Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 151
151. Hermodactuli: i.e. autumn crocus; hot and dry in the third degree; if its roots be collected in the summer and dried, they will retain their efficacy for a year; it has the consuming, dissolving and attractive virtues; it is the appropriate purge for the phlegmatic humour; it is beneficial against arthritis, podagra, gout of the hands, colic, ileus, and against every illness that comes from the phlegmatic humour; with it the following purges are made acute, that is, ieralogodion and Theodoricon anacardinum, and the likes. Item,
p.557
take juice of fennel and honey, boil well, put powder of autumn crocus into it and give a dragma of it every day, and it will certainly help with arthritis, podagra, and gout of the hand. Item, powder of autumn crocus and soap, and a surgical tent may be dipped in it and put in the opening of an ulcer. If powder of autumn crocus and burnt copper be mixed with juice of fennel or rue and put in the nose, it will help with polypus.
p.558