BOOK XXIV. XVII. 27-xx. 29 



XVII. Sphagnos, or sphacos, or bryon, grows also, Sphiwiw* 

 as I have" pomted oiit, in Gaul. It is useful in the 



sitz bath for uterine aifections, and beaten up, and 

 mixed with cress and salt water, it is also good for the 

 knees and for sweUings on the thighs. Taken in 

 drink moreover, with wine and dry resin, it very 

 quickly acts as a diuretic. Beaten up and drunk 

 with wine and juniper berries, it drains off the water 

 in dropsy. 



XVIII. The leaves and root of the turpentine-tree Tnrpeniine 

 are appUed locally to gathei-ings ; a decoction of them (urebiuih). 

 strengthens the stomach. The seed is taken in wine 



for headache and strangury ; it is a gentle aperient 

 and an aphrodisiac. 



XIX. The leaves of pitch-pine and of the larch PHch pim 

 crushed and boiled down in vinegar are good for tooth- "" 

 ache, and the ash of their bark for chafing and burns. 

 Taken in drink it checks looseness of the bowels, is 

 diuretic, and as a fumigation reduces a displaced 

 uterus. The leaves of pitch-pine are specific ** 



for affections of the hver, the dose being a drachma 

 by weight taken in hydromel. It is well known that 

 woods consisting only of those trees from which pitch 

 and resin are scraped off are very beneficial to con- 

 sumptives, or to those who cannot convalesce after a 

 long illness, and that the air in districts so planted is 

 more health-giving than a sea-voyage to Egypt, or 

 than draughts of milk from cattle that have grazed 

 along summer pastures in the movintains. 



XX. The ground-pine, the Tatin name of which is Thc groimd- 

 al)iga, because it causes abortion, and to some known ''""^' 



as " earth-incense," has branches a cubit in length, 

 with the ffowers and the smell of the pine. A second 

 species is shorter and bent, with leaves like those of 



25 



