BOOK XXIV. xLvii. 75-78 



enclosing it is an application of soft leaves pounded 

 and boiled with vinegar and rose oil, more rose oil 

 being added afterwards. They are also applied to the 

 forehead, and a decoction of them is used to foment 

 the mouth and to rub the head. They are good for 

 the spleen whether taken in drink or used as Uniment. 

 They are also boiled or beaten up in wine for the 

 shivers of ague and for outbursts of phlegm. Clusters 

 also of ivy berries cure splenic trouble, either taken 

 in drink or appUed locally ; for Uver trouble, however, 

 they must be appUed. Pessaries of berries promote 

 menstruation. Ivy juice, especiaUy that of the white 

 cultivated ivy, cures complaints and oifensive smeU 

 of the nostrils. The same poured into the nostrils 

 clears the head, more thoroughly if soda is added. It 

 is also poured with oil into purulent or painful ears. 

 It furthermore removes the ugly marks of scars. 

 For troubles of the spleen the juice of the white kind 

 warmed with hot iron is more efficacious. A sufficient 

 dose is six ben-ies taken in two cyathi of wine. Berries 

 of white ivy taken three at a time in oxymel expel 

 tapeworms, and in this treatment it is also beneficial 

 to apply the berries to the beUy. The ivy that I have 

 caUed golden-berried " draws off in the urine the sub- 

 cutaneous water of dropsy, if twenty of the golden 

 berries are beaten up in a sextarius of wine and the 

 mixture is drunk in doses of three cyathi. Erasis- 

 tratus prescribed five berries of the same ivy, pounded 

 in rose oil and warmed in the rind of a pomegranate, 

 for tooth-ache, the injection to be made drop by drop 

 into the ear opposite to the pain. If the berries that 

 have a saftVon juice are taken in drink beforehand, 

 they keep otFthe headache that foUows drinking ; they 

 are Ukewise good for the spitting of blood and for 



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