CHAP. 29.—OXYMELI: SEVEN REMEDIES.
The following, as we learn from Dieuches, was the manner in which oxymeli2959 was prepared by the ancients. In a cauldron they used to put ten minæ of honey, five heminæ of old vinegar, a pound and a quarter of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water; the mixture was then boiled together till it had simmered some ten times, after which it was poured off, and put by for keeping. Asclepiades, however, condemned this preparation, and put an end to the use of it, though before his time it used to be given in fevers even. Still, however, it is generally admitted that it was useful for the cure of stings inflicted by the serpent known as the “seps”2960 and that it acted as an antidote to opium2961 and mistletoe. It was usefully employed also, warm, as a gargle for quinsy and maladies of the ears, and for affections of the mouth and throat; for all these purposes, however, at the present day, oxalme is employed, the best kind of which is made with salt and fresh vinegar.