Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  CHAP. 77. (19.)

  REMEDIES FOR FEMALE DISEASES.

  Menstruation is promoted by using hall’s gall, in unwashed wool, as a pessary: Olympias of Thebe 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 already 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.

  For inflations of the uterus, it is found a good plan to apply wild boars’ dung or swine’s dung topically with oil: but a still more effectual remedy is to dry the dung, and sprinkle it, powdered, in the patient’s drink, even though she should be in a state of pregnancy or suffering the pains of child-birth. By administering sow’s milk with honied wine, parturition is facilitated; and if taken by itself it will promote the secretion of the milk when deficient in nursing women. By rubbing the breasts of females with sow’s blood they are prevented from becoming too large. If pains are felt in the breasts, they will be alleviated by drinking asses’ milk; and the same milk, taken with honey, has considerable efficacy as an emmenagogue. Stale fat, too, from the same animal, heals ulcerations of the uterus: applied as a pessary, in wool, it acts emolliently upon indurations of that organ; and, applied fresh by itself, or in water when stale, it has all the virtues of a depilatory.

  An ass’s milt, dried and applied in water to the breasts, promotes the secretion of the milk; and used in the form of a fumigation, it acts as a corrective upon the uterus. A fumigation made with a burnt ass’s hoof; placed beneath a woman, accelerates parturition, so much so, indeed, as to expel the dead fœtus even: hence it is that it should only be employed in cases of miscarriage, it having a fatal effect upon the living fœtus. Asses’ dung, applied fresh, has a wonderful effect, they say, in arresting discharges of blood in females: the same, too, with the ashes of this dung, which, used as a pessary, are very good for the uterus. If the skin is rubbed with the foam from a horse’s mouth for forty days together, before the first hair has made its appearance, it will effectually prevent the growth thereof: a decoction, too, made from deer’s antlers is productive of a similar effect, being all the better if they are used quite fresh. Mares’ milk, used as an injection, is highly beneficial to the uterus.

  Where the fœtus is felt to be dead in the uterus, the lichens or excrescences from a horse’s legs, taken in fresh water, will act as an expellent: an effect produced also by a fumigation made with the hoofs or dry dung of that animal. Procidence of the uterus is arrested by using butter, in the form of an injection; and indurations of that organ are removed by similarly employing ox-gall, with oil of roses, turpentine being applied externally in wool. They say, too, that a fumigation, made from ox-dung, acts as a corrective upon procidence of the uterus, and facilitates parturition; and that conception is promoted by the use of cows’ milk. It is a well-known fact that sterility is often entailed by suffering in child-birth; an evil which may be averted, Olympias of Thebes assures us, by rubbing the parts, before sexual intercourse, with bull’s gall, serpents’ fat, verdigrease, and honey. In cases, too, where menstruation is too abundant, the external parts should be sprinkled with a solution of calf’s gall, the moment before the sexual congress; a method which acts emolliently also upon indurations of the abdomen. Applied to the navel as a liniment, it arrests excessive discharges, and is generally beneficial to the uterus. The proportions generally adopted are — one denarius of gall, one-third of a denarius of opium, and as much oil of almonds as may appear to be requisite; the whole being applied in sheep’s wool. The gall, too, of a bull-calf is beaten up with half the quantity of honey, and kept in readiness for the treatment of uterine diseases. If a woman about the time of conception eats roasted veal with the plant aristolochia, she will bring forth a male child, we are assured. Calf’s marrow, boiled in wine and water with the suet, and applied as a pessary, is good for ulcerations of the uterus; the same, too, with foxes’ fat and cats’ dung, the last being applied with resin and oil of roses.

  It is considered a remarkably good plan to subject the uterus to fumigations made with burnt goats’ horns. The blood of the wild goat, mixed with sea-palm, acts as a depilatory. The gall of the other kinds of goat, used as an injection, acts emolliently upon callosities of the uterus, and ensures conception immediately after menstruation: it possesses also the virtues of a depilatory, the application being left for three days upon the flesh after the hair has been removed. The midwives assure us that she-goats’ urine, taken in drink, and the dung, applied topically, will arrest uterine discharges, however much in excess. The membrane in which the kid is enclosed in the uterus, dried and taken in wine, acts as an expel- lent upon the after-birth. For affections of the uterus, it is thought a desirable plan to fumigate it with burnt kids’ hair; and for discharges of blood, kids’ rennet is administered in drink, or seed of henbane is applied. According to Osthanes, if a woman’s loins are rubbed with blood taken from the ticks upon a black wild bull, she will be inspired with an aversion to sexual intercourse: she will forget, too, her former love, by taking a he-goat’s urine in drink, some nard being mixed with it to disguise the loathsome taste.

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  CHAP. 78.

  REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.

  For infants there is nothing more useful than butter, either by itself or in combination with honey; for dentition more particularly, for soreness of the gums, and for ulcerations of the mouth. A wolf’s tooth, attached to the body, prevents infants from being startled, and acts as a preservative against the maladies attendant upon dentition; an effect equally produced by making use of a wolf’s skin. The larger teeth, also, of a wolf, attached to a horse’s neck, will render him proof against all weariness, it is said. A hare’s rennet, applied to the breasts of the nurse, effectually prevents diarrhœa in the infant suckled by her. An ass’s
liver, mixed with a little panax, and dropped into the mouth of an infant, will preserve it from epilepsy and other diseases to which infants are liable; this, however, must be done for forty days, they say. An ass’s skin, too, thrown over infants, renders them insensible to fear. The first teeth shed by a horse, attached as an amulet to infants, facilitate dentition, and are better still, when not allowed to touch the ground. For pains in the spleen, an ox’s milt is administered in honey, and applied topically; and for running ulcers it is used as an application, with honey. A calf’s milt, boiled in wine, is beaten up, and applied to incipient ulcers of the mouth.

  The magicians take the brains of a she-goat, and, after passing them through a gold ring, drop them into the mouth of the infant before it takes the breast, as a preservative against epilepsy and other infantile diseases. Goats’ dung, attached to infants in a piece of cloth, prevents them from being restless, female infants in particular. By rubbing the gums of infants with goats’ milk or hare’s brains, dentition is greatly facilitated.

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  CHAP. 79.

  PROVOCATIVES OF SLEEP.

  Cato was of opinion that hare’s flesh, taken as a diet, is provocative of sleep. It is a vulgar notion, too, that this diet confers beauty for nine days on those who use it; a silly play upon words, no doubt, but a notion which has gained far too extensively not to have had some real foundation. According to the magicians, the gall of a she-goat, but only of one that has been sacrificed, applied to the eyes or placed beneath the pillow, has a narcotic effect. Too profuse perspiration is checked by rubbing the body with ashes of burnt goats’ horns mixed with oil of myrtle.

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  CHAP. 80.

  STIMLANTS FOR THE SEXUAL PASSIONS.

  Among the aphrodisiacs, we find mentioned, a wild boar’s gall, applied externally; swine’s marrow, taken inwardly; asses’ fat, mixed with the grease of a gander and applied as a liniment; the virulent substance described by Virgil as distilling from mares when covered; and the dried testes of a horse, pulverized and mixed with the drink. The right testicle, also, of an ass, is taken in a proportionate quantity of wine, or worn attached to the arm in a bracelet; or else the froth discharged by that animal after covering, collected in a piece of red cloth and enclosed in silver, as Osthanes informs us. Salpe recom- mends the genitals of this animal to be plunged seven times in boiling oil, and the corresponding parts to be well rubbed therewith. Balcon says that these genitals should be reduced to ashes and taken in drink; or else the urine: that has been voided by a bull immediately after covering: lie recommends, also, that the groin should be well rubbed with earth moistened with this urine.

  Mouse-dung, on the other hand, applied in the form of a liniment, acts as an antaphrodisiac. The lights of a wild boar or swine, roasted, are an effectual preservative against drunkenness; they must, however, be eaten fasting, and upon the same day. The lights of a kid, too, are productive of the same effect.

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  CHAP. 81. (20.)

  REMARKABLE FACTS RELATIVE TO ANIMALS.

  In addition to those already mentioned, there are various other marvellous facts related, with reference to these animals. When a horse-shoe becomes detached from the hoof, as often is the case, if a person takes it up and puts it by, it will act as a remedy for hiccup the moment he calls to mind the spot where he has placed it. A wolf’s liver, they say, is similar to a horse’s hoof in appearance; and a horse, they tell us, if it follows in the track of a wolf, will burst asunder beneath its rider. The pastern-bones of swine have a certain tendency to promote discord, it is said. In cases of fire, if some of the dung can be brought away from the stalls, both sheep and oxen may be got out all the more easily, and will make no attempt to return. The flesh of a he-goat will lose its rank smell, if the animal has eaten barley-bread, or drunk an infusion of laser the day on which it was killed. Meat that has been salted while the moon was on the wane, will never be attacked by worms. In fact, so great has been the care taken to omit no possible researches, that a deaf hare, we find, will grow fat sooner than one that can hear!

  As to the remedies for the diseases of animals — If a beast of burden voids blood, an injection must be used of swine’s dung mixed with wine. For the maladies of oxen, a mixture of suet is used with quicksilver, and wild garlic boiled; the whole eaten up and administered in wine. The fat, too, of a fox is employed. The liquor of boiled horse-flesh, administered in their drink, is recommended for the cure of diseased swine: and, indeed, the maladies of all four-footed beasts may be effec- tually treated by boiling a she-goat whole, in her skin, along with a bramble-frog. Poultry, they say, will never be touched by a fox, if they have eaten the dried liver of that animal, or if the cock, when treading the hen, has had a piece of fox’s skin about his neck. The same property, too, is attributed to a weazel’s gall. The oxen in the Isle of Cyprus cure themselves of gripings in the abdomen, it is said, by swallowing human excrements: the feet, too, of oxen will never be worn to the quick, if their hoofs are well rubbed with tar before they begin work. Wolves will never approach a field, if, after one has been caught and its legs broken and throat cut, the blood is dropped little by little along the boundaries of the field, and the body buried on the spot from which it was first dragged. The share, too, with which the first furrow in the field has been traced in the current year, should be taken from the plough, and placed upon the hearth of the Lares, where the family is in the habit of meeting, and left there till it is consumed: so long as this is in doing, no wolf will attack any animal in the field.

  We will now turn to an examination of those animals which, being neither tame nor wild, are of a nature peculiar to them- selves.

  SUMMARY. — Remedies, narratives, and observations, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two.

  ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED. — M. Varro, L. Piso, Fabianus, Va- lerius Antias, Verrius Flaccus, Cato the Censor, Servius Sul- picius, Licinius Macer, Celsus, Massurius, Sextius Niger who wrote in Greek, Bithus of Dyrrhachium, Opilius the physician, Granius the physician.

  FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED. — Democritus, Apollonius who wrote the “Myrosis,” Melitus, Artemon, Sextilius, Au- tæus, Homer, Theophrastus, Lysimachus, Attalus, Xenocrates, Orpheus who wrote the “Idiophya,” Archelaüs who wrote a similar work, Demetrius, Sotira, Laïs, Ele- phantis, Salpe, Olympias of Thebes, Diotimus of Thebes, Iollas, Andreas, Marcion of Smyrna, Æschines the physician, Hippocrates, Aristotle, Metrodorus of Scepsos, Icetidas the physician, Apelles the physician, Hesiod, Dalion, Cæcilius, Bion who wrote “On Powers,” Anaxilaiis, King Juba.

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  BOOK XXIX. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES.

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  CHAP. 1. (1.)

  THE ORIGIN OF THE MEDICAL ART.

  THE nature and multiplicity of the various remedies already described or which still remain to be enlarged upon, compel me to enter upon some further details with reference to the art of medicine itself: aware as I am, that no one has hitherto treated of this subject in the Latin tongue, and that if all new enterprises are difficult or of doubtful success, it must be one in particular which is so barren of all charms to recommend it, and accompanied with such difficulties of illustration. It will not improbably suggest itself, however, to those who are familiar with this subject, to make enquiry how it is that in the practice of medicine the use of simples has been abandoned, so convenient as they are and so ready prepared to our hand: and they will be inclined to feel equal surprise and indignation when they are informed that no known art, lucrative as this is beyond all the rest, has been more fluctuating, or subjected to more frequent variations.

  Commencing by ranking its inventors in the number of the gods, and consecrating for them a place in heaven, the art of medicine, at the present day even, teaches us in numerous instances to have recourse to the oracles for aid. In more recent times again, the same art has augmented its celebrity, at th
e cost perhaps of being charged with criminality, by devising the fable that Æsculapius was struck by lightning for presuming to raise Tyndareus to life. And this example notwithstanding, it has not hesitated to relate how that others, through its agency, have since been restored to life. Already enjoying celebrity in the days of the Trojan War, its traditions from that period have ac- quired an additional degree of certainty; although in those times, we may remark, the healing art confined itself solely to the treatment of wounds.

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  CHAP. 2.

  PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO HIPPOCRATES. DATE OF THE ORIGIN OF CLINICAL PRACTICE AND OF THAT OF IATRALIPTICS.

  Its succeeding history, a fact that is truly marvellous, remains enveloped in the densest night, down to the time of the Peloponnesian War; at which period it was restored to light by the agency of Hippocrates, a native of Cos, an island flourishing and powerful in the highest degree, and consecrated to Æsculapius. It being the practice for persons who had recovered from a disease to describe in the temple of that god the remedies to which they had owed their restoration to health, that others might derive benefit therefrom in a similar emergency; Hippocrates, it is said, copied out these prescriptions, and, as our fellow-countryman Varro will have it, after burning the temple to the ground, instituted that branch of medical practice which is known as “Clinics.” There was no limit after this to the profits derived from the practice of medicine; for Prodicus, a native of Selymbria, one of his disciples, founded the branch of it known as “Iatraliptics,” and so discovered a means of enriching the very anointers even and the commonest drudges employed by the physicians.