BOOK XXVI. xc. 157-160 



with ladanum " corrects the uterus,'' and the plant is 

 applied locally for pain there and ulceration. Scam- 

 mony taken in drink or used as a pessary forces out 

 a dead foetus. Either kind of hypericum, used as a 

 pessary, acts as an emmenagogue ; pre-eminently so, 

 however, as Hippocrates beheves, does crethmos,'' the 

 seed, or the skin of the root, being taken in wine ; it 

 also brings away the after-birth, and taken in water is 

 helpful in hysterical suffocations, as is the root of 

 geranion, which is specific for the after-birth and for 

 inflation of the uterus. Hippuris, taken in drink and '^ 

 apphed as a pessary, purges the uterus, as does 

 polygonus taken in drink. The root of alcima too 

 is an emmenagogue, leaves of plantain a violent 

 one, as is also agaric in hydromel. Artemisia 

 beaten up is good for the uterus, applied as a 

 pessary in iris oil or with fig or with myn-h.^ Its 

 root taken in drink purges the uterus so violently 

 that it expels a dead foetus. A sitz bath of a 

 decoction of the branches is an emmenagogue, and 

 also hastens the after-birth ; so too acts a drachma 

 of the leaves taken in drink. For all the same 

 purposes the leaves are also good when merely 

 apphed with. barley meal to the base of the abdomen. 

 Acoron too is beneficial for internal diseases of women, 

 and so is either kind of conyza, and also crethmos. 

 The two kinds of anthylhs, taken in wine, are very 

 useful for uterine troubles, for griping pains there, 

 and for delay of the after-birth. Calhthrix used for 

 fomentations is heaUng to the uterus, removes al- 

 bugo on the head, and beaten up in oil/ stains the 



^ Perhaps " or." 



• Note both ex and cum in a single phrase. 



' Here oho seems equivalent to the usual ex oleo. 



381 



