CHAP. 2. (1.)—THE WILD CUCUMBER; TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.
We have already stated1296 that there is a wild cucumber, considerably smaller than the cultivated one. From this cucumber the medicament known as “elaterium” is prepared, being the juice extracted from the seed.1297 To obtain this juice the fruit is cut before it is ripe—indeed, if this precaution is not taken at an early period, the seed is apt to spirt1298 out and be productive of danger to the eyes. After it is gathered, the fruit is kept whole for a night, and on the following day an incision is made in it with a reed. The seed, too, is generally sprinkled with ashes, with the view of retaining in it as large a quantity of the juice as possible. When the juice is extracted, it is received in rain water, where it falls to the bottom; after which it is thickened in the sun, and then divided into lozenges, which are of singular utility to mankind for healing dimness1299 of sight, diseases of the eyes, and ulcerations of the eyelids. It is said that if the roots of a vine are touched with this juice, the grapes of it will be sure never to be attacked by birds.
The root,1300 too, of the wild cucumber, boiled in vinegar, is employed in fomentations for the gout, and the juice of it is used as a remedy for tooth-ache. Dried and mixed with resin, the root is a cure for impetigo1301 and the skin diseases known as “psora”1302 and “lichen:”1303 it is good, too, for imposthumes of the parotid glands and inflammatory tumours,1304 and restores the natural colour to the skin when a cicatrix has formed.—The juice of the leaves, mixed with vinegar, is used as an injection for the ears, in cases of deafness.