Οἶνος,
Vinum, Wine, belongs to the second order of heating and desiccative medicines. But that which is considerably old belongs to the third, and the sweet wine to the first.
Commentary. We have treated fully of the ancient Wines in [Book I]. For an ample enumeration of their medicinal properties, the reader is particularly referred to Pliny (H. N. xxxiii, 19 et seq.), and to Dioscorides (v, 1-16.) It being out of place for us to give a long commentary under this head, we shall merely give a succinct exposition of it from Aëtius. Wine, he says, is of the second class of calefacients; but that which is moderately old, is of the third; as in like manner the new and sweet is of the first. Their dryness is analogous to their heat. Since we find many varieties in wine, we shall describe them as briefly as we can. Of all wines, then, those which are at the same time red and thick are the most suited for the formation of blood, requiring but little change in order to be converted into blood. Next in order to these are such as are dark, sweet, and thick at the same time; then those which in colour are red and black, in consistency thick, and have some acid quality at the same time. Less than these are the white, thick, and austere, in regard to nutritive powers. But of all others the least nutritious are those which are white in colour and thin in consistency, being in so far like to water. But the sweet are sooner digested and more readily diffused over the system than the austere, being of a more heating nature, and they are more laxative of the bowels. But those which are very thick are more slowly digested and more slowly distributed; but when the stomach is strong so as to digest them properly, they furnish more food to the body than any other; and it is clear that they bind the bowels and are not of a diuretic nature, engendering a thick humour in some. And some from them have obstructions of the liver, spleen, or kidneys, and hence those become affected with dropsy or calculus who use them much, and especially old men. But of all wines, the best, and best fitted for persons in good health, and to those who are convalescent from diseases, is that which is red in colour, thin in consistence, and gently astringent. (i.)
Ὄισυπος,
Œsypum, Unscoured Wool, is treated of under wool.
Commentary. The Œsypum was the sordes collected from wool. It was used medicinally in the Hippocratic age (De Morb. Mulier. ii), and continued to hold a place in the Materia Medica down to a late date. See Rutty’s Mat. Med. (357.) It would appear, from Dioscorides’s description of the mode of preparing it, that it was the scum collected on the surface of water by boiling wool in it. (ii, 66.) See also Pliny (H. N. xxix, 2.) The ancients used it frequently in the practice of medicine. See in particular Dioscorides (l. c.) and Avicenna (ii, 2, 355.)
Ὄλυνθοι,
Grossi Ficulnei, Green Figs, are possessed of acrid and discutient powers, owing to the juice which is in them. When boiled, therefore, they discuss hard swellings; but when raw they remove myrmecia and thymi.
Commentary. They are the unripe fruit of the fig tree. Dioscorides and most of the ancient authorities recommend them as a stimulant application to various tumours. Our author’s account of them is abridged from Dioscorides, who further recommends them in a cataplasm with salts and vinegar for achores, furfures, and epinyctis, and as an application to the bites of mad dogs. (i, 185.) They are the Grossi Ficulnei of the Arabians, who treat of them under the general head of figs. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 276.)