BOOK XXIII. XVI. 22-26 



leather. It is applied to itch scab and leprous sores ; 

 if it is boiled with wheat, the decoction when drunk 

 produces an abundance of milk in nui'ses. The root, 

 famous for many uses, is pounded and taken in doses 

 of two drachmae for snake bite. It removes spots 

 and blotches on the face, freckles, bruises and scars ; 

 a decoction in oil is equally efficacious. It is given 

 also in drink for epilepsy, as well as for nervous 

 disoi'ders and giddiness, the daily dose being a 

 drachma by weight for a whole year.* In larger 

 doses, however, even the root itself sometimes 

 disorders the senses. Its most remarkable property 

 is that applied in water, as bryony is, it extracts 

 splintered bones, for which reason some call it wliite 

 bryony, the one they call black bryony being distinct.*' 

 The addition of honey and frankincense makes it 

 more eflFective for the same use. Incipient suppura- 

 tions it disperses ; those of long standing it matures 

 and drains. It is an emmenagogue and diuretic. 

 Out of it an electuary is made for asthma and pains 

 in the sides, and for spasms and ruptures. Doses of 

 three oboli taken in drink for thirty days eat up the 

 spleen. In the form of an ointment it is also used 

 with figs as a cure for hangnails.'' A pessary with 

 wine brings away the afterbirth, and phlegm is 

 brought away by a drachma dose taken in hydromel 

 of the juice of the root — it ought to be dug up before 

 the seed ripens — and this juice used as an ointment 

 either by itself or with vetches shows off the body 

 with what I may call a brighter complexion as well as 

 with a softer skin. It keeps snakes away. The root 

 itself pounded with a pkimp fig removes wrinkles 

 from the body, but a walk of a quarter of a mile 

 should be taken immediately after the application ; 



431 



