Book 6
11
11 Now ulcerations of the mouth if accompanied by inflammation, and if they are foul and reddish, are best treated by the medicaments made from pomegranates mentioned above. And, as a repressant, pearl barley gruel to which a little honey has been added is to be often held in the mouth; the patient must walk and not take acrid food. As soon as the ulcerations begin to clean, a bland liquid, at times even the purest water, is held in the mouth. It is then beneficial to eat a pear of the softer sort, and more food along with sharp vinegar; then the ulcers should be dusted over with split alum, to which about half as much again of unripe oak-galls has been added. If the ulcers are alar encrusted, as happens after cauterization, those compositions are to be applied which the Greeks call antherae: equal portions of galingale, myrrh, sandarach, and alum. Or saffron and myrrh 4 grams each; iris, split alum and sandarach 16 grams each; galingale 32 grams. Or oak-galls and myrrh 4 grams each; split alum 8 grams; rose leaves 16 grams. But some mix saffron 0.66 gram; split alum and myrrh 4 grams each; sandarach 8 grams; galingale 16 grams. The first compositions are dried and then dusted on; the last one is smeared on with honey added, and used not only for ulcerations of the mouth, but also of the tonsils.
