Cll0 P- 78 'J THE FITCH. 4^1 



^ CUf a11 ldnds f Warts : n the fi rst day of 



w . , 



nd tV 1 l pa ft- mUB Ue UP the Pease in a linen cloth > 

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



the warts will be made to disappear. 



Our authors recommend the plant known as the "arfctinum" 5 * 



boiled m water with salt, and two cyathi of the decoction 



aken for strangury. Employed in a similar manner, it 



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



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



Qtation as hot as possible, allays gout in the feet, an effect 



equally produced by the plant itself, beaten up and applied 



warm. A decoction of the columbine 55 chickpea, it is thought, 



oderates the shivering fits in tertian or quartan fevers; and 



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



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



CHAP. 73. - THE FITCH : TWENTY BEMEDIES. 



In speaking of the fitch, 56 we have 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. 

 x<or 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 mamilla3 : 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 the food, generally known 

 as " atrophy." For cutaneous eruptions, plasters are made of 

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

 affected. Applied with honey, it prevents inflamed tumours 

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



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

 is still given to the cultivated plant. 



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

 this plant may be a variety of the Ervuni. 



5(5 In B. xviii. c. 38. The Ervuin ervilia of Linnaeus ; it is no longer 

 employed in medicine. 



& G 2 



