| BEANS (Broad ) VICIA FABA If a bean be parted in two, the skin being taken away, and laid on the place where the leech hath been set that bleeds too much, it stayeth the bleeding. Dried and beat to a powder they are great strengtheners of the kidneys. Where to find it: The Broad Bean is one of the hardiest vegetables grown in British gardens. Flowering time. Spring and summer. Astrology: They are plants of Venus. Medicinal virtues: The distilled water of the flowers is good to clean the face and skin from spots and wrinkles. The water distilled from the green husks is held to be effectual against the stone, and to provoke urine. Bean flour is used in poultices to assuage inflammations rising upon wounds, and the swelling of women's breasts caused by curding of their milk, and represses their milk. The flour and Fenugreek mixed with honey, and applied to felons, biles, bruises, or blue marks by blows, or the imposthumes in the kernels of the cars, helpeth them all, and with Rose leaves, frankincense, and the white of an egg, being applied to the eyes, helpeth them that are swollen or do water, or have received any blows upon them, if used in wine. Beans flour boiled to a poultice with wine and vinegar, and some oil put thereto, easeth both pains and swelling of the testicles. The husks boiled in water to the consumption of a third part thereof stayeth a lax, and the ashes of the husks, made up with hog's grease, helpeth the old pains, contusions and wounds of the sinews, the sciatica and gout. Modern uses: Broad Beans are not used medicinally in the form of extracts, but they do play an important role in dietetics, particularly in the treatment of conditions which require a vegetarian diet. They are an important source of protein. BEANS (French) PHASEOLUS VULGARIS Dried and beat to a powder they are great strengtheners of the kidneys. It grows weakly, and its shoots must be sustained on poles. The blossom is of many colours: red, white, yellow, blackish or purple. Where to find it: French Beans or Kidney Beans, are a common garden vegetable, having been cultivated since ancient times. The natural habitat, however, is central and tropical America. Flowering time: From late spring to early autumn. Astrology: They belong to Dame Venus. Medicinal virtues: A dram (1.7 g) at a time of the powder taken in white wine, prevents the stone, or will cleanse the kidneys of gravel or stoppage. The ordinary French Beans move the belly, provoke urine, enlarge the breast that is straitened with shortness of breath, engender sperm, and incite to venery. Modern uses: A homoeopathic tincture is used for rheumatism and urinary tract disorders. The pods have a diuretic action and are used as a remedy for diabetes. It is dangerous to consume beans uncooked. |