Chap. 75.] THE NARCISSUS. 367 



in wine, not being taken off before the end of three days. A 

 decoction of them with grease or oil, has the effect of making 

 the hair grow again upon burns. Taken with honied wine, 

 they carry off corrupt blood by stool ; they are good, also, for 

 the spleen and for hernia, and act as an emmenagogue. Boiled 

 in wine and applied with honey, they are curative of wounds 

 of the sinews. They are good, too, for lichens, leprous sores, 

 and scurf upon the face, and they efface wrinkles of the body. 

 The petals of the lily are boiled in vinegar, and applied, in 

 combination with polium, 60 to wounds ; if it should happen, 

 however, to be a wound of the testes, it is the best plan to 

 apply the other ingredients with henbane and wheat-meaL 

 Lily-seed is applied in cases of erysipelas, and the flowers and 

 leaves are used as a cataplasm for inveterate ulcers. The 

 juice which is extracted from the flower is called " honey" 61 

 by some persons, and "syrium" by others ; it is employed as 

 an emollient for the uterus, and is also used for the purpose of 

 promoting perspirations, and for bringing suppurations to a 

 head, 



CHAP. 75. SIXTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE NARCISSUS. 



Two varieties of the narcissus are employed in medicine, 

 the one with a purple 6 * flower, and the herbaceous narcissus. 63 

 This last is injurious to the stomach, and hence it is that it 

 acts both as au emetic and as a purgative : it is prejudicial, 

 also, to the sinews, and produces dull, heavy pains in the head : 

 hence it is that it has received its name, from " narce," 64 and 

 not from the youth Narcissus, mentioned in fable. The roots of 

 both kinds of narcissus have a flavour resembling that of wine 

 mixed with honey. This plant is very useful, applied to 

 burns with a little honey, as also to other kinds of wounds, 

 and sprains. Applied topically, too, with honey and oatmeal, 

 it is good for tumours, and it is similarly employed for the 

 extraction of foreign substances from the body. 



Eeaten up in polenta and oil it effects the cure of contu- 

 sions and blows inflicted by stones ; and, mixed with meal, 



60 Or " Poley." See c. 21 of this Book. 



ei Mel." 62 See c. 12 of this Book. 



63 The Narcissus pseudo-narcissus of Linnaeus, the meadow narcissus, 

 or daifodil. The epithet " herbaceous," Fee says, applies, not to the 

 flower, but to the leaves, which are larger and greener than in the 

 other kinds. Gi " Torpor," or " lethargy." 



