Chaps. 51-66.

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, [See Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. II. 92-3, Bohn’s Ed., where this subject is treated at considerable length.] too, is very useful for this purpose, an invention of the Gauls for giving a reddish [“Rutilandis capillis.”] 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. [“Eam mori tradunt.” The reading here is very doubtful.] 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 spitter [“Subulo.”] 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’ milk [Asses’ milk is still recommended for pulmonary phthisis.] 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 horses [See B. viii. c. 16.] 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” [This would appear to be a Greek word in reality.] 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, [“Tunica.”] 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; [See B. xx. c. 2.] by taking mares’ milk, goats’ milk with salt and honey, or a she-goat’s gall with juice of cyclaminos, [See B. xxv. c. 67. Mares’ milk is not a purgative; and goats’ milk, as Ajasson remarks, is somewhat astringent. Juice of Cyclamen, on the other hand, or sow-bread, is highly purgative.] 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; [See B. xviii. c. 14.] 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 above [In Chap. 57 of this Book.] -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 running [“Protropum.” See B. xiv. cc. 9, 11.] 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.” [A kind of black pudding. Dupinet, the old French translator, says that in his time the people of the Alpine regions still called this dish sanchet.] 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 tapeworm [He uses “tænia” probably, as a general name for intestinal worms.] are expelled by taking the ashes of deer’s horns in drink. The bones which we have spoken [In c. 49 of this Book.] 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, [In c. 57 of this Book.] is remarkably useful for this purpose, boiled in grape juice: [“Sapa.” Grape-juice boiled down to two-thirds: see B. xiv. c. 11.] 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, [In reality, these are biliary calculi, found in the gall-bladder of the animal. They are called “bezoar” stones, from a Persian word signifying “destructive to poison.”] 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, [See B. viii. c. 77.] 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 already [In c. 49 of this Book.] 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; [Ajasson remarks that arsenic should be used with the greatest care in such a case.] 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. [“Rubi.” He probably means the bramble-berry.] 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; [See B. xviii. c. 14.] 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 ass [“Onager.”] 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, arising [Arising, by sympathy, from sores in other parts of the body.] 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, hypocisthis [See B. xxvi. c. 31. Bears’ grease is of no use whatever for the cure of gout.] 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, [See B. xix. c. 31, B. xxi. cc. 62, 104, and B. xxii. cc. 19, 20.] 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, [See B. xxi. c. 56.] 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 boiling [This mode of cure, Ajasson says, is still employed in the East, where the preparation is known by the name of moza.] 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. [“Potum vero ex aquâ sublime.” The true reading and the meaning are equally doubtful.] 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, [Spoken of as “polea” in c. 57.] 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 already [In B. viii. c. 50. Because the animal itself was supposed to be free from fever.] 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;” [Or “quotidian,” daily fever.] 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, [A rather singular episode in his narrative. It looks like a gloss.] 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.