CHAP. 66.—PTISAN: FOUR REMEDIES.
To ptisan, [Note] which is a preparation of barley, Hippocrates [Note]
has devoted a whole treatise; praises, however, which at the
present day are all transferred to "alica," being, as it is, a
much more wholesome preparation. Hippocrates, however,
recommends it as a pottage, for the comparative ease with
which, from its lubricous nature, it is swallowed; as also, because it allays thirst, never swells in the stomach, passes easily
through the intestines, and is the only food that admits of
being given twice a-day in fever, at least to patients who are
in the habit of taking two meals—so opposed is his method
to that of those physicians who are for famishing their patients. He forbids it to be given, however, without being
first strained; for no part, he says, of the ptisan, except the
water, [Note] should be used. He says, too, that it must never be
taken while the feet are cold, and, indeed, that no drink of
any kind should be taken then. With wheat a more viscous
kind of ptisan is made, which is found to be still more efficacious for ulcerations of the trachea.
