Chap. 73.] 
THE BRAMELE. 
47 
house, is a preserv^ative against sorceries and spells. The 
blossom of it, according to Pythagoras, congeals^^ water, and a 
staff®^ made of the wood, if, when thrown at any animal, from 
want of strength in the party throwing it, it falls short of the 
mark, will roll back again^^ towards the thrower, of its own 
accord — so remarkable are the properties of this tree. The 
smoke of the yew kills®^ rats and mice. 
CHAP. 73. THE BKAMBLE : EIFTY-ONE EEMEDIES. 
I^or yet has I^ature destined the bramble®^ to be only an 
annoyance to mankind, for she has bestowed upon it mul- 
berries of its own,^ or, in other words, a nutritive aliment even 
for mankind. These berries are of a desiccative, astringent, 
nature, and are extremely useful for maladies of the gums, 
tonsillary glands, and generative organs. They neutralize also 
the venom of those most deadly of serpents, the hsemorrhois^ 
and the prester and the flowers or fruit will heal wounds 
inflicted by scorpions, without any danger of abscesses forming. 
The shoots of the bramble have a diuretic efl'ect: and the 
more tender ones are pounded, and the juice extracted and then 
dried in the sun till it has attained the consistency of honey, 
being considered a most excellent remedy, taken in drink or 
applied externally, for maladies of the mouth and eyes, dis- 
charges of blood from the mouth, quinzy, affections of the 
It is not improbable that Pliny, in copying from some other author, has 
mistaken the one for the other. 
An exaggeration, no doubt. The Cissampelos Pareira of Lamarck, an 
Indian plant, abounds in mucilage to such an extent, that an infusion of it 
in water becomes speedily coagulated. 
One would be induced to think that this story is derived from some 
yague account of the properties of the Boomerang. Although supposed 
by many to have been the invention of the natives of Australasia, repre- 
sentations of it are found on the sculptures of Nineveh. It is not 
improbable that Pythagoras may have heard of it from the Magi during 
his travels in the East. See Bonomi's Nineveh^ p. 136. 
"Eecubitu" seems preferable to " cubitu." 
This is very doubtful, Fee says. 
See B. xvi. c. 71. See B. xvi. c. 71. 
Blackberries are still used in the country, Fee says, as an astringent 
medicine, and all here stated that is based upon that property is rational 
enough. The same cannot, however, be said of the greater part of the 
other statements in this Chapter. 
88 See B. XX. cc. 23, 81, and B. xxiii. cc. 12, 18. 
89 See B. XX. c. 81, B. xxii. c. 13, and B. xxiii. c. 23. 
