Chap. 21.] CtJTLEEK. 223 



In cases where persons have been suddenly struck dumb, it 

 lias been administered to them to drink, mixed with water. 

 In cases, too, of toothache, it is sometimes introduced into 

 the mouth as a gargle for the teeth ; it is an excellent 

 remedy also for all kinds of wounds made by animals, scorpions 

 more particularly. 



In cases of alopecy® and itch-scab, bruised onions are rubbed 

 on the parts affected : they are also given boiled to persons 

 afllicted with dysentery or lumbago. Onion peelings, burnt to 

 ashes and mixed with vinegar, are employed topically for stings 

 of serpents and multipedes.^*' 



In other respects, there are remarkable differences of opi- 

 nion among medical men. The more modern writers have 

 stated that onions are good for the thoracic organs and the 

 digestion, but that they are productive of flatulency and thirst. 

 The school of Asclepiades maintains that, used as an aliment, 

 onions impart a florid^ ^ colour to the complexion, and that, 

 taken fasting every day, they are promoters of robustncBS and 

 health ; that as a diet, too, they are good for the stomach by 

 acting upon the spirits, and have the effect of relaxing the 

 bowels. He says, too, that, employed as a suppository, 

 onions disperse piles, and that the juice of them, taken in 

 combination with juice of fennel, is wonderfully beneficial in 

 cases of incipient dropsy. It is said, too, that the juice, taken 

 with rue and honey, is good for quinsy, and has the effect of 

 dispelling lethargy.^^ Varro assures us that onions, pounded 

 with salt and vinegar and then dried, will never be attacked 

 by worms. '^ 



CHAP. 21. (6.) — CUTLEEK : THIRTY-TWO KEMEDIES. 



Cutleek^^ has the effect of stanching bleeding at the nose, 



^ Fox evil, or scurf, or scaldhead : a disease wMch causes the hair to 

 fall off the body. It derives its name from the Greek a\w7ri/|, a " fox," 

 from the circumstance that they were supposed to be peculiarly aflected 

 with a similar disease. 



^^ Or millepedes. See c. 6 of this Book. 



1^ So the school of Salerno says — 



Non modicum sanas Asclepius asserit illas, 

 Prsesertim storaacho, pulchrumque creare colorem. 



^2 This is not the case. 



^3 '< Vermiculis." Small worms or maggots, 



u « Porrum sectivum/' See B. xix. o. 33. 



