Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder
Page 217
In cases of tertian fever — so true it is that suffering takes delight in prolonging hope by trying every remedy — it may be worth while to make trial whether the web of the spider called “lycos” is of any use, applied, with the insect itself, to the temples and forehead in a compress covered with resin and wax; or the insect itself, attached to the body in a reed, a form in which it is said to be highly beneficial for other fevers. Trial may be made also of a green lizard, enclosed alive in a vessel just large enough to receive it, and worn as an amulet; a method, it is said, by which recurrent fevers are often dispelled.
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CHAP. 31.
REMEDIES FOR DROPSY.
For the cure of dropsy, wool-grease, a piece about the size of a hazel-nut, is given in wine, with the addition of a little myrrh: some add goose-grease, steeped in myrtle wine. The filth that adheres to the udders of sheep is productive of a similar effect, as also the dried flesh of a hedge-hog, taken with the food. Matter vomited by a dog, we are assured, applied to the abdomen, will draw off the water that has accumulated there.
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CHAP. 32. (12).
REMEDIES FOR ERYSIPELAS.
For the cure of erysipelas, wool-grease is used, with pomnpholix and oil of roses; the blood also extracted from a tick; earth worms, applied in vinegar; or else a cricket crushed between the hands — the good effect of this last being that the person who uses this precaution before the malady has made its appearance, will be preserved therefrom for a whole year. Care must be taken also that iron is used for the removal of the cricket, with some of the earth about its hole. Goose-grease is also employed for this purpose; a viper’s head, dried and burnt, and applied with vinegar; or a serpent’s slough, applied to the body, immediately after the bath, with bitumen and lamb suet.
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CHAP. 33.
REMEDIES FOR CARBUNCLES.
Carbuncles are removed by an application of pigeons’ dung, either alone or in combination with linseed and oxymel; or of bees that have died in the honey. A sprinkling of polenta upon the sores is also used. For carbuncles and other sores of the generative organs, wool-grease is used as a remedy, with refuse of lead; and for incipient carbuncles, sheep’s dung is employed.. Tumours and all other affections that stand in need of emollients are treated most effectually with goose-grease; that of cranes, too, is equally efficacious.
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CHAP. 34.
REMEDIES FOR BOILS.
For boils the following remedies are prescribed; a spider, applied before mentioning the insect by name, care being taken to remove it at the end of two days; a shrew-mouse, suspended by the neck till it is dead, care being taken not to let it touch the earth when dead, and to pass it three times around the boil, both operator and patient spitting on the floor each time; poultry-dung, that of a red colour in particular, applied fresh with vinegar; the crop of a stork, boiled in wine; flies, an uneven number of them, rubbed upon the patient with the ring finger; the filth from sheep’s ears; stale mutton suet, with ashes of women’s hair; ram suet also, with ashes of’ burnt pumice and an equal quantity of salt.
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CHAP. 35.
REMEDIES FOR BURNS.
For burns, the ashes of a dog’s head are used; ashes of burnt dormice, with oil; sheep’s dung, with wax; ashes also of burnt snails, an application so effectual, as not to leave a scar even. Viper’s fat, too, is used, and ashes of burnt pigeons’ dung, applied with oil.
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CHAP. 36.
REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE SINEWS.
For nodosities in the sinews, the ashes of a viper’s head are applied, with oil of cyprus; or else earth-worms, with honey. Pains in the sinews should be treated with an application of grease; the body of a dead amphisbæna, worn as an amulet; vulture’s grease, dried with the crop of the bird and beaten up with stale hog’s lard; or else ashes of the head of a horned owl, taken in honied wine with a lily root-that is, if we believe what the magicians tell us. For contractions of the sinews, the flesh of ring-doves is very good, dried and taken with the food: and for spasmodic affections, the ashes of a hedge-hog or weasel are used. A serpent’s slough, attached to the patient’s body in a piece of bull’s hide, is a preventive of spasms: and the dried liver of a kite, taken in doses of three oboli, in three cyathi of hydromel, is a preservative against opisthotony.
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CHAP. 37.
REMEDIES FOR MALADIES OF THE NAILS AND FINGERS.
Agnails and hangnails upon the fingers are removed by using the ashes of a burnt dog’s head, or the uterus of a bitch boiled in oil, the fingers being first rubbed with a liniment of ewe-milk butter, mixed with honey. The gall-bladder, too, of any animal is very useful for this purpose. Malformed nails are healed with an application of canthlarides and pitch, which is removed at the end of two days; or else with locusts friel with he-goat suet; or with an application of mutton suet. Some mix mistletoe and purslain with these ingredients; while others, again, use verligrease and mistletoe, removing the application at the end of two days.
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CHAP. 38. (13.)
METHODS FOR ARRESTING HÆMORRHAGE.
Bleeding at the nostrils is arrested by mutton suet taken from the caul, introduced into the nostrils; by draing up rennet, lamb’s rennet in particular, mixed with water, into the nostrils, or by using it as an injection, a remedy which succeeds even where other remedies; have failed: by making up goosegrease into a bolus with an equall quantity of butter, and plugging the nostrils with it; or by using the earth that adheres to snails, or else the snails themselves, extracted from the shell. Excessive discharges from the nostrils are arrested also by applying crushed snails, or cobwebs, to the forehead. For issues of blood from the brain, the blood or brains of poultry are used, as also pigeons’ dung, thickened and kept for the purpose. In cases where there is and immoderate flow of blood from a wound, an application of horse-dung, burnt with egg-shells, is marvellously good for stopping it.
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CHAP. 39.
REMEDIES FOR ULCEROUS SORES AND WOUNDS.
For the cure of ulcers, wool-grease is used, with ashes of burnt barley and verdigrease, in equal quantities; a preparation which is good, too, for carcinomata and spreading sores. It cauterizes the flesh also around the margins of ulcers, and reduces and makes level fungous excrescences formed by sores. Ashes, too, of burnt sheep’s dung, mixed with nitre, are of great efficacy for the cure of carcinomata; as also those of lambs’ thigh-bones, in cases more particularly where ulcers refuse to cicatrize. Very considerable, too, is the efficacy of lights, ram’s lights in particular, which are of the greatest utility for reducing and making level the fleshy excrescences formed by ulcerous sores. With sheep’s dung, warmed beneath an earthen pan and kneaded, the swellings attendant upon wounds are reduced, and fistulous sores and epinyctis are cleansed and made to heal.
But it is in the ashes of a burnt dog’s head that the greatest efficacy is found; as it quite equals spodium in its property of cauterizing all kinds of fleshy excrescences, and causing sores to heal. Mouse-dung, too, is used as a cautery, and weasels’ dung, burnt to ashes. Pounded millepedes, mixed with turpentine and earth of Sinope, are used for penetrating carcinomata and fleshy indurations in deep- seated sores; and the same substances are remarkably useful for the treatment of ulcers threatened with maggots.
Indeed the several varieties of worms themselves are possessed of marvellously useful properties. The worms, for instance, that breed in wood are curative of all kinds of ulcers: reduced to ashes, with an equal quantity of anise, and applied with oil, they heal cancerous sores. Earthworms are so remark- ably healing for wounds recently inflicted, that it is a very general belief that by the end of seven days they will unite sinews even that have been cut as under: hence it is
that it is re- commended to keep them preserved in honey. Ashes of burnt earth-worms, in combination with tar or Simblian honey, cau- terize the indurated margins of ulcerous sores. Some persons dry earthworms in the sun, and apply them to wounds with vinegar, the application not being removed till the end of acouple of days. The earth also that adheres to snails is useful, similarly em- ployed; snails, too, taken whole from the shell, are pounded and applied to fresh wounds, to heal them, and they arrest the progress of cancerous sores.
There is an insect called “herpes” by the Greeks, which is particularly useful for the cure of all kinds of serpiginous sores. Snails, beaten up, shells and all, are very good for this purpose; and it is said that, with myrrh and frankincense, they will unite the sinews even when cut asunder. The fat, too, of a dragon, dried in the sun, is remarkably usefull, and so are the brains of a cock or capon for recent wounds. By taking with the food salt in which vipers have been preserved, ulcers are rendered more easy of treatment, it is said, and are made to heal all the sooner. Antonius the physician, after operating in vain upon ulcers, that were incurable with the knife, used to prescribe viper’s flesh to be eaten by the patient, whereby a marvellously speedy cure was effected.
The locust called “troxallis,” reduced to ashes and applied with honey, removes the indurated margins of ulcerous sores: ashes, also, of burnt pigeons’ dung, with arsenic and honey, are very effectual in all cases where a cautery is required. The brains of a horned owl, applied with goose-grease, are marvellously efficacious for uniting wounds, it is said. For the malignant ulcer known as “cacoëthes,” the ashes of a ram’s thigh-bones are used, mixed with woman’s milk, the sores being washed with linen cloths well rinsed. For the same purpose, the bird known as the screech-owl is boiled in oil, ewe-milk butter and honey being added to the preparation, when properly dissolved. An application of bees that have died in the honey, acts emolliently upon the indurated margins of ulcerous sores; and for the cure of elephantiasis, the blood and ashes of a weasel are employed. Wounds and weals pro- duced by blows are effaced by an application of sheep-skins fresh from the body.
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CHAP. 40.
REMEDIES FOR BROKEN BONES.
For fractures of the joints, ashes of sheep’s thigh-bones are particularly useful, applied in combination with wax; and the remedy is all the more efficacious, if a sheep’s jaw-bones are burnt with the other ingredients, together with a deer’s antler, and some wax dissolved in oil of roses. For broken bones, a dog’s brains are used, spread upon a linen cloth, with wool laid upon the surface and moistened every now and then. The fractured bone will mostly unite in the course of fourteen days; and a cure equally expeditious may be effected by using the ashes of burnt field-mice, with honey, or of burnt earthworms; a substance which is extremely useful for the extraction of splintered bones.
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CHAP. 41.
APPLICATIONS FOR CICATRIZATIONS, AND FOR, THE CURE OF MORPHEW.
Cicatrizations are restored to their original colour by applying sheep’s lights, those of a ram in particular; mutton-suet, mixed with nitre; the ashes of a green lizard; a snake’s slough, boiled in wine; or else pigeons’ dung, mixed with honey; a preparation which, in combination with wine, is good for the removal of white morphew. For the cure, also, of mor- phew, cantharides are used, with two-thirds of rue-leaves; a preparation which the patient must keep applied, in the sun, till the skin itches and rises in blisters; after which it must be fomented and well rubbed with oil, and the application repeated. This must be done for several days in succession, due precautions being taken that the ulcerations do not penetrate too deep.
For the cure, too, of morphew, a liniment is recommended, made of flies and root of agrimony; the white part also of poultry dung, kept in a horn box with stale oil; a bat’s blood; or else the gall of a hedge-hog applied with water. Itch-scab is cured by using the brains of a horned owl, incorporated with saltpetre; but dog’s blood is the best thing to keep it in check. The small, broad, snail that is found, crushed and ap- plied topically, is an effectual cure for itching sensations.
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CHAP. 42.
METHODS OF EXTRICTXING FOREIGN SUBSTANCES FROM THE BODY.
Arrows, pointed weapons, and other foreign substances that require to be extracted from the body, are removed by the application of a mouse split asunder, or of a lizard more particularly, similarly divided, or else the head only of the animal, pounded with salt. The snails, too, that are found in clusters upon leaves, are pounded and applied with their shells on; as also those that are used as food, the shells being first removed, applied with hare’s rennet in particular. The bones of a snake, applied with the rennet of any four-footed animal, will produce a similar effect before the end of two days: cantha- rides, also, bruised applied with barley-meal, are highly extolled.
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CHAP. 43. (14.)
REMEDIES FOR FEMALE COMPLAINTS.
For diseases incident to females, a ewe’s placenta is very useful, as already mentioned by us, when speaking of goats: sheep’s dung, too, is equally good. A fumigation of’ burnt locusts, applied to the lower parts, affords relief to strangury, in females more particularly. It; immediately after conception, a woman eats a cock’s testes every now and then, the child of which she is pregnant will become a male, it is said. The ashes of a burnt poricupinel taken in drink, are a preventive of abortion: bitches’ milk facilitates delivery: and the after- birth of a bitch, provided it has not touched the ground, will act as an expellent of the fœtus. Milk, taken as a drink, strengthens the loins of women when in travail. Mouse-dung, diluted with rain water, reduces the breasts of females, when swollen after delivery. The ashes of a burnt hedge-hog, applied with oil, act as a preventive of abortion. Delivery is facilitated, in cases where the patient has taken, either goose- dung in two cyathi of water, or the liquid that escapes from the uterus of a weasel by its genitals.
Earth-wormrs, applied topically, effectually prevent pains in the sinews of the neck and shoulders; taken in raisin wine, they expel the after-birth, when retarded. Applied by themselves, earthworms ripen abscesses of the breasts, open them, draw the humours, and make them cicatrize: taken in honied wine, they promote the secretion of the milk. In hay-grass there are small worms found, which, attached to the neck, act as a preventive of premature delivery; they are removed, however, at the moment of childbirth, as otherwise they would have the effect of impeding delivery; care must be taken, also, not to put them on the ground. To promote conception, five or seven of them are administered in drink. Snails, taken with the food, accelerate delivery; and, applied with saffron, they promote conception. Used in the form of a liniment, with amylum and gum tragacanth, they arrest uterine discharges. Taken with the food, they promote menstruation; and, mixed with deer’s marrow, in the proportion of one denarius and the same quantity of cyprus to each snail, they reduce the uterus when displaced. Taken from the shell, and beaten up with oil of roses, they dispel inflations of the uterus; the snails of Astypalæa being those that are mostly chosen for these purposes.
Those of Africa, again, are employed in a different manner, two of them being beaten up with a pinch of fenulgreek in three fingers, and four spoonfuls of honey, and the preparation applied to the abdomen, after it has been rubbed with juice of iris. There is a kind of small, white, elongated snail, that is found straying here and there: dried upon tiles in the sun, and reduced to powder, these snails are mixed with bean-meal, in equal proportions, forming a cosmetic which whitens and softens the skin. The small, broad, kind of snail, mixed with polenta, is good for the removal of a tendency to scratch and rub the skin.
If a pregnant woman steps over a viper, she will be sure to miscarry; the same, too, in the case of the anphisbæna, but only when it is dead. If, however, a woman carries about her a live amphlisbæna in a box, she may step over one with impunity, even though it be dead. An a
mphisbæna, preserved for the purpose, will ensure an easy delivery, even though it be dead. It is a truly marvellous fact, but if a pregnant woman steps over one of these serpents that has not been preserved, it will be perfectly harmless, provided she immediately steps over another that has been preserved. A fumigation made with a dried snake, acts powerfully as an emmenagogue.
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CHAP. 44.
METHODS OF FACILITATING DELIVERY.
The cast-off slough of a snake, attached to the loins, facili- tates delivery: care must be taken, however, to remove it immediately after. It is administered, too, in wine, mixed with frankincense: taken in any other form, it is productive of abortion. A staff, by the aid of which a person has parted a frog from a snake, will accelerate parturition. Ashes of the troxallis, applied with honey, act as an emmenagogue; the same, too, with the spider that descends as it spins its thread from aloft; it must be taken, however, in the hollow of the hand, crushed, and applied accordingly: if, on the contrary, the spider is taken while ascending, it will arrest menstruation.
The stone aëtites, that is found in the eagle’s nest, preserves the fœtus against all insidious attempts at producing abortion. A vulture’s feather, placed beneath the feet of the woman, accelerates parturition. It is a well-known fact, that pregnant women must be on their guard against ravens’ eggs, for if a female in that state should happen to step over one, she will be sure to miscarry by the mouth. A hawk’s dung, taken in honied: wine, would appear to render females fruitful. Goose- grease, or that of the swan, acts emolliently upon indurations and abscesses of the uterus.