The leaves of the Delphic laurel[3196] bruised and applied to the nostrils from time to time, are a preservative[3197] against contagion in pestilence, and more particularly if they are burnt. The oil of the[3198] Delphic laurel is employed in the preparation of cerates and the medicinal composition known as “acopum,”[3199] and is used for fits of shivering occasioned by cold, for the relaxation of the sinews, and for the cure of pains in the side and the cold attacks in fevers.[3200] Warmed in the rind of a pomegranate, it is applied topically for the cure of ear-ache. A decoction of the leaves boiled down in water to one third, used as a gargle, braces the uvula, and taken in drink allays pains in the bowels and intestines. The more tender leaves, bruised in wine and applied at night, are a cure for pimples and prurigo.
The other varieties of the laurel possess properties which are nearly analogous. The root of the laurel of Alexandria,[3201] or of Mount Ida,[3202] accelerates delivery, being administered in doses of three denarii to three cyathi of sweet wine; it acts also as an emmenagogue, and brings away the after-birth. Taken in drink in a similar manner, the wild laurel, known as “daphnoides” and by the other names which we have mentioned,[3203] is productive of beneficial effects. The leaves of it, either fresh or dried, taken in doses of three drachmæ, in hydromel with salt, act as a purgative[3204] upon the bowels. The wood, chewed, brings off phlegm, and the leaves act as an “emetic;” they are unwholesome, however, to the stomach. The berries, too, are sometimes taken, fifteen in number, as a purgative.
CHAP. 81.—MYRTLE; SIXTY OBSERVATIONS UPON IT.
The white[3205] cultivated myrtle is employed for fewer medicinal purposes than the black one.[3206] The berries[3207] of it are good for spitting of blood, and taken in wine, they neutralize the poison of fungi. They impart an agreeable smell[3208] to the breath, even when eaten the day before; thus, for instance, in Menander we find the Synaristosæ[3209] eating them. They are taken also for dysentery,[3210] in doses of one denarius, in wine: and they are employed lukewarm, in wine, for the cure of obstinate ulcers on the extremities. Mixed with polenta, they are employed topically in ophthalmia, and for the cardiac disease[3211] they are applied to the left breast. For stings inflicted by scorpions, diseases of the bladder, head-ache, and fistulas of the eye before suppuration, they are similarly employed; and for tumours and pituitous eruptions, the kernels are first removed and the berries are then pounded in old wine. The juice of the berries[3212] acts astringently upon the bowels, and is diuretic: mixed with cerate it is applied topically to blisters, pituitous eruptions, and wounds inflicted by the phalangium; it imparts a black tint,[3213] also, to the hair.
The oil of this myrtle is of a more soothing nature than the juice, and the wine[3214] which is extracted from it, and which possesses the property of never inebriating, is even more so. This wine, used when old, acts astringently upon the stomach and bowels, cures griping pains in those regions, and dispels nausea.
The dried leaves, powdered and sprinkled upon the body, check profuse perspirations, in fever even; they are good, too, used as a fomentation, for cœliac affections, procidence of the uterus, diseases of the fundament, running ulcers, erysipelas, loss of the hair, scaly and other eruptions, and burns. This powder is used as an ingredient, also, in the plasters known as “liparæ;”[3215] and for the same reason the oil of the leaves is used for a similar purpose, being extremely efficacious as an application to the humid parts of the body, the mouth and the uterus, for example.
The leaves themselves, beaten up with wine, neutralize[3216] the bad effects of fungi; and they are employed, in combination with wax, for diseases of the joints, and gatherings. A decoction of them, in wine, is taken for dysentery and dropsy. Dried and reduced to powder, they are sprinkled upon ulcers and hæmorrhages. They are useful, also, for the removal of freckles, and for the cure of hang-nails,[3217] whitlows, condylomata, affections of the testes, and sordid ulcers. In combination with cerate, they are used for burns.
For purulent discharges from the ears, the ashes of the leaves are employed, as well as the juice and the decoction: the ashes are also used in the composition of antidotes. For a similar purpose the blossoms are stripped from off the young branches, which are burnt in a furnace, and then pounded in wine. The ashes of the leaves, too, are used for the cure of burns. To prevent ulcerations from causing swellings in the inguinal glands, it will suffice for the patient to carry[3218] a sprig of myrtle about him which has never touched the ground or any implement of iron.