Chap. 83.] THE IEI3 AIO) THE SAIIUNCA, 371 



are of a more warming nature than saffron itself; the best 

 kind is that which, when put into the mouth, stains the teeth 

 and saliva the colour of saffron. 



CHAP. 83. FORTY-ONE REJiIEDIES DERIVED FROM THE IRIS : TWO 



REMEDIES DEBITED FROM THE SALITJNCA. 



The red iris is better than the white one. It is ver}^ bene- 

 ficial to attach this plant to the bodies of infants more par- 

 ticularly when they are cutting their teeth, or are suffering 

 from cough ; it is equally good, too, to inject a few drops of it 

 ^hen children are suffering from tape-worm. The other pro- 

 perties of it differ but very little from those of honey. It 

 cleanses ulcerous sores of the head, and inveterate abscesses 

 ! 3iore particularly. Taken in doses of two drachmae with honey, 

 .t relaxes the bowels ; and an infusion of it is good for cough, 

 pipings of the stomach, and flatulency : taken with vinegar, 

 too, it cures affections of the spleen. Mixed with oxycrate it 

 IS good for the bites of serpents and spiders, and, in doses of 

 bwo drachmae with bread or water, it is employed for the cure 

 jf the stings of scorpions. It is applied also topically with oil 

 X) the bites of dogs, and to parts that are excoriated: employed 

 in a similar manner, too, it is good for pains in the sinews, and 

 in conabination with resin it is used as a liniment for lumbago 

 md sciatica. The properties of this plant are of a warming 

 lature. Inhaled at the nostrils, it produces sneezing and 

 ileanses the brain, and in cases of head-ache it is applied to- 

 Djcally in combination with the quince or the strutheum.''' It 

 iispels the fumes of wine also, and difficulties of breathing^ 

 md taken in doses of two oboli it acts as an emetic : applied 

 IS a plaster with honey, it extracts splinters of broken bones. 

 Powdered iris is employed also for whitlows, and, mixed with 

 sine, for corns and warts, in which case it is left for three days 

 m the part affected. 



Chewed, it is a corrective of bad breath and offensive exha- 

 ations of the arm-pits, and the juice of it softens all kinds of 

 ndurations of the body. This plant acts as a soporific, but it 

 vastes the seminal fluids : it is used also for the treatment of 

 ;haps of the fundament and condylomata, and it heals all sorts 

 )f excrescences on the body. 



" A small kind of quince. See B. xv. cc. 10 and -14. 

 ^ " Orthopnoea. " 



B B 2 



