CHAP. 45. (9.)—THE NATURE OF SALT.
Salt, regarded by itself, is naturally igneous, and yet it
manifests an antipathy to fire, and flies
1 from it. It consumers
everything, and yet upon living bodies it has an astringent,
desiccative, and binding effect, while the dead it preserves
from putrefaction,
2 and makes them last for ages even. In
respect, however, of its medicinal properties, it is of a mordent,
burning, detergent, attenuating, and resolvent nature; it is, however, injurious to the stomach, except that it acts as a stimulant
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 exrescences upon those organs,
as also of hangnails
3 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 quantity 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 morin-
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 Thebaïs 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 tonsillary glands,
in combination with honey.
Every kind of salt is useful for the cure of quinzy; but, in
addition to this, it is necessary to make external applications
simultaneously with oil, vinegar, and tar. Mixed with
wine, it is a gentle aperient to the bowels, and, taken in a
similar manner, it acts as an expellent of all kinds of intestinal
worms. Placed beneath the tongue, it enables convalescents
to support the heat
4 of the bath. Burnt more than once upon
a plate at a white heat, and then enclosed in a bag, it alleviates
pains in the sinews, about the shoulders and kidneys more
particularly. Taken internally, and similarly burnt at a white
heat and applied in bags, it is curative of colic, griping pains
in the bowels, and sciatica. Beaten up in wine and honey,
with meal, it is a remedy for gout; a malady for the especial
behoof of which the observation should be borne in mind,
that there is nothing better for all parts of the body than sun
and salt:
5 hence
6 it is that we see the bodies of fishermen as
hard as horn—gout, however, is the principal disease for the
benefit of which this maxim should be remembered.
Salt is useful for the removal of corns upon the feet, and of
chilblains: for the cure of burns also, it is applied with oil, or
else chewed. It acts as a check also upon blisters, and, in cases
of erysipelas and serpiginous ulcers, it is applied topically with
vinegar or with hyssop. For the cure of carcinoma it is
employed in combination with Taminian
7 grapes; and for
phagedænic ulcers it is used parched with barley-meal, a
linen pledget steeped in wine being laid upon it. In cases of
jaundice, it is employed as a friction before the fire, with oil
and vinegar, till the patient is made to perspire, for the purpose
of preventing the itching sensations attendant upon that dis-
ease. When persons are exhausted with fatigue, it is usual to
rub them with salt and oil. Many have treated dropsy with
salt, have used external applications of salt and oil for the
burning heats of fever, and have cured chronic coughs by laying
salt upon the patient's tongue. Salt has been used, also, as
an injection for sciatica, and has been applied to ulcers of a
fungous or putrid nature.
To bites inflicted by the crocodile, salt is applied, the sores
being tightly bandaged with linen cloths, first dipped
8 in
vinegar. It is taken internally, with hydromel, to neutralize
the effects of opium, and is applied topically, with meal and
honey, to sprains and fleshy excrescences. In cases of toothache, it is used as a collutory with vinegar, and is very useful,
applied externally, with resin. For all these purposes, however,
froth of salt
9 is found to be more agreeable and still more
efficacious. Still, however, every kind of salt is good as an
ingredient in acopa,
10 when warming properties are required:
the same, too, in the case of detersive applications, when required for plumping out and giving a smooth surface to the
skin. Employed topically, salt is curative of itch-scab in sheep
and cattle, for which disease it is given them to lick. It is
injected, also, with the spittle, into the eyes of beasts of burden.
Thus much with reference to salt.