CHAP. 19.—THE PITCH-TREE AND THE LARCH: EIGHT REMEDIES.
The leaves of the pitch-tree77 and the larch,78 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 diarrhœa, 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 phthisis,79 or who are unable 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,80 or to go on a summer’s journey to the mountains to drink the milk there, impregnated with the perfumes of plants.