Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXI. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE AQUATIC PRODUCTION

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BOOK XXXI. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE AQUATIC PRODUCTION

CHAP. 1. (1.)—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WATER.

WE have now to speak of the benefits derived, in a medicinal point of view, from the aquatic productions; for not here even has all-bounteous Nature reposed from her work. Amid waves and billows, and tides of rivers for ever on the ebb and flow, she still unceasingly exerts her powers; and nowhere, if we must confess the truth, does she display herself in greater might, for it is this among the elements that holds sway over all the rest. It is water that swallows up dry land, that extinguishes flame, that ascends aloft, and challenges possession of the very heavens: it is water that, spreading clouds as it does, far and wide, intercepts the vital air we breathe; and, through their collision, gives rise to thunders and lightnings,¹ as the elements of the universe meet in conflict.

What can there be more marvellous than waters suspended aloft in the heavens? And yet, as though it were not enough to reach so high an elevation as this, they sweep along with them whole shoals of fishes, and often stones as well, thus lading themselves with ponderous masses which belong to other elements, and bearing them on high. Falling upon the earth, these waters become the prime cause of all that is there produced; a truly wondrous provision of Nature, if we only consider, that in order to give birth to grain and life to trees and to shrubs, water must first leave the earth for the heavens, and thence bring down to vegetation the breath of life! The admission must be surely extorted from us, that for all our resources the earth is indebted to the bounteousness of water. It will be only proper, therefore, in the first place to set forth some instances of the powerful properties displayed by this element; for as to the whole of them, what living mortal could describe them?

CHAP. 2. (2.)—THE DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF WATERS.

On all sides, and in a thousand countries, there are waters bounteously springing forth from the earth, some of them cold, some hot, and some possessed of these properties united: those in the territory of the Tarbelli,² for instance, a people of Aquitania, and those among the Pyrencæan³ Mountains, where hot and cold springs are separated by only the very smallest distance. Then, again, there are others that are tepid only, or lukewarm, announcing thereby the resources they afford for the treatment of diseases, and bursting forth, for the benefit of man alone, out of so many animated beings.⁴

Under various names, too, they augment the number of the divinities,⁵ and give birth to cities; Puteoli,⁶ for example, in Campania, Statyellæ⁷ in Liguria, and Sextiæ⁸ in the province of Gallia Narbonensis. But nowhere do they abound in greater number, or offer a greater variety of medicinal properties than in the Gulf of Baiæ;⁹ some being impregnated with sulphur, some with alum, some with salt, some with nitre,¹⁰ and some with bitumen, while others are of a mixed quality, partly acid and partly salt. In other cases, again, it is by their vapours that waters are so beneficial to man, being so intensely hot as to heat our baths even, and to make cold water boil in our sitting-baths; such, for instance, as the springs at Baiæ, now known as "Posidian," after the name of a freedman¹¹ of the Emperor Claudius; waters which are so hot as to cook articles of food even. There are others, too,—those, for example, formerly the property of Licinius Crassus—which send forth their vapours in the sea¹² even, thus providing resources for the health of man in the very midst of the waves!

CHAP. 3.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM WATER.

According to their respective kinds, these waters are beneficial for diseases of the sinews, feet, or hips, for sprains or for fractures; they act, also, as purgatives upon the bowels, heal wounds,¹³ and are singularly useful for affections of the head and ears: indeed, the waters of Cicero are good for the eyes.¹⁴ The country-seat where these last are found is worthy of some further mention: travelling from Lake Avernus towards Puteoli, it is to be seen on the sea-shore, renowned for its fine portico and its grove. Cicero gave it the name of Academia,¹⁵ after the place so called at Athens: it was here that he composed those treatises¹⁶ of his that were called after it; it was here, too, that he raised those monuments¹⁷ to himself; as though, indeed, he had not already done so throughout the length and breadth of the known world.

Shortly after the death of Cicero, and when it had come into the possession of Antistius Vetus,¹⁸ certain hot springs burst forth at the very portals¹⁹ of this house, which were found to be remarkably beneficial for diseases of the eyes, and have been celebrated in verse by Laurea Tullius,²⁰ one of the freedmen of Cicero; a fact which proves to demonstration that his servants even had received inspiration from that majestic and all-powerful genius of his. I will give the lines, as they deserve to be read, not there only, but everywhere: Great prince of Roman eloquence, thy grove,
Where erst thou bad'st it rise, is verdant now;
Thy villa, from fair Academia²¹ nam'd,
From Vetus now its finish'd graces takes.
Here, too, fair streams burst forth, unknown before,
Which with their spray the languid eves relieve.
The land, I ween, these bounteous springs reveal'd,
To honour Cicero, its ancient lord.
Throughout the world his works by eyes are scann'd;
May eyes unnunber'd by these streams be heal'd.

CHAP. 4.—WATERS PRODUCTIVE OF FECUNDITY. WATERS CURATIVE OF INSANITY.

In Campania, too, are the waters of Sinuessa,²² remedial, it is said, for sterility in females, and curative of insanity in men.

CHAP. 5.—WATERS REMEDIAL FOR URINARY CALCULI.

The waters of the island of Ænaria are curative of urinary calculi,²³ it is said; and the same is the case with the cold spring of Acidula,²⁴ four miles distant from Teanum²⁵ Sidici- num, the waters at Stabiæ, known as the Dimidiæ,²⁶ and those in the territory of Venafrum,²⁷ 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;²⁸ 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 Fountain²⁹ in Æthiopia.

CHAP. 6.—WATERS CURATIVE OF WOUNDS.

The tepid waters of Albula,³⁰ near Rome, have a healing effect upon wounds. Those of Cutilia,³¹ again, in the Sabine territory, are intensely cold, and by a kind of suction penetrate the body to such a degree as to have the effect of a mordent almost. They are remarkably beneficial for affections of the stomach, sinews, and all parts of the body, in fact.

CHAP. 7.—WATERS PREVENTIVE OF ABORTION.

The waters of Thespiæ³² ensure conception to females; the same, too, with those of the river Elatus³³ in Arcadia. The spring Linus,³⁴ also in Arcadia, acts as a preservative of the fœtus, and effectually prevents abortion. The waters of the river Aphrodisius, on the other hand, in the territory of Pyrrhsæa,³⁵ are productive of sterility.

CHAP. 8.—WATERS WHICH REMOVE MORPHEW.

The waters of Lake Alphius remove white morphew,³⁶ Varro tells us; who also mentions the fact that one Titius,³⁷ a personage who had held the prætorship, had a face to all appearance like that of a marble statue, in consequence of this disease. The waters of the river Cydnus,³⁸ in Cilicia, are curative of gout, as would appear from a letter addressed by Cassius³⁹ of Parma to Marcus Antonius. At Trœzen, on the contrary, all the inhabitants are subject to diseases of the feet, owing to the bad quality of the water there. The state of the Tungri,⁴⁰ in Gaul, has a spring of great renown, which sparkles as it bursts forth with bubbles innumerable, and has a certain ferruginous taste, only to be perceived after it has been drunk. This water is strongly purgative, is curative of tertian fevers, and disperses urinary calculi: upon the application of fire it assumes a turbid appearance, and finally turns red. The springs⁴¹ of Leucogæa, between Puteoli and Neapolis, are curative of eye diseases and of wounds. Cicero, in his work entitled "Admiranda,"⁴² has remarked that it is only by the waters of the marshes of Reate⁴³ that the hoofs of beasts of burden are hardened.

CHAP. 9.—WATERS WITCH COLOUR THE HAIR.

Eudicus informs us that in Hestiæotis⁴⁴ there are two springs; one of which, Cerona, renders sheep black that drink of it, while the other, called Neleus, turns them white: if, again, a sheep should happen to drink their waters mixed, its fleece will be mottled. According to Theophrastus, the water of the Crathis,⁴⁵ a river of Thurii, makes sheep and cattle white, while that of the river Sybaris turns them black.

CHAP. 10.—WATERS WHICH COLOUR THE HUMAN BODY.

And not only this, but human beings even, Theophrastus tells us, are sensible of this difference: for persons who drink the water of the Sybaris, he says, become more swarthy and more hardy, the hair inclining to curl: while those, again, who drink of the Crathis become fair and more soft-skinned, with the hair growing straight and long. So, too, in Macedonia, persons who wish the produce to be white, drive their cattle to the river Haliacmon, while those who desire a black or tawny colour, take them to water at the Axius. Upon the same authority, too, we learn that in certain localities, as in the country of the Messapii, for instance, all the productions, the cereals even, grow of a tawny colour; and that at Lusi,⁴⁶ in Arcadia, there is a certain fountain in which land-mice live and dwell. The river Aleos, which passes through Erythræ, promotes the growth of hair upon the body.

CHAP. 11.—WATERS WHICH AID THE MEMORY, OR ARE PRODUCTIVE OF FORGETFULNESS.

At the Temple⁴⁷ of the god Trophonius, in Bœotia, near the river Hercynnus, there are two fountains,⁴⁸ one of which aids the memory, while the other is productive of forgetfulness: hence the names which they respectively bear.

CHAP. 12.—WATERS WHICH SHARPEN OR DULL THE SENSES. WATERS WHICH IMPROVE THE VOICE.

Near the town of Cescum, in Cilicia, runs the river Nus,⁴⁹ the waters of which, according to Varro, sharpen the intellect; while those of a certain spring in the island of Cea dull the senses. At Zama, in Africa, there is a spring, the waters of which render the voice more musical.⁵⁰

CHAP. 13.—WATERS WHICH CAUSE A DISTASTE FOR WINE. WATERS WHICH PRODUCE INEBRIETY.

Eudoxus says that persons who drink the water⁵¹ of Lake Clitorius take a distaste for wine, and Theopompus asserts that the waters of the springs already⁵² named are productive of inebriety. According to Mucianus,⁵³ there is a fountain at Andros, consecrated to Father Liber, from which wine flows during the seven days appointed for the yearly festival of that god, the taste of which becomes like that of water the moment it is taken out of sight of the temple.

CHAP. 14.—WATERS WHICH SERVE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR OIL.

Polyclitus says, that the water⁵⁴ of the river Liparis,⁵⁵ near Soli, in Cilicia, is used as a substitute for oil, and Theophrastus mentions a spring of that name in Æthiopia, which is possessed of similar properties. Lycus says, that at Tasitia⁵⁶ there is a fountain of it, the water of which emits light: the same is asserted, too, of a spring at Eebatana. According to Theopompus, there is a lake at Scotussa,⁵⁷ the waters of which heal wounds.

CHAP. 15.—SALT AND BITTER WATERS.

Juba says, that in the country of the Troglodytæ there is a lake, called the "Lake of Insanity,"⁵⁸ from its highly noxious properties: thrice a day it becomes salt and bitter, and then again fresh, the same taking place as many times during the night. It is full, he says, of white serpents, twenty cubits long.⁵⁹ He mentions, also, a certain spring in Arabia, which rises from the ground with such remarkable force, as to throw back any object pressed down upon it, however weighty.

CHAP. 16.—WATERS WHICH THROW UP STONES. WATERS WHICH CAUSE LAUGHTER AND WEEPING. WATERS WHICH ARE SAID TO BF CURATIVE OF LOVE.

Theophrastus makes mention of the fountain of Marsyas, near the city of Cellenæ, in Phrygia, which throws up masses of stone. Not far from it are two other springs, called Clæon⁶⁰ and Gelon by the Greeks, from the effects which they respectively produce. At Cyzicus is a fountain known as that of Cupido, the waters of which, Mucianus believes,⁶¹ cure those who drink thereof of love.

CHAP. 17.—WATERS WHICH PRESERVE THEIR WARMTH FOR THREE DAYS.

At Crannon⁶² there are certain hot springs, though not at boiling heat, the water of which, mixed with wine, preserves it warm in the vessels for a period of three days. The same is the case, too, with the springs of Mattiacum⁶³ in Germany, beyond the river Rhenus, the water of which retains its boiling heat three days. The margin of these springs is covered with pumice, formed by the action of the water.

CHAP. 18.—OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH WATER. WATERS IN WHICH EVERYTHING WILL SINK. WATERS IN WHICH NOTHING WILL SINK.

If any of the above-mentioned facts have the appearance of being incredible to a person, I would have him know that there is no department of Nature which presents greater marvels than this, independently of the numerous peculiarities which have been already mentioned⁶⁴ in an earlier part of this work. Ctesias informs us that, in India, there is a lake of standing water, upon which nothing⁶⁵ will float, every object instantly sinking to the bottom. Cælius says that in the waters of Lake Avernus,⁶⁶ in our own part of the world, the very leaves of the trees even will sink; and, according to Varro, these waters are fatal to such birds as fly towards them.

On the other hand, again, in the waters of Lake Apuscidamus,⁶⁷ in Africa, nothing will sink; the same, too, Apion tells us, with the fountain of Plinthia in Sicily, as also a certain lake in Media, and the well of Saturn. The spring of Limyra⁶⁸ not unfrequently makes its way through the neighbouring localities, and when it does so, is always portentous of some coming event. It is a singular thing too, that the fish always accompany its waters on these occasions; the inhabitants of the adjoining districts being in the habit of consulting them by offering them food. When the fishes seize it with avidity, the answer is supposed to be favourable; but if, on the other hand, they reject the food, by flapping it with their tails, the response is considered to be unfavourable. The river Holcas, in Bithynia, runs close to Bryazus,⁶⁹ the name of a temple and of a divinity there worshipped; persons guilty of perjury, it is said, cannot endure contact with its waters, which burn like flame.⁷⁰

The sources, too, of the Tamaricus,⁷¹ a river of Cantabria, are considered to possess certain powers of presaging future events: they are three in number, and, separated solely by an interval of eight feet, unite in one channel, and so form a mighty stream. These springs are often dry a dozen times in the day, sometimes as many as twenty, without there being the slightest trace of water there: while, on the other hand, a spring close at hand is flowing abundantly and without intermission. It is considered an evil presage when persons who wish to see these springs find them dry: a circumstance which happened very recently, for example, to Lartius Licinius,⁷² who held the office of legatus after his prætorship; for at the end of seven days after his visit he died.

In Judæa there is a river⁷³ that is dry every Sabbath day.

CHAP. 19.—DEADLY WATERS. POISONOUS FISHES.

There are other marvels again, connected with water, but of a more fatal nature. Ctesias states in his writings, that there is a spring in Armenia, the fishes in which are black,⁷⁴ and, if used as food, productive of instantaneous death. I have heard the same, too, with reference to the waters near the sources of the river Danuvius,⁷⁵ until a spring is reached which is near its main channel, and beyond which this poisonous kind of fish is not to be found. Hence it is that this spot is generally looked upon as the source of the river. The same, too, is reported of the Lake of the Nymphs, in Lydia. Near the river Pheneus, in Achaia, there flows from the rocks a spring known as the Styx, the waters of which, as already⁷⁶ stated, are instantly fatal. And not only this, but there are also small fish in it, Theophrastus says, which are as deadly as the water, a thing that is not the case with the fish of any other poisonous springs. Theopompus says, that at the town of Cychri, in Thrace, the waters are deadly; and Lycus states, that at Leontium⁷⁷ there is a spring, the waters of which are fatal at the end of a couple of days to those who drink thereof. Varro speaks also of a spring upon Mount Soracte, some four feet in breadth, the waters of which bubble forth at sunrise, as though they were boiling; birds, he says, which only taste thereof, fall dead close by.

And then, besides, we meet with this insidious circumstance, that in some cases, waters of this nature are inviting even in their appearance; those at Nonacris, in Arcadia, for example, the water of which fountain possesses no apparent quality to excite mistrust, though, owing to its intense coldness, it is generally looked upon as highly injurious, seeing that it petrifies as it flows. It is otherwise with the waters of Tempe, in Thessaly, their baneful properties inspiring universal terror, and possessing the property of corroding copper even and iron, it is said. This stream runs a short distance only, as already stated;⁷⁸ and it is truly marvellous that, according to general report, the banks of its source⁷⁹ are surrounded with the roots of a wild carob,⁸⁰ always covered with purple flowers, while the margin is clothed with a green herbaceous plant of a peculiar species. In Macedonia, not far from the tomb of the Poet Euripides, is the confluence of two streams, the water of one of which is extremely wholesome, that of the other fatal.

CHAP. 20.—WATERS WHICH PETRIFY, THEMSELVES, OR CAUSE OTHER OBJECTS TO PETRIFY.

At Perperena,⁸¹ there is a spring which petrifies⁸² the ground wherever it flows, the same being the case also, with the hot waters at Ædepsus, in Eubœa; for there, wherever the stream falls, the rocks are continually increasing in height. At Eury- mente,⁸³ chaplets, when thrown into the waters of a certain fountain there, are turned to stone. At Colossæ there is a river, into the water of which if bricks⁸⁴ are thrown, when taken out they are found changed into stone. In the mines of Scyros, the trees petrify that are watered by the river, branches and all. In the caverns of Mount Corycus, the drops of water that trickle down the rocks become hard in the form of a stone.⁸⁵ At Mieza, too, in Macedonia, the water petrifies as it hangs from the vaulted roofs of the rocks; but at Corycus it is only when it has fallen that it becomes hard.

In other caverns, again, the water petrifies both ways,⁸⁶ and so forms columns; as we find the case in a vast grotto at Phlan- sia, a town of the Chersonesus⁸⁷ of the Rhodians, the columns of which are tinted with various colours. These instances will suffice for the present.

CHAP. 21. (3.)—THE WHOLESOMIENESS OF WATERS.

It is a subject of enquiry among medical men, which kind of water is the most beneficial. They condemn, and with justice, all stagnant, sluggish, waters, and are of opinion that running water is the best, being rendered lighter and more salubrious by its current and its continuous agitation. Hence it is that I am much surprised that persons should be found to set so high a value as they do, upon cistern water. These last give as their reason, however, that rain-water must be the lightest water of all, seeing that it has been able to rise⁸⁸ aloft and remain suspended in the air. Hence it is, too, that they prefer snow-water to rain-water, and ice, again, to snow, as being water subtilized to the highest possible degree; on the ground that snow-water and ice-water must be lighter thin ordinary water, and ice, of necessity, considerably lighter. It is for the general interest, however, of mankind, that these notions should be refuted. For, in the first place, this comparative lightness which they speak of, could hardly be ascertained in any other way than by the sensation, there being pretty nearly no difference at all in weight between the kinds of water. Nor yet, in the case of rain-water, is it any proof of its lightness that it has made its way upwards into the air, seeing that stones,⁸⁹ it is quite evident, do the same: and then. besides, this water, while falling, must of necessity become tainted with the vapours which rise from the earth; a circumstance owing to which it is, that such numerous impurities⁹⁰ are to be detected in rain-water, and that it ferments⁹¹ with such extreme rapidity.

I am, surprised, too, that snow⁹² and ice should be regarded as the most subtilized states of this element, in juxtaposition with the proofs supplied us by hail, the water of which, it is generally agreed, is the most pernicious of all to drink. And then, besides, there are not a few among the medical men themselves, who assert that the use of ice-water and snow-water is highly injurious, from the circumstance that all the more refined parts thereof have been expelled by congelation. At all events, it is a well-ascertained fact that the volume of every liquid is diminished by congelation; as also that exces- sive dews⁹³ a reproductive of blight in corn, and that hoar- trosts result in blast; of a kindred nature, both of them, to snow. It is generally agreed, too, that rain-water putrefies with the greatest rapidity, and that it keeps but very badly on a voyage. Epigenes, however, assures us that water which has putrefied seven times and as often purified⁹⁴ itself, will no longer be liable to putrefaction. As to cistern-water, medical men assure us that, owing to its harshness, it is bad for the bowels and throat:⁹⁵ and it is generally admitted by them that ,there is no kind of water that contains more slime or more numerous insects of a disgusting nature. But it does not, therefore, follow that river water is the best of all, or that, in fact, of any running stream, the water of many lakes being found to be wholesome in the very highest degree.

What water, then, out of all these various kinds, are we to look upon as best adapted for the human constitution? Different kinds in different localities, is my answer. The kings of Parthia drink no water but that of the Choaspes⁹⁶ or of the Eulæus, and, however long their journies, they always have this water carried in their suite. And yet it is very evident that it is not merely because this water is river-water that it is thus pleasing to them, seeing that they decline to drink the water of the Tigris, Euphrates, and so many other streams.

CHAP. 22.—THE IMPURITIES OF WATER.

Slime⁹⁷ is one great impurity of water: still, however, if a river of this description is full of eels, it is generally looked upon as a proof⁹⁸ of the salubrity of its water; just as it is regarded as a sign of its freshness when long worms⁹⁹ breed in the water of a spring. But it is bitter water, more particu- larly, that is held in disesteem, as also the water which swells the stomach the moment it is drunk, a property which belongs to the water at Trœzen. As to the nitrous¹⁰⁰ and salso-acid¹⁰¹ waters which are found in the deserts, persons travelling across towards the Red Sea render them potable in a couple of hours by the addition of polenta, which they use also as food. Those springs are more particularly condemned which secrete mud,¹⁰² or which give a bad complexion to persons who drink thereof. It is a good plan, too, to observe if water leaves stains upon copper vessels; if leguminous vegetables boil with difficulty in it; if, when gently decanted, it leaves an earthy deposit; or if, when boiled, it covers the vessel with a thick crust.¹⁰³

It is a fault also in water¹⁰⁴ but to have any flavour¹⁰⁵ not only to have a bad smell,¹⁰⁶ at all, even though it be a flavour pleasant and agreeable in itself, or closely approaching, as we often find the case, the taste of milk. Water, to be truly wholesome, ought to resemble air¹⁰⁷ as much as possible. There is only one¹⁰⁸ spring of water in the whole universe, it is said, that has an agreeable smell, that of Chabura, namely, in Mesopotamia: the people give a fabulous reason for it, and say that it is because Juno¹⁰⁹ bathed there. Speaking in general terms, water, to be wholesome, should have neither taste nor smell.

CHAP. 23.—THE MODES OF TESTING WATER.

Some persons judge of the wholesomeness of water through the agency of a balance:¹¹⁰ their pains, however, are expended to little purpose, it being but very rarely that one water is lighter than another. There is, however, a more certain mode of ascertaining the difference in quality, that water being the better of the two which becomes hot and cold with the greatest rapidity: in addition to which, not to keep poising a balance,¹¹¹ after water has been drawn up in vessels, if it is good, it should gradually become warmer, they say, when placed upon the ground. Which water, then, of the several kinds will be most likely to be good and wholesome? Well-water, no doubt, if we are to judge from the general use made of it in cities: but only in the case of wells in which it is kept in continual agitation by repeated drawing, and is refined by the earth acting as a filter. These conditions are sufficient to ensure salubrity in water: in regard to coolness, the well must be in a shaded spot, and the water kept exposed to the air. There is, however, one thing above all to be observed, a point, too, of considerable importance with reference to the continuance of the flow—the spring must issue from the bed of the well, and not from the sides. To make water cold to the touch may be effected artificially even, either by forcing it to rise aloft or by making it fall from a height, and so come in collision with the air, and be- come incorporated¹¹² therewith: for in swimming,¹¹³ we find, when we hold our breath, the water is felt to be all the colder.

It was the Emperor Nero's invention¹¹⁴ to boil water, and then enclose it in glass vessels and cool it in snow; a method which ensures all the enjoyment of a cold beverage, without any of the inconveniences resulting from the use of snow. Indeed, it is generally admitted that all water is more¹¹⁵ wholesome when it has been boiled; as also, that water when it has once been heated, will become more intensely¹¹⁶ cold than before—a most ingenious discovery.¹¹⁷ The best corrective of unwholesome water is to boil it down to one half. Cold water, taken internally, arrests hæmorrhage. By keeping cold water in his mouth, a person may render himself proof against the intense heat of the bath. Many a person knows by his own every-day experience, that water which is the coldest to drink is not of necessity the coldest to the touch, this delightful property being subject to considerable fluctuations.¹¹⁸

CHAP. 24.—THE MARCIAN WATERS.

The most celebrated water throughout the whole world, and the one to which our city gives the palm for coolness and salu- brity, is that of the Marcian¹¹⁹ Spring, accorded to Rome among the other bounties of the gods: the name formerly given to the stream was the "Aufeian," the spring itself being known as "Pitonia." It rises¹²⁰ at the extremity of the mountains of the Peligni, passes through the territory of the Marsi and through Lake Fucinus, and then, without deviating, makes directly for Rome: shortly after this, it loses itself in certain caverns, and only reappears in the territory of Tibur, from which it is brought to the City by an arched aqueduct nine miles in length. Ancus Marcius, one of the Roman kings, was the first¹²¹ who thought of introducing this water into the City. At a later period, the works were repaired by Quintus Mar- cius Rex: and, more recently, in his prætorship, by M. Agrippa.¹²²

CHAP. 25.—THE VIRGIN WATERS.

It was he, too, who brought the Virgin¹²³ Waters from the bye-road situate at the eighth milestone from the City, which runs for two miles along the Prænestine Way. Near these waters is the stream of Hercules, which the former shun, to all appearance, and have thence obtained¹²⁴ the name of "Virgin Waters." On instituting a comparison between the waters of these streams, the difference above-mentioned¹²⁵ may be immediately detected, the Virgin water being as much cooler to the touch, as the Marcian water is in taste. And yet, for this long time past, the pleasure of drinking these waters has been lost to the City, owing to the ambition and avarice of certain persons who have turned¹²⁶ them out of their course for the supply of their country-seats and of various places in the suburbs, to the great detriment of the public health.

CHAP. 26.—TE METHOD OF SEARCHING FOR WATER.

It will not be out of place to append here an account of the method employed in searching for water. Water is mostly to be found in valleys, whether formed by the intersection of declivities or lying at the lower part of mountains. Many persons have been of opinion that all places with a northern¹²⁷ aspect are naturally provided with water: a point upon which it will not be amiss to explain the diversities presented to us by Nature. On the south side of the mountains of Hyrcania it never rains; and hence it is that it is only on the northeast side that they are wooded. As for Olympus, Ossa, Parnassus, the Apennines, and the Alps, they are covered with wood on every side, and abundantly watered with streams. Some mountains, again, are wooded on the south side, the White¹²⁸ Mountains in Crete, for example. On this point, therefore, we may come to the conclusion that there is no rule which in all cases holds good.

CHAP. 27.—SIGNS INDICATIVE OF THE PRESENCE OF WATER.

The following are indications of the presence of water:— rushes, reeds, the plant mentioned with reference to this point already,¹²⁹ or frogs sitting squatted on a spot for a long time together. As to the wild¹³⁰ willow, alder, vitex, reed, and ivy, all of which grow spontaneously on low grounds in which there is a settling of rain water from higher localities, considered as indications of the presence of water, they are all¹³¹ of them of a deceptive nature. A sign much more to be depended upon, is a certain misty exhalation, visible from a distance before sunrise. The better to observe this, some persons ascend an eminence, and lie flat at full length upon the ground, with the chin touching the earth. There is also another peculiar method of judging upon this point, known only to men of experience in these matters: in the very middle of the heats of summer they select the hottest hours of the day, and observe how the sun's rays are reflected in each spot; and if, notwithstanding the general dryness of the earth, a locality is observed to present a moist appearance, they make no doubt of finding water there.

But so intense is the stress upon the eyes in doing this, that it is very apt to make them ache; to avoid which inconvenience, they have recourse to other modes of testing. They dig a hole, for instance, some five feet in depth, and cover it with vessels of unbaked pottery, or with a copper basin well-oiled; they then place a burning lamp on the spot, with an arch-work over it of leaves, and covered with earth on the top. If, after a time, they find the pots wet or broken, the copper covered with moisture, or the lamp extinguished, but not from want of oil, or if a lock of wool that has been left there is found to be moist, it is a sign of the presence of water, beyond all doubt. With some persons it is the practice to light a fire on the spot before they dig the hole, a method which renders the experiment with the vessels still more conclusive.

CHAP. 28.—DIFFERENCES IN WATERS, ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF THE SOIL.

The soil itself, too, gives indications of the presence of water, by presenting white spots, or an uniformly green appearance: for where the stratum is black the springs are mostly not of a permanent nature. The presence of potter's clay always puts an end to all hopes of finding water, and the excavation is immediately abandoned; an eye being carefully kept to the strata¹³² of the earth, to see whether, beginning with black mould, it successively presents the appearances above-mentioned. The water is always fresh that is found in argillaceous soils, but in a stratum of tufa it is colder than elsewhere; this, indeed, being a soil which is highly approved of, as having a tendency to make the water pure and extremely light to the stomach, and, by its action as a filter, to withhold all impurities. The presence of sand¹³³ gives indications of springs of but limited extent, and of water impregnated with slime; while that of gravel announces the presence of water of excellent flavour, but not to be depended upon for permanence. Male:¹³⁴ sand, fine sea¹³⁵-sand, and charcoal¹³⁶ earth, yield a constant supply of water of a highly wholesome quality; but it is the presence of red stones that is the most to be depended upon, and the water found there is of the very finest quality. Craggy localities at the foot of mountains, and silicious soils, are equally good; in addition to which, the water found there is cooler than elsewhere.

In boring for water, the soil should always become more and more humid, and, the deeper the descent, with the greater facility the implements should penetrate. In deep-sunk wells, the presence of sulphureous¹³⁷ or aluminous substances is fatal to the sinkers; a danger that may be guarded against by letting down a lighted lamp, and ascertaining whether the flame is extinguished. When such is found to be the case, it is the practice to sink vent-holes on each side of the well, both right and left, in order to receive and carry off the noxious exhalations. Independently of these evils, the air becomes heavier, from the great depth merely of the excavation, an inconvenience which is remedied by keeping up a continual circulation with ventilators of linen cloth. As soon as water is reached, walls are constructed at the bottom, but without cement,¹³⁸ in order that the springs may not be intercepted.

Some waters, the sources of which do not lie on elevated ground, are coldest at the beginning of spring, being maintained by the winter rains in fact. Others, again, are coldest at the rising of the Dog-star—peculiarities, both of them, to be witnessed at Pella in Macedonia; for in front of that city there is a marsh-spring, which at the beginning of summer is cold, while in the more elevated parts of the city the water is ice-cold¹³⁹ in the hottest days of summer. The same is the case, too, at Chios, the water-supply of the harbour and of the city occupying the same relative positions. At Athens, the water of the Fountain Enneacrunos¹⁴⁰ is colder in a cloudy summer than the well there in the garden of Jupiter; while on the other hand, this last is ice-cold during the drought of a hot summer. For the most part, however, wells are coldest about the rising of Arcturus.¹⁴¹

(4.) The water-supply of wells never fails in summer, but in all cases it falls low during four days at the rising of the constellation above-mentioned. Throughout the whole winter, on the other hand, many wells entirely fail; as in the neighbourhood of Olynthus, for example, where the water returns in the early days of spring. In Sicily too, in the vicinity of Messana and Mylæ, the springs are entirely dry throughout the winter, while in summer they overflow and form quite a river. At Apollonia in Pontus there is to be seen, near the sea-shore, a fountain which overflows in summer only, and mostly about the rising of the Dog-star; should the summer, however, not be so hot as usual, its water is less abundant. Certain soils become drier in consequence of rain, that in the territory of Narnia for example: a fact which M. Cicero has mentioned in his "Admiranda," with a statement that drought is there productive of mud, and rain of dust.¹⁴²

CHAP. 29.—THE QUALITIES OF WATER AT THE DIFFERENT SEASONS OF THE YEAR.

Every kind of water is freshest in winter, not so fresh in summer, still less so in autumn, and least of all in times of drought. River-water, too, is by no means always the same in taste, the state of the bed over which it runs making a considerable difference. For the quality of water, in fact, depends upon the nature of the soil through which it flows, and the juices¹⁴³ of the vegetation watered by it; hence it is that the water of the same river is found in some spots to be comparatively unwholesome. The confluents, too, of rivers, are apt to change the flavour of the water, impregnating the stream in which they are lost and absorbed; as in the case of the Borysthenes, for example. In some instances, again, the taste of river-water is changed by the fall of heavy rains. It has happened three times in the Bosporus that there has been a fall of salt rain, a phænomenon which proved fatal to the crops. On three occasions, also, the rains have imparted a bitterness to the overflowing streams of the Nilus, which was productive of great pestilence throughout Egypt.

CHAP. 30.—HISTORICAL OBSERVATIONS UPON WATERS WHICH HAVE SUDDENLY MADE THEIR APPEARANCE OR SUDDENLY CEASED.

It frequently happens that in spots where forests have been felled, springs of water make¹⁴⁴ their appearance, the supply of which was previously expended in the nutriment of the trees. This was the case upon Mount Hæmus for example, when, during the siege by Cassander,¹⁴⁵ the Gauls cut down a forest for the purpose of making a rampart. Very often too, after removing the wood which has covered an elevated spot and so served to attract and consume the rains, devastating torrents are formed by the concentration of the waters. It is very important also, for the maintenance of a constant supply of water, to till the ground and keep it constantly in motion, taking care to break and loosen the callosities of the surface crust: at all events, we find it stated, that upon a city of Crete, Arcadia by name, being razed to the ground, the springs and water-courses, which before were very numerous in that locality, all at once dried up; but that, six years after, when the city was rebuilt, the water again made its appearance, just as each spot was again brought into cultivation.

(5.) Earthquakes also are apt to discover or swallow¹⁴⁶ up springs of water; a thing that has happened, it is well known, on five different occasions in the vicinity of Pheneus, a town of Arcadia. So too, upon Mount Corycus,¹⁴⁷ a river burst forth; after which, the soil was subjected to cultivation. These changes are very surprising where there is no apparent cause for them; such as the occurrence at Magnesia,¹⁴⁸ for instance, where the warm waters became cold, but without losing their brackish flavour; and at the Temple¹⁴⁹ of Neptune in Caria, where the water of the river, from being fresh, became salt. Here, too, is another fact, replete with the marvellous—the fountain of Arethusa at Syracuse has a smell of dung, they say, during the celebration of the games at Olympia,¹⁵⁰ a thing that is rendered not improbable by the circumstance,¹⁵¹ that the river Alpheus makes its way to that island beneath the bed of the se-a. There is a spring in the Chersonesus of the Rhodians¹⁵² which discharges its accumulated impurities every nine years.

Waters, too, sometimes change their colour; as at Babylon, for example, where the water of a certain lake for eleven days in summer is red. In the summer season, too, the current of the Borysthenes¹⁵³ is blue, it is said, and this, although its waters are the most rarefied in existence, and hence float upon the surface of those of the Hypanis;¹⁵⁴—though at the same time there is this marvellous fact, that when south winds prevail, the waters of the Hypanis assume the upper place. Another proof, too, of the surpassing lightness of the water of the Borysthenes, is the fact that it emits no exhalations, nor, indeed, the slightest vapour even. Authors that would have the credit of diligent research in these enquiries, assure us that water becomes heavier after the winter-solstice.

CHAP. 31. (6.)—THE METHOD OF CONVEYING WATER.

The most convenient method of making a watercourse from the spring is by employing earthen pipes, two fingers in thick- ness, inserted in one another at the points of junction—the one that has the higher inclination fitting into the lower one—and coated with quick-lime macerated in oil. The inclination, to ensure the free flow of the water, ought to be at least one-fourth of an inch to every hundred feet; and if the water is conveyed through a subterraneous passage, there should be air-holes let in at intervals of every two¹⁵⁵ actus. Where the water is wanted to ascend¹⁵⁶ aloft, it should be conveyed in pipes of lead: water, it should be remembered, always rises to the level of its source. If, again, it is conveyed from a considerable distance, it should be made to rise and fall every now and then, so as not to lose its motive power. The proper length for each leaden pipe is ten feet; and if¹⁵⁷ the pipe is five fingers in circumference its weight should be sixty pounds; if eight feet, one hundred; if ten, one hundred and twenty; and so on in the same proportion.

A pipe is called "a ten-finger"¹⁵⁸ pipe when the sheet of metal is ten fingers in breadth before it is rolled up; a sheet one half that breadth giving a pipe "of five fingers."¹⁵⁹ In all sudden changes of inclination in elevated localities, pipes of five fingers should be employed, in order to break the impetu- osity of the fall: reservoirs,¹⁶⁰ too, for branches should be made as circumstances may demand.

CHAP. 32—HOW MINERAL WATERS SHOULD BE USED.

I am surprised that Homer has made no¹⁶¹ mention of hot springs, when, on the other hand, he has so frequently intro- duced the mention of warm baths: a circumstance from which we may safely conclude that recourse was not had in his time to mineral waters for their medicinal properties, a thing so universally the case at the present day. Waters impregnated with sulphur are good for the sinews,¹⁶² and aluminous waters are useful for paralysis and similar relaxations of the system. Those, again, which are impregnated with bitumen or nitre, the waters of Cutilia,¹⁶³ for example, are drunk as a purgative.¹⁶⁴

Many persons quite pride themselves on enduring the heat of mineral waters for many hours together; a most pernicious practice, however, as they should be used but very little longer than the ordinary bath, after which the bather should be shampooed¹⁶⁵ with cold water, and not leave the bath without being rubbed with oil. This last operation, however, is commonly regarded as altogether foreign to the use of mineral baths; and hence it is, that there is no situation in which men's bodies are more exposed to the chances of disease, the head becoming saturated with the intensity of the odours exhaled, and left exposed, perspiring as it is, to the coldness of the atmosphere, while all the rest of the body is immersed in the water.¹⁶⁶

There is another mistake, also, of a similar description, made by those who pride themselves upon drinking enormous quantities of these waters;¹⁶⁷ and I myself have seen persons, before now, so swollen with drinking it that the very rings on their fingers were entirely concealed by the skin, owing to their inability to discharge the vast quantities of water which they had swallowed. It is for this reason, too, that these waters should never be drunk without taking a taste of salt every now and then. The very mud,¹⁶⁸ too, of mineral springs may be employed to good purpose; but, to be effectual, after being applied to the body, it must be left to dry in the sun.

It must not be supposed, however, that all hot waters are of necessity medicated, those of Segesta in Sicily, for example, of Larissa, Troas, Magnesia, Melos, and Lipara. Nor is the very general supposition a correct one, that waters, to be medicinal, must of necessity discolour copper or silver; no such effect being produced by those of Patavium,¹⁶⁹ or there being the slightest difference perceptible in the smell.

CHAP. 33.—THE USES OF SEA-WATER. THE ADVANTAGES OF A SEA-VOYAGE.

Sea-water also is employed in a similar manner for the cure of diseases. It is used, made hot, for the cure of pains in the sinews, for reuniting fractured bones, and for its desiccative action upon the body: for which last purpose, it is also used cold. There are numerous other medicinal resources derived from the sea; the benefit of a sea-voyage, more particularly, in cases of phthisis, as already¹⁷⁰ mentioned, and where patients are suffering from hæmoptosis, as lately experienced, in our own memory, by Annæus Gallio,¹⁷¹ at the close of his consulship:¹⁷² for it is not for the purpose of visiting the country, that people so often travel to Egypt, but in order to secure the beneficial results arising from a long sea-voyage. Indeed, the very sea-sickness that is caused by the rocking of the vessel to and fro, is good for many affections of the head, eyes, and chest, all those cases, in fact, in which the patient is recommended to drink an infusion of hellebore. Medical men con- sider sea-water, employed by itself,' highly efficacious for the dispersion of tumours, and, boiled with barley-meal, for the successful treatment of imposthumes of the parotid glands: it is used also as an ingredient in plasters, white plasters more particularly, and for emollient¹⁷³ poultices. Sea-water is very good, too, employed as a shower-bath; and it is taken internally, though not without¹⁷⁴ injury to the stomach, both as a purgative and as an expellent, by vomit and by alvine evacuation, of black bile¹⁷⁵ or coagulated blood, as the case may be.

Some authorities prescribe it, taken internally, for quartan fevers, as also for tenesmus and diseases of the joints; purposes for which it is kept a considerable time, to mellow with age, and so lose its noxious¹⁷⁶ properties. Some, again, are for boiling it, but in all cases it is recommended to be taken from out at sea, and untainted with the mixture of fresh water, an emetic also being taken before using it. When used in this manner, vinegar or wine is generally mixed with the water. Those who give it unmixed, recommend radishes with oxymel to be eaten upon it, in order to provoke vomiting. Sea-water, made hot, is used also as an injection; and there is nothing in existence preferred to it as a fomentation for swellings of the testes, or for chilblains before they ulcerate. It is similarly employed, also, for the cure of prurigo, itch-scab, and lichens. Lice and other foul vermin of the head, are removed by the application of sea-water, and lividities of the skin are restored to their natural colour; it being a remarkably good plan, in such cases, after applying the sea-water, to foment the parts with hot vinegar.

It is generally considered, too, that sea-water is highly effcacious for the stings of venomous insects, those of the pha- langium and scorpion, for example, and as an antidote to the poisonous secretions of the asp, known as the "ptyas;"¹⁷⁷ in all which cases it is employed hot. Fumigations are also made of it, with vinegar, for the cure of head-ache; and, used warm as at injection, it allays griping pains in the bowels and cholera. Things that have been heated in sea-water are longer than ordinary in cooling. A sea-water bath is an excellent corrective for swelling¹⁷⁸ of the bosoms in females, affections of the thoracic organs, and ermaciation of the body. The steam also of sea-water boiled with vinegar, is used for the removal of hardness of hearing and head-ache. An application of sea-water very expeditiously removes rust upon iron; it is curative also of scab in sheep, and imparts additional softness to the wool.

CHAP. 34.—HOW ARTIFICIAL SEA-WATER MAY BE MADE IN PLACES AT A DISTANCE FROM THE SEA.

I am by no means unaware that these details may very possibly appear superfluous to persons who live at a distance from the sea; but scientific research has made provision against this objection, by discovering a method of enabling every one to make sea-water¹⁷⁹ for himself. It is a singular fact in connexion with this discovery, that if more than one sextarius of salt is put into four sextarii of water, the liquefying properties of the water will be overpowered, and the salt will no longer melt. On the other hand, again, a mixture of one sextarius of salt with four sextarii of water, acts as a good substitute for the efficacy and properties of the very saltest sea-water. The most reasonable proportion, however, is generally thought to be eight cyathi of salt, diluted in the quantity of water above mentioned; a preparation which has been found to have a warming effect upon the sinews, without in any degree chafing the body.

CHAP. 35.—HOW THALASSOMELI IS MADE.

There is also a composition made to ripen for use, known as "thalassomeli,"¹⁸⁰ and prepared with equal parts of sea-water, honey, and rain-water. For this purpose, also, the water is brought from out at sea, and the preparation is kept in an earthen vessel well pitched. It acts most efficiently as a purgative, and without in the least fatiguing the stomach; the taste, too, and smell of it, are very agreeable.

CHAP. 36.—How HYDROMELI IS MADE.

Hydromeli,¹⁸¹ also, was a mixture formerly made with pure rain-water and honey, and was prescribed for patients who, were anxious for wine, as being a more harmless drink. For these many years past, however, it has been condemned, as having in reality all the inconveniences of wine, without the advantages.

CHAP. 37.—METHODS OF PROVIDING AGAINST THE INCONVENIENCE OF DRINKING SUSPECTED WATER.

As persons out at sea often suffer great inconvenience from the want of fresh water, we will here describe some methods of obviating it. Fleeces are spread round the ship, and on becoming moistened with the exhalations arising from the sea, the water is wrung from them, and found to be quite fresh. Hollow balls of wax, also, or empty vessels sealed at the mouth, upon being let down into the sea in a net, become filled with water that is fresh and potable. On shore, too, sea-water may be made fresh, by filtering it through argillaceous earth.

By swimming in water of any kind, sprains of the limbs in man or beast are reduced¹⁸² with the greatest facility. Persons when travelling, are sometimes apprehensive that the use of water, the quality of which is unknown to them, may prove injurious to their health: as a precaution against this, they should drink the suspected water cold, immediately after leaving tie bath.

CHAP. 38.—SIX REMEDIES DERIVED FROM MOSS. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM SAND.

Moss which has grown in water¹⁸³ is excellent as a topical application for gout; and, in combination with oil, it is good for pains and swellings in the ankles. The foam that floats¹⁸⁴ upon the surface of the water, used as a friction, causes warts to disappear. The sand,¹⁸⁵ too, of the sea-shore, that more particularly which is very fine and burnt white by the heat of the sun, is used remedially for its desiccative properties, the bodies of dropsical or rheumatic patients being entirely covered with it.

Thus much with reference to water itself; we will now turn to the aquatic productions, beginning, as in all other instances, with the principal of them, namely, salt and sponge.

CHAP. 39. (7.)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF SALT; THE METHODS OF PREPARING IT, AND THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT. TWO HUNDRED AND FOUR OBSERVATIONS THERE UPON.

All salt is either native or artificial;¹⁸⁶ both kinds being formed in various ways, but produced from one of these two causes, the condensation or the desiccation, of a liquid.¹⁸⁷ The Lake of Tarentum is dried up by the heat of the summer sun, and the whole of its waters, which are at no time very deep, not higher than the knee in fact, are changed into once mass of salt. The same, too, with a lake in Sicily, Cocanicus by name, and another in the vicinity of Gela. But in the case of these two last, it is only the sides¹⁸⁸ that are thus dried up: whereas in Phrygia, in Cappadocia, and at Aspendus, where the same phænomena are observable, the water is dried up to a much larger extent, to the very middle of the lake, in fact. There is also another marvellous¹⁸⁹ circumstance connected with this last—however much salt is taken out of it in the day, its place is supplied again during the night. Every kind of lake- salt is found in grains, and not in the form of blocks.¹⁹⁰

Sea-water, again, spontaneously produces another kind of salt, from the foam which it leaves on shore at high-water n-ark, or adhering to rocks; this being, in all cases, condensed by the action of the sun, and that¹⁹¹ salt being the most pun- gent of the two which is found upon the rocks.

There are also three different kinds of native salt. In Bac- triana there arc two vast lakes;¹⁹² one of them situate on the side of Scythia, the other on that of Ariana, both of which throw up vast quantities of salt.¹⁹³ So, too, at Citium, in Cyprus; and, in the vicinity of Memphis, they extract salt from the lake and dry it in the sun. The surface-waters of some rivers, also, condense¹⁹⁴ in the form of salt, the rest of the stream flowing beneath, as though under a crust of ice; such as the running waters near the Caspian Gates¹⁹⁵ for instance, which are known as the "Rivers of Salt." The same is the case, too, in the vicinity of the Mardi and of the people of Armenia. In Bactriana, also, the rivers Ochus¹⁹⁶ and Oxus carry down from the mountains on their banks, fragments of salt. There are also in Africa some lakes, the waters of which are turbid, that are productive of salt. Some hot springs, too, produce salt-those at Pagasæ for example. Such, then, are the various kinds of salt produced spontaneously by water.

There are certain mountains, also, formed of native salt; that of Oromenus, in India, for example, where it is cut out like blocks from a quarry, and is continually reproduced, bringing in a larger revenue to the sovereigns of those countries than that arising from their gold and pearls. In some instances it is dug out of the earth, being formed there, evidently, by the condensation of the moisture, as in Cappadocia for example, where it is cut in sheets, like those of mirror-stone.¹⁹⁷ The blocks of it are very heavy, the name commonly given to them being "mica."¹⁹⁸ At Gerrhæ,¹⁹⁹ a city of Arabia, the ramparts and houses are constructed of blocks of salt, which are soldered together by being moistened with water. King Ptole- mæs discovered salt also in the vicinity of Pelusium, when he encamped there; a circumstance which induced other persons to seek and discover it in the scorched tracts that lie between Egypt and Arabia, beneath the sand. In the same manner, too, it has been found in the thirsting deserts of Africa, as far as the oracle of Hammon,²⁰⁰ a locality in which the salt increases at night with the increase of the moon.

The districts of Cyrenaica are ennobled, too, by the production of hammoniacum,²⁰¹ a salt so called from the fact of its being found beneath the sands²⁰² there. It is similar in colour to the alum known as "schiston,"²⁰³ and consists of long pieces, by no means transparent, and of an unpleasant flavour, but highly useful in medicine; that being held in the highest esteem, which is the clearest and divides into straight²⁰⁴ flakes. There is one remarkable fact mentioned in connexion with it: so long as it lies under ground in its bed²⁰⁵ it is extremely light, but the moment it is exposed to the light, it is hardly credible to what an extent its weight is increased. The reason for this is evident:²⁰⁶ the humid vapours of the excavations bear the masses upwards, as water does, and so aid the workmen. It is adulterated with the Sicilian salt which we have mentioned as being found in Lake Cocanicus, as also with that of Cyprus, which is marvellously like it. At Egelasta,²⁰⁷ in Nearer Spain, there is a salt, hewn from the bed in almost transparent blocks, and to which for this long time past most medical men, it is said, have given the preference over all other salt. Every spot in which salt²⁰⁸ is found is naturally barren, and produces nothing. Such are the particulars, in general, which have been ascertained with reference to native salt.

Of artificial salt there are several kinds; the common salt, and the most abundant, being made from sea-water drained into salt-pans, and accompanied with streams of fresh water; but it is rain more particularly, and, above all things, the sun, that aids in its formation; indeed without this last it would never dry. In the neighbourhood of Utica, in Africa, they build up masses of salt, like hills in appearance; and when these have been hardened by the action of the sun and moon, no moisture will ever melt them, and iron can hardly divide them. In Crete, however, salt is made without the aid of fresh water, and merely by introducing sea-water into the salt-pans. On the shores of Egypt, salt is formed by the overflow of the sea upon the land, already prepared for its reception, in my opinion, by the emanations of the river Nilus. It is made here, also, from the water²⁰⁹ of certain wells, discharged into salt-pans. At Babylon, the result of the first condensation is a bituminous²¹⁰ liquid, like oil, which is used for burning in lamps; when this is skimmed off, the salt is found beneath. In Cappadocia, also, both well and spring-water are introduced into the saltpans. In Chaonia there is a spring, from the water of which, when boiled²¹¹ and left to cool, there is an inert salt obtained, not so white as ordinary salt. In the Gallic provinces and in Germany, it is the practice to pour salt-water upon burning wood.²¹²

CHAP. 40.—MURIA.

In one part of Spain, they draw a brine for this purpose from deep—sunk pits, to which they give the name of "muria;" being of opinion, also, that it makes a considerable difference upon what kind of wood it is poured. That of the quercus they look upon as the best, as the ashes of it, unmixed, have the pungency of salt.²¹³ In other places, again, the wood of the hazel is held in high esteem; and thus, we see, by pouring brine upon it, charcoal even is converted into salt. All salt that is thus prepared with burning wood is black. I find it stated by Theophrastus, that the Umbri²¹⁴ are in the habit of boiling ashes of reeds and bulrushes in water, till there remains but little moisture unconsumed. The brine, too, of salted provisions is sometimes boiled over again, and, as soon as all the moisture has evaporated, the salt resumes its original form. That prepared from the pickle of the mæna²¹⁵ has the finest flavour.

CHAP. 41.—THE VARIOUS PROPERTIES OF SALT: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY HISTORICAL REMARKS RELATIVE THERETO.

Of the various kinds of sea-salt, the most esteemed is that of Salamis, in Cyprus; and of the lake-salts, that of Tarentum, and the salt known as Tattæan salt, which comes from Phrygia: these last two are also good for the eyes. That of Capadocia, which is imported in small cubes,²¹⁶ imparts a fine colour, it is said, to the skin; but, for effacing wrinkles, that which we have²¹⁷ already spoken of as the salt of Citium is the best: hence it is that, in combination with gith,²¹⁸ it is used by females as a liniment for the abdomen after childbirth. The drier the salt, the stronger it is in taste; but the most agreeable of all, and the whitest known, is that of Tarentun. In addition to these particulars, we would remark also, that the whiter salt is, the more friable it is. Rain-water deadens every kind of salt, but dew-water makes it more deicate in flavour. North-easterly winds render the formation of salt more abundant, but, while south winds prevail, it never increases. It is only while north-easterly winds prevail, that flower of salt²¹⁹ is formed. Neither the salt of Trgasa, nor the Acanthian salt—so called from the town²²⁰ where it is found—will decrepitate or crackle in the fire; nor will the froth of salt do so, or the outside scrapings, or refined salt. The salt of Agrigentum²²¹ resists fire, but decrepitates in water.

There are differences, too, in the colour of salt: at Memphis it is deep red, russet-coloured in the vicinity of the Oxus, purple at Centuripa, and so remarkably bright at Gela, situate also²²² in Sicily, as to reflect the image of objects. In Cappadocia there is a saffron-coloured fossil salt, transparent and remarkably odoriferous. For medicinal purposes, the ancients esteemed the salt of Tarentum in particular, and next to that all the marine salts, those collected from sea-foam more especially. For maladies of the eyes in cattle and beasts of burden, the salt of Tragasa and that of Bætica are employed. For made dishes²²³ and ordinary food, the more easily a salt liquefies and the moister it is, the more highly it is esteemed; there being less bitterness in salt of this description, that of Attica and of Eubœa, for example. For keeping meat, a pungent, dry, salt, like that of Megara, is best. A conserve of salt is also made, with the addition of various odoriferous substances, which answers all the purpose of a choice sauce,²²⁴ sharpening the appetite, and imparting a relish to all kinds of food: indeed, among the innumerable condiments which we use, the flavour of salt is always distinctly perceptible; and when we take garum²²⁵ with our food, it is its salt flavour that is considered so exquisite. And not only this, but sheep even, cattle, and beasts of burden, are induced to graze all the better²²⁶ by giving them salt; it having the effect, also, of considerably augmenting the milk, and imparting a superior flavour to the cheese.

We may conclude, then, by Hercules! that the higher enjoyments of life could not exist without the use of salt: indeed, so highly necessary is this substance to mankind, that the pleasures of the mind, even, can be expressed by no better term than the word "salt,"²²⁷ such being the name given to all effusions of wit. All the amenities, in fact, of life, supreme hilarity, and relaxation from toil, can find no word in our language to characterize them better than this. Even in the very honours, too, that are bestowed upon successful warfare, salt plays its part, and from it, our word "salarium"²²⁸ is derived. That salt was held in high esteem by the ancients, is evident from the Salarian²²⁹ Way, so named from the fact that, by agreement, the Sabini carried all their salt by that road. King Ancus Martius gave six hundred modii of salt as a largess²³⁰ to the people, and was the first to establish salt-works. Varro also informs us, that the ancients used salt by way of a relishing sauce; and we know, from an old proverb,²³¹ that it was the practice with them to eat salt with their bread. But it is in our sacred rites more particularly, that its high importance is to be recognized, no offering ever being made unaccompanied by the salted cake.²³²

CHAP. 42.—FLOWER OF SALT: TWENTY REMEDIES. SALSUGO: TWO REMEDIES.

That which mainly distinguishes the produce of salt-works, in respect of its purity, is a sort of efflorescence,²³³ which forms the lightest and whitest part of salt. The name "flower of salt"²³⁴ is given, also, to a substance of an entirely different character, more humid by nature, and of a red or saffron colour; a kind of "rust of salt," as it were, with an unpleasant smell like that of garum, and differing therein not only from froth of salt,²³⁵ but from salt itself. This substance is found in Egypt, and, as it would appear, is conveyed thither by the waters of the Nilus; though it is to be found floating upon the surface of certain springs as well. The best kind is that which yields a certain fatty²³⁶ substance, like oil—for salt even, a thing that is quite marvellous to think of, is not without a degree of unctuousness.

This substance is sophisticated, and coloured with red earth, or, in most instances, with powdered potsherds; an adulteration to be detected by the agency of water, which washes off the fictitious colour, the natural colour being only removable by the agency of oil. Indeed, it is for its colour that perfumers more particularly make such extensive use of this drug. When seen in the vessels, the surface of it is white, but that which lies in the middle is moister, as already stated. It is of an acrid nature, calorific, and bad for the stomach. It acts also as a sudorific, and, taken with wine and water, has a purgative effect upon the bowels. It is very useful, also, as an ingredient in acopa²³⁷ and in detersive²³⁸ compositions, and is remarkably efficacious for the removal of hairs from the eye-lids. It is the practice to shake up the sediment, in order to renovate the saffron colour of the drug.

In addition to these substances, there is another, known in the salt-works by the name of "salsugo," or "salsilago:" it is quite liquid, salter in taste than sea-water, but inferior to it in its properties.

CHAP. 43.—GARUM: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

Another liquid, too, of a very exquisite nature, is that known as "garuim:"²³⁹ it is prepared from the intestines of fish and various parts which would otherwise be thrown away, macerated in salt; so that it is, in fact, the result of their putrefaction. Garum was formerly prepared from a fish, called "garos"²⁴⁰ by the Greeks; who assert, also, that a fumigation made with its head has the effect of bringing away the afterbirth.

(8.) At the present day, however, the most esteemed kind of garum is that prepared from the scomber,²⁴¹ in the fisheries of Carthago Spartaria:²⁴² it is known as "garumn of²⁴³ the allies," and for a couple of congii we have to pay but little less than one thousand sesterces. Indeed, there is no liquid hardly, with the exception of the unguents, that has sold at higher prices of late; so much so, that the nations which produce it have become quite ennobled thereby. There are fisheries, too, of the scomber on the coasts of Mauretania and at Carteia in Bætica, near the Straits²⁴⁴ which lie at the entrance to the Ocean; this being the only use that is made of the fish. For the production of garum, Clazomenæ is also famed, Pompeii, too, and Leptis; while for their muria, Antipolis,²⁴⁵ Thurii, and of late, Dalmatia,²⁴⁶ enjoy a high reputation.

CHAP. 44.—ALEX: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Alex, which is the refuse of garum, properly consists of the dregs of it, when imperfectly strained: but of late they have begun to prepare it separately, from a small fish that is otherwise good for nothing, the apua²⁴⁷ of the Latins, or aphua of the Greeks, so called from the fact of its being engendered from rain.²⁴⁸ The people of Forum Julii²⁴⁹ make their garum from a fish to which they give the name of "lupus."²⁵⁰ In process of time, alex has become quite an object of luxury, and the various kinds that are now made are infinite in number. The same, too, with garum, which is now prepared in imitation of the colour of old honied wine, and so pleasantly flavoured as to admit of being taken as a drink. Another kind, again, is dedicated to those superstitious observances²⁵¹ which enjoin strict chastity, and that prepared from fish without²⁵² scales, to the sacred rites of the Jews. In the same way, too, alex has come to be manufactured from oysters, sea-urchins, sea-nettles, cammari,²⁵³ and the liver of the surmullet; and a thousand different methods have been devised of late for ensuring the putrefaction of salt in such a way as to secure the flavours most relished by the palate.

Thus much, by the way, with reference to the tastes of the present day; though at the same time, it must be remembered, these substances are by no means without their uses in medicine. Alex, for instance, is curative of scab in sheep, incisions being made in the skin, and the liquor poured therein. It is useful, also, for the cure of wounds inflicted by dogs or by the sea-dragon, the application being made with lint. Recent burns, too, are healed by the agency of garum, due care being taken to apply it without mentioning it by name. It is useful, too, for bites inflicted by dogs, and for that of the crocodile in particular; as also for the treatment of serpiginous or sordid ulcers. For ulcerations, and painful affections of the mouth and ears, it is a marvellously useful remedy.

Muria, also, as well as the salsugo which we have mentioned,²⁵⁴ has certain astringent, mordent, and discussive properties, and is highly useful for the cure of dysentery, even when ulceration has attacked the intestines. Injections are also made of it for sciatica, and for cœliac fluxes of an inveterate nature. In spots which lie at a distance in the interior, it is used as a fo- mentation, by way of substitute for sea-water.

CHAP. 45. (9.)—THE NATURE OF SALT.

Salt, regarded by itself, is naturally igneous, and yet it manifests an antipathy to fire, and flies²⁵⁵ from it. It consumers everything, and yet upon living bodies it has an astringent, desiccative, and binding effect, while the dead it preserves from putrefaction,²⁵⁶ and makes them last for ages even. In respect, however, of its medicinal properties, it is of a mordent, burning, detergent, attenuating, and resolvent nature; it is, however, injurious to the stomach, except that it acts as a stimulant to the appetite, For the cure of injuries inflicted by serpents, it is used with origanum, honey, and hyssop; and for the sting of the cerastes, with origanum, cedar-resin, pitch, or honey. Taken internally with vinegar, it is good for injuries caused by the scolopendra; and, applied topically, with an equal proportion of linseed, in oil or vinegar, for stings inflicted by scorpions. For stings of hornets, wasps, and insects of a similar description, it is applied with vinegar; and, for the cure of hemicrania, ulcers on the head, blisters, pimples, and incipient warts, with veal-suet. It is used also among the remedies for the eyes, and for the removal of fleshy exrescences upon those organs, as also of hangnails²⁵⁷ upon the fingers or toes. For webs that form upon the eyes it is peculiarly useful, and hence it is that it is so commonly employed as an ingredient in eye-salves, as well as plasters. For all these last-mentioned purposes, the salt of Tatta or of Caunus is more particularly in request.

In cases where there is ecchymosis of the eyes, or a bruise from the effects of a blow, salt is applied, with an equal quantity of myrrh and honey, or with hyssop in warm water, the eyes being also fomented with salsugo. For this last-mentioned purpose, the Spanish salt is preferred; and when wanted for the treatment of cataract, it is ground upon small whet- stones, with milk. For bruises it is particularly useful, wrapped in a linen pledget and renewed from time to time, being first dipped in boiling water. For the cure of running ulcers of the mouth, it is applied with lint; gum-boils are also rubbed with it; and, broken to pieces and powdered fine, it removes granulations on the tongue. The teeth, it is said, will never become carious or corroded, if a person every morin- ing puts some salt beneath his tongue, fasting, and leaves it there till it has melted. Salt effects the cure also of leprosy, boils, lichens, and itch-scabs; for all which purposes it is ap- plied with raisins—the stones being first removed—beef-suet, origanum, and leaven, or else bread. In such cases it is the salt from Thebaïs that is mostly used; the same salt being considered preferable for the treatment of prurigo, and being highly esteemed for affections of the uvula and tonsillary glands, in combination with honey.

Every kind of salt is useful for the cure of quinzy; but, in addition to this, it is necessary to make external applications simultaneously with oil, vinegar, and tar. Mixed with wine, it is a gentle aperient to the bowels, and, taken in a similar manner, it acts as an expellent of all kinds of intestinal worms. Placed beneath the tongue, it enables convalescents to support the heat²⁵⁸ of the bath. Burnt more than once upon a plate at a white heat, and then enclosed in a bag, it alleviates pains in the sinews, about the shoulders and kidneys more particularly. Taken internally, and similarly burnt at a white heat and applied in bags, it is curative of colic, griping pains in the bowels, and sciatica. Beaten up in wine and honey, with meal, it is a remedy for gout; a malady for the especial behoof of which the observation should be borne in mind, that there is nothing better for all parts of the body than sun and salt:²⁵⁹ hence²⁶⁰ it is that we see the bodies of fishermen as hard as horn—gout, however, is the principal disease for the benefit of which this maxim should be remembered.

Salt is useful for the removal of corns upon the feet, and of chilblains: for the cure of burns also, it is applied with oil, or else chewed. It acts as a check also upon blisters, and, in cases of erysipelas and serpiginous ulcers, it is applied topically with vinegar or with hyssop. For the cure of carcinoma it is employed in combination with Taminian²⁶¹ grapes; and for phagedænic ulcers it is used parched with barley-meal, a linen pledget steeped in wine being laid upon it. In cases of jaundice, it is employed as a friction before the fire, with oil and vinegar, till the patient is made to perspire, for the purpose of preventing the itching sensations attendant upon that dis- ease. When persons are exhausted with fatigue, it is usual to rub them with salt and oil. Many have treated dropsy with salt, have used external applications of salt and oil for the burning heats of fever, and have cured chronic coughs by laying salt upon the patient's tongue. Salt has been used, also, as an injection for sciatica, and has been applied to ulcers of a fungous or putrid nature.

To bites inflicted by the crocodile, salt is applied, the sores being tightly bandaged with linen cloths, first dipped²⁶² in vinegar. It is taken internally, with hydromel, to neutralize the effects of opium, and is applied topically, with meal and honey, to sprains and fleshy excrescences. In cases of toothache, it is used as a collutory with vinegar, and is very useful, applied externally, with resin. For all these purposes, however, froth of salt²⁶³ is found to be more agreeable and still more efficacious. Still, however, every kind of salt is good as an ingredient in acopa,²⁶⁴ when warming properties are required: the same, too, in the case of detersive applications, when required for plumping out and giving a smooth surface to the skin. Employed topically, salt is curative of itch-scab in sheep and cattle, for which disease it is given them to lick. It is injected, also, with the spittle, into the eyes of beasts of burden. Thus much with reference to salt.

CHAP. 46. (10.)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF NITRUM, THE METHODS OF PREPARING IT, AND THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT: TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE OBSERVATIONS THEREON.

And here we must no longer defer giving an account of nitrum;²⁶⁵ which in its properties does not greatly differ from salt, and deserves all the more to be attentively considered, from the evident fact that the medical men who have written upon it were ignorant of its nature; of all which authors Theophrastus is the one that has given the greatest attention to the point. It is found in small quantities in Media, in certain valleys there that are white with heat and drought; the name given to it being "halmyrax."²⁶⁶ In Thracia, too, near Philipli, it is found, but in smaller quantities, and deteriorated with earthy substances, being known there as "agrion."²⁶⁷ As to that prepared from the burnt wood of the quercus,²⁶⁸ it never was made to any very great extent, and the manufacture of it has been long since totally abandoned. Nitrous²⁶⁹ waters are also found in numerous places, but not sufficiently impregnated to admit of condensation.²⁷⁰

The best and most abundant supply is found at Litæ, in Macedonia, where it is known as "Chalastricum:"²⁷¹ it is white and pure, and closely resembles salt. In the middle of a certain nitrous lake there, a spring of fresh water issues forth. In this lake the nitrum²⁷² forms for nine days, about the rising of the Dog-star, and then ceases for the same period, after which it again floats upon the surface, and then again ceases: facts which abundantly prove that it is the peculiar nature of the soil which generates the nitrum, it being very evident that, when the formation is there interrupted, neither the heat of the sun nor the fall of rain is productive of the slightest effect. It is also a truly marvellous fact, that though the spring of fresh water is always uninterruptedly flowing, the waters of the lake never increase or overflow. If it happens to rain on the days during which the nitrum is forming, the result is, that it is rendered additionally salt thereby: the prevalence of northeast winds, too, still more deteriorates its quality, as they have a tendency to stir up the mud at the bottom. Such is the formation of native nitrum.

In Egypt, again, it is made artificially, and in much greater abundance, but of inferior quality, being tawny and full of stones. It is prepared in pretty nearly the same manner²⁷³ as salt, except that in the salt-pans it is sea-water that is introduced, whereas in the nitre-beds it is the water of the river Nilus; a water which, upon the subsidence of the river, is impregnated with nitrum for forty days together, and not, as in Macedonia, at intermittent periods only. On occasions when there has been a fall of rain, a smaller proportion of river water is employed. As soon, too, as any quantity of nitrum has formed, it is immediately removed, in order that it may not melt in the beds. This substance, also, contains a certain proportion of oil,²⁷⁴ which is very useful for the cure of scab in animals. Piled up in large heaps, it keeps for a very considerable time. It is a marvellous fact, that, in Lake Ascanius²⁷⁵ and in certain springs in the vicinity of Chalcis, the water is fresh and potable on the surface, and nitrous below. The lightest part of nitrum is always considered the best, and hence it is that the froth of it is so much preferred. Still, however, when in an impure state, it is very useful for some purposes, colouring purple²⁷⁶ cloth, for instance, and, indeed, all kinds of dyeing. It is employed, also, very extensively in the manufacture of glass, as we shall more fully mention on the appropriate occasion.²⁷⁷

The only nitre-works in Egypt were formerly those in the vicinity of Naucratis and Memphis; those near Memphis being inferior to the others, the piles of nitrum there prepared being as hard as stone, and many of the heaps having become changed into rocks. When in this state, vessels are made of it, and very frequently they melt it with sulphur²⁷⁸ on a charcoal fire.²⁷⁹ When substances²⁸⁰ are wanted to keep, they employ this last kind of nitrum. In Egypt there are also nitre-beds, the produce of which is red, owing to the colour of the earth in the same locality. Froth of nitrum,²⁸¹ a substance held in very high esteem, could only be made, according to the ancients, when dews had fallen; the pits being at the moment saturated with nitrum, but not having arrived at the point of yielding it. On the other hand, again, when the pits were in fall activity, no froth would form, it was said, even though dews should fall. Others, again, have attributed the formation of this last substance to the fermentation of the heaps of nitrum. In a succeeding age, the medical men, speaking of it under the name of "aphronitrum,"²⁸² have stated that it was collected in Asia, where it was to be found oozing from the soft sides of certain mines—the name given to which was "colyces"²⁸³—and that it was then dried in the sun. The very best is thought to be that which comes from Lydia; the test of its genuineness being its extreme lightness, its friability, and its colour, which should be almost a full purple. This last is imported in tablets, while that of Egypt comes enclosed in vessels pitched within, to prevent its melting,²⁸⁴ the vessels being previously prepared by being thoroughly dried in the sun.²⁸⁵

To be good, nitrum should be very fine, and extremely spongy and porous. In Egypt, it is sophisticated with lime, an adulteration easily detected²⁸⁶ by tasting it; for when pure, it liquefies immediately, while that which has been adulterated, remains undissolved sufficiently long to leave a pungent taste²⁸⁷ in the mouth. It is burnt in a close earthen vessel, as otherwise it would decrepitate:²⁸⁸ except in this last case, however, the action of fire does not cause it to decrepitate. This substance neither produces nor nourishes anything; while, in the salt-pans, on the other hand, we see plants growing, and the sea, we know, produces immense numbers of animated beings, though, as to plants, sea-weed only. It is evident, too, that the acridity²⁸⁹ of nitrum must be much greater than that of salt, not only from the fact last mentioned, but from the circumstance also, that at the nitre-beds the shoes wear out with the greatest rapidity; localities which are otherwise very healthy, and remarkably beneficial for the eye-sight. At the nitre-works ophthalmia is a thing unknown: persons, too, that come there with ulcers upon them experience a rapid cure; though ulcerations formed upon the spot are but slow in healing. Used as a friction with oil, nitrum is a sudorific, and acts emolliently upon the body. That of Chalastra is used as a substitute for salt, in making bread,²⁹⁰ and the Egyp- tian nitrum is eaten²⁹¹ with radishes,²⁹² it having the effect of making them more tender; though as to other edibles it turns them white and spoils them. To vegetables it imparts an additional greenness.²⁹³

Viewed medicinally, nitrum is calorific, attenuant, mordent, astringent, desiccative, and ulcerating: it is good, too, in all cases where certain humours require to be drawn out or dispersed, or where gentle mordents or attenuants are required, as in the case of pustules and pimples, for example. Some persons ignite it for this purpose, and, after quenching it in astringent wine, bruise and use it, without oil, at the bath. Applied with dried iris powdered, and green olive oil, it checks immoderate perspiration. Applied topically with a fig, or boiled down to one half in raisin wine, it removes marks upon the eyes and granulations of the eyelids. It is used, also, for the removal of argema, boiled in a pomegranate rind with raisin wine. Used as an ointment, in combination with honey, it improves the eye-sight. It is very useful, also, for tooth-ache, taken as a collutory with wine and pepper, or boiled with a leek. Burnt, and employed as a dentifrice, it restores teeth²⁹⁴ to their original colour that have turned black; and an application of it, with Samian earth and oil, kills nits and other vermin of the head. Dissolved in wine, it is used as an in- jection for suppurations of the ears, and, applied with vinegar, it consumes filth that has accumulated there. Introduced dry into the ears, it disperses singings and tinglings in those organs. Applied topically, in the sun, with an equal quantity of Cimolian²⁹⁵ chalk dissolved in vinegar, it removes white morphew; and a mixture of it with resin, or with white raisins—the stones being beaten up as well—is an excellent cure for boils. It is useful, also, for inflammations of the testes; and, in combination with axle-grease, for pituitous eruptions on all parts of the body. For the cure of bites inflicted by dogs, it is used with resin, the application being made at first with vinegar. With lime and vinegar, it is used as a liniment for stings inflicted by serpents, as, also, for ulcerations, whether phagedenic, putrid, or serpiginous; in cases, too, of dropsy, it is employed both internally and externally, beaten up with figs. Taken internally as a decoction, in doses of one drachma, with rue, dill, or cummin, it effectually removes griping pains in the bowels. An external application of it, with oil and vinegar, is highly refreshing to persons exhausted with fatigue; and it is equally beneficial for shudderings and cold shiverings, the feet and hands of the patient being well rubbed with it, mixed with oil. It allays the itching sensations attendant upon jaundice, more particularly when it is administered to the patient while perspiring, with vinegar. Taken internally in oxycrate, it is an antidote to the poison of fungi; and, taken with water, it acts beneficially, as an emetic, in cases where the buprestis has been swallowed.

To persons who have taken bull's blood,²⁹⁶ nitrum is admi- nistered, in combination with laser.²⁹⁷ Mixed with honey and cow's milk, it is curative of ulcers upon the face. For the cure of burns, it is applied pounded, being first parched till it turns black. For pains in the bowels and kidneys, and for rigidities of the limbs and pains in the sinews, it is used in the form of an injection. For the cure of paralysis of the tongue, it is applied to that organ with bread, and to asthmatic patients it is administered in a ptisan. Flower of nitrum, used in combination with equal proportions of galbanum and turpentine respectively, is curative of chronic coughs; the mixture being taken in pieces the size of a bean. Nitrum²⁹⁸ itself, boiled and melted with tar, is given to patients to swallow, for quinzy.

Flower of nitrum, mixed with oil of cyprus,²⁹⁹ and applied in the sun, is a soothing liniment for pains in the joints. Taken internally with wine, it is curative of jaundice. It acts as a carminative also; and it arrests bleeding at the nose, the vapour of it in boiling water being inhaled by the patient. Mixed with alum, it removes porrigo; and, used daily with water, as a fomentation,. it removes offensive odours of the armpits. Used in combination with wax, it heals ulcers produced by pituitous secretions, and, similarly employed, it is very useful for affections of the sinews. For the cure of the cœliac flux, it is used in the form of an injection. Many authorities recommend the use of it, with oil, as a friction when cold shiverings are just coming on; as also, for the removal of leprous spots and freckles. It is a good plan also, to use a sitting-bath made with an infusion of nitrum, for the cure of gout, atrophy, opisthotony, and tetanus.

Both salt and nitre, boiled with sulphur,³⁰⁰ become petrified.

CHAP. 47. (11.)—SPONGES, AND THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THEM: NINETY-TWO OBSERVATIONS THEREON.

We have already,³⁰¹ when speaking of the marine productions, described the various kinds of sponge. Some authorities make the following distinctions: they regard as males³⁰² those sponges which are pierced with more diminutive holes, are more compact in form and more ready to imbibe, and are stained, to satisfy luxurious tastes, in various colours, sometimes purple even: those, on the other hand, which have holes, larger and running into one another, they consider to be females. Among the male sponges, too, there is one kind, harder than the others, the name given to which is "tragi,"³⁰³ and the holes of which are extremely small and numerous. Sponges are made white artificially; the softest being chosen for the purpose, and after they have been steeped the whole summer through with the foam of the sea. They are then exposed to the action of the moon and hoar-frosts, being turned upside down, or, in other words, with that part upwards by which they formerly adhered to the rocks, the object being that they may become white throughout.

That sponges are animated beings, we have already stated; and not only this, but they have a coat of blood³⁰⁴ even, adhering to them. Some say that they regulate their movements by the sense of hearing, and that at the slightest noise they contract themselves, and emit an abundant moisture: when such is the case, it is said, it is impossible to tear them away from the rocks, and consequently they must be cut, an operation during which they emit a sanious secretion. Those sponges, too, are preferred to all others, which are grown on spots with a north-east aspect, the physicians assuring us that these retain the breath of life the longest of all; a circumstance which renders them additionally useful to the human body, from the union which is thereby effected of their vital principle with our own.³⁰⁵ It is for this reason, too, that they are preferred as fresh as possible, and in a moist state rather than dry. They are not so useful, however, if applied with hot water,³⁰⁶ and still less so if they are oiled, or applied to the body when just anointed. The compact sponges, it is thought, have less adhesive power than the others.

The softest kind of sponge are those employed for tents.³⁰⁷ Applied with honied wine, sponges reduce swellings of the eyes, and are extremely useful for the removal of rheum from those organs, the very finest and softest being of necessity selected for the purpose. Sponges are applied, also, with oxycrate, to defluxions of the eyes, and, with warm vinegar, for head-ache. In addition to these properties, fresh sponges are resolvent, emollient, and soothing; but when old, they lose their healing properties for wounds. They are employed, also, in medicine, for cleansing sores, and for either fomenting or cover— ing the parts fomented, till some other application is made. Applied topically, they have a healing effect upon running ulcers, and upon sores on the bodies of aged persons. Fractures, too, and wounds are most effectually fomented with sponge; and when surgical operations are performed, it instantly absorbs the blood, so as to allow the incision to be seen. Sponges are applied, also, as a bandage, to inflamed wounds, sometimes dry, and, in some cases, moistened with vinegar, wine, or cold water. Soaked in rain-water, and applied to the incision, they prevent cuts recently inflicted from swelling. They are used as an application for such parts of the body, though apparently uninjured, as are threatened with occult humours which require to be dispersed; as also for reducing the tumours known to us as "apostemes," the parts being first fomented with a decoction of honey. Sponges are employed, also, for affections of the joints, steeped in vinegar and salt, or in oxycrate: in cases, however, where the attack is attended with fever, water alone is used with the sponge. Soaked in salt and water, sponges are applied to callosities; and, with vinegar, they are used for stings inflicted by scorpions.

In the treatment of wounds, sponges are sometimes used as a substitute for greasy wool, either with wine and oil, or with salt and water; the only difference being, that wool acts emolliently upon sores, whereas sponge has an astringent action, and absorbs the vitiated humours. To dropsical patients, bandages of sponge are applied, either dry or steeped in warm water or oxycrate, according as there is a necessity for soothing the skin, or for covering it up and drying it. Sponges are applied, also, in all those diseases where warmth is required, being first soaked in boiling water and then squeezed out between a couple of boards. Employed in this manner, too, they are very useful for affections of the stomach and for the excessive heats attendant upon fever. Steeped in oxycrate, they are good for diseases of the spleen, and in vinegar for erysipelas; nothing, in fact, being equally efficacious. Sponge, when thus used, should ways be so applied as amply to cover the adjacent parts that are not affected.

Employed with vinegar or cold water, sponge arrests hæmorrhage; soaked in warm salt and water, and frequently renewed, it removes the lividity which results from a recent blow. Used with oxycrate, it disperses pains and swellings in the testes. To bites inflicted by dogs, it is a good plan to apply sponge, from time to time, cut fine, and moistened with vinegar, cold water, or honey. Ashes of African³⁰⁸ sponge, with juice of cut-leek and a mixture of salt and cold water, are good, taken internally, for patients suffering from discharges of blood: applied topically to the forehead, with oil or vinegar, they are curative of tertian fevers. The sponge of Africa, more particularly, soaked in oxycrate, disperses tu- mours. Ashes of any kind of sponge burnt with pitch, arrest the discharge of blood from wounds; though some recommend, for this purpose, the sponge with large pores only, burnt with pitch. For affections of the eyes, sponge is burnt in vessels of unbaked earthenware; the ashes being found highly efficacious for granulations of the eyelids, fleshy excrescences, and all diseases of those parts which require detergents, astringents, or expletives. For all these purposes, however, it is the best plan first to rinse the ashes. When the body is in a diseased state, sponge acts as a substitute for body-scrapers and linen towels, and it protects the head most efficiently against the action of the sun.

Medical men, in their ignorance, comprehend all sponges under two names; African sponge, the substance of which is tougher and firmer; and Rhodian sponge, which is softer and better adapted for fomentations. At the present day, however, the softest sponges of all are those found about the walls of the city of Antiphellos.³⁰⁹ Trogus informs us that the softest tent sponges are found out at sea, off the coast of Lycia, upon spots from which the sponge has been previously removed: we learn, too, from Polybius, that these fine sponges, suspended over a patient's bed, will ensure him additional repose at right.³¹⁰

We will now turn to the remedies derived from the marine and aquatic animals.

SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and twenty-four.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro,³¹¹ Cassius³¹² of Parma, Cicero,³¹³ Mucianus,³¹⁴ Cælius,³¹⁵ Celsus,³¹⁶ Trogus,³¹⁷ Ovid,³¹⁸ Polybius,³¹⁹ Sornatius.³²⁰

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Callimachus,³²¹ Ctesias,³²² Eudicus,³²³ Theophrastus,³²⁴ Eudoxus,³²⁵ Theopompus,³²⁶ Polycritus,³²⁷ Juba,³²⁸ Lycus,³²⁹ Apion,³³⁰ Epigenes,³³¹ Pelops,³³² Apelles,³³³ De- mocritus,³³⁴ Thrasyllus,³³⁵ Nicander,³³⁶ Menander³³⁷ the Comic writer, Attalus,³³⁸ Sallustius Dionysius,³³⁹ Andreas,³⁴⁰ Niceratus,³⁴¹ Hippocrates,³⁴² Anaxilaüs.³⁴³

1 See B. ii. c. 43. Ajasson remarks, that the electric fluid, forming lightning, escapes from the clouds through causes totally independent of water. Still, Pliny would appear to be right in one sense; for if there were no water, there would be no clouds; and without clouds the electric fluid would probably take some other form than that of lightning.

2 He alludes to the mineral waters of Acqs or Dax on the Adour, in the French department of the Ariège. They are still highly esteemed.

3 The principal of which are those of Aigues-Chaudes, Aigues-Bonnes, Bagnéres-Adores, Cambo, Bagnéres, Baréges, Saint-Sauveur, and Cauteret,

4 Ajasson remarks that animals in all cases refuse to drink mineral waters.

5 He alludes to Neptune, Amphitrite, the Oceanides, Nereides, Tritons, Crenides, Limnades, Potamides, and numerous other minor divinities.

6 See B. iii. c. 9.

7 See B. iii. c. 7.

8 See B. iii. c. 5.

9 The mineral waters of Baiæ are still held in high esteem.

10 As to the identity of the "nitrum" of Pliny, see c. 46 of this Book.

11 Posides, a eunuch who belonged to the Emperor Claudius, according to Suetonius, c. 28.

12 There are still submarine volcanoes in the vicinity of Sicily, but the spot here referred to is now unknown.

13 The Eaux Bonnes in the Basses Pyrénées are good for wounds. After the battle of Pavia they received from the soldiers of Jean d'Albret, king of Navarre, the name of Eaux d'arquebusade.

14 Only, Ajasson remarks, where the ophthalmia is caused by inflammation of the conjunctive.

15 He also called it his Puteolan villa.

16 The "Quæstiones Academicæ."

17 "Monumenta." Ajasson queries what monuments they were, thus raised by the "parvenu of Arpinum." He suggests that the erection may have been a chapel, temple-library, or possibly funeral monument.

18 C. Antistius Vetus probably, a supporter of Julius Cæsar, Consul Suffectus, B. C. 30.

19 "In parte primâ."

20 There are three Epigrams, probably by this author, in the Greek Anthology.

21 We are sensible that, in thus shortening the penultimate, we shall incur the censure of solecizing, which Hardouin has cast upon the poet Claudian for doing the same.

22 At the Torre de' Bagni, Hardouin says, near the church of Santa Maria a Caudara.

23 Saline and gaseous waters are good for this purpose. See B. iii. c. 12.

24 It has still the same reputation, Hardouin says, and is situate near the castle of Francolici.

25 See B. iii. c. 9.

26 Or "half-strength" waters, apparently. See B. iii. c. 9.

27 See B. iii. c. 9.

28 See B. ii. cc. 62, 106, and B. iii. c. 17.

29 Alluded to, probably, by Ovid, Met. xv. 319, et seq.

30 The present Bagni di Tivoli. They have other sanitary properties as well, a fact known to Strabo. Martial and Vitruvius also mention them,

31 See B. iii. c, 17. Called Cotiscoliæ by Strabo. They were of a salt and aluminous nature.

32 See 13. iv. c. 2.

33 Pausanias calls it the "Elaphus."

34 Isidorus, in his "Origines," calls it the "Lechnus."

35 In Thessaly, probably, according to Stephanus Byzantinus.

36 ῎αλφος; from which the lake probably derived its name. It has been suggested that the source of the river Anigrus in Elis is meant. Its waters had an offensive smell, and its fish were not eatable; and near it were caverns sacred to the Nymphs Anigrides, where persons with cutaneous diseases were cured. The water of these caverns is impregnated with sulphur.

37 Possibly the M. Titius who was proscribed by the Triumvirs, B.C. 43, and escaped to Sex. Pompeius in Sicily.

38 See B. v. c. 22.

39 "Cassius Parmensis." See the end of this Book.

40 According to some authorities, he alludes to the still famous water of Spa; but it is more probable that he alludes to the spring still in existence at the adjacent town of Tongres, which was evidently well known to the Romans, and is still called the "Fountain of Pliny."

41 The springs on the present Monte Posilippo.

42 This work is lost. Chifflet suggests that "Varro" should be read. See, however, B. vii. c. 2, L. xxix. c. 16 and c. 28 of this Book. It was a common-place book, probably, of curious facts.

43 See B. ii. c. 106, where a growing rock in the marsh of Reate is mentioned.

44 In Thessaly. A mere fable, no doubt.

45 Ovid, Met. xv. 315, et seq., tells very nearly the same fabulous story about the rivers Crathis and Sybaris.

46 This marvellous story appears to have been derived from the works of Aristotle.

47 Near the town of Lebadea, now Livadhia.

48 One called "Mnemosyne," or Memory, and the other "Lethe," or Forgetfulness.

49 From the Greek νοῦς, "spirit," "mind," or "intelligence." Ajasson thinks it possible that its water may have assuaged vertigo, or accelerated the circulation of the blood, and that thence its reputation.

50 A fable invented by the priests, Ajasson thinks.

51 See Ovid, Met. xv. 322. It sems to be uncertain whether it was at this lake or the adjoining spring of Lusi above-mentioned, that the daughters of Prœtus were purified by Melampus. See the "Eliaca" of Pausanias.

52 In B. ii. c. 106.

53 See B. ii. c. 106. As Ajasson remarks, Mucianus should have had the sense to see that it was only a juggle of the priests of Bacchus. He compares it to the miracle of the blood of St. Januarius at Naples. The contrivance of the priests of Bel was not very dissimilar; but in their case, they themselves were the real recipients of what the god was supposed to devour.

54 He no doubt alludes to "petroleum," rock-oil, or Barbadoes tar.

55 So called from the Greek λιπαρὸς, "unctuous."

56 A new reading given by Sillig in place of "India," the former one. Tasitia is the name of a district mentioned by Ptolemy, iv. 7, 15, as being in Æthiopia. He alludes to a burning spring, probably, of naphtha or of petroleum. The burning springs of Bakou in the East are well known. Genoa is lighted with naphtha from the village of Amiano, in Parma.

57 In Macedonia.

58 "Lacum insanum."

59 Juba has been deceived, Ajasson remarks, by the tales of travellers, there being no serpents of this length in Africa, except boas. He thinks that large congers, and other similar fishes, may be the animals really alluded to.

60 From κλαίειν, "to weep," and γελᾷν, "to laugh."

61 His credulity, we have seen already, was pretty extensive.

62 In Thessaly.

63 At the town called "Aquas Mattiacæ," the modern Wiasbaden.

64 In B. ii. c. 106.

65 Sotion, professing to quote from Ctesias, says that it rejected everything placed on its waters, and hurled it back upon dry land.

66 Whence, as it was said, its name, ἄορνος, "Without birds." Strabo ridicules this story.

67 M. Douville says that in the interior of Africa there is a lake called Kalouga Kouffona, or the Dead Lake, the surface of which is covered with bitumen and naphtha, which contains no fish, has oleaginous waters, and presents all the phænomena of the Dead Sea.

68 In Lycia.

69 Hardouin is of opinion that a river also was so called. See B. v. c. 43. Of the divinity of this name, nothing further is known.

70 A story evidently connected with a kind of ordeal.

71 See B. iv. c. 34. Intermittent springs are not uncommon. See B. ii. c. 106.

72 See B. xix. c. 11.

73 According to Elias of Thisbe this river was the Goza; but Holstenius says that it was the Eleutherus. or one of its tributaries. Josephus says that it flowed on the Sabbath day, and was dry the other six.

74 Ajasson thinks that he means, grey. He remarks also, that it is a matter of doubt whether there are any fishes that are poisonous.

75 The Danube.

76 In B. ii. c. 106, see also B. xxx. c. 53.

77 See B. iii. c. 14, and B. xviii. c. 21.

78 In B. iv. c. 15.

79 He alludes, according to Dalechamps, to the Eurotas, a tributary, and not the source, of the Peneus. See B. iv. c. 8.

80 "Siliquà."

81 A town of Mysia, south of Adramyttium.

82 As Ajasson remarks, numerous instances are known of this at the present day. Pliny, however, does not distinguish the incrusting springs from the petrifying springs.

83 In Thessaly, according to Hecatæus.

84 "Lateres." He means unburnt bricks, probably.

85 He alludes to stalactites and stalagmites.

86 Both on the roof and on the floor.

87 In Caria, opposite Rhodes.

88 Rain-water really is the lightest, but the reason here given is frivolous, for it does not ascend as water, but as vapour.

89 See B. ii. c. 38. Before venturing on this argument, he should have- been certain as to the circumstances under which aërolites are generated; a question which still remains hidden in mystery.

90 Ajasson remarks that this is only the case in the water of heavy falls of rain after long drought.

91 "Calefiat."

92 Snow-water is pernicious in a very high degree, being the fruitful source of goitre and cretinism.

93 See B. xvii. c. 44, and B. xviii. c. 68.

94 This is somewhat similar to what is said of the putrefaction and purification of Thames water, on a voyage.

95 "Inutilis alvo duritia faucibusque". The passage is probably corrupt.

96 See B. vi. c. 27.

97 Or "mud"—"limus." All rivers of necessity have it, in a greater or less degree.

98 On the contrary, the more the mud and slime, the more numerous the eels

99 "Tænias."

100 Waters, probably, impregnated with mineral alkali. As to the "nitrum" of Pliny, see c. 46 of this Book.

101 "Salmacidas."

102 "Cænum."

103 Also, Ajasson says, to observe whether soap will melt in it. If it will not, it is indicative of the presence of selenite.

104 As drinking water.

105 As Plautus says of women, Mostell, A. i. S. 3—"They smell best, when they smell of nothing at all."

106 See B. xv. c. 32.

107 In purity and tastelessness. As Ajasson observes, Pliny could hardly appreciate the correctness of this remark, composed as water is of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen.

108 Pausanias and Athenæus mention also the well of Mothone in Peloponnesus, the water of which exhaled the odour of the perfumes of Cyzicus. Such water, however, must of necessity be impure.

109 More probably Astarte, Fée thinks, Juno being unknown in Mesopotamia.

110 "Statera." Ajasson remarks that it does not require an instrument very nicely adjusted to indicate the difference in weight between pure and very impure water. Synesius, Ep. xv., gives an account of the "hydroscopium" used by the ancients for ascertaining the weight of water. Beckmann enters into a lengthy examination of it, as also an enquiry into the question whether the ancients, and among them Pliny, were acquainted with the hydrometer. See his Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 163—169. Bohn's Ed.

111 "Ne manus pendeant." These words, which Hardouin pronounces to be full of obscurity, have caused considerable discussion. The passage appears to be imperfect, but it is not improbable that he alludes to the use of the balance or scales for ascertaining the comparative wholesomeness of water.

112 "Corripiat."

113 The thread of his reasoning is not very perceptible; but he seems to mean that the more air there is in a body the colder it is. If the air is inhaled by a person when eating peppermint, he will be sensible of a cold feeling in the mouth.

114 Galen believes this method to have been known to Hippocrates, and Aristotle was undoubtedly acquainted with it. See Beckmann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 143–4. Bohn's Ed.

115 This is not at all the opinion at the present day.

116 "Magis refrigerari." The experiments made by Mariotte, Perrault, the Academy del Cimento, Mariana, and others, showed no perceptible difference in the time of freezing, between boiled and unboiled water; but the former produced ice harder and clearer, the latter ice more full of blisters. In later times, Dr. Black, of Edinburgh, has from his experiments asserted the contrary. "Boiled water," he says, "becomes ice sooner than unboiled, if the latter be left at perfect rest." Beckmann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 145. Bohn's Ed.

117 "Subtilissimo invento."

118 Or perhaps, as we say, "to the touch:, and vice versâ." The original is "Alternante hoc bono."

119 A considerable number of its arches are yet standing, and it still in part supplies Rome with water.

120 At Sublaqueum, now Subiaco.

121 "Primus auspicatus est." In obedience to the "auspices," probably.

122 In A.U.C. 720. See B. xxxvi. c. 24.

123 "Aqua Virgo." This aquednet, erected A.U.C. 735, still exists, and bears the name of "Aqua Vergine."

124 Another story was, that it had this name from the circumstance that the spring was first pointed out by a girl to some soldiers in search of water.

125 In C. 23 of this Book.

126 This was only temporarily, in all probability.

127 There seems, as he says below, to be no general rule as to this point.

128 So called from the snow on their summit.

129 In B. xxvi. c. 16.

130 "Salix erratica."

131 Surely not the reed, as he has mentioned it above as one of the indications to be depended upon. In one MS. it appears to be omitted, and with justice, probably.

132 "Coria."

133 "Sabulum."

134 "Sabulum masculum." Coarse, reddish sand, Dalechamps says.

135 "Arena."

136 See B. xvii. c. 3.

137 An inconvenience neutralized in a considerable degree by Davy's invention of the safety-lamp.

138 "Arenatum." Properly a mortar, which consisted of one part lime and two parts sand.

139 "Riget."

140 See B. iv. c. 11. At Bisley, in Surrey, there is a spring, Aubrey says, that is cold in summer and warm in winter.

141 See B. xviii. c. 7.

142 The sandy soil being dried in hot weather into masses of mud or clay, which become loosened when rain falls.

143 See B. ii. c. 106.

144 Ajasson remarks, that just the converse of this has been proved by modern experience to be the case.

145 The son of Antipater, then acting for Alexander during his absence in the East.

146 See B. ii. c. 84.

147 In Cilicia.

148 Whether he means the district of Thessaly so called, or one of the two cities of that name in Lydia, does not appear to be known.

149 Its locality is unknown, but it was probably near the sea-shore.

150 In Elis in Peloponnesus.

151 His credulity is influenced by the popular story that the river Alpheus in Peloponnesus, in its love for the Fountain Nymph Arethusa, penetrated beneath the bed of the sea, and reappeared in Sicily. See B. iii. c. 14.

152 See c. 20.

153 The modern Dnieper.

154 The Boug.

155 See B. xviii. c. 3, and the Introduction to Vol. III.

156 In jets, he means.

157 "Si quinarieæ erunt."

158 "Denaria."

159 "Quinaria."

160 The name given to these reservoirs was "castellum" or "dividien- lum:" in French the name is "regard." Vitruvius describes them, B. vii. c. 7.

161 Pliny appears to have forgotten the warm springs of the Seamander, mentioned by Homer in the Iliad, B. xxii. 1. 147. et seq.

162 Or rather, as Ajasson says, for cutaneous diseases.

163 See B. iii. c. 17.

164 In conformity with Sillig's suggestion, we reject "atque" as an interpolation.

165 "Mulceri."

166 In spite of what Pliny says, in some cases the use of a mineral bath is recommended for a long period of time together. At Leuk or Læch, for instance, in the Valais, the patients, Ajasson says, remain in the bath as much as eight hours together.

167 To promote expectoration, Dalechamps says; or rather vomiting, according to Holland.

168 This substance, Ajasson says, is still used in medicine; that of the waters of Silvanez, for example, in the department of Aveyron, is highly celebrated for the cure of inveterate ulcers and sciatica. The mud baths, too, of Saint Arnand, enjoy an European reputation.

169 See B. ii c. 106.

170 In B. xxiv. c. 19, and B. xxviii. c. 14.

171 An elder brother of the philosopher Seneca. His original name was M. Annæus Noratus; but upon being adopted by the rhetorician Junius Gallio, he changed his name into L. Junius Annæus—or Annæanus— Gallio. He destroyed himself, A.D. 65.

172 He was "Consul subrogatus" only.

173 "Malagmatis."

174 It acts in most cases as an emetic, and is highly dangerous if taken in considerable quantities.

175 It is still considered useful, Ajasson says, for the treatment of lymphatic diseases.

176 "Virus."

177 Or "spitter." See B. xxviii. c. 18.

178 "Mammas sororiantes." A malady, according to Dalechamps, in which the mamillæ are so distended with milk that they kiss, like sisters —"sorores."

179 The ancients being unable to analyze sea-water, could only imitate it very clumsily.

180 "Sea-water honey."

181 See B. xiv. c. 20, and B. xxii. c. 51. He is speaking, probably. of fermented hydromel, a sort of mead.

182 The joints being rendered more supple thereby.

183 He probably means sea-water, alluding to certain kinds of sea-seed. Dioscorides speaks of it, in B. iv. c. 99, as being good for gout. It is, in reality, of some small utility in such cases.

184 He most probably means sea-water.

185 The Greeks used sand-baths for the purpose of promoting the perspiration; tie names given to them were παρͅόπτησις and φοίνιγμος.

186 "Sal fit." This expression is not correct, there being no such thing as made salt. It is only collected from a state of suspension or dissolution. Pliny, however, includes under the name "sal" many substances, which in reality are not salt. His "hammoniacum" for instance if identical with hydrochlorate of ammonia, can with justice be said to made, being formed artificially from other substances.

187 "Catco humere vel siccato." These two terms in reality imply the same process, by the medium of evaporation; the former perfect, the latter imperfect.

188 The evaporation not being sufficiently strong to dry up the deeper parts.

189 There is in reality nothing wonderful in this, considering' that most lakes are constantly fed with the streams of rivers, which carry mineral sails along with them, and that the work of evaporation is always going on.

190 "Glæbas."

191 Because it is necessarily purer than that found upon the sand.

192 The description is not sufficiently clear to enable us to identify these lakes with certainty. Ajasson,, thinks that one of them may be the Lake of Badakandir in the Khanat of Bokhara; and the other the lake that lies between Ankhio and Akeha, in the west of the territory of Balkh, and near the Usbek Tartars.

193 "Sale exæstuant."

194 In consequence of the intense heat.

195 All these regions, Ajasson remarks, are covered with salt. An immense desert of salt extends to the north-east of Irak-Adjemi, and to the north of Kerman, between Tabaristan, western Khoraclu, and Khohistan.

196 Identified by Ajasson with the Herat and the Djihioun. He thinks that it is of some of the small affluents of this last that Pliny speaks.

197 "Lapis specularis."

198 A "crumb" properly, in the Latin language.

199 See B. vi. c. 32.

200 More commonly known as Jupiter Hammon.

201 See B. xii. c. 49, and B. xxiv. c. 28, for an account of gum resin am- moniac, a produce of the same locality. The substance here spoken of is considered by Beckmann to be nothing but common salt in an impure state. See his Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 398–9, where this passage is discussed at considerable length. Ajasson, on the other hand, considers it to be Hydrochlorate of ammonia, the Sal ammoniac of commerce. According to some accounts, it was originally made in the vicinity of the Temple of Jupiter Hammon, by burning camels' dung.

202 Called ἄμμος, in Greek.

203 See B. xxxv. c. 52.

204 Sal ammoniac crystallizes in octahedrons.

205 "Intra specus suos." On this passage, Beckmann says, "From what is said by Pliny it may with certainty be concluded that this salt was dug up from pits or mines in Africa.——Many kinds of rock-salt, taken from the mines of Wieliczka, experience the same change in the air; so that blocks which a labourer can easily carry in the mine, can scarcely be lifted by him after being for some time exposed to the air. The cause here is undoubtedly the same as that which makes many kinds of artificial salt to become most and to acquire more weight."—Vol. II. p. 399, Bohn's Ed.

206 According to modern notions, his reason is anything but evident.

207 In Celtiberia. He alludes to the mountain of salt at Cardona, near Montserrat in Catalonia.

208 Speaking generally, this is true; but soils which contain it in small quantities as fruitful.

209 A simile method is still employed, Ajasson says, at the salt-mines near Innspruck in the Tyrol.

210 Native bitumen; always to be found in greater or less quantities, in saliferous earns.

211 The process of artificial evaporation.

212 This would produce an impure alkaline salt. According to Townson, this practice sll prevails in Transylvania and Moldavia.

213 "The water, eraporating, would leave the salt behind, but mixed with charcoal, ashes, earth, and alkaline salts; consequently it must have been moist, or at any rate nauseous, if not refined by a new solution."—Beck- mann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 493. Bohn's Ed.

214 Not improbably a people of India so called, and mentioned in B. vi. c. 20.

215 See B.C. .42.

216 "In laterculis." Hardouin considers this to mean mall earthen vessels or pipes.

217 In c. 39 of this Book.

218 "Melelanthiun,." See B. xx. c. 17.

219 "Flos salis." Further mentioned in c. 42.

220 See B. iv. c. 17.

221 St. Augnstin mentions this marvellous kind of salt. De Civit. Dei, B. xxi. cc. 5, 7.

222 As well as Centuripa.

223 "Opsonium."

224 "Pilmentarii."

225 See c. 43 of this Book.

226 This is consistent with modern experience.

227 "Sales."

228 Literally, "salt money"—"argentum" being understood. The term was originally applied to the pay of the generals and military tribunes. Hence our word "salary."

229 Beginning at the Colline Gate.

230 "In congiario."

231 Most probably "He cannot earn salt to his bread," or something similar, like our saying, "He cannot earn salt to his porridge." The two Greek proverbs given by Dalechamps do not appear to the purpose.

232 "Mola salsa."

233 "Flavillam."

234 "Schroder thinks that in what Pliny says of Flos Salis, he can find the martial sal ammoniac flowers of our chemists, [the double chloride of ammonium and iron], or the so-called flares sales almmoniaci martialcs.— It is certain that what Dioscorides and Pliny call flos salis, has never yet been defined. The most ingenious conjecture was that of Cordus, who thought that it might be Sperma ceti; but though I should prefer this opinion to that of Schroder, I must confess that, on the grounds adduced by Matthioli and Conrad Gesner, it has too much against it to be admitted as truth."—Beckmann, Hist. inv. Vol. II. p. 493. Bohn's Ed.

235 Salt collected from the foam on the sea-shore.

236 A sort of bitumen, probably.

237 Medicines for relieving weariness. See B. xxiii. c. 45, and B. xxix. c. 13.

238 "Smegmatis."

239 It was, probably, of an intermediate nature, between caviar and anchovy sauce.

240 See B. xxxii. c. 53. It does not appear to have been identified.

241 As to the identity of the Scomnber, see B. ix. c. 19.

242 See B. xix. c. 7.

243 "Garum sociorum."

244 The present Straits of Gibraltar.

245 In Gallia Narbonensis.

246 Sillig reads "Delmatia" here.

247 See B. ix. c. 74. The fry of larger fish, Cuvier says.

248 Ajasson considers this to be an absurd derivation; and thinks it much more probable, that the name is from ἀ privative, and φύω, "to beget;" it being a not uncommon notion that these small fish were pro- duced spontaneously from mud and slime.

249 The present Frejus, in the south of France.

250 "Wolf." Not the fish of that name, Hardouin says, mentioned in B. ix. c. 28.

251 The festivals of Ceres. The devotees, though obliged to abstain from meat, were allowed the use of this garuim, it would appear.

252 Gesner proposes to read "non carêntibus," "with scales"—fishes without scales being forbidden to the Jews by the Levitical Law. See Lev. c. xi. ver. 10. It is, most probably, Pliny's own mistake.

253 See B. xxvii. c. 2.

254 At the end of c. 42.

255 He alludes to its decrepitation in flame.

256 Pharnaces caused the body of his father Mithridates to be deposited in brine, in order to trausmit it to Pompey.

257 He uses the word "pterygia" here, as applied to the whole of the body—"totius corporis"—in its two distinct senses, a hangnail or excrescence on the fingers, and a web or film on the eyes.

258 In c. 23, he has said much the same of cold water.

259 "Sale et sole."

260 This Passage would come more naturally after the succeeding one.

261 See B. xxiii. . 13.

262 "Ita ut batuerentur ante." From the corresponding passage in Dioscorides, where the expression βαπτόμ<*>νοι ἐις ὂξος is used, it would appear that the proper word here is "bapiltizarentur;" or possibly; a last Gracco-Latin word, "bapterentur." Littré suggests "hebetarentur," "the part being first numbed" by the aid of a bandage.

263 "Spama salis." Colleted from the from on the sea-shore.

264 See Note 36, above, p. 507.

265 Beckmann, who devotes several pages to a consideration of the "ni- trum" of the ancients, considers it not to be our nitre." or "saltpetre," but a general name for impure alkaline salts. See his Hist. Inv. Vol. 11. pp. 490—503, Bohn's Ed. Ajasson, without hesitation, pronounces it to be nitrate of potash, neither more or less than our saltpetre, and quotes a statement from Andreossy, that it is still to le found in great quantities at Mount Ptou-Ampihosem, near the city of Pihosem, called Nitria by St. Jerome.

266 "Salt bursting from the earth."

267 "Wild."

268 See c. 40 of this Book. He is evidently speaking of a vegetable alkali here. See Beckmann, Vol. II. pp. 492–3, Bohn's Ed.

269 Beckmann thinks that these kinds of water were in reality only impure and not potable, from their nauseous taste, and that hence they were considered as nitrous. Nitrous water, he remarks, or water containing saltpetre, in all probability, does not exist. Vol. II. pp. 498–9. Bohn's Edition.

270 Or in other words, crystallization. Beckmann remarks that, in reference to alkaline water, this is undoubtedly true. Vol. II. p. 499.

271 From the adjacent town of Chalastra, on the Thermæan Gulf. The site is probably occupied by the modern Kulakia.

272 Carbonate of soda is found in the mineral waters of Seltzer and Carlsbad, and in the volcanic springs of Iceland, the Geysers more particularly.

273 Ajasson remarks, that from this we may conclude that the fabrication of nitrate of potash, or saltpetre, was in its infancy. It is by no means improbable that the artificial nitrum, here mentioned by Pliny, really was artificial saltpetre, more or less impure; the native nitrum, on the other land, being, as Beckmann suggests, a general term for impure alkaline mineral salts, in common with native saltpetre. Pliny's account, however, is confused in the highest degree, and in some passages far from intelligible.

274 Of a bituminous nature, probably. See c. 42 of this Book.

275 See B. v. c. 40. An alkaline water, Beckmann thinks. See Vol. II. pp. 96–7. Bohn's Ed.

276 He may possibly mean bleaching the material before dyeing.

277 See B. xxxvi. c. 65. This certainly goes far towards proving that under the name "nitrum," alkaline salts were included.

278 "Faciunt ex his vasa, necnon frequenter liquatum cum sulphure, co- quentes in carbonibus." This passage Beckmann pronounces to be one of the darkest parts in the history of nitrum. See Vol. II. p. 502. He is of opinion that not improbably the result here obtained would be, liver of sulphur, which when it cools is hard, but soon becomes moist when exposed to the air. Dalechamps, it would appear, explains the whole of this passage as applicable to glazing; but in such case, as Beckmann observes, the nitrum could serve only as a flux. Michaelis suggests that the vessels here mentioned, were cut, not for real use, but merely for ornament, in the same manner as they are still made, occasionally, from rock-salt.

279 The mention of nitrum, sulphur, and charcoal, probably the three ingredients of gunpowder, in such close proximity, is somewhat curious.

280 "Quæ" seems a preferable reading to "quos."

281 "Spuma nitri." An accidental property, Beckmann says, of the same salt that has been previously called "Chalastricum," "Halmyrax," "Aphronitrum," and "Agrion." In his opinion, "the ancients were acquainted with no other than native nitrum, which they called artificial, only when it required a little more trouble and art to obtain it."—Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 502. Bohn's Ed.

282 "Froth of nitre." Ajasson identifies this with hydro-carbonate of soda.

283 Supposed by Hardouin to be derived from the Greek κόλικας, "round cakes;" owing to the peculiar form of the pieces of rock by which the aphronitrum was produced. The reading, however, is very doubtful. Sillig, from Photius, suggests that it should be "scolecas."

284 One proof, Beckmann thinks, that Soda is meant. See Vol. II. p. 491.

285 "Whether Pliny means that the vessels were not burnt, but only baked in the sun, or that before they were filled, they were completely dried in the sun, has been determined by no commentator. To me the latter is probable."—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 491.

286 Beckmann thinks that this mode of adulteration, with lime, is an additional proof that the "nitrum" of our author was only soda. See Vol. II. p. 492.

287 That, namely, of the lime. Quick-lime, certainly, would have a pungent taste, in comparison with that of soda, but not in comparison with that of saltpetre.

288 Another proof, Beekmann thinks, that it was native soda, impregnated with common salt. Vol. II. p. 492.

289 This would hardly apply to soda.

290 Probably to promote its rising, as Beckmann observes, Vol. II. p. 496; a circumstance which goes a great way towards proving that "Soda" was included, at least, under the name of "nitrum." Carbonate of soda is extensively used for this purpose at the present day.

291 And to correct the acridity of the radishes, possibly. A somewhat analogous fact is mentioned by Drury, in his "Journal in Madagascar." He says that the sourest tamarinds, "mixed with wood ashes, become sweet and eatable." See p. 316.—We are not unaware that many look upon this work and its statements as a work of fiction.

292 See B. xix. c. 26.

293 Carbonate of soda is added to pickles and boiling vegetables for this purpose.

294 Vegetable ashes, and tobacco-ashes in particular, have the same effect.

295 See B. xxxv. c. 57.

296 Viewed by the ancients as a poison, when taken warm; but erroneously, as we have more than once remarked.

297 See B. xix. c. 15.

298 Nitre balls are still given to the patient to suck, in cases of sore throat.

299 See B. xii. c. 51.

300 Beckmann considers that this statement throws some light on the obscure passage, commented on in Note 77, p. 514. See Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p.503. Bohn's Ed.

301 In B. ix. c. 69.

302 No such distinction, of course, really exists; sponge being in reality a fibrous tissue formed by minute animals.

303 "Goats," literally.

304 See B. ix. c. 69. He probably alludes to the semifluid thin coat of animal jelly which covers the sponge in its recent state, and is susceptible of a slight contraction on being touched.

305 A fanciful notion, certainly.

306 Hot water renders them greasy, so to say; an inconvenience which may be remedied by steeping them in an alkaline solution, or in urine.

307 "Penicilli."

308 See B. ix. c. 69.

309 See B. v. c. 28.

310 An absurdity, of course.

311 See end of B. ii.

312 Called C. Cassius Severus Parmensis, according to some authorities. H was one of the murderers of Cæsar, and perished, the last of them by a violent end, about B.C. 30. He is supposed to have written tragedies, epigrams, and other works. See Horace, Epist. B. i. Ep. 4, 1. 3.

313 See end of B. vii.

314 See end of B. ii.

315 Cælius Antipater. See end of B. ii.

316 See end of B. vii.

317 See end of B. vii.

318 See end of B. xviii.

319 See end of B. iv.

320 This personage is entirely unknown. It may possibly be a corruption for Soranus, a poet of that name (Q. Valerius Soranus) who flourished about 100 B.C. See also B. xxxii. c. 23.

321 See end of B. iv.

322 See end of B. ii.

323 Beyond the mention made of him in c. 9 of this Book, nothing whatever is known of him.

324 See end of B. iii.

325 See end of B. ii., and end of B. vi.

326 See end of B. ii.

327 See end of B. xii.

328 See end of B. v.

329 See end of B. xii.

330 See end of B. xxx.

331 See end of B. ii.

332 He is also mentioned in B. xxxii. c. 16, but beyond that, nothing whatever appears to be known of him. He must not be confounded with Pelops of Smyrna, one of Galen's preceptors, who flourished in the second century after Christ.

333 See end of B. xxviii.

334 See end of B. ii.

335 See end of B. ii.

336 See end of B. viii.

337 A celebrated Comic poet, a disciple of Theophrastus, and the inventor of the New Comedy at Athens. Only a few fragments of his works survive.

338 See end of B. viii.

339 A physician, of whom, beyond the mention made of him in B. xxxii. c. 26, no further particulars appear to be known.

340 See end of B. xx.

341 A Greek writer on plants, and a follower of Asclepiades of Bithynia. He is supposed to have flourished in the latter half of the first century B.C. His medical formulæ are several times quoted by Galen. See c. 31 of the succeeding Book.

342 See end of B. vii.

343 See end of . xxi.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.