BOOK XXIV. cxiii. 174-CXV11. 177 



touches it.'^ Crushed between two stones this plant 

 cfives out an effervescing juice, which added to milk 

 and wine is a sovereign remedy for quinsies. 

 Attributed to it is this wonderful property ; that 

 tliey who have tasted it are never attacked by 

 quinsy. Accordingly, they say, it is also given to 

 pigs, and those refusing to swallow the medicine are 

 cut off by that complaint. There are some who 

 think that a httle of it is woven into birds' nests, 

 and that this is why chicks are not choked by 

 gulping their food too greedily. 



CXIV. Venus' comb is so named from its resem- Vcwcs' 

 blance to combs ; its root pounded with mallows '^'"" 

 extracts all foreign bodies lodged in the flesh. 



CXV. The plant called exedum dispels lethargy. f;^^*"" '"^'^ 

 The plant notia is well known under various names 

 in the curriers' work-shops ; I find that taken in wine 

 or vinegar and water it is most efficacious for the 

 sting of scorpions. 



CXVI. Philanthropos * is a name which the Greeks Phiianthro- 

 in witty sarcasm give to a plant because it sticks to the ''°^' 

 clothes. A chaplet made out of it and placed on the 

 head relieves headaches. But what is called dog- Dog-bur. 

 bur, if beaten up in wine with plantain and mille- 

 folium, heals cancerous soi-es, the plaster being taken j 



off every third day. It also cures pigs, if dug up 

 without iron ; it is added to their swill before they go 

 to feed, or else given them in milk and wine. Some 

 add that as he is getting it up the digger should say : 

 " This is the plant argemon,which Minerva discovered 

 to be a remedy for the pigs that shall taste of it." 



CXVII. Some have said that tordylon is the seed Toniyion. 

 of sili," others that it is itself a plant, which they 

 have also called syreon. I find nothing recorded of 



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