220 
THE COMPLETE HERBAL 
cramps: half a dram in powder being 
taken inwardly, either in muskadel, or in a 
decoction of the same roots. They are 
either not at all, or very scarce in England, 
our centaury is the small centaury. 
Cepe. Of Onions. Are hot and dry 
(according to Galen) in the fourth degree: 
they cause dryness, and are extremely hurt- 
ful for choleric people, they breed but little 
nourishment, and that little is naught: they 
are bad meat, yet good physic for phleg- 
matic people, they are opening, and pro- 
voke urine and the menses, if cold be the 
cause obstructing: bruised and outwardly 
applied, they cure the bitings of mad dogs, 
roasted and applied, they help boils, and 
aposthumes: raw, they take the fire out of 
burnings, but ordinarily eaten, they cause 
headache, spoil the sight, dull the senses, 
and fill the body full of wind. 
Chameleontis albi nigri, Gc. Of Chame- 
leon, white and black. Tragus calls the 
carline thistle by the name of white chame- 
leon, the root whereof is hot in the second 
degree, and dry in the third, it provokes 
sweat, kills worms, resists pestilence and 
poison; it is given with success in pestilen- 
tial fevers, helps the toothache by being 
chewed in the mouth, opens the stoppings 
of the liver and spleen, provokes urine, and 
the menses: give but little of it at a time, 
by reason of its heat. As for the black 
chameleon, all physicians hold it to have 
a kind of venomous quality, and unfit to be 
used inwardly, Galen, Clusius, Nicander, 
Dioscorides, and Zigineta. Outwardly in 
ointments, it is profitable for scabs, mor- 
phew, tetters, &c. and all things that need 
cleansing. 
Chelidonij, majoris, minoris. Of Celan- 
dine, the greater and lesser: The greater is 
that which we usually call Celandine: the 
_ root is hot and dry, cleansing and scouring, 
_ proper for such as have the yellow jaun- 
dice, it opens obstructions of the liver, 
Bae ale hes wine 90) Sede 
tion drank; and if chewed in the mouth it 
helps the tooth-ache. Celandine the lesser 
is that which usually we call Pilewort, 
which with us is hot in the first degree; 
the juice of the root mixed with honey and 
snuffed up into the nose, purges the head, 
helps the hemorrhoids or piles being bathed 
with it, as also doth the root only carried 
about one: being made into an ointment, it 
helps the king’s evil or Scrophula. 
China, wonderfully extenuates and dries, 
provokes sweat, resists putrefaction; it 
strengthens the liver, helps the dropsy and 
malignant ulcers, leprosy, itch, and vene- 
real, and is profitable in diseases coming of 
fasting. It is commonly used in diet drinks 
for the premises. 
Cichorii. Of Succory; cool and dry in 
the second degree, strengthens the liver and 
veins, it opens obstructions, stoppings in the 
liver and spleen, being boiled in white wine 
and the decoction drank. 
Colchici. Of Meadow Saffron. The roots 
are held to be hurtful to the stomach, there- 
fore I let them alone. 
Consolide, majoris, minoris. Consolida 
Major, is that which we ordinarily call 
Comfry, it is of a cold quality, yet pretty 
temperate, so glutinous, that, according to 
Dioscorides, they will join meat together 
that is cut in sunder, if they be boiled with 
it; it is excellent for all wounds, both in- 
ternal and external, for spitting of blood, 
ruptures or burstness, pains in the back, it 
strengthens the reins, it stops the menses; 
and helps hemorrhoids. The way to use 
them is to boil them in water and drink the 
decoction. Consolids minor, is that we call 
Self-heal, and the tatine Prunella. See the 
herb. 
Costi ies Of Costus both sorts, 
being roots coming from beyond sea, hot 
and dry, break wind, being boiled in oil, 
it is held to help the gout by anointing the 
grieved place with it. 
| Cucumeris agrestis. Of wild Cucumber 
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