Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)

subsection 22

22. Aloe, epaticum, cicotrinum: i.e. the three names of the aloes. It is the juice of a herb, and is hot and dry in the second degree. It is not very laxative. The two best sorts of it are cicotrinum and epaticum. They are best when of the colour of liver, dark and easily


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broken, and not having a bad taste or a bad smell. They purge the phlegmatic humour and the gross humours from the stomach and the intestines. They have the virtue of cleansing the brain, of comforting the nerves, and of preventing fumosity. They should not be given when the weather is too hot or too cold. They should not be given to those who have a flux of the haemorrhoids; if they be so given, anise and mastix and gum Arabic should be mixed with it. They serve well to prevent tears of the eyes. If their powder be put in the wounds, the tissue will grow.