105. Diegreidium: i.e. the juice of a herb which is like spurge; it is made in the days called the dog days, and it is made as follows: take the leaves and seed of the herb called diagrydium, pound them well, press them through a linen cloth, dry them, and this will produce diagrydium; the colour of the best is black, or near black, or subwhite; it should not be given in greater quantity than two ounces, or two and a half scruples; it should not be given without mastix, or gum arabic, or bdellium, that is any mollifier of the laxative medicines; it has the ability to purge the choleric humour in the first place, secondarily the phlegmatic humour, and finally the melancholic humour. Platearius says that diagrydium should not be given with cold water; it is given with laxative medicines such as laxative oximels and laxative electuaries such as Trifera Saracenica which purges choleric humour in the first place, or mixed with Blanca, by which the phlegmatic humour is purged, or mixed with Diasenna, by which the melancholic humour is purged; it retains its efficacy longer when it is mixed with electuaries than when it is mixed with liquids, because it retains its efficacy for two or three years when mixed with electuaries; it should not be given in summer time except with warm water and in the quantities we mentioned above.