CHAP. 92.—THE PANCRATIUM: TWELVE REMEDIES.
The pancratium is called by some the “little squill,”1968 in preference: it has leaves like those of the white lily, but longer and thicker, and a root composed of a large, red, bulb. The juice of it, taken with meal of fitches, relaxes the bowels, and acts as a detergent upon ulcers: for dropsy, and diseases of the spleen, it is administered with honey. Some persons boil it till the water becomes sweet; the water is then poured off, and the root is pounded and divided into tablets, which are dried in the sun and used for ulcerations of the head, and other affections which require detergents. It is sometimes given for cough, a pinch in three fingers in wine, and, in the form of an electuary, for pains in the side or peripneumony.
It is administered, also, in wine, for sciatica, griping pains in the bowels, and retardations of the catamenia.