CHAP. 6.—WATERS CURATIVE OF WOUNDS.
The tepid waters of Albula,[2950] near Rome, have a healing effect upon wounds. Those of Cutilia,[2951] again, in the Sabine territory, are intensely cold, and by a kind of suction penetrate the body to such a degree as to have the effect of a mordent almost. They are remarkably beneficial for affections of the stomach, sinews, and all parts of the body, in fact.
CHAP. 7.—WATERS PREVENTIVE OF ABORTION.
The waters of Thespiæ[2952] ensure conception to females; the same, too, with those of the river Elatus[2953] in Arcadia. The spring Linus,[2954] also in Arcadia, acts as a preservative of the fœtus and effectually prevents abortion. The waters of the river Aphrodisius, on the other hand, in the territory of Pyrrhæa,[2955] are productive of sterility.
CHAP. 8.—WATERS WHICH REMOVE MORPHEW.
The waters of Lake Alphius remove white morphew,[2956] Varro tells us; who also mentions the fact that one Titius,[2957] a personage who had held the prætorship, had a face to all appearance like that of a marble statue, in consequence of this disease. The waters of the river Cydnus,[2958] in Cilicia, are curative of gout, as would appear from a letter addressed by Cassius[2959] of Parma to Marcus Antonius. At Trœzen, on the contrary, all the inhabitants are subject to diseases of the feet, owing to the bad quality of the water there. The state of the Tungri,[2960] in Gaul, has a spring of great renown, which sparkles as it bursts forth with bubbles innumerable, and has a certain ferruginous taste, only to be perceived after it has been drunk. This water is strongly purgative, is curative of tertian fevers, and disperses urinary calculi: upon the application of fire it assumes a turbid appearance, and finally turns red. The springs[2961] of Leucogæa, between Puteoli and Neapolis, are curative of eye diseases and of wounds. Cicero, in his work entitled “Admiranda,”[2962] has remarked that it is only by the waters of the marshes of Reate[2963] that the hoofs of beasts of burden are hardened.
CHAP. 9.—WATERS WHICH COLOUR THE HAIR.
Eudicus informs us that in Hestiæotis[2964] there are two springs; one of which, Cerona, renders sheep black that drink of it, while the other, called Neleus, turns them white: if, again, a sheep should happen to drink their waters mixed, its fleece will be mottled. According to Theophrastus, the water of the Crathis,[2965] a river of Thurii, makes sheep and cattle white, while that of the river Sybaris turns them black.
CHAP. 10.—WATERS WHICH COLOUR THE HUMAN BODY.
And not only this, but human beings even, Theophrastus tells us, are sensible of this difference: for persons who drink the water of the Sybaris, he says, become more swarthy and more hardy, the hair inclining to curl: while those, again, who drink of the Crathis become fair and more soft-skinned, with the hair growing straight and long. So, too, in Macedonia, persons who wish the produce to be white, drive their cattle to the river Haliacmon, while those who desire a black or tawny colour, take them to water at the Axius. Upon the same authority, too, we learn that in certain localities, as in the country of the Messapii, for instance, all the productions, the cereals even, grow of a tawny colour; and that at Lusi,[2966] in Arcadia, there is a certain fountain in which land-mice live and dwell. The river Aleos, which passes through Erythræ, promotes the growth of hair upon the body.