Essence.
This is the gum tree of Yemen. Cuts are made on it and the juice is allowed to thicken, and then it is processed in the same way as galbanum and opopanax are processed in our country. This gum can be pure, but there is also a type with an admixture.
Choice.
The best myrrh is white and red, without any admixture of wood; its wood has a pleasant smell. Sometimes myrrh is mixed with the juice of some deadly yattu and then it also becomes deadly. This type of yattu is called arasis; it is a plant that causes death.
Nature.
Hot, dry in the second degree.
Actions and properties.
Myrrh opens blockages, dissolves winds, knits, glues and softens. Myrrh soot is good for the same thing that myrrh itself is good for, but it dries more. Its soot is thin, without burning, homogeneous with the soot of incense. Myrrh is included in great medicines due to the many beneficial properties of its properties and prevents decay, so that it even preserves the dead, protecting it from change and stench. Myrrh dries up unripe excesses; that which is brought from Crete warms more strongly, promotes ripening more and softens more.
Cosmetics.
If myrrh is mixed with myrtle oil and frankincense, it helps strengthen hair and makes it stronger, thicker, and also reduces traces of ulcers. It gives a pleasant smell to your breath when held in your mouth and eliminates bad breath. Myrrh with wine and alum is smeared on the armpits, and this destroys the bad odor from them. Myrrh with honey and Ceylon cinnamon is used to smear warts.
Tumors and acne.
Myrrh is useful for mucous tumors.
Wounds and ulcers.
Myrrh heals ulcers and covers exposed bones with meat; Myrrh with vinegar is used against lichens, and it heals rotten wounds.
Tools with joints.
Myrrh is boiled with shell meat and mixed with pure wine, damaged cartilage, for example, ear cartilage, is smeared onto other cartilage.
Organs of the head.
Galen says: “The smell of myrrh causes headaches even in healthy people, not to mention those suffering from headaches.” Myrrh, especially mixed with thapsia, opium and beaver stream, is one of the medicines useful for cutting the ear; it causes dizziness and puts you to sleep. Rinse the mouth with myrrh, wine and olive oil, and this greatly strengthens the teeth, gives them hardness, prevents them from corroding, strengthens the gums and removes excess moisture from them. Myrrh is sprinkled on ulcers on the head, and it dries them. It is used with beaver stream, acacia and opium for ulcers and pus in a sore ear. It is used to lubricate the nostrils for chronic catarrh, and it delays it. Myrrh is sometimes introduced into the nose in the amount of one danak, and this cleanses the brain.
Organs of the eye.
Myrrh reduces marks from ulcers in the eye, fills ulcers, reduces cataracts and helps with roughness of the eyelids. It resolves pus in the eye without burning and sometimes even resolves cataracts at the beginning of their formation, if they are thin. Myrrh is most effective in eye powders when mixed with yattu juice.
Respiratory and chest organs.
Myrrh is a good remedy for chronic wet cough, asthma, “stagnant breathing” and pain in the side. It helps with all this due to its ability to gently cleanse; without causing roughness. Myrrh is placed under the tongue and its juice is swallowed to relieve roughness in the throat.
Nutritional organs.
Pure myrrh is beneficial for relaxing the stomach, eliminating “yellow water” and bloating.
Eruption organs.
Myrrh, due to its bitterness, especially in the form of an enema with the juice of rue or bitter wormwood or lupine, drives menstruation. It expels fetuses, worms and pumpkin seeds, and also softens the contracted mouth of the uterus. It is drunk in the amount of one bakilla for ulcers and abrasions in the intestines and for diarrhea.
Fevers.
One bakilla of myrrh is taken with pepper and water at the onset of a chill, and this stops it.
Poisons.
Myrrh is given to drink in wine against a scorpion sting.
Substitutes.
They say that myrrh is replaced by half the weight of black pepper, but this is by no means true.