Chap. S7.] MUSTARD. 289 



kinds, when speaking of the garden herbs, is ranked by Py- 

 thagoras among the very first of those plants the pungency of 

 which mounts upwards; for there is none to be found more 

 penetrating to the brain and nostrils. 



Pounded with vinegar, mustard is employed as a liniment 

 for the stings of serpents and scorpions, and it effectually neu- 

 tralizes the poisonous properties of fungi. To cure an immo- 

 derate secretion of phlegm it is kept in the mouth till it melts, 

 or else it is mixed with hydromel, and employed as a gargle. 

 Mustard is chewed for tooth-ache, and is taken as a gargle 

 with oxymel for affections of the uvula ; it is very beneficial, 

 also, for all maladies of the stomach. Taken with the food, it 

 facilitates expectoration^- from the lungs : it is given, too, for 

 asthma and epileptic fits, in combination with cucumber seed. 

 It has the effect of quickening the senses, and effectually 

 clears the head by sneezing, relaxes the stomach, and promotes 

 the menstrual discharge and the urinary secretions : beaten up 

 with figs and cummin, in the proportion of one-third of each 

 ingredient, it is used as an external application for dropsy. 



Mixed with vinegar, mustard resuscitates by its powerful 

 odour persons who have swooned in fits of epilepsy or 

 lethargy, as well as females suffering from hysterical suffoca- 

 tions. For the cure of lethargy tordylon is added — that being 

 the name given to the seed of hartwort'^^ — and if the lethar- 

 gic sleep should happen to be very profound, an application 

 of it, Avith figs and vinegar, is made to the legs, or to the 

 head^* even. Used as an external application, mustard is a 

 cure for inveterate pains of the chest, loins, hips, shoulders, 

 and, in general, for all deep-seated pains in any part of the 

 body, raising blisters ^^ by its caustic properties. Ii, cases of 

 extreme indurations of the skin, the mustard is applied to the 

 part without figs; and a cloth is employed doubled, where it is 

 apprehended that it may burn too powerfully. It is used 



ligra of Linnaeus, mustard with black seed ; and that with the leaf of the 

 •ocket he identifies with the Sinapis erucoides of Linnaeus, the Eruca 

 iilvestris of Gessner, or rocket-leaved mustard. 



32 In reality, mustard is injurious for all affections of the chest and throat. 



^' " Seseli." 



31 A sinapism applied to the head, Fee remarks, in cases of cerebral 

 •ongestion, would very soon cause death. 



35 Mustard poultices are used extensively at the present day for blisters 

 )n the chest. 



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