254 
PLINY S NATTJEAL HTSTOST. 
[Book XXVIT. 
the mere sight of it, the medicinal purposes for which it was 
originally intended ; the appearance of it, too, is such, that 
it can be immediately recognized, without the necessity of 
having recourse to any botanical authority. 
CHAP. 75. LAPiniS MUSOUS, OE STONE MOSS : ONE KEMEDT. 
There grows near running streams, a dry, white moss, upon 
ordinary stones. One of these stones, with the addition of 
human saliva, is rubbed against another; after which the 
first stone is used for touching impetigo, the party so doing 
uttering these words : — 
Osuysrs Tcavdap/ds^, \\)%og ayptog oHfia diojTtii. 
" Cantharides^'^ begone, a wild wolf seeks your blood.''^^ 
CHAP. 76. THE LIMETJM I ONE REMEDY. 
Limeum^^ is the name given by the Gauls to a plant, in a 
preparationof which, known to them as deer's^ poison," they 
dip their arrows^^ when hunting. To three modii of salivating 
mixture^^ they put as much of the plant as is used for poisoning 
a single arrow ; and a mess of it is passed down the throat, 
in cases where oxen are suffering from disease, due care being 
taken to keep them fastened to the manger till they have been 
purged, as they are generally rendered frantic by the dose. In 
case perspiration supervenes, they are drenched all over with 
cold water. 
CHAP. 77.— THE LEUCE, MESOLEUCON, OB LEXJCAS : THREE 
REMEDIES. 
Leuce,^^ a plant resembling mercurialis,^^ has received its 
^5 Some kind of lichen, probably, but what in particular it is impossible 
to say. Eing-worm or tetter. 
^7 Hardouin says tbat tbis herpetic disease is called " cantbarides," be- 
cause it attacks tbe body as tbe cantbaris attacks wbeat. See B. xviii. c. 44. 
1^ It would be superfluous to look for sense in tbis silly formula. 
19 Anguillara and C. Baubin identify it witb tbe Ranunculus tbora of 
Linnaeus, and otber autborities witb tbe Doronicum pardaliancbes of Lin- 
naeus. Pliny is tbe only writer tbat mentions it ; and if it really bad any 
existence, it would seem quite impossible, as Fee says, to identify it with 
correctness. ^ " Venenum cervarium." B. xxv. c. 25. 
22 " Salivati." Holland renders this, " A mash wherewith they used to 
drench cattle.'' ^3 Identified with the Laraium of B. xxii. c. 16. 
24 See B. xxv. c. 18. Tbe resemblance, Fee says, is by no means a 
striking one. 
