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Table of Contents
Part 4
Cataplasms for swellings and inflammation in the surrounding parts. Boiled mullein, the raw leaves of the trefoil, and the boiled leaves of the epipetrum, and the poley, and if the ulcer stand in need of cleansing, all these things also cleanse; and likewise the leaves of the fig-tree, and of the olive, and the horehound, all these are to be boiled; and more especially the chaste-tree, and the fig, and the olive, and the leaves of the pomegranate are to be boiled in like manner. These are to be used raw: and the leaves of the mallow pounded with wine, and the leaves of rue, and those of the green origany. With all these, linseed is to be boiled up and mixed by pounding it as a very fine powder. When there is danger of erysipelas seizing the ulcers, the leaves of woad are to be pounded and applied raw in a cataplasm along with linseed, or the linseed is to be moistened with the juice of strychnos or of woad, and applied as a cataplasm. When the ulcer is clean, but both it and the surrounding parts are inflamed, lentil is to be boiled in wine and finely triturated, and, being mixed with a little oil, it is to be applied as a cataplasm; and the leaves of the hip-tree are to be boiled in water and pounded in a fine powder and made into a cataplasm; and apply below a thin, clean piece of cloth wetted in wine and oil; and when you wish to produce contraction, prepare the leaves of the hip-tree like the lentil, and the cress; wine and finely-powdered linseed are to be mixed together. And this is proper: linseed, and raw chaste-tree, and Melian alum, all these things being macerated in vinegar.