[3101] See B. xiv. c. 20, and B. xxii. c. 51. He is speaking, probably, of fermented hydromel, a sort of mead.
[3102] The joints being rendered more supple thereby.
[3103] He probably means sea-water, alluding to certain kinds of sea-weed. Dioscorides speaks of it, in B. iv. c. 99, as being good for gout. It is, in reality, of some small utility in such cases.
[3104] He most probably means sea-water.
[3105] The Greeks used sand-baths for the purpose of promoting the perspiration; the names given to them were παρόπτησις and φοίνιγμος.
[3106] “Sal fit.” This expression is not correct, there being no such thing as made salt. It is only collected from a state of suspension or dissolution. Pliny, however, includes under the name “sal” many substances, which in reality are not salt. His “hammoniacum,” for instance, if identical with hydrochlorate of ammonia, can with justice be said to be made, being formed artificially from other substances.
[3107] “Coacto humore vel siccato.” These two terms in reality imply the same process, by the medium of evaporation; the former perfect, the latter imperfect.
[3108] The evaporation not being sufficiently strong to dry up the deeper parts.
[3109] There is in reality nothing wonderful in this, considering that most lakes are constantly fed with the streams of rivers, which carry mineral salts along with them, and that the work of evaporation is always going on.
[3110] “Glæbas.”