CHAP. 86.—TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM MELISSOPHYLLUM.
If the bee-hives are rubbed all over with melissophyllum1 or melittæna, the bees will never desert them; for there is no flower in which they take greater delight. If branches2 of this plant are used, the bees may be kept within bounds without any difficulty. It is an excellent remedy, also, for the stings of bees, wasps, and similar insects, as also for wounds made by spiders and scorpions; it is used, too, for hysterical suffocations, in combination with nitre, and for gripings of the bowels, with wine. The leaves of it are employed topically for scrofulous sores, and, in combination with salt, for maladies of the fundament. A decoction of the juice promotes the menstrual discharge, dispels inflammations, and heals ulcerous sores: it is good, too, for diseases of the joints and the bites of dogs, and is beneficial in cases of inveterate dysentery, and for cœliac affections, hardness of breathing, diseases of the spleen, and ulcerations of the thoracic organs. For films on the eyes, it is considered a most excellent plan to anoint them with the juice of this plant mixed with honey.
