118 
pliny's natural history. 
[Book XXV. 
which comes from Pontus ; but whatever the soil may happen 
to be, the more weighty it is, the better adapted it is for me- 
dicinal purposes. The aristolochia with a round root is re- 
commended for the stings of serpents, and that with an oblong 
root ^ ^' But in this is centred its principal repu- 
tation ; applied to the uterus with raw beef, as a pessary, im- 
mediately after conception, it will ensure the birth of male'^^ 
issue, they say. The fishermen on the coasts of Campania 
give the round root the name of poison of the earth and I 
myself have seen them pound it with lime, and throw it into 
the sea ; immediately on which the fish flew towards it with 
surprising avidity, and being struck dead in an instant, floated 
upon the surface. 
The kind that is known as polyrrhizos,''^^ is remarkably 
good, they say, for convulsions, contusions, and falls with 
violence, an infusion of the root being taken in water : the 
seed, too, is useful for pleurisy and affections of the sinews. It 
is considered, too, to be possessed of warming and strengthening 
properties, similar to those of satyrion,^^ in fact. 
CUAP. 55. THE EMPLOYMEI^T OF THESE PLANTS EOR INJURIES 
INFLICTED BY SERPENTS. 
But it will be as well now to mention the various uses made 
of these plants, and the efi'ects produced by them, beginning 
with that most dangerous of all evils that can befall us, stings 
inflicted by serpents. In such cases the plant britannica 
effects a cure, and the same is the case with the root of all the 
varieties of panaces,^^ administered in wine. The flower, too, 
and seed of panaces chironion are taken in drink, or applied 
externally with wine and oil : cunila bubula,^^ too, is looked 
upon as particularly useful for this purpose, and the root of 
polemonia or philetseris is taken in doses of four drachmae in 
unmixed wine. Teucria,^^ sideritis,^^ and scordotis,^^ are used 
in wine, plants particularly good, all of them, for injuries in- 
flicted by snakes ; the juice or leaves, or else a decoction of 
See B. xxvi. c. 91. ''"With many roots." 
See- B. xxvi. c. 62. 27 gee c. 6 of this Book. 
See cc. 11, 12, 13, 14, of this Book. 
See B. XX. c. 61. so See B. xxiv. c. 80. 
3i See c. 15 of this Book. ^2 g^e c. 27 of this Book. 
