FOOTNOTES:
1 See B. xvi. cc. 6, 8, 33, 50.
2 See B. xvii. c. 3.
3 As Fée justly remarks, the greater part of these so-called sympathies and antipathies must be looked upon as so many fables. In the majority of instances, it is the habitual requirements of the tree or plant that constitute the difference; thus, for instance, the oak or quercus requires a different site and temperature from that needed by the olive, and the stony soil adopted by the vine is but ill-suited for the cultivation of the cabbage.
4 See B. xx. c. 36.
5 See B. xxi. cc. 27, 38, and B. xxv. c. 67.
6 See the same statement made in B. xxiii. c. 62.
7 Or Bacchus.
8 “Philyra.” Fée does not think that it can be of any use for such a purpose. Hardouin says, however, that in his time meat when too highly salted was wrapped in leaves of the lime or linden, for the purpose of extracting the salt.
9 See B. xviii. c. 14.
10 Instead of having this effect, Fée says, it would render it much worse.
11 The intention being to clear the wine, though in reality, as Fée observes, it would have a tendency to turn the wine into vinegar.
12 Chalk, or in other words, sub-carbonate of lime, and argilla, or aluminous earth combining several earthy salts, would probably neutralize the acetic acid in the wine, but would greatly deteriorate its flavour.
13 On the contrary, lime would appear to have a great affinity for water, absorbing it with avidity, if we may use the term.
14 More easily with water; though vinegar will do for the purpose.
15 “Atramentum.” By this passage, Fée says, it is clearly proved that the ink of the ancients was soluble in water, and that it contained neither galls nor salts of iron. What it really was made of is still a matter of doubt; but it is not improbable that the basis of it was spodium, or ashes of ivory.
16 “Officinas.”
17 “In medio.” The reading is very doubtful here.
18 This, of course, is mere exaggeration.
19 He would seem to imply that the medical men of his age had conspired to gain an adventitious importance by imposing upon the credulity of the public, on the principle “Omne ignotum pro magnifico;” much as the “medicine-men” of the North American Indians do at the present day.
20 He alludes to the physicians of Greece more particularly.
21 “Imperatoribus quoque imperaverunt.”
22 In B. xiii. c. 32, and B. xvi. c. 53. Pliny ascribes here to the Lotus of Italy, the Celtis Australis of Linnæus, the same medicinal properties that are given by Dioscorides, B. i. c. 171, to the Egyptian bean or Nymphæa Nelumbo of Linnæus. Galen gives the same account as Dioscorides; it is not improbable, therefore, that Pliny is in error.
23 See B. xvi. c. 53, Note 2539.
24 Half a denarius. See Introduction to Vol. III.
25 Acorns, as well as the bark of the various kinds of oak, are of an astringent nature.
26 Or, hogs’ lard.
27 In the singular number, “cacoethes,” “a bad habit;” signifying a malignant or cancerous tumour.
28 See B. xvi. c. 12. All the properties here ascribed to it, Fée says, are hypothetical. It is no longer used in medicine, at least to any recognized extent.
29 Hence the Latin word “vermiculum,” from which our word “vermilion” is derived.
30 In B. xvi. c. 12.
31 In B. xvi. c. 9.
32 They might be used advantageously, Fée thinks, in the shape of a decoction, for procidence of the uvula and uterus.
33 “Eating,” or “corrosive.”
34 See B. xvi. cc. 11, 93, 94.
35 See B. xvi. cc. 10, 11.
36 This passage, as Fée remarks, is somewhat obscure.
38 Fée says, that till very recently it was a common belief that the oak mistletoe is curative of epilepsy. It was also employed as an ingredient in certain antispasmodic powders.
39 See B. xvi. c. 10.
40 See B. xvi. c. 8.
41 This decoction would be of a tonic and astringent nature, owing to the tannin and gallic acid which the leaves and bark contain.
42 See B. xvi. c. 13.
43 “Ex utrâlibet parte.”
44 There is no foundation, Fée says, for any of these statements.
45 See B. xvi. c. 60. The leaves of the cypress, Fée says, contain tannin and an essential oil; all the medicinal properties therefore, here attributed to them, which are not based upon these principles, must be looked upon as hypothetical.
46 Down to the present century the leaves and fruit of the cypress were recommended in some medical works for the cure of hernia. The juice, however, of the leaves, taken internally, would be, as Fée says, highly dangerous.
47 Owing probably to the gallic acid they contain.
48 See B. xiv. c. 4.
49 See Introduction to Vol. III.
50 See B. x. c. 28, and B. xi. cc. 24, 28.
51 See B. xiii. c. 11.
52 Fée remarks, that many of the moderns attribute to frankincense the properties here ascribed to cedria; a most unfounded notion, he thinks.
53 In B. xiv. c. 25, and B. xvi. cc. 21, 22.
54 Sillig reads “volumina;” in which case it is not improbable that the allusion is to the practice of seasoning the paper of manuscripts with a preparation of cedar, as a preservative against mildew and worms. Another reading is “lumina,” and it is not impossible that it is the right one, meaning that pitch of cedar is useful for making lamps or candles. Fée reminds us that we are not to confound the “cedria” with the “cedrium” of B. xvi. c. 21, though Pliny seems here to confound the two. See Note 2326 to that Chapter.
55 As in B. xvi. c. 21, he has said the same of “cedrium,” a red tar charged with empyreumatic oil, it is clear that he erroneously identifies it with “cedria,” or pitch of cedar. It is with this last, in reality, that the Egyptians embalmed the dead, or rather preserved them, by dipping them in the boiling liquid.
56 If he implies that it is poisonous, such in reality is not the case.
57 A mere absurdity, of course.
58 It would be of no use whatever for the cure of injuries inflicted by the Aplysia vulgaris or Aplysia depilans of Linnæus. See B. ix. c. 72, and B. xxxii. c. 3.
60 This mention of the berries clearly proves, Fée thinks, that the Cedrelates of Pliny belongs in reality to the genus Juniperus.
61 Or of the juniper, Fée thinks.
62 See Note 58 above.
63 In B. xii. c. 56.
64 Cartilaginous, clear, and free from ligneous substances.
65 It is still employed, Fée says, to a small extent, as a topical application for ulcerated sores. Its properties are energetic, but nearly all the uses to which Pliny speaks of it as being applied are hypothetical.
66 In B. xii. c. 56.
67 Narcotic poisons.
68 See B. xii. c. 58. See also c. 16 of this Book.
69 This statement is entirely fabulous.
70 In B. xii. c. 49. Gum ammoniac is still used to some small extent in modern medicine, for asthma, boils, tumours, and diseases of the bladder.
71 In B. xii. c. 55. Fée says that it is of the Amygdalite storax that Pliny is here speaking. It is little employed at the present day for internal maladies.
72 This is not the fact.
73 In B. xii. c. 58. It is no longer used in medicine, though possessed of properties of considerable energy. Fée says that most of the assertions here made respecting it are unfounded.
74 An absurdity, Fée remarks.
75 In B. xii. c. 50. Various lichens probably were called by this name. No use is made of them in modern medicine.
76 See B. xiii. c. 12. The leaves and root of the terebinth or turpentine-tree have some medicinal properties, owing to their resin or essential oil; but no use is made of them in modern medicine.
77 See B. xvi. c. 18.
78 See B. xvi. c. 19. The leaves of these trees are of an astringent and acid nature, Fée says, but they are no longer employed in medicine. All that Pliny here states relative to them is very problematical.
79 Fée says that it is still the practice of the Turkish physicians to recommend to their patients the air of the cypress groves of Candia. He states also, that it is a very general supposition that resins, balms, and balsams are good for pulmonary phthisis, but is of opinion that the notion is founded upon no solid basis.
80 See B. xxxi. c. 33, also Celsus. B. iii. c. 22. Similar to a voyage to Madeira, recommended to our consumptive patients at the present day.
81 Or “ground-pine.”
82 From “abigo,” to “drive away,” it would appear.
83 “Thus terræ.” The Teucrium Iva of Linnæus, Fée says, or Chamæpitys moschata. Fée remarks that Pliny commits a great error in giving to it the blossoms of the pine, and that he assigns larger proportions than really belong to it. The name “incense of the earth,” is very inappropriate; for it has none of the odour of incense, but merely a resinous smell.
84 The Teucrium chamæpitys of Linnæus, the Chamæpitys lutea vulgaris of C. Bauhin, the ground-pine.
85 The leaves are imbricated, and the branches bend downwards, like those of the pine, whence the name.
86 The Teucrium pseudo-chamæpitys of Linnæus, the bastard ground-pine.
87 To the pine or pitch-tree, mentioned in c. 19.
88 They are rich in essential oil, and are of a tonic nature. All that is here stated as to their medicinal uses, and which cannot be based upon that property, is hypothetical, Fée says, and does not deserve to be refuted.
89 See Introduction to Vol. III.
90 The resemblance of its name to the “pitys” or pitch-tree.
92 An Euphorbia with a ligneous stem, the Euphorbia pityusa of Linnæus. The characteristics of it differ, however, from the description here given by Pliny. It is no longer used in medicine, though, like the other Euphorbiaceæ, it has very active properties.
93 This, Fée says, is consistent with truth.
94 In B. xiv. c. 25.
95 B. xvi. cc. 16, 21, 22, 23.
96 Or, as they are called at the present day, the resins, and the oleoresins, or terebinthines.
97 Fée thinks that this name extends to the numerous species of resiniferous trees.
98 The Abies excelsa of Linnæus.
99 The Pistacia terebinthus; see B. xiii. c. 12. It yields a valuable turpentine, known in commerce as that of Cyprus or Chios.
100 The so-called Venice turpentine is extracted from the larch.
101 It yields mastich solely, a solid resin.
102 It yields a terebinthine, and a very diminutive amount of solid resin.
103 Fée says, that if the same methods are employed, the same products may be obtained, though in general the larch yields the better terebinthine.
104 Fée thinks that he is speaking of a thick resin, or galipot, as the French call it, of the consistency of honey.
105 Boiled terebinthine, or turpentine, is still used, Fée says, in medicine; that process disengaging the essential oil.
106 In B. xvi. c. 22.
107 Fée thinks that in reality these are terebinthines, and not resins.
108 It has been generally remarked that aromatic plants grown on mountains have a stronger perfume than those of the plains; Fée queries whether this extends to the resins.
109 Though of little importance in modern medicine, resins and terebinthines are still employed as the basis of certain plasters and other preparations.
110 Such a potion as this, Fée says, would but ill agree with a person in robust health even.
111 There would be no necessity whatever, Fée says, for such a process, a plentiful supply of food being quite sufficient for the purpose. Galen recommends frictions of terebinthine for the improvement of the health.
112 Mastich. The medicinal properties here attributed to it, Fée says, do not exist.
113 “Onera.”
114 In B. xiv. c. 25, and B. xvi. cc. 21, 22.
115 Tar. See B. xvi. c. 21.
116 The pitch of Calabria, Fée says, is known at the present day as pitch-resin. All that Pliny states as to the medicinal properties of pitch, is destitute, Fée thinks, of the slightest probability.
117 Or horned serpent.
118 Taken internally, of course.
119 In B. xvi. c. 22, and B. xv. c. 7.
120 “Pitch boiled over again.”
121 Fée says, that this statement is quite beyond all belief. Indeed there is little doubt that tar taken internally for quinzy, would only tend to aggravate the complaint. He states that a solution of tar in water is sometimes used internally with success for pulmonary phthisis. Bishop Berkeley wrote his Siris, on the virtues of Tar-water as a medicament, having been indebted to it for his recovery from an attack of colic.
122 See B. xvi. c. 23. His description here is faulty, it being solely a natural pitch or mineral bitumen, without any admixture of vegetable pitch. Vitruvius calls this pissasphalt, pitch; but Ælian, more correctly, bitumen. The names now given to it are mineral pitch, and malthe or pitch of Malta.
123 In B. xvi. c. 23. Fée thinks that the use of it is more likely to have been injurious than beneficial.
124 Or tæda. See B. xvi. c. 19.
125 Fée says, that within the last century, the wood of the lentisk or mastich, and the oil of its berries, figured in the Pharmacopœias. Their medicinal properties are far from energetic, but the essential oil may probably be of some utility as an excitant.
126 This property is still attributed in the East to the leaves and resin of the lentisk. We learn from Martial, B. xiv. Epig. 22, that the wood of the lentisk, as well as quills, was used for tooth-picks.
127 this, Fée says, is not the fact.
128 See B. xii. c. 36, and B. xiv. c. 25.
129 “Smegmata.”
130 Littré thus reads the whole passage, “Sive cum aquâ, ut ita foveantur,”—“A decoction of it is made with water for the purpose of fomentation.”
131 See B. xii. c. 3.
132 “Adversantur vespertilionibus.” Fée sees difficulties in this passage, which really do not seem to exist.
133 The produce of the plane is no longer employed in medicine.
134 The young leaves probably, or else the fruit.
135 In B. xvi. c. 24. There are still some traces of this notion existing, Fée says, among the French peasantry. All the statements here made relative to its medicinal properties, are utterly unfounded.
136 In reality they have no such effect.
137 See B. xvi. c. 26. The root of the maple, Fée says, has no marked qualities whatever.
138 In B xii. c. 61. The buds of the poplar, Fée says, are still used in medicine in the composition of an unguent known as “populeum.” The bark is astringent, and the wood destitute of taste.
139 “Uvarum.” Fée thinks that by these berries, or grapes, the blossoms or buds are meant. See Note 608 to B. xii. c. 61.
140 See also c. 38, as to the Vitex.
141 This superstition probably applies to persons riding on horseback.
142 “Guttam.” This is the substance known to us as “honey-dew.” It is either secreted by the plant itself, or deposited on the leaves by an aphis. It is found more particularly on the leaves of the rose, the plane, the lime, and the maple. Bees and ants are particularly fond of it.
143 Bee-glue. See B. xi. c. 6, and B. xxii. c. 50.
144 See B. xvi. c. 29. The bark of the elm, like that of most other trees, has certain astringent properties.
145 Fée says that it is only some few years since the inner bark of the elm was sometimes prescribed medicinally, but that it has now completely fallen into disuse. All that Pliny says here of the virtues of the elm is entirely suppositious.
146 A kind of honey-dew, no doubt.