Ovum, An Egg; the white and thin part is free from all pungency, being moderately cooling. It is to be used for the eyes, ulcers in the pudendum, and all ill-conditioned ulcers. It is also mixed up with the medicines which form styptic plasters. And the yelk of an egg being possessed of similar powers, is mixed up with anti-inflammatory remedies. When roasted it becomes more desiccative but less soothing. If a whole egg be boiled in vinegar, and eaten, it dries up alvine fluxes. But if, having received the addition of some sour substances, such as galls, sumach, or the flowers of the wild pomegranate, it be fried, it becomes considerably more drastic. A whole egg applied raw immediately relieves burns. When taken in a supping state, it concocts and soothes affections in the chest, and proves demulcent for asperities of the trachea. New eggs are to be preferred to old, and those of hens to the eggs of all other animals.
Commentary. Galen gives, in his usual copious and elegant style, a somewhat lengthy dissertation on the medicinal properties of eggs, but the narrow limits to which we are necessarily restricted, prevent us from transferring the substance of it to our pages, although it contains much that is highly interesting. (De Simpl. xi.) Galen recommends eggs for various medicinal purposes; and in particular he says that wool dipped in the white of an egg proves a serviceable application to burns. Dioscorides states their virtues more briefly, and to him our author is more particularly indebted. (ii, 54, 55.) He recommends the white of an egg in a tepid state for severe pains of the bladder and ulceration of the kidneys, roughness of the windpipe, vomiting of blood, catarrhs, and defluxions of the chest. Pliny, Dioscorides, and Sextus Platonicus say that eggs pounded with oil form an excellent application in cases of erysipelas, the leaves of beet being laid on the place. Pliny and Dioscorides recommend them for affections of the eyes. Avicenna recommends the white of an egg with melilot in ulcers of the intestines. He says eggs boiled in vinegar are useful in diarrhœa and dysentery. He recommends a suppository of the albumen of an egg in prolapsus ani, and other affections of the fundament. Like the preceding authorities he speaks favorably of it as an application to the eyes. (ii, 2, 520.) See also Ebn Baithar (i, 193); Serapion (c. 446); Rhases (Ad Mansor.; Antid. iv.)
Ὤκιμον,
Ocimum, Basil, belongs to the second order of calefacients, and has also some recrementitious humidity, hence it is of no use when taken internally; but when applied externally, it is discutient and digestive.
Commentary. It most probably is the Ocimum Basilicum. Dioscorides not only recommends it for many medicinal purposes externally, but also says of it that it loosens the bowels, is carminative, diuretic, and creates milk, but is of difficult digestion; the seed, he adds, when taken in a draught, is beneficial in melancholy, dysuria, and flatulence, and it is also sternutatory. (ii, 170.) Our author follows Galen very closely. Aëtius also condemns the internal administration of basil, but praises highly a decoction of it as a fomentation to the eyes, and particularly those of children. Oribasius as usual follows Dioscorides, and, therefore, like him approves of the internal use of it. It occurs in the works both of Hippocrates and Celsus, the latter of whom says of it that it moves the bowels, and is diuretic. (ii, 29, 31.) The Arabians treat of it still more fully than the Greeks. Avicenna says it is a cordial medicine, that it generally binds the bowels, but also moves them, if there be humours in them, that it is useful in hæmoptysis and in difficulty of breathing. (ii, 2, 101.) See also Serapion (c. 167); Ebn Baithar (i, 110); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. ii, 121.) The basil held a place in our English dispensatory down to the times of Quincy and Lewis. It holds a place in the modern Greek Pharmacopœia, where it is stated that it is indigenous in Persia, and only cultivated in gardens in Greece. (p. 27.)
Ὠκιμοειδὲς,
Ocimoides, which some call Philetærium. Its root is useless, but the seed is composed of subtile matter, and is desiccative without pungency.
Commentary. Matthiolus held it to be a species of lychnis, but this opinion is rejected by Dodonæus. Sprengel agrees with Lobelius and Dalecampius in referring it to the Saponaria ocimoides. This is one of the most disputed articles of the ancient Mat. Med. Of the conjectures which have been made respecting it, the most probable then is that it was either a species of Lychnis or Saponaria. See Parkinson (Theatre of Plants, 630, 760.) We are disposed to acquiesce in opinion with those who hold it to be the Saponaria ocimoides. Dioscorides says of it, that its seed when drunk in wine is calculated to benefit those who have been stung by scorpions, and is useful for the bites of all other kinds of reptiles, and that it is given in sciatica with myrrh and pepper. (iv, 28.) Galen states its character in nearly the same terms as our author. It is not described by Aëtius, by Hippocrates or Celsus, nor, as far as we can discover, by any of the Arabians, with the exception of Ebn Baithar, whose notice of it is entirely made up from Dioscorides and Galen. (i, 93.) It has been long unknown to our Dispensatory, and does not occur in the Pharmacopœia of the modern Greeks.