REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE STOMACH

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Stomachum exulceratum lactis asinini potus reficit, item bubuli; rosiones eius caro bubula mixto aceto et vino cocta; rheumatismos cornus cervini cinis; sanguinis excreationes haedinus sanguis recens ad cyathos ternos cum aceto acri pari modo fervens potus, coagulum tertia parte ex aceto potum; iocineris dolores lupi iocur aridum ex mulso, asini iocur aridum cum petroselini partibus II ac nucibus III ex melle tritum et in cibo sumptum, sanguis hircinus cibo aptatus. suspiriosis ante omnia efficax est potus equiferorum sanguinis, proxime lactis asinini tepidi, bubuli decocti ita, ut serum ex eo bibatur, addito in II heminas cyatho nasturtii albi perfusi aqua. dein melle diluti. iocur quoque vulpinum aut pulmo in vino nigro aut fel ursinum in aqua laxat meatus spirandi.

Lumborum dolores et quaecumque alia molliri opus sit ursino adipe perfricari convenit, cinerem apruni aut suilli fimi inveterati aspergi potioni vini.—(Adferunt et Magi sua commenta: primum omnium rabiem hircorum, si mulceatur barba, mitigari, eadem praecisa non abire eos in alienum gregem). * ischiadicis fimum bubulum inponunt calfactum in foliis cinere ferventi. * huic admiscent fimum caprinum et subdito linteolo uncto cava manu, quantum pati possit, fervens sustineri iubent ita, ut si laeva pars doleat, haec medicina in dextera manu fiat aut e contrario, fimumque ad eum usum acus aereae punctu tolli iubent. modus est curationis, donec vapor 15 ad lumbos pervenisse sentiatur; postea manum porro tuso inlinunt, item lumbos ipso fimo cum melle. suadent in eo dolore et testes leporis devcrare.* in renium dolore leporis renes crudos devorari iubent aut certe coctos ita, ne dente contingantur. ventris quidem dolore temptari negant talum leporis habentes.

Lienem sedat fel apri vel suis potum, cervini cornus cinis in aceto, efficacissime tamen inveteratus lien asini ita, ut in triduo sentiatur utilitas. asinini pulli fimum, quod primum edidit—poleam vocant—, Syri dant in aceto mulso. datur et equi lingua inveterata ex vino praesentaneo medicamento, ut didicisse se ex barbaris Caecilius Bion tradidit, et lien bubulus simili mode, recens autem assus vel elixus in cibo. in vesica quoque bovis alii capita xx tusa cum aceti sextario imponuntur ad lienis dolores. eadem ex causa emi lienem vituli, quanti indicatus sit, iubent Magi nulla pretii cunctatione, quoniam hoc quoque religiose pertineat, divisumque per longitudinem adnecti tunicae utrimque et induentem pati decidere ad pedes, dein collectum arefacere in umbra. cum hoc fiat, simul residere lienem aegri vitiatum liberarique eum morbo dicitur. prodest et pulmo vulpium cinere siccatus atque in aqua potus, item haedorum lien impositus.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Ulcerations of the stomach are effectually treated with asses’ milk 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.

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 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.

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.

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” 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, 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.