COMMENTARY. We have treated of the _Pistachio nuts_ in the First Book. They are the fruit of the _Pistachia vera_. It is hardly worth while to give the opinions of the other authorities under this head, as none of them supply any additional information to that given by our author. See Dioscorides (i, 167.) We may just mention in this place, that the oil of pistachio nuts was much used as an application to the cicatrices of small-pox. See Rhases (Contin. xxxii, 2.) Πιτυΐδεσ, Pityides, _the Fruit of Pines_, being possessed of mixed powers, the astringent and acrid, hence it assists expectoration from the chest. * * * * * COMMENTARY. Pliny restricts it to the fruit of the _Pinaster_ or Wild Pine, but the Greeks apply it to the fruit of all the pine tribe. Pliny, like our author, recommends it as a remedy for coughs. Here, however, as is usual with him, he merely translates Dioscorides (i, 87.) Our author is principally indebted to Galen. (De Simpl. viii.) Celsus places the “nuclei pinei” in his list of things which are particularly good for the stomach. (ii, 24.) The Arabians treat of these under the general head of pinus. See in particular, Avicenna (ii, 2, 301) and Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42.) The latter enlarges on the virtues of them beyond his wont, ascribing to them powerful effects in disinfecting a pestilential state of the air, in resisting putrefaction, preventing impregnation, and procuring abortion. He also calls them vermifuge. Πιτυοκάμπαι. Erucæ pinorum, _the Canker-worms of Pines_, are possessed of the same powers with cantharis and buprestis. * * * * * COMMENTARY. We have treated of the _Erucæ pinorum_ in the Fifth Book. As they were seldom or never used in the practice of medicine, it is difficult to see why they should have been allowed a place in the Mat. Med. Πίτυος φλοιὸς, Pini cortex, _the Bark of Pine_; its prevailing power is astringency, by which it proves a useful application for intertrigo and burns. In a potion it restrains the belly. The leaves of it are also agglutinative of wounds. * * * * *