Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 58
58. Beta & pleta, cicula: i.e. the three names of beet; it is hot and wet in the first degree; it is a common herb, according to Avicenna. Item, if the juice of this herb be put in the nostrils, it will clean the brain of its contamination. If the juice of the herb be put warm in the ear, it will help with earache. Item, if the juice of this herb be put on the hair and on the beard, it will clean them of their insects and nits, and preserve the hair from falling out. Item, if
p.492
the juice of this herb be mixed with honey, equal amounts of each, and it be put on the burn caused by fire or water, it will promptly cure it; the use of this herb gives rise to bad humours. Item, take beet, borage, foliage of sage, hyssop, mint, parsley, and foliage of avens, equal amounts of each, boil them in water, put in washed husks of oats, boil them, add salt, and this is effective for problems of the chest, and to augment the digestion.