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

subsection 103

103. Daucus asininus: .i. carrot; hot and dry in the third degree; its efficacy is great in its seed, its foliage, its root, and its flower; the reason why it is called by this name i.e. daucus asininus is that asininus is donkey, and it is the proper food of the donkey. There is another sort of this herb which is called daucus creticus and it is from the island called Crete that it is named, that is a Greek island, since it grows only in that island. This herb has the consuming, dissolving and attenuating virtues because of the fineness of its substance, and because of its equal qualities; this herb serves well when boiled with dry figs in wine against asthma and a cold wet cough; when there is trouble in the chest arising from cold matter, and without fever, this herb should be boiled in wine with liquorice and powder of cranesbill, and drunk early in the day and in the evening. Item, take two thirds of wine and one third of water, a handful of maidenhair spleenwort, a handful of mercury and of carrot, equal amounts of each herb, pound them, boil them in wine or water as we have said, strain them, and, when honey has been added, drink, and it will open oppilation of the liver and the spleen. Item, take juice of celery, boil carrot, press and clarify as with syrup, and it will certainly help with dropsy, and it will open the oppilation and the passages of the liver, the spleen, and the kidneys. Item, take this


p.524

herb, pound it well and make powder of it, put it in a little linen bag, and boil the little bag in wine, apply it to the forehead, and this will stop headache, and, if it be put over the stomach, it will stop its windiness. Item, take the electuary called Trifera and powder of this herb, and it will help with dropsy. Give this powder in white wine and it will clean the menstrual flow. Item, take plenty of the tops of this herb, boil it in wine or in oil, and apply it to the kidneys against stranguria and dysuria, and, if it be put on the navel, it will help with colic and ileus. Take the root of this herb and root of burnet and boil them in wine, and it will help with disease of the kidneys and of the bladder. Make a syrup of the juice of fennel and of the roots of this herb against the dropsy that comes from coldness. Item, take this herb, boil it in wine and oil, and leave to stand for ten days, heat it afterwards until the wine comes to the boil, take it off and put wax through it, boil the mixture until it becomes like an ointment, and, if it be rubbed on the cold members, it will warm them for sure.


p.525