BOOK XX. XXXVI. 93-xxxviii. 96 



wounds, if applied with honey and not removed till the 

 seventh day ; also that beaten up in water it cures 

 scrofula and fistulas. Others moreover maintain that 

 it checks running sores, called nomae, removes too 

 excrescences, and smooths away scars ; that if it is 

 chewed, or if cabbage water be used with honey as a 

 gargle, sores in the mouth or on the tonsils disappear, 

 as also do the itch and chronic leprous sores, if three 

 parts of it and two of alum in strong vinegar be 

 appHed as a Hniment. Epicharmus thought this 

 cabbage a sufHcient remedy if apphed to the bite of 

 a mad dog, and an even better one with the addition 

 of silphium juice and strong vinegar ; he also said that 

 dogs are killed by it, if given with their meat. Its 

 seed if roasted is a help against serpents, fungi, and 

 bulFs blood. The boiled leaves taken in food or 

 apphed raw with sulphur and soda relieves splenic 

 diseases and also hardness of the breasts. The ash 

 of its roots even by a mere touch cures a swollen 

 uvula, reduces parotid swelUngs if applied with 

 honey, and heals bites of serpents. Of the power of 

 cabbage I will add but one proof, which is both 

 striking and wonderful : let the scale form on the 

 inside of any vessel in which water is boiled, so that 

 it cannot be scraped away ; yet it disappears if 

 cabbage is boiled in them. 



XXXVII. Among wild cabbages is also lapsana, Lapsana. 

 which is a foot high, has hairy leaves, being Uke 

 mustard, except that the flower is whiter. It is 

 eaten cooked, and soothes and relaxes the bowels. 



XXXVIII. Of all the varieties, sea cabbage is seacabba/j^ 

 the strongest purgative, On account of its pun- 

 gency it is cooked with fat meat, and is very bad 



for the stomach. 



57 



