The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 5 (of 6)

Chapter 626: CHAP. 5.—WATERS REMEDIAL FOR URINARY CALCULI.

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This volume catalogs remedies derived from forest trees and wild plants, presenting systematic entries for dozens of species with prescribed treatments and applications. It enumerates specific uses for resins, barks, leaves, berries, and sap, and gives instructions on preparation, dosage, and testing of potency. The text also records variations among species, regional observations on growth and harvesting, and anecdotes on how certain plants were discovered or associated with animals and human practices. Overall it functions as a practical herbal compendium combining botanical description with medicinal recipes and empirical notes.

CHAP. 5.—WATERS REMEDIAL FOR URINARY CALCULI.

The waters of the island of Ænaria are curative of urinary calculi,2943 it is said; and the same is the case with the cold spring of Acidula,2944 four miles distant from Teanum 2945 Sidicinum, the waters at Stabiæ, known as the Dimidiæ,2946 and those in the territory of Venafrum,2947 which take their rise in the spring of Acidula. Patients suffering from these complaints may be cured also by drinking the waters of Lake Velia;2948 the same effects being produced by those of a spring in Syria, near Mount Taurus, M. Varro says, and by those of the river Gallus in Phrygia, as we learn from Callimachus. In taking the waters, however, of this last, the greatest moderation is necessary, as they are apt to cause delirium; an effect equally produced, Ctesias tells us, by the waters of the Red Fountain 2949 in Æthiopia.