CHAP. 77.—SEVENTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE BACCHAR. ONE REMEDY DERIVED FROM THE COMBRETUM.
The bacchar that is used in medicine is by some of our writers called the “perpressa.” It is very useful for the stings of serpents, head-ache and burning heats in the head, and for defluxions of the eyes. It is applied topically for swellings of the mamillæ after delivery, as also incipient fistulas2305 of the eyes, and erysipelas; the smell of it induces sleep. It is found very beneficial to administer a decoction of the root for spasms, falls with violence, convulsions, and asthma. For an inveterate cough, three or four roots of this plant are boiled down to one-third; this decoction acting also as a purgative for women after miscarriage, and removing stitch in the side, and calculi of the bladder. Drying powders2306 for perspiration are prepared also from this plant; and it is laid among garments for the smell.2307 The combretum which we have spoken2308 of as resembling the bacchar, beaten up with axle-grease, is a marvellous cure for wounds.