BOOK XXIV. III. 7-v. 9 



the acorn itself is applied." The same deeoction is a 

 remedy for snake bites, fliixes and suppiirations. The 

 leaves '^ and berries, or the bark,* or the liquid of a 

 decoction, counteract poisons.*^ A decoction of the 

 bai-k * in cows' milk is applied to snake bites, and 

 the bark in wine is given for dysentery. The holm- 

 oak has the same properties. 



IV'. The scarlet berry "^ of the holm oak is applied to rioim-oak 

 fresh wounds in vinegar and to fluxes of the eyes in ^*'' 

 water ; it is dropped into eyes that are blood-shot. 

 There is also a kindred berry, found commonly in 

 Africa and Asia, quickly turning into a Httle worm ; 

 for this reason it is called scolecium,^ and is in low 

 esteem. The main varieties of it I have ah-eady/ 

 given. 



y. We have classified/ just as many varieties oi' Gaii-mu^ 

 gall-nut — the solid and the perforated, the white and 

 the dark, the larger and the less. The properties 

 of all are alike, although the best kind comes from 

 Commagene. They remove excrescences of flesh, 

 and are good for the gums, the uvula, and an ulcer- 

 ated mouth. Burnt and then extinguished with wine 

 they are applied? for coeliac affections and dysentery, 

 in honey to whitlows, scabrous nails, hangnails, 

 running sores, condylomata, and the sores called 

 " phagedaenic." A decoction moreover in wine is 

 dropped into the ears and also used as an appUcation 



■^ The kermes insect of the Quercus coccifera. 



' " Worm beiTy." 



f Book XVI. §'§ 32 and 26. 



" MayholT thinks that there is a lacuna here, because of 

 certain words in Dioscorides I. 107. But Pliny by no means 

 corresponds to Dioscorides closely in this chapter, and has left 

 out much that is found in the Greek. Accordingly it is unsafe 

 to postulate a lacuna in any particular passage. 



