Ff PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIV. 



CHAP. 120. FENTJGEEEK on SILICIA : THIHTY-OI^E KEMEDIES. 



NOT is fenugreek held in less esteem. By some it is known 

 as " telis," by others as " carphos," and by others again as 

 "buceras," 47 or " segoceras," 47 the produce of it bearing some 

 resemblance to horns. Among us it is known as " silicia." 

 The mode of sowing it we have already 48 described on the 

 appropriate occasion. Its properties are desiccative, 49 emollient, 

 and resolvent. A decoction of it is useful for many female 

 maladies, indurations for instance, tumours, and contractions of 

 the uterus ; in all which cases it is employed as a fomentation or 

 used for a sitting-bath : it is serviceable also as an injection. 

 It removes cutaneous eruptions on the face ; and a decoction of 

 it, applied topically with nitre or vinegar, cures diseases of 

 the spleen or liver. In cases of difficult labour, Diocles re- 

 commends the seed pounded, in doses of one acetabulum, 

 mixed with boiled 50 must. After taking one third of the mix- 

 ture, the patient must use a warm bath, and then, while in a 

 perspiration, she must take another third, and, immediately 

 after leaving the bath, the remainder this, he says, will prove 

 a most effectual means of obtaining relief. 



The same authority recommends fenugreek boiled, with 

 barley or linseed, in hydromel, as a pessary for violent pains 

 in the uterus : he prescribes it also as an external application 

 for the lower regions of the abdomen. He speaks also of 

 treating leprous sores and freckles with a mixture composed 

 of equal proportions of sulphur and meal of fenugreek, recom- 

 mending it to be applied repeatedly in the course of the day, 

 due care being taken not to rub the part affected. 



For the cure of leprosy, Theodorus prescribes a mixture of 

 fenugreek, and one fourth part of cleaned nasturtium, the whole 

 to be steeped in the strongest vinegar. Damion used to give 

 a potion by way of emmenagogue, consisting of half an aceta- 

 bulum of fenugreek seed in nine cyathi of boiled must 51 and 

 water. There is no doubt too, that a decoction of it is re- 

 markably useful for diseases of the uterus and for ulcerations 



47 "Bull's horn" or "goat's horn." & In B.xviii. c. 39. 



4a The seed contains a mucilage, and is considered emollient and resolvent. 

 Till recently, Fenugreek was the base, Fee says, of a plaster held in high 

 esteem. * 



50 " Sapa." Grape-juice boiled down to one-third. 



51 



