BOOK XX. Lxxxv. 233-Lxxxvii. 236 



seed taken in wine in doses of two draehmae cures 

 dysentery. The seed of pointed sorrel, washed in 

 rain-water, with the addition of a piece of guni 

 acacia, of the size of a lentil, is good for spitting of 

 blood. Most excellent lozenges are niade from the 

 leaves and root, with the addition of soda and a Uttle 

 frankincense. When wanted for use they are steeped 

 in vinegar. 



LXXXVI. But the cultivated kind is appUed to 

 the forehead for fluxes from the eyes. With the root 

 they treat Uchen and leprous sores ; it is boiled down 

 in wine however for scrofula and parotid abscesses, 

 taken in wine for stone, and applied as liniment for 

 complaints of the spleen, being equaUy good for 

 coeliac troubles, dysentery and tenesmus. For aU 

 tlie same purposes the juice of sorrel is more effi- 

 cacious ; it causes belching, is diuretic, and dispels 

 dimness of the eyes ; put in the bottom of the bath, 

 or rubbed on the body without oil before taking a 

 bath, it also removes itching of the body. The root 

 also chewed strengthens loose teeth. A decoction 

 of it with wine checks looseness of the bowels ; the 

 leaves relax them. Solon has added (not to omit 

 anything) another variety, ox sorrel," differing from 

 the others only in the depth of the root, and by the 

 efficacv of this root, when taken in wine, to cure 

 dysentery. 



LXXXVII. Mustard,of which wehavementioned'' . 

 three kinds among the cultivated plants, Pythagoras 

 judged to be chief of those whose pungent pro- 

 ])erties reach a high level, since no other penetrates 

 further into the nostrils and brain. Pounded it is 

 appUed with vinegar to the bites of serpents and 

 scorpion stings. It counteracts the poisons of fungi. 



137 



