Chapter XVIII: Book XX: Remedies Derived From the Garden Plants (4)

Beaten up with honey, horehound is particularly beneficial for affections of the male organs; employed with vinegar, it cleanses lichens, and is very salutary for ruptures, convulsions, spasms, and contractions of the sinews. Taken in drink with salt and vinegar, it relaxes the bowels, promotes the menstrual discharge, and accelerates the after-birth. Dried, powdered, and taken with honey, it is extremely efficacious for a dry cough, as also for gangrenes and hang-nails.[1738] The juice, too, taken with honey, is good for the ears and nostrils: it is a remedy also for jaundice, and diminishes the bilious secretions. Among the few antidotes[1739] for poisons, it is one of the very best known.

The plant itself, taken with iris and honey, purges the stomach and promotes expectorations: it acts, also, as a strong diuretic, though, at the same time, care must be taken not to use it when the bladder is ulcerated and the kidneys are affected. It is said, too, that the juice of horehound improves the eyesight. Castor speaks of two varieties of it, the black horehound and the white, which last he considers to be the best. He puts the juice of it into an empty eggshell, and then mixes the egg with it, together with honey, in equal proportions: this preparation used warm, he says, will bring abscesses to a head, and cleanse and heal them. Beaten up, too, with stale axle-grease and applied topically, he says, horehound is a cure for the bite of a dog.

CHAP. 90.—WILD THYME: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

Wild thyme, it is said, borrows its name, “serpyllum,” from the fact that it is a creeping[1740] plant, a property peculiar to the wild kind, that which grows in rocky places more particularly. The cultivated[1741] thyme is not a creeping plant, but grows upwards, as much a palm in height. That which springs up spontaneously, grows the most luxuriantly, its leaves and branches being whiter than those of the other kinds. Thyme is efficacious as a remedy for the stings of serpents, the cenchris[1742] more particularly; also for the sting of the scolopendra, both sea and land, the leaves and branches being boiled for the purpose in wine. Burnt, it puts to flight all venomous creatures by its smell, and it is particularly beneficial as an antidote to the venom of marine animals.

A decoction of it in vinegar is applied for head-ache, with rose oil, to the temples and forehead, as also for phrenitis and lethargy: it is given, too, in doses of four drachmæ, for gripings of the stomach, strangury, quinsy, and fits of vomiting. It is taken in water, also, for liver complaints. The leaves are given in doses of four oboli, in vinegar, for diseases of the spleen. Beaten up in two cyathi of oxymel, it is used for spitting of blood.

CHAP. 91.—SISYMBRIUM OR THYMBRÆUM: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

Wild[1743] sisymbrium, by some persons called “thymbræum,” does not grow beyond a foot in height. The kind[1744] which grows in watery places, is similar to nasturtium, and they[1745] are both of them efficacious for the stings of certain insects, such as hornets and the like. That which grows in dry localities is odoriferous, and is employed[1746] for wreaths: the leaf of it is narrower than in the other kind. They both of them alleviate head-ache, and defluxions of the eyes, Philinus says. Some persons, however, employ bread in addition; while others, again, use a decoction of the plant by itself in wine. It is a cure, also, for epinyctis, and removes spots on the face in females, by the end of four days; for which purpose, it is applied at night and taken off in the day-time. It arrests vomiting, hiccup, gripings, and fluxes of the stomach, whether taken with the food, or the juice extracted and given in drink.

This plant, however, should never be eaten by pregnant women, except in cases where the fœtus is dead, for the very application of it is sufficient to produce abortion. Taken with wine, it is diuretic, and the wild variety expels calculi even. For persons necessitated to sit up awake, an infusion of it in vinegar is applied as a liniment to the head.

CHAP. 92.—LINSEED: THIRTY REMEDIES.

Linseed[1747] is not only used in combination with other substances, but, employed by itself, it disperses spots on the face in women: its juice, too, is very beneficial to the sight. Combined with incense and water, or else with myrrh and wine, it is a cure for defluxions of the eyes, and employed with honey, grease, or wax, for imposthumes of the parotid glands. Prepared[1748] like polenta, it is good for fluxes of the stomach; and a decoction of it in water and oil, applied topically with anise, is prescribed for quinsy. It is sometimes used parched, also, to arrest looseness of the bowels, and applications of it are used, with vinegar, for cœliac affections and dysentery. It is eaten with raisins, also, for pains in the liver, and excellent electuaries are made of it for the treatment of phthisis.

Linseed-meal, with the addition of nitre, salt, or ashes, softens rigidities of the muscles, sinews, joints, and vertebræ, as well as of the membranous tissues of the brain. Employed with figs, linseed-meal ripens abscesses and brings them to a head: mixed with the root of wild cucumber, it extracts[1749] all foreign bodies from the flesh, as well as splinters of broken bones. A decoction of linseed-meal in wine prevents ulcers from spreading, and mixed with honey, it is remedial for pituitous eruptions. Used with nasturtium, in equal quantities, it rectifies[1750] malformed nails; mixed with resin and myrrh, it cures affections of the testes and hernia,[1751] and with water, gangrenous sores. A decoction of linseed-meal with fenugreek, in the proportion of one sextarius of each, in hydromel, is recommended for pains in the stomach; and employed as an injection, with oil or honey, it is beneficial for dangerous affections of the chest and intestines.

CHAP. 93.—BLITE: SIX REMEDIES.

Blite[1752] seems to be a plant of an inert nature, without flavour or any pungency whatever; hence it is that, in Menander, we find husbands giving this name to their wives, by way of[1753] reproach. It is[1754] prejudicial to the stomach, and disturbs the bowels to such a degree, as to cause cholera in some. It is stated, however, that, taken in wine, it is good for the stings of scorpions; and that it is sometimes used as a liniment for corns on the feet, and, with oil, for affections of the spleen and pains in the temples. Hippocrates is of opinion, that if taken with the food,[1755] it will arrest the menstrual discharge.

CHAP. 94. (23.)—MEUM, AND MEUM ATHAMANTICUM: SEVEN REMEDIES.

Meum[1756] is never cultivated in Italy except by medical men, and by very few of those. There are two varieties of it, the finer kind being known as “athamanticum,” because, according to some, it was first discovered by Athamas; or else because, as others think, that of the best quality is found upon Mount Athamas.[1757] The leaf of it is similar to that of dill, and the stem is sometimes as much as two cubits in length: the roots, which run obliquely, are numerous and mostly black, though sometimes white: it is not of so red a hue as the other kind.

The root of this plant, pounded or boiled, and taken in water, is diuretic, and is marvellously efficacious for dispelling flatulency of the stomach. It is good, too, for gripings of the bowels and affections of the bladder: applied with honey to the region of the uterus, it acts as a diuretic; and used as a liniment with parsley, upon the lower regions of the abdomen in infants, it has a similar effect.

CHAP. 95.—FENNEL: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.

Fennel has been rendered famous by the serpent, which tastes it, as already[1758] stated, when it casts its old skin, and sharpens its sight with the juice of this plant: a fact which has led to the conclusion that this juice must be beneficial, also, in a high degree to the human sight. Fennel-juice is gathered when the stem is swelling with the bud; after which it is dried in the sun and applied as an ointment with honey. This plant is to be found in all parts of the world. The most esteemed preparation from it, is that made in Iberia, from the tear-like drops which exude[1759] from the stalk and the seed fresh-gathered. The juice is extracted, also, from incisions made in the root at the first germination of the plant.

CHAP. 96.—HIPPOMARATHRON, OR MYRSINEUM: FIVE REMEDIES.

There is, also, a wild[1760] variety of fennel, known by some persons as “hippomarathron,” and by others as “myrsineum;” it has a larger leaf and a more acrid taste than the other kind. It is taller, also, about the thickness of a walking-stick, and has a white root: it grows in warm, but stony localities. Diocles speaks, too, of another[1761] variety of hippomarathron, with a long narrow leaf, and a seed like that of coriander.

The seed of the cultivated fennel is medicinally employed in wine, for the stings of scorpions and serpents, and the juice of it, injected into the ears, has the effect of destroying small worms that breed there. Fennel is employed as an ingredient in nearly all our seasonings,[1762] vinegar[1763] sauces more particularly: it is placed also beneath the undercrust of bread. The seed, in fevers even, acts as an astringent upon a relaxed stomach, and beaten up with water, it allays nausea: it is highly esteemed, also, for affections of the lungs and liver. Taken in moderate quantities, it arrests looseness of the bowels, and acts as a diuretic; a decoction of it is good for gripings of the stomach, and taken in drink, it restores the milk. The root, taken in a ptisan,[1764] purges the kidneys—an effect which is equally produced by a decoction of the juice or of the seed; the root is good too, boiled in wine, for dropsy and convulsions. The leaves are applied to burning tumours, with vinegar, expel calculi of the bladder, and act as an aphrodisiac.

In whatever way it is taken in drink, fennel has the property of promoting the secretion of the seminal fluids; and it is extremely beneficial to the generative organs, whether a decoction of the root in wine is employed as a fomentation, or whether it is used beaten up in oil. Many persons apply fennel with wax to tumours and bruises, and employ the root, with the juice of the plant, or else with honey, for the bites of dogs, and with wine for the stings of multipedes.

Hippomarathron is more efficacious, in every respect, than cultivated fennel;[1765] it expels calculi more particularly, and, taken with weak wine, is good for the bladder and irregularities of the menstrual discharge.

In this plant, the seed is more efficacious than the root; the dose of either of them being a pinch with two fingers, beaten up, and mixed with the usual drink. Petrichus, who wrote a work “On Serpents,”[1766] and Micton, who wrote a treatise “On[1767] Botany,” are of opinion that there is nothing in existence of greater efficacy against serpents than hippomarathron: indeed, Nicander[1768] has ranked it by no means among the lowest of antidotes.

CHAP. 97.—HEMP: NINE REMEDIES.

Hemp originally grew in the forests,[1769] where it is found with a blacker and rougher leaf than in the other[1770] kinds. Hempseed,[1771] it is said, renders men impotent: the juice of this seed will extract worms from the ears, or any insect which may have entered them, though at the cost of producing head-ache. The virtues of hemp, it is said, are so great, that an infusion of it in water will cause it to coagulate:[1772] hence it is, that if taken in water, it will arrest looseness in beasts of burden. A decoction of the root in water, relaxes contractions of the joints, and cures gout and similar maladies. It is applied raw to burns, but it must be frequently changed, so as not to let it dry.

CHAP. 98.—FENNEL-GIANT: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Fennel-giant[1773] has a seed similar to that of dill. That which has a single stem, bifurcated[1774] at the top, is generally thought to be the female plant. The stalks of it are eaten boiled;[1775] and, pickled in brine and honey, they are recommended as particularly beneficial to the stomach;[1776] if taken, however, in too large quantities, they are apt to produce head-ache. The root of it in doses of one denarius to two cyathi of wine, is used in drink for the stings of serpents, and the root itself is applied topically for the same purpose, as also for the cure of gripings of the stomach. Taken in oil and vinegar, it is used as a check for excessive perspirations, in fevers even. The inspissated juice of fennel-giant, taken in quantities the size of a bean, acts as a purgative;[1777] and the pith[1778] of it is good for the uterus, as well as all the maladies previously mentioned. To arrest hæmorrhage, ten of the seeds are taken in drink, bruised in wine, or else with the pith of the plant. There are some persons who think that the seed should be administered for epilepsy, from the fourth to the seventh day of the moon, in doses of one spoonful.

Fennel-giant is naturally so inimical to the muræna, that the very touch of it even will kill that fish. Castor was of opinion that the juice of the root is extremely beneficial to the sight.

CHAP. 99.—THE THISTLE OR SCOLYMOS: SIX REMEDIES.

We have already[1779] spoken, when treating of the garden plants, of the cultivation of the thistle; we may as well, therefore, not delay to mention its medicinal properties. Of wild thistles there are two varieties; one[1780] of which throws out numerous stalks immediately it leaves the ground, the other[1781] being thicker, and having but a single stem. They have, both of them, a few leaves only, and covered with prickles, the head of the plant being protected by thorny points: the last mentioned, however, puts forth in the middle of these points a purple blossom, which turns white with great rapidity, and is carried off by the wind; the Greeks give it the name of “scolymos.”

This plant, gathered before it blossoms, and beaten up and subjected to pressure, produces a juice, which, applied to the head, makes the hair grow again when it has fallen off through alopecy. The root of either kind, boiled in water, creates thirst, it is said, in those who drink it. It strengthens the stomach also, and if we are to believe what is said, has some influence upon the womb in promoting the conception of male offspring: at all events, Glaucias, who seems to have paid the most attention to the subject, has written to that effect. The thin juice, like mastich, which exudes from these plants, imparts sweetness to the breath.

CHAP. 100. (24.)—THE COMPOSITION OF THERIACA.

But as we are now about to leave the garden plants, we will take this opportunity of describing a very famous preparation extracted from them as an antidote against the stings of all kinds of venomous animals: it is inscribed in verse[1782] upon a stone in the Temple of Æsculapius at Cos.

Take two denarii of wild thyme, and the same quantity of opopanax and meum respectively; one denarius of trefoil seed; and of aniseed, fennel-seed, ammi, and parsley, six denarii respectively, with twelve denarii of meal of fitches. Heat up these ingredients together, and pass them through a sieve; after which they must be kneaded with the best wine that can be had, and then made into lozenges of one victoriatus[1783] each: one of these is to be given to the patient, steeped in three cyathi of wine. King Antiochus[1784] the Great, it is said, employed this theriaca[1785] against all kinds of venomous animals, the asp excepted.

SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, one thousand, five hundred, and six.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cato[1786] the Censor, M. Varro,[1787] Pompeius Lenæus,[1788] C. Valgius,[1789] Hyginus,[1790] Sextius Niger[1791] who wrote in Greek, Julius Bassus[1792] who wrote in Greek, Celsus,[1793] Antonius Castor.[1794]

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Democritus,[1795] Theophrastus,[1796] Orpheus,[1797] Menander[1798] who wrote the “Biochresta,” Pythagoras,[1799] Nicander.[1800]

MEDICAL AUTHORS QUOTED.—Chrysippus,[1801] Diocles,[1802] Ophelion,[1803] Heraclides,[1804] Hicesius,[1805] Dionysius,[1806] Apollodorus[1807] of Citium, Apollodorus[1808] of Tarentum, Praxagoras,[1809], Plistonicus,[1810] Medius,[1811] Dieuches,[1812] Cleophantus,[1813] Philistion,[1814] Asclepiades,[1815] Crateuas,[1816] Petronius Diodotus,[1817] Iollas,[1818] Erasistratus,[1819] Diagoras,[1820] Andreas,[1821] Mnesides,[1822] Epicharmus,[1823] Damion,[1824] Dalion,[1825] Sosimenes,[1826] Tlepolemus,[1827], Metrodorus,[1828] Solo,[1829] Lycus,[1830] Olympias[1831] of Thebes, Philinus,[1832] Petrichus,[1833] Micton,[1834] Glaucias,[1835] Xenocrates.[1836]