cophants_.

Bacchus was thought to have acquired his vigour and corpulency
from eating Figs, such as the Romans gave to professed wrestlers
and champions for strength and good sustenance.

Dodonoeus said concerning Figs, _Alimentum amplius quam coeteri
proebent_; and Pliny spoke of them as the best restorative
for those brought low by languishing [197] disease, with loss of
their colour. It was under the Perpul tree (_Ficus religiosa_) Buddha
attained Nirvada.

The botanical name _ficus_ has been derived from the Greek verb
_phuo_ to generate, and the husbandry of Figs was called by the
Latins "caprification." The little fig-bird of the Roman Campagna
pays a yearly visit in September to the fig orchards on our Sussex
coast.

When eaten raw, dried Figs prove somewhat aperient, and they are
apt to make the mouth sore whilst masticating them. Their seeds
operate mechanically against constipation, though sometimes
irritating the lining membrane of the stomach and bowels. Grocers
prepare from the pulp of these foreign dried figs, when mixed with
honey, a jam called "figuine," which is wholesome, and will prevent
costiveness if eaten at breakfast with bread.

The pulp of Turkey Figs is mucilaginous, and has been long
esteemed as a pectoral emollient for coughs: also when stewed and,
added to ptisans, for catarrhal troubles of the air passages, and of
other mucous canals.

In its fresh green state the fruit secretes a mildly acrid juice, which
will destroy warts; this afterwards becomes saccharine and oily. The
dried Figs of the shops give no idea of the fresh fruit as enjoyed in
Italy at breakfast, which then seem indeed a fruit of paradise, and
which contain a considerable quantity of grape sugar. In the
_Regimen of the School of Salerno_ (eleventh century) we read:--

"Scrofa, tumor, glandes, ficus cataplasma sedet,
Swines' evil, swellings, kernels, a plaster of figs will heal."

Barley water boiled with dried Figs (split open), liquorice root, and
raisins, forms the compound decoction of barley prescribed by
doctors as a capital demulcent; [198] and an admirable gargle for
inflamed sore throat may be made by boiling two ounces of the Figs
in half-a-pint of water, which is to be strained when cool. Figs
cooked in milk make an excellent drink for costive persons.

In the French codex a favourite pectoral medicine is composed of
Figs, stoned dates, raisins, and jujubes.

Formerly the poisoned Fig was u