EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM GALLIC NARD

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Et quoniam quidam, ut diximus, nardum rusticum nominavere radicem baccaris, contexemus et Gallici nardi remedia, in hunc locum dilata in peregrinis arboribus. ergo adversus serpentes duabus drachmis in vino succurrit, inflationibus coli vel ex aqua vel ex vino, item iocineris et renium suffusisque felle et hydropicis, per se vel cum absinthio. sistit purgationum mulierum impetus.

Eius vero, quod phun eodem loco appellavimus, radix datur potui trita vel decocta ad strangulatus vel pectoris dolores vel laterum quoque. menses ciet. bibitur cum vino.

Crocum melle non solvitur nulloque dulci, facillime autem vino aut aqua. utilissimum in medicina, adservatur cornea pyxide. discutit inflammationes omnes quidem, sed oculorum maxime ex ovo; item vulvarum quoque strangulatus, stomachi exulcerationes, pectoris et renium, iocinerum, pulmonum vesicarumque, peculiariter inflammationi earum vehementer utile, item tussi et pleuriticis. tollit et pruritus, urinas ciet. qui crocum prius biberint, crapulam non sentient, ebrietati resistent. coronae quoque ex eo mulcent ebrietatem. somnum facit, caput leniter movet, venerem stimulat. flos eius igni sacro inlinitur cum creta Cimolia. ipsum plurumis medicaminibus miscetur, collyrio uni etiam nomen dedit. faex quoque expressi unguento crocino, quod crocomagma appellant, habet suas utilitates contra suffusiones oculorum, urinas. magis excalfacit quam crocum ipsum. optimum quod gustatu salivam dentesque maxime inficit.

Iris rufa melior quam candida. infantibus eam circumligari salutare est, dentientibus praecipue et tussientibus taeniarumve vitio laborantibus instillari. ceteri effectus eius non multum a melle differunt. ulcera purgat capitis, praecipue suppurationes veteres. alvum solvit duabus drachmis cum melle, tussim, tormina, inflationes pota, lienes ex aceto. contra serpentium et araneorum morsus ex posca valet; contra scorpiones duarum drachmarum pondere in pane vel aqua sumitur; contra canum morsus ex oleo inponitur et contra perfrictiones. sic et nervorum doloribus, lumbis vero et coxendicibus cum resina inlinitur. vis ei concalfactoria. naribus subducta sternumenta movet caputque purgat. dolori capitis cum cotoneis malis aut strutheis inlinitur. crapulas quoque et orthopnoeas discutit. vomitiones ciet duobus obolis sumpta. ossa fracta extrahit inposita cum melle. ad paronychia farina eius utuntur, in vino ad clavos et verrucas, triduoque non solvitur. halitus oris commanducata abolet alarumque vitia. suco duritias omnes emollit, somnum conciliat, sed genituram consumit. sedis rimas et condylomata omniaque in corpore excrescentia sanat. sunt qui silvestrem xyrim vocent. strumas haec vel panos vel inguina discutit. praecipitur, ut sinistra manu ad hos usus eruatur colligentesque dicant, cuius hominis vitiique causa eximant. scelus herbariorum aperietur et in hac mentione: partem eius servant et quarundam aliarum herbarum, sicuti plantaginis, et si parum mercedis tulisse se arbitrantur rursusque opus quaerunt, partem eam, quam servavere, eodem loco infodiunt, credo, ut vitia, quae sanaverint, faciant rebellare. saliuncae radix in vino decocta sistit vomitiones, conroborat stomachum.

Polio Musaeus et Hesiodus perungui iubent dignationis gloriaeque avidos, polium tractari.... coli, polium contra venena haberi, contra serpentes substerni, uri, in vino decoqui recens vel aridum inlinique vel potari. medici splenicis propinant ex aceto, morbo regio in vino, et hydropicis incipientibus in vino decoctum; vulneribus quoque sic inlinunt. secundas mulierum partusque emortuos pellit, item dolores corporis. vesicas inanit, epiphoris inlinitur. nec magis alia herba convenit medicamento, quod alexipharmacon vocant. stomacho tamen inutile esse caputque eo inpleri et abortum fieri puto. aliqui negant et religionem addunt, ubi inventum sit, protinus adalligandum contra oculorum suffusiones cavendumque, ne terram attingat. hi et folia eius thymo similia tradunt, nisi quod molliora sunt et lanatiore canitie. cum ruta silvestri et si teratur ex aqua caelesti, aspids mitigare dicitur, et non secus atque cytinus adstringit t cohibet vulnera prohibetque serpere.

Holochrysos medetur stranguriae in vino, et oculorum epiphoris inlitu, cum faece vero vini cremata et polenta lichenas emendat. chrysocomes radix calfacit et adstringit. datur potui ad iocinerum vitia, item pulmonum, vulvae dolores in aqua mulsa decocta. ciet menstrua et, si cruda detur, hydropicorum aquam.

Melissophyllo sive melittaena si perunguantur alvi, non fugient apes; nullo enim magis flore gaudent. scopis eius examina facillime continentur. idem praesentissimum est contra ictus earum vesparumque et similium, sicut araneorum, item scorpionum, item contra volvarum strangulationes addito nitro, contra tormina e vino. folia eius strumis inlinuntur et sedis vitiis cum sale. decoctae sucus feminas purgat et inflammationes discutit et ulcera sanat. articularios morbos sedat canisque morsus. prodest dysintericis veteribus et coeliacis, orthopnoicis, lienibus, ulceribus thoracis. caligines oculorum suco cum melle inungui eximium habetur.

Melilotos quoque oculis medetur cum luteo ovi aut lini semine. maxillarum quoque dolores lenit et capitis cum rosaceo, item aurium e passo quaeque in manibus intumescant vel erumpant, stomachi dolores in vino decocta vel cruda tritaque. idem effectus et ad vulvas, ad testes vero et sedem prociduam quaeque et alia ibi sint vitia.... recentem ex aqua decoctam vel ex passo. adiecto rosaceo inlinitur ad carcinomata. defervescit in vino dulci. peculiariter et contra meliceridas efficax.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Some authors, as we have already stated, having given the name of “field nard” to the root of the bacchar, we will here mention the medicinal properties of Gallic nard, of which we have already spoken, when treating of the foreign trees, deferring further notice of it till the present occasion. In doses of two drachmæ, taken in wine, it is good for the stings of serpents; and taken in water or in wine it is employed for inflations of the colon, maladies of the liver or kidneys, and suffusions of the gall. Employed by itself or in combination with wormwood it is good for dropsy. It has the property, also, of arresting excessive discharges of the catamenia.

The root of the plant which we have mentioned in the same place under the name of “phu,” is given in drink, either bruised or boiled, in cases of hysterical suffocation, and for pains of the chest or sides. It acts as an emmenagogue, and is generally taken in wine.

Saffron does not blend well with honey, or, indeed, with any sweet substance, though very readily with wine or water: it is extremely useful in medicine, and is generally kept in horn boxes. Applied with egg it disperses all kinds of inflammation, those of the eyes in particular: it is employed also for hysterical suffocations, and for ulcerations of the stomach, chest, kidneys, liver, lungs, and bladder. It is particularly useful also in cases of inflammation of those parts, and for cough and pleurisy. It likewise removes itching sensations, and acts as a diuretic. Persons who have used the precaution of first taking saffron in drink will never experience surfeit or head-ache, and will be proof against inebriation. Chaplets too, made of saffron, and worn on the head, tend to dispel the fumes of wine. The flower of it is employed topically with Cimolian chalk for erysipelas. It is used also in the composition of numerous other medicaments.

There is also an eye-salve which is indebted to this plant for its name. The lees of the extract of saffron, employed in the saffron unguent known as “crocomagma,” have their own peculiar utility in cases of cataract and strangury. These lees are of a more warming nature than saffron itself; the best kind is that which, when put into the mouth, stains the teeth and saliva the colour of saffron.

The red iris is better than the white one. It is very beneficial to attach this plant to the bodies of infants more particularly when they are cutting their teeth, or are suffering from cough; it is equally good, too, to inject a few drops of it when children are suffering from tape-worm. The other properties of it differ but very little from those of honey. It cleanses ulcerous sores of the head, and inveterate abscesses more particularly. Taken in doses of two drachmæ with honey, it relaxes the bowels; and an infusion of it is good for cough, gripings of the stomach, and flatulency: taken with vinegar, too, it cures affections of the spleen. Mixed with oxycrate it is good for the bites of serpents and spiders, and, in doses of two drachmæ with bread or water, it is employed for the cure of the stings of scorpions. It is applied also topically with oil to the bites of dogs, and to parts that are excoriated: employed in a similar manner, too, it is good for pains in the sinews, and in combination with resin it is used as a liniment for lumbago and sciatica. The properties of this plant are of a warming nature. Inhaled at the nostrils, it produces sneezing and cleanses the brain, and in cases of head-ache it is applied topically in combination with the quince or the strutheum. It dispels the fumes of wine also, and difficulties of breathing and taken in doses of two oboli it acts as an emetic: applied as a plaster with honey, it extracts splinters of broken bones. Powdered iris is employed also for whitlows, and, mixed with wine, for corns and warts, in which case it is left for three days on the part affected.

Chewed, it is a corrective of bad breath and offensive exhalations of the arm-pits, and the juice of it softens all kinds of indurations of the body. This plant acts as a soporific, but it wastes the seminal fluids: it is used also for the treatment of chaps of the fundament and condylomata, and it heals all sorts of excrescences on the body.

Some persons give the name of “xyris” to the wild iris. This plant disperses scrofulous sores, as well as tumours and inguinal swellings; but it is generally recommended that when wanted for these purposes it should be pulled up with the left hand, the party gathering it mentioning the name of the patient and of the disease for which it is intended to be employed. While speaking of this subject, I will take the opportunity of disclosing the criminal practices of some herbalists—they keep back a portion of the iris, and of some other plants as well, the plantago for instance, and, if they think that they have not been sufficiently well paid and wish to be employed a second time, bury the part they have kept back in the same place; their object being, I suppose, to revive the malady which has just been cured.

The root of the saliunca boiled in wine, arrests vomiting and strengthens the stomach.

Those persons, according to Musæus and Hesiod, who are desirous of gaining honour and glory, should rub the body all over with polium, and handle and cultivate it as much as possible. They say, too, that it should be kept about the person as an antidote to poison, and that to keep serpents away it should be strewed beneath the bed, burnt, or else carried on the person; decoctions of it in wine, either fresh-gathered or dried, should be used too as a liniment for the body. Medical men prescribe it in vinegar for affections of the spleen, and in wine for the jaundice; a decoction of it in wine is recommended also for incipient dropsy; and in this way too, it is employed as a liniment for wounds. This plant has the effect of bringing away the after-birth and the dead fœtus, and of dispelling pains in various parts of the body: it empties the bladder also, and is employed in liniments for defluxions of the eyes. Indeed, there is no plant known that better deserves to form an ingredient in the medicament known to us as the “alexipharmacon:” though there are some who say that it is injurious to the stomach and is apt to stuff the head, and that it produces abortion—assertions which others, again, totally deny.

There is a superstitious observance also, to the effect that, for cataract, it ought to be attached to the neck the moment it is found, every precaution being taken not to let it touch the ground. The same persons state too that the leaves of it are similar to those of thyme, except that they are softer and more white and downy. Beaten up with wild rue in rain water, it is said to assuage the pain of the sting of the asp; it is quite as astringent too as the flower of the pomegranate, and as efficacious for closing wounds and preventing them from spreading.

The holochrysos, taken in wine, is a cure for strangury, and it is employed in liniments for defluxions of the eyes. Mixed with burnt lees of wine and polenta, it is curative of lichens.

The root of the chrysocome is warming and astringent; it is taken in drink for affections of the liver and lungs, and a decoction of it in hydromel is good for pains of the uterus. It acts as an emmenagogue also, and, administered raw, draws off the water in dropsy.

If the bee-hives are rubbed all over with melissophyllum or melittæna, the bees will never desert them; for there is no flower in which they take greater delight. If branches of this plant are used, the bees may be kept within bounds without any difficulty. It is an excellent remedy, also, for the stings of bees, wasps, and similar insects, as also for wounds made by spiders and scorpions; it is used, too, for hysterical suffocations, in combination with nitre, and for gripings of the bowels, with wine. The leaves of it are employed topically for scrofulous sores, and, in combination with salt, for maladies of the fundament. A decoction of the juice promotes the menstrual discharge, dispels inflammations, and heals ulcerous sores: it is good, too, for diseases of the joints and the bites of dogs, and is beneficial in cases of inveterate dysentery, and for cœliac affections, hardness of breathing, diseases of the spleen, and ulcerations of the thoracic organs. For films on the eyes, it is considered a most excellent plan to anoint them with the juice of this plant mixed with honey.

The melilote, again, applied with the yolk of an egg, or else linseed, effects the cure of diseases of the eyes. It assuages pains, too, in the jaws and head, applied with rose oil; and, employed with raisin wine, it is good for pains in the ears, and all kinds of swellings or eruptions on the hands. A decoction of it in wine, or else the plant itself beaten up raw, is good for pains in the stomach. It is equally beneficial, too, for maladies of the uterus; and for diseases of the testes, prolapsus of the fundament, and all other diseases of those parts, a decoction is made of it, fresh-gathered, in water or in raisin wine. With the addition of rose oil, it is used as a liniment for carcinoma. Boiled in sweet wine, it is particularly useful for the treatment of the ulcers known as “melicerides.”