BOOK XXII. xLix. 101-104 



striiation. Mixed with wax it extracts corns from 

 tlie fect after they have been cut round with the knife. 

 A piece the size of a chick-pea, diluted," is diuretic. 

 Andreas assures us that, though taken in copious 

 doses, it causes no flatulence, and is a great aid to 

 digestion for the aged and for women ; also that it 

 is more beneficial in winter than in summer, and 

 even then more so ^to teetotalers. Care, however, 

 must be taken that there be no internal ulceration.« 

 Taken in the food it is a great help in convalescence ; 

 for given at the right time it possesses all the quaUties 

 of a caustic «^ medicine, being even more beneficial 

 to those accustomed to it than to those unfamiUar 

 with it. Its employment externaUy provides sure 

 proofs of its heaUng power. Taken in drink it 

 neutraUzes the poisons of weapons and of serpents ; 

 it is appUed in water around such wounds, only for 

 the stings of scorpions is oil added. For sores not 

 yet coming to a head it is appUed with barley meal or 

 dried fig, for carbuncles with rue, or with honey, or 

 by itself, smeared over with some sticky substance 

 to make it adhere, and, similarly prepared, for dog 

 bites ; a decoction in vinegar with the rind of the 

 pomegranate for growths around the anus ; for corns 

 commonly known as mortified corns '^ some soda 

 must be mixed with the laser. Mange should be 

 farst thoroughly treated with soda, and then the hair 

 is restored by an appUcation with wine, saffron or 

 pepper, mouse dung, and vinegar. Chilblains are 

 treated by fomentations of it with wine and by appU- 



* ForcelUni says : " vel quia morticinam carnem referunt 

 vel quia mortiferi sunt." Morlicinus is an adjective applied 

 to the flesh of animals that have died a natural death. So 

 hero, apparently, corns of dry, dead flesh. But Hardouin 

 and Brotier both take the word to mean " fatal." 



367 



