CHAP. 32.—THE POPLAR: EIGHT REMEDIES.
We have already138 mentioned, when speaking of the unguents, the use that is made of the berries139 of the white poplar. A potion prepared from the bark is good for sciatica and strangury, and the juice of the leaves is taken warm for ear-ache. So long140 as a person holds a sprig of poplar in his hand, there is no fear of141 chafing between the thighs.
The black poplar which grows in Crete is looked upon as the most efficacious of them all. The seed of it, taken in vinegar, is good for epilepsy. This tree produces a resin also to a small extent, which is made use of for emollient plasters. The leaves, boiled in vinegar, are applied topically for gout. A moisture that exudes from the clefts of the black poplar removes warts, and pimples caused by friction. Poplars produce also on the leaves a kind of sticky142 juice, from which bees prepare their propolis:143 indeed this juice, mixed with water, has the same virtues as propolis.