147. Genciana: gentian; hot and dry in the third degree; it is the roots of this herb that best serve for medical purposes; it has the attractive, dissolving, consuming and opening virtues; it is beneficial against asthma arising from coldness, and, if its roots be boiled in wine or in ale against the asthma, this will help it. If the same herb be boiled in the ointment called dialthaea and rubbed on the chest it will help with tightness of the chest, and, if it be given in potage or in food, it will help with illness of the lungs and chest. If it be given with juice of mint, it will help with epilepsy, and if it be given in the same way, it will help with the bite of a mad dog and with every poison. If it be given with juice of wormwood, it will provoke the urine and menstruation, and will induce the dead foetus and the after-birth.