BOOK XXV. Liv. 97-Lv. loo 



kind," but its greatest fame is that, if ^ only it is 

 applied to the uterus m beef after conception, it 

 forms according to report male offspring. The 

 fisliermen of Campania call the root that is round 

 " poison of the earth ", and I have seen them scatter 

 it over the sea, crushed and mixed with hme. The 

 fish rush to it with wonderful greed, forthwith die, and 

 float on the surface. The kind called polyrrhizos is 

 reported to be very beneficial for sprains, bruises, j 



and falls from a height, if the root is taken in water, 

 for pleurisy and the sinews if the seed "^ is used, and 

 to be tonic and warming ; it is reported to be the 

 same plant as satyrion. 1 



LV. But we must mention also tlie properties and Cnres of 

 uses of these plants, and begin with snake bite, the *""**''*'< 

 worst ill of all. Cures then are : the plant britannica ; 

 the root of all kinds of panaces taken in wine ; 

 both flower and seed of chironium taken in 

 drink or appUed in wine and oil ; what is called ox 

 cunila, wliich is specific ; polemonia or philetaeris, 

 the dose being four drachmae of the root in 

 neat wine ; teucria, sideritis, and scordotis in 

 wine, specific remedies for snake ** wounds, the 

 juice or leaves or a decoction being taken in 

 drink ^ or / appHed ; the root of the greater centaury 

 in doses of one drachma in three cyathi of white 

 wine ; gentian, particularly good, whether fresh 

 or dried, for snake bites in doses of two drachmae 



■* The Latin of Pliny certainly seems to imply that he 

 distinguished angues from other serpentes, but the only 

 discoverable difference between the two words is that the 

 former has a rather more poetic flavour. See too XXIX. § 71. 



" Pota refers to ex vino above. 



^ Perhaps " and ". In suoh a collocation of words et is 

 often ambiguous. 



209 



