Sapa[2962] has a close affinity with wine, being nothing else but must boiled down to one third: that which is prepared from white must is the best. It is used medicinally in cases of injuries inflicted by cantharides, the buprestis,[2963] the pine caterpillars known as pityocampæ,[2964] salamanders, and all venomous bites and stings. Taken with onions it has the effect of bringing away the dead fœtus and the after-birth. According to Fabianus, it acts as a poison, if taken by a person fasting, immediately after the bath.[2965]
CHAP. 31.—LEES OF WINE: TWELVE REMEDIES.
Next in the natural order come the lees of these several liquids. The lees of[2966] wine are so extremely powerful as to prove fatal to persons on descending into the vats.[2967] The proper precaution for preventing this, is to let down a light first, which so long as it refuses to burn, is significant of danger. Wine-lees, in an unrinsed[2968] state, form an ingredient in several medicinal preparations: with an equal proportion of iris,[2969] a liniment is prepared from them for purulent eruptions; and, either moist or dried, they are used for stings inflicted by the phalangium, and for inflammations[2970] of the testes, mamillæ, or other parts of the body. A decoction of wine-lees is prepared, too, with barley-meal and powdered frankincense; after which it is first parched and then dried. The test of its being properly boiled, is its imparting, when cold, a burning sensation to the tongue. When left exposed to the air, wine-lees very rapidly lose their virtues; which, on the other hand, are greatly heightened by the action of fire.
Wine-lees are very useful, too, boiled with figs, for the cure of lichens and cutaneous eruptions; they are applied also in a similar manner to leprous sores and running ulcers. Taken in drink, they act as an antidote to the poison of fungi, and more particularly if they are undiluted; boiled and then rinsed, they are used in preparations for the eyes. They are employed also topically for diseases of the testes and generative organs, and are taken in wine for strangury. When wine-lees have lost their strength, they are still useful for cleansing the body and scouring clothes, in which case they act as a substitute for gum acacia.[2971]
CHAP. 32.—LEES OF VINEGAR: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.
The lees of vinegar,[2972] as a matter of course, considering the material from which they are derived, are much more acrid than those of wine, and more caustic in their effects. This substance prevents the increase of suppuration, and, employed topically, is good for the stomach, intestines, and regions of the abdomen. It has the property also of arresting fluxes of those parts, and the catamenia when in excess; it disperses inflamed tumours which have not come to a head, and is a cure for quinsy. Applied with wax, it is curative of erysipelas. It reduces swellings of the mamillæ when gorged with milk, and removes malformed nails. Employed with polenta, it is very efficacious for the cure of stings inflicted by the serpent called cerastes;[2973] and in combination with melanthium,[2974] it heals bites inflicted by crocodiles and dogs.
Vinegar lees, too, by being subjected to the action of fire, acquire additional strength.[2975] Mixed in this state with oil of mastich, and applied to the hair, they turn[2976] it red in a single night. Applied with water in linen, as a pessary, they act as a detergent upon the uterus.
CHAP. 33.—LEES OF SAPA: FOUR REMEDIES.
The lees[2977] of sapa are used for the cure of burns, it being the best plan to employ with them the down that grows on the reed; a decoction too, of these lees, is good for the cure of an inveterate cough. They are boiled also in a saucepan with salt and grease as an ointment for tumours of the jaws and neck.