CHAP. 88.—POLYCNEMON: ONE REMEDY.
Polycnemon[1562] is a plant which resembles cunila bubula;[1563] it has a seed like that of pennyroyal, a ligneous stem with numerous articulations, and odoriferous umbels, with a pleasant though pungent smell. This plant is chewed and applied to wounds inflicted with iron, the application being removed at the end of four days. Symphyton[1564] causes sores to cicatrize with the greatest rapidity; the same, too, with sideritis,[1565] which is applied in combination with honey. The seed and leaves of verbascum,[1566] boiled in wine and pounded, are used for the extraction of all foreign substances adhering to the body; and a similar use is made of leaves of mandragora[1567] mixed with polenta,[1568] and roots of cyclaminos[1569] with honey. Leaves of trixago,[1570] bruised in oil, are used for ulcers of a serpiginous nature more particularly, as also sea-weed bruised with honey. Betony, with the addition of salt, is employed for the cure of carcinomatous sores and inveterate blisters on the neck.
CHAP. 89.—REMEDIES FOB WARTS, AND APPLICATIONS FOR THE REMOVAL OF SCARS.
Argemonia[1571] with vinegar, or root of batrachion,[1572] removes warts; this last having the effect also of bringing off malformed nails. The juice or the leaves, applied topically, of either kind of linozostis,[1573] remove warts. All the varieties of tithymalos[1574] are efficacious for the removal of every kind of wart, as also of hangnails[1575] and wens. Ladanum[1576] imparts a fresh colour and seemly appearance to scars.
(15.) The traveller who carries artemisia[1577] attached to his person, or elelisphacus,[1578] will never be sensible of lassitude, it is said.
CHAP. 90.—REMEDIES FOR FEMALE DISEASES.
One great remedy for all female diseases in common, is the black seed of the herbaceous plant pæonia,[1579] taken in hydromel: the root also is an effectual emmenagogue. Seed of panaces,[1580] mixed with wormwood, acts as an emmenagogue and as a sudorific: the same, too, with scordotis,[1581] taken internally or applied topically. Betony, in doses of one drachma to three cyathi of wine, is taken for various affections of the uterus, as also directly after child-birth. Excessive menstruation is arrested by a pessary of achillea,[1582] or else a sitting-bath composed of a decoction of that plant. Seed of henbane in wine is used as a liniment for diseases of the mamillæ, and the root is employed in the form of a plaster for uterine affections; chelidonia,[1583] too, is applied to the mamillæ.
Roots of panaces,[1584] applied as a pessary, bring away the after-birth and the dead fœtus, and the plant itself, taken in wine, or used as a pessary with honey, acts as a detergent upon the uterus. Polemonia,[1585] taken in wine, brings away the after-birth; used as a fumigation, it is good for suffocations of the uterus. Juice of the smaller centaury,[1586] taken in drink, or employed as a fomentation, acts as an emmenagogue. The root also of the larger centaury, similarly used, is good for pains in the uterus; scraped and used as a pessary, it expels the dead fœtus. For pains of the uterus, plantago[1587] is applied as a pessary, in wool, and for hysterical suffocations, it is taken in drink. But it is dittany that is of the greatest efficacy in cases of this description; it acts as an emmenagogue, and is an expellent of the fœtus when dead or lying transversely in the uterus. In these cases the leaves of it are taken, in doses of one obolus, in water: indeed so active is it in its effects that ordinarily it is forbidden to be introduced into the chamber of a woman lying-in. Not only is it thus efficacious when taken in drink, but even when applied topically or used as a fumigation. Pseudodictamnum[1588] possesses pretty nearly the same virtues, but it acts as an emmenagogue also, boiled in doses of one denarius in unmixed wine. Aristolochia,[1589] however, is employed for a greater number of purposes: in combination with myrrh and pepper, either taken in drink or used as a pessary, it acts as a powerful emmenagogue, and brings away the dead fœtus and the after-birth. This plant, the smaller kind in particular, used either as a fomentation, fumigation, or pessary, acts as a preventive of procidence of the uterus.
Hysterical suffocations and irregularities of the catamenia are treated with agaric, taken in doses of three oboli, in one cyathus of old wine: vervain is used also in similar cases, as a pessary, with fresh hog’s lard; or else antirrhinum,[1590] with rose, oil and honey. Root of Thessalian nymphæa,[1591] used as a pessary, is curative of pains in the uterus; taken in red wine, it arrests uterine discharges. Root of cyclaminos,[1592] on the other hand, taken in drink and employed as a pessary, acts as an emmenagogue: a decoction of it, used as a sitting-bath, cures affections of the bladder. Cissanthemos,[1593] taken in drink, brings away the after-birth, and is curative of diseases of the uterus. The upper part of the root of xiphion,[1594] taken in doses of one drachma, in vinegar, promotes menstruation. A fumigation of burnt peucedanum[1595] has a soothing effect in cases of hysterical suffocation. Psyllion,[1596] taken in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of hydromel, is particularly good for promoting the lochial discharge. Seed of mandragora,[1597] taken in drink, acts as a detergent upon the uterus; the juice, employed in a pessary, promotes menstruation and expels the dead fœtus. The seed of this plant, used with live sulphur,[1598] arrests menstruation when in excess; while batrachion,[1599] on the other hand, acts as an emmenagogue. This last plant is either used as an article of food, or is taken in drink: in a raw state, as already stated,[1600] it has a burning flavour; but when cooked, the taste of it is greatly improved by the addition of salt, oil, and cummin. Daucus,[1601] taken in drink, promotes the catamenia, and is an expellent of the after-birth in a very high degree. Ladanum,[1602] used as a fumigation, acts as a corrective upon the uterus, and is employed topically for pains and ulcerations of that organ.
Scammony, taken in drink or used as a pessary, is an expellent of the dead fœtus. Either kind of hypericon,[1603] used as a pessary, promotes menstruation: but for this purpose it is crethmos,[1604] according to Hippocrates, that is the most efficacious, the seed or root of it being taken in wine.[1605] * * * of the outer coat brings away the after-birth. This plant, taken in water, is good for hysterical suffocations; root of geranion[1606] also, which is peculiarly useful for the after-birth, and for inflation of the uterus. Hippuris,[1607] taken in drink or applied as a pessary, acts as a detergent upon the uterus: polygonos,[1608] taken in drink, promotes menstruation; and the same with root of alcima.[1609] Leaves of plantago,[1610] and agaric in hydromel, have a similar effect. Artemisia,[1611] bruised and applied as a pessary, with oil of iris,[1612] figs, or myrrh, is curative of diseases of the uterus; the root, too, of this plant, taken in drink, is so strongly purgative as to expel the dead fœtus even. A decoction of the branches, used as a sitting-bath, promotes menstruation and brings away the after-birth; the same too, with the leaves, taken in doses of one drachma in drink. The leaves, if applied to the lower regions of the abdomen with barley-meal, will prove equally efficacious.