CHAP. 48.—SILPHIUM: SEVEN REMEDIES.
All these productions owe their origin to rain,2699 and by rain is silphium produced. It originally came from Cyrenæ, as already2700 stated: at the present day, it is mostly imported from Syria, the produce of which country, though better than that of Media, is inferior to the Parthian kind. As already observed,2701 the silphium of Cyrenæ no longer exists. It is of considerable use in medicine, the leaves of it being employed to purge the uterus, and as an expellent of the dead fœtus; for which purposes a decoction of them is made in white aromatic wine, and taken in doses of one acetabulum, immediately after the bath. The root of it is good for irritations of the trachea, and is employed topically for extravasated blood; but, used as an aliment, it is difficult of digestion, being productive of flatulency and eructations: it is injurious, also, to the urinary secretions. Combined with wine and oil, it is extremely good for bruises, and, with wax, for the cure of scrofulous sores. Repeated fumigations with the root cause excrescences of the anus to subside.