BOOK XX. xx.xix. 97-100 



XXXIX. The squill used in medicine is white SquUU. 

 (the dark squill is feniale), and the whiter it is the 

 more beneficial. Wlicn the dried skin has been 

 torn from it, what is left of the Hving " plant is cut up 

 and hung on a cord at short distances. Afterwards 

 the dry pieces are plunged still hanging into a jar 

 of very strong vinegar, so as not to touch any part 

 of the vesseL Then the jar, plastered with gypsum, 

 is placed under tiles which receive the sun tlie 

 whole day long. This is done forty-eight days before 

 the solstice. After this number of days the vessel 

 is removed and the squills taken out, the vinegar 

 being poured into another vesseh This vinegar 

 sharpens the vision, is beneficial for pains of the 

 stomach and sides if taken for two days at a time.* 

 But so great is its strength that too copious a draught 

 produces for a moment the appearance of death. 

 Even when chewed by themselves squills are good 

 for the gums and teeth. Taken in vinegar and 

 honey they bring away tapeworm and other intes- 

 tinal parasites. Fresh squills placed under the 

 tongue prevent dropsical patients from suffering 

 thirst. They are cooked in several wavs : either in 

 a pot lined with fat or clay, to be put into an oven or 

 furnace, or else they are cut up and cooked in a 

 stewpan. Raw squills too are dried, then cut up, 

 boiled in vinegar and then applied to snake bites. 

 Another way is to roast the squills and then clean 

 them, after which the centre parts are again cooked 

 in water. Thus prepared they are used for dropsy, 

 as a diuretic, drunk with honey and vinegar in doses 

 of three oboli, and also for diseases of the spleen 



* Reading diehus binis. Mayhoff'8 ieiunis ("fasting' 

 very attractive, and may well be right. 



59 



