Chap. 74.] 
THU CYNOSBATOS. 
49 
appearance, which is remarkably valuable as a remedy for 
calculus. This is quite a different production from the ^' cynor- 
rhoda," which we shall have occasion to speak of in the 
succeeding Eook.^^ 
(14.) The cynosbatos^-^ is by some called " cynapanxis,"^^ 
and by others neurospastos the leaf resembles the human 
footstep in shape. It bears also a black grape, in the berries 
of which there is a nerve, to which it is indebted for its name 
of neurospastos." It is quite a different plant from the cap- 
paris^ or caper, to which medical men have also given the name 
of cynosbatos." The clusters^ of it, pickled in vinegar, are 
eaten as a remedy for diseases of the spleen, and flatulency : 
and the string found in the berries, chewed with Chian mastich, 
cleanses the mouth. 
The rose^ of the bramble, mixed with axle-grease, is curative 
of alopecy : and the bramble-berries themselves, combined with 
oil of omphacium,^ stain^ the hair. The blossom of the bram- 
ble is gathered at harvest, and the white blossom, taken in 
wine, is an excellent remedy for pleurisy and cceliac affections. 
The root, boiled down to one third, arrests looseness of the 
bowels and haemorrhage, and a decoction of it, used as a gargle, 
is good for the teeth : the juice too is employed as a fomenta- 
tion for ulcers of the rectum and generative organs. , The 
ashes of the root are curative of relaxations of the uvula. 
3^ The fruit, Fee says, of the wild eglantine. See B. xxv. c. 6. 
97 Or dog-bramble." 
98 a Dog-strangle," apparently. 
99 Drawn with a string/' Fee thinks that Pliny has confused the 
account given of this plant with that of the Aglaophotis, mentioned in 
c. 102 of this Book, and that the Cynoshatos is only a variety of the Eubus 
or hramhle. Other authorities identify it with the Ruhus caninus, or with 
the Rosa sempervirens. Desfontaines thinks that it is the Eibes nigrum, 
or black currant ; and Littre is of opinion that some gooseberry or currant 
tree is meant. ^ See B. xiii. c. 44. 
2 "Thyrsus.'* Fee thinks that the allusion is to the produce of the 
caper, while Hardouin says that it is the first cynosbatos that he is speak- 
ing of. Hardouin is probably ri2ht. 
The blossom, perhaps, of the Eubus fruticosus, or blackberry. 
4 See B. xii. c. 60. 
s Fee s.ays that they have no such property, and that the blossoms of the 
bramble are entirely destitute of any known medicinal qualities. Tii€ 
roots and leaves are somewhat astringent. 
VOL. V. E 
