Used as an aliment, this pulse is far from wholesome, being apt to produce vomiting, disorder the bowels, and stuff the head and stomach. It weakens the knees also; but the effects of it may be modified by keeping it in soak for several days, in which case it is remarkably beneficial for oxen and beasts of burden. The pods of it, beaten up green with the stalks and leaves, before they harden, stain the hair black.
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CHAP. 74.
LUPINES: THIRTY-FIVE REMEDIES.
There are wild lupines, also, inferior in every respect to the cultivated kinds, except in their bitterness. Of all the alimentary substances, there are none which are less heavy or more useful than dried lupines. Their bitterness is considerably modified by cooking them on hot ashes, or steeping them in hot water. Employed frequently as an article of food, they impart freshness to the colour; the bitter lupine, too, is good for the sting of the asp. Dried lupines, stripped of the husk and pounded, are applied in a linen cloth to black ulcers, in which they make new flesh: boiled in vinegar, they disperse scrofu- lous sores and imposthumes of the parotid glands. A decoction of them, with rue and pepper, is given in fever even, as an expellent of intestinal worms, to patients under thirty years of age. For children, also, they are applied to the sto- mach as a vermifuge, the patient fasting in the meantime and, according to another mode of treatment, they are parched and taken in boiled must or in honey.
Lupines have the effect of stimulating the appetite, and of dispelling nausea. The meal of them, kneaded up with vinegar, and applied in the bath, removes pimples and prurigo; employed alone, it dries up ulcerous sores. It cures bruises also, and, used with polenta, allays inflammations. The wild lupine is found to be the most efficacious for debility of the hips and loins. A decoction of them, used as a fomentation, removes freckles and improves the skin; and lupines, either wild or cultivated, boiled down to the consistency of honey, are a cure for black eruptions and leprosy. An application of cultivated lupines causes carbuncles to break, and reduces inflamed tumours and scrofulous sores, or else brings them to a head: boiled in vinegar, they restore the flesh when cicatrized to its proper colour. Thoroughly boiled in rain-water, the decoction of them furnishes a detersive medicine, of which fomentations are made for gangrenes, purulent eruptions, and runing ulcers. This decoction is very good, taken in drink, for affections of the spleen, and with honey, for retardations of the catamenia. Beaten up raw, with dried figs, lupines are applied externally to the spleen. A decoction of the root acts as a diuretic.
The herb chamæleon, also, is boiled with lupines, and the water of it strained off, to be used as a potion for cattle. Lupines boiled in amurca, or a decoction of them mixed with amurca, heals the itch in beasts. The smoke of lupines kills gnats.
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CHAP. 75.
IRIO, OR ERYSIMUM, BY THE GAULS CALLED VELA: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.
When treating of the cereals, we have already stated that the irio, which strongly resembles sesame, is also called “erysimon “ by the Greeks: the Gauls give it the name of “vela.” It is a branchy plant, with leaves like those of rocket, but a little narrower, and a seed similar to that of nasturtium. With honey, it is extremely good for cough and purulent expectorations: it is given, also, for jaundice and affections of the loins, pleurisy, gripings of the bowels, and cœliac affections, and is used in liniments for imposthumes of the parotid glands and carcinomatous affections. Employed with water, or with honey, it is useful for inflammations of the testes, and is extremely beneficial for the diseases of infants. Mixed with honey and figs, it is good for affections of the fundament and diseases of the joints; and taken in dink, it is an excellent antidote to poisons. It is used, also, for asthma, and with stale axle- grease for fistulas; but it must not be allowed to touch the interior of them.
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CHAP. 76.
HORMINUM: SIX REMEDIES.
Horminum resembles cummin, as already stated, in its seed; but in other respects, it is like the leek. It grows to some nine inches in height, and there are two varieties of it. In one of these the seed is oblong, and darker than that of the other, and the plant itself is in request as an aphrodisiac, and for the cure of argema and albugo in the eyes: of the other kind the seed is whiter, and of a rounder form. Both kinds, pounded and applied with water, are used for the extraction of thorns from the body. The leaves, steeped in vinegar, disperse tumours, either used by themselves, or in combination with honey; they are employed, also, to disperse boils, before they have come to a head, and other collections of acrid hu- mours.
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CHAP. 77.
DARNEL: FIVE REMEDIES.
Even more than this — the very plants which are the bane of the corn-field are not without their medicinal uses. Darnel has received from Virgil the epithet of “unhappy;” and yet, ground and boiled with vinegar, it is used as an application for the cure of impetigo, which is the more speedily effected the oftener the application is renewed. It is employed, also, with oxymel, for the cure of gout and other painful diseases. The following is the mode of treatment: for one sextarius of vinegar, two ounces of honey is the right proportion; three sextarii having been thus prepared, two sextarii of darnel meal are boiled down in it to a proper consistency, the mixture being applied warm to the part affected. This meal, too, is used for the extraction of splinters of broken bones.
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CHAP. 78.
THE PLANT MILIARIA: ONE REMEDY.
“Miliaria” is the name given to a plant which kills millet: this plant, it is said, is a cure for gout in beasts of burden, beaten up and administered in wine, with the aid of a horn.
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CHAP. 79.
BROMOS: ONE REMEDY.
Bromos is the seed also of a plant which bears an ear. It is a kind of oat which grows among corn, to which it is injurious; the leaves and stalk of it resemble those of wheat, and at the extremity it bears seeds, hanging down, something like small locusts in appearance. The seed of this plant is useful for plasters, like barley and other grain of a similar nature. A decoction of it is good for coughs.
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CHAP. 80.
OROBANCHE, OR CYNOMORION: ONE REMEDY.
We have mentioned orobanche as the name of a plant which kills the fitch and other leguminous plants. Some persons have called it “cynomorion,” from the resemblance which it bears to the genitals of a dog. The stem of it is leafless, thick, and red. It is eaten either raw, or boiled in the saucepan, while young and tender.
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CHAP. 81.
REMEDIES FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY INSECTS WHICH BREED AMONG LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.
There are some venomous insects also, of the solipuga kind, which breed upon leguminous plants, and which, by stinging the hands, endanger life. For these stings all those remedies are efficacious which have been mentioned for the bite of the spider and the phalangium. Such, then, are the medicinal properties for which the cereals are employed.
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CHAP. 82.
THE USE MADE OF THE YEAST OF ZYTHUM.
Different beverages, too, are made from the cereals, zythum in Egypt, cælia and cerea in Spain, cervesia and numerous liquors in Gaul and other provinces. The yeast of all of these is used by women as a cosmetic for the face. — But as we are now speaking of beverages, it will be the best plan to pass on to the various uses of wine, and to make a beginning with the vine of our account of the medicinal properties of the trees.
Summary. — Remedies, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and six.
Authors quoted. — All those mentioned in the preceding Book: and, in addition to them, Chrysermus, Eratosthenes, and Alcæus.
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BOOK XXIII. THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CULTIVATED TREES.
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CHAP. 1. (1.)
INTRODUCTION.
We have now set forth the various properties, medicinal or otherwise, as well of the cereals as of the other productions which lie upon the surface of the earth, for the purpose either of serving us for food, or for the gratification of our senses with their flowers or perfumes. In the trees, however, Pomona has entered the lists with them, and has imparted certain medicinal properties to the fruits as they hang. Not content with protecting and nourishing, under the shadow of the trees, the various plants which we have already described, she would even appear to be indignant, as it were, at the thought that we should derive more succour from those productions which are further removed from the canopy of heaven, and which have only come into use in times comparatively recent. For she bids man bear in mind that it was the fruits of the trees which formed his first nourishment, and that it was these which first led him to look upwards towards the heavens: and not only this, but she reminds him, too, that even still it is quite possible for him to derive his aliment from the trees, without being indebted to grain for his subsistence.
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CHAP. 2.
THE VINE.
But, by Hercules! it is the vine more particularly to which she has accorded these medicinal properties, as though she were not contented with her generosity in providing it with such delicious flavours, and perfumes, and essences, in its omphacium, its œnanthe, and its massaris, preparations upon which we have already enlarged. “It is to me,” she says, “that man is indebted for the greater part of his enjoyments, it is I that produce for him the flowing wine and the trickling oil, it is I that ripen the date and other fruits in numbers so varied; and all this, not insisting, like the earth, on their purchase at the cost of fatigues and labours. No necessity do I create for ploughing with the aid of oxen, for beating out upon the threshing-floor, or for bruising under the millstone, and all in order that man may earn his food at some indefinite time by this vast expenditure of toil. As for me, all my gifts are presented to him ready prepared: for no anxieties or flatigues do they call, but, on the contrary, they offer them- selves spontaneously, and even fall to the ground, if man should be too indolent to reach them as they hang.” Vying even with herself, Pomona has done still more for our practical advantage than for the mere gratification of our pleasures and caprices.
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CHAP. 3.
THE LEAVES AND SHOOTS OF THE VINE: SEVEN REMEDIES.
The leaves and shoots of the vine, employed with polenta, allay head-ache and reduce inflammations: the leaves, too, applied by themselves with cold water, are good for burning pains in the stomach; and, used with barley-meal, are excellent applications for diseases of the joints. The shoots, beaten up and applied, have the property of drying up all kinds of running tumours, and the juice extracted from them is used as an injection for the cure of dysentery. The tears of the vine, which would appear to be a sort of gum, will heal leproussores, lichens, and itch-scabs, if treated first with nitre: used with oil, and applied frequently to superfluous hairs, they act as a depilatory, those more particularly which exude from the vine when burnt in a green state: this last liquid has the effect, too, of removing warts. An infusion of the shoots in water, taken in drink, is good for persons troubled with spitting of blood, and for the fainting fits which sometimes ensue upon conception.
The bark of the vine and the dried leaves arrest the flowing of blood from wounds, and make the sores cicatrize more rapidly. The juice of the white vine, extracted from it while green, effectually removes cutaneous eruptions. The ashes of the cuttings of vines, and of the husks of the grapes, ap- plied with vinegar, are curative of condylomata and diseases of the fundament; as also of sprains, burns, and swellings of the spleen, applied with rose-oil, rue, and vinegar. Used with wine, but without oil, they make a fomentation for erysipelas and parts of the body which are chafed; they act as a depilatory also. For affections of the spleen the ashes of vine- cuttings, moistened with vinegar, are administered in drink, being taken in doses of two cyathi in warm water; after which the patient must take due care to lie upon the side in which the spleen is situate.
The tendrils, too, which the vine throws out as it climbs, beaten up in water and drunk, have the effect of arresting habitual vomiting. The ashes of the vine, used with stale axle-grease, are good for tumours, act as a detergent upon fistulas, and speedily effect a radical cure; the same, too, with pains and contractions of the sinews, occasioned by cold. Applied with oil, they are useful for contusions, and with vinegar and nitre, for fleshy excrescences upon the bones: in combination with oil, they are good, too, for wounds inflicted by scorpions and dogs. The ashes of the bark, employed by themselves, restore the hair to such parts of the body as have suffered from the action of fire.
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CHAP. 4.
OMPHACIUM EXTRACTED FROM THE VINE: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.
We have already mentioned, when speaking of the composition of unguents, how omphacium is made from the grape, when it is just beginning to form: we shall now proceed to speak of its medicinal properties. Omphacium heals ulcerations of the humid parts of the body, such as the mouth, tonsillary glands, and generative organs, for example; it is very good, too, for the sight, for rough spots upon the eyelids, ulcers at the corners of the eyes, films upon the eyes, running sores on all parts of the body, cicatrizations slow in forming, and purulent discharges from the ears. The powerful action of omphacium is modified by the admixture of honey or raisin wine. It is very useful, too, for dysentery, spitting of blood, and quinsy.
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CHAP. 5.
ŒNANTHE: TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES.
Next to omphacium comes œnanthe, a product of the wild vine, described by us already when treating of the unguents. The most esteemed kind is that of Syria, the produce of the white vine in the vicinity of the mountains of Antiochia and Laodicea in particular. Being of a cooling, astringent nature, it is used for sprinkling upon sores, and is employed as a topical application for diseases of the stomach. It acts also as a diuretic, and is good for maladies of the liver, head-ache, dysentery, cœliac affections, and attacks of cholera: for nausea, it is taken in doses of one obolus in vinegar. It acts as a desiccative upon running eruptions of the head, and is extremely efficacious for maladies of the humid parts of the body; hence it is that it is employed, with honey and saffron, for ulcers of the mouth, and for diseases of the generative organs and the fundament. It arrests looseness of the bowels, and heals erup- tions of the eyelids and runnings at the eyes: taken with wine, it cures derangements of the stomach, and with cold water, spitting of blood.
The ashes of œnanthe are highly esteemed as an ingredient in eye-salves, and as a detergent for ulcers, whitlows, and hang-nails; to obtain these ashes, it is put into an oven, and left there till the bread is thoroughly baked.
As to massaris, it is used as a perfume only. The renown attached to all these preparations is due solely to the innate greediness of mankind, which has racked its invention to gather the productions of the earth before they have arrived at maturity.
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CHAP. 6.
GRAPES, FRESH GATHERED.
As to grapes when allowed to gain maturity, the black ones have more marked properties than the others; and hence it is, that the wine made from them is not so agreeable. The white grapes, on the other hand, are sweeter, for, being transparent, the air penetrates them with greater facility.
Grapes fresh gathered are productive of flatulency, and disturb the stomach and bowels; hence it is that they are avoided in fevers, in large quantities more particularly. Indeed, they are very apt to produce oppression of the head, and to bring on the malady known as lethargy. Grapes which have been gathered, and left to hang for some time, are much less injurious, the exposure to the air rendering them beneficial even to the stomach, and refreshing to the patient, as they are slight
ly cooling, and tend to remove nausea and qualmishness.
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CHAP. 7.
VARIOUS KINDS OF PRESERVED GRAPES: ELEVEN REMEDIES.
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