Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 42
42. Artamesia, mater herbarum: i.e. mugwort; it is hot and dry in the third degree; if it be boiled in milk, wine, or ale it will provoke menstruation and clean the vagina; if it be rubbed cold in wine or ale it will do the same; if it be pounded and applied as a plaster on the navel, it will provoke menstruation; if it be pounded and rubbed in water or wine and given to a woman who is in labour, she will soon bring forth her baby; if the same herb be tied on her thigh near to
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the genitals, she will bring forth the baby, and the baby should be taken from her soon thereafter for fear of her drawing out her womb; this herb serves well against the bite of a mad dog, and against poisonous drinks; if the same herb be pounded and put in fresh ale, it will serve for the purposes we have stated; if the same herb be pounded and put through pig lard and applied to the feet after walking, it will help with their pain and stiffness; if the same herb be pounded and put on a red-hot stone and the smoke of it be allowed under the person with tenesmus, it will help him; it is good to put the same herb as a plaster on scabs and it will help them; Platearius says that it is this herb when fresh and its foliage which are best for medicinal purposes; it retains its efficacy in everything we said for a year; it prevents the sterility that comes from wetness of the womb, and it increases the sterility which comes from its dryness. Item, boil the same herb and the foliage of (spurge) laurel in water, and allow the steam of it to the vagina, and it will provoke menstruation. Item, pound the same herb and dead nettle and apply them as a plaster to swollen glands, and it will help. Item, pound the same herb and boil it in wine, and it will help with headache and migraine; Platearius says that this herb is appropriate for imposthumes of the chest such as pneumonia and pleurisy, and the same herb and juice of houseleek serve for repercussion of the matter in every abscess.
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