Dogs, too, are in the habit of seeking a certain plant,[716] as a stimulant to the appetite; but although they eat it in our presence, it has never yet been discovered what it is, it being quite impossible to recognize it when seen half-chewed. There has also been remarked another bit of spitefulness in this animal, though in a much greater degree, in reference to another plant. When stung by a serpent, it cures itself, they say, by eating a certain herb, taking care, however, never to gather it in presence of man. CHAP. 52.—THE ELAPHOBOSCON. The hind, with a much greater degree of frankness, has discovered to us the elaphoboscon, a plant of which we have already[717] spoken, and which is also called “helxine,”[718] from the assistance it affords those animals in yeaning. CHAP. 53.—DICTAMNON: EIGHT REMEDIES. PSEUDODICTAMNON OR CHONDRIS. IN WHAT PLACES THE MOST POWERFUL PLANTS ARE FOUND. HOW THAT MILK IS DRUNK IN ARCADIA FOR THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF THE PLANTS UPON WHICH THE CATTLE FEED. It is the hind, too, that, as already[719] stated, first made us acquainted with dictamnon,[720] or dittany; for when wounded, it eats some of this plant, and the weapon immediately falls from the body. This plant grows nowhere[721] but in Crete. The branches of it are remarkably thin; it resembles pennyroyal in appearance, and is hot and acrid to the taste. The leaves are the only part employed, it being destitute of[722] blossom, seed, and stem: the root is thin, and never used. In Crete even, it is found growing only in a very limited locality, and is sought by goats with singular avidity. In place of it, the pseudodictamnum[723] is employed, a plant that is found growing in many countries. In leaf it is similar to the other, but the branches are more diminutive: by some persons it is known as “chondris.” Its properties not being so strongly developed, the difference is immediately recognized: for an infusion of the very smallest piece of the real dittany, is sufficient to burn the mouth. The persons who gather it are in the habit of enclosing it in a stem of fennel-giant or in a reed, which they close at the ends that the virtues of it may not escape. Some persons say, that both plants grow indiscriminately in numerous localities, the inferior sort being the produce of rich soils, and the genuine dittany being found nowhere but in rugged, uncultivated spots. There is, again, a third[724] plant called “dictamnum,” which, however, has neither the appearance nor the properties of the other plant so called; the leaves of it are like those of sisymbrium,[725] but the branches are larger.