CHAP. 34. (3.)—THE LEAVES OF THE OLIVE: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.
The next rank, after the vine, clearly belongs to the olive. The leaves of the olive-tree are astringent,[2978] detergent, and binding in the highest degree. Chewed and applied to sores, they are of a healing nature; and applied topically with oil, they are good for head-ache. A decoction of them with honey makes a good liniment for such parts of the body as have been subjected to cauterization, as also for inflammations of the gums, whitlows, and foul and putrid ulcers: combined with honey, they arrest discharges of blood from the nervous[2979] parts of the a body. The juice of olive leaves is efficacious for carbuncular ulcers and pustules about the eyes, and for procidence of the pupil; hence it is much employed in the composition of eye-salves, having the additional property of healing inveterate runnings of the eyes, and ulcerations of the eyelids.
This juice is extracted by pouring wine and rain-water upon the leaves, and then pounding them; after which the pulp is dried and divided into lozenges. Used with wool, as a pessary, this preparation arrests menstruation when in excess, and is very useful for the treatment of purulent sores, condylomata, erysipelas, spreading ulcers, and epinyctis.