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

subsection 113

113. Eleborus nider: i.e. the black hellebore; hot and dry in the third degree; its operation is similar to that of the white hellebore, except that the black hellebore serves as a laxative below, and the white hellebore as an emetic above; the root of this herb is best for medical use, because it is usually put in laxative oximels, compounds, and electuaries; this herb purges the natural melancholic humour and the unnatural melancholic humour principally. It serves well against mania and melancholia, and for people who have vertigo and dizziness arising from the melancholic humour; this is how it is put in the laxative purgatives, i.e. a drachma of the powder of the root of this herb, and if this herb is boiled in wine, ale, or mead, two or three


p.534

drachmas of it may be given in this way. Platearius says that this herb should not be given to people who have illness of the chest, or to those who have a thin, weak, body. Item, if the powder of the same herb be put in the nostrils, it will serve well for people with lithariga. Item, if the foliage of this herb be boiled in butter or oil, and allowed through a linen cloth, it will certainly help with scabby head.


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