The juices of mustard are extracted in three different ways, in earthen vessels in which it is left to dry gradually in the sun. From the thin stem of the plant there exudes also a milky juice,[1725] which when thus hardened is remedial for tooth-ache. The seed and root, after they have been left to steep in must, are beaten up together in a mortar; and a good handful of the mixture is taken to strengthen[1726] the throat, stomach, eyes, head, and all the senses. This mixture is extremely good, too, for fits of lassitude in females, being one of the most wholesome medicines in existence. Taken in vinegar, mustard disperses calculi in the bladder; and, in combination with honey and goose-grease, or else Cyprian wax, it is employed as a liniment for livid spots and bruises. From the seed, first steeped in olive-oil, and then subjected to pressure, an oil is extracted, which is employed for rigidity of the sinews, and chills and numbness in the loins and hips. CHAP. 88.—ADARCA: FORTY-EIGHT REMEDIES. It is said that adarca, of which we have already made mention[1727] when speaking of the forest-trees, has a similar nature[1728] to that of mustard, and is productive of the same effects: it grows upon the outer coat of reeds, below the head. CHAP. 89.—MARRUBIUM OR PRASION, OTHERWISE LINOSTROPHON, PHILOPAIS, OR PHILOCHARES: TWENTY-NINE REMEDIES. Most medical writers have spoken in high terms of marrubium, or horehound, as a plant of the very greatest utility. Among the Greeks, it is called “prasion”[1729] by some, by others “linostrophon,”[1730] and by others, again, “philopais”[1731] or “philochares:”[1732] it is a plant too well known to require any description.[1733] The leaves[1734] and seed beaten up, together, are good for the stings of serpents, pains of the chest and side, and inveterate coughs. The branches, too, boiled in water with panic,[1735] so as to modify its acridity, are remarkably useful for persons troubled with spitting[1736] of blood. Horehound is applied also, with grease, to scrofulous swellings. Some persons recommend for a cough, a pinch of the fresh seed with two fingers, boiled with a handful of spelt[1737] and a little oil and salt, the mixture to be taken fasting. Others, again, regard as quite incomparable for a similar purpose an extract of the juices of horehound and fennel. Taking three sextarii of the extract, they boil it down to two, and then add one sextarius of honey; after which they again boil it down to two, and administer one spoonful of the preparation daily, in one cyathus of water.