Chapter XVI: Book XX: Remedies Derived From the Garden Plants (2)

Cato[1468] esteems the curly cabbage the most highly of all, and next to it, the smooth cabbage with large leaves and a thick stalk. He says that it is a good thing for headache, dimness of the sight, and dazzling[1469] of the eyes, the spleen, stomach, and thoracic organs, taken raw in the morning, in doses of two acetabula, with oxymel, coriander, rue, mint, and root of silphium.[1470] He says, too, that the virtue of it is so great that the very person even who beats up this mixture feels himself all the stronger for it; for which reason he recommends it to be taken mixed with these condiments, or, at all events, dressed with a sauce compounded of them. For the gout, too, and diseases of the joints, a liniment of it should be used, he says, with a little rue and coriander, a sprinkling of salt, and some barley meal: the very water even in which it has been boiled is wonderfully efficacious, according to him, for the sinews and joints. For wounds, either recent or of long standing, as also for carcinoma,[1471] which is incurable by any other mode of treatment, he recommends fomentations to be made with warm water, and, after that, an application of cabbage, beaten up, to the parts affected, twice a-day. He says, also, that fistulas and sprains should be treated in a similar way, as well as all humours which it may be desirable to bring to a head and disperse; and he states that this vegetable, boiled and eaten fasting, in considerable quantities, with oil and salt, has the effect of preventing dreams and wakefulness; also, that if, after one boiling, it is boiled a second time, with the addition of oil, salt, cummin, and polenta, it will relieve gripings[1472] in the stomach; and that, if eaten in this way without bread, it is more beneficial still. Among various other particulars, he says, that if taken in drink with black wine, it has the effect of carrying off the bilious secretions; and he recommends the urine of a person who has been living on a cabbage diet to be preserved, as, when warmed, it is a good remedy for diseases of the sinews. I will, however, here give the identical words in which Cato expresses himself upon this point: “If you wash little children with this urine,” says he, “they will never be weak and puny.”

He recommends, also, the warm juice of cabbage to be injected into the ears, in combination with wine, and assures us that it is a capital remedy for deafness: and he says that the cabbage is a cure for impetigo[1473] without the formation of ulcers.

CHAP. 34.—OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS RELATIVE THERETO.

As we have already given those of Cato, it will be as well to set forth the opinions entertained by the Greek writers on this subject, only in relation, however, to those points upon which he has omitted to touch. They are of opinion that cabbage, not thoroughly boiled, carries off the bile, and has the effect of loosening the bowels; while, on the other hand, if it is boiled twice over, it will act as an astringent. They say, too, that as there is a natural[1474] enmity between it and the vine, it combats the effects of wine; that, if eaten before drinking, it is sure to prevent[1475] drunkenness, being equally a dispellent of crapulence[1476] if taken after drinking: that cabbage is a food very beneficial to the eyesight, and that the juice of it raw is even more so, if the corners of the eyes are only touched with a mixture of it with Attic honey. Cabbage, too, according to the same testimony, is extremely easy of digestion,[1477] and, as an aliment, greatly tends to clear the senses.

The school of Erasistratus proclaims that there is nothing more beneficial to the stomach and the sinews than cabbage; for which reason, he says, it ought to be given to the paralytic and nervous, as well as to persons affected with spitting of blood. Hippocrates prescribes it, twice boiled, and eaten with salt, for dysentery and cœliac affections, as also for tenesmus and diseases of the kidneys; he is of opinion, too, that, as an aliment, it increases the quantity of the milk in women who are nursing, and that it promotes the menstrual discharge.[1478] The stalk, too, eaten raw, is efficacious in expelling the dead fœtus. Apollodorus prescribes the seed or else the juice of the cabbage to be taken in cases of poisoning by fungi; and Philistion recommends the juice for persons affected with opisthotony, in goats’-milk, with salt and honey.

I find, too, that persons have been cured of the gout by eating cabbage and drinking a decoction of that plant. This decoction has been given, also, to persons afflicted with the cardiac disease and epilepsy, with the addition of salt; and it has been administered in white wine, for affections of the spleen, for a period of forty days.

According to Philistion, the juice of the raw root should be given as a gargle to persons afflicted with icterus[1479] or phrenitis, and for hiccup he prescribes a mixture of it, in vinegar, with coriander, anise, honey, and pepper. Used as a liniment, cabbage, he says, is beneficial for inflations of the stomach; and the very water, even, in which it has been boiled, mixed with barley-meal, is a remedy for the stings of serpents[1480] and foul ulcers of long standing; a result which is equally effected by a mixture of cabbage-juice with vinegar or fenugreek. It is in this manner, too, that some persons employ it topically, for affections of the joints and for gout. Applied topically, cabbage is a cure for epinyctis, and all kinds of spreading eruptions on the body, as also for sudden[1481] attacks of dimness; indeed, if eaten with vinegar, it has the effect of curing the last. Applied by itself, it heals contusions and other livid spots; and mixed with a ball of alum in vinegar, it is good as a liniment for leprosy and itch-scabs: used in this way, too, it prevents the hair from falling off.

Epicharmus assures us that, applied topically, cabbage is extremely beneficial for diseases of the testes and genitals, and even better still when employed with bruised beans; he says, too, that it is a cure for convulsions; that, in combination with rue, it is good for the burning heats of fever and maladies of the stomach; and that, with rue-seed, it brings away the after-birth. It is of use, also, for the bite of the shrew-mouse. Dried cabbage-leaves, reduced to a powder, are a cathartic both by vomit and by stool.

CHAP. 35.—CABBAGE-SPROUTS.

In all varieties of the cabbage, the part most agreeable to the taste is the cyma,[1482] although no use is made of it in medicine, as it is difficult to digest, and by no means beneficial to the kidneys. At the same time, too, it should not be omitted, that the water in which it has been boiled,[1483] and which is so highly praised for many purposes, gives out a very bad smell when poured upon the ground. The ashes of dried cabbage-stalks are generally reckoned among the caustic substances: mixed with stale grease, they are employed for sciatica, and, used as a liniment, in the form of a depilatory, together with silphium[1484] and vinegar, they prevent hair that has been once removed from growing again. These ashes, too, are taken lukewarm in oil, or else by themselves, for convulsions, internal ruptures, and the effects of falls with violence.

And are we to say then that the cabbage is possessed of no evil qualities whatever? Certainly not, for the same authors tell us, that it is apt to make the breath smell, and that it is injurious to the teeth and gums. In Egypt, too, it is never eaten, on account of its extreme bitterness.[1485]

CHAP. 36.—THE WILD CABBAGE: THIRTY-SEVEN REMEDIES.

Cato[1486] extols infinitely more highly the properties of wild or erratic cabbage;[1487] so much so, indeed, as to affirm that the very powder of it, dried and collected in a scent-box, has the property, on merely smelling at it, of removing maladies of the nostrils and the bad smells resulting therefrom. Some persons call this wild cabbage “petræa:”[1488] it has an extreme antipathy to wine, so much so, indeed, that the vine invariably[1489] avoids it, and if it cannot make its escape, will be sure to die. This vegetable has leaves of uniform shape, small, rounded, and smooth: bearing a strong resemblance to the cultivated cabbage, it is whiter, and has a more downy[1490] leaf.

According to Chrysippus, this plant is a remedy for flatulency, melancholy, and recent wounds, if applied with honey, and not taken off before the end of six days: beaten up in water, it is good also for scrofula and fistula. Other writers, again, say that it is an effectual cure for spreading sores on the body, known as “nomæ;” that it has the property, also, of removing excrescences, and of reducing the scars of wounds and sores; that if chewed raw with honey, it is a cure for ulcers of the mouth and tonsils; and that a decoction of it used as a gargle with honey, is productive of the same effect. They say, too, that, mixed in strong vinegar with alum, in the proportion of three parts to two of alum, and then applied as a liniment, it is a cure for itch scabs and leprous sores of long standing. Epicharmus informs us, that for the bite of a mad dog, it is quite sufficient to apply it topically to the part affected, but that if used with silphium and strong vinegar, it is better still: he says, too, that it will kill a dog, if given to it with flesh to eat.

The seed of this plant, parched, is remedial in cases of poisoning, by the stings of serpents, eating fungi, and drinking bulls’ blood. The leaves of it, either boiled and taken in the food or else eaten raw, or applied with a liniment of sulphur and nitre, are good for affections of the spleen, as well as hard tumours of the mamillæ. In swelling of the uvula, if the parts affected are only touched with the ashes of the root, a cure will be the result; and applied topically with honey, they are equally beneficial for reducing swellings of the parotid glands, and curing the stings of serpents. We will add only one more proof of the virtues of the cabbage, and that a truly marvellous one—in all vessels in which water is boiled, the incrustations which adhere with such tenacity that it is otherwise impossible to detach them, will fall off immediately if a cabbage is boiled therein.

CHAP. 37.—THE LAPSANA: ONE REMEDY.

Among the wild cabbages, we find also the lapsana,[1491] a plant which grows a foot in height, has a hairy leaf, and strongly resembles mustard, were it not that the blossom is whiter. It is eaten cooked, and has the property of soothing and gently relaxing the bowels.

CHAP. 38.—THE SEA-CABBAGE: ONE REMEDY.

Sea-cabbage[1492] is the most strongly purgative of all these plants. It is cooked, in consequence of its extreme pungency, with fat meat, and is extremely detrimental to the stomach.

CHAP. 39.—THE SQUILL: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

In medicine, we give the name of white squill to the male plant, and of black[1493] to the female: the whiter the squill, the better it is for medicinal[1494] purposes. The dry coats being first taken off of it, the remaining part, or so much of it as retains life, is cut into pieces, which are then strung and suspended on a string, at short distances from each other. After these pieces are thoroughly dried, they are thrown into a jar of the very strongest vinegar, suspended in such a way, however, as not to touch any portion of the vessel. This is done forty-eight days before the summer solstice. The mouth of the jar is then tightly sealed with plaster; after which it is placed beneath some tiles which receive the rays of the sun the whole day through. At the end of forty-eight days the vessel is removed, the squills are taken out of it, and the vinegar poured into another jar.

This vinegar has the effect of sharpening the eyesight, and, taken every other day, is good for pains in the stomach and sides: the strength of it, however, is so great, that if taken in too large a quantity, it will for some moments produce all the appearance of death. Squills, too, if chewed by themselves even, are good for the gums and teeth; and taken in vinegar and honey they expel tapeworm and other intestinal worms. Put fresh beneath the tongue, they prevent persons afflicted with dropsy from experiencing thirst.

Squills are cooked in various ways; either in a pot with a lining of clay or grease, which is put into an oven or furnace, or else cut into pieces and stewed in a saucepan. They are dried also in a raw state, and then cut into pieces and boiled with vinegar; in which case, they are employed as a liniment for the stings of serpents. Sometimes, again, they are roasted and then cleaned; after which, the middle of the bulb is boiled again in water.

When thus boiled, they are used for dropsy, as a diuretic, being taken in doses of three oboli, with oxymel: they are employed also in a similar manner for affections of the spleen, and of the stomach, when it is too weak to digest the food, provided no ulcerations have made their appearance; also for gripings of the bowels, jaundice, and inveterate cough, accompanied with asthma. A cataplasm of squill leaves, taken off at the end of four days, has the effect of dispersing scrofulous swellings of the neck; and a decoction of squills in oil, applied as a liniment, is a cure for dandriff and running ulcers of the head.

Squills are boiled with honey also for the table, with the view of aiding the digestion more particularly; used in this way, too, they act upon the inside as a purgative. Boiled with oil, and then mixed with resin, they are a cure for chaps on the feet; and the seed, mixed with honey, is applied topically, for the cure of lumbago. Pythagoras says that a squill, suspended at the threshold of the door, effectually shuts all access to evil spells and incantations.[1495]

CHAP. 40.—BULBS: THIRTY REMEDIES.

Bulbs,[1496] steeped in vinegar and sulphur, are good for the cure of wounds in the face;[1497] beaten up and used alone, they are beneficial for contractions of the sinews, mixed with wine, for porrigo, and used with honey, for the bites of dogs; in this last case, however, Erasistratus says that they ought to be mixed with pitch. The same author states that, applied topically with honey, they stanch the flowing of blood; other writers say, however, that in cases of bleeding at the nose, coriander and meal should be employed in combination with them. Theodorus prescribes bulbs in vinegar for the cure of lichens, and for eruptions in the head he recommends bulbs mixed with astringent wine, or an egg beaten up; he treats defluxions of the eyes also with bulbs, applied topically, and uses a similar method for the cure of ophthalmia. The red bulbs more particularly, will cause spots in the face to disappear, if rubbed upon them with honey and nitre in the sun; and applied with wine or boiled cucumber they will remove freckles. Used either by themselves, or as Damion recommends, in combination with honied wine, they are remarkably efficacious for the cure of wounds, care being taken, however, not to remove the application till the end of four days. The same author prescribes them, too, for the cure of fractured ears, and collections of crude humours in the testes.[1498]

For pains in the joints, bulbs are used with meal; boiled in wine, and applied to the abdomen, they reduce hard swellings of the viscera. In dysentery, they are given in wine mixed with rain water; and for convulsions of the intestines they are employed, in combination with silphium, in pills the size of a bean: bruised, they are employed externally, for the purpose of checking perspirations. Bulbs are good, too, for the sinews, for which reason it is that they are given to paralytic patients. The red bulb, mixed with honey and salt, heals sprains of the feet with great rapidity. The bulbs of Megara[1499] act as a strong aphrodisiac, and garden bulbs, taken with boiled must or raisin wine, aid delivery.

Wild bulbs, made up into pills with silphium, effect the cure of wounds and other affections of the intestines. The seed, too, of the cultivated kinds is taken in wine as a cure for the bite of the phalangium,[1500] and the bulbs themselves are applied in vinegar for the cure of the stings of serpents. The ancients used to give bulb-seed to persons afflicted with madness, in drink. The blossom, beaten up, removes spots upon the legs, as well as scorches produced by fire. Diocles is of opinion that the sight is impaired by the use of bulbs; he adds, too, that when boiled they are not so wholesome as roasted, and that, of whatever nature they may be, they are difficult of digestion.

CHAP. 41.—BULBINE; ONE REMEDY. BULB EMETIC.

The Greeks give the name bulbine[1501] to a plant with leaves resembling those of the leek, and a red bulbous root. This plant, it is said, is marvellously good for wounds, but only when they are of recent date. The bulbous plant known as the “emetic” bulb,[1502] from the effects which it produces, has dark leaves,[1503] and longer than those of the other kinds.

CHAP. 42. (10.)—GARDEN ASPARAGUS; WITH THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

Asparagus[1504] is said to be extremely wholesome as an aliment to the stomach. With the addition of cummin, it dispels flatulency of the stomach and colon; it sharpens the eyesight also, acts as a mild aperient upon the stomach, and, boiled with wine, is good for pains in the chest and spine, and diseases of the intestines. For pains in the loins and kidneys asparagus-seed[1505] is administered in doses of three oboli, taken with an equal proportion of cummin-seed. It acts as an aphrodisiac, and is an extremely useful diuretic, except that it has a tendency to ulcerate the bladder.[1506]

The root, also, pounded and taken in white wine, is highly extolled by some writers, as having the effect of disengaging calculi, and of soothing pains in the loins and kidneys; there are some persons, too, who administer this root with sweet wine for pains in the uterus. Boiled in vinegar the root is very beneficial in cases of elephantiasis. It is said that if a person is rubbed with asparagus beaten up in oil, he will never be stung by bees.

CHAP. 43.—CORRUDA, LIBYCUM, OR ORMINUM.

Wild asparagus is by some persons called “corruda,” by others “libycum,” and by the people of Attica “orminus.”[1507] For all the affections above enumerated it is more efficacious even than the cultivated kind, that which is white[1508] more particularly. This vegetable has the effect of dispelling the jaundice, and a decoction of it, in doses of one hemina, is recommended as an aphrodisiac; a similar effect is produced also by a mixture of asparagus seed and dill in doses of three oboli respectively. A decoction of asparagus juice is given also for the stings of serpents; and the root of it, mixed with that of marathrum,[1509] is reckoned in the number of the most valuable remedies we are acquainted with.

In cases of hæmaturia, Chrysippus recommends a mixture of asparagus, parsley, and cummin seed, to be given to the patient every five days, in doses of three oboli, mixed with two cyathi of wine. He says, however, that though employed this way, it is a good diuretic, it is bad for dropsy, and acts as an antaphrodisiac; and that it is injurious to the bladder, unless it is boiled first.[1510] He states also, that if the water in which it is boiled is given to dogs, it will kill them;[1511] and that the juice of the root boiled in wine, kept in the mouth, is an effectual cure for tooth-ache.

CHAP. 44. (11.)—PARSLEY; SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

Parsley[1512] is held in universal esteem; for we find sprigs of it swimming in the draughts of milk given us to drink in country-places; and we know that as a seasoning for sauces, it is looked upon with peculiar favour. Applied to the eyes with honey, which must also be fomented from time to time with a warm decoction of it, it has a most marvellous efficacy in cases of defluxion of those organs or of other parts of the body; as also when beaten up and applied by itself, or in combination with bread or with polenta. Fish, too, when found to be in an ailing state in the preserves, are greatly refreshed by giving them green parsley. As to the opinions entertained upon it among the learned, there is not a single production dug out of the earth in reference to which a greater diversity exists.

Parsley is distinguished as male and female:[1513] according to Chrysippus, the female plant has a hard leaf and more curled than the other, a thick stem, and an acrid, hot taste. Dionysius says, that the female is darker than the other kind, has a shorter root, and engenders small worms.[1514] Both of these writers, however, agree in saying that neither kind of parsley should be admitted into the number of our aliments; indeed, they look upon it as nothing less than sacrilege to do so, seeing that parsley is consecrated to the funereal feasts in honour of the dead. They say, too, that it is injurious to the eyesight, that the stalk of the female plant engenders small worms, for which reason it is that those who eat of it become barren—males as well as females; and that children suckled by females who live on a parsley diet, are sure to be epileptic. They agree, however, in stating that the male plant is not so injurious in its effects as the female, and that it is for this reason that it is not absolutely condemned and classed among the forbidden plants. The leaves of it, employed as a cataplasm, are used for dispersing hard tumours[1515] in the mamillæ; and when boiled in water, it makes it more agreeable to drink. The juice of the root more particularly, mixed with wine, allays the pains of lumbago, and, injected into the ears, it diminishes hardness of hearing. The seed of it acts as a diuretic, promotes the menstrual discharge, and brings away the after-birth.

Bruises and livid spots, if fomented with a decoction of parsley-seed, will resume their natural colour. Applied topically, with the white of egg, or boiled in water, and then drunk, it is remedial for affections of the kidneys; and beaten up in cold water it is a cure for ulcers of the mouth. The seed, mixed with wine, or the root, taken with old wine, has the effect of breaking calculi in the bladder. The seed, too, is given in white wine, to persons afflicted with the jaundice.

CHAP. 45.—APIASTRUM, OR MELISSOPHYLLUM.

Hyginus gave the name of “apiastrum” to melissophyllum:[1516] but that which grows in Sardinia is poisonous, and universally condemned. I speak here of this plant, because I feel it my duty to place before the reader every object which has been classified, among the Greeks, under the same name.

CHAP. 46.—OLUSATRUM OR HIPPOSELINON: ELEVEN REMEDIES. OREOSELINON; TWO REMEDIES. HELIOSELINON; ONE REMEDY.

Olusatrum,[1517] usually known as hipposelinon,[1518] is particularly repulsive to scorpions. The seed of it, taken in drink, is a cure for gripings in the stomach and intestinal complaints, and a decoction of the seed, drunk in honied wine, is curative in cases of dysuria.[1519] The root of the plant, boiled in wine, expels calculi of the bladder, and is a cure for lumbago and pains in the sides. Taken in drink and applied topically, it is a cure for the bite of a mad dog, and the juice of it, when drunk, is warming for persons benumbed with cold.

Some persons make out oreoselinon[1520] to be a fourth species of parsley: it is a shrub about a palm in height, with an elongated seed, bearing a strong resemblance to that of cummin, and efficacious for the urine and the catamenia. Helioselinon[1521] is possessed of peculiar virtues against the bites of spiders: and oreoselinon is used with wine for promoting the menstrual discharge.

CHAP. 47. (12.)—PETROSELINON; ONE REMEDY. BUSELINON; ONE REMEDY.

Another kind again, which grows in rocky places, is known by some persons as “petroselinon:”[1522] it is particularly good for abscesses, taken in doses of two spoonfuls of the juice to one cyathus of juice of horehound, mixed with three cyathi of warm water. Some writers have added buselinon[1523] to the list, which differs only from the cultivated kind in the shortness of the stalk and the red colour of the root, the medicinal properties being just the same. Taken in drink or applied topically, it is an excellent remedy for the stings of serpents.

CHAP. 48.—OCIMUM; THIRTY-FIVE REMEDIES.

Chrysippus has exclaimed as strongly, too, against ocimum[1524] as he has against parsley, declaring that it is prejudicial to the stomach and the free discharge of the urine, and is injurious to the sight; that it produces insanity, too, and lethargy, as well as diseases of the liver; and that it is for this reason that goats refuse to touch it. Hence he comes to the conclusion, that the use of it ought to be avoided by man. Some persons go so far as to say, that if beaten up, and then placed beneath a stone, a scorpion will breed there;[1525] and that if chewed, and then placed in the sun, worms will breed in it. The people of Africa maintain, too, that if a person is stung by a scorpion the same day on which he has eaten ocimum, his life cannot possibly be saved. Even more than this, there are some who assert, that if a handful of ocimum is beaten up with ten sea or river crabs, all the scorpions in the vicinity will be attracted to it. Diodotus, too, in his Book of Recipes,[1526] says, that ocimum, used as an article of food, breeds lice.

Succeeding ages, again, have warmly defended this plant; it has been maintained, for instance, that goats do eat it, that the mind of no one who has eaten of it is at all affected, and, that mixed with wine, with the addition of a little vinegar, it is a cure for the stings of land scorpions, and the venom of those found in the sea. Experience has proved, too, that the smell of this plant in vinegar is good for fainting fits and lethargy, as well as inflammations; that employed as a cooling liniment, with rose oil, myrtle oil, or vinegar, it is good for head-ache; and that applied topically with wine, it is beneficial for defluxions of the eyes. It has been found also, that it is good for the stomach; that taken with vinegar, it dispels flatulent eructations; that applications of it arrest fluxes of the bowels; that it acts as a diuretic, and that in this way it is good for jaundice and dropsy, as well as cholera and looseness of the bowels.

Hence it is that Philistio has prescribed it even for cœliac affections, and boiled, for dysentery. Some persons, too, though contrary to the opinion of Plistonicus, have given it in wine for tenesmus and spitting of blood, as also for obstructions of the viscera. It is employed, too, as a liniment for the mamillæ, and has the effect of arresting the secretion of the milk. It is very good also for the ears of infants, when applied with goose-grease more particularly. The seed of it, beaten up, and inhaled into the nostrils, is provocative of sneezing, and applied as a liniment to the head, of running at the nostrils: taken in the food, too, with vinegar, it purges the uterus. Mixed with copperas[1527] it removes warts. It acts, also, as an aphrodisiac, for which reason it is given to horses and asses at the season for covering.

(13.) Wild ocimum has exactly the same properties in every respect, though in a more active degree. It is particularly good, too, for the various affections produced by excessive vomiting, and for abscesses of the womb. The root, mixed with wine, is extremely efficacious for bites inflicted by wild beasts.

CHAP. 49.—ROCKET: TWELVE REMEDIES.

The seed of rocket[1528] is remedial for the venom of the scorpion and the shrew-mouse: it repels, too, all parasitical insects which breed on the human body, and applied to the face, as a liniment, with honey, removes[1529] spots upon the skin. Used with vinegar, too, it is a cure for freckles; and mixed with ox-gall it restores the livid marks left by wounds to their natural colour. It is said that if this plant is taken in wine by persons who are about to undergo a flogging, it will impart a certain degree of insensibility to the body. So agreeable is its flavour as a savouring for food, that the Greeks have given it the name of “euzomon.”[1530] It is generally thought that rocket, lightly bruised, and employed as a fomentation for the eyes, will restore the sight to its original goodness, and that it allays coughs in young infants. The root of it, boiled in water, has the property of extracting the splinters of broken bones.

As to the properties of rocket as an aphrodisiac, we have mentioned them already.[1531] Three leaves of wild rocket plucked with the left hand, beaten up in hydromel, and then taken in drink, are productive of a similar effect.

CHAP. 50.—NASTURTIUM: FORTY-TWO REMEDIES.

Nasturtium,[1532] on the other hand, is an antiaphrodisiac;[1533] it has the effect also of sharpening the senses, as already stated.[1534] There are two[1535] varieties of this plant: one of them is purgative, and, taken in doses of one denarius to seven of water, carries off the bilious secretions. Applied as a liniment to scrofulous sores, with bean-meal, and then covered with a cabbage-leaf, it is a most excellent remedy. The other kind, which is darker than the first, has the effect of carrying off vicious humours of the head, and sharpening the sight: taken in vinegar it calms the troubled spirits, and, drunk with wine or taken in a fig, it is good for affections of the spleen; taken in honey, too, fasting daily, it is good for a cough. The seed of it, taken in wine, expels all kinds of intestinal worms, and with the addition of wild mint, it acts more efficaciously still. It is good, too, for asthma and cough, in combination with wild marjoram and sweet wine; and a decoction of it in goats’ milk is used for pains in the chest. Mixed with pitch it disperses tumours, and extracts thorns from the body; and, employed as a liniment, with vinegar, it removes spots upon the body. When used for the cure of carcinoma, white of eggs is added to it. With vinegar it is employed also as a liniment for affections of the spleen, and with honey it is found to be very useful for the complaints of infants.

Sextius adds, that the smell of burnt nasturtium drives away serpents, neutralizes the venom of scorpions, and gives relief in head-ache; with the addition too, of mustard, he says, it is a cure for alopecy, and applied to the ears with a fig, it is a remedy for hardness of hearing. The juice of it, he says, if injected into the ears, will effect the cure of tooth-ache, and employed with goose-grease it is a remedy for porrigo and ulcerous sores of the head. Applied with leaven it brings boils[1536] to a head, and makes carbuncles suppurate and break: used with honey, too, it is good for cleansing phagedænic ulcers. Topical applications are made of it, combined with vinegar and polenta, in cases of sciatica and lumbago: it is similarly employed, too, for lichens and malformed[1537] nails, its qualities being naturally caustic. The best nasturtium of all is that of Babylonia; the wild[1538] variety possesses the same qualities as the cultivated in every respect, but in a more powerful degree.

CHAP. 51.—RUE: EIGHTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

One of the most active, however, of all the medicinal plants, is rue.[1539] The cultivated kind has broader leaves and more numerous branches than the other. Wild rue is more violent in its effects, and more active in every respect. The juice of it is extracted by beating it up, and moistening it moderately with water; after which it is kept for use in boxes of Cyprian copper. Given in large doses, this juice has all the baneful effects of poison,[1540] and that of Macedonia more particularly, which grows on the banks of the river Aliacmon.[1541] It is a truly wonderful thing, but the juice of hemlock has the property of neutralizing its effects. Thus do we find one thing acting as the poison of another poison, for the juice of hemlock is very beneficial, rubbed upon the hands and [face][1542] of persons employed in gathering rue.

In other respects, rue is one of the principal ingredients employed in antidotes, that of Galatia more particularly. Every species of rue, employed by itself, has the effect also of an antidote, if the leaves are bruised and taken in wine. It is good more particularly in cases of poisoning by wolf’sbane[1543] and mistletoe, as well as by fungi, whether administered in the drink or the food. Employed in a similar manner, it is good for the stings of serpents; so much so, in fact, that weasels,[1544] when about to attack them, take the precaution first of protecting themselves by eating rue. Rue is good, too, for the injuries by scorpions and spiders, the stings of bees, hornets, and wasps, the noxious effects produced by cantharides and salamanders,[1545] and the bites of mad dogs. The juice is taken in doses of one acetabulum, in wine; and the leaves, beaten up or else chewed, are applied topically, with honey and salt, or boiled with vinegar and pitch. It is said that people rubbed with the juice of rue, or even having it on their person, are never attacked by these noxious creatures, and that serpents are driven away by the stench of burning rue. The most efficacious, however, of all, is the root of wild rue, taken with wine; this too, it is said, is more beneficial still, if drunk in the open air.

Pythagoras has distinguished this plant also into male and female, the former having smaller leaves than the other, and of a grass-green colour; the female plant, he says, has leaves of a larger size and a more vivid hue. The same author, too, has considered rue to be injurious to the eyes; but this is an error, for engravers and painters are in the habit of eating it with bread, or else nasturtium, for the benefit of the sight; wild goats, too, eat it for the sight, they say. Many persons have dispersed films on the eyes by rubbing them with a mixture of the juice of rue with Attic honey, or the milk of a woman just delivered of a male child: the same result has been produced also by touching the corners of the eyes with the pure juice of the plant. Applied topically, with polenta, rue carries off defluxions of the eyes; and, taken with wine, or applied topically with vinegar and rose oil, it is a cure for head-ache. If, however, the pain attacks the whole of the head,[1546] the rue should be applied with barley-meal and vinegar. This plant has the effect also of dispelling crudities, flatulency, and inveterate pains of the stomach; it opens the uterus, too, and restores it when displaced; for which purpose it is applied as a liniment, with honey, to the whole of the abdomen and chest. Mixed with figs, and boiled down to one half, it is administered in wine for dropsy; and it is taken in a similar manner for pains of the chest, sides, and loins, as well as for coughs, asthma, and affections of the lungs, liver, and kidneys, and for shivering fits. Persons about to indulge in wine, take a decoction of the leaves, to prevent head-ache and surfeit. Taken in food, too, it is wholesome, whether eaten raw or boiled, or used as a confection; boiled with hyssop, and taken with wine, it is good for gripings of the stomach. Employed in the same way, it arrests internal hæmorrhage, and, applied to the nostrils, bleeding at the nose: it is beneficial also to the teeth if rinsed with it. In cases of ear-ache, this juice is injected into the ears, care being taken to moderate the dose, as already stated, if wild rue is employed. For hardness of hearing, too, and singing in the ears, it is similarly employed in combination with oil of roses, or oil of laurel, or else cummin and honey.

Juice of rue pounded in vinegar, is applied also to the temples and the region of the brain in persons affected with phrenitis; some persons, however, have added to this mixture wild thyme and laurel leaves, rubbing the head and neck as well with the liniment. It has been given in vinegar to lethargic patients to smell at, and a decoction of it is administered for epilepsy, in doses of four cyathi, as also just before the attacks in fever of intolerable chills. It is likewise given raw to persons for shivering fits. Rue is a provocative[1547] of the urine to bleeding even: it promotes the menstrual discharge, also, and brings away the after-birth, as well as the dead fœtus even, according to Hippocrates,[1548] if taken in sweet red wine. The same author, also, recommends applications of it, as well as fumigations, for affections of the uterus.

For cardiac diseases, Diocles prescribes applications of rue, in combination with vinegar, honey, and barley-meal: and for the iliac passion, he says that it should be mixed with meal, boiled in oil, and spread upon the wool of a sheep’s fleece. Many persons recommend, for purulent expectorations, two drachmæ of dried rue to one and a half of sulphur; and, for spitting of blood, a decoction of three sprigs in wine. It is given also in dysentery, with cheese, the rue being first beaten up in wine; and it has been prescribed, pounded with bitumen, as a potion for habitual shortness of breath. For persons suffering from violent falls, three ounces of the seed is recommended. A pound of oil, in which rue leaves have been boiled, added to one sextarius of wine, forms a liniment for parts of the body which are frost-bitten. If rue really is a diuretic, as Hippocrates[1549] thinks, it is a singular thing that some persons should give it, as being an anti-diuretic, for the suppression of incontinence of urine.

Applied topically, with honey and alum, it cures itch-scabs, and leprous sores; and, in combination with nightshade and hogs’-lard, or beef-suet, it is good for morphew, warts, scrofula, and maladies of a similar nature. Used with vinegar and oil, or else white lead, it is good for erysipelas; and, applied with vinegar, for carbuncles. Some persons prescribe silphium also as an ingredient in the liniment; but it is not employed by them for the cure of the pustules known as epinyctis. Boiled rue is recommended, also, as a cataplasm for swellings of the mamillæ, and, combined with wax, for eruptions of pituitous matter.[1550] It is applied with tender sprigs of laurel, in cases of defluxion of the testes; and it exercises so peculiar an effect upon those organs, that old rue, it is said, employed in a liniment, with axle-grease, is a cure for hernia. The seed pounded, and applied with wax, is remedial also for broken limbs. The root of this plant, applied topically, is a cure for effusion of blood in the eyes, and, employed as a liniment, it removes scars or spots on all parts of the body.

Among the other properties which are attributed to rue, it is a singular fact, that, though it is universally agreed that it is hot by nature, a bunch of it, boiled in rose-oil, with the addition of an ounce of aloes, has the effect of checking the perspiration in those who rub themselves with it; and that, used as an aliment, it impedes the generative functions. Hence it is, that it is so often given in cases of spermatorrhœa, and where persons are subject to lascivious dreams. Every precaution should be taken by pregnant women to abstain from rue as an article of diet, for I find it stated that it is productive of fatal results to the fœtus.[1551]

Of all the plants that are grown, rue is the one that is most generally employed for the maladies of cattle, whether arising from difficulty of respiration, or from the stings of noxious creatures—in which cases it is injected with wine into the nostrils—or whether they may happen to have swallowed a horse-leech, under which circumstances it is administered in vinegar. In all other maladies of cattle, the rue is prepared just as for man in a similar case.

CHAP. 52. (14.)—WILD MINT: TWENTY REMEDIES.

Mentastrum, or wild mint,[1552] differs from the other kind in the appearance of the leaves, which have the form of those of ocimum and the colour of pennyroyal; for which reason, some persons, in fact, give it the name of wild pennyroyal.[1553] The leaves of this plant, chewed and applied topically, are a cure for elephantiasis; a discovery which was accidentally made in the time of Pompeius Magnus, by a person affected with this malady covering his face with the leaves for the purpose of neutralizing the bad smell that arose therefrom. These leaves are employed also as a liniment, and in drink, with a mixture of salt, oil, and vinegar, for the stings of scorpions; and, in doses of two drachmæ to two cyathi of wine, for those of scolopendræ and serpents. A decoction, too, of the juice is given for the sting of the scolopendra.[1554] Leaves of wild mint are kept, dried and reduced to a fine powder, as a remedy for poisons of every description. Spread on the ground or burnt, this plant has the effect of driving away scorpions.

Taken in drink, wild mint carries off the lochia in females after parturition; but, if taken before, it is fatal to the fœtus, It is extremely efficacious in cases of rupture and convulsions, and, though in a somewhat less degree, for orthopnœa,[1555] gripings of the bowels, and cholera: it is good, too, as a topical application for lumbago and gout. The juice of it is injected into the ears for worms breeding there; it is taken also for jaundice, and is employed in liniments for scrofulous sores. It prevents[1556] the recurrence of lascivious dreams; and taken in vinegar, it expels tape-worm.[1557] For the cure of porrigo, it is put in vinegar, and the head is washed with the mixture in the sun.

CHAP. 53.—MINT: FORTY-ONE REMEDIES.

The very smell of mint[1558] reanimates the spirits, and its flavour gives a remarkable zest to food: hence it is that it is so generally an ingredient in our sauces. It has the effect of preventing milk from turning sour, or curdling and thickening; hence it is that it is so generally put into milk used for drinking, to prevent any danger of persons being choked[1559] by it in a curdled state. It is administered also for this purpose in water or honied wine. It is generally thought, too, that it is in consequence of this property that it impedes generation, by preventing the seminal fluids from obtaining the requisite consistency. In males as well as females it arrests bleeding, and it has the property, with the latter, of suspending the menstrual discharge. Taken in water, with amylum,[1560] it prevents looseness in cœliac complaints. Syriation employed this plant for the cure of abscesses of the uterus, and, in doses of three oboli, with honied wine, for diseases of the liver: he prescribed it also, in pottage, for spitting of blood. It is an admirable remedy for ulcerations of the head in children, and has the effect equally of drying the trachea when too moist, and of bracing it when too dry. Taken in honied wine and water, it carries off purulent phlegm.

The juice of mint is good for the voice when a person is about to engage in a contest of eloquence, but only when taken just before. It is employed also with milk as a gargle for swelling of the uvula, with the addition of rue and coriander. With alum, too, it is good for the tonsils of the throat, and, mixed with honey, for roughness of the tongue. Employed by itself, it is a remedy for internal convulsions and affections of the lungs. Taken with pomegranate juice, as Democrites tells us, it arrests hiccup and vomiting. The juice of mint fresh gathered, inhaled, is a remedy for affections of the nostrils. Beaten up and taken in vinegar, mint is a cure for cholera, and for internal fluxes of blood: applied externally, with polenta, it is remedial for the iliac passion and tension of the mamillæ. It is applied, too, as a liniment to the temples for head-ache; and it is taken internally, as an antidote for the stings of scolopendræ, sea-scorpions, and serpents. As a liniment it is applied also for defluxions of the eyes, and all eruptions of the head, as well as maladies of the rectum.

Mint is an effectual preventive, too, of chafing of the skin, even if held in the hand only. In combination with honied wine, it is employed as an injection for the ears. It is said, too, that this plant will cure affections of the spleen, if tasted in the garden nine days consecutively, without plucking it, the person who bites it saying at the same moment that he does so for the benefit of the spleen: and that, if dried, and reduced to powder, a pinch of it with three fingers taken in water, will cure stomach-ache.[1561] Sprinkled in this form in drink, it is said to have the effect of expelling intestinal worms.

CHAP. 54.—PENNYROYAL: TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES.

Pennyroyal[1562] partakes with mint, in a very considerable degree, the property[1563] of restoring consciousness in fainting fits; slips of both plants being kept for the purpose in glass bottles[1564] filled with vinegar. It is for this reason that Varro has declared that a wreath of pennyroyal is more worthy to grace our chambers[1565] than a chaplet of roses: indeed, it is said that, placed upon the head, it materially alleviates head-ache.[1566] It is generally stated, too, that the smell of it alone will protect the head against the injurious effects of cold or heat, and that it acts as a preventive of thirst; also, that persons exposed to the sun, if they carry a couple of sprigs of pennyroyal behind the ears, will never be incommoded by the heat. For various pains, too, it is employed topically, mixed with polenta and vinegar.

The female[1567] plant is the more efficacious of the two; it has a purple flower, that of the male being white. Taken in cold water with salt and polenta it arrests nausea, as well as pains of the chest and abdomen. Taken, too, in water, it prevents gnawing pains of the stomach, and, with vinegar and polenta, it arrests vomiting. In combination with salt and vinegar, and polenta, it loosens the bowels. Taken with boiled honey and nitre, it is a cure for intestinal complaints. Employed with wine it is a diuretic, and if the wine is the produce of the Aminean[1568] grape, it has the additional effect of dispersing calculi of the bladder and removing all internal pains. Taken in conjunction with honey and vinegar, it modifies the menstrual discharge, and brings away the after-birth, restores the uterus, when displaced, to its natural position, and expels the dead[1569] fœtus. The seed is given to persons to smell at, who have been suddenly struck dumb, and is prescribed for epileptic patients in doses of one cyathus, taken in vinegar. If water is found unwholesome for drinking, bruised pennyroyal should be sprinkled in it; taken with wine it modifies acridities[1570] of the body.

Mixed with salt, it is employed as a friction for the sinews, and with honey and vinegar, in cases of opisthotony. Decoctions of it are prescribed as a drink for persons stung by serpents; and, beaten up in wine, it is employed for the stings of scorpions, that which grows in a dry soil in particular. This plant is looked upon as efficacious also for ulcerations of the mouth, and for coughs. The blossom of it, fresh gathered, and burnt, kills fleas[1571] by its smell. Xenocrates, among the other remedies which he mentions, says that in tertian fevers, a sprig of pennyroyal, wrapped in wool, should be given to the patient to smell at, just before the fit comes on, or else it should be put under the bed-clothes and laid by the patient’s side.

CHAP. 55.—WILD PENNYROYAL: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

For all the purposes already mentioned, wild pennyroyal[1572] has exactly the same properties, but in a still higher degree. It bears a strong resemblance to wild marjoram,[1573] and has a smaller leaf than the cultivated kind: by some persons it is known as “dictamnos.”[1574] When browsed upon by sheep and goats, it makes them bleat, for which reason, some of the Greeks, changing a single letter in its name, have called it “blechon,”[1575] [instead of “glechon.”]

This plant is naturally so heating as to blister the parts of the body to which it is applied. For a cough which results from a chill, it is a good plan for the patient to rub himself with it before taking the bath; it is similarly employed, too, in shivering fits, just before the attacks come on, and for convulsions and gripings of the stomach. It is also remarkably good for the gout.

To persons afflicted with spasms, this plant is administered in drink, in combination with honey and salt; and it renders expectoration easy in affections of the lungs.[1576] Taken with salt it is beneficial for the spleen and bladder, and is curative of asthma and flatulency. A decoction of it is equally as good as the juice: it restores the uterus when displaced, and is prescribed for the sting of either the land or the sea scolopendra, as well as the scorpion. It is particularly good, too, for bites inflicted by a human being. The root of it, newly taken up, is extremely efficacious for corroding ulcers, and in a dried state tends to efface the deformities produced by scars.

CHAP. 56.—NEP: NINE REMEDIES.

Nep[1577] has also some affinity in its effects with pennyroyal. Boiled down in water to one third, these plants dispel sudden chills: they promote the menstrual discharge also in females, and allay excessive heats in summer. Nep possesses certain virtues against the stings of serpents; at the very smoke and smell of it they will instantly take to flight, and persons who have to sleep in places where they are apprehensive of them, will do well to place it beneath them. Bruised, it is employed topically for lacrymal fistulas[1578] of the eye: fresh gathered and mixed in vinegar with one third part of bread, it is applied as a liniment for head-ache. The juice of it, injected into the nostrils, with the head thrown back, arrests bleeding at the nose, and the root has a similar effect. This last is employed also, with myrtle-seed, in warm raisin wine, as a gargle for the cure of quinsy.

CHAP. 57.—CUMMIN: FORTY-EIGHT REMEDIES. WILD CUMMIN: TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.

Wild cummin is a remarkably slender plant, consisting of four or five leaves indented like a saw; like the cultivated[1579] kind, it is much employed in medicine, among the stomachic remedies more particularly. Bruised and taken with bread, or else drunk in wine and water, it dispels phlegm and flatulency, as well as gripings of the bowels and pains in the intestines. Both varieties have the effect, however, of producing paleness[1580] in those who drink these mixtures; at all events, it is generally stated that the disciples of Porcius Latro,[1581] so celebrated among the professors of eloquence, used to employ this drink for the purpose of imitating the paleness which had been contracted by their master, through the intensity of his studies: and that Julius Vindex,[1582] in more recent times, that assertor of our liberties against Nero, adopted this method of playing upon[1583] those who were looking out for a place in his will. Applied in the form of lozenges, or fresh with vinegar, cummin has the effect of arresting bleeding at the nose, and used by itself, it is good for defluxions of the eyes. Combined with honey, it is used also for swellings of the eyes. With children of tender age, it is sufficient to apply it to the abdomen. In cases of jaundice, it is administered in white wine, immediately after taking the bath.