Chap. 120.] MALADIES PECULIAB TO VAEIOUS Is^ATTOKS. 271 
of any of those which have been mentioned by me ; with the 
exception, indeed, of the sphondyle,^^ a kind of creeping 
insect,^^ which infests them all. 
CHAP. 119. — HOW THE GREATEST EFFICACY IN PLANTS MAT BE 
ENSURED. 
It is also an undoubted truth, that the virtues and properties 
of all roots are more feebly developed, when the fruit has been 
allowed to ripen ; and that it is the same with the seed, when 
incisions have been previously made in the root, for the ex- 
traction of the juice. The efficacy, too, of all plants is impaired 
by making habitual use of them ; and these substances, if em- 
ployed daily, lose equally their good or bad properties, when 
required to be effectual. All plants, too, have more powerful 
properties, when grown in soils that are cold and exposed to 
the north-eastern blasts, or in dry localities. 
CHAP. 120. MALADIES PECULIAR TO VARIOUS NATIONS; 
There are certain differences, also, by no means inconsider- 
able, in the predispositions of the various nations of the earth. 
I have been informed, for instance, that the people of Egypt, 
Arabia, Syria, and Cilicia, are subject to tapeworm and maw- 
worm, while those of Thracia and Phrygia, on the other hand, 
are totally exempt from them. This, however, is less sur- 
prising than the fact that, although Attica and Eoeotia are 
adjoining territories, the Thebans are troubled with these 
inflictions, while among the people of Athens they are un- 
known. 
Considerations of this description lead me now to turn my 
attention to the nature of the animated beings themselves, and 
the medicinal properties which are inborn in them, the most 
assured remedies, perhaps, for all diseases. 
For Nature, in fact, that parent of all things, has produced no 
animated being for the purpose solely of eating ; she has willed 
that it should be born to satisfy the wants of others, and in 
its very vitals has implanted medicaments conducive to health. 
"While she has implanted them in mute^^ and inanimate 
objects even, she has equally willed that these, the most in- 
^9 A kind of foetid beetle, Hardouin says. Probably an Aphis* 
20 Serpentis." 21 gge B. xxii. c. a. 
