Mustard, of which we have mentioned[1718] three different kinds, when speaking of the garden herbs, is ranked by Pythagoras among the very first of those plants the pungency of which mounts upwards; for there is none to be found more penetrating to the brain and nostrils.
Pounded with vinegar, mustard is employed as a liniment for the stings of serpents and scorpions, and it effectually neutralizes the poisonous properties of fungi. To cure an immoderate secretion of phlegm it is kept in the mouth till it melts, or else it is mixed with hydromel, and employed as a gargle. Mustard is chewed for tooth-ache, and is taken as a gargle with oxymel for affections of the uvula; it is very beneficial, also, for all maladies of the stomach. Taken with the food, it facilitates expectoration[1719] from the lungs: it is given, too, for asthma and epileptic fits, in combination with cucumber seed. It has the effect of quickening the senses, and effectually clears the head by sneezing, relaxes the stomach, and promotes the menstrual discharge and the urinary secretions: beaten up with figs and cummin, in the proportion of one-third of each ingredient, it is used as an external application for dropsy.
Mixed with vinegar, mustard resuscitates by its powerful odour persons who have swooned in fits of epilepsy or lethargy, as well as females suffering from hysterical suffocations. For the cure of lethargy tordylon is added—that being the name given to the seed of hartwort[1720]—and if the lethargic sleep should happen to be very profound, an application of it, with figs and vinegar, is made to the legs, or to the head[1721] even. Used as an external application, mustard is a cure for inveterate pains of the chest, loins, hips, shoulders, and, in general, for all deep-seated pains in any part of the body, raising blisters[1722] by its caustic properties. In cases of extreme indurations of the skin, the mustard is applied, to the part without figs; and a cloth is employed doubled, where it is apprehended that it may burn too powerfully. It is used also, combined with red-earth,[1723] for alopecy, itch-scabs, leprosy, phthiriasis, tetanus, and opisthotony. They employ it also as a liniment with honey for styes[1724] on the eyelids and films on the eyes.
The juices of mustard are extracted in three different ways, in earthen vessels in which it is left to dry gradually in the sun. From the thin stem of the plant there exudes also a milky juice,[1725] which when thus hardened is remedial for tooth-ache. The seed and root, after they have been left to steep in must, are beaten up together in a mortar; and a good handful of the mixture is taken to strengthen[1726] the throat, stomach, eyes, head, and all the senses. This mixture is extremely good, too, for fits of lassitude in females, being one of the most wholesome medicines in existence. Taken in vinegar, mustard disperses calculi in the bladder; and, in combination with honey and goose-grease, or else Cyprian wax, it is employed as a liniment for livid spots and bruises. From the seed, first steeped in olive-oil, and then subjected to pressure, an oil is extracted, which is employed for rigidity of the sinews, and chills and numbness in the loins and hips.
CHAP. 88.—ADARCA: FORTY-EIGHT REMEDIES.
It is said that adarca, of which we have already made mention[1727] when speaking of the forest-trees, has a similar nature[1728] to that of mustard, and is productive of the same effects: it grows upon the outer coat of reeds, below the head.
CHAP. 89.—MARRUBIUM OR PRASION, OTHERWISE LINOSTROPHON, PHILOPAIS, OR PHILOCHARES: TWENTY-NINE REMEDIES.
Most medical writers have spoken in high terms of marrubium, or horehound, as a plant of the very greatest utility. Among the Greeks, it is called “prasion”[1729] by some, by others “linostrophon,”[1730] and by others, again, “philopais”[1731] or “philochares:”[1732] it is a plant too well known to require any description.[1733] The leaves[1734] and seed beaten up, together, are good for the stings of serpents, pains of the chest and side, and inveterate coughs. The branches, too, boiled in water with panic,[1735] so as to modify its acridity, are remarkably useful for persons troubled with spitting[1736] of blood. Horehound is applied also, with grease, to scrofulous swellings. Some persons recommend for a cough, a pinch of the fresh seed with two fingers, boiled with a handful of spelt[1737] and a little oil and salt, the mixture to be taken fasting. Others, again, regard as quite incomparable for a similar purpose an extract of the juices of horehound and fennel. Taking three sextarii of the extract, they boil it down to two, and then add one sextarius of honey; after which they again boil it down to two, and administer one spoonful of the preparation daily, in one cyathus of water.
Beaten up with honey, horehound is particularly beneficial for affections of the male organs; employed with vinegar, it cleanses lichens, and is very salutary for ruptures, convulsions, spasms, and contractions of the sinews. Taken in drink with salt and vinegar, it relaxes the bowels, promotes the menstrual discharge, and accelerates the after-birth. Dried, powdered, and taken with honey, it is extremely efficacious for a dry cough, as also for gangrenes and hang-nails.[1738] The juice, too, taken with honey, is good for the ears and nostrils: it is a remedy also for jaundice, and diminishes the bilious secretions. Among the few antidotes[1739] for poisons, it is one of the very best known.
The plant itself, taken with iris and honey, purges the stomach and promotes expectorations: it acts, also, as a strong diuretic, though, at the same time, care must be taken not to use it when the bladder is ulcerated and the kidneys are affected. It is said, too, that the juice of horehound improves the eyesight. Castor speaks of two varieties of it, the black horehound and the white, which last he considers to be the best. He puts the juice of it into an empty eggshell, and then mixes the egg with it, together with honey, in equal proportions: this preparation used warm, he says, will bring abscesses to a head, and cleanse and heal them. Beaten up, too, with stale axle-grease and applied topically, he says, horehound is a cure for the bite of a dog.