Wild bulbs, made up into pills with silphium, effect the cure of wounds and other affections of the intestines. The seed, too, of the cultivated kinds is taken in wine as a cure for the bite of the phalangium,[1500] and the bulbs themselves are applied in vinegar for the cure of the stings of serpents. The ancients used to give bulb-seed to persons afflicted with madness, in drink. The blossom, beaten up, removes spots upon the legs, as well as scorches produced by fire. Diocles is of opinion that the sight is impaired by the use of bulbs; he adds, too, that when boiled they are not so wholesome as roasted, and that, of whatever nature they may be, they are difficult of digestion. CHAP. 41.—BULBINE; ONE REMEDY. BULB EMETIC. The Greeks give the name bulbine[1501] to a plant with leaves resembling those of the leek, and a red bulbous root. This plant, it is said, is marvellously good for wounds, but only when they are of recent date. The bulbous plant known as the “emetic” bulb,[1502] from the effects which it produces, has dark leaves,[1503] and longer than those of the other kinds. CHAP. 42. (10.)—GARDEN ASPARAGUS; WITH THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES. Asparagus[1504] is said to be extremely wholesome as an aliment to the stomach. With the addition of cummin, it dispels flatulency of the stomach and colon; it sharpens the eyesight also, acts as a mild aperient upon the stomach, and, boiled with wine, is good for pains in the chest and spine, and diseases of the intestines. For pains in the loins and kidneys asparagus-seed[1505] is administered in doses of three oboli, taken with an equal proportion of cummin-seed. It acts as an aphrodisiac, and is an extremely useful diuretic, except that it has a tendency to ulcerate the bladder.[1506] The root, also, pounded and taken in white wine, is highly extolled by some writers, as having the effect of disengaging calculi, and of soothing pains in the loins and kidneys; there are some persons, too, who administer this root with sweet wine for pains in the uterus. Boiled in vinegar the root is very beneficial in cases of elephantiasis. It is said that if a person is rubbed with asparagus beaten up in oil, he will never be stung by bees. CHAP. 43.—CORRUDA, LIBYCUM, OR ORMINUM. Wild asparagus is by some persons called “corruda,” by others “libycum,” and by the people of Attica “orminus.”[1507] For all the affections above enumerated it is more efficacious even than the cultivated kind, that which is white[1508] more particularly. This vegetable has the effect of dispelling the jaundice, and a decoction of it, in doses of one hemina, is recommended as an aphrodisiac; a similar effect is produced also by a mixture of asparagus seed and dill in doses of three oboli respectively. A decoction of asparagus juice is given also for the stings of serpents; and the root of it, mixed with that of marathrum,[1509] is reckoned in the number of the most valuable remedies we are acquainted with.