CHAP. 54. (6.)—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE BLOSSOMS, LEAVES,
FRUIT, BRANCHES, BARK, JUICES, WOOD, ROOTS, AND ASHES OF
VARIOUS KINDS OF TREES. SIX OBSERVATIONS UPON APPLES.
TWENTY-TWO OBSERVATIONS UPON QUINCES. ONE OBSERVATION
UPON STRUTHEA.
We next come to the medicinal properties of the various
kinds of apples. The spring fruits of this nature are sour and
unwholesome
1 to the stomach, disturb the bowels, contract the
bladder, and act injuriously upon the nerves; when cooked,
however, they are of a more harmless nature. Quinces are
more pleasant eating when cooked; still however, eaten
raw, provided they are ripe, they are very useful
2 for spitting
of blood, dysentery, cholera, and cœliac affections; indeed,
they are not of the same efficacy when cooked, as they then
lose the astringent properties which belong to their juice.
They are applied also to the breast in the burning attacks of
fever, and, in spite of what has been stated above, they are
occasionally boiled in rain-water for the various purposes before-mentioned. For pains in the stomach they are applied
3
like a cerate, either raw or boiled. The down upon them
heals
4 carbuncles.
Boiled in wine, and applied with wax, they restore the hair,
when it has been lost by alopecy. A conserve of raw quinces
in honey relaxes the bowels; and they add very materially to
the sweetness of the honey, and render it more wholesome to
the stomach. Boiled quinces preserved in honey are beaten
up with a decoction of rose-leaves, and are taken as food by some
for the cure of affections of the stomach. The juice of raw quinces
is very good, also, for the spleen, hardness of breathing, dropsy,
affections of the mamillæ, condylomata, and varicose veins.
The blossoms, either fresh or dried, are useful for inflammations of the eyes, spitting of blood, and irregularities of the
catamenia. By beating them up with sweet wine, a sooth-
ing sirop is prepared, which, is very beneficial for cœliac
affections and diseases of the liver: with a decoction of them
a fomentation is made for procidence of the uterus and intestines.
From quinces an oil is also extracted, which we have spoken
of under the name of "melinum:"
5 in order to make it, the
fruit must not have been grown in a damp soil; hence it is
that the quinces which come from Sicily are so highly esteemed
for the purpose; while, on the other hand, the strutheum,
6
though of a kindred kind, is not so good.
A circle
7 is traced round the root of this tree, and the root
itself is then pulled up with the left hand, care being taken
by the person who does so to state at the same moment the
object for which it is so pulled up, and for whom. Worn as
an amulet, this root is a cure for scrofula.