Nep[1577] has also some affinity in its effects with pennyroyal. Boiled down in water to one third, these plants dispel sudden chills: they promote the menstrual discharge also in females, and allay excessive heats in summer. Nep possesses certain virtues against the stings of serpents; at the very smoke and smell of it they will instantly take to flight, and persons who have to sleep in places where they are apprehensive of them, will do well to place it beneath them. Bruised, it is employed topically for lacrymal fistulas[1578] of the eye: fresh gathered and mixed in vinegar with one third part of bread, it is applied as a liniment for head-ache. The juice of it, injected into the nostrils, with the head thrown back, arrests bleeding at the nose, and the root has a similar effect. This last is employed also, with myrtle-seed, in warm raisin wine, as a gargle for the cure of quinsy.
CHAP. 57.—CUMMIN: FORTY-EIGHT REMEDIES. WILD CUMMIN: TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.
Wild cummin is a remarkably slender plant, consisting of four or five leaves indented like a saw; like the cultivated[1579] kind, it is much employed in medicine, among the stomachic remedies more particularly. Bruised and taken with bread, or else drunk in wine and water, it dispels phlegm and flatulency, as well as gripings of the bowels and pains in the intestines. Both varieties have the effect, however, of producing paleness[1580] in those who drink these mixtures; at all events, it is generally stated that the disciples of Porcius Latro,[1581] so celebrated among the professors of eloquence, used to employ this drink for the purpose of imitating the paleness which had been contracted by their master, through the intensity of his studies: and that Julius Vindex,[1582] in more recent times, that assertor of our liberties against Nero, adopted this method of playing upon[1583] those who were looking out for a place in his will. Applied in the form of lozenges, or fresh with vinegar, cummin has the effect of arresting bleeding at the nose, and used by itself, it is good for defluxions of the eyes. Combined with honey, it is used also for swellings of the eyes. With children of tender age, it is sufficient to apply it to the abdomen. In cases of jaundice, it is administered in white wine, immediately after taking the bath.
(15.) The cummin of Æthiopia,[1584] more particularly, is given in vinegar and water, or else as an electuary with honey. It is thought, too, that the cummin of Africa has the peculiar property of arresting incontinence of urine. The cultivated plant is given, parched and beaten up in vinegar, for affections of the liver, as also for vertigo. Beaten up in sweet wine, it is taken in cases, also, where the urine is too acrid; and for affections of the uterus, it is administered in wine, the leaves of it being employed topically as well, in layers of wool. Parched and beaten up with honey, it is used as an application for swellings of the testes, or else with rose oil and wax.
For all the purposes above-mentioned, wild cummin[1585] is more efficacious than cultivated; as also, in combination with oil, for the stings of serpents, scorpions, and scolopendræ. A pinch of it with three fingers, taken in wine, has the effect of arresting vomiting and nausea; it is used, too, both as a drink and a liniment for the colic, or else it is applied hot, in dossils of lint,[1586] to the part affected, bandages being employed to keep it in its place. Taken in wine, it dispels hysterical affections, the proportions being three drachmæ of cummin to three cyathi of wine. It is used as an injection, too, for the ears, when affected with tingling and singing, being mixed for the purpose with veal suet or honey. For contusions, it is applied as a liniment, with honey, raisins, and vinegar, and for dark freckles on the skin with vinegar.
CHAP. 58.—AMMI: TEN REMEDIES.
There is another plant, which bears a very strong resemblance to cummin, known to the Greeks as “ammi;”[1587] some persons are of opinion, that it is the same as the Æthiopian cummin. Hippocrates gives it[1588] the epithet of “royal;” no doubt, because he looks upon it as possessed of greater virtues than Egyptian cummin. Many persons, however, consider it to be of a totally different nature from cummin, as it is so very much thinner, and of a much whiter colour. Still, it is employed for just the same purposes as cummin, for we find it used at Alexandria for putting under loaves of bread, and forming an ingredient in various sauces. It has the effect of dispelling flatulency and gripings of the bowels, and of promoting the secretion of the urine and the menstrual discharge. It is employed, also, for the cure of bruises, and to assuage defluxions of the eyes. Taken in wine with linseed, in doses of two drachmæ, it is a cure for the stings of scorpions; and, used with an equal proportion of myrrh, it is particularly good for the bite of the cerastes.[1589]
Like cummin, too, it imparts paleness of complexion to those who drink of it. Used as a fumigation, with raisins or with resin, it acts as a purgative upon the uterus. It is said, too, that if women smell at this plant during the sexual congress, the chances of conception will be greatly promoted thereby.
CHAP. 59.—THE CAPPARIS OR CAPER: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
We have already spoken[1590] of the caper at sufficient length when treating of the exotic plants. The caper which comes[1591] from beyond sea should never be used; that of Italy[1592] is not so dangerous. It is said, that persons who eat this plant daily, are never attacked by paralysis or pains in the spleen. The root of it, pounded, removes white eruptions of the skin, if rubbed with it in the sun. The bark[1593] of the root, taken in wine, in doses of two drachmæ, is good for affections of the spleen; the patient, however, must forego the use of the bath. It is said, too, that in the course of thirty-five days the whole of the spleen may be discharged under this treatment, by urine and by stool. The caper is also taken in drink for lumbago and paralysis; and the seed of it boiled, and beaten up in vinegar, or the root chewed, has a soothing effect in tooth-ache. A decoction of it in oil is employed, also, as an injection for ear-ache.