BOOK XXIII. Liii. 99-Liv. loi 



applied to the hypochondria, stomach, liver, and to 

 sores that spread and refuse to form a scar. The 

 tender bark of it, mixed with resin and wax, heals 

 the itch in twenty days. A decoction of it also is 

 used for diseases of the testicles. It darkens the hair, 

 and fumi^ation with it brings away the foetus. It 

 is given in drink for diseases of the kidneys,bladder 

 and hypochondria. though it is injurious to the 

 head and sinews. A decoction of it arrests fluxes 

 of the uterus and of the belly ; the ashes also cure 

 colic, and taken in white vvine are very beneficial 

 for affections of the uterus. 



LIV. Next come the various kinds of medicines -^iedii^nes 

 to be obtained from apples." Of these, spring appie^: 

 apples are sour and injurious to the stomach, 

 derange the bowels and bladder, and do harm to the 

 sinews ; cooked, however, they are less harmful. 

 Quinces are more pleasant when cooked ; though (6) ^Mt„^., 

 when raw, provided they are ripe, they are good for 

 spitting of blood, dysentery, cholera and coeliac 

 disease.^ They are not of the same efficacy when 

 cooked, for they lose the astringent power that re- 

 sides in their juice; nevertheless, a decoction in rain 

 water is made for the purposes I have mentioned 

 above. For stomach ache, morover, they are applied, 

 either raw or in a decoction, after the manner of a 

 wax salve ; also to the chest in attacks of high 

 fever.*^ The down on them heals carbuiicles. Boiled 

 in wine and applied with wax they restore the hair 



Dioscorides seems to afford here little or no holp. I have 



placed it one sentence later than does Mayhoff because, as it • 



reads like an after-thought, Phny may well have inserted it, 



on revising his manuscript, in the margin, to be read after 



inponuntur. The copier, perhaps offended by the repetition 



of this verb, inserted it earlier. 



481 



