BOOK XX. xci. 248-A'ciii. 252 



kind moreover even expels stone. Those who must 

 remain awake are kept roused by an infusion in 

 vinegar poured on the head. 



XCII. Linseed is not only used in combination uiueed. 

 with other ingredients, but also by itself renioves 

 spots on women's faces, and its juice benefits the 

 eyesight. With frankincense and water or with 

 myrrh and wine it reHeves fluxes froin the eyes, 

 parotid abscesses with honey or grease or wax, 

 fluxes from the stomach when sprinkled in water 

 Hke pearl barley, and quinsies when boiled in water 

 and oil and applied externally with anise. It is 

 roasted to check looseness of the bowels. For 

 coeliac trouble and dysentery it is applied in vinegar. 

 For pains of the liver it is eaten with raisins ; for 

 consumption electuaries are made from the seed 

 with very useful results. Linseed meal, with soda 

 or salt or ash added, softens indurations of the 

 muscles, sinews, joints and nape of the neck, as well as 

 the mcmbranes of the brain. VVith a fig it also ripens 

 and brings to a head a parotid abscess ; with the root 

 moreover of wild cucumber it extracts bodies sticking 

 into the flesh, inchiding pieces of broken bone. 

 Boilcd in wine it prevents a sore from spreading, and 

 with honey checks eruptions of phlegm. With an 

 equal part of cress it cures scabrous nails, with resin 

 and myrrh complaints of the testes and hernia, and 

 in water gangrene. Stomach ache is cured by a 

 decoction of one sextarius of linseed with an equal 

 (juantity of fenugreek in hydromel, and dangerous 

 maladies of the intestines and lower trunk by an 

 enema of linseed in oil or honey. 



XCIII. Biite seems to be an inactive plant, with- Faise 

 out flavour or any sharp quality, for which reason in *?"""'^"- 



147 



