288 
plikt's katubal history. 
[Book XY. 
is made of bitter almonds dried and beaten into a cake, after 
which they are steeped in water, and then beaten again. An 
oil is extracted from the laurel also, with the aid of olive oil. 
Some persons use the berries only for this purpose, while 
others, again, employ the. leaves and the outer skin of the 
berries : some add storax also, and other odoriferous sub- 
stances. The best kind for this purpose is the broad-leaved or 
wild laurel, with a black berry. The oil, too, of the black 
myrtle is of a similar nature ; that with the broad leaf is 
reckoned also the best. The berries are first sprinkled with 
warm water, and then beaten, after which they are boiled : 
some persons take the more tender leaves, and boil them in 
olive oil, and then subject them to pressure, while others, again, 
steep them in oil, and leave the mixture to ripen in the sun. 
The same method is also adopted with the cultivated myrtle, 
but the wild variety with small berries is generally preferred ; 
by some it is known as the oxymyrsine, by others as the cha- 
msemyrsine, and by others, again, as the acoron,"^^ from its 
strong resemblance to that plant, it being short and branching. 
An oil is made, too, from the citrus, "^^ and from the cypress ; 
also, from the walnut,"^^ and known by the name of *^ caryi- 
non,"^* and from the fruit of the cedar, being generally 
known as pisselaoon.'^"^^ Oil is extracted from the grain of 
Cnidos,"^^ the seed being first thoroughly cleaned, and then 
68 An essential oil may be extracted from either ; it is of acrid taste, 
green, and aromatic ; but does not seem to have been known to the an- 
cients. The berries give by decoction a fixed oil, of green colour, sweet, 
and odoriferous. The oils in general here spoken of by Pliny as extracted 
from the laurel, are medicinal oils. 
69 The Laurus latifolia of Bauhin. 
70 The Myrtus latifolia Romana of Bauhin. It yields an essential oil, 
and by its decoction might give a fixed oil, in small quantity, but very 
odoriferous. As boiled with olive oil, he treats it as a volatile oil. 
'^'^ See B. XXV. c. 100. This myrtle is the Euscus aculeatus of Linneeus. 
"^2 See B. xiii. c. 29, and B, xxiii. c. 45. A volatile oil might be ex- 
tracted from the citrus, if one of the thuyas, as also from the cypress. 
"3 See B. xxiii. c. 45. It is a fixed oil, still considerably used in some 
parts of Europe. 
'4 From the Greek Kapva^ a " walnut." 
75 " Pitch oil.'* See B. xxiv. c. 11. This would be a volatile oil. 
76 See B. xxiii. c. 45, also B. xiii. c. 35. Fee is of opinion, that as no 
fixed oil can be extracted from the Daphne Cnidium or Daphne Cneorum, 
Pliny must allude to a medicinal composition, like the oil of wild myrtle, 
previously mentioned. 
