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CHAP. 21. (6.)—CUTLEEK: THIRTY-TWO REMEDIES.

Cutleek1 has the effect of stanching bleeding at the nose, the nostrils being plugged with the plant, pounded, or else mixed with nut-galls or mint. The juice of it, taken with woman's milk, arrests floodings after a miscarriage; and it is remedial in cases even of inveterate cough, and of affections of the chest2 and lungs. The leaves, applied topically, are employed for the cure of pimples, burns, and epinyctis3— this last being the name given to an ulcer, known also as "syce,"4 situate in the corner of the eye, from which there is a continual running: some persons, however, give this name to livid pustules, which cause great restlessness in the night. Other kinds of ulcers, too, are treated with leeks beaten up with honey: used with vinegar, they are extensively employed also for the bites of wild beasts, as well as of serpents and other venomous creatures. Mixed with goats' gall, or else honied wine in equal proportions, they are used for affections of the ears, and, combined with woman's milk, for singing in the ears. In cases of head-ache, the juice is injected into the nostrils, or else into the ear at bed-time, two spoonfuls of juice to one of honey.

This juice is taken too with pure wine,5 for the stings of serpents and scorpions, and, mixed with a semi-sextarius of wine, for lumbago. The juice, or the leek itself, eaten as a food, is very beneficial to persons troubled with spitting of blood, phthisis, or inveterate catarrhs; in cases also of jaundice or dropsy, and for nephretic pains, it is taken in barley-water, in doses of one acetabulum of juice. The same dose, too, mixed with honey, effectually purges the uterus. Leeks are eaten, too, in cases of poisoning by fungi,6 and are applied topically to wounds: they act also as an aphrodisiac,7 allay thirst, and dispel the effects of drunkenness; but they have the effect of weakening the sight and causing flatulency, it is said, though, at the same time, they are not injurious to the stomach, and act as an aperient. Leeks impart a remarkable clearness to the voice.8

1 "Porrum sectivum." See B. xix. c. 33.

2 Fée thinks that boiled leeks may possibly, with some justice, be ranked among the pectorals.

3 This, as Pliny himself here remarks, is a different disease from that previously mentioned in c. 6 of this Book.

4 From the Greek συκὴ, "a fig."

5 "Merum."

6 They would be of no utility whatever.

7 This is an unfounded statement, Fée says.

8 See B. xix. c. 33. Aristotle, Sotion, and Dioscorides state to the same effect.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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