Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder
Page 190
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CHAP. 71.
REMEDIES FOR FEVERS.
Agaric, taken in warm water, alleviates cold fevers: sideritis, in combination with oil, is good for tertian fevers; bruised ladanum also, which is found in corn fields; plantago, taken in doses of two drachmæ, in hydromel, a couple of hours before the paroxysms come on; juice of the root of plantago made warm or subjected to pressure; or else the root itself beaten up in water made warm with a hot iron. Some medical men prescribe three roots of plantago, in three cyathi of water; and in a similar manner, four roots for quartan fevers. When buglossos is beginning to wither, if a person takes the pith out of the stem, and says while so doing, that it is for the cure of such and such a person suffering from fever, and then attaches seven leaves to the patient, just before the paroxysms come on, he will experience a cure, they say.
Fevers too, those which are attended with recurrent cold shiverings more particularly, are cured by administering one drachma of betony, or else agaric, in three cyathi of hydromel. Some medical men recommend three leaves of cinquefoil for tertian, four for quartan, and an increased number for other fevers; while others again prescribe in all cases three oboli of cinquefoil, with pepper, in hydromel.
Vervain, administered in water, is curative of fever, in beasts of burden even; but care must be taken, in cases of tertian fever, to cut the plant at the third joint, and of quartan fever at the fourth. The seed of either kind of hypericons is taken also for quartan fevers and cold shiverings. Powdered betony modifies these fits, and panaces is of so warming a nature that persons when about to travel amid the snow are recommended to drink an infusion of it, and to rub the body all over with the plant. Aristolochia also arrests shivering produced by cold.
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CHAP. 72.
REMEDIES FOR PHRENITIS, LETHARGY, AND CARBUNCLES.
Phlebitis is cured by sleep induced by the agency of an infusion of peucedanum in vinegar, poured upon the head, or else by the juice of either kind of anagallis. On the other hand, when patients are suffering from lethargy, it is with the greatest difficulty that they are aroused; a result which may be effected, they say, by touching the nostrils with juice of peucedanum in vinegar. For the cure of insanity, betony is administered in drink. Panaces brings carbuncles to a head, and makes them break; and they are equally cured by powdered betony applied in water, or else cabbage leaves mixed with frankincense in warm water, and taken in considerable quantities. For a similar purpose, a red-hot coal is extinguished in the patient’s presence, and the ashes are taken up with the finger and applied to the sore. Bruised plantago is also used for the cure of carbuncles.
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CHAP. 73.
REMEDIES FOR DROPSY. ACTE OR EBULUM. CHAMÆACTE.
For the cure of dropsy, tithymalos characias is employed; panaces also; plantago, used as a diet, dry bread being eaten first, without any drink; betony, taken in doses of two drachme in two cyathi of ordinary wine or honied wine; agaric or seed of lonchitis, in doses of two spoonfuls, in water; psyllion, taken in wine; juice of either anagallis; root of cotyledon in honied wine; root of ebulum, fresh gathered, with the mould shaken off, but not washed in water, a pinch in two fingers being taken in one hemina of old wine mulled; root of trefoil, taken in doses of two drachmæ in wine; the tithymalos known as “platyphyllos;” seed of the hypericon, otherwise known as “caros;” the plant called “acte” — the same thing as ebulum according to some — the root of it being pounded in three cyathi of wine, if there are no symptoms of fever, or the seed of it being administered in red wine; a good handful of vervain also, boiled down in water to one half. But of all the remedies for this disease, juice of chamæacte is looked upon as by far the most efficacious.
Morbid or pituitous eruptions are cured by the agency of plantago, or else root of cyclaminos with honey. Leaves of ebulum, bruised in old wine and applied topically, are curative of the disease called “boa,” which makes its appearance in the form of red pimples. Juice of strychnos, applied as a liniment, is curative of prurigo.
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CHAP. 74.
REMEDIES FOR ERYSIPELAS.
For the cure of erysipelas, aizoüm is used, or else pounded leaves of hemlock, or root of mandragora; this last being cut into round slices like cucumber and suspended over must, after which it is hung up in the smoke, and then pounded in wine or vinegar. It is a good plan too to use fomentations with myrtle wine: two ounces of mint beaten up in vinegar with one ounce of live sulphur, form a mixture sometimes employed; as also soot mixed with vinegar.
There are several kinds of erysipelas, one in particular which attacks the middle of the body, and is known as “zoster:” should it entirely surround the body, its effects are fatal. For this disease, plantago is remedial, mixed with Cimolian chalk; vervain, used by itself; or root of persolata. For other kinds of erysipelas of a spreading nature, root of cotyledon is used, mixed with honied wine; aizoüm also, or juice of linozostis, in combination with vinegar.
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CHAP. 75. (12.)
REMEDIES FOR SPRAINS.
For the cure of sprains, root of polypodion is used, in the form of a liniment: the pain and swelling are modified also by using seed of psyllion; leaves of plantago beaten up with a little salt; seed of verbascum, boiled in wine and pounded; or hemlock with axle-grease. Leaves of ephemeron are applied topically to tumours and tuberosities, so long as they are capable of being dispersed.
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CHAP. 76.
REMEDIES FOR JAUNDICE.
It is upon the eyes in particular that jaundice is productive of so remarkable an effect; the bile penetrating between the membranes, so extremely delicate as they are and so closely united. Hippocrates tells us that the appearance of jaundice on or after the seventh day in fevers is a fatal symptom; but I am acquainted with some instances in which the patients survived after having been reduced to this apparently hopeless state. We may remark also, that jaundice sometimes comes on without fever supervening. It is combated by taking the greater centaury, as already mentioned, in drink; agaric, in doses of three oboli in old wine; or leaves of vervain, in doses of three oboli, taken for four consecutive days in one hemina of mulled wine. But the most speedy cure of all is effected by using juice of cinquefoil, in doses of three cyathi, with salt and honey. Root of cyclaminos is also taken in drink in doses of three drachmæ, the patient sitting in a warm room free from all cold and draughts, the infusion expelling the bile by its action as a sudorific.
Leaves of tussilago are also used in water for this purpose; the seed of either kind of linozostis, sprinkled in the drink, or made into a decoction with chick-pease or wormwood: hyssop berries taken in water; the plant lichen, all other vegetables being carefully abstained from while it is being used; polythrix, taken in wine; and struthion, in honied wine.
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CHAP. 77.
REMEDIES FOR BOILS.
There are boils also, known as “furunculi,” which make their appearance indiscriminately on all parts of the body, and are productive of the greatest inconvenience: sometimes indeed, when the constitution is exhausted, they are fatal in their effects. For their cure, leaves of pycnocomon are employed, beaten up with polenta, if the boil has not come to a head. They are dispersed also by an application of leaves of ephedron.
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CHAP. 78.
REMEDIES FOR FISTULA.
Fistulas, too, insidiously attack all parts of the body, owing to unskilfulness on the part of medical men in the use of the knife. The smaller centaury is used for their cure, with the addition of lotions and boiled honey: juice of plantago is also employed, as an injection; cinquefoil, mixed with salt and honey; ladanum, combined with castoreum; cotyledon, applied hot with stag’s marrow; pith of the root of verbascum reduced to a liquid state in the shape of a lotion,
and injected; root of aristolochia; or juice of tithymalos.
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CHAP. 79.
REMEDIES FOR ABSCESSES AND HARD TUMOURS.
Abscesses and inflammations are cured by an application of leaves of argemonia. For indurations and gatherings of all descriptions a decoction of vervain or cinquefoil in vinegar is used; leaves or root of verbascum; a liniment made of wine and hyssop; root of acoron, a decoction of it being used as a fomentation; or else aizoüm. Contusions also, hard tumours, and fistulous abscesses are treated with illecebra.
All kinds of foreign substances which have pierced the flesh are extracted by using leaves of tussilago, daucus, or seed of leontopodium pounded in water with polenta. To suppurations, leaves of pycnocomon are applied, beaten up with polenta, or else the seed of that plant, or orchis. An application of root of satyrion is said to be a most efficacious remedy for deep-seated diseases of the bones. Corrosive ulcers and all kinds of gatherings are treated with sea-weed, used before it has dried. Root, too, of alcima disperses gatherings.
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CHAP. 80.
REMEDIES FOR BURNS.
Burns are cured by the agency of plantago, or of arction, so effectually indeed as to leave no scar. The leaves of this last plant are boiled in water, beaten up, and applied to the sore. Roots of cyclaminos are used, in combination with aizoüm; the kind of hypericon also, which we have mentioned as being called “corissum.”
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CHAP. 81.
REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SINEWS AND JOINTS.
For diseases of the sinews and joints, plantago, beaten up with salt, is a very useful remedy, or else argemonia, pounded with honey. Patients affected with spasms or tetanus are rubbed with juice of peucedanum. For indurations of the sinews, juice of ægilops is employed, and for pains in those parts of the body erigeron or epithymum, used as a liniment, with vinegar. In cases of spasms and opisthotony, it is an excellent plan to rub the part affected with seed of the hype- ricon known as “caros,” and to take the seed in drink. Phrynion, it is said, will effect a cure even when the sinews have been severed, if applied instantaneously, bruised or chewed. For spasmodic affections, fits of trembling, and opisthotony, root of alcima is administered in hydromel; used in this manner, it has a warming effect when the limbs are benumbed with cold.
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CHAP. 82.
REMEDIES FOR HÆMORRHAGE.
The red seed of the plant called “pæmonia” arrests hæmorrhage; the root also is possessed of similar properties. But it is clymenus that should be employed, when there are discharges of blood at the mouth or nostrils, from the bowels, or from the uterus. In such cases, lysimachia also is taken in drink, applied topically, or introduced into the nostrils; or else seed of plantago, or cinquefoil, is taken in drink, or employed in the form of a liniment. Hemlock seed is introduced into the nostrils, for discharges of blood there, or else it is pounded and applied in water; aizoüm also, and root of astragalus. Ischæmon and achillea likewise arrest hæmorrhage.
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CHAP. 83. (13.)
HIPPURIS, OTHERWISE CALLED EPHEDRON, ANABASIS, OR EQUISÆTUM; THREE KINDS OF IT: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
Equisætum, a plant called “hippuris” by the Greeks, and which we have mentioned in terms of condemnation, when treating of meadow lands — it being, in fact, a sort of hair of the earth, similar in appearance to horse-hair — is used by runners for the purpose of diminishing the spleen. For this purpose it is boiled down in a new earthen vessel to one third, the vessel being filled to the brim, and the decoction taken in doses of one hemina for three successive days. It is strictly forbidden, however, to eat any food of a greasy nature the day before taking it.
Among the Greeks there are various opinions in relation to this plant. According to some, who give it the same name of “hippuris,” it has leaves like those of the pine tree, and of a swarthy hue; and, if we are to believe them, it is possessed of virtues of such a marvellous nature, that if touched by the patient only, it will arrest hæmorrhage. Some authorities call it “hippuris,” others, again, “ephedron,” and others “anabasis;” and they tell us that it grows near trees, the trunks of which it ascends, and hangs down therefrom in numerous tufts of black, rush-like hair, much like a horse’s tail in appearance. The branches, we are told, are thin and articulated, and the leaves, few in number, small, and thin, the seed round, and similar to coriander in appearance, and the root ligneous: it grows, they say, in plantations more particularly.
This plant is possessed of astringent properties. The juice of it, kept in the nostrils, arrests bleeding therefrom, and it acts astringently upon the bowels. Taken in doses of three cyathi, in sweet wine, it is a cure for dysentery, is an efficient diuretic, and is curative of cough, hardness of breathing, rup- tures, and serpiginous affections. For diseases of the intestines and bladder, the leaves are taken in drink; it has the property, also, of reducing ruptures of the groin.
The Greek writers describe another hippuris, also, with shorter tufts, softer and whiter. This last, they say, is remark- ably good for sciatica, and, applied with vinegar, for wounds, it having the property of stanching the blood. Bruised nym- phæa is also applied to wounds. Peucedanum is taken in drink with cypress seed, for discharges of blood at the mouth or by the lower passages. Sideritis is possessed of such remark- able virtues, that applied to the wound of a gladiator just inflicted, it will stop the flow of blood; an effect which is equally produced by an application of charred fennel-giant, or of the ashes of that plant. For a similar purpose, also, the fungus that is found growing near the root of fennel-giant is still more efficacious.
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CHAP. 84.
STEPHANOMELIS.
For bleeding at the nostrils, seed of hemlock, pounded in water, is considered efficacious, as also stephanomelis, applied with water. Powdered betony, taken with goat’s milk, or bruised plantago, arrests discharges of blood from the ma- millæ. Juice of plantago is administered to patients when vomiting blood. For local discharges of blood, an application of root of persolata with stale axle-grease is highly spoken of.
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CHAP. 85.
REMEDIES FOR RUPTURES AND CONVULSIONS. ERYSITHALES: ONE REMEDY.
For ruptures, convulsions, and falls with violence, the greater centaury is used; root of gentian pounded or boiled; juice of betony — this last being employed also for ruptures produced by straining the vocal organs or sides — panaces; scordium; or aristolochia taken in drink. For contusions and falls, agaric is taken, in doses of two oboli, in three cyathi of honied wine, or if there are symptoms of fever, hydromel; the verbascum, also, with a golden flower; root of acoron the several varieties of Aizoüm, the juice of the larger kind being particularly efficacious; juice of symphytum, or a decoction of the root of that plant; daucus, unboiled; erysithales, a plant with a yellow flower and a leaf like that of acanthus, taken in wine; chamærops; irio, taken in pottage; plantago taken any way, as also * * * *
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CHAP. 86.
REMEDIES FOR PHTHIRIASIS.
Phthiriasis is a disease which proved fatal to the Dictator Sylla, and which developes itself by the production of insects in the blood, which ultimately consume the body. It is combated by using the juice of Taminian grapes or of hellebore, the body being rubbed all over with it, in combination with oil. A decoction of Taminian grapes in vinegar, has the effect, also, of ridding the clothes of these vermin.
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CHAP. 87. (14.)
REMEDIES FOR ULCERS AND WOUNDS.
Of ulcers there are numerous kinds, which are treated in various ways. The root of all the varieties of panaces is used as an application for running ulcers, in warm wine.
That which we have spoken of as the “chironion” is particularly good as a desiccative: bruis
ed with honey, it opens tumours, and is useful for serpiginonus ulcers, the cure of which appears more than doubtful; in which case it is amalgamated with flower of copper tempered with wine, either the seed, flower, or root, being employed for the purpose. Mixed with polenta it is good for old wounds. The following are also good detergents for wounds: heraclion siderion, apollinaris, psyllion, tragacantha, and scordotis mixed with honey. Powdered scordotis applied by itself, consumes fleshy excrescences on the body. Polemonia is curative of the malignant ulcer known as “cacoëthes.” The greater centaury, sprinkled in powder, or applied in the form of a liniment, or the leaves of the smaller centaury, boiled or pounded, act as a detergent upon inveterate ulcers, and effect a cure. To recent wounds, the follicules of the clymenus are applied. Gentian is applied to scrpiginous ulcers, the root being bruised or else boiled down in water to the consistency of honey; the juice also of the plant is employed. For wounds, a kind of lycium is prepared from gentian.