CHAP. 51.—THE PALM: NINE REMEDIES.
Next in rank after the vine and the olive comes the palm. Dates fresh-gathered have an inebriating3050 effect, and are productive of head-ache; when dried, they are not so injurious. It would appear, too, that they are not wholesome to the stomach; they have an irritating3051 effect on coughs, but are very nourishing to the body. The ancients used to give a decoction of them to patients, as a substitute for hydromel, with the view of recruiting the strength and allaying thirst, the Thebaïc date being held in preference for the purpose. Dates are very useful, too, for persons troubled with spitting of blood, when taken in the food more particularly. The dates called caryotæ,3052 in combination with quinces, wax, and saffron, are applied topically for affections of the stomach, bladder, abdomen, and intestines: they are good for bruises also. Date-stones,3053 burnt in a new earthen vessel, produce an ash which, when rinsed, is employed as a substitute for spodium,3054 and is used as an ingredient in eye-salves, and, with the addition of nard, in washes for the eye-brows.3055