It is generally stated that asarum[2309] is good for affections of the liver, taken in doses of one ounce to a semisextarius of honied wine mixed with water. It purges the bowels like hellebore, and is good for dropsy and affections of the thoracic organs and uterus, as also for jaundice. When mixed with must, it makes a wine with strongly diuretic qualities. It is taken up as soon as it begins to put forth its leaves, and is dried in the shade. It is apt however to turn mouldy very speedily.
CHAP. 79. (20.)—EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM GALLIC NARD.
Some authors, as we have already[2310] stated, having given the name of “field nard” to the root of the bacchar, we will here mention the medicinal properties of Gallic nard, of which we have[2311] already spoken, when treating of the foreign trees, deferring further notice of it till the present occasion. In doses of two drachmæ, taken in wine, it is good for the stings of serpents; and taken in water or in wine it is employed for inflations of the colon, maladies of the liver or kidneys, and suffusions of the gall. Employed by itself or in combination with wormwood it is good for dropsy. It has the property, also, of arresting excessive discharges of the catamenia.
CHAP. 80.—FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE PLANT CALLED “PHU.”
The root of the plant which we have mentioned in the same place under the name of “phu,”[2312] is given in drink, either bruised or boiled, in cases of hysterical suffocation, and for pains of the chest or sides. It acts as an emmenagogue, and is generally taken in wine.
CHAP. 81.—TWENTY REMEDIES DERIVED FROM SAFFRON.
Saffron does not blend well with honey, or, indeed, with any sweet substance, though very readily with wine or water: it is extremely useful in medicine, and is generally kept in horn boxes. Applied with egg it disperses all kinds of inflammation, those of the eyes in particular: it is employed also for hysterical suffocations, and for ulcerations of the stomach, chest, kidneys, liver, lungs, and bladder. It is particularly useful also in cases of inflammation of those parts, and for cough and pleurisy. It likewise removes itching[2313] sensations, and acts as a diuretic. Persons who have used the precaution of first taking saffron in drink will never experience surfeit or head-ache, and will be proof against inebriation. Chaplets too, made of saffron, and worn on the head, tend to dispel the fumes of wine. The flower of it is employed topically with Cimolian[2314] chalk for erysipelas. It is used also in the composition of numerous other medicaments.
CHAP. 82.—SYRIAN CROCOMAGNA: TWO REMEDIES.
There is also an eye-salve[2315] which is indebted to this plant for its name. The lees[2316] of the extract of saffron, employed in the saffron unguent known as “crocomagma,” have their own peculiar utility in cases of cataract and strangury. These lees are of a more warming nature than saffron itself; the best kind is that which, when put into the mouth, stains the teeth and saliva the colour of saffron.