74 
PLIOT'S IS^ATFRAL HISTORY. 
[B00I5: XXIY. 
CHAP. 120. FENTJGEEEK OE SILICIA I THIllTY-OTfE IIEMEDIES. 
l^or is fenugreek held in less esteem. Ey some it is known 
as/* telis," by others as carphos," and by others again as 
^'buceras/''^^ or ^goceras/'^"^ the produce of it bearing some 
resemblance to horns. Among us it is known as '* silicia." 
The mode of sowing it we have already^^ described on the 
appropriate occasion. Its properties are desiccative/^ emollient, 
and resolvent. A decoction of it is useful for many female 
maladies, indurations for instance, tumours, and contractions of 
the uterus ; in all which cases it is employed as a fomentation or 
used for a sitting-bath : it is serviceable also as an injection. 
It removes cutaneous eruptions on the face ; and a decoction of 
it, applied topically with nitre or vinegar, cures diseases of 
the spleen or liver. In cases of difficult labour, Diodes re- 
commends the seed pounded, in doses of one acetabulum, 
mixed with boiled^ must. After taking one third of the mix- 
ture, the patient must use a warm bath, and then, while in a 
perspiration, she must take another third, and, immediately 
after leaving the bath, the remainder — this, he says, will prove 
a most effectual means of obtaining relief. 
The same authority recommends fenugreek boiled, with 
barley or linseed, in hydromel, as a pessary for violent pains 
in the uterus : he prescribes it also as an external application 
for the lower regions of the abdomen. He speaks also of 
treating leprous sores and freckles with a mixture composed 
of equal proportions of sulphur and meal of fenugreek, recom- 
mending it to be applied repeatedly in the course of the day, 
due care being taken not to rub the part affected. 
Por the cure of leprosy, Theodorus prescribes a mixture of 
fenugreek, and one fourth part of cleaned nasturtium, the whole 
to be steeped in the strongest vinegar. Damion used to give 
a potion by way of emmenagogue, consisting of half an aceta- 
bulum of fenugreek seed in nine cyathi of boiled must^^ and 
water. There is no doubt too, that a decoction of it is re- 
markably useful for diseases of the uterus and for ulcerations 
^"^ " Bull's horn'* or " goat's horn." In B. xviii. c. 39. 
The seed contains a mucilage, and is considered emollient and resolvent. 
Till recently, Fenugreek was the base, Fee says, of a plaster held in high 
esteem. 
Sapa.'* Grape-juice boiled down to one-third. 
SI "Sapa." 
