Chewed raw, purslain reduces ulcerations of the mouth and gum-boils, and cures tooth-ache; a decoction of it is good, too, for ulcers of the tonsils. Some persons have added a little myrrh to it, when so employed. Chewed, it strengthens such teeth as may happen to be loose, dispels crudities, imparts additional strength to the voice, and allays thirst. Used with nut-galls, linseed, and honey, in equal proportions, it assuages pains in the neck; and, combined with honey or Cimolian[1676] chalk, it is good for diseases of the mamillæ. The seed of it, taken with honey, is beneficial for asthma. Eaten in salads,[1677] this plant is very strengthening to the stomach. In burning fevers, applications of it are made with polenta; in addition to which, if chewed, it will cool and refresh the intestines. It arrests vomiting, also, and for dysentery and abscesses, it is eaten with vinegar, or else taken with cummin in drink: boiled, it is good for tenesmus. Taken either in the food or drink, it is good for epilepsy; and, taken in doses of one acetabulum in boiled wine,[1678] it promotes the menstrual discharge. Employed, also, as a liniment with salt, it is used as a remedy for fits of hot gout and erysipelas. The juice of this plant, taken in drink, strengthens the kidneys and bladder, and expels intestinal worms. In conjunction with oil, it is applied, with polenta, to assuage the pain of wounds, and it softens indurations of the sinews. Metrodorus, who wrote an Abridgment of Botany,[1679] says that it should be given after delivery, to accelerate the lochial discharge. It is also an antaphrodisiac, and prevents the recurrence of lascivious dreams. One of the principal personages of Spain, whose son has been Prætor, is in the habit of carrying the root of it, to my knowledge, suspended by a string from his neck, except when he is taking the bath, for an incurable affection of the uvula; a precaution by which he has been spared all inconvenience. I have found it stated, too, in some authors, that if the head is rubbed with a liniment of this plant, there will be no defluxions perceptible the whole year through. It is generally thought, however, that purslain weakens the sight. CHAP. 82.—CORIANDER: TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES.