510 
plint's i^atueal histoet. [Book XXXI. 
to the appetite, For the cure of injuries inflicted by serpents, it 
is used with origanum, honey, and hyssop ; and for the sting of 
the cerastes, with origanum, cedar-resin, pitch, or honey. Taken 
internally with vinegar, it is good for injuries caused by the 
scolopendra ; and, applied topically, with an equal proportion 
of linseed, in oil or vinegar, for stings inflicted by scorpions. For 
stings of hornets, wasps, and insects of a similar description, 
it is applied with vinegar ; and, for the cure of hemicrania, 
ulcers on the head, blisters, pimples, and incipient warts, with 
veal-suet. It is used also among the remedies for the eyes, 
and for the removal of fleshy excrescences upon those organs, 
as also of hangnails^^ upon the fingers or toes. For webs that 
form upon the eyes it is peculiarly useful, and hence it is that 
it is so commonly employed as an ingredient in eye-salves, as 
well as plasters. For all these last-mentioned purposes, the 
salt of Tatta or of Caunus is more particularly in request. 
In cases where there is ecchymosis of the eyes, or a bruise 
from the effects of a blow, salt is applied, with an equal quan- 
tity of myrrh and honey, or with hyssop in warm water, the 
eyes being also fomented with salsugo. For this last-mentioned 
purpose, the Spanish salt is preferred ; and when wanted for 
the treatment of cataract, it is ground upon small whet- 
stones, with milk. For bruises it is particularly useful, 
wrapped in a linen pledget and renewed from time to time, 
being first dipped in boiling water. For the cure of running 
ulcers of the mouth, it is applied with lint ; gum-boils are also 
rubbed with it ; and, broken to pieces and powdered fine, it 
removes granulations on the tongue. The teeth, it is said, 
will never become carious or corroded, if a person every morn- 
ing puts some salt beneath his tongue, fasting, and leaves it 
there till it has melted. Salt effects the cure also of leprosy, 
boils, lichens, and itch-scabs ; for all which purposes it is ap- 
plied with raisins — the stones being first removed — beef-suet, 
origanum, and leaven, or else bread. In such cases it is the 
salt from Thebais that is mostly used ; the same salt being 
considered preferable for the treatment of prurigo, and being 
highly esteemed for affections of the uvula and tonsillar}^ glands, 
in combination with honey. 
Reuses the word pterygia " here, as applied to the whole of the 
body — " totius corporis " — in its two distinct senses, a hangnail or ex- 
crescence on the fingers, and a web or film on the eyes. 
