^80 THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 



scabs, or any tetter or ringworm. The juice warmed ia 

 a pomegranate shell or rind, and dropped into the ears 

 helpeUi tile pains ol them. The juice of it and fennel, 

 with a little honey and the gall of a cock put thereunto, 

 lielpetli the dimness of the eyc-sight. An ointment 

 Bfiade of the juice thereof, with oil of roses, ceruse, and 

 a little vinegar, and anointed, cureth St. Anthony's fire, 

 and ail running sores in the head, the stinking ulcers of 

 the nose or other parts. The antidote used by IVlithri- 

 dates, every morning fasting, to secure himself from any 

 poison or infection, was this : take twenty loaves of Rne, 

 a little salt, tM o walnuts and two figs, beaten together 

 into a mess, with twenty juniper berries, wnich is the 

 quantity appointed for every day. Another electuary is 

 made thus : take of nitre, pepper, and cummin-secd, of 

 each equal parts ; of the leaves of Rue clean picked, as 

 much in weight as all the other three weighed ; beat them 

 well together, and put as much honey as will make it up 

 into an electuary (but you must first s<eep your ciimmiu 

 seed in vinegar twenty-four hours, and then dry it, or 

 rather roast it in a hot fire-shovel, or in an oven) and it 

 is a remedy for the pains or griefs in the chest or stomach, 

 of the spleen, belly, or side, by wind or stitches, of the 

 liver by obstructions, of the reins and bladder by the 

 stopping of urine, and helpeth also to extenuate fat cor- 

 pulent bodies. What an infamy is cast upon the ashes 

 of JVlithridates, or Methridatcs (as the Agustincs read 

 his name) by unworthy people. They that deserve no 

 good report themselves, love to give none to olhcrr^ 

 viz That renowned King of Pontus fortified his body 

 by poison against poison. {He cast out devils bij Beelze- 

 bub, i)rince of the devils.) What a sot is he that knows 

 not if he had accustomed his body to cold poisons, hot 

 poisons Vrould have dispatched him ? On the contrary, 

 if not, corrosions would have done it. The whole world 

 is at this present time beholden to him for his studies in 

 physic, and he that useth the quantity but of an hazel 

 nut of that receipt every morning, to which his name is 

 adjoined, shall to admiration preserve his body in health, 

 if he do but consider that Rue is an herb of the Sun, and 

 under Leo, and gather it and the rest accordingly. 



