I find other marvellous praises lavished upon the lettuce, such, for instance, as that, mixed with Attic honey, it is no less beneficial for affections of the chest than abrotonum;[1448] that the menstrual discharge is promoted in females by using it as a diet; that the seed, too, Of the cultivated lettuce is administered as a remedy for the stings of scorpions, and that pounded, and taken in wine, it arrests all libidinous dreams and imaginations during sleep; that water, too, which affects[1449] the brain will have no injurious effects upon those who eat lettuce. Some persons have stated, however, that if lettuces are eaten too frequently they will prove injurious to the eyesight. CHAP. 27. (8.)—BEET: TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES. Nor are the two varieties of the beet without their remedial properties.[1450] The root of either white or black beet, if hung by a string, fresh-gathered, and softened with water, is said to be efficacious for the stings of serpents. White beet, boiled and eaten with raw garlic, is taken for tapeworm; the root, too, of the black kind, similarly boiled in water, removes porrigo; indeed, it is generally stated, that the black beet is the more efficacious[1451] of the two. The juice of black beet is good for inveterate head-aches and vertigo, and injected into the ears, it stops singing in those organs. It is a diuretic, also, and employed in injections is a cure for dysentery and jaundice. This juice, used as a liniment, allays tooth-ache, and is good for the stings of serpents; but due care must be taken that it is extracted from this root only. A decoction, too, of beet-root is a remedy for chilblains. A liniment of white beet-root applied to the forehead, arrests defluxions of the eyes, and mixed with a little alum it is an excellent remedy for erysipelas. Beaten up, and applied without oil, it is a cure for excoriations. In the same way, too, it is good for pimples and eruptions. Boiled, it is applied topically to spreading ulcers, and in a raw state it is employed in cases of alopecy, and running ulcers of the head. The juice, injected with honey into the nostrils, has the effect of clearing the head. Beet-root is boiled with lentils and vinegar, for the purpose of relaxing the bowels; if it is boiled, however, some time longer, it will have the effect of arresting fluxes of the stomach and bowels. CHAP. 28.—LIMONION, OR NEUROIDES: THREE REMEDIES. There is a wild beet, too, known by some persons as “limonion,”[1452] and by others as “neuroides;” it has leaves much smaller and thinner than the cultivated kind, and lying closer together. These leaves amount often to eleven[1453] in number, the stalk resembling that of the lily.[1454] The leaves of this plant are very useful for burns, and have an astringent taste in the mouth: the seed, taken in doses of one acetabulum, is good for dysentery. It is said that a decoction of beet with the root has the property of taking stains out of cloths and parchment.