Chap. 10.1 
THE CTPRESS. 
/ 
to employ it as a sitting-bath, for its desiccative or astringent 
effects upon the lower extremities. The root of this tree 
neutralizes the venom of the scorpion, 
CHAP. 8. THE-COKK TREE : TWO EEMEDIES. 
The bark of the cork-tree/° pulverized and taken in warm 
water, arrests haemorrhage at the mouth and nostrils and 
the ashes of it, taken in warm wine, are highly extolled as a 
cure for spitting of blood. 
CHAP. 9. (5.) — THE beech: eoijr remedies. 
The leaves*^ of the beech are chewed for affections of the 
lips and gums. A liniment is made of the ashes of beech- 
mast for urinary calculus, and, in combination with honey, for 
alopecy. 
CHAP. 10. THE cypress: TWENTY- THREE REMEDIES. 
The leaves of the cypress^^ are pounded and applied to 
wounds inflicted by serpents, and with polenta, to the head, in 
cases of sunstroke. They are used also for hernia, and an infu- 
sion of them is taken in drink.^^ They are applied with wax to 
swellings of the testes, and mixed with vinegar they stain the 
hair black.*^ Eeaten up with twice the quantity of light 
bread, and then kneaded with Aminean^^ wine, they are found 
very soothing for pains in the feet and sinews. 
The excrescences of this tree are taken in drink for the 
stings of serpents and for discharges of blood from the mouth ; 
they are used also as a topical application for gatherings. 
Fresh-gathered and beaten up .with axle-grease and bean- 
meal, they are good for hernia ; and an infusion of them is 
^0 See B. xvi, c. 13. "Ex utralibet parte.'* 
*2 There is no foundation, Fee says, for any of these statements. 
*3 See B. xvi. c. 60. The leaves of the cypress, Fee says, contain tan- 
nin and an essential oil; all the medicinal properties therefore, here attri- 
buted to them, which are not based upon these principles, must be looked 
upon as hypothetical. 
Down to the present century the leaves and fruit of the cypress were 
recommended in some medical works for the cure of hernia. The juice, 
however, of the leaves, taken internally, would be, as Fee says, highly 
dangerous. 
^•^ Owing probably to the gallic acid they contain. 
*6 See B. xiv. c. 4. 
