Aëtius treats of clysters very fully. He prefaces his account of the mode of administering them, with a correct detail of the evils arising from constipation, which, he justly remarks, is the precursor of most of the ills which break out in the human frame. (iii, 159.) See a long list of prescriptions for clysters in Serapion. (De Antidotis, tr. vii, 26.) Rhases and Avicenna give a full account of the nature of clysters, but supply no additional information on the subject. SECT. XLV.—ON SUPPOSITORIES. We often use suppositories for the discharge of scybalæ, or when injections are not properly evacuated. Suppositories are formed of roasted salt, honey, and nitre; or thyme may be mixed with boiled honey. They are also formed of turpentine rosin, and nitre, and sometimes with a moderate quantity of the seeds of the thymelæa (granum cnidium); but it irritates the parts, which, therefore, ought to be rubbed with oil. Pellitory and pepper are also added, and are particularly fitted for paralytics, and for the relief of flatulence from cold. Centaury is also mixed with pitch and cerate, and is very applicable for paralysis of the genital organs. For infants a lump of salt is applied. Figs also are mixed up with nitre. * * * * * COMMENTARY. This Section is entirely taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 20.) See a fuller account in his ‘Med. Collect.’ (viii, 39), and Aëtius (iii, 160.) Aëtius, after mentioning the composition of certain suppositories similar to those of our author, speaks also of using for this purpose, figs mixed with nitre (soda?) and grapes deprived of their stones, with the addition of nitre and cumin. Actuarius states that it is when the obstruction is seated in the rectum that suppositories are particularly applicable. (Meth. Med. iii, 5.) See also Avicenna (iii, 20, 1), and Rhases (Contin. xxiv.) The use of suppositories in the practice of medicine might be traced back to the earliest times. Mention of them occurs frequently in the works of Hippocrates. SECT. XLVI.—ON MEDICINES WHICH EVACUATE PHLEGM FROM THE HEAD, MASTICATORIES, ERRHINES AND LINIMENTS TO THE NOSE.