Coriander-seed,[1229] eaten in too great quantity, produced, they thought, a derangement of the intellect. Ointment of saffron had an opposite effect, for the nostrils and heads of lunatics being rubbed therewith they were supposed to receive considerable relief.[1230] Melampos the goatherd was reported to have cured the daughters of Prætos[1231] of their madness by large doses of black hellebore, which thereafter received from him the name of Melampodion. Sea-onions[1232] suspended over the doors preserved from enchantment, as did likewise a branch of rhamnus over doors or windows.[1233] A decoction of rosemary[1234] and of the leaves and stem of the anemone[1235] was administered to nurses to promote the secretion of milk, and a like potion prepared from the leaves of the Cretan dittany[1236] was given to women in labour. This herb, in order to preserve its virtues unimpaired, and that it might be the more easily transported to all parts of the country, was preserved in a joint of a ferula or reed. A plaster of incense,[1237] Cimolian earth, and oil of roses, was applied to reduce the swelling of the breasts. A medicine prepared from mule’s fern,[1238] was believed to produce sterility, as were likewise the waters of a certain fountain near Pyrrha, while to those about Thespiæ a contrary effect was attributed, as well as to the wine of Heraclea in Arcadia.[1239] The inhabitants of this primitive region drank milk as an aperient[1240] in the spring, because of the medicinal herbs on which the cattle were then supposed to feed. Medicines of laxative properties were prepared from the juice of the wild cucumber, which were said to retain their virtues for two hundred years,[1241] though simples in general were thought to lose their medicinal qualities in less than four.[1242] The oriental gum called kankamon was administered in water or honeyed vinegar to fat persons to diminish their obesity, and also as a remedy for the toothache.[1243] For this latter purpose the gum of the Ethiopian olive[1244] was put into the hollow tooth, though more efficacy perhaps was attributed to the root of dittander[1245] which they suspended as a charm about the neck. A plaster of the root of the white thorn[1246] or iris[1247] roots prepared with flour of copper, honey, and great centaury, drew out thorns and arrowheads without pain. An unguent procured from fern[1248] was sold to rustics for curing the necks of their cattle galled by the yoke. A decoction of marsh-mallow leaves[1249] and wine or honeyed vinegar was administered to persons who had been stung by bees or wasps or other insects;[1250] bites and burns were healed by an external application of the leaf smeared with oil, and the powdered roots cast into water caused it to freeze if placed out during the night in the open air; an unguent was prepared with oil from reeds, green or dry, which protected those who anointed themselves with it, from the stings of venomous reptiles. Cinnamon unguent,[1251] or