Chap. 77.] 
LTCIUM. 
51 
CHAP. 77. LYCItJM : EIGHTEEN REMEDIES. 
The best lycium/^ they say, is that prepared from the thorn 
of that name, known also as the Chironian pyxacanthus,"^*' 
and mentioned by us when speaking of the trees of India, the 
lycium of those regions being generally looked upon as by 
far the best. The branches and roots, which are intensely 
bitter, are first pounded and then boiled for three days in 
a copper vessel, after which the woody parts are removed, 
and the decoction is boiled again, till it has attained the 
consistency of honey. It is adulterated with various bitter 
extracts,^® as also with amurca of olive oil and ox-gaU. The 
froth or flower^^ of this decoction is used as an ingredient in 
compositions for the eyes : and the other part of it is employed 
as a cosmetic for the face, and for the cure of itch- scabs, 
corroding sores in the corners of the eyes, inveterate fluxes, 
and suppurations of the ears. It is useful too for diseases of 
the tonsillary glands and gums, for coughs, and for discharges 
of blood from the mouth, being generally taken in pieces the 
size of a bean. For the cure of discharges from wounds, it 
is applied to the part affected ; and it is similarly used for 
chaps, ulcerations of the genitals, excoriations, ulcers, whether 
putrid, serpiginous, or of recent date, hard excrescences^^ of 
the nostrils, and suppurations. It is taken also by females, 
in milk, for the purpose of arresting the catamenia when in 
excess. 
The Indian lycium is distinguished from the other kinds 
by its colour, the lumps being black outside, and, when broken, 
red within, though they turn black very quickly.^^ It is 
bitter and remarkably astringent, and is employed for all the 
purposes above mentioned, diseases of the generative organs in 
particular. 
^5 See B. xii. c. 15. Fee identifies this with the modern Catechu, a de- 
coction from the Acacia catechu, a leguminous plant of the East Indies. 
^6 The Ehamnus lycioides of Linnaeus, our buckthorn. The Indian 
plant from which catechu is extracted is of a similar nature. See B, xii. c. 15. 
This Fee looks upon as an exaggeration, 
18 See B. xii. c. 15. 
19 L e. the choice part of it; see B. xii. c. 15. Catechu is adulterated 
at the present day with starch and argillaceous earths. As a medicament 
it is not possessed of a very powerful action. 
20 " Clavos." 21 xhis statement is quite correct. 
E 2 
