CHAP. 56.—CITRONS: FIVE OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM.
Citrons,[3071] either the pulp of them or the pips, are taken in wine as an antidote to poisons. A decoction of citrons, or the juice extracted from them, is used as a gargle to impart sweetness to the breath.[3072] The pips of this fruit are recommended for pregnant women to chew when affected with qualmishness. Citrons are good, also, for a weak stomach, but it is not easy to eat them except with vinegar.[3073]
CHAP. 57.—PUNIC APPLES OR POMEGRANATES: TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.
It would be a mere loss of time to recapitulate the nine[3074] different varieties of the pomegranate. The sweet pomegranates, or, in other words, those known by the name of “apyrena,”[3075] are generally considered to be injurious to the stomach; they are productive, also, of flatulency, and are bad for the teeth and gums. The kind which closely resembles the last in flavour, and which we have spoken of as the “vinous” pomegranate, has very diminutive pips, and is thought to be somewhat more wholesome than the others. They have an astringent effect upon the stomach and bowels, provided they are taken in moderation, and not to satiety; but even these, or, indeed, any other kind, should never be given in fevers, as neither the substance nor the juice of the fruit acts otherwise than injuriously under those circumstances. They should, also, be equally[3076] abstained from in cases of vomiting and bilious evacuations.
In this fruit Nature has revealed to us a grape, and, so to say, not must, but a wine ready made, both grape and wine being enclosed in a tougher skin.[3077] The rind of the sour pomegranate is employed for many purposes. It is in very common use with curriers for tanning[3078] leather, from which circumstance it has received the name of “malicorium.”[3079] Medical men assure us that the rind is diuretic, and that, boiled with nut-galls in vinegar, it strengthens loose teeth in the sockets. It is prescribed also for pregnant women when suffering from qualmishness, the flavour of it quickening the fœtus. A pomegranate is cut, and left to soak in rain-water for some three days; after which the infusion is given cold to persons suffering from cœliac affections and spitting of blood.
CHAP. 58.—THE COMPOSITION CALLED STOMATICE: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.
With the sour pomegranate a medicament is made, which is known as “stomatice,” and is extremely good for affections of the mouth, nostrils, and ears, dimness of sight, films upon the eyes,[3080] diseases of the generative organs, corrosive sores called “nomæ,” and fleshy excrescences in ulcers; it is useful, also, as an antidote to the venom of the sea-hare.[3081] The following is the method of making it: the rind is taken off the fruit, and the pips are pounded, after which the juice is boiled down to one-third, and then mixed with saffron, split alum,[3082] myrrh, and Attic honey, the proportions being half a pound of each.
Some persons have another way of making it: a number of sour pomegranates are pounded, after which the juice is boiled down in a new cauldron to the consistency of honey. This composition is used for various affections of the generative organs and fundament, and, indeed, all those diseases which are treated with lycium.[3083] It is employed, also, for the cure of purulent discharges from the ears, incipient defluxions of the eyes, and red spots upon the hands. Branches of the pomegranate have the effect of repelling the attacks of serpents.[3084] Pomegranate rind, boiled in wine and applied, is a cure for chilblains. A pomegranate, boiled down to one-third in three heminæ of wine, is a cure for griping pains in the bowels and for tape-worm.[3085] A pomegranate, put in a new earthen pot tightly covered and burnt in a furnace, and then pounded and taken in wine, arrests looseness of the bowels, and dispels griping pains in the stomach.