This plant cures fetid ulcers of the mouth, polypus[277] of the nose, ulcerations or carbuncles of the generative organs, and chaps; taken in drink it acts as a carminative, and is curative of strangury. The bark is good for patients troubled with discharges of blood, and a decoction of it acts astringently on the bowels. It is generally thought that the wild plant is productive of the same effects. CHAP. 70.—THE THORN CALLED APPENDIX: TWO REMEDIES. THE PYRACANTHA: ONE REMEDY. There is a thorn also known as the appendix;[278] that name being given to the red berries which hang from its branches. These berries eaten by themselves, raw, or else dried and boiled in wine, arrest looseness of the bowels and dispel griping pains in the stomach. The berries of the pyracantha[279] are taken in drink for wounds inflicted by serpents. CHAP. 71.—THE PALIURUS: TEN REMEDIES. The paliurus,[280] too, is a kind of thorn. The seed of it, known by the people of Africa as “zura,” is extremely efficacious for the sting of the scorpion, as also for urinary calculi and cough. The leaves are of an astringent nature, and the root disperses inflamed tumours, gatherings, and abscesses; taken in drink it is diuretic in its effects. A decoction of it in wine arrests diarrhœa, and neutralizes the venom of serpents: the root more particularly is administered in wine. CHAP. 72.—THE AGRIFOLIA. THE AQUIFOLIA: ONE REMEDY. THE YEW: ONE PROPERTY BELONGING TO IT. The agrifolia,[281] pounded, with the addition of salt, is good for diseases of the joints, and the berries are used in cases of excessive menstruation, cœliac affections, dysentery, and cholera; taken in wine, they act astringently upon the bowels. A decoction of the root, applied externally, extracts foreign bodies from the flesh, and is remarkably useful for sprains and tumours. The tree called “aquifolia,” planted[282] in a town or country-house is a preservative against sorceries and spells. The blossom of it, according to Pythagoras, congeals[283] water, and a staff[284] made of the wood, if, when thrown at any animal, from want of strength in the party throwing it, it falls short of the mark will roll back again[285] towards the thrower, of its own accord—so remarkable are the properties of this tree. The smoke of the yew kills[286] rats and mice. CHAP. 73. THE BRAMBLE: FIFTY-ONE REMEDIES.