104. Dragantum: (tragacanth) i.e. the gum of a tree that grows in the Holy Land; cold in the second degree and wet in the first degree; there are three sorts of it, the first sort of them is white, and this is the best of them; the second sort is of a sub-red colour; the third of a yellow colour, or of the colour called citrine; it is the white sort that is given in the cold medicines, and the other sorts in the hot medicines. It retains its efficacy for two years; this gum has three virtues: the infrigerating virtue, because of its coldness, the cleansing virtue because of its wetness, and the adhesive virtue because of its gumminess. Item, if this gum be boiled with gum arabic in barley water, this tisane is powerful against excessive heat of the chest. Item, take water in which liquorice has been boiled and put this gum in it and this will help with coughs. Item, if tragacanth be put in the same water for a day and a night, and a spoonful of it be given to drink, it will help with dryness of the mouth. Item, take rose water and put this gum in it until it dissolves, and put powder of starch in it, strain it through a cloth of good quality, dip a feather in it, and rub it on the thrush-sores of the mouth and the tongue, and it will help them. Item, take tragacanth and put it in rose water for a day and a night, and the following morning put soft borax and camphor in it and rub it on the face, and it will clean it and remove the wrinkles. Item, take sedum and extract the juice from it, and put tragacanth in it for a night and, if a cloth be dipped in it, and it be put on hot apostumes at an early stage, it will repercuss them. Item, take the same gum, mix it in rain water, and