Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 41
41. Aroistoloia longa, aroistolola rotunda: i.e. the round birthwort and the long birthwort; it is hot in the second degree and dry in the first degree; if it be pounded and given in water, it will help with every poison; if it be pounded and rubbed in wine or ale, it will provoke the afterbirth for the women; if it be cooked in honey and strained through a linen cloth, and a spoonful of it drunk every day, it is good for every cold illness; if it be pounded and pig lard be put through it, it will withdraw every implement or thorn powerfully; if it be pounded and honey put through it, it will clean and heal the wounds; if it be rubbed in wine and drunk, it will help with spasms, and it will also help with rumbling of the abdomen, gout of the hand,
podagra and arthritis that comes from cold matter. Pound it and rub it in water and give it before the paroxysm in quotidian and quartan fever. If the birthwort be pounded and powder be made of it and that powder be sprinkled on a fire, it will drive the devils out of the house in which it is sprinkled. Item, pound the roots of this herb and put it in the holes of the ulcer and it will help with it; drink the same herb in water or in another drink and it will prevent the
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hiccup. Note that the long birthwort serves in place of the round birthwort; Platearius says that the round birthwort is better for medicinal purposes than the long birthwort; it retains its efficacy for three years; for medicinal purposes, its roots should be gathered
in the month of October and kept for the same time, and they will serve for medicinal purposes for three years. The same man says of every root that serves for medicinal purposes, that it is at its best for medicinal purposes when the leaves have fallen, and in the case foliage that is gathered and which serves for medicinal purposes, it is best gathered for that purpose when it is in flower. This herb has three virtues, the antidotary virtue, the dissolving virtue and the consuming virtue. If it be desired to expel a dead foetus, cook this herb in wine and oil, and apply it as a plaster to the right thigh of the woman, close to the groin, and it will soon relieve her. The powder of the same herb will cut the proud flesh out of the wounds and the ulcers. If the powder of the same herb and pepper be cooked in soup, it will help with pain of the abdomen. If the powder of the same herb be put in hot water, it will prevent the shivering in intermittent fever.