Latin Texts & Translations

Psyllion, ^[Note] cynoïdes, crystallion, sicelicon, or cynomyia, has a slender root, of which no use is made, and numerous thin branches, with seeds resembling those of the bean, at the extremities. ^[Note] The leaves of it are not unlike a dog's head in shape; ^[Note] and the seed, which is enclosed in berries, bears a resemblance to a flea—whence its name "psyllion." This plant is generally found growing in vineyards, is of a cooling nature, and is extremely efficacious as a dispellent. The seed of it is the part made use of; for head-ache, it is applied to the forehead and temples with rose oil and vinegar, or else with oxycrate; it is used as a liniment for other purposes also. Mixed in the proportion of one acetabulum to one sextarius of water, it is left to coagulate and thicken; after which it is beaten up, and the thick solution is used as a liniment for all kinds of pains, abscesses, and inflammations.

Aristolochia is used as a remedy for wounds in the head; it has the property, too, of extracting fractured bones, not only from other parts of the body, but the cranium in particular. The same, too, with plistolochia.

Thryselinum ^[Note] is a plant not unlike parsley; the root of it, eaten, carries off pituitous humours from the head.