Chap. 6.] 
MISTLETOE. 
5 
wounds with vinegar ; and in combination with water it is 
dropt into the eyes in cases of defluxion of those organs or 
of ecchymosis. There grows also in most parts of Attica, and 
in Asia, a berry of this description, which becomes transformed 
with great rapidity into a diminutive worm, owing to which 
circumstance the Greeks have given it the name of sco- 
lecion it is held, however, in disesteem. The principal 
varieties of this berry have been previously-^ described. 
CHAP. 5. — GALL-NUTS : TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES. 
And no fewer are the varieties of the gall-nut which we 
have described we have, for instance, the full-bodied gall- 
nut, the perforated one, the white, the black, the large, the 
small, all of them possessed of similar properties ; that, how- 
ever, of Commagene is generally preferred. These substances 
remove fleshy excrescences on the body, and are serviceable for 
affections of the gums and uvula,^^ and for ulcerations of the 
mouth. Eurnt, and then quenched in wine, they are applied 
topically in cases of coeliac affections and dysentery, and with 
honey, to whitlows, hang-nails, malformed nails, running ulcers, 
condylomatous swellings, and ulcerations of the nature known as 
phagedsBuic.^^ A decoction of them in wine is used as an injection 
for the ears, and as a liniment for the eyes, and in combination 
with vinegar they are employed for eruptions and tumours. 
The inner part of the gall, chewed, allays tooth-ache, and is 
good for excoriations between the thighs, and for burns. Taken 
unripe in vinegar, they reduce the volume of the spleen ; and, 
burnt and then quenched in salt and vinegar, they are used as 
a fomentation for excessive menstruation and procidence of 
the uterus. All varieties of the gall-nut stain the hair black. 
CHAP. 6. — MISTLETOE : ELEVEN REMEDIES. 
We have already stated that the best mistletoe is that 
which grows on the robur,^* and have described the manner in 
are hypothetical. It is no longer used in medicine, at least to any re- 
cognized extent. 
28 Hence the Latin word " vermiculum," from which our word " ver- 
milion" is derived. 
29 In B. xvi. c. 12. 30 in B. xvi. c. 9. 
They might be used advantageously, Fee thinks, in the shape of a 
decoction, for procidence of the uvula and uterus. 
" Eating," or "corrosive." " See B. xvi. cc. 11, 93, 94. 
3i See B. xvi. cc. 10, 11. 
