6. Arasca, elleborus albus: i.e. the two names of the white hellebore; and it is hot and dry in the third degree. Avicenna says that it is amongst the remedies that purge violently above and below; it does great harm if the matter be not digested first; it has the characteristic that it converts the wet areas to windiness very quickly; it is used in compound medicines and in laxative syrups; it is given with the juice of wheat or with a tisane of barley to soften the humours; it does less harm when cooked than when taken cold. It does less harm when it is compounded in a medicine than when it is given on its own; Hippocrates says in the Liber Aphorismorum that if it is desired to give this medicine, the patient should not rest afterwards, but should move the body immediately afterwards; the reason for this is i.e. from resting after this medicine, the wetness is converted into windiness, and this windiness travels to the heart so that the patient weakens and sometimes dies. This medicine purges the viscous phlegmatic humour principally, and the choleric humour secondarily, so that, therefore, this medicine is appropriate