MERGE TO GYRENE. 
419 
We may add that the silphium was offered by the people of 
Cyrene to their first king, Battus, whom they deified, as the most 
with extreme cold. Taken in drinke it allaieth tlie accidents and grief of the nerves. 
A great restorative it is with meat, and quickly setteth them on foot who have lien long 
and been brought low by sicknesse : for laser, if it be applied in due time, is as good as 
a potentiall cauterie to raise a blister; outwardly applied no man maketh doubt but it 
is of singular operation and worketh many effects. Taken in drinke it doth e.xtinguish 
the venome left in the bodie, either by poisoned dart or serpents’ sting : and if the 
w'ounds be annointed with the same dissolved in water it is the better ; but particularly 
for the pricks of scorpions it would be applied with oile. Being laid too, with rue or 
honey, or by itselfe alone, (so that the place be annointed over it with some viscous gum 
to keepe it too, that it run not off,) it is excellent for the carbuncle and the biting of dogs. 
Being incorporate with sal-nitre and well wrought withall beforehand, and so applied, it 
taketh away the hard horns and dead corns arising in the feet, which commonly bee 
called in latin morticinl. Tempered with wine, and saffron or pepper, if it be but with 
mice-dung and vinegre, it is a good incarnative in ulcers; and an excellent drawer to 
the outward parts for to fill up the skin and make a bodie fat. A good fomentation 
there is made of it and wine for to bath kibed heels ; for which purpose it is boiled in 
oyle and so apply ed. 
“ In like manner it serveth to soften, hard callosities in any place whatsoever : and for 
the foresaid corns of the feet especially, if they be scraped and scan-ified before, it is of 
great efficacee. Singular it is against unwholesome waters, pestilent tracts, and conta- 
gious aires; as in times suspected of infection. Soveraigne it is for the cough, the fall 
of the uvula, and an old jaundice or overflowing of the gall; for the dropsie also, and 
horsenesse of the throat ; for presently it scowrelh the pipes, cleareth the voice againe, 
and maketh It audible. If it be infused and dissolved in water and vinegre, and so 
applyed with a spunge, it assuageth the gout. Taken in a broth, or thin supping, it is 
good for the pleurisie, especially if the patient propose to drinke wine after it. Being 
covered all over with wax to the quantitie of one “ cich pease it is given very well in case 
of contractions and shrinking of sinews, and namely to such as carrie their heads back- 
ward perforce, by occasion of some crick or cramp. For the squinance it is good to 
gargarize therewith. Semblably it is given with leeks and vinegre to those that 
wheaze in their chest and be short-winded, and have an old cough sticking long 
by them : likewise with vinegre alone to such as have supped off and drunke quailed 
* Ciceris magnitudine cera circunlitum. 
3 H 2 
