The plant halus,[1126] by the people of Gaul called “sil,” and by the Veneti “cotonea,” is curative of pains in the side, affections of the kidneys, ruptures, and convulsions. It resembles cunila bubula[1127] in appearance, and the tops of it are like those of thyme. It is of a sweet flavour, and allays thirst; the roots of it are sometimes white, sometimes black.
CHAP. 27.—THE CHAMÆROPS: ONE REMEDY. THE STŒCHAS: ONE REMEDY.
The chamærops,[1128] also, is similarly efficacious for pains in the side. It is a plant with leaves like those of myrtle, arranged in pairs around the stem, the heads of it resembling those of the Greek rose: it is taken in wine. Agaric, administered in drink, in the same manner[1129] as for cough, assuages sciatica and pains in the vertebræ: the same, too, with powdered stœchas[1130] or betony, taken in hydromel.
CHAP. 28. (8.)—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE BELLY.
But it is the belly, for the gratification of which the greater part of mankind exist, that causes the most suffering to man. Thus, for instance, at one time it will not allow the aliments to pass, while at another it is unable to retain them. Sometimes, again, it either cannot receive the food, or, if it can, cannot digest it; indeed, such are the excesses practised at the present day, that it is through his aliment, more than anything else, that man hastens his end. This receptacle,[1131] more troublesome to us than any other part of the body, is ever craving, like some importunate creditor, and makes its calls repeatedly in the day. It is for its sake, more particularly, that avarice is so insatiate, for its sake that luxury is so refined,[1132] for its sake that men voyage to the shores even of the Phasis, for its sake that the very depths of the ocean are ransacked. And yet, with all this, no one ever gives a thought how abject is the condition of this part of our body, how disgusting the results of its action upon what it has received! No wonder then, that the belly should have to be indebted to the aid of medicine in the very highest degree!
Scordotis,[1133] fresh-gathered and beaten up, in doses of one drachma, with wine, arrests flux of the bowels; an effect equally produced by a decoction of it taken in drink. Polemonia,[1134] too, is given in wine for dysentery, or two fingers’ length of root of verbascum,[1135] in water; seed of nymphæa heraclia,[1136] in wine; the upper root of xiphion,[1137] in doses of one drachma, in vinegar; seed of plantago, beaten, up in wine; plantago itself boiled in vinegar, or else a pottage of alica[1138] mixed with the juice of the plant; plantago boiled with lentils; plantago dried and powdered, and sprinkled in drink, with parched poppies pounded; juice of plantago, used as an injection, or taken in drink; or betony taken in wine heated with a red-hot iron. For cœliac affections, betony is taken in astringent wine, or iberis is applied topically, as already[1139] stated. For tenesmus, root of nymphæa heraclia is taken in wine, or else psyllion[1140] in water, or a decoction of root of acoron.[1141] Juice of aizoüm[1142] arrests diarrhœa and dysentery, and expels round tape-worm. Root of symphytum,[1143] taken in wine, arrests diarrhœa and dysentery, and daucus[1144] has a similar effect. Leaves of aizoüm[1145] beaten up in wine, and dried alcea[1146] powdered and taken in wine, are curative of griping pains in the bowels.
CHAP. 29.—THE ASTRAGALUS: SIX REMEDIES.
Astragalus[1147] is the name of a plant which has long leaves, with numerous incisions, and running aslant near the root. The stems are three or four in number, and covered with leaves: the flower is like that of the hyacinth, and the roots are red, hairy, matted, and remarkably hard. It grows on stony localities, equally exposed to the sun and to falls of snow, those in the vicinity of Pheneus in Arcadia, for instance. Its properties are highly astringent; the root of it, taken in wine, arrests looseness of the bowels, having the additional effect of throwing downward the aqueous humours, and so acting as a diuretic; a property, in fact, which, belongs to most substances which act astringently upon the bowels.
Bruised in red[1148] wine, this plant is curative of dysentery; it is only bruised, however, with the greatest difficulty. It is extremely useful, also, as a fomentation for gum-boils. The end of autumn is the time for gathering it, after the leaves are off; it being then left to dry in the shade.