about their traditional remedies, and tried them out on the troops,
recording the names and uses of about six hundred remedies,
eventually included in his five-volume pharmacopeia
that was copied, translated, and kept
in continuous circulation for fifteen centuries.
Remedies
Cinnamon is good for coughs,
dropsy, kidney diseases,
and difficult urination.
A decoction of cardamom
is good for those who have coughs,
sciatica, paralysis, hernias,
convulsions, and griping,
and it expels rectal worms.
Gum Elemi Tree resin
takes off scars in the eyes,
helps with gum disease and toothache,
and is given to the splenetic, epileptic, and asthmatic.
For baldness, rub on
the burnt skin of hedgehog
with moist pitch.
The flesh of mussels is effective
applied to a person bitten by a dog.
River crab, pounded raw
and taken as a drink with an ass’s milk,
helps snakebites
and the bites of spiders and scorpions.
Eating roasted brain of hare
is good for the trembling that comes from fear
and for teething in children.
Take rhubarb root in a drink
for gaseousness,
weakness of the stomach,
suffering, convulsions,
spleen, liver ailments,
inflammation in the kidneys,
griping and disorders of the bladder and chest,
matters related to hypochondria,
afflictions around the womb,
sciatica, spitting up blood,
asthma, rickets, dysentery,
abdominal cavity afflictions,
flows of fevers,
and bites from poisonous beasts.
Seawater is good
for disorders of the nerves,
and chilblains before ulceration.
Vinegar and salt, sipped and gargled,
kills leeches, cleans dandruff,
and cures ulcers on the scalp.
Grime from gymnasium walls
helps for abrasions,
and for removing scaliness and ulcers.
Good advice
Whatever they say—old wives,
old friends, scam artists,
quacks, and TV evangelists—
is good for a consideration.
If you don’t know by now, then keep
an open mind, and don’t fill it with rubbish.
They say that time heals, but it can also
make well-meant advice seem ridiculous.
Dioscorides, the original pharmacologist, incorporated
observations from Galen and Krateuas, and, of course, received
information from many people in places where he travelled;
however, he is said to have clinically tested and verified
everything before he published it.
Dioscorides, the original pharmacologist, incorporated observations from Galen and Krateuas, and, of course, received information from many people in places where he travelled; however, he is said to have clinically tested and verified everything before he published it.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia:
Other readings: