CHAP. 20.—THE CHAMÆPITYS: TEN REMEDIES.
The chamæpitys,[81] called in Latin “abiga,”[82] because it promotes abortion, and known to some as “incense of the earth,”[83] has branches a cubit in length, and the odour and blossoms of the pine. Another variety[84] of it, which is somewhat shorter, has all the appearance of being bent[85] downwards; and there is a third,[86] which, though it has a similar smell, and consequently the same name, is altogether smaller, with a stem the thickness of one’s finger, and a diminutive, rough, pale leaf: it is found growing in rocky localities. All these varieties are in reality herbaceous productions; but in consequence of the resemblance of the name,[87] I have thought it as well not to defer the consideration of them.
These plants are good for stings inflicted by scorpions, and are useful as an application, mixed with dates or quinces, for maladies of the liver: a decoction of them with barley-meal is used for the kidneys and the bladder. A decoction of them in water is used also for jaundice and for strangury. The kind last mentioned, in combination with honey, is good for wounds inflicted by serpents, and a pessary is made of it, with honey, as a detergent for the uterus. Taken in drink it brings away coagulated blood, and rubbed upon the body it acts as a sudorific: it is particularly useful also for the kidneys. Pills of a purgative nature are made of it for dropsy, with figs.[88] Taken in wine, in doses of one victoriatus,[89] it dispels lumbago, and cures coughs that are not of an inveterate description. A decoction of it in vinegar, taken in drink, will instantaneously bring away the dead fœtus, it is said.
CHAP. 21.—THE PITYUSA: SIX REMEDIES.
For a similar[90] reason, too, we shall accord the same distinction to the pityusa, a plant which some persons reckon among the varieties of the tithymalus.[91] It is a shrub,[92] resembling the pitch-tree in appearance, and with a diminutive purple blossom. A decoction of the root, taken in doses of one hemina, carries off the bilious and pituitous secretions by[93] stool, and a spoonful of the seed, used as a suppository, has a similar effect. A decoction of the leaves in vinegar removes scaly eruptions of the skin; and in combination with boiled rue, it effects the cure of diseases of the mamillæ, gripings in the bowels, wounds inflicted by serpents, and incipient gatherings of most kinds.
CHAP. 22.—RESINS: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.
In treating, first of wines,[94] and then of trees,[95] we have stated that resin is the produce of the trees above-mentioned, and have described the several varieties of it, and the countries in which they are respectively produced. There are two principal kinds of resin, the dry and the liquid.[96] The dry resins are extracted from the pine[97] and the pitch-tree,[98] the liquid from the terebinth,[99] the larch,[100] the lentisk,[101] and the cypress;[102] these last producing it in the province of Asia and in Syria. It is an error[103] to suppose that the resin of the pitch-tree is the same as that of the larch; for the pitch-tree yields an unctuous[104] resin, and of the same consistency as frankincense, while that of the larch is thin, like honey in colour, and of a powerful odour. It is but very rarely that medical men make use of liquid resin, and when they do, it is mostly that produced by the larch, which is administered in an egg for cough and ulcerations of the viscera. The resin of the pine, too, is far from extensively used, and that of the other kinds is always boiled[105] before use: on the various methods of boiling it, we have enlarged at sufficient length already.[106]
As to the produce of the various trees, the resin of the terebinth is held in high esteem, as being the most odoriferous and the lightest, the kinds[107] which come from Cyprus and Syria being looked upon as the best. Both these kinds are the colour of Attic honey; but that of Cyprus has more body, and dries with greater rapidity. In the dry resins the qualities requisite are whiteness, purity, and transparency: but whatever the kind, the produce of mountainous[108] districts is always preferred to that of champaign countries, and that of a north-eastern aspect to that of any other quarter. Resins[109] are dissolved in oil as a liniment and emollient cataplasm for wounds; but when they are used as a potion, bitter almonds[110] are also employed. The curative properties of resins consist in their tendency to close wounds, to act as a detergent upon gatherings and so disperse them, and to cure affections of the chest.
The resin of the terebinth * * * it is used too, warmed, as a liniment for pains in the limbs, the application being removed after the patient has taken a walk in the sun. Among slave-dealers too, there is a practice of rubbing the bodies of the slaves with it, which is done with the greatest care, as a corrective for an emaciated appearance; the resin having the property of relaxing the skin upon all parts of the body, and rendering it more capable of being plumped out by food.[111]
Next after the resin of the terebinth comes that of the lentisk:[112] it possesses astringent properties, and is the most powerful diuretic of them all. The other resins are laxative to the bowels, promote the digestion of crudities, allay the violence of inveterate coughs, and, employed as a fumigation, disengage the uterus of foreign[113] bodies with which it is surcharged: they are particularly useful too as neutralizing the effects of mistletoe; and, mixed with bull suet and honey, they are curative of inflamed tumours and affections of a similar nature. The resin of the lentisk is very convenient as a bandoline for keeping stubborn eyelashes in their place: it is useful also in cases of fractures, suppurations of the ears, and prurigo of the generative organs. The resin of the pine is the best of them all for the cure of wounds in the head.