20 
PLINY S NATURAL HISTORY. 
[Book XXIV. 
and diuretic ; it is applied also to the head, in cases of head- 
ache, with polenta. The more tender of the leaves are used as 
an application for inflammations of the eyes. 
The mastich^^ produced by the lentisk is used as a bando- 
line for the hairs of the eye-lids, in compositions for giving 
a plumpness to the face, and in cosmetics for smoothing'^'^ the 
skin. It is employed for spitting of blood and for inveterate 
coughs, as well as all those purposes for which gum acacia is 
in request. It is used also for the cure of excoriations ; which 
are fomented either with the oil extracted from the seed, 
mixed with wax, or else with a decoction of the leaves in 
oil. Fomentations too are made of a decoction of it in water 
for diseases of the male organs.^^ I know for a fact, that in 
the illness of Considia, the daughter of M. Servilius, a per- 
sonage of consular rank, her malady, which had long resisted 
all the more severe methods of treatment, was at last success- 
fully treated with the milk of goats that had been fed upon the 
leaves of the lentisk. 
CHAPa 29. (8.) THE PLANE-TREE I TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES. 
The plane-tree^^ neutralizes the bad effects of bites in- 
flicted by the bat.^° The excrescences of this tree, taken in 
doses'^^ of four denarii, in wine, act as an antidote to the 
venom of serpents of all kinds and of scorpions, and are cura- 
tive of burns. Pounded with strong vinegar, squill vinegar 
in particular, they arrest haemorrhage of every kind ; and 
with the addition of honey, they remove freckles, carcino- 
matous sores, and black spots of long standing on the skin. 
The leaves again, and the bark of this tree, are used in the 
form of liniments for gatherings and suppurations, and a 
decoction of them is employed for a similar purpose. A de- 
coction of the bark in vinegar is remedial for aflfections of 
the teeth, and the more tender of the leaves boiled in white 
wine are good for the eyes. The down which grows upon the 
26 See B. xii. c. 36, and B. xiv. c. 25. 
2" " Smegmata." 
Littre thus reads the whole passage, Sive cum aqua, ut ita foveantur," 
— " A decoction of it is made with water for the purpose of fomentation." 
29 See B. xii. c. 3. 
3" " Adversantur vespertilionibus." Fee sees difficulties in this passage, 
which really do not seem to exist. 
The produce of the plane is no longer employed in medicine. 
