REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE HEAD, AND FOR ALOPECY

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Capilli defluvia ursinus adips admixto ladano et adianto continet alopeciasque emendat et raritatem superciliorum cum fungis lucernarum ac fuligine, quae est in rostris earum, porriginem cum vino. prodest ad hanc et cornus cervini cinis e vino utque non taedia animalium capillis increscant, item fel caprinum cum creta Cimolia et aceto sic, uti paulum capiti inarescant, item fel scrofinum, urina tauri. si vero vetus sit, furfures etiam adiecto sulpure emendat. cinere genitalis asini spissari capillum putant et a canitie vindicari, si rasis inlinatur plumboque tritus cum oleo, densari et asinini pulli illitum urina; admiscent nardum fastidii gratia. alopecias felle taurino cum Aegyptio alumine tepefacto inlinunt. ulcera capitis manantia urina tauri efficaciter sanat, item hominis vetus, si cyclaminum adiciatur et sulpur, efficacius tamen vitulinum fel, quo cum aceto calefacto et lendes tolluntur. sebum vitulinum capitis ulceribus cum sale tritum utilissimum. laudatur et vulpium adips, sed praecipue felium fimum cum sinapis pari modo inlitum, caprini cornus farina vel cinis, magisque hircini, addito nitro et tamaricis semine et butyro oleoque, prius capite raso; mire continent ita fluentem capillum, sicuti carnis cinere ex oleo inlita supercilia nigrescunt. lacte caprino lendes tolli tradunt, fimo cum melle alopecias expleri, item ungularum cinere cum pice. fluentem capillum continet leporinus cinis cum oleo myrteo.—Capitis dolorem sedat pota aqua, quae relicta est e bovis aut asini potu, et, si credimus, vulpis masculae genitale ci rcumligatum, cornus cervini cinis inlitus ex aceto aut rosaceo aut ex irino.—

Oculorum epiphoras bubulo sebo cum oleo cocto inlinunt; cervini cornus cinere scabritias ex eodem inungu unt, mucrones autem ipsos efficaciores putant. lupi excrementis circumlini suffusiones prodest, cinere eorum cum Attico melle inungui obscuritates, item felle ursino, epinyctidas adipe apruno cum rosaceo. ungulae asininae cinis inunctus e suo lacte oculorum cicatrices et albugines tollit. medulla bubula e dextro crure priore trita cum fuligine pilis et palpebrarum vitiis angulorumque occurrit—calliblephari modo fuligo in hoc usu temperatur, optime ellychnio papyraceo oleoque sesamino fuligine in novum vas pinnis detersa—, efficacissime tamen evolsos ibi pilos coercet. felle tauri cum ovi albo collyria fiunt, aquaque dissoluta inungunt per quadriduum. sebum vituli cum anseris adipe et ocimi suco genarum vitiis aptissimum est. eiusdem medullae cum pari pondere cerae et olei vel rosacei addito ovo duritiae genarum inlinuntur. caseo molli caprino inposito ex aqua calida epiphorae sedantur; si tumor sit, ex melle; utrumque sero calido fovendum. sicca lippitudo lumbulis suum exustis atque contritis et inpositis tollitur. capras negant lippire, quoniam quasdam herbas edint, item dorcadas; ob id fimum earum cera circumdatuml nova luna devorari iubent. et quoniam noctu quoque aeque cernant, sanguine hircino lusciosos sanari putant, nyctalopas a Graecis dictos, caprae vero iocinere in vino austero decocto. quidam inassati iocineris sanie inungunt aut felle caprae, carnesque vesci eas et, dum coquantur, oculos vaporari iis praecipiunt; id quoque referre arbitrantur, ut rutili coloris fuerit. volunt et suffiri oculos iocinere in ollis decocto, quidam inassato. fel quidem caprinum pluribus modis adsumunt, cum melle contra caligines, cum veratri candidi tertia parte contra glaucomata, cum vino contra cicatrices et albugines et caligines et pterygia et argema, ad palpebras vero evolso prius pilo cum suco oleris ita, ut unctio inarescat, contra ruptas tuniculas cum lacte mulieris. ad omnia inveteratum fel efficacius putant. nec abdicant fimum ex melle inlitum epiphoris, contraque dolores medullam, item pulmonem leporis, et ad caligines fel cum passo aut melle. lupino quoque adipe vel medulla snum fricari oculos contra lippitudines praecipiunt. nam vulpinam linguam habentes in armilla lippituros negant.

Aurium dolori et vitiis medentur urina apri in vitreo servata, fel apri vel suis vel bubulum cum oleo cedrino et rosaceo aequis portionibus, praecipue vero taurinum cum porri suco tepidum vel cum melle, si suppurent, contraque odorem gravem per se, tepefactum in malicorio. rupta in ea parte cum lacte mulierum efficaciter sanat. quidam et in gravitate aures sic perluendas putant, alii cum senecta serpentium et aceto—includunt lana —collutas ante calida aqua aut, si maior sit gravitas, verrinum fel cum murra et ruta in malicorio excalfactum infundunt, lardum quoque pingue; item fimum asini recens cum rosaceo instillatur, omnia tepefacta. utilior equi spuma vel equini fimi recentis cinis cum rosaceo, butyrum recens, sebum bubulum cum adipe anserino, urina caprae vel tauri aut fullonia vetus, calfactae vapore per lagoenae collum subeunte—admiscent aceti tertiam partem et aliquid murrae —, vituli, qui nondum herbam gustaverit, fimum mixto felle eiusdem et cute, quam relincunt angues, excalefactis prius auribus; lana autem medicamina ea includuntur. prodest et sebum vituli cum anseris adipe et ocimi suco, eiusdem medulla admixto cumino trito infusa, virus verrinum e scrofa exceptum, priusquam terram attingat, contra dolores; auribus fractis glutinum 20 e naturis vitulorum factum et in aqua liquatum; aliis vitiis adips vulpium, item fel caprinum cum rosaceo tepido aut porri suco aut, si rupta sint aliqua ibi, e lacte mulieris; si gravitas audiendi, fel bubulum cum urina caprae vel hirci, vel si pus sit. in quocumque autem usu putant efficaciora haec in cornu caprino per dies XX infumata. laudant et coagulum leporis tertia parte $X$ dimidiaque sacopenii in Ammineo vino.—Parotidas ursinus adips conprimit pari pondere cerae et taurini sebi— addunt quidam hypocisthidem —, et per se butyrum inlitum, si prius foveantur feni Graeci decocti suco, efficacius cum strychno. prosunt et vulpium testes et taurinus sanguis aridus tritus, urina caprae calefacta instillata auribus, fimum eiusdem cum axungia inlitum.

Dentes mobiles confirmat cervini cornus cinis doloresque eorum mitigat, sive infricentur sive colluantur. quidam efficaciorem ad omnes eosdem usus crudi cornus farinam arbitrantur. dentifricia utroque modo fiunt. magnum remedium est et in luporum capitis cinere. certum est in excrementis eorum plerumque inveniri ossa; haec adalligata eundem effectum habent, item leporina coagula per aurem infusa contra dolores. et capitis eorum cinis dentifricium est adiectoque nardo mulcet graveolentiam oris. aliqui murinorum capitum cinerem miscuisse malunt. reperitur in latere leporis os acui simile; hoc scariphare dentes in dolore suadent. talus bubulus accensus eos, qui labent cum dolore, admotus confirmat; eiusdem cinis cum murra dentifricium est. ossa quoque ex ungulis suum combusta eundem usum praebent, item ossa ex acetabulis pernarum, circa quae coxendices vertuntur. isdem sanari demissis in fauces iumentorum verminationes notum est, sed et combustis dentes confirmari, asinino quoque lacte percussu vexatos aut dentium eiusdem cinere, item lichene equi cum oleo infuso per aurem. est autem hoc non hippomanes, quod alioqui noxium omitto, sed in equorum genibus ac super ungulas. praeterea in corde equorum invenitur os dentibus caninis maximis simile; hoc scariphari dolorem aut exempto dente mortui equi maxillis ad numerum eius, qui doleat, demonstrant. equarum virus a coitu in ellychniis accensum Anaxilaus prodidit lichenis equinorum capitum vires repraesentare monstrifice, similiter ex asinis. nam hippomanes tantas in veneficio vires habet, ut adfusum aeris mixturae in effigiem equae Olympiae admotos mares equos ad rabiem coitus agat. medetur dentibus et fabrile glutinum in aqua decoctum inlitum et mox paulo detractum ita, ut confestim conluantur vino, in quo decocti sint cortices mali Punici dulcis. efficax habetur et caprino lacte conlui dentes vel felle taurino. talorum caprae recentium cinis dentifricio placet et omnium fere villaticarum quadrupedum, ne saepius eadem dicantur.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Bears’ grease, mixed with ladanum and the plant adiantum, 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 cyclaminos 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.

For defluxions 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 calliblepharon 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-salves 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 muscles 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.” 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 gravy 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.

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 Aminean wine, in the proportion of one third of a denarius of rennet to one half of a denarius of sacopenum. Bears’ grease, mixed with equal proportions of wax and bull-suet, is a cure for imposthumes of the parotid glands: some persons add hypocisthis 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.

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, 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 lichen 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 heart 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 representation 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 metal 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.