Chap. 20.] 
THE CHAMiEPTTTS. 
13 
tions for gatherings ; and a decoction of tliem is strengthening 
to the stomach. The seed of it is taken in wine for head-ache 
and strangury : it is slightly laxative to the bowels, and acts 
as an aphrodisiac. 
CHAP. 19. THE PITCH-TEEE AND THE LAECH I EIGHT EEMEDIES. 
The leaves of the pitch-tree "^^ and the larch,"^^ beaten up . 
and boiled in vinegar, are good for tooth-ache. The ashes of 
the bark are used for excoriations and burns. Taken in drink 
this substance arrests diarrhoea, and acts as a diuretic ; and 
used as a fumigation, it reduces the uterus when displaced. 
The leaves of the pitch- tree are particularly good for the liver, 
taken in doses of one drachma in hydromel. 
It is a well-known fact that forests planted solely with trees 
from which pitch and resin are extracted, are remarkably 
beneficial for patients suffering from phthisisj' or who are un- 
able to recover their strength after a long illness : indeed it is 
said, that in such cases to breathe the air of localities thus 
planted, is more beneficial even than to take a voyage to Egypt, 
or to go on a summer's journey to the mountains to drink the 
milk there, impregnated with the perfumes of plants. 
CHAP. 20. THE CHAM^PITYS I TEN EEMEDIES. 
The chamsepitys,'^^ called in Latin abiga,"®° because it 
promotes abortion, and known to some as incense of the 
earth,"^^ has branches a cubit in length, and the odour and 
75 See B. xvi. c. 18. 
'6 See B, xvi. c. 19. The leaves of these trees are of an astringent 
and acid nature, Fee says, but they are no longer employed in medicine. 
All that Pliny here states relative to them is very problematical. 
" Fee says that it is still the practice of the Turkish physicians to re- 
commend to their patients the air of the cypress groves of Candia. He 
states also, that it is a very general supposition that resins, balms, and bal- 
sams are good for pulmonary phthisis, but is of opinion that the notion is 
founded upon no solid basis. 
''^ See B. xxxi. c. 33, also Celsus, B. iii. c. 22. Similar to a voyage to 
Madeira, recommended to our consumptive patients at the present day. 
78 Or ground-pine." 
80 From "abigo," to drive away,''* it would appear. 
^ 81 " Thus terrse.'' The Teucrium Iva of Linnaeus, Fee says, or Chamse- 
pitys moschata. Fee remarks that Pliny commits a great error in giving to 
it the blossoms of the pine, and that he assigns larger proportions than really 
belong'toit. The name " incense of the earth,'' is very inappropriate ; for 
it has none of the odour of incense, but merely a resinous smell. 
