200 PLl.Xr's NATURAL HISTOET. [T^Ook XX. 



also, combined with red-earth,-^'' for alopecy, itch-scabs^ le- 

 prosy, 2>hthiriasis, tetanus, and opisthotony. They employ 

 it also as a liniment with honey for styes ^' on the eyelids 

 and films on the eyes. 



The juices of mustard are extracted in three different 

 w^ays, in earthen vessels in which it is left to dry gradually 

 in the sun. From the thin stem of the plant there exudes 

 also a milky juice, ^® which when thus hardened is remedial 

 for tooth- ache. The seed and root, after they have been left 

 to steep in must, are beaten up together in a mortar; and a 

 good handful of the mixture is taken to strengthens^ the 

 tliroat, stomach, eyes, head, and all the senses. This mixture 

 is extremely good, too, for fits of lassitude in females, being 

 one of the most wholesome medicines in existence. Taken in 

 vinegar, mustard disperses calculi in the bladder ; and, in com- 

 bination with honey and goose-grease, or else Cyprian wax, 

 it is employed as a liniment for livid spots and bruises. From 

 the seed, first steeped in olive-oil, and then subjected to 

 pressure, an oil is extracted, which is employed for rigidity 

 of the sinews, and chills and numbness in the loins and hips. 



CHAP. 88. ADAHCA : FOKTY-EIGHT KEMEDIES. 



It is said that adarca, of which we have already made 

 mention *° when speaking of the forest- trees, has a similar 

 nature ^^ to that of mustard, and is productive of the same 

 effects : it grows upon the outer coat of reeds, below the head. 



CHAP. 89. MARRUBIUM OR PRASION, OTHERWISE LINOSTROPHON, 



PHILOPAIS, OR PHJLOCHARES I TWENTY-NINE REMEDIES. 



Most medical writers have spoken in high terms of marru- 



^ " Rubrica." 37 « Scabras genas." 



3^ This is not the fact ; no juice flows from the stem which is capable 

 of becoming concrete. 



39 As a tonic, mustard-seed is commonly taken whole at the present day. 



*o In B. xvi. c. 66. In B. xxxii. c. 52, we shall find PHny speaking of 

 this substance under the name of " Calamoclmus." Dioscorides, B. v. 

 c. 137, speaks of adarca as growing in Cappadocia, and as being a salt sub- 

 stance which adheres to reeds in time of drought. 



*^ This, Fee says, cannot possibly be the fact, whatever adarca may 

 really have been. 



