CHAP. 36.—THE JUNIPER: TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES.
The juniper is of a warming and resolvent nature beyond all other plants: in other respects, it resembles the cedar.[155] There are two species of this tree, also, one of which is larger[156] than the other:[157] the odour of either, burnt, repels the approach of serpents.[158] The seed[159] is good for pains in the stomach, chest, and sides; it dispels flatulency and sudden chills, soothes cough, and brings indurations to a head. Applied topically, it checks the growth of tumours; and the berries, taken in red wine, act astringently upon the bowels: they are applied also to tumours of the abdomen. The seed is used as an ingredient in antidotes of an aperient nature, and is diuretic[160] in its effects. It is used as a liniment for defluxions of the eyes, and is prescribed for convulsions, ruptures griping pains in the bowels, affections of the uterus, and sciatica, either in a dose of four berries in white wine, or in the form of a decoction of twenty berries in wine.
There are persons who rub the body with juniper berries as a preventive of the attacks of serpents.