Chapter XXIII: Book XXII: The Properties of Plants and Fruits (2)

Chrysermus used to employ a decoction of the root, in wine, for imposthumes of the parotid glands; and he has prescribed it, in combination with cachrys,[2631] in wine, for the cure of scrofulous sores. Some persons say that if, after applying the root to the sores, a part of it is hung up in the smoke to dry, and not taken down till the end of four days, the sores will gradually dry up with this portion of the root. Sophocles[2632] used to employ it both ways, boiled and raw, for the cure of gout; and he prescribes it, boiled in oil, for chilblains, and, in vinegar, for jaundice and dropsy. It has been stated, also, that, used as a friction with wine and honey, or taken in drink, it acts as an aphrodisiac. Xenocrates assures us, too, that a decoction of the root in vinegar removes lichens, itch-scabs, and leprous sores; and that a decoction of it, with henbane and tar, has a similar effect, and is good also for the removal of bad odours[2633] of the armpits and thighs: he states, also, that if the head is well rubbed with the root, being first shaved, the hair will curl all the better for it. Simus prescribes a decoction of it, in wine, to be taken for calculi in the kidneys; and Hippocrates recommends the seed for obstructions of the spleen. The root, or else a decoction of it, applied topically, restores the hair in beasts of burden, where it has been lost by ulcerations or scab. It has the effect, too, of driving away rats and mice, and of exterminating them, if placed before their holes.

CHAP. 33.—THE HALIMON: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.

Some authors have thought that it is the asphodel that is called “halimon” by Hesiod, an opinion which appears to me ill-founded; halimon[2634] being the name of a distinct plant, which has been the occasion of no few mistakes committed by writers. According to some, it is a tufted shrub, white, destitute of thorns, and with leaves like those of the olive, only softer; which eaten boiled, are an agreeable food. The root, they say, taken in doses of one drachma in hydromel, allays gripings of the bowels, and is a cure for ruptures and convulsions. Others, again, pronounce it to be a vegetable growing near the sea-shore,[2635] of a salt taste—to which, in fact, it owes its name—with leaves somewhat round but elongated, and much esteemed as an article of food. They say, too, that there are two species of it, the wild and the cultivated,[2636] and that, mixed with bread, they are good, both of them, for dysentery, even if ulceration should have supervened, and are useful for stomachic affections, in combination with vinegar. They state, also, that this plant is applied raw to ulcers of long standing, and that it modifies the inflammation of recent wounds, and the pain attendant upon sprains of the feet and affections of the bladder. The wild halimon, they tell us, has thinner leaves than the other, but is more effectual as a medicament in all the above cases, as also for the cure of itch, whether in man or beast. The root, too, according to them, employed as a friction, renders the skin more clear, and the teeth whiter; and they assert that if the seed of it is put beneath the tongue, no thirst will be experienced. They state, also, that this kind is eaten as well as the other, and that they are, both of them, preserved.

Crateuas has spoken of a third[2637] kind also, with longer leaves than the others, and more hairy: it has the smell of the cypress, he says, and grows beneath the ivy more particularly. He states that this plant is extremely good for opisthotony and contractions of the sinews, taken in doses of three oboli to one sextarius of water.

CHAP. 34.—THE ACANTHUS, PÆDEROS, OR MELAMPHYLLOS: FIVE REMEDIES.

The acanthus[2638] is a plant that grows in cities, and is used in ornamental gardening. It has a broad, long leaf, and is used as a covering for the margins of ornamental waters and of parterres in gardens.[2639] There are two varieties of it; the one that is thorny[2640] and crisped is the shorter of the two; the other, which is smooth,[2641] is by some persons called “pæderos,”[2642] and by others “melamphyllos.”[2643] The root of this last is remarkably good for burns and sprains; and, boiled with the food, a ptisan more particularly, it is equally good for ruptures, spasms, and patients who are in apprehension of phthisis. The root is also beaten up and applied warm for hot gout.

CHAP. 35.—THE BUPLEURON: FIVE REMEDIES.

The bupleuron[2644] is reckoned by the Greeks in the number of the leguminous plants which grow spontaneously. The stem of it is a cubit in height, the leaves are long and numerous, and the head resembles that of dill. It has been extolled as an aliment by Hippocrates, and for its medicinal properties by Glaucon and Nicander. The seed of it is good for the stings of serpents; and the leaves, or else the juice, applied as a liniment with wine, bring away the after-birth. The leaves, also, in combination with salt and wine, are applied to scrofulous sores. The root is prescribed in wine for the stings of serpents, and as a diuretic.

CHAP. 36.—THE BUPRESTIS: ONE REMEDY.

With a remarkable degree of inconsistency, the Greek writers, while praising the buprestis[2645] as an aliment, point out certain antidotes[2646] to it, as though it were a poison. The very name, however, proves to a certainty that it is poisonous to cattle, and it is generally admitted that, on tasting it, they burst[2647] asunder: we shall, therefore, say no more about it. Is there any reason, in fact, why, when we are speaking of the materials employed in making our grass crowns, we should describe a poison? or really ought we to enlarge upon it only to please the libidinous fancies of those who imagine that there is not a more powerful aphrodisiac in existence than this, when taken in drink?

CHAP. 37.—THE ELAPHOBOSCON: NINE REMEDIES.

The elaphoboscon[2648] is a ferulaceous plant, articulated, and about a finger in thickness. The seed of it is like that of dill, hanging in umbels resembling those of hart-wort in appearance, but not bitter. The leaves are very like those of olusatrum.[2649] This plant, too, is highly spoken of as an article of food; in addition to which, it is preserved and kept as a diuretic[2650] and for the purpose of assuaging pains in the sides, curing ruptures and convulsions, and dispelling flatulency and colic. It is used, too, for the cure of wounds inflicted by serpents and all kinds of animals that sting; so much so, indeed, that, as the story goes, stags, by eating of it, fortify themselves against the attacks of serpents. The root, too, applied topically, with the addition of nitre, is a cure for fistula, but, when wanted for this purpose, it must be dried first, so as to retain none of the juice; though, on the other hand, this juice does not at all impair its efficacy as an antidote to the poison of serpents.

CHAP. 38.—THE SCANDIX: NINE REMEDIES. THE ANTHRISCUM: TWO REMEDIES.

The scandix,[2651] too, is reckoned by the Greeks in the number of the wild vegetables, as we learn from Opion and Erasistratus. Boiled, it arrests[2652] looseness of the bowels; and the seed of it, administered with vinegar, immediately stops hiccup. It is employed topically for burns, and acts as a diuretic; a decoction of it is good, too, for affections of the stomach, liver, kidneys, and bladder. It is this plant that furnished Aristophanes with his joke[2653] against the poet Euripides, that his mother used to sell not real vegetables, but only scandix.

The anthriscum[2654] would be exactly the same plant as the scandix, if its leaves were somewhat thinner and more odoriferous. Its principal virtue is that it reinvigorates the body when exhausted by sexual excesses, and acts as a stimulant upon the enfeebled powers of old age. It arrests leucorrhœa in females.

CHAP. 39.—THE IASIONE: FOUR REMEDIES.

The iasione,[2655] which is also looked upon as a wild vegetable, is a creeping plant, full of a milky juice: it bears a white flower, the name given to which is “concilium.” The chief recommendation of this plant, too, is that it acts as an aphrodisiac. Eaten with the food, raw, in vinegar, it promotes the secretion of the milk in nursing women. It is salutary also for patients who are apprehensive of phthisis; and, applied to the head of infants, it makes the hair grow, and renders the scalp more firm.

CHAP. 40.—THE CAUCALIS: TWELVE REMEDIES.

The caucalis,[2656] too, is an edible plant. It resembles fennel in appearance, and has a short stem with a white flower;[2657] it is usually considered a good cordial.[2658] The juice, too, of this plant is taken as a potion, being particularly recommended as a stomachic, a diuretic, an expellent of calculi and gravel, and for the cure of irritations of the bladder. It has the effect, also, of attenuating morbid secretions[2659] of the spleen, liver, and kidneys. The seed of it acts as an emmenagogue, and dispels the bilious secretions after child-birth: it is prescribed also, for males, in cases of seminal weakness. Chrysippus is of opinion that this plant promotes conception; for which purpose it is taken by women in wine, fasting. It is employed in the form of a liniment, for wounds inflicted by marine animals of a venomous nature, at least we find it so stated by Petrichus in his poem.[2660]

CHAP. 41.—THE SIUM: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

Among these plants there is reckoned also the sium:[2661] it grows in the water, has a leaf broader than that of parsley, thicker, and of a more swarthy colour, bears a considerable quantity of seed, and has the taste of nasturtium. It is an active diuretic, is very good for the kidneys and spleen, and acts as an emmenagogue, either eaten by itself as an aliment,[2662] or taken in the form of a decoction; the seed of it is taken in wine, in doses of two drachmæ. It disperses calculi in the bladder, and neutralizes the action of water which tends to their formation. Used in the form of an injection, it is good for dysentery, and applied topically, for the removal of freckles. It is applied by females, at night, for the removal of spots on the face, a result which it produces almost instantaneously. It has the effect also of assuaging hernia, and is good for the scab in horses.

CHAP. 42.—THE SILLYBUM.

The sillybum[2663] resembles the white chamæleon, and is a plant quite as prickly. In Cilicia, Syria, and Phœnicia, the countries where it grows, it is not thought worth while to boil it, the cooking of it being so extremely troublesome, it is said. It is of no use whatever in medicine.

CHAP. 43.—THE SCOLYMOS OR LIMONIA: FIVE REMEDIES.

The scolymos,[2664] too, is used as an aliment[2665] in the East, where it has also the name of “limonia.”[2666] This is a shrub-like plant, which never exceeds a cubit in height, with tufted leaves and a black root, but sweet. Eratosthenes speaks highly of it as a diet used by the poor. It is said to possess diuretic properties in a very high degree, and to heal lichens and leprous sores, applied with vinegar. Taken in wine it acts as an aphrodisiac, according to the testimony of Hesiod[2667] and Alcæus; who have stated in their writings, that while it is in blossom, the song of the grasshopper is louder than at other times, women more inflamed with desire, and men less inclined to amorous intercourse; and that it is by a kind of foresight on the part of Nature that this powerful stimulant is then in its greatest perfection. The root, too, used without the pith, corrects the noisome odour of the armpits, in doses of one ounce to two heminæ of Falernian wine; the mixture being boiled down to one third, and taken fasting after the bath, as also after meals, a cyathus at a time. It is a remarkable thing, but Xenocrates assures us that he has ascertained it experimentally, that these bad odours are carried off by the urine.

CHAP. 44.—THE SONCHOS; TWO VARIETIES: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

The sonchos,[2668] too, is edible—at least, it was this that, according to Callimachus, Hecale[2669] set before Theseus. There are two kinds, the white[2670] and the black:[2671] they are, both of them, similar to the lettuce, except that they are prickly, with a stem a cubit in height, angular, and hollow within; when broken, the stem gives out an abundance of milky juice. The white kind, which derives its colour from the milk it contains, is good for hardness of breathing, if eaten dressed with seasoning like the lettuce. Erasistratus says that it carries off calculi by the urine, and that, chewed, it is a corrective of bad breath. The juice of it, taken warm in doses of three cyathi, with white wine and oil, facilitates delivery, but the patient must be careful to walk about immediately after drinking it: it is also given in broth.

A decoction of the stalk renders the milk more abundant in nursing women, and improves the complexion of the infants suckled by them; it is also remarkably beneficial for females when the milk coagulates. The juice of it is used as an injection for the ears, and is taken warm in doses of one cyathus, for strangury, as also for gnawing pains of the stomach, with cucumber seed and pine nuts. It is employed topically for abscesses of the rectum, and is taken in drink for the stings of serpents and scorpions, the root also being applied to the wounds. The root, boiled in oil, with the rind of a pomegranate, is a remedy for diseases of the ears—all these remedies, however, be it remembered, are derived from the white kind.

As to the black sonchos, Cleemporus forbids it to be eaten, as being productive of diseases, but at the same time he approves of the use of the white. Agathocles, however, goes so far as to assert that the juice of the black kind is an antidote for poisoning by bulls’ blood; and, indeed, it is generally agreed that the black sonchos has certain refreshing properties; for which reason cataplasms of it may be advantageously applied with polenta. Zeno recommends the root of the white kind for strangury.

CHAP. 45.—THE CONDRION OR CHONDRYLLA: SIX REMEDIES.

The condrion,[2672] or chondrylla, has leaves, eaten away, as it were, at the edges, and similar to those of endive, a stalk less than a foot in length and full of a bitter juice, and a root resembling that of the bean, and occasionally very ramified. It produces, near the surface of the earth, a sort of mastich,[2673] in a tubercular form, the size of a bean; this mastich, it is said, employed as a pessary, promotes the menstrual discharge. This plant, pounded whole with the roots, is divided into lozenges, which are employed for the stings of serpents, and probably with good effect; for field mice, it is said, when injured by those reptiles, are in the habit of eating this plant. A decoction of it in wine arrests looseness of the bowels, and makes a most excellent substitute for gum, as a bandoline for the eye-lashes,[2674] even when the hairs are most stubborn. Dorotheus says, in his poems, that it is extremely good for the stomach and the digestive organs. Some persons, however, have been of opinion that it is unwholesome for females, bad for the eyesight, and productive of impotence in the male sex.

CHAP. 46.—MUSHROOMS: PECULIARITIES OF THEIR GROWTH.

Among those vegetable productions which are eaten with risk, I shall, with good reason, include mushrooms;[2675] a very dainty food, it is true, but deservedly held in disesteem since the notorious crime committed by Agrippina, who, through their agency, poisoned her husband, the Emperor Claudius, and at the same moment, in the person of his son Nero, inflicted another poisonous curse upon the whole world, herself[2676] in particular.

Some of the poisonous mushrooms are easily known, being of a rank, unwholesome look, light red without and livid within, with the clefts[2677] considerably enlarged, and a pale, sickly margin to the head.[2678] These characteristics, however, are not presented by others of the poisonous kinds; but being dry to all appearance and strongly resembling the genuine ones, they present white spots upon the head, on the surface of the outer coat. The earth, in fact, first produces the uterus[2679] or receptacle for the mushroom, and then the mushroom within, like the yolk in the egg. Nor is this envelope less conducive to the nutrition of the young mushroom [than is the albumen of the egg to that of the chicken.] Bursting forth from the envelope at the moment of its first appearance, as it gradually increases it becomes transformed into a substantial stalk; it is but very rarely, too, that we find two growing from a single foot-stalk. The generative[2680] principle of the mushroom is in the slime and the fermenting juices of the damp earth, or of the roots of most of the glandiferous trees. It appears at first in the shape of a sort of viscous foam, and then assumes a more substantial but membranous form, after which, as already stated, the young mushroom appears.

In general, these plants are of a pernicious nature, and the use of them should be altogether rejected; for if by chance they should happen to grow near a hob-nail,[2681] a piece of rusty iron, or a bit of rotten cloth, they will immediately imbibe all these foreign emanations and flavours, and transform them into poison. Who, in fact, is able to distinguish them, except those who dwell in the country, or the persons[2682] that are in the habit of gathering them? There are other circumstances, too, which render them noxious; if they grow near the hole of a serpent,[2683] for instance, or if they should happen to have been breathed upon by one when just beginning to open; being all the more disposed to imbibe the venom from their natural affinity to poisonous substances.

It will therefore be as well to be on our guard during the season at which the serpents have not as yet retired to their holes for the winter. The best sign to know this by is a multitude of herbs, of trees, and of shrubs, which remain green from the time that these reptiles leave their holes till their return; indeed, the ash alone will be quite sufficient for the purpose, the leaves of it never coming out after the serpents have made their appearance, or beginning to fall before they have retired to their holes. The entire existence of the mushroom, from its birth to its death, is never more than seven days.[2684]

CHAP. 47. (23.)—FUNGI; SIGNS BY WHICH THE VENOMOUS KINDS MAY BE RECOGNIZED: NINE REMEDIES.

Fungi are of a more humid nature than the last, and are divided into numerous kinds, all of which are derived solely from the pituitous humours[2685] of trees. The safest are those, the flesh of which is red,[2686] the colour being more pronounced than that of the mushroom. The next best are the white[2687] ones, the stems of which have a head very similar to the apex[2688] worn by the Flamens; and a third kind are the suilli,[2689] very conveniently adapted for poisoning. Indeed, it is but very recently that they have carried off whole families, and all the guests at a banquet; Annæus Serenus,[2690] for instance, the prefect of Nero’s guard, together with all the tribunes and centurions. What great pleasure, then, can there be in partaking of a dish of so doubtful[2691] a character as this? Some persons have classified these fungi according to the trees to which they are indebted for their formation, the fig, for instance, the fennel-giant, and the gummiferous trees; those belonging to the beech, the robur, and the cypress, not being edible, as already mentioned.[2692] But who is there to give us a guarantee when they come to market, that these distinctions have been observed?

All the poisonous fungi are of a livid colour; and the degree of similarity borne by the sap of the tree itself to that of the fig will afford an additional indication whether they are venomous or not. We have already mentioned[2693] various remedies for the poison of fungi, and shall have occasion to make mention of others; but in the mean time, it will be as well to observe that they themselves also have some medicinal[2694] uses. Glaucias is of opinion that mushrooms are good for the stomach. The suilli are dried and strung upon a rush, as we see done with those brought from Bithynia. They are employed as a remedy for the fluxes known as “rheumatismi,”[2695] and for excrescences of the fundament, which they diminish and gradually consume. They are used, also, for freckles and spots on women’s faces. A wash, too, is made of them, as is done with lead,[2696] for maladies of the eyes. Steeped in water, they are applied topically to foul ulcers, eruptions of the head, and bites inflicted by dogs.

I would here also give some general directions for the cooking of mushrooms, as this is the only article of food that the voluptuaries of the present day are in the habit of dressing with their own hands, and so feeding upon it in anticipation, being provided with amber-handled[2697] knives and silver plates and dishes for the purpose. Those fungi may be looked upon as bad which become hard in cooking; while those, on the other hand, are comparatively innoxious, which admit of being thoroughly boiled, with the addition of some nitre. They will be all the safer if they are boiled with some meat or the stalks of pears: it is a very good plan, too, to eat pears directly after them. Vinegar, too, being of a nature diametrically opposed to them, neutralizes[2698] their dangerous qualities.

CHAP. 48.—SILPHIUM: SEVEN REMEDIES.

All these productions owe their origin to rain,[2699] and by rain is silphium produced. It originally came from Cyrenæ, as already[2700] stated: at the present day, it is mostly imported from Syria, the produce of which country, though better than that of Media, is inferior to the Parthian kind. As already observed,[2701] the silphium of Cyrenæ no longer exists. It is of considerable use in medicine, the leaves of it being employed to purge the uterus, and as an expellent of the dead fœtus; for which purposes a decoction of them is made in white aromatic wine, and taken in doses of one acetabulum, immediately after the bath. The root of it is good for irritations of the trachea, and is employed topically for extravasated blood; but, used as an aliment, it is difficult of digestion, being productive of flatulency and eructations: it is injurious, also, to the urinary secretions. Combined with wine and oil, it is extremely good for bruises, and, with wax, for the cure of scrofulous sores. Repeated fumigations with the root cause excrescences of the anus to subside.

CHAP. 49.—LASER: THIRTY-NINE REMEDIES.

Laser, a juice which distils from silphium, as we have already[2702] stated, and reckoned among the most precious gifts presented to us by Nature, is made use of in numerous medicinal preparations. Employed by itself, it warms and revives persons benumbed with cold, and, taken in drink, it alleviates affections of the sinews. It is given to females in wine, and is used with soft wool as a pessary to promote the menstrual discharge. Mixed with wax, it extracts corns on the feet, after they have been first loosened with the knife: a piece of it, the size of a chick-pea, melted in water, acts as a diuretic. Andreas assures us that, taken in considerable doses even, it is never productive of flatulency, and that it greatly promotes the digestion, both in aged people and females; he says, too, that it is better used in winter than in summer, and that even then, it is best suited for those whose beverage is water: but due care must be taken that there is no internal ulceration. Taken with the food, it is very refreshing for patients just recovering from an illness; indeed, if it is used at the proper time, it has all the virtues of a desiccatory,[2703] though it is more wholesome for persons who are in the habit of using it than for those who do not ordinarily employ it.

As to external maladies, the undoubted virtues of this medicament are universally acknowledged: taken in drink, it has the effect, also, of neutralizing the venom of serpents and of poisoned weapons, and, applied with water, it is in general use for the cure of wounds. In combination with oil, it is only used as a liniment for the stings of scorpions, and with barley-meal or dried figs, for the cure of ulcers that have not come to a head. It is applied topically, also, to carbuncles, with rue or honey, or else by itself, with some viscous substance to make it adhere; for the bites of dogs, also, it is similarly employed. A decoction of it in vinegar, with pomegranate rind, is used for excrescences[2704] of the fundament, and, mixed with nitre, for the corns commonly known as “morticini.”[2705] In cases of alopecy which have been first treated with nitre, it makes the hair grow again, applied with wine and saffron, or else pepper or mouse-dung and vinegar. For chilblains, fomentations are made of it with wine, or liniments with oil; as also for callosities and indurations. For corns on the feet, if pared first, it is particularly useful, as also as a preservative against the effects of bad water, and of unhealthy climates or weather. It is prescribed for cough, too, affections of the uvula, jaundice of long standing, dropsy, and hoarseness, having the effect of instantly clearing the throat and restoring the voice. Diluted in oxycrate, and applied with a sponge, it assuages the pains in gout.

It is given also in broth[2706] to patients suffering from pleurisy, when about to take wine; and it is prescribed for convulsions and opisthotony, in pills about as large as a chick-pea, coated with wax. For quinsy, it is used as a gargle, and to patients troubled with asthma or inveterate cough, it is given with leeks in vinegar; it is prescribed, also, with vinegar, after drinking butter-milk.[2707] It is recommended with wine for consumptive affections of the viscera and epilepsy, and with hydromel for paralysis of the tongue; with a decoction of honey, it forms a liniment for sciatica and lumbago.

For my own part, I should not recommend,[2708] what some authors advise, to insert a pill of laser, covered with wax, in a hollow tooth, for tooth-ache; being warned to the contrary by a remarkable case of a man, who, after doing so, threw himself headlong from the top of a house. Besides, it is a well-known fact, that if it is rubbed on the muzzle of a bull, it irritates him to an extraordinary degree; and that if it is mixed with wine, it will cause serpents to burst—those reptiles being extremely fond of wine. In addition to this, I should not advise any one to rub the gums with Attic honey, although that practice is recommended by some.

It would be an endless task to enumerate all the uses to which laser is put, in combination with other substances; and the more so, as it is only our object to treat of simple remedies, it being these in which Nature displays her resources. In the compound remedies, too, we often find our judgment deceived, and quite at fault, from our comparative inattention to the sympathy or antipathy which naturally exists between the ingredients employed—on this subject, however, we shall have to enlarge on a future occasion.[2709]

CHAP. 50. (24.)—PROPOLIS: FIVE REMEDIES.

Honey would be held in no less esteem than laser, were it not for the fact that nearly every country produces it.[2710] Laser is the production of Nature herself; but, for the formation of honey, she has created an insect, as already described.[2711] The uses to which honey is put are quite innumerable, if we only consider the vast number of compositions in which it forms an ingredient. First of all, there is the propolis,[2712] which we find in the hives, as already[2713] mentioned. This substance has the property of extracting stings and all foreign bodies from the flesh, dispersing tumours, ripening indurations, allaying pains of the sinews, and cicatrizing ulcers of the most obstinate nature.

As to honey itself, it is of so peculiar a nature, that it prevents putrefaction[2714] from supervening, by reason of its sweetness solely, and not any inherent acridity, its natural properties being altogether different from those of salt. It is employed with the greatest success for affections[2715] of the throat and tonsils, for quinsy and all ailments of the mouth, as also in fever, when the tongue is parched. Decoctions of it are used also for peripneumony and pleurisy, for wounds inflicted by serpents, and for the poison of fungi. For paralysis, it is prescribed in honied wine, though that liquor also has its own peculiar virtues. Honey is used with rose-oil, as an injection for the ears; it has the effect also of exterminating nits and foul vermin of the head. It is the best plan always to skim it before using it.

Still, however, honey has a tendency to inflate[2716] the stomach; it increases the bilious secretions also, produces qualmishness, and, according to some, if employed by itself, is injurious[2717] to the sight: though, on the other hand, there are persons who recommend ulcerations at the corners of the eyes to be touched with honey.

As to the elementary principles of honey, the different varieties of it, the countries where it is found, and its characteristic features, we have enlarged upon them on previous occasions: first,[2718] when treating of the nature of bees, and secondly, when speaking[2719] of that of flowers; the plan of this work compelling us to separate subjects which ought properly to be united, if we would arrive at a thorough knowledge of the operations of Nature.

CHAP. 51.—THE VARIOUS INFLUENCES OF DIFFERENT ALIMENTS UPON THE DISPOSITION.

While speaking of the uses of honey, we ought also to treat of the properties of hydromel.[2720] There are two kinds of hydromel, one of which is prepared at the moment, and taken while fresh,[2721] the other being kept to ripen. The first, which is made of skimmed honey, is an extremely wholesome beverage for invalids who take nothing but a light diet, such as strained alica for instance: it reinvigorates the body, is soothing to the mouth and stomach, and by its refreshing properties allays feverish heats. I find it stated,[2722] too, by some authors, that to relax the bowels it should be taken cold, and that it is particularly well-suited for persons of a chilly temperament, or of a weak and pusillanimous[2723] constitution, such as the Greeks, for instance, call “micropsychi.”

For there is a theory,[2724] remarkable for its extreme ingenuity, first established by Plato, according to which the primary atoms of bodies, as they happen to be smooth or rough, angular or round, are more or less adapted to the various temperaments of individuals: and hence it is, that the same substances are not universally sweet or bitter to all. So, when affected with lassitude or thirst, we are more prone to anger than at other times.[2725] These asperities, however, of the disposition, or rather I should say of the mind,[2726] are capable of being modified by the sweeter beverages; as they tend to lubricate the passages for the respiration, and to mollify the channels, the work of inhalation and exhalation being thereby unimpeded by any rigidities. Every person must be sensible of this experimentally, in his own case: there is no one in whom anger, affliction, sadness, and all the emotions of the mind may not, in some degree, be modified by diet. It will therefore be worth our while to observe what aliments they are which exercise a physical effect, not only upon the body, but the disposition as well.

CHAP. 52.—HYDROMEL: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

Hydromel is recommended, too, as very good for a cough: taken warm, it promotes vomiting. With the addition of oil it counteracts the poison of white lead;[2727] of henbane, also, and of the halicacabum, as already stated,[2728] if taken in milk, asses’ milk in particular. It is used as an injection for diseases of the ears, and in cases of fistula of the generative organs. With crumb of bread it is applied as a poultice to the uterus, as also to tumours suddenly formed, sprains, and all affections which require soothing applications. The more recent writers have condemned the use of fermented hydromel, as being not so harmless as water, and less strengthening than wine. After it has been kept a considerable time, it becomes transformed into a wine,[2729] which, it is universally agreed, is extremely prejudicial to the stomach, and injurious to the nerves.[2730]

CHAP. 53.—HONIED WINE: SIX REMEDIES.

As to honied[2731] wine, that is always the best which has been made with old wine: honey, too, incorporates with it very readily, which is never the case with sweet[2732] wine. When made with astringent wine, it does not clog the stomach, nor has it that effect when the honey has been boiled: in this last case, too, it causes less flatulency, an inconvenience generally incidental to this beverage. It acts as a stimulant also upon a failing appetite; taken cold it relaxes the bowels, but used warm it acts astringently, in most cases, at least. It has a tendency also to make flesh. Many persons have attained an extreme old age, by taking bread soaked in honied wine, and no other diet—the famous instance of Pollio Romilius, for example. This man was more than one hundred years old when the late Emperor Augustus, who was then his host,[2733] asked him by what means in particular he had retained such remarkable vigour of mind and body.—“Honied wine within, oil without,”[2734] was his answer. According to Varro, the jaundice has the name of “royal disease”[2735] given to it, because its cure is effected with honied wine.[2736]

CHAP. 54.—MELITITES: THREE REMEDIES.

We have already described how melitites[2737] is prepared, of must and honey, when speaking on the subject of wines. It is, I think, some ages, however, since this kind of beverage was made, so extremely productive as it was found to be of flatulency. It used, however, to be given in fever, to relieve inveterate costiveness of the bowels, as also for gout and affections of the sinews. It was prescribed also for females who were not in the habit of taking wine.

CHAP. 55.—WAX: EIGHT REMEDIES.

To an account of honey, that of wax is naturally appended, of the origin, qualities, and different kinds of which, we have previously made mention[2738] on the appropriate occasions. Every kind of wax is emollient and warming, and tends to the formation of new flesh; fresh wax is, however, the best. It is given in broth to persons troubled with dysentery, and the combs themselves are sometimes used in a pottage made of parched alica. Wax counteracts the bad effects[2739] of milk; and ten pills of wax, the size of a grain of millet, will prevent milk from coagulating in the stomach. For swellings in the groin, it is found beneficial to apply a plaster of white wax to the pubes.

CHAP. 56.—REMARKS IN DISPARAGEMENT OF MEDICINAL COMPOSITIONS.

As to the different uses to which wax is applied, in combination with other substances in medicine, we could no more make an enumeration of them than we could of all the other ingredients which form part of our medicinal compositions. These preparations, as we have already[2740] observed, are the results of human invention. Cerates, poultices,[2741] plasters, eye-salves, antidotes,—none of these have been formed by Nature, that parent and divine framer of the universe; they are merely the inventions of the laboratory, or rather, to say the truth, of human avarice.[2742] The works of Nature are brought into existence complete and perfect in every respect, her ingredients being but few in number, selected as they are from a due appreciation of cause and effect, and not from mere guesswork; thus, for instance, if a dry substance is wanted to assume a liquefied form, a liquid, of course, must be employed as a vehicle, while liquids, on the other hand, must be united with a dry substance to render them consistent. But as for man, when he pretends, with balance in[2743] hand, to unite and combine the various elementary substances, he employs himself not merely upon guesswork, but proves himself guilty of downright impudence.

It is not my intention to touch upon the medicaments afforded by the drugs of India, or Arabia and other foreign climates: I have no liking for drugs that come from so great a distance;[2744] they are not produced for us, no, nor yet for the natives of those countries, or else they would not be so ready to sell them to us. Let people buy them if they please, as ingredients in perfumes, unguents, and other appliances of luxury; let them buy them as adjuncts to their superstitions even, if incense and costus we must have to propitiate the gods; but as to health, we can enjoy that blessing without their assistance, as we can easily prove—the greater reason then has luxury to blush at its excesses.

CHAP. 57.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM GRAIN. SILIGO: ONE REMEDY. WHEAT: ONE REMEDY. CHAFF: TWO REMEDIES. SPELT: ONE REMEDY. BRAN: ONE REMEDY. OLYRA, OR ARINCA: TWO REMEDIES.

Having now described the remedies derived from flowers, both those which enter into the composition of garlands, and the ordinary garden ones, as well as from the vegetable productions, how could we possibly omit those which are derived from the cereals?

(25.) It will be only proper then, to make some mention of these as well. In the first place, however, let us remark that it is a fact universally acknowledged, that it is the most intelligent of the animated beings that derive their subsistence from grain. The grain of siligo[2745] highly roasted and pounded in Aminean[2746] wine, applied to the eyes, heals defluxions of those organs;[2747] and the grain of wheat, parched on a plate of iron, is an instantaneous remedy for frost-bite in various parts of the body. Wheat-meal, boiled in vinegar, is good for contractions of the sinews, and bran,[2748] mixed with rose-oil, dried figs, and myxa[2749] plums boiled down together, forms an excellent gargle[2750] for the tonsillary glands and throat.

Sextus Pomponius, who had a son prætor, and who was himself the first citizen of Nearer Spain, was on one occasion attacked with gout, while superintending the winnowing in his granaries; upon which, he immediately thrust his legs, to above the knees, in a heap of wheat. He found himself relieved, the swelling in the legs subsided in a most surprising degree, and from that time he always employed this remedy: indeed, the action of grain in masses is so extremely powerful as to cause the entire evaporation of the liquor in a cask. Men of experience in these matters recommend warm chaff of wheat or barley, as an application for hernia, and fomentations with the water in which it has been boiled. In the grain known[2751] as spelt, there is a small worm found, similar in appearance to the teredo:[2752] if this is put with wax into the hollow of carious teeth, they will come out, it is said, or, indeed, if the teeth are only rubbed with it. Another name given to olyra, as already[2753] mentioned, is “arinca:” with a decoction of it a medicament is made, known in Egypt as “athera,” and extremely good for infants. For adult persons it is employed in the form of a liniment.

CHAP. 58.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MEAL: TWENTY-EIGHT REMEDIES.

Barley[2754]-meal, raw or boiled, disperses, softens, or ripens gatherings and inflammatory tumours; and for other purposes a decoction of it is made in hydromel, or with dried figs. If required for pains in the liver, it must be boiled with oxycrate in wine. When it is a matter of doubt whether an abscess should be made to suppurate or be dispersed, it is a better plan to boil the meal in vinegar, or lees of vinegar, or else with a decoction of quinces or pears. For the bite of the millepede,[2755] it is employed with honey, and for the stings of serpents, and to prevent suppurations, with vinegar. To promote suppuration, it should be used with oxycrate, with the addition of Gallic resin. For gatherings, also, that have come to a head, and ulcers of long standing, it must be employed in combination with resin, and for indurations, with pigeons’ dung, dried figs, or ashes. For inflammation of the tendons, or of the intestines and sides, or for pains in the male organs and denudations of the bones, it is used with poppies, or melilote; and for scrofulous sores, it is used with pitch and oil, mixed with the urine of a youth who has not reached the years of puberty. It is employed also with fenugreek for tumours of the thoracic organs, and in fevers, with honey, or stale grease.

For suppurations, however, wheat-meal is much more soothing;[2756] it is applied topically also for affections of the sinews, mixed with the juice of henbane, and for the cure of freckles, with vinegar and honey. The meal of zea,[2757] from which, as already[2758] stated, an alica is made, appears to be more efficacious than that of barley even; but that of the three month[2759] kind is the most emollient. It is applied warm, in red wine, to the stings of scorpions, as also for affections of the trachea, and spitting of blood: for coughs, it is employed in combination with goat suet or butter.

The meal of fenugreek,[2760] however, is the most soothing of them all: boiled with wine and nitre, it heals running ulcers, eruptions on the body, and diseases of the feet and mamillæ. The meal of æra[2761] is more detergent than the other kinds, for inveterate ulcers and gangrenes: in combination with radishes, salt, and vinegar, it heals lichens, and with virgin sulphur, leprosy: for head-ache, it is applied to the forehead with goose-grease. Boiled in wine, with pigeons’ dung and linseed, it ripens inflamed tumours and scrofulous sores.

CHAP. 59.—POLENTA: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Of the various kinds of polenta we have already treated sufficiently[2762] at length, when speaking of the places where it is made. It differs from barley meal, in being parched, a process which renders it more wholesome for the stomach. It arrests looseness of the bowels, and heals inflammatory eruptions; and it is employed as a liniment for the eyes, and for head-ache, combined with mint or some other refreshing herb. It is used in a similar manner also for chilblains and wounds inflicted by serpents; and with wine, for burns. It has the effect also of checking pustular eruptions.

CHAP. 60.—FINE FLOUR: FIVE REMEDIES. PULS: ONE REMEDY. MEAL USED FOR PASTING PAPYRUS: ONE REMEDY.

The flour[2763] of bolted meal, kneaded into a paste, has the property of drawing[2764] out the humours of the body: hence it is applied to bruises gorged with blood, to extract the corrupt matter, even to soaking the bandages[2765] employed: used with boiled must, it is still more efficacious. It is used as an application also for callosities of the feet and corns; boiled with old oil and pitch, and applied as hot as possible, it cures condylomata and all other maladies of the fundament in a most surprising manner. Puls[2766] is a very feeding diet. The meal[2767] used for pasting the sheets of papyrus is given warm to patients for spitting of blood, and is found to be an effectual cure.

CHAP. 61.—ALICA: SIX REMEDIES.

Alica is quite a Roman invention, and not a very ancient one: for otherwise[2768] the Greeks would never have written in such high terms of the praises of ptisan in preference. I do not think that it was yet in use in the days of Pompeius Magnus, a circumstance which will explain why hardly any mention has been made of it in the works of the school of Asclepiades. That it is a most excellent preparation no one can have a doubt, whether it is used strained in hydromel, or whether it is boiled and taken in the form of broth or puls. To arrest flux of the bowels, it is first parched and then boiled with honeycomb, as already mentioned:[2769] but it is more particularly useful when there is a tendency to phthisis after a long illness, the proper proportions being three cyathi of it to one sextarius of water. This mixture is boiled till all the water has gone off by evaporation, after which one sextarius of sheep’ or goats’ milk is added: it is then taken by the patient daily, and after a time some honey is added. By this kind of nutriment a deep decline may be cured.

CHAP. 62.—MILLET: SIX REMEDIES.

Millet[2770] arrests looseness of the bowels and dispels gripings of the stomach, for which purposes it is first parched. For pains in the sinews, and of various other descriptions, it is applied hot, in a bag, to the part affected. Indeed, there is no better topical application known, as it is extremely light and emollient, and retains heat for a very long time: hence it is that it is so much employed in all those cases in which the application of heat is necessary. The meal of it, mixed with tar, is applied to wounds inflicted by serpents and millepedes.

CHAP. 63.—PANIC: FOUR REMEDIES.

Diocles, the physician, has given to panic[2771] the name of “honey of corn.”[2772] It has the same properties as millet, and, taken in wine, it is good for dysentery. In a similar manner, too, it is applied to such parts of the body as require to be treated with heat. Boiled in goats’-milk, and taken twice a-day, it arrests looseness of the bowels; and, used in a similar manner, it is very good for gripings of the stomach.

CHAP. 64.—SESAME: SEVEN REMEDIES. SESAMOIDES: THREE REMEDIES. ANTICYRICUM: THREE REMEDIES.

Sesame,[2773] pounded and taken in wine, arrests vomiting: it is applied also topically to inflammations of the ears, and burns. It has a similar effect even while in the blade; and in that state, a decoction of it in wine is used as a liniment for the eyes. As an aliment it is injurious to the stomach, and imparts a bad odour to the breath. It is an antidote to the bite of the spotted lizard, and heals the cancerous sore known as “cacoethes.”[2774] The oil made from it, as already[2775] mentioned, is good for the ears.

Sesamoïdes[2776] owes its name to its resemblance to sesame; the grain[2777] of it, however, is bitter, and the leaf more diminutive: it is found growing in sandy soils. Taken in water, it carries off bile, and, with the seed, a liniment is made for erysipelas: it disperses inflamed swellings also. Besides this, there is another[2778] sesamoïdes, which grows at Anticyra, and, for that reason, is known by some as “anticyricon.” In other respects, it is similar to the plant erigeron, of which we shall have to speak[2779] on a future occasion; but the seed of it is like that of sesame. It is given in sweet wine as an evacuant, in doses of a pinch in three fingers, mixed with an obolus and a half of white hellebore; this preparation being employed principally as a purgative, in cases of insanity, melancholy, epilepsy, and gout. Taken alone, in doses of one drachma, it purges by stool.

CHAP. 65.—BARLEY: NINE REMEDIES. MOUSE-BARLEY, BY THE GREEKS CALLED PHŒNICE: ONE REMEDY.

The whitest barley is the best. Boiled[2780] in rain-water, the pulp of it is divided into lozenges, which are used in injections for ulcerations of the intestines and the uterus. The ashes of barley are applied to burns, to bones denuded of the flesh, to purulent eruptions, and to the bite of the shrew-mouse: sprinkled with salt and honey they impart whiteness to the teeth, and sweetness to the breath. It is alleged that persons who are in the habit of eating barley-bread are never troubled with gout in the feet: they say, too, that if a person takes nine grains of barley, and traces three times round a boil, with each of them in the left hand, and then throws them all into the fire, he will experience an immediate cure. There is another plant, too, known as “phœnice” by the Greeks, and as “mouse-barley”[2781] by us: pounded and taken in wine, it acts remarkably well as an emmenagogue.

CHAP. 66.—PTISAN: FOUR REMEDIES.

To ptisan,[2782] which is a preparation of barley, Hippocrates[2783] has devoted a whole treatise; praises, however, which at the present day are all transferred to “alica,” being, as it is, a much more wholesome preparation. Hippocrates, however, recommends it as a pottage, for the comparative ease with which, from its lubricous nature, it is swallowed; as also, because it allays thirst, never swells in the stomach, passes easily through the intestines, and is the only food that admits of being given twice a-day in fever, at least to patients who are in the habit of taking two meals—so opposed is his method to that of those physicians who are for famishing their patients. He forbids it to be given, however, without being first strained; for no part, he says, of the ptisan, except the water,[2784] should be used. He says, too, that it must never be taken while the feet are cold, and, indeed, that no drink of any kind should be taken then. With wheat a more viscous kind of ptisan is made, which is found to be still more efficacious for ulcerations of the trachea.

CHAP. 67.—AMYLUM: EIGHT REMEDIES. OATS: ONE REMEDY.

Amylum[2785] weakens the eyesight,[2786] and is bad for the throat, whatever opinions may be held to the contrary. It has the effect also of arresting looseness of the bowels, and curing defluxions and ulcerations of the eyes, as also pustules and congestions of the blood. It mollifies indurations of the eyelids, and is given with egg to persons when they vomit blood. For pains of the bladder, half an ounce of it is prescribed with an egg, and as much raisin wine as three egg-shells will hold, the mixture to be made lukewarm and taken immediately after the bath. Oatmeal, boiled in vinegar, removes moles.

CHAP. 68.—BREAD: TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES.

Bread,[2787] too, which forms our ordinary nutriment, possesses medicinal properties, almost without number. Applied with water and oil, or else rose-oil, it softens abscesses; and, with hydromel, it is remarkably soothing for indurations. It is prescribed with wine to produce delitescence, or when a defluxion requires to be checked; or, if additional activity is required, with vinegar. It is employed also for the morbid defluxions of rheum, known to the Greeks as “rheumatismi,” and for bruises and sprains. For all these purposes, however, bread made with leaven, and known as “autopyrus,”[2788] is the best.

It is applied also to whitlows, in vinegar, and to callosities of the feet. Stale bread, or sailors’-bread,[2789] beaten up and baked again, arrests looseness of the bowels. For persons who wish to improve the voice, dry bread is very good, taken fasting; it is useful also as a preservative against catarrhs. The bread called “sitanius,” and which is made of three-month[2790] wheat, applied with honey, is a very efficient cure for contusions of the face and scaly eruptions. White bread, steeped in hot or cold water, furnishes a very light and wholesome aliment for patients. Soaked in wine, it is applied as a poultice for swellings of the eyes, and used in a similar manner, or with the addition of dried myrtle, it is good for pustules on the head. Persons troubled with palsy are recommended to take bread soaked in water, fasting, immediately after the bath. Burnt bread modifies the close smell of bedrooms, and, used in the strainers,[2791] it neutralizes bad odours in wine.

CHAP. 69.—BEANS: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

Beans,[2792] too, furnish us with some remedies. Parched whole, and thrown hot into strong vinegar, they are a cure for gripings of the bowels. Bruised, and boiled with garlic, they are taken with the daily food for inveterate coughs, and for suppurations of the chest. Chewed by a person fasting, they are applied topically to ripen boils, or to disperse them; and, boiled in wine, they are employed for swellings of the testes and diseases of the genitals. Bean-meal, boiled in vinegar, ripens tumours and breaks them, and heals contusions and burns. M. Varro assures us that beans are very good for the voice. The ashes of bean stalks and shells, with stale hogs’-lard, are good for sciatica and inveterate pains of the sinews. The husks, too, boiled down, by themselves, to one-third, arrest looseness of the bowels.

CHAP. 70.—LENTILS: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.