Cucumbers
Government and virtues : There is no dispute to be made, but that they are under the dominion of the
Moon, though they are so much cried out against for their coldness, and if they were but one degree
colder they would be poison. The best of Galenists hold them to be cold and moist in the second degree,
and then not so hot as either lettuce or purslain. They are excellently good for a hot stomach, and hot
liver; the unmeasurable use of them fills the body full of raw humours, and so indeed the unmeasurable
use of any thing else doth harm. The face being washed with their juice, cleanses the skin, and is excellently
good for hot rheums in the eyes; the seed is excellently good to provoke urine, and cleanses the passages
thereof when they are stopped: there is not a better remedy for ulcers in the bladder growing, than Cucumbers
are. The usual course is, to use the seeds in emulsions, as they make almond milk; but a far better way
(in my opinion) is this. When the season of the year is, take the Cucumbers and bruise them well, and
distil the water from them, and let such as are troubled with ulcers in the bladder drink no other drink.
The face being washed with the same water, cures the reddest face that is; it is also excellently good for
sun-burning, freckles, and morphew.