Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXIX. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES., CHAP. 13.—THE METHOD OF PREPARING COMMAGENUM. FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT.

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CHAP. 13.—THE METHOD OF PREPARING COMMAGENUM. FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT.

Having to make mention, in the present Book, of the eggs of the goose and the numerous uses to which they are applied, as also of the bird itself, it is our duty to award the honour to Commagene¹ of a most celebrated preparation there made. This composition is prepared from goose-grease, a substance applied to many other well-known uses as well; but in the case of that which comes from Commagene, a part of Syria, the grease is first incorporated with cinnamon, cassia,² white pepper, and the plant called "commagene,"³ and then placed in vessels and buried in the snow. The mixture has an agreeable smell, and is found extremely useful for cold shiverings, convulsions, heavy or sudden pains, and all those affections, in fact, which are treated with the class of remedies known as "acopa;"⁴ being equally an unguent and a medicament.

There is another method, also, of preparing it in Syria: the fat of the bird is preserved in manner already⁵ described, and there is added to it erysisceptrum,⁶ xylobalsamum,⁷ palm elate,⁸ and calamus, each in the same proportion as the grease; the whole being gently boiled some two or three times in wine. This preparation is made in winter, as in summer it will never thicken, except with the addition of wax. There are numerous other remedies, also, derived from the goose, as well as from the raven;⁹ a thing I am much surprised at, seeing that both the goose and the raven¹⁰ are generally said to be in a diseased state at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.

1 See B. v. cc. 13, 20.

2 See B. xii. c. 43.

3 See B. x. c. 28. Generally supposed to be Syrian nard; though some identify it with the Comacum of Theophrastus.

4 See B. xxiii. cc. 45, 80.

5 In B. xxviii. c. 38.

6 See B. xxiv. c. 69.

7 See B. xii. c. 54.

8 See B. xii. c. 62.

9 No MS., it would appear, gives "corvis" here, the reading being "capris," "goats." Ajasson, however, is most probably right in his suggestion that "corvis" is the correct reading.

10 See B. x. c. 15.

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.

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CHAP. 13.—THE METHOD OF PREPARING COMMAGENUM. FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT.

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

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CHAP. 13.—THE METHOD OF PREPARING COMMAGENUM. FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT.

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