Chap. 73.] THE riTCH. 451 



adopted for the cure of all kinds of warts : ou the first day of 

 the moon, each wart must be touched with a single chick]»ea, 

 after which, the party must tie up the pease in a linen cloth, 

 and throw it behind him ; bj' adopting this plan, it is thought, 

 the warts will be made to disappear. 



Our authors recommend the plant known as the "ariotinum"^ 

 to be boiled in water with salt, and two C5'athi of the decoction 

 to be taken for strangurj-. Employed in a similar manner, it 

 expels calculi, and cures jaundice. The water in which the 

 leaves and stalks of this jdant have been boiled, applied as a 

 fomentation as hot as possible, allaj's gout in the feet, an effect 

 equally produced by the plant itself, beaten up and applied 

 warm. A decoction of the columbine^ chickpea, it is thought, 

 moderates the shivering fits in tertian or quartan fevers ; and 

 the black kind, beaten up with half a nut-gall, and applied 

 with raisin wine, is a cure for ulcers of the eyes. 



CHAP. 73. THE FITCH : TWENTY KEMEDIES. 



In speaking of the fitch, ^ we liave mentioned certain pro- 

 perties belonging to it; and, indeed, the ancients have at- 

 tributed to it no fewer virtues than they have to the cabbage. 

 Eor the stings of serpents, it is employed with vinegar ; as 

 also for bites inflicted by crocodiles and human beings. If a 

 person eats of it, fasting, every day, according to authors of 

 the very highest authority, the spleen will gradually diminish. 

 The meal of it removes spots on the face and other parts of the 

 body. It prevents ulcers from spreading also, and is extremely 

 efficacious for affections of the mamillae : mixed with wine, it 

 makes carbuncles break. Parched, and taken with a piece of 

 honey the size of a hazel nut, it cures dysuria, flatulency, 

 affections of the liver, tenesmus, and that state of the body in 

 which no nourishment is derived from th«^ food, generally known 

 as '' atrophy." For cutaneous eruption?, plasters are made of 

 it boiled with honey, being left to remain four days on the part 

 aftected. Applied with honey, it prevents inflamed tumours 

 from suppurating. A decoction of it, employed as a fomenta- 



5^ Or " ram's head" cicer; from its fancied resemblance to it : the name 

 ifi still given to the cultivated plant. 



*5 Or "pigeon" cicer. See B. xviii. c. 32. Fee thinks it probable that 

 this plant may be a variety of tlie Ervum. 



'^ In B. xviii. c. 38. The Ervum ervilia of Linnaeus ; it is no long^ir 

 employed in medicine. 



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