Chap. 46.] YABIOUS KINDS OF NITETJM. 517 



tian nitrum is eaten 90 with radishes, 91 it having the effect of 

 making them more tender ; though as to other edibles it turns 

 them white and spoils them. To vegetables it imparts an ad- 

 ditional greenness. 92 



Viewed medicinally, nitrum is calorific, attenuant, mordent, 

 astringent, desiccative, and ulcerating : it is good, too, in all 

 cases where certain humours require to be drawn out or dis- 

 persed, or where gentle mordents or attenuants are required, 

 as in the case of pustules and pimples, for example. Some 

 persons ignite it for this purpose, and, after quenching it in 

 astringent wine, bruise and use it, without oil, at the bath. 

 Applied with dried iris powdered, and green olive oil, it checks 

 immoderate perspiration. Applied topically with a fig, or boiled 

 down to one half in raisin wine, it removes marks upon the 

 eyes and granulations of the eyelids. It is used, also, for the 

 removal of argema, boiled in a pomegranate rind with raisin 

 wine. Used as an ointment, in combination with honey, it 

 improves the eye- sight. It is very useful, also, for tooth-ache, 

 taken as a collutory with wine and pepper, or boiled with a 

 leek. Burnt, and employed as a dentifrice, it restores teeth 93 

 to their original colour that have turned black ; and an appli- 

 cation of it, with Samian earth and oil, kills nits and other 

 vermin of the head. Dissolved in wine, it is used as an in- 

 jection for suppurations of the ears, and, applied with vinegar, 

 it consumes filth that has accumulated there. Introduced 

 dry into the ears, it disperses singings and tinglings in those 

 organs. 



Applied topically, in the sun, with an equal quantity of 

 Cimolian 94 chalk dissolved in vinegar, it removes white mor- 

 phew ; and a mixture of it with resin, or with white raisins 

 the stones being beaten up as well is an excellent cure for 



was included, at least, under the name of " nitrum." Carbonate of soda is 

 extensively used for this purpose at the present day. 



90 And to correct the acridity of the radishes, possibly. A somewhat 

 analogous fact is mentioned by Drury, in his " Journal in Madagascar." 

 He says that the sourest tamarinds, " mixed with wood ashes, become 

 sweet and eatable." See p. 316. We are not unaware that many look 

 upon this work and its statements as a work of fiction. 



91 See B. xix. c. 26. 



92 Carbonate of soda is added to pickles and boiling vegetables for this 

 purpose. 



9a Vegetable ashes, and tobacco-ashes in particular, have the same effect. 

 94 See B. xxxv. c. 57. 



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