[177] Pulte fritillâ.
[178] “Siligo.” There are numerous contradictions in Pliny with reference to this plant, but it is now pretty generally agreed that it is the Triticum hibernum of Linnæus: the “froment tousselle” of the French. It was formerly the more general opinion that it was identical with spelt; but that cannot be the case, as spelt is red, and siligo is described as white.
[179] “Sine virtute.” It is doubtful what is the meaning of this.
[180] Sine pondere.
[181] In other places he says, most unaccountably, that wheat “degenerates into siligo.”
[182] As to this practice, see c. [29].
[183] “Quam vocant castratam.”
[184] From this account, it would appear that there were twenty-four sextarii to the modius; but the account in general is very contradictory.
[185] Salt water is rarely used for this purpose in modern times. See this passage discussed in Beckmann on Inventions, Bohn’s Ed. vol. i. p. 164.