Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 21
21. Altea, malbua, bismalua: i.e. the three names of the mallow; it is said that this herb is hot in the first degree and wet in the second degree; this herb is appropriate for helping with wounds and for the growth of their tissue. It is also appropriate in clysters for people with tenesmus; this herb is powerful for injuries to the members, and for swellings wherever they occur. Item, boil the roots of this herb, pound them, and put pig lard through them, and they will help with
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every swelling and the pain from poison, and, if the gum called terebinth be put through it, it will help in the same way with every swelling and poison. Item, boil this herb and put the juice in the vagina and it will clean it of its exudation and relieve it of pain. Platearius says to make a poultice of this herb against the pain and dryness of the nerves. Boil this herb with its roots and it will help with every pain of the members as a fomentation and as a poultice. It is good for dysentery if boiled in wine or in ale, it relieves rumbling of the abdomen likewise, and it is good for excessive male libido, Avicenna says that porridge made from this herb greatly reduces the pain of the urinary stone if drunken. Boil mallow in wine or in milk and it will release the bind of blood that occurs in women's abdomen after pregnancy. Item, pound this herb, boil it in oil and in vinegar, and it will remove pimples from the face and will clean it of its exudations and lumps. This herb is good for the dry wounds, if it be pounded and mixed with honey. Item, pound this herb and boil it in oil, and it will help with the bite of a mad dog and with every burn of fire or water, as Isaac says. Make a poultice of this herb, put pig lard through it, and it will help with the hardness of the spleen and the liver, as Platearius says; it is appropriate to boil the seed of this herb in milk, and it will relieve consumptive people, as Platearius says.