211. Nux longa: i.e. sweet almonds; hot and wet in the middle of the first degree; the bitter almonds are hot and dry in the end of the second degree; Galen says that there is an element of bitterness in all the almonds; they nourish in the same way as hazel nuts; they are gross in substance; they are not favourable to the digestion in accordance with the grossness of their substance, and they are harmful to the stomach, according to Ysaac. They serve well for people with tightness of the chest and dryness of the lungs and kidneys, they provoke the urine, and they cause oppilation of the liver, for which reason it said that bitter almonds should be given as medicine, and sweet almonds as food. The oil that is made of sweet almonds serves well for diseases of the chest, when given to eat with honey and sugar. Ysaac says that almonds are best when they are fresh and still retain their natural wetness, and they are bad when old. If they are eaten when they are still young, they will stop the excessive heat of the stomach and chest. When bitter almonds are eaten, they cause the body to grow thin, they dissolve the gross humours from the chest and lungs, they open the oppilation of the liver and spleen, they dissolve the gross windiness that occurs in the intestine called colon, they clean the exudations of the kidneys and womb, and they relieve constipation of the abdomen. If the skin that is on them outside be taken off them and put in the vagina, it will powerfully provoke