BOOK XXIII. Lxxviii. 150-LXXX. 152 



LXXVIII. Hazel-nuts cause headache and flatu- Hazei-nius. 

 lence of the stomach, and put more fat on the body 

 than one would think at all Hkely. Parched they also 

 cure catarrh, pounded too and taken in hydromel 

 they cure chronic cough ; some add grains of pepper, 

 others take them in raisin wine. Pistachio nuts 

 have the same uses as pine kernels, and are besides, 

 whether eaten or taken in drink, beneficial for 

 snake bites. Chestnuts check effectually fluxes of 

 the stomach and belly ; they encourage peristaltic 

 action of the bowels," arrest haemoptysis, and 

 increase the growth of flesh. 



LXXIX. Fresh carobs, injurious to the stomach, Garobs. 

 relax the bowels ; dried carobs are astringent and 

 prove more beneficial to the stomach ; they are 

 diuretic. For pain in the stomach some persons boil 

 down to one half three Syrian carobs in a sextarius 

 of water, and drink this decoction. The sap that 

 sweats from a branch of the cornel tree is caught on a 

 red-hot iron plate without the wood touching it ; the 

 resulting rust is applied as a cure for incipient lichen. 

 The arbutus or strawbei-ry tree bears a fruit that is 

 difficult of digestion and injurious to the stomach. 



LXXX. The bay — leaves, bark and berries — is Bay and ii.- 

 of a heating nature ; and so a decoction made from "■*"' 

 these, especially from the leaves, as is generally 

 agreed,* is good for the uterus and bladder. An 



' Both meanings of convenit [con.stat and decet) are to be 

 found in Pliny. Either makea good sense in this passage : 

 " as is generally agreed," " as is fitting." The apixot^ei of 

 Dioscorides represents the prodesse of Pliny, and is uo support 

 for the sense decet here. In fact this passage by itself is proof 

 that Pliny had before him a Greeli text similar to, but not 

 identical with, that of Dioscorides; there is nothing in Pliny 

 corresponding to eyKadia^ara (sitz bath), and nothing tn 

 Dioscorides corresponding to maxime foliis. 



