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Bingen, Hildegard of - Lettuce
Identifier
022677
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica – translated by Priscilla Throop from the Latin
Domestic lettuces (latich), which can be eaten, are very cold. Eaten without condiment, their injurious juice makes a person's brain empty, and they fill his stomach with illness.
Whence, one who wishes to eat it should first temper it with dill, vinegar, or garlic, so that these suffuse in it a short time before it is eaten. Tempered in this way, lettuce strengthens the brain and furnishes good digestion.
[If someone suffers pain or a swelling in his gums, he should take lettuce or, if he has none, oak leaves that are just budding. He should add a slightly greater quantity of chervil. He should crush these a moderate amount, then add wine. He should place this in his mouth, and hold it there for sometime. This drives off the harsh humors from the gums.]