These kinds of hellebore, reduced to powder and taken alone, or else in combination with radicula, a plant used, as already mentioned,[617] for washing wool, act as a sternutatory, and are both of them productive of narcotic effects. The thinnest and shortest roots are selected, and among them the lower parts in particular, which have all the appearance of having been cut short;[618] for, as to the upper part, which is the thickest, and bears a resemblance to an onion, it is given to dogs only, as a purgative. The ancients used to select those roots the rind of which was the most fleshy, from an idea that the pith extracted therefrom was of a more refined[619] nature. This substance they covered with wet sponges, and, when it began to swell, used to split it longitudinally with a needle; which done, the filaments were dried in the shade, for future use. At the present day, however, the fibres[620] of the root with the thickest rind are selected, and given to the patient just as they are. The best hellebore is that which has an acrid, burning taste, and when broken, emits a sort of dust. It retains its efficacy, they say, so long as thirty years. CHAP. 22.—TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM BLACK HELLEBORE. HOW IT SHOULD BE TAKEN. Black hellebore is administered for the cure of paralysis, insanity, dropsy—provided there is no fever—chronic gout, and diseases of the joints: it has the effect too, of carrying off the bilious secretions and morbid humours by stool. It is given also in water as a gentle aperient, the proportion being one drachma at the very utmost, and four oboli for a moderate dose. Some authorities have recommended mixing scammony with it, but salt is looked upon as more safe. If given in any considerable quantity in combination with a sweet substance, it is highly dangerous: used in the form of a fomentation, it disperses films upon the eyes; and hence it is that some medical men have pounded it and used it for an eye-salve. It ripens and acts detergently upon scrofulous sores, suppurations, and indurated tumours, as also upon fistulas, but in this latter case it must be removed at the end of a couple of days. In combination with copper filings[621] and sandarach, it removes warts; and it is applied to the abdominal regions, with barley-meal and wine, in cases of dropsy. This plant is employed for the cure of pituitous defluxions in cattle and beasts of burden, a slip of it being passed[622] through the ear, and removed at the same hour on the following day. With frankincense also, wax, and pitch, or else pisselæon,[623] it is used for the cure of itch in quadrupeds. CHAP. 23.—TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM WHITE HELLEBORE.