

 tetanus. A decoction is drunk for serpent bites ; 

 pounded it is taken in wine for stings of scorpions, 

 especially if the pennyroyal be grown on dry soil. 

 It is supposed to be good for ulcerations of the 

 mouth, and for cough. The flower of the freshly 

 gathered plant, when burnt, kills fleas by its smell. 

 Xenocrates includes in his prescriptions the ad- 

 ministering of a sprig of pennyroyal wrapped in 

 wool to be smelt by sufferers from tertian ague 

 before an attack of fever, or its being placed under 

 the bedclothes for the patient to He on. 



LV. Wikl pennyroyal has for the same purposes n,/,/ 

 as I have mcntioned yet more beneficial properties. ^'""yonai 

 It is like wild marjoram, has smaller leaves than 

 cultivated pennyroyal, and by some is called die- 

 tamnos (dittany). Its taste incites sheep or goats 

 to bleat ; for this reason certain Greeks changing 

 one letter only have named it blechon.'' Its nature 

 is so heating that it raises a blister on the parts of 

 the body to which it is applied. It does a chill <^ 

 good for the patient to be rubbed with pounded 

 pennyroyal before a bath, as well as before the 

 shivering fit of attacks of ague. For convulsions 

 and gripings of the bowels, and for gout, it is wonder- 



"■ Or, witii the reading tussi : " it does the cough good, in 

 a chill, for the patient to be rubbed with pennyroyal etc." 



91 



