[117] "To viii. days" has been omitted.
[118] Some confusion, which is still common, between eczema from various causes, and true parasitic mange or scabies.
[119] G. de F. (p. 91) adds: "et est vermeille et saute d'un lieu en autre."
[120] In the Shirley MS. the words are added: "to(o) hye plyte, " i.e. too high condition. G. de F. (p. 91) adds "gresse."
[121] Ireos, Eng. Iris. This word is also constantly recurring in old household books. Aniseed and orris powder were placed among linen to preserve it from insects. In Edward IV.'s Wardrobe Accounts we read of bags of fustian stuffed with anneys and ireos.
[122] Pterygium, name for the "sickness" in the eyes of hounds which our MS. describes as a "web coming upon them." It is called pterygium from its resemblance to an insect's wing; is an hypertrophy of the conjunctiva or lining membrane of the eye, due to irritation; it extends from the inner angle to the cornea, which it may cover: the treatment is excision. The cure for "the nail" mentioned in our MS. of hanging a collar of elm leaves round the dog is taken by G. de F. (p. 92) from Roy Modus xliv., where it is given without the saving clause "Mès cela est bien petit remède."
[123] Celandine, Chalidonium Majus, from χελιδων, a swallow. The name was derived from the tradition that swallows used it to open the eyes of their young or to restore their sight. Has a yellow flower and an acrid, bitter, orange juice. Internally an irritant poison. Infusions in wine used by Galen and Bioscorides for jaundice, probably from the colour of the juice and flowers. Externally the juice was much used for wounds, ulcers, ophthalmic cases, and for the removal of warts. The Old French name for this plant was herbe d'arondelles (hirondelles).
[124] Shirley MS. has "foussye," G. de F. (p. 92) "de la poudre de la tutie," oxide of zinc.
[125] Shirley MS. adds: "that be marshals for horses."
[126] Estoracis calamita, G. de F., p. 93. Lavallée appends the note: "Storax et Styrax calamita." Storax, a resin resembling benzoin, was in high esteem from the time of Pliny to the eighteenth century. It was obtained from the stem of Styrax officinalis, a native of Greece and the Levant. In our MS. four other ingredients mentioned by G. de F. have been left out, but the Shirley MS. gives them: "and oyle of Kamamyle and of Mallyor of aushes and of calamynt," i.e. oil of camomile, melilot (Meliters), rosemary, thymus calamita, a species of balm. Possibly this is a mint called Calaminta nepeta, a plant formerly much used in medicine as a gentle stimulant and tonic. Melilot, a genus of clover-like plants of the natural order of Leguminose.