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CHAP. 105.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE TEETH.

The following are remedies for diseases of the teeth: root of panaces,1 chewed, that of the chironion in particular, and juice of panaces, used as a collutory; root, too, of henbane, chewed with vinegar, and root of polemonia.2 The root of plantago is chewed for a similar purpose, or the teeth are rinsed with a decoction of the juice mixed with vinegar. The leaves, too, are said to be useful for the gums, when swollen with sanious blood, or if there are discharges of blood there-from. The seed, too, of plantago is a cure for abscesses in the gums, and for gum-boils. Aristolochia has a strengthening effect upon the gums and teeth; and the same with vervain, either chewed with the root of that plant, or boiled in wine and vinegar, the decoction being employed as a gargle. The same is the case, also, with root of cinquefoil, boiled down to one third, in wine or vinegar; before it is boiled, however, the root should be washed in sea or salt water: the decoction, too, must be kept a considerable time in the mouth. Some persons prefer cleaning the teeth with ashes of cinquefoil.

Root of verbascum3 is also boiled in wine, and the decoction used for rinsing the teeth. The same is done too with hyssop and juice of peucedanum, mixed with opium; or else the juice of the root of anagallis,4 the female plant in particular, is injected into the nostril on the opposite side to that in which the pain is felt.

1 See c. 11 of this Book.

2 See c. 28 of this Book.

3 See c. 73 of this Book.

4 See c. 92 of this Book.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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