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CHAP. 30.—LADANUM: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES

Diarrhœa may be also arrested by the use of either kind of ladanum.1 The kind which is found in corn-fields is pounded for this purpose, and then passed through a sieve, being taken either in hydromel, or in wine of the highest quality. "Ledon" is the name of the plant from which ladanum2 is obtained in Cyprus, it being found adhering to the beard of the goats there; the most esteemed, however, is that of Arabia.3 At the present day, it is prepared in Syria and Africa also, being known as "toxicum," from the circumstance that in gathering it, they pass over the plant a bow,4 with the string stretched, and covered with wool, to which the dewlike flocks of lada- num adhere. We have described it at further length, when treating of the perfumes.5

This substance has a very powerful odour, and is hard in the extreme; for, in fact, there is a considerable quantity of earth adhering to it: it is most esteemed when in a pure state, aromatic, soft, green, and resinous. It is of an emollient, desiccative, and ripening nature, and acts as a narcotic: it prevents the hair from falling off, and preserves its dark colour. In combination with hydromel or oil of roses, it is used as an injection for the ears; with the addition of salt, it is employed for the cure of furfuraceous eruptions of the skin, and for running ulcers. Taken with storax, it is good for chronic cough; it is also extremely efficacious as a carminative.

1 Fée is unable to identify it. The Galeopsis ladanum of Linnæus, the Red dead-nettle, has been suggested, but on insufficient grounds, probably.

2 See B. xii. c. 37.

3 It is still brought from the islands of Greece, but no longer from Arabia.

4 τοξὸν..

5 In B. xii. c. 37.

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