BOOK XXVIII. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES. (continued 2)

CHAP. 31.—SEVEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

Between the crocodile, too, and the hippopotamus there is a certain affinity, frequenting as they do the same river, and being both of them of an amphibious nature. The hippopotamus was the first inventor of the practice of letting blood, a a fact to which we have2251 made allusion on a previous occasion: it is found, too, in the greatest numbers in the parts above the præfecture of Saïs.

The hide, reduced to ashes and applied with water, is curative of inflamed tumours, and the fat, as well as the dung, used as a fumigation, is employed for the cure of cold agues. With the teeth of the left side of the jaw, the gums are scarified for the cure of tooth-ache. The skin of the left side of the forehead, attached to the groin, acts as an antaphrodisiac; and an application of the ashes of the same part will cause the hair to grow when lost through alopecy. The testes are taken in water, in doses of one drachma, for the cure of injuries inflicted by serpents. The blood is made use of by painters.

CHAP. 32.—FIVE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE LYNX.

To foreign countries, also, belongs the lynx, which of all quadrupeds is possessed of the most piercing sight. It is said that in the Isle of Carpathus a most powerful medicament is obtained by reducing to ashes the nails of the lynx, together with the hide; that these ashes, taken in drink, have the effect of checking abominable desires in men; and that, if they are sprinkled upon women, all libidinous thoughts will be restrained. They are good too for the removal of itching sensations in any part of the body. The urine of the lynx is a remedy for strangury; for which reason the animal, it is said, is in the habit of rooting up the ground and covering it the moment it is voided.2252 It is mentioned, too, that this urine is an effectual remedy for pains in the throat. Thus much with reference to foreign animals.

CHAP. 33. (9.)—REMEDIES FURNISHED IN COMMON BY ANIMALS OF THE SAME CLASS, WHETHER WILD OR TAME. FIFTY-FOUR MEDICINAL USES OF MILK, WITH OBSERVATIONS THEREON.

We will now return to our own part of the world, speaking, first of all, of certain remedies common to animals in general, but excellent in their nature; such as the use of milk, for example. The most beneficial milk to every creature is the mother’s2253 milk. It is highly dangerous for nursing women to conceive: children that are suckled by them are known among us as “colostrati,”2254 their milk being thick, like cheese in appearance—the name “colostra,”2255 it should be remembered, is given to the first milk secreted after delivery, which assumes a spongy, coagulated form. The most nutritive milk, in all cases, is woman’s milk, and next to that goats’ milk, to which is owing, probably, the fabulous story that Jupiter was suckled by a goat.2256 The sweetest, next to woman’s milk, is camels’ milk; but the most efficacious, medicinally speaking, is asses’ milk. It is in animals of the largest size and individuals of the greatest bulk, that the milk is secreted with the greatest facility. Goats’ milk agrees the best with the stomach, that animal browsing more than grazing. Cows’ milk is considered more medicinal, while ewes’ milk is sweeter and more nutritive, but not so well adapted to the stomach, it being more oleaginous than any other.

Every kind of milk is more aqueous in spring than in summer, and the same in all cases where the animal has grazed upon a new pasture. The best milk of all is that which adheres to the finger nail, when placed there, and does not run from off it. Milk is most harmless when boiled, more particularly if sea pebbles2257 have been boiled with it. Cows’ milk is the most relaxing, and all kinds of milk are less apt to inflate when boiled. Milk is used for all kinds of internal ulcerations, those of the kidneys, bladder, intestines, throat, and lungs in particular; and externally, it is employed for itching sensations upon the skin, and for purulent eruptions, it being taken fasting for the purpose. We have already2258 stated, when speaking of the plants, how that in Arcadia cows’ milk is administered for phthisis, consumption, and cachexy. Instances are cited, also, of persons who have been cured of gout in the hands and feet, by drinking asses’ milk.

To these various kinds of milk, medical men have added another, to which they have given the name of “schiston;”2259 following being the usual method of preparing it. Goats’ milk, which is used in preference for the purpose, is boiled in a new earthen vessel, and stirred with branches of a fig-tree newly gathered, as many cyathi of honied wine being added to it as there are semisextarii of milk. When the mixture boils, care is taken to prevent it running over, by plunging into it a silver cyathus measure filled with cold water, none of the water being allowed to escape. When taken off the fire, the constituent parts of it divide as it cools, and the whey is thus separated from the milk. Some persons, again, take this whey, which is now very strongly impregnated with wine, and, after boiling it down to one third, leave it to cool in the open air. The best way of taking it, is in doses of one semisextarius, at stated intervals, during five consecutive days; after taking it, riding exercise should be used by the patient. This whey is administered in cases of epilepsy, melancholy, paralysis, leprosy, elephantiasis, and diseases of the joints.

Milk is employed as an injection where excoriations have been caused by the use of strong purgatives; in cases also where dysentery is productive of chafing, it is similarly employed, boiled with sea pebbles or a ptisan of barley. Where, however, the intestines are excoriated, cows’ milk or ewes’ milk is the best. New milk is used as an injection for dysentery; and in an unboiled state, it is employed for affections of the colon and uterus, and for injuries inflicted by serpents. It is also taken internally as an antidote to the venom of cantharides, the pine-caterpillar, the buprestis, and the salamander. Cows’ milk is particularly recommended for persons who have taken colchicum, hemlock, dorycnium,2260 or the flesh of the sea-hare; and asses’ milk, in cases where gypsum, white-lead, sulphur,2261 or quick-silver, have been taken internally. This last is good too for constipation attendant upon fever, and is remarkably useful as a gargle for ulcerations of the throat. It is taken, also, internally, by patients suffering from atrophy, for the purpose of recruiting their exhausted strength; as also in cases of fever unattended with head-ache. The ancients held it as one of their grand secrets, to administer to children, before taking food, a semisextarius of asses’ milk, or for want of that, goats’ milk; a similar dose, too, was given to children troubled with chafing of the rectum at stool. It is considered a sovereign remedy for hardness of breathing, to take cows’ milk whey, mixed with nasturtium. In cases of ophthalmia, too, the eyes are fomented with a mixture of one semisextarius of milk and four drachmæ of pounded sesame.

Goats’ milk is a cure for diseases of the spleen; but in such case the goats must fast a couple of days, and be fed on ivy-leaves the third; the patient, too, must drink the milk for three consecutive days, without taking any other nutriment. Milk, under other circumstances, is detrimental to persons suffering from head-ache, liver complaints, diseases of the spleen, and affections of the sinews; it is bad for fevers, also, vertigo—except, indeed, where it is required as a purgative—oppression of the head, coughs, and ophthalmia. Sows’ milk is extremely useful in cases of tenesmus, dysentery, and phthisis; authors have been found too, to assert that it is very wholesome for females.

CHAP. 34.—TWELVE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM CHEESE.

We have already2262 spoken of the different kinds of cheese when treating of the mamillæ and other parts of animals. Sextius attributes the same properties to mares’ milk cheese that he does to cheese made of cows’ milk: to the former he gives the names of “hippace.” Cheese is best for the stomach when not salted, or, in other words, when new cheese is used. Old [salted] cheese has a binding effect upon the bowels, and reduces the flesh, but is more wholesome to the stomach [than new salted cheese]. Indeed, we may pronounce of aliments in general, that salt meats reduce the system, while fresh food has a tendency to make flesh. Fresh cheese, applied with honey, effaces the marks of bruises. It acts, also, emolliently upon the bowels; and, taken in the form of tablets, boiled in astringent wine and then toasted with honey on a platter, it modifies and alleviates griping pains in the bowels.

The cheese known as “saprum,”2263 is beaten up, in wine, with salt and dried sorb apples, and taken, in drink, for the cure of cœliac affections. Goats’ milk cheese, pounded and applied to the part affected, is a cure for carbuncle of the generative organs; sour cheese,2264 also, with oxymel, is productive of a similar effect. In the bath it is used as a friction, alternately with oil, for the removal of spots.

CHAP. 35.—TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM BUTTER.

From milk, too, butter is produced; held as the most delicate food among barbarous2265 nations, and one which distinguishes2266 the wealthy from the multitude at large. It is mostly made from cows’ milk, and hence its name;2267 but the richest butter is that made from ewes’ milk. There is a butter made also from goats’ milk; but previously to making it, the milk should first be warmed, in winter. In summer it is extracted from the milk by merely shaking it to and fro in a tall vessel, with a small orifice at the mouth to admit the air, but otherwise closely stopped, a little water2268 being added to make it curdle the sooner. The milk that curdles the most, floats upon the surface; this they remove, and, adding salt to it, give it the name of “oxygala.”2269 They then take the remaining part and boil it down in pots, and that portion of it which floats on the surface is butter, a substance of an oily nature. The more2270 rank it is in smell, the more highly it is esteemed. When old, it forms an ingredient in numerous compositions. It is of an astringent, emollient, repletive, and purgative nature.

CHAP. 36.—OXYGALA: ONE REMEDY.

Oxygala, too, is prepared another way, sour milk being added to the fresh milk which is wanted to curdle. This preparation is extremely wholesome to the stomach: of its properties we shall have occasion2271 to speak in another place.

CHAP. 37.—THE VARIOUS USES OF FAT AND OBSERVATIONS UPON IT, FIFTY-TWO IN NUMBER.

Among the remedies common to living creatures, fat is the substance held in the next highest esteem, that of swine in particular, which was employed by the ancients for certain religious purposes even: at all events, it is still the usage for the newly-wedded bride, when entering her husband’s house, to touch the door-posts with it. There are two methods of keeping hogs’ lard, either salted or fresh; indeed, the older it is, the better. The Greek writers have now given it the name of “axungia,”2272 or axle-grease, in their works. Nor, in fact, is it any secret, why swine’s fat should be possessed of such marked properties, seeing that the animal feeds to such a great extent upon the roots of plants—owing too, to which, its dung is applied to such a vast number of purposes. It will be as well, therefore, to promise, that I shall here speak only of the hog that feeds in the open field, and no other; of which kind it is the female that is much the most useful—if she has never farrowed, more particularly. But it is the fat of the wild boar that is held in by far the highest esteem of all.

The distinguishing properties, then, of swine’s-grease, are emollient, calorific, resolvent, and detergent. Some physicians recommend it as an ointment for the gout, mixed with goose-grease, bull-suet, and wool-grease: in cases, however, where the pain is persistent, it should be used in combination with wax, myrtle, resin, and pitch. Hogs’ lard is used fresh for the cure of burns, and of blains, too, caused by snow: with ashes of burnt barley and nutgalls, in equal proportions, it is employed for the cure of chilblains. It is good also for excoriations of the limbs, and for dispelling weariness and lassitude arising from long journeys. For the cure of chronic cough, new lard is boiled down, in the proportion of three ounces to three cyathi of wine, some honey being added to the mixture. Old lard too, if it has been kept without salt, made up into pills and taken internally, is a cure for phthisis: but it is a general rule not to use it salted in any cases except where detergents are required, or where there are no symptoms of ulceration. For the cure of phthisis, some persons boil down three ounces of hogs’ lard and honied wine, in three cyathi of ordinary wine; and after swathing the sides, chest, and shoulders of the patient with compresses steeped in the preparation, administer to him, every four days, some tar with an egg: indeed, so potent is this composition, that if it is only attached to the knees even, the flavour of it will ascend to the mouth, and the patient will appear to spit it out,2273 as it were.

The grease of a sow that has never farrowed, is the most useful of all cosmetics for the skin of females; but in all cases, hogs’ lard is good for the cure of itch-scab, mixed with pitch and beef-suet in the proportion of one-third, the whole being made lukewarm for the purpose. Fresh hogs’ lard, applied as a pessary, imparts nutriment to the infant in the womb, and prevents abortion. Mixed with white lead or litharge, it restores scars to their natural colour; and, in combination with sulphur, it rectifies malformed nails. It prevents the hair also from falling off; and, applied with a quarter of a nutgall, it heals ulcers upon the head in females. When well smoked, it strengthens the eyelashes. Lard is recommended also for phthisis, boiled down with old wine, in the proportion of one ounce to a semisextarius, till only three ounces are left; some persons add a little honey to the composition. Mixed with lime, it is used as a liniment for inflamed tumours, boils, and indurations of the mamillæ: it is curative also of ruptures, convulsions, cramps, and sprains. Used with white hellebore, it is good for corns, chaps, and callosities; and, with pounded earthenware2274 which has held salted provisions, for imposthumes of the parotid glands and scrofulous sores. Employed as a friction in the bath, it removes itching sensations and pimples: but for the treatment of gout there is another method of preparing it, by mixing it with old oil, and adding pounded sarcophagus2275 stone and cinquefoil bruised in wine, or else with lime or ashes. A peculiar kind of plaster is also made of it for the cure of inflammatory ulcers, seventy-five denarii of hogs’ lard being mixed with one hundred of litharge.

It is reckoned a very good plan also to anoint ulcers with boars’ grease, and, if they are of a serpiginous nature, to add resin to the liniment. The ancients used to employ hogs’ lard in particular for greasing the axles of their vehicles, that the wheels might revolve the more easily, and to this, in fact, it owes its name of “axungia.” When hogs’ lard has been used for this purpose, incorporated as it is with the rust of the iron upon the wheels, it is remarkably useful as an application for diseases of the rectum and of the generative organs. The ancient physicians, too, set a high value upon the medicinal properties of hogs’ lard in an unmixed state: separating it from the kidneys, and carefully removing the veins, they used to wash and rub it well in rain water, after which they boiled it several times in a new earthen vessel, and then put it by for keeping. It is generally agreed that it is more emollient, calorific, and resolvent, when salted; and that it is still more useful when it has been rinsed in wine.

Massurius informs us, that the ancients set the highest value of all upon the fat of the wolf: and that it was for this reason that the newly-wedded bride used to anoint the door-posts of her husband’s house with it, in order that no noxious spells might find admittance.

CHAP. 38.—SUET.

Corresponding with the grease of the swine, is the suet2276 that is found in the ruminating animals, a substance employed in other ways, but no less efficacious in its properties. The proper mode of preparing it, in all cases, is to take out the veins and to rinse it in sea or salt-water, after which it is beaten up in a mortar, with a sprinkling of sea-water in it. This done, it is boiled in several waters, until, in fact, it has lost all smell, and is then bleached by continual exposure to the sun; that of the most esteemed quality being the fat which grows about the kidneys. In case stale suet is required for any medicinal purpose, it is recommended to melt it first, and then to wash it in cold water several times; after which, it must again be melted with a sprinkling of the most aromatic wine that can be procured, it being then boiled again and again, until the rank smell has totally disappeared.

Many persons recommend that the fat of bulls, lions, panthers, and camels, in particular, should be thus prepared. As to the various uses to which these substances are applied, we shall mention them on the appropriate occasions.

CHAP. 39.—MARROW.

Common too, to all these animals, is marrow; a substance which in all cases is possessed of certain emollient, expletive, desiccative, and calorific properties. The most highly esteemed of all is deer’s marrow, the next best being that of the calf, and then that of the goat, both male and female. These substances are prepared before autumn, by washing them in a fresh state, and drying them in the shade; after which they are passed through a sieve, and then strained through linen, and put by in earthen pots for keeping, in a cool spot.

CHAP. 40.—GALL.

But among the substances which are furnished in common by the various animals, it is the gall, we may say, that is the most efficacious of all. The properties of this substance are of a calorific, pungent, resolvent, extractive, and dispersive nature. The gall of the smaller animals is looked upon as the most penetrating; for which reason it is that it is generally considered the most efficacious for the composition of eye-salves. Bull’s gall is possessed of a remarkable degree of potency, having the effect of imparting a golden tint to the surface of copper even and to vessels made of other metals. Gall in every case is prepared in the following manner: it is taken fresh, and the orifice of the vesicle in which it is contained being tied fast with a strong linen thread, it is left to steep for half an hour in boiling water; after which it is dried in the shade, and then put away for keeping, in honey.

That of the horse is condemned, being reckoned among the poisons only. Hence it is that the Flamen2277 of the Sacrifices is not allowed to touch a horse, notwithstanding that it is the custom to immolate one2278 of these animals at the public sacrifices at Rome.

CHAP. 41.—BLOOD.

The blood, also, of the horse is possessed of certain corrosive properties; and so, too, is mare’s blood—except, indeed, where the animal has not been covered—it having the effect of cauterizing the margins of ulcers, and so enlarging them. Bull’s blood too, taken fresh, is reckoned2279 among the poisons; except, indeed, at Ægira,2280 at which place the priestess of the Earth, when about to foretell coming events, takes a draught of bull’s blood before she descends into the cavern: so powerful, in fact, is the agency of that sympathy so generally spoken of, that it may occasionally originate, we find, in feelings of religious awe,2281 or in the peculiar nature of the locality.

Drusus,2282 the tribune of the people, drank goats’ blood, it is said; it being his object by his pallid looks to suggest that his enemy, Q. Cæpio, had given him poison, and so expose him to public hatred. So remarkably powerful is the blood of the he-goat, that there is nothing better in existence for sharpening iron implements, the rust produced by this blood giving them a better edge even than a file. Considering, however, that the blood of all animals cannot be reckoned as a remedy in common, will it not be advisable, in preference, to speak of the effects that are produced by that of each kind?

CHAP. 42.—PECULIAR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM VARIOUS ANIMALS, AND CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE MALADIES. REMEDIES AGAINST THE POISON OF SERPENTS, DERIVED FROM THE STAG, THE FAWN, THE OPHION, THE SHE-GOAT, THE KID, AND THE ASS.

We will therefore classify the various remedies, according to the maladies for which they are respectively used; and, first of all, those to which man has recourse for injuries inflicted by serpents. That deer are destructive to those reptiles2283 no one is ignorant; as also of the fact that they drag them from their holes when they find them, and so devour them. And it is not only while alive and breathing that deer are thus fatal to serpents, but even when dead and separated limb from limb. The fumes of their horns, while burning, will drive away serpents, as already2284 stated; but the bones, it is said, of the upper part of a stag’s throat, if burnt upon a fire, will bring those reptiles together. Persons may sleep upon a deer’s skin in perfect safety, and without any apprehension of attacks by serpents; its rennet too, taken with vinegar, is an effectual antidote to the stings of those reptiles; indeed, if it has been only touched by a person, he will be for that day effectually protected from them. The testes, dried, or the genitals of the male animal, are considered to be very wholesome, taken in wine, and so are the umbles, generally known as the “centipellio.”2285 Persons having about them a deer’s tooth, or who have taken the precaution of rubbing the body with a deer or fawn’s marrow, will be sure to repel the attacks of all serpents.

But the most effectual remedy of all is thought to be the rennet of a fawn that has been cut from the uterus of the dam, as already2286 mentioned in another place. Deer’s blood, burnt upon a fire of lentisk wood, with dracontium,2287 cunilago,2288 and alkanet, will attract serpents, they say; while, on the other hand, if the blood is removed and pyrethrum2289 substituted for it, they will take to flight.

I find an animal mentioned by Greek writers, smaller than the stag, but resembling it in the hair, and to which they give the name of “ophion.”2290 Sardinia, they say, is the only country that produces it; I am of opinion, however, that it is now extinct, and for that reason I shall not enlarge upon its medicinal properties.

(10.) As a preservative against the attacks of serpents, the brains and blood of the wild boar are held in high esteem: the liver also, dried and taken in wine with rue; and the fat, used with honey and resin. Similar properties are attributed to the liver of the domesticated boar and the outer filaments, and those only, of the gall, these last being taken in doses of four denarii; the brains also, taken in wine, are equally effectual. The fumes of the burning horns or hair of a she-goat will repel serpents, they say: the ashes, too, of the horns, used either internally or externally, are thought to be an antidote to their poison. A similar effect is attributed to goats’ milk, taken with Taminian2291 grapes; to the urine of those animals, taken with squill vinegar; to goats’ milk cheese, applied with origanum;2292 and to goat suet, used with wax.

In addition to all this, as will be seen hereafter, there are a thousand other remedial properties attributed to this animal; a fact which surprises me all the more, seeing that the goat, it is said, is never free from fever.2293 The wild animals of the same species, which are very numerous, as already2294 stated, have a still greater efficacy attributed to them; but the he-goat has certain properties peculiar to itself, and Democritus attributes properties still more powerful to the animal when it has been the only one yeaned. It is recommended also to apply she-goat’s dung, boiled2295 in vinegar, to injuries inflicted by serpents, as also the ashes of fresh dung mixed with wine. As a general rule, persons who find that they are recovering but slowly from injuries inflicted by a serpent, will find their health more speedily re-established by frequenting the stalls where goats are kept. Those, however, whose object is a more assured remedy, attach immediately to the wound the paunch of a she-goat killed for the purpose, dung and all. Others, again, use the flesh of a kid just killed, and fumigate it with the singed hair, the smell of which has the effect of repelling serpents.

For stings of serpents, as also for injuries inflicted by the scorpion and shrew-mouse, some employ the skin of a goat newly killed, as also the flesh and dung of a horse that has been out at pasture, or a hare’s rennet in vinegar. They say, too, that if a person has the body well rubbed with a hare’s rennet, he will never receive injury from venomous animals. When a person has been stung by a scorpion, she-goat’s dung, boiled with vinegar, is considered a most efficient remedy: in cases too, where a buprestis has been swallowed, bacon and the broth in which it has been boiled, are highly efficacious. Nay, what is even more than this, if a person applies his mouth to an ass’s ear, and says that he has been stung by a scorpion, the whole of the poison, they say, will immediately pass away from him and be transferred to the animal. All venomous creatures, it is said, are put to flight by a fumigation made by burning an ass’s lights. It is considered an excellent plan too, to fumigate persons, when stung by a scorpion, with the smoke of burnt calves’ dung.

CHAP. 43.—REMEDIES FOR THE BITE OF THE MAD DOG. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CALF, THE HE-GOAT, AND VARIOUS OTHER ANIMALS.

When a person has been bitten by a mad dog, it is the practice to make an incision round the wound to the quick, and then to apply raw veal to it, and to make the patient take either veal broth or hogs’ lard, mixed with lime internally. Some persons recommend a he-goat’s liver, and maintain that if it is applied to the wound the patient will never be attacked with hydrophobia. She-goat’s dung, too, is highly spoken of, applied with wine, as also the dung of the badger, cuckoo, and swallow, boiled and taken in drink.

For bites inflicted by other animals, dried goats’ milk cheese is applied with origanum and taken with the drink; and for injuries caused by the human2296 teeth, boiled beef is applied; veal, however, is still more efficacious for the purpose, provided it is not removed before the end of four days.

CHAP. 44.—REMEDIES TO BE ADOPTED AGAINST ENCHANTMENTS.

The dried muzzle of a wolf, they say, is an effectual preservative against the malpractices of magic; and it is for this reason that it is so commonly to be seen fastened to the doors of farm-houses. A similar degree of efficacy, it is thought, belongs to the skin of the neck, when taken whole from the animal. Indeed, so powerful is the influence of this animal, in addition to what we have already2297 stated, that if a horse only treads in its track, it will be struck with torpor2298 in consequence.

CHAP. 45.—REMEDIES FOR POISONS.

In case where persons have swallowed quicksilver,2299 bacon is the proper remedy to be employed. Poisons are neutralized by taking asses’ milk; henbane more particularly, mistletoe, hemlock, the flesh of the sea-hare, opocarpathon,2300 pharicon,2301 and dorycnium:2302 the same, too, where coagulated milk2303 has been productive of bad effects, for the biestings,2304 or first curdled milk, should be reckoned as nothing short of a poison.2305 We shall have to mention many other uses to which asses’ milk is applied; but it should be remembered that in all cases it must be used fresh, or, if not, as new as possible, and warmed, for there is nothing that more speedily loses its virtue. The bones, too, of the ass are pounded and boiled, as an antidote to the poison of the sea-hare. The wild ass2306 is possessed of similar properties in every respect, but in a much higher degree.

Of the wild horse2307 the Greek writers have made no mention, it not being a native of their country; we have every reason to believe, however, that it has the same properties as the animal in a tame state, but much more fully developed. Mares’ milk effectually neutralizes the venom of the sea-hare and all narcotic poisons. Nor had the Greeks any knowledge from experience of the urus2308 and the bison,2308 although in India the forests are filled with herds of wild oxen: it is only reasonable, however, to conclude that all their medicinal properties must be much more highly developed than in the animal as found among us. It is asserted also, that cows’ milk is a general counter-poison, in the cases above-mentioned, more particularly, as also where the poison of ephemeron2309 has settled internally, or cantharides have been administered; it acting upon the poison by vomit. Broth, too, made from goats’ flesh, neutralizes the effects of cantharides, in a similar manner, it is said. To counteract the corrosive poisons which destroy by ulceration, veal or beef-suet is resorted to; and in cases where a leech has been swallowed, butter is the usual remedy, with vinegar heated with a red-hot iron. Indeed, butter employed by itself is a good remedy for poisons, for where oil is not to be procured, it is an excellent substitute for it. Used with honey, butter heals injuries inflicted by millepedes. The broth of boiled tripe, it is thought, is an effectual repellent of the above-mentioned poisons, aconite and hemlock more particularly; veal-suet also has a similar repute.

Fresh goats’ milk cheese is given to persons who have taken mistletoe, and goats’ milk itself is a remedy for cantharides. Taken with Taminian2310 grapes, goats’ milk is an antidote to the effects of ephemeron. Goats’ blood, boiled down with the marrow, is used as a remedy for the narcotic2311 poisons, and kids’ blood for the other poisons. Kid’s rennet is administered where persons have taken mistletoe, the juice of the white chamæleon,2312 or bull’s blood; for which last, hare’s rennet in vinegar is also used by way of antidote. For injuries inflicted by the pastinaca,2313 and the stings or bites of all kinds of marine animals, hare’s rennet, kid’s rennet, or lamb’s rennet is taken, in doses of one drachma, in wine. Hare’s rennet, too, generally forms an ingredient in the antidotes for poisons.

The moth that is seen fluttering about the flame of a lamp is generally reckoned in the number of the noxious substances: its bad effects are neutralized by the agency of goat’s liver. Goat’s gall, too, is looked upon as an antidote to venomous preparations from the field weazel.2314 But we will now return to the other remedies, classified according to the various diseases.

CHAP. 46. (11.)—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE HEAD, AND FOR ALOPECY.

Bears’ grease,2315 mixed with ladanum2316 and the plant adiantum,2317 prevents the hair from falling off; it is a cure also for alopecy and defects in the eyebrows, mixed with the fungus from the wick of a lamp, and the soot that is found in the nozzle. Used with wine, it is good for the cure of porrigo, a malady which is also treated with the ashes of deer’s horns in wine: this last substance also prevents the growth of vermin in the hair. For porrigo some persons employ goat’s gall, in combination with Cimolian chalk and vinegar, leaving the preparation to dry for a time on the head. Sow’s gall, too, mixed with bull’s urine, is employed for a similar purpose; and when old, it is an effectual cure, with the addition of sulphur, for furfuraceous eruptions. The ashes, it is thought, of an ass’s genitals, will make the hair grow more thickly, and prevent it from turning grey; the proper method of applying it being to shave the head and to pound the ashes in a leaden mortar with oil. Similar effects are attributed to the genitals of an ass’s foal, reduced to ashes and mixed with urine; some nard being added to render the mixture less offensive. In cases of alopecy the part affected is rubbed with bull’s gall, warmed with Egyptian alum. Running ulcers of the head are successfully treated with bull’s urine, or stale human urine, in combination with cyclaminos2318 and sulphur: but the most effectual remedy is calf’s gall, a substance which, heated with vinegar, has also the effect of exterminating lice. Veal suet, pounded with salt and applied to ulcers of the head, is a very useful remedy: the fat, too, of the fox is highly spoken of, but the greatest value is set upon cats’ dung, applied in a similar manner with mustard.

Powdered goats’ horns, or the horns reduced to ashes, those of the he-goat in particular, with the addition of nitre, tamarisk-seed, butter, and oil, are remarkably effectual for preventing the hair from coming off, the head being first shaved for the purpose. So too, the ashes of burnt goats’ flesh, applied the eye-brows with oil, impart to them a black tint. By using goats’ milk, they say, lice may be exterminated; and the dung of those animals, with honey, is thought to be a cure for alopecy: the ashes, too, of the hoofs, mixed with pitch, prevent the hair from coming off.

The ashes of a burnt hare, mixed with oil of myrtle, alleviate head-ache, the patient drinking some water that has been left in the trough after an ox or ass has been drinking there. The male organs of a fox, worn as an amulet, are productive, if we choose to believe it, of a similar effect: the same, too, with the ashes of a burnt deer’s horn, applied with vinegar, rose oil, or oil of iris.

CHAP. 47.—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE EYES.

For defluxions2319 of the eyes, beef suet, boiled with oil, is applied to the parts affected; and for eruptions of those organs, ashes of burnt deer’s horns are similarly employed, the tips of the horns being considered the most effectual for the purpose. For the cure of cataract, it is reckoned a good plan to apply a wolf’s excrements: the same substance, too, reduced to ashes, is used for the dispersion of films, in combination with Attic honey. Bear’s gall, too, is similarly employed; and for the cure of epinyctis, wild boar’s lard, mixed with oil of roses, is thought to be very useful. An ass’s hoof, reduced to ashes and applied with asses’ milk, is used for the removal of marks in the eyes and indurations of the crystalline humours. Beef marrow, from the right fore leg, beaten up with soot, is employed for affections of the eyebrows, and for diseases of the eyelids and corners of the eyes. For the same purpose, also, a sort of calliblepharon2320 is prepared from soot, the best of all being that made from a wick of papyrus mixed with oil of sesame; the soot being removed with a feather and caught in a new vessel prepared for the purpose. This mixture, too, is very efficacious for preventing superfluous eyelashes from growing again when once pulled out.

Bull’s gall is made up into eye-salves2321 with white of egg, these salves being steeped in water and applied to the eyes for four days successively. Veal suet, with goose-grease and the extracted juice of ocimum, is remarkably good for diseases of the eye-lids. Veal marrow, with the addition of an equal proportion of wax and oil or oil of roses, an egg being added to the mixture, is used as a liniment for indurations of the eye-lids. Soft goats’ milk cheese is used as an application, with warm water, to allay defluxions of the eyes; but when they are attended with swelling, honey is used instead of the water. In both cases, however, the eyes should be fomented with warm whey. In cases of dry ophthalmia, it is found a very useful plan to take the muscles2322 lying within a loin of pork, and, after reducing them to ashes, to pound and apply them to the part affected.

She-goats, they say, are never affected with ophthalmia, from the circumstance that they browse upon certain kinds of herbs: the same, too, with the gazelle. Hence it is that we find it recommended, at the time of new moon, to swallow the dung of these animals, coated with wax. As they are able to see, too, by night, it is a general belief that the blood of a he-goat is a cure for those persons affected with dimness of sight to whom the Greeks have given the name of “nyctalopes.”2323 A similar virtue is attributed to the liver of a she-goat, boiled in astringent wine. Some are in the habit of rubbing the eyes with the thick gravy2324 which exudes from a she-goat’s liver roasted, or with the gall of that animal: they recommend the flesh also as a diet, and say that the patient should expose his eyes to the fumes of it while boiling: it is a general opinion, too, that the animal should be of a reddish colour. Another prescription is, to fumigate the eyes with the steam arising from the liver boiled in an earthen jar, or, according to some authorities, roasted.

Goats’ gall is applied for numerous purposes: with honey, for films upon the eyes; with one-third part of white hellebore, for cataract; with wine, for spots upon the eyes, indurations of the cornea, films, webs, and argema; with extracted juice of cabbage, for diseases of the eyelids, the hairs being first pulled out, and the preparation left to dry on the parts affected; and with woman’s milk, for rupture of the coats of the eye. For all these purposes, the gall is considered the most efficacious, when dried. Nor is the dung of this animal held in disesteem, being applied with honey for defluxions of the eyes. The marrow, too, of a goat, or a hare’s lights, we find used for pains in the eyes; and the gall of a goat, with raisin wine or honey, for the dispersion of films upon those organs. It is recommended also, for ophthalmia, to anoint the eyes with wolf’s fat or swine’s marrow: we find it asserted, too, that persons who carry a wolf’s tongue, inserted in a bracelet, will always be exempt from ophthalmia.

CHAP. 48.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES AND AFFECTIONS OF THE EARS.

Pains and diseases of the ears are cured by using the urine of a wild boar, kept in a glass vessel, or the gall of a wild boar, swine, or ox, mixed with castor-oil and oil of roses in equal proportions. But the best remedy of all is bull’s gall, warmed with leek juice, or with honey, if there is any suppuration. Bull’s gall too, warmed by itself in a pomegranate rind, is an excellent remedy for offensive exhalations from the ears: in combination with woman’s milk, it is efficacious as a cure for ruptures of those organs. Some persons are of opinion that it is a good plan to wash the ears with this preparation in cases where the hearing is affected; while others again, after washing the ears with warm water, insert a mixture composed of the old slough of a serpent and vinegar, wrapped up in a dossil of wool. In cases, however, where the deafness is very considerable, gall warmed in a pomegranate rind with myrrh and rue, is injected into the ears; sometimes, also, fat bacon is used for this purpose, or fresh asses’ dung, mixed with oil of roses: in all cases, however, the ingredients should be warmed.

The foam from a horse’s mouth is better still, or the ashes of fresh horse dung, mixed with oil of roses: fresh butter too is good; beef-suet mixed with goose-grease; the urine of a bull or she-goat; or fullers’ lant, heated to such a degree that the steam escapes by the neck of the vessel. For this purpose also, one third part of vinegar is mixed with a small portion of the urine of a calf, which has not begun to graze. They apply also to the ears calf’s dung, mixed with the gall of that animal and sloughs of serpents, care being taken to warm the ears before the application, and all the remedies being wrapped in wool. Veal-suet, too, is used, with goose-grease and extract of ocimum; or else veal marrow, mixed with bruised cummin and injected into the ears. For pains in the ears, the liquid ejected by a boar in copulation is used, due care being taken to receive it before it falls to the ground. For fractures of the ears, a glutinous composition is made from the genitals of a calf, which is dissolved in water when used; and for other diseases of those organs, foxes’ fat is employed, goat’s gall mixed with rose-oil warmed, or else extracted juice of leeks: in all cases where there is any rupture, these preparations are used in combination with woman’s milk. Where a patient is suffering from hardness of hearing, ox-gall is employed, with the urine of a he or she-goat; the same, too, where there is any suppuration.

Whatever the purpose for which they are wanted, it is the general opinion that these substances are more efficacious when they have been smoked in a goat’s horn for twenty days. Hare’s rennet, too, is highly spoken of, taken in Aminean2325 wine, in the proportion of one third of a denarius of rennet to one half of a denarius of sacopenum.2326 Bears’ grease, mixed with equal proportions of wax and bull-suet, is a cure for imposthumes of the parotid glands: some persons add hypocisthis2327 to the composition, or else content themselves with employing butter only, after first fomenting the parts affected with a decoction of fenugreek, the good effects of which are augmented by strychnos. The testes, too, of the fox, are very useful for this purpose; as also bull’s blood, dried and reduced to powder. She-goats’ urine, made warm, is used as an injection for the ears; and a liniment is made of the dung of those animals, in combination with axle-grease.

CHAP. 49.—REMEDIES FOR TOOTH-ACHE.

The ashes of deer’s horns strengthen loose teeth and allay tooth-ache, used either as a friction or as a gargle. Some persons, however, are of opinion that the horn, unburnt and reduced to powder, is still more efficacious for all these purposes. Dentifrices are made both from the powder and the ashes. Another excellent remedy is a wolf’s head, reduced to ashes: it is a well-known fact, too, that there are bones generally found in the excrements of that animal; these bones, attached to the body as an amulet, are productive of advantageous effects. For the cure of tooth-ache, hare’s rennet is injected into the ear: the head also of that animal, reduced to ashes, is used in the form of a dentifrice, and, with the addition of nard, is a corrective of bad breath. Some persons, however, think it a better plan to mix the ashes of a mouse’s head with the dentifrice. In the side of the hare there is a bone found, similar to a needle in appearance: for the cure of tooth-ache it is recommended to scarify the gums with this bone. The pastern-bone of an ox, ignited and applied to loose teeth which ache, has the effect of strengthening them in the sockets; the same bone, reduced to ashes, and mixed with myrrh, is also used as a dentifrice. The ashes of burnt pig’s feet are productive of a similar effect, as also the calcined bones of the cotyloïd cavities in which the hip-bones move. It is a well-known fact, that, introduced into the throat of beasts of burden, these bones are a cure for worms, and that, in a calcined state, they are good for strengthening the teeth.

When the teeth have been loosened by a blow,2328 they are strengthened by using asses’ milk, or else ashes of the burnt teeth of that animal, or a horse’s lichen, reduced to powder, and injected into the ear with oil. By lichen2329 I do not mean the hippomanes, a noxious substance which I purposely forbear to enlarge upon, but an excrescence which forms upon the knees of horses, and just above the hoofs. In the heart2330 of this animal there is also found a bone which bears a close resemblance to the eye-teeth of a dog: if the gums are scarified with this bone, or with a tooth taken from the jaw-bone of a dead horse, corresponding in place with the tooth affected, the pain will be removed, they say. Anaxilaüs assures us that if the liquid which exudes from a mare when covered, is ignited on the wick of a lamp, it will give out a most marvellous representation2331 of horses’ heads; and the same with reference to the she-ass. As to the hippomanes, it is possessed of properties so virulent and so truly magical, that if it is only thrown into fused metal2332 which is being cast into the resemblance of an Olympian mare, it will excite in all stallions that approach it a perfect frenzy for copulation.

Another remedy for diseases of the teeth is joiners’ glue, boiled in water and applied, care being taken to remove it very speedily, and instantly to rinse the teeth with wine in which sweet pomegranate-rind has been boiled. It is considered, also, a very efficacious remedy to wash the teeth with goats’ milk, or bull’s gall. The pastern-bones of a she-goat just killed, reduced to ashes, and indeed, to avoid the necessity for repetition, of any other four-footed beast reared in the farm-yard, are considered to make an excellent dentifrice.

CHAP. 50. (12.)—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE FACE.

It is generally believed that asses’ milk effaces wrinkles in the face, renders the skin more delicate, and preserves its whiteness: and it is a well-known fact, that some women are in the habit of washing their face with it seven2333 hundred times daily, strictly observing that number. Poppæa, the wife of the Emperor Nero, was the first to practise this; indeed, she had sitting-baths, prepared solely with asses’ milk, for which purpose whole troops of she-asses2334 used to attend her on her journies.2335 Purulent eruptions on the face are removed by an application of butter, but white lead, mixed with the butter, is an improvement. Pure butter, alone, is used for serpiginous eruptions of the face, a layer of barley-meal being powdered over it. The caul of a cow that has just calved, is applied, while still moist, to ulcers of the face.

The following recipe may seem frivolous, but still, to please the women,2336 it must not be omitted; the pastern-bone of a white steer, they say, boiled forty days and forty nights, till it is quite dissolved, and then applied to the face in a linen cloth, will remove wrinkles and preserve the whiteness of the skin. An application of bull’s dung, they say, will impart a rosy tint to the cheeks, and not crocodilea2337 even is better for the purpose; the face, however, must be washed with cold water, both before and after the application. Sun-burns and all other discolorations of the skin, are removed by the aid of calves’ dung kneaded up by hand with oil and gum; ulcerations and chaps of the mouth, by an application of veal or beef-suet, mixed with goose-grease and juice of ocimum. There is another composition, also, made of veal-suet with stag’s marrow and leaves of white-thorn, the whole beaten up together. Marrow, too, mixed with resin, even if it be cow marrow only, is equally good; and the broth of cow-beef is productive of similar effects. A most excellent remedy for lichens on the face is a glutinous substance prepared from the genitals of a male calf, melted with vinegar and live sulphur, and stirred together with the branch of a fig-tree: this composition is applied twice a day, and should be used quite fresh. This glue, similarly prepared from a decoction of honey and vinegar, is a cure for leprous spots, which are also removed by applying a he-goat’s liver warm.

Elephantiasis, too, is removed by an application of goats’ gall; and leprous spots and furfuraceous eruptions by employing bull’s gall with the addition of nitre, or else asses’ urine about the rising of the Dog-star. Spots on the face are removed by either bull’s gall or ass’s gall diluted in water by itself, care being taken to avoid the sun or wind after the skin has peeled off. A similar effect is produced, also, by using bull’s gall or calf’s gall, in combination with seed of cunila and the ashes of a deer’s horn, burnt at the rising of Canicula.

Asses’ fat, in particular, restores the natural colour to scars and spots on the skin caused by lichen or leprosy. A he-goat’s gall, mixed with cheese, live sulphur, and sponge reduced to ashes, effectually removes freckles, the composition being brought to the consistency of honey before being applied. Some persons, however, prefer using dried gall, and mix with it warm bran, in the proportion of one obolus to four oboli of honey, the spots being rubbed briskly first. He-goat suet, too, is highly efficacious, used in combination with gith, sulphur, and iris; this mixture being also employed, with goose-grease, stag’s marrow, resin, and lime, for the cure of cracked lips. I find it stated by certain authors, that persons who have freckles on the skin are looked upon as disqualified from taking any part in the sacrifices prescribed by the magic art.

CHAP. 51.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE TONSILLARY GLANDS, AND FOR SCROFULA.

Cow’s milk or goat’s milk is good for ulcerations of the tonsillary glands and of the trachea. It is used in the form of a gargle, warm from the udder or heated, goat’s milk being the best, boiled with mallows and a little salt. A broth made from tripe is an excellent gargle for ulcerations of the tongue and trachea; and for diseases of the tonsillary glands, the kidneys of a fox are considered a sovereign remedy, dried and beaten up with honey, and applied externally. For quinzy, bull’s gall or goat’s gall is used, mixed with honey. A badger’s liver, taken in water, is good for offensive breath, and butter has a healing effect upon ulcerations of the mouth. When a pointed or other substance has stuck in the throat, by rubbing it externally with cats’ dung, the substance, they say, will either come up again or pass downwards into the stomach.

Scrofulous sores are dispersed by applying the gall of a wild boar or of an ox, warmed for the purpose: but it is only when the sores are ulcerated that hare’s rennet is used, applied in a linen cloth with wine. The ashes of the burnt hoof of an ass or horse, applied with oil or water, is good for dispersing scrofulous sores; warmed urine also; the ashes of an ox’s hoof, taken in water; cow-dung, applied hot with vinegar; goat-suet with lime; goats’ dung, boiled in vinegar; or the testes of a fox. Soap,2338 too, is very useful for this purpose, an invention of the Gauls for giving a reddish2339 tint to the hair. This substance is prepared from tallow and ashes, the best ashes for the purpose being those of the beech and yoke-elm: there are two kinds of it, the hard soap and the liquid, both of them much used by the people of Germany, the men, in particular, more than the women.

CHAP. 52.—REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE NECK.

For pains in the neck, the part should be well rubbed with butter or bears’ grease; and for a stiff neck, with beef suet, a substance which, in combination with oil, is very useful for the cure of scrofula. For the painful cramp, attended with inflexibility, to which people give the name of “opisthotony,” the urine of a she-goat, injected into the ears, is found very useful; as also a liniment made of the dung of that animal, mixed with bulbs.

In cases where the nails have been crushed, it is an excellent plan to attach to them the gall of any kind of animal. Whitlows upon the fingers should be treated with dried bull’s gall, dissolved in warm water. Some persons are in the habit of adding sulphur and alum, of each an equal weight.

CHAP. 53.—REMEDIES FOR COUGH AND FOR SPITTING OF BLOOD.

A wolf’s liver, administered in mulled wine, is a cure for cough; a bear’s gall also, mixed with honey; the ashes of the tips of a cow’s horn; or else the saliva of a horse, taken in the drink for three consecutive days—in which last case the horse will be sure to die, they say.2340 A deer’s lights are useful for the same purpose, dried with the gullet of the animal in the smoke, and then beaten up with honey, and taken daily as an electuary: the spitter2341 deer, be it remarked, is the kind that is the most efficacious for the purpose.

Spitting of blood is cured by taking ashes of burnt deer’s horns, or else a hare’s rennet in drink, in doses of one-third of a denarius, with Samian earth and myrtle-wine. The dung of this last animal, reduced to ashes and taken in the evening, with wine, is good for coughs that are recurrent at night. The smoke, too, of a hare’s fur, inhaled, has the effect of bringing off from the lungs such humours as are difficult to be discharged by expectoration. Purulent ulcerations of the chest and lungs, and bad breath proceeding from a morbid state of the lungs, are successfully treated with butter boiled with an equal quantity of Attic honey till it assumes a reddish hue, a spoonful of the mixture being taken by the patient every morning: some persons, however, instead of honey prefer using larch-resin for the purpose. In cases where there are discharges of blood, cow’s blood, they say, is good, taken in small quantities with vinegar; but as to bull’s blood, it would be a rash thing to believe in any such recommendation. For inveterate spitting of blood, bull-glue is taken, in doses of three oboli, in warm water.

CHAP. 54. (13.)—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE STOMACH.

Ulcerations of the stomach are effectually treated with asses’ milk2342 or cows’ milk. For gnawing pains in that region, beef is stewed, with vinegar and wine. Fluxes are healed by taking the ashes of burnt deer’s horns; and discharges of blood by drinking the blood of a kid just killed, made hot, in doses of three cyathi, with equal proportions of vinegar and tart wine; or else by taking kid’s rennet, with twice the quantity of vinegar.

CHAP. 55.—REMEDIES FOR LIVER COMPLAINTS AND FOR ASTHMA.

Liver complaints are cured by taking a wolf’s liver dried, in honied wine; or by using the dried liver of an ass, with twice the quantity of rock-parsley and three nuts, the whole beaten up with honey and taken with the food. The blood, too, of a he-goat is prepared and taken with the food. For persons suffering from asthma, the most efficient remedy of all is the blood of wild horses2343 taken in drink; and next to that, asses’ milk boiled with bulbs, the whey being the part used, with the addition of nasturtium steeped in water and tempered with honey, in the proportion of one cyathus of nasturtium to three semi-sextarii of whey. The liver or lights of a fox, taken in red wine, or bear’s gall in water, facilitate the respiration.

CHAP. 56.—REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE LOINS.

For pains in the loins and all other affections which require emollients, frictions with bears’ grease should be used; or else ashes of stale boars’ dung or swine’s dung should be mixed with wine and given to the patients. The magicians, too, have added to this branch of medicine their own fanciful devices. In the first place of all, madness in he-goats, they say, may be effectually calmed by stroking the beard; and if the beard is cut off, the goat will never stray to another flock.

To the above composition they add goats’ dung, and recommend it to be held in the hollow of the hand, as hot as possible, a greased linen cloth being placed beneath, and care being taken to hold it in the right hand if the pain is on the left side, and in the left hand if the pain is on the right. They recommend also that the dung employed for this purpose should be taken up on the point of a needle made of copper. The mode of treatment is, for the patient to hold the mixture in his hand till the heat is felt to have penetrated to the loins, after which the hand is rubbed with a pounded leek, and the loins with the same dung annealed with honey. They prescribe also for the same malady the testes of a hare, to be eaten by the patient. In cases of sciatica they are for applying cow-dung warmed upon hot ashes in leaves: and for pains in the kidneys they recommend a hare’s kidneys to be swallowed raw, or perhaps boiled, but without letting them be touched by the teeth. If a person carries about him the pastern-bone of a hare, he will never be troubled with pains in the bowels, they say.

CHAP. 57.—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE SPLEEN.

Affections of the spleen are alleviated by taking the gall of a wild boar or hog in drink; ashes of burnt deer’s horns in vinegar; or, what is best of all, the dried spleen of an ass, the good effects being sure to be felt in the course of three days. The first dung voided by an ass’s foal—a substance known as “polea”2344 by the people of Syria—is administered in oxymel for these complaints; a dried horse tongue, too, is taken in wine, a sovereign remedy which, Cæcilius Bion tells us, he first heard of when living among the barbarous nations. The milt of a cow or ox is used in a similar manner; but when it is quite fresh, the practice is to roast or boil it and take it with the food. For pains in the liver a topical application is made by bruising twenty heads of garlick in one sextarius of vinegar, and applying them in a piece of ox bladder. For the same malady the magicians recommend a calf’s milt, bought at the price set upon it and without any haggling, that being an important point, and one that should be religiously observed. This done, the milt must be cut in two lengthwise, and attached to the patient’s shirt,2345 on either side; after which, the patient must put it on and let the pieces fall at his feet, and must then pick them up, and dry them in the shade. While this last is doing, the diseased liver of the patient will gradually contract, they say, and he will eventually be cured. The lights, too, of a fox are very useful for this purpose, dried on hot ashes and taken in water; the same, too, with a kid’s milt, applied to the part affected.

CHAP. 58. (14.)—REMEDIES FOR BOWEL COMPLAINTS.

To arrest looseness of the bowels, deer’s blood is used; the ashes also of deer’s horns; the liver of a wild boar, taken fresh and without salt, in wine; a swine’s liver roasted, or that of a he-goat, boiled in five semisextarii of wine; a hare’s rennet boiled, in quantities the size of a chick-pea, in wine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water. To this last some persons add nut-galls, while others, again, content themselves with hare’s blood boiled by itself in milk. Ashes, too, of burnt horse-dung are taken in water for this purpose; or else ashes of the part of an old bull’s horn which lies nearest the root, sprinkled in water; the blood, too, of a he-goat boiled upon charcoal; or a decoction made from a goat’s hide boiled with the hair on.

For relaxing the bowels a horse’s rennet is used, or else the blood, marrow, or liver of a she-goat. A similar effect is produced by applying a wolf’s gall to the navel, with elaterium;2346 by taking mares’ milk, goats’ milk with salt and honey, or a she-goat’s gall with juice of cyclaminos,2347 and a little alum—in which last case some prefer adding nitre and water to the mixture. Bull’s gall, too, is used for a similar purpose, beaten up with wormwood and applied in the form of a suppository; or butter is taken, in considerable doses.

Cœliac affections and dysentery are cured by taking cow’s liver; ashes of deer’s horns, a pinch in three fingers swallowed in water; hare’s rennet, kneaded up in bread, or, if there is any discharge of blood, taken with polenta;2348 or else boar’s dung, swine’s dung, or hare’s dung, reduced to ashes and mixed with mulled wine. Among the remedies, also, for the cœliac flux and dysentery, veal broth is reckoned, a remedy very commonly used. If the patient takes asses’ milk for these complaints, it will be all the better if honey is added; and no less efficacious for either complaint are the ashes of asses’ dung taken in wine; or else polea, the substance above2349-mentioned. In such cases, even when attended with a discharge of blood, we find a horse’s rennet recommended, by some persons known as “hippace;” ashes of burnt horse-dung; horses’ teeth pounded; and boiled cows’ milk. In cases of dysentery, it is recommended to add a little honey; and, for the cure of griping pains, ashes of deer’s horns, bull’s gall mixed with cummin, or the flesh of a gourd, should be applied to the navel. For both complaints new cheese made of cows’ milk is used, as an injection; butter also, in the proportion of four semi-sextarii to two ounces of turpentine, or else employed with a decoction of mallows or with oil of roses. Veal-suet or beef-suet is also given, and the marrow of those animals is boiled with meal, a little wax, and some oil, so as to form a sort of pottage. This marrow, too, is kneaded up with bread for a similar purpose; or else goats’ milk is used, boiled down to one half. In cases, too, where there are gripings in the bowels, wine of the first running2350 is administered. For the last-named pains, some persons are of opinion that it is a sufficient remedy to take a single dose of hare’s rennet in mulled wine; though others again, who are more distrustful, are in the habit of applying a liniment to the abdomen, made of goats’ blood, barley-meal, and resin.

For all defluxions of the bowels it is recommended to apply soft cheese, and for cœliac affections and dysentery old cheese, powdered, one cyathus of cheese being taken in three cyathi of ordinary wine. Goats’ blood is boiled down with the marrow of those animals for the cure of dysentery; and the cœliac flux is effectually treated with the roasted liver of a she-goat, or, what is still better, the liver of a he-goat boiled in astringent wine, and administered in the drink, or else applied to the navel with oil of myrtle. Some persons boil down the liver in three sextarii of water to half a sextarius, and then add rue to it. The milt of a he or she-goat is sometimes roasted for this purpose, or the suet of a he-goat is incorporated in bread baked upon the ashes; the fat, too, of a she-goat, taken from the kidneys more particularly, is used. This last, however, must be taken by itself and swallowed immediately, being generally recommended to be taken in water moderately cool. Some persons, too, boil goats’ suet in water, with a mixture of polenta, cummin, anise, and vinegar; and for the cure of cœliac affections, they rub the abdomen with a decoction of goats’ dung and honey.

For both the cœliac flux and dysentery, kid’s rennet is employed, taken in myrtle wine in pieces the size of a bean, or else kid’s blood, prepared in the form of a dish known by the name of “sanguiculus.”2351 For dysentery an injection is employed, made of bull glue dissolved in warm water. Flatulency is dispelled by a decoction of calf’s dung in wine. For intestinal affections deer’s rennet is highly recommended boiled with beef and lentils, and taken with the food; hare’s fur, also reduced to ashes and boiled with honey; or boiled goat’s milk, taken with a small quantity of mallows and some salt; if rennet is added, the remedy will be all the more effectual. Goat suet, taken in any kind of broth, is possessed of similar virtues, care being taken to swallow cold water immediately after. The ashes of a kid’s thighs are said to be marvellously efficacious for intestinal hernia; as also hare’s dung, boiled with honey, and taken daily in pieces the size of a bean; indeed, these remedies are said to have proved effectual in cases where a cure has been quite despaired of. The broth too, made from a goat’s head, boiled with the hair on, is highly recommended.

CHAP. 59.—REMEDIES FOR TENESMUS, TAPEWORM, AND AFFECTIONS OF THE COLON.

The disease called “tenesmus,” or in other words, a frequent and ineffectual desire to go to stool, is removed by drinking asses’ milk or cows’ milk. The various kinds of tapeworm2352 are expelled by taking the ashes of deer’s horns in drink. The bones which we have spoken2353 of as being found in the excrements of the wolf, worn attached to the arm, are curative of diseases of the colon, provided they have not been allowed to touch the ground. Polea, too, a substance already mentioned,2354 is remarkably useful for this purpose, boiled in grape juice:2355 the same too with swine’s dung, powdered and mixed with cummin, in a decoction of rue. The antler of a young stag, reduced to ashes and taken in wine, mixed with African snails, crushed with the shells on, is considered a very useful remedy.

CHAP. 60. (15.)—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE BLADDER, AND FOR URINARY CALCULI.

Diseases of the bladder, and the torments attendant upon calculi, are treated with the urine of a wild boar, or the bladder of that animal taken as food; both of them being still more efficacious if they have been thoroughly soaked first. The bladder, when eaten, should be boiled first, and if the patient is a female, it should be a sow’s bladder. There are found in the liver of the wild boar certain small stones,2356 or what in hardness resemble small stones, of a white hue, and resembling those found in the liver of the common swine: if these stones are pounded and taken in wine, they will expel calculi, it is said. So oppressed is the wild boar by the burden of his urine,2357 that if he has not first voided it, he is unable to take to flight, and suffers himself to be taken as though he were enchained to the spot. This urine, they say, has a consuming effect upon urinary calculi. The kidneys of a hare, dried and taken in wine, act as an expellent upon calculi. We have already2358 mentioned that in the gammon of the hog there are certain joint-bones; a decoction made from them is remarkably useful for urinary affections. The kidneys of an ass, dried and pounded, and administered in undiluted wine, are a cure for diseases of the bladder. The excrescences that grow on horses’ legs, taken for forty days in ordinary wine or honied wine, expel urinary calculi. The ashes, too, of a horse’s hoof, taken in wine or water, are considered highly useful for this purpose; and the same with the dung of a she-goat—if a wild goat, all the better—taken in honied wine: goats’ hair, too, is used, reduced to ashes.

For carbuncles upon the generative organs, the brains and blood of a wild boar or swine are highly recommended: and for serpiginous affections of those parts, the liver of those animals is used, burnt upon juniper wood more particularly, and mixed with papyrus and arsenic;2359 the ashes, also, of their dung; ox-gall, kneaded to the consistency of honey, with Egyptian alum and myrrh, beet-root boiled in wine being laid upon it; or else beef. Running ulcers of those parts are treated with veal-suet and marrow, boiled in wine, or with the gall of a she-goat, mixed with honey and the extracted juice of the bramble.2360 In cases where these ulcers are serpiginous, it is recommended to use goats’ dung with honey or vinegar, or else butter by itself. Swellings of the testes are reduced by using veal-suet with nitre, or the dung of the animal boiled in vinegar. The bladder of a wild boar, eaten roasted, acts as a check upon incontinence of urine; a similar effect being produced by the ashes of the feet of a wild boar or swine sprinkled in the drink; the ashes of a sow’s bladder taken in drink; the bladder or lights of a kid; a hare’s brains taken in wine; the testes of a male hare grilled; the rennet of that animal taken with goose-grease and polenta;2361 or the kidneys of an ass, beaten up and taken in undiluted wine.

The magicians tell us, that after taking the ashes of a boar’s genitals in sweet wine, the patient must make water in a dog kennel, and repeat the following formula—“This I do that I may not wet my bed as a dog does.” On the other hand, a swine’s bladder, attached to the groin, facilitates the discharge of the urine, provided it has not already touched the ground.

CHAP. 61.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS AND OF THE FUNDAMENT.

For diseases of the fundament, a sovereign remedy is bear’s gall, mixed with the grease; to which some persons are in the habit of adding litharge and frankincense. Butter, too, is very good, employed with goose-grease and oil of roses. The proportions in which they are mixed will be regulated by the circumstances of the case, care being taken to see that they are of a consistency which admits of their being easily applied. Bull’s gall upon lint is a remarkably useful remedy, and has the effect of making chaps of the fundament cicatrize with great rapidity. Swellings of those parts are treated with veal suet—that from the loins in particular—mixed with rue. For other affections, goats’ blood is used, with polenta. Goats’ gall too, is employed by itself, for the cure of condylomata, and sometimes, wolf’s gall, mixed with wine.

Bears’ blood is curative of inflamed tumours and apostemes upon these parts in general; as also bulls’ blood, dried and powdered. The best remedy, however, is considered to be the stone which the wild ass2362 voids with his urine, it is said, at the moment he is killed. This stone, which is in a somewhat liquefied state at first, becomes solid when it reaches the ground: attached to the thigh, it disperses all collections of humours and all kinds of suppurations: it is but rarely found, however, and it is not every wild ass that produces it, but as a remedy it is held in high esteem. Asses’ urine too, used in combination with gith, is highly recommended; the ashes of a horse’s hoof, applied with oil and water; a horse’s blood, that of a stone-horse in particular; the blood, also, of an ox or cow, or the gall of those animals. Their flesh too, applied warm, is productive of similar results; the hoofs reduced to ashes, and taken in water or honey; the urine of a she-goat; the flesh of a he-goat, boiled in water; the dung of these animals, boiled with honey; or else a boar’s gall, or swine’s urine, applied in wool.

Riding on horseback, we well-know, galls and chafes the inside of the thighs: the best remedy for accidents of this nature is to rub the parts with the foam which collects at a horse’s mouth. Where there are swellings in the groin, arising2363 from ulcers, a cure is effected by inserting in the sores three horse-hairs, tied with as many knots.

CHAP. 62. (16.)—REMEDIES FOR GOUT AND FOR DISEASES OF THE FEET.

For the cure of gout, bears’ grease is employed, mixed in equal proportions with bull-suet and wax; some persons add to the composition, hypocisthis2364 and nut-galls. Others, again, prefer he-goat suet, mixed with the dung of a she-goat and saffron, or else with mustard, or sprigs of ivy pounded and used with perdicium,2365 or with flowers of wild cucumber. Cow-dung is also used, with lees of vinegar. Some persons speak highly in praise of the dung of a calf which has not begun to graze, or else a bull’s blood, without any other addition; a fox, also, boiled alive till only the bones are left; a wolf boiled alive in oil to the consistency of a cerate; he-goat suet, with an equal proportion of helxine,2366 and one-third part of mustard; or ashes of goats’ dung, mixed with axle-grease. They say, too, that for sciatica, it is an excellent plan to apply this dung boiling2367 hot beneath the great toes; and that, for diseases of the joints, it is highly efficacious to attach bears’ gall or hares’ feet to the part affected. Gout, they say, may be allayed by the patient always carrying about with him a hare’s foot, cut off from the animal alive.

Bears’ grease is a cure for chilblains and all kinds of chaps upon the feet; with the addition of alum, it is still more efficacious. The same results are produced by using goat-suet; a horse’s teeth powdered; the gall of a wild boar or hog; or else the lights of those animals, applied with their grease; and this, too, where the soles are blistered, or the feet have been crushed by a substance striking against them. In cases where the feet have been frozen, ashes of burnt hare’s fur are used; and for contusions of the feet, the lights of that animal are applied, sliced or reduced to ashes. Blisters occasioned by the sun are most effectually treated by using asses’ fat, or else beef-suet, with oil of roses. Corns, chaps, and callosities of the feet are cured by the application of wild boars’ dung or swine’s dung, used fresh, and removed at the end of a couple of days. The pastern-bones of these animals are also used, reduced to ashes; or else the lights of a wild boar, swine, or deer. When the feet have been galled by the shoes, they are rubbed with the urine of an ass, applied with the mud formed by it upon the ground. Corns are treated with beef-suet and powdered frankincense; chilblains with burnt leather, that of an old shoe, in particular; and injuries produced by tight shoes with ashes of goat-skin, tempered with oil.

The pains attendant upon varicose veins are mitigated by using ashes of burnt calves’ dung, boiled with lily roots and a little honey: a composition which is equally good for all kinds of inflammations and sores that tend to suppurate. It is very useful, also, for gout and diseases of the joints, when it is the dung of a bull-calf that is used more particularly. For excoriations of the joints, the gall of a wild boar or swine is applied, in a warm linen cloth: the dung, also, of a calf that has not begun to graze; or else goat-dung, boiled in vinegar with honey. Veal-suet rectifies malformed nails, as also goat-suet, mixed with sandarach. Warts are removed by applying ashes of burnt calves’ dung in vinegar, or else the mud formed upon the ground by the urine of an ass.

CHAP. 63.—REMEDIES FOR EPILEPSY.

In cases of epilepsy, it is a good plan to eat a bear’s testes, or those of a wild boar, with mares’ milk or water; or else to drink a wild boar’s urine with honey and vinegar, that being the best which has been left to dry in the bladder. The testes, also, of swine are prescribed, dried and beaten up in sows’ milk, the patient abstaining from wine some days before and after taking the mixture. The lights of a hare, too, are recommended, salted, and taken with one third of frankincense, for thirty consecutive days, in white wine: hare’s rennet also; and asses’ brains, smoked with burning leaves, and administered in hydromel, in doses of half an ounce per day. An ass’s hoofs are reduced to ashes, and taken for a month together, in doses of two spoonfuls; the testes, also, of an ass, salted and mixed with the drink, asses’ milk or water in particular. The secundines, also, of a she-ass are recommended, more particularly when it is a male that has been foaled: placed beneath the nostrils of the patient, when the fits are likely to come on, this substance will effectually repel them.

There are some persons who recommend the patient to eat the heart of a black he-ass in the open air with bread, upon the first or second day of the moon: others, again, prescribe the flesh of that animal, and others the blood, diluted with vinegar, and taken for forty days together. Some mix horse-stale for this purpose, with smithy water fresh from the forge, employing the same mixture for the cure of delirium. Epilepsy is also treated with mares’ milk, or the excrescences from a horse’s legs, taken in honey and vinegar. The magicians highly recommend goats’ flesh, grilled upon a funeral pile; as also the suet of that animal, boiled with an equal quantity of bull’s gall, and kept in the gall-bladder; care being taken not to let it touch the ground, and the patient swallowing it in water, standing aloft.2368 The smell arising from a goat’s horns or deer’s antlers, burnt, efficiently detects the presence of epilepsy.

In cases where persons are suddenly paralyzed, the urine of an ass’s foal, applied to the body with nard, is very useful, it is said.

CHAP. 64.—REMEDIES FOR JAUNDICE.

For the cure of jaundice, the ashes of a stag’s antlers are employed; or the blood of an ass’s foal, taken in wine. The first dung,2369 too, that has been voided by the foal after its birth, taken in wine, in pieces the size of a bean, will effect a cure by the end of three days. The dung of a new-born colt is possessed of a similar efficacy.

CHAP. 65.—REMEDIES FOR BROKEN BONES.

For broken hones, a sovereign remedy is the ashes of the jaw-bone of a wild boar or swine: boiled bacon, too, tied round the broken bone, unites it with marvellous rapidity. For fractures of the ribs, goats’ dung, applied in old wine, is extolled as the grand remedy, being possessed in a high degree of aperient, extractive, and healing properties.

CHAP. 66.—REMEDIES FOR FEVERS.

Deer’s flesh, as already2370 stated, is a febrifuge. Periodical and recurrent fevers are cured, if we are to believe what the magicians tell us, by wearing the right eye of a wolf, salted, and attached as an amulet. There is one kind of fever generally known as “amphemerine;”2371 it is to be cured, they say, by the patient taking three drops of blood from an ass’s ear, and swallowing them in two semi-sextarii of water. For quartan fever, the magicians recommend cats’ dung to be attached to the body, with the toe of a horned owl, and, that the fever may not be recurrent, not to be removed until the seventh paroxysm is past. Who,2372 pray, could have ever made such a discovery as this? And what, too, can be the meaning of this combination? Why, of all things in the world, was the toe of a horned owl made choice of?

Other adepts in this art, who are more moderate in their suggestions, recommend for quartan fever, the salted liver of a cat that has been killed while the moon was on the wane, to be taken in wine just before the paroxysms come on. The magicians recommend, too, that the toes of the patient should be rubbed with the ashes of burnt cow-dung, diluted with a boy’s urine, and that a hare’s heart should be attached to the hands; they prescribe, also, hare’s rennet, to be taken in drink just before the paroxysms come on. New goats’ milk cheese is also given with honey, the whey being carefully extracted first.

CHAP. 67. (17.)—REMEDIES FOR MELANCHOLY, LETHARGY, AND PHTHISIS.

For patients affected with melancholy,2373 calves’ dung, boiled in wine, is a very useful remedy. Persons are aroused from lethargy by applying to the nostrils the callosities from an ass’s legs steeped in vinegar, or the fumes of burnt goats’ horns or hair, or by the application of a wild boar’s liver: a remedy which is also used for confirmed2374 drowsiness.

The cure of phthisis is effected by taking a wolf’s liver boiled in thin wine; the bacon of a sow that has been fed upon herbs; or the flesh of a she-ass, eaten with the broth: this last mode in particular, being the one that is employed by the people of Achaia. They say too, that the smoke of dried cow-dung—that of the animal when grazing, I mean—is remarkably good for phthisis, inhaled through a reed;2375 and find it stated that the tips of cows’ horns are burnt, and administered with honey, in doses of two spoonfuls, in the form of pills. Goat suet, many persons say, taken in a pottage of alica,2376 or melted fresh with honied wine, in the proportion of one ounce of suet to one cyathus of wine, is good for cough and phthisis, care being taken to stir the mixture with a sprig of rue. One author of credit assures us that before now, a patient whose recovery has been despaired of, has been restored to health by taking one cyathus of wild goat2377 suet and an equal quantity of milk. Some writers, too, have stated that ashes of burnt swine’s dung are very useful, mixed with raisin wine; as also the lights of a deer, a spitter2378 deer in particular, smoke-dried and beaten up in wine.

CHAP. 68.—REMEDIES FOR DROPSY.

For dropsy, a wild boar’s urine is good, taken in small doses in the patient’s drink; it is of much greater efficacy, however, when it has been left to dry in the bladder of the animal. The ashes, too, of burnt cow-dung, and of bulls’ dung in particular—animals that are reared in herds, I mean—are highly esteemed. This dung, the name given to which is “bolbiton,”2379 is reduced to ashes, and taken in doses of three spoonfuls to one semisextarius of honied wine; that of the female animal being used where the patient is a woman, and that of the other sex in the case of males; a distinction about which the magicians have made a sort of grand mystery. The dung of a bull-calf is also applied topically for this disease, and ashes of burnt calves’ dung are taken with seed of staphylinos,2380 in equal proportions, in wine. Goats’ blood also is used, with the marrow; but it is generally thought that the blood of the he-goat is the most efficacious, when the animal has fed upon lentisk, more particularly.

CHAP. 69.—REMEDIES FOR ERYSIPELAS, AND FOR PURULENT ERUPTIONS.

For erysipelas a liniment of bears’ grease is used, that from the kidneys in particular; fresh calves’ dung also, or cow-dung; dried goats’ milk cheese, with leeks; or else the fine scrapings of deer’s skin, brought off with pumice-stone and beaten up in vinegar. Where there is redness of the skin attended with itching, the foam from a horse’s mouth is used, or the hoof, reduced to ashes.

For the cure of purulent2381 eruptions ashes of burnt asses’ dung are applied, with butter; and for the removal of swarthy pimples, dried goats’ milk cheese, steeped in honey and vinegar, is applied in the bath, no oil being used. Pustules are treated with ashes of swine’s dung, applied with water, or else ashes of deer’s antlers.

CHAP. 70.—REMEDIES FOR SPRAINS, INDURATIONS, AND BOILS.

For the cure of sprains the following applications are used; wild boars’ dung or swine’s dung; calves’ dung; wild boars’ foam, used fresh with vinegar; goats’ dung, applied with honey; and raw beef, used as a plaster. For swellings, swine’s dung is used, warmed in an earthen pot, and beaten up with oil. The best emollient for all kinds of indurations upon the body is wolf’s fat, applied topically. In the case of sores which are wanted to break, the most effectual plan is to apply cow-dung warmed in hot ashes, or else goats’ dung boiled in vinegar or wine. For the cure of boils, beef-suet is applied with salt; but if they are attended with pain, it is melted with oil, and no salt is used. Goat-suet is employed in a similar manner.

CHAP. 71.—REMEDIES FOR BURNS. THE METHOD OF TESTING BULL-GLUE; SEVEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT.

For the treatment of burns, bears’ grease is used, with lily roots; dried wild boars’ dung also, or swine’s dung; the ashes of burnt bristles, extracted from plasterers’ brushes, beaten up with grease; the pastern-bone of an ox, reduced to ashes, and mixed with wax and bull’s marrow or deer’s marrow; or the dung of a hare. The dung, too, of a she-goat, they say, will effect a cure without leaving any scars.

The best glue is that prepared from the ears and genitals of the bull, and there is no better cure in existence for burns. There is nothing, however, that is more extensively adulterated; which is done by boiling up all kinds of old skins, and shoes even, for the purpose. The Rhodian glue is the purest of all, and it is this that painters and physicians mostly use. The whiter it is, the more highly glue is esteemed: that, on the other hand, which is black and brittle like wood, is looked upon as good for nothing.

CHAP. 72.—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE SINEWS AND FOR CONTUSIONS.

For pains in the sinews, goats’ dung, boiled in vinegar with honey, is considered one of the most useful remedies, and this even where the sinew2382 is threatened with putrefaction. Strains and contusions are healed with wild boars’ dung, that has been gathered in spring and dried. A similar method is employed where persons have been dragged by a chariot or lacerated by the wheels, or have received contusions in any other way, the application being quite as effectual, should the dung happen to be fresh. Some think it a better plan, however, to boil it in vinegar; and if only powdered and taken in vinegar, they vouch for its good effects where persons are ruptured, wounded internally, or suffering from the effects of a fall.

Others again, who are of a more scrupulous tendency,2383 take the ashes of it in water; and the Emperor Nero, it is said, was in the habit of refreshing himself with this drink, when he attempted to gain the public applause at the three-horse chariot races.2384 Swine’s dung, it is generally thought, is the next best to that of the goat.

CHAP. 73. (18.)—REMEDIES FOR HÆMORRHAGE.

Hæmorrhage is arrested by applying deer’s rennet with vinegar, hare’s rennet, hare’s fur reduced to ashes, or ashes of burnt asses’ dung. The dung, however, of male animals is the most efficacious for this purpose, being mixed with vinegar, and applied with wool, in all cases of hæmorrhage. In the same way, too, the ashes of a horse’s head or thigh, or of burnt calves’ dung, are used with vinegar; the ashes also of a goat’s horns or dung, with vinegar. But it is the thick blood that issues from the liver of a he-goat when cut asunder, that is looked upon as the most efficacious; or else the ashes of the burnt liver of a goat of either sex, taken in wine or applied to the nostrils with vinegar. The ashes, too, of a leather wine-bottle—but only when made of he-goat skin—are used very efficiently with an equal quantity of resin, for the purpose of stanching blood, and knitting together the lips of the wound. A kid’s rennet in vinegar, or the thighs of that animal, reduced to ashes, are said to be productive of a similar result.

CHAP. 74.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS AND CARCINOMATOUS SORES.

Ulcers upon the legs and thighs are cured by an application of bears’ grease, mixed with red earth: and those of a serpiginous nature by using wild boar’s gall, with resin and white lead; the jaw-bone of a wild boar or swine, reduced to ashes; swine’s dung in a dry state; or goats’ dung, made luke-warm in vinegar. For other kinds of ulcers butter is used, as a detergent, and as tending to make new flesh; ashes of deer’s antlers, or deer’s marrow; or else bull’s gall, mixed with oil of cyprus2385 or oil of iris. Wounds inflicted with edged weapons are rubbed with fresh swine’s dung, or with dried swine’s dung, powdered. When ulcers are phagedænic or fistulous, bull’s gall is injected, with leek-juice or woman’s milk; or else bull’s blood, dried and powdered, with the plant cotyledon.2386

Carcinomatous sores are treated with hare’s rennet, sprinkled upon them with an equal proportion of capers in wine; gangrenes, with bears’ grease, applied with a feather; and ulcers of a serpiginous nature with the ashes of an ass’s hoofs, powdered upon them. The blood of the horse corrodes the flesh by virtue of certain septic powers which it possesses; dried horse-dung, too, reduced to ashes, has a similar effect. Those kinds of ulcers which are commonly known as “phagedænic,” are treated with the ashes of a cow’s hide, mixed with honey. Calves’ flesh, as also cow-dung mixed with honey, prevents recent wounds from swelling. The ashes of a leg of veal, applied with woman’s milk, are a cure for sordid ulcers, and the malignant sore known as “cacoëthes:”2387 bull-glue, melted, is applied to recent wounds inflicted with edged weapons, the application being removed before the end of three days. Dried goats’ milk cheese, applied with vinegar and honey, acts as a detergent upon ulcers; and goat suet, used in combination with wax, arrests the spread of serpiginous sores: if employed with pitch and sulphur, it will effect a thorough cure. The ashes of a kid’s leg, applied with woman’s milk, have a similar effect upon malignant ulcers; for the cure, too, of carbuncles, a sow’s brains are roasted and applied.

CHAP. 75.—REMEDIES FOR THE ITCH.

The itch in man is cured very effectually by using the marrow of an ass, or the urine of that animal, applied with the mud it has formed upon the ground. Butter, too, is very good; as also in the case of beasts of burden, if applied with warmed resin: bull glue is also used, melted in vinegar, and incorporated with lime; or goat’s gall, mixed with calcined alum. The eruption called “boa,”2388 is treated with cow-dung, a fact to which it is indebted for its name. The itch in dogs is cured by an application of fresh cows’ blood, which, when quite dry, is renewed a second time, and is rubbed off the next day with strong lie-ashes.

CHAP. 76.—METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN SUBSTANCES WHICH ADHERE TO THE BODY, AND OF RESTORING SCARS TO THEIR NATURAL COLOUR.

Thorns and similar foreign substances are extracted from the body by using cats’ dung, or that of she-goats, with wine; the rennet also of any kind of animal, that of the hare more particularly, with powdered frankincense and oil, or an equal quantity of mistletoe, or else with bee-glue.2389

Ass suet restores scars of a swarthy hue to their natural colour; and they are equally effaced by using calf’s gall made warm. Medical men add myrrh, honey, and saffron, and keep the mixture in a copper box; some, too, incorporate with it flower of copper.

CHAP. 77. (19.)—REMEDIES FOR FEMALE DISEASES.

Menstruation is promoted by using bull’s gall, in unwashed wool, as a pessary: Olympias of Thebes adds hyssop and nitre. Ashes, too, of deer’s horns are taken in drink for the same purpose, and for derangements of the uterus they are applied topically, as also bull’s gall, used as a pessary with opium, in the proportion of two oboli. It is a good plan, too, to use fumigations for the uterus, made with deer’s hair, burnt. Hinds, they say, when they find themselves pregnant, are in the habit of swallowing a small stone. This stone, when found in their excrements, or in the uterus—for it is to be found there as well—attached to the body as an amulet, is a preventive of abortion. There are also certain small stones, found in the heart and uterus of these animals, which are very useful for women during pregnancy and in travail. As to the kind of pumice-stone which is similarly found in the uterus of the cow, we have already2390 mentioned it when treating of the formation of that animal.

A wolf’s fat, applied externally, acts emolliently upon the uterus, and the liver of a wolf is very soothing for pains in that organ. It is found advantageous for women, when near delivery, to eat wolf’s flesh, or, if they are in travail, to have a person near them who has eaten it; so much so, indeed, that it will act as a countercharm even to any noxious spells which may have been laid upon them. In case, however, a person who has eaten wolf’s flesh should happen to enter the room at the moment of parturition, dangerous effects will be sure to follow. The hare, too, is remarkably useful for the complaints of females: the lights of that animal, dried and taken in drink, are beneficial to the uterus; the liver, taken in water with Samian earth, acts as an emmenagogue; and the rennet brings away the after-birth, due care being taken by the patient not to bathe the day before. Applied in wool as a pessary, with saffron and leek-juice, this last acts as an expellent upon the dead fœtus. It is a general opinion that the uterus of a hare, taken with the food, promotes the conception of male offspring, and that a similar effect is produced by using the testes and rennet of that animal. It is thought, too, that a leveret, taken from the uterus of its dam, is a restorative of fruitfulness to women who are otherwise past child-bearing. But it is the blood of a hare’s fœtus that the magicians recommend males to drink: while for young girls they prescribe nine pellets of hare’s dung, to ensure a durable firmness to the breasts. For a similar purpose, also, they apply hare’s rennet with honey; and to prevent hairs from growing again when once removed, they use a liniment of hare’s blood.