BOOK XXII. xLvii. 97-99 



the fig, fennel-giant, and the gum-exuding trees ; 

 inedible," as I have said,* are those on the yew, the 

 robur ^" and the cypress. But who guarantees such 

 things in the market? They alH have a leaden 

 colour. This will give an indication of poison, the 

 closcr it approximates to that of the bark of the tree. 

 I have poiiited out ^' remedies for these poisonous 

 fungi and shall do so again later on ; in the mean- 

 time let me say that even this / plant produces some 

 remedies. Glaucias considers that mushrooms are 

 good for the stomach. Hog fungi are hung up to dry, 

 skewered on a rush as we see them come from Bithy- 

 nia. These they use as a remedy for the fluxes of the 

 belly that are called bowel catarrh, and for fleshy 

 growths on the anus, which they reduce and in 

 time cause to disappear ; they do the like to freckles 

 and spots on women's faces. They are also steeped in 

 water, as lead is, to make an application for diseases of 

 the eyes. They are applied to septic sores and to 

 rashes on the head, and in water to dog bites. I should 

 like also to give some pieces of advice about cooking 

 all kinds of mushrooms, since they are the only kind 

 of food that exquisites prepare with their own hands, 

 feeding on them in anticipation, and handling 



■^ Probably Pliny means all the fungi, not all the dangerous 

 ones, for he goes on to discriminate. 



' E.g., in XX. §§ 25, 47, 86, 94, 132, 236, and XXI. 126, 184. 

 Pears are mentioned at the end of tliis chapter (§ 99), and 

 again in XXIII. § 115, as a remedy for poisoning by fungi, 

 but they have not been mentioned before in this connection. 

 So Pliny, unless speaking inaccurately, cannot have said, as 

 Detlefsen would have him say : firi adversii.'! haec diximus 

 rewedia. Otherwise firi is an attractive emendation. 



f The better attested reading is his; but this would refer 

 to the same things as haec in the previous sentence, i.e., 

 poisonous fungi. 



