Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

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  CHAP. 77.

  SEVENTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE BACCHAR. ONE REMEDY DERIVED FROM THE COMBRETUM.

  The bacchar that is used in medicine is by some of our writers called the “perpressa.” It is very useful for the stings of serpents, head-ache and burning heats in the head, and for defluxions of the eyes. It is applied topically for swellings of the mamillæ after delivery, as also incipient fistulas of the eyes, and erysipelas; the smell of it induces sleep. It is found very beneficial to administer a decoction of the root for spasms, falls with violence, convulsions, and asthma. For an inveterate cough, three or four roots of this plant are boiled down to one-third; this decoction acting also as a purgative for women after miscarriage, and removing stitch in the side, and calculi of the bladder. Drying powders for perspiration are prepared also from this plant; and it is laid among garments for the smell. The combretum which we have spoken of as resembling the bacchar, beaten up with axle-grease, is a marvellous cure for wounds.

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  CHAP. 78.

  EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM ASARUM.

  It is generally stated that asarum is good for affections of the liver, taken in doses of one ounce to a semisextarius of honied wine mixed with water. It purges the bowels like hellebore, and is good for dropsy and affections of the thoracic organs and uterus, as also for jaundice. When mixed with must, it makes a wine with strongly diuretic qualities. It is taken up as soon as it begins to put forth its leaves, and is dried in the shade. It is apt however to turn mouldy very speedily.

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  CHAP. 79. (20.)

  EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM GALLIC NARD.

  Some authors, as we have already stated, having given the name of “field nard” to the root of the bacchar, we will here mention the medicinal properties of Gallic nard, of which we have already spoken, when treating of the foreign trees, deferring further notice of it till the present occasion. In doses of two drachmæ, taken in wine, it is good for the stings of serpents; and taken in water or in wine it is employed for inflations of the colon, maladies of the liver or kidneys, and suffusions of the gall. Employed by itself or in combination with wormwood it is good for dropsy. It has the property, also, of arresting excessive discharges of the catamenia.

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  CHAP. 80.

  FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE PLANT CALLED “PHU.”

  The root of the plant which we have mentioned in the same place under the name of “phu,” is given in drink, either bruised or boiled, in cases of hysterical suffocation, and for pains of the chest or sides. It acts as an emmenagogue, and is generally taken in wine.

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  CHAP. 81.

  TWENTY REMEDIES DERIVED FROM SAFFRON.

  Saffron does not blend well with honey, or, indeed, with any sweet substance, though very readily with wine or water: it is extremely useful in medicine, and is generally kept in horn boxes. Applied with egg it disperses all kinds of inflammation, those of the eyes in particular: it is employed also for hysterical suffocations, and for ulcerations of the stomach, chest, kidneys, liver, lungs, and bladder. It is particularly useful also in cases of inflammation of those parts, and for cough and pleurisy. It likewise removes itching sensations, and acts as a diuretic. Persons who have used the precaution of first taking saffron in drink will never experience surfeit or headache, and will be proof against inebriation. Chaplets too, made of saffron, and worn on the head, tend to dispel the fumes of wine. The flower of it is employed topically with Cimolian chalk for erysipelas. It is used also in the composition of numerous other medicaments.

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  CHAP. 82.

  SYRIAN CROCOMAGNA: TWO REMEDIES.

  There is also an eye-salve which is indebted to this plant for its name. The lees of the extract of saffron, employed in the saffron unguent known as “crocomagma,” have their own peculiar utility in cases of cataract and strangury. These lees are of a more warming nature than saffron itself; the best kind is that which, when put into the mouth, stains the teeth and saliva the colour of saffron.

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  CHAP. 83.

  FORTY-ONE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE IRIS: TWO REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE SALIUNCA.

  The red iris is better than the white one. It is very beneficial to attach this plant to the bodies of infants more particularly when they are cutting their teeth, or are suffering from cough; it is equally good, too, to inject a few drops of it when children are suffering from tape-worm. The other properties of it differ but very little from those of honey. It cleanses ulcerous sores of the head, and inveterate abscesses more particularly. Taken in doses of two drachmæ with honey, it relaxes the bowels; and an infusion of it is good for cough, gripings of the stomach, and flatulency: taken with vinegar, too, it cures affections of the spleen. Mixed with oxycrate it is good for the bites of serpents and spiders, and, in doses of two drachmæ with bread or water, it is employed for the cure of the stings of scorpions. It is applied also topically with oil to the bites of dogs, and to parts that are excoriated: employed in a similar manner, too, it is good for pains in the sinews, and in combination with resin it is used as a liniment for lumbago and sciatica. The properties of this plant are of a warming nature. Inhaled at the nostrils, it produces sneezing and cleanses the brain, and in cases of head-ache it is applied topically in combination with the quince or the strutheum. It dispels the fumes of wine also, and difficulties of breathing and taken in doses of two oboli it acts as an emetic: applied as a plaster with honey, it extracts splinters of broken bones. Powdered iris is employed also for whitlows, and, mixed with wine, for corns and warts, in which case it is left for three days on the part affected.

  Chewed, it is a corrective of bad breath and offensive exhalations of the arm-pits, and the juice of it softens all kinds of indurations of the body. This plant acts as a soporific, but it wastes the seminal fluids: it is used also for the treatment of chaps of the fundament and condylomata, and it heals all sorts of excrescences on the body.

  Some persons give the name of “xyris” to the wild iris. This plant disperses scrofulous sores, as well as tumours and inguinal swellings; but it is generally recommended that when wanted for these purposes it should be pulled up with the left hand, the party gathering it mentioning the name of the pa- tient and of the disease for which it is intended to be employed. While speaking of this subject, I will take the opportunity of disclosing the criminal practices of some herbalists — they keep back a portion of the iris, and of some other plants as well, the plantago for instance, and, if they think that they have not been sufficiently well paid and wish to be employed a second time, bury the part they have kept back in the same place; their object being, I suppose, to revive the malady which has just been cured.

  The root of the saliunca boiled in wine, arrests vomiting and strengthens the stomach.

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  CHAP. 84.

  EIGHTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE POLIUM.

  Those persons, according to Musæus and Hesiod, who are desirous of gaining honour and glory, should rub the body all over with polium, and handle and cultivate it as much as possible. They say, too, that it should be kept about the person as an antidote to poison, and that to keep serpents away it should be strewed beneath the bed, burnt, or else carried on the person; decoctions of it in wine, either fresh-gathered or dried, should be used too as a liniment for the body. Medical men prescribe it in vinegar for affections of the spleen, and in wine for the jaundice; a decoction of it in wine is recommended also for incipient dropsy; and in this way too, it is employed as a liniment for wounds. This plant has the effect of bringing away the after-birth and the dead fœtus, and of dispelling pains in various parts of the body: it empties the bladder also, and is employed in liniments for defluxions of the eyes. In- deed, there is no plant known that better deserves to f
orm an ingredient in the medicament known to us as the “alexipharmacon:” though there are some who say that it is injurious to the stomach and is apt to stuff the head, and that it produces abortion — assertions which others, again, totally deny.

  There is a superstitious observance also, to the effect that, for cataract, it ought to be attached to the neck the moment it is found, every precaution being taken not to let it touch the ground. The same persons state too that the leaves of it are similar to those of thyme, except that they are softer and more white and downy. Beaten up with wild rue in rain water, it is said to assuage the pain of the sting of the asp; it is quite as astringent too as the flower of the pomegranate, and as efficacious for closing wounds and preventing them from spreading.

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  CHAP. 85.

  THREE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE HOLOCHRYSOS. SIX REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CHRYSOCOME.

  The holochrysos, taken in wine, is a cure for strangury, and it is employed in liniments for defluxions of the eyes. Mixed with burnt lees of wine and polenta, it is curative of lichens.

  The root of the chrysocome is warming and astringent; it is taken in drink for affections of the liver and lungs, and a decoction of it in hydromel is good for pains of the uterus. It acts as an emmenagogue also, and, administered raw, draws off the water in dropsy.

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  CHAP. 86.

  TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM MELISSOPHYLLUM.

  If the bee-hives are rubbed all over with melissophyllum or melittæna, the bees will never desert them; for there is no flower in which they take greater delight. If branches of this plant are used, the bees may be kept within bounds without any difficulty. It is an excellent remedy, also, for the stings of bees, wasps, and similar insects, as also for wounds made by spiders and scorpions; it is used, too, for hysterical suffocations, in combination with nitre, and for gripings of the bowels, with wine. The leaves of it are employed topically for scrofulous sores, and, in combination with salt, for maladies of the fundament. A decoction of the juice promotes the menstrual discharge, dispels inflammations, and heals ulcerous sores: it is good, too, for diseases of the joints and the bites of dogs, and is beneficial in cases of inveterate dysentery, and for cœliac affections, hardness of breathing, diseases of the spleen, and ulcerations of the thoracic organs. For films on the eyes, it is considered a most excellent plan to anoint them with the juice of this plant mixed with honey.

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  CHAP. 87.

  THIRTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE MELILOTE.

  The melilote, again, applied with the yolk of an egg, or else linseed, effects the cure of diseases of the eyes. It assuages pains, too, in the jaws and head, applied with rose oil; and, employed with raisin wine, it is good for pains in the ears, and all kinds of swellings or eruptions on the hands. A decoction of it in wine, or else the plant itself beaten up raw, is good for pains in the stomach. It is equally beneficial, too, for maladies of the uterus; and for diseases of the testes, prolapsus of the fundament, and all other diseases of those parts, a decoction is made of it, fresh-gathered, in water or in raisin wine. With the addition of rose oil, it is used as a liniment for carcinoma. Boiled in sweet wine, it is particularly useful for the treatment of the ulcers known as “melicerides.”

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  CHAP. 88. (21.)

  FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM TREFOIL.

  The trefoil, I know, is generally looked upon as being par- ticularly good for the stings of serpents and scorpions, the seed being taken in doses of twenty grains, with either wine or oxycrate; or else the leaves and the plant itself are boiled together, and a decoction made of them; indeed, it is stated, that a serpent is never to be seen among trefoil. Celebrated authors, too, I find, have asserted that twenty-five grains of the seed of the kind of trefoil which we have spoken of as the “minyanthes,” are a sufficient antidote for all kinds of poisons: in addition to which, there are numerous other remedial virtues ascribed to it.

  But these notions, in my opinion, are counterbalanced by the authority of a writer of the very highest repute: for we find the poet Sophocles asserting that the trefoil is a venomous plant. Simus, too, the physician, maintains that a decoction of it, or the juice, poured upon the human body, is productive of burning sensations similar to those experienced by persons when they have been stung by a serpent and have trefoil applied to the wound. It is my opinion, then, that trefoil should never be used in any other capacity than as a counter-poison; for it is not improbable that the venom of this plant has a natural antipathy to all other kinds of poisons, a phænomenon which has been observed in many other cases as well. I find it stated, also, that the seed of the trefoil with an extremely diminutive leaf, applied in washes to the face, is extremely beneficial for preserving the freshness of the skin in females.

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  CHAP. 89.

  TWENTY-EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THYME.

  Thyme should be gathered while it is in flower, and dried in the shade. There are two kinds of thyme: the white thyme with a ligneous root, which grows upon declivities, and is the most esteemed of the two, and another variety, which is of a darker colour, and bears a swarthy flower. They are, both of them, considered to be extremely beneficial to the sight, whether used as an article of food or as a medicament, and to be good for inveterate coughs. Used as an electuary, with vinegar and salt, they facilitate expectoration, and taken with honey, they prevent the blood from coagulating. Applied ex- ternally with mustard, they dispel chronic fluxes of the fauces, as well as various affections of the stomach and bowels. Still, however, these plants must be used in moderation, as they are of a heating nature, for which reason it is that they act so astringently upon the bowels. In cases of ulceration of the intestines, the dose should be one denarius of thyme to one sextarius of oxymel; the same proportions, too, should be taken for pains in the sides, between the shoulder-blades, or in the thoracic organs. Taken with oxymel, these plants are used for the cure of intestinal diseases, and a similar draught is administered in cases of alienation of the senses and melancholy.

  Thyme is given also for epilepsy, when the fits come on, the smell of it reviving the patient; it is said, too, that epileptic persons should sleep upon soft thyme. It is good, also, for hardness of breathing, and for asthma and obstructions of the catamenia. A decoction of thyme in water, boiled down to one-third, brings away the dead fœtus, and it is given to males with oxymel, as a remedy for flatulency, and in cases of swelling of the abdomen or testes and of pains in the bladder. Applied with wine, it removes tumours and fluxes, and, in combination with vinegar, callosities and warts. Mixed with wine, it is used as an external application for sciatica; and, beaten up with oil and sprinkled upon wool, it is employed for diseases of the joints, and for sprains. It is applied, also, to burns, mixed with hogs’ lard. For maladies of the joints of recent date, thyme is administered in drink, in doses of three oboli to three cyathi of oxymel. For loss of appetite, it is given, beaten up with salt.

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  CHAP. 90.

  FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE HEMEROCALLES.

  The hemerocalles has a soft, pale green leaf, with an odo- riferous, bulbous root. This root, applied with honey to the abdomen, draws off the aqueous humours and all corrupt blood. The leaves of it are applied for defluxions of the eyes, and for pains in the mamillæ, after childbirth.

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  CHAP. 91.

  FIVE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE HELENIUM.

  The helenium, which springs, as we have already stated, from the tears of Helena, is generally thought to have been produced for improving the appearance, and to maintain unimpaired the freshness of the skin in females, both of the face and of other parts of the body. Besides this, it is generally supposed that the use of it confers additional graces on the person, and ensures universal attraction. They say, too, that, taken with wine
, it promotes gaiety of spirit, having, in fact, a similar effect to the nepenthes, which has been so much vaunted by Homer, as producing forgetfulness of all sorrow. The juice of this plant is remarkably sweet, and the root of it, taken fasting in water, is good for hardness of breathing; ‘it is white within, and sweet. An infusion of it is taken in wine for the stings of serpents; and the plant, bruised, it is said, will kill mice.

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  CHAP. 92.

  TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE ABROTONUM.

  We find two varieties of abrotonum mentioned, the field, and the mountain kind; this last, it is generally understood, is the female plant, the other the male. They are both of them bitter, like wormwood. That of Sicily is the most esteemed, and next to it, that of Galatia. The leaves of it are sometimes employed, but it is the seed that possesses the most warming properties; hence it is, that it is so beneficial for maladies of the sinews, for cough, hardness of breathing, convulsions, ruptures, lumbago, and strangury. Several handfuls of this plant are boiled down to one-third, and the decoction of it, in doses of four cyathi, is administered in drink. The seed is given, pounded, in water, in doses of one drachma; it is very good for affections of the uterus.