Chap. 9.] EAPE. 213 



goiird^' shred in pieces, applied warm, is good for ear-ache, 

 and the flesh of the inside, used without the seed, for corns on 

 the feet and the suppurations known to the Greeks as " apos- 

 temata."'^' "When the pulp and seeds are boiled together, the 

 decoction is good for strengthening loose teeth, and for prevent- 

 ing toothache ; wine, too, boiled with this plant, is curative of 

 defluxions of the eyes. The leaves of it, bruised with fresh 

 cypress-leaves, or the leaves alone, boiled in a vessel of potters' 

 clay and beaten up with goose-grease, and then applied to the 

 part affected, are an excellent cure for wounds. Fresh shav- 

 ings of the rind are used as a cooling application for gout, and 

 burning pains in the head, in infants more particularly ; they 

 are good, too, for erysipelas,*"^ whether it is the shavings of 

 the rind or the seeds of the plant that are applied to the part 

 aftected. The juice of the scrapings, employed as a liniment 

 with rose-oil and vinegar, moderates the burning heats of 

 fevers ; and the ashes of the dried fruit applied to burns are 

 efficacious in a most remarkable degree. 



Chrysippus, the physician, condemned the use of the gourd 

 as a food : it is generally agreed, however, that it is extremely 

 good^ for the stomach, and for ulcerations of the intestines 

 and of the bladder. 



CHAP. 9. KAPE; >'INE EEMEI.IES. 



Rape, too, has its medicinal properties. "Warmed, it is used as 

 an application for the cui-e of chilblains,^' in addition to which, 

 it has the eftect of protecting the feet from cold. A hot decoc- 

 tion of rape is employed for the cure of cold gout ; and raw 

 rape, beaten up with salt, is good tor all maladies of the feet. 

 Rape-seed, used as a liniment, and taken in drink, with wine, 

 is said to have a salutary effect^® against the stings of serpents, 



*^ The cultivated cucumber, Fee says. 



^- Or " aposthunies," a kind of abscess, probably. 



13 •' Ignis sacer," literally •' sacred fire." It is sometimes called " St. An- 

 thony's fire." Celsus. in describing it, distinguishes it, however, from 

 Erysipelas, and divides it into two kinds. 



•" On the contrary, Fee says, the pulp of the gourd is tough and lea- " 

 Aery, extremely insipid, and destitute of any salutary qualities. 



*^ A decoction of rape or tui-nips is still recommended for chilblains at 

 •:he present day. Fee remarks that ground mustard is much preferable. 



^6 This, as Fee remarks, he says of nearly all the vegetable productions 

 cnown. 



