REMEDIES FOR FEMALE DISEASES

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Mulierum purgationes adiuvat fel tauri in lana sucida adpositum—Olympias Thebana addit oesypum et nitrum —, cornus cervini cinis potus, item vulva laborantes inlitus quoque et fel taurinum cum opio adpositum obolis binis. vulvas et pilo cervino suffire prodest. tradunt cervas, cum senserint se gravidas, lapillun devorare, quem in excrementis repertum aut in vulva— nam et ibi invenitur—custodire partus adalligatum. inveniuntur et ossicula in corde et in vulva perquam utilia gravidis parturientibusque. nam de pumice, qui in vaccarum utero simili modo invenitur, diximus in natura boum. lupi adips inlitus vulvas mollit, dolores earum iocur, carnes vero lupi edisse parituris prodest aut si incipientibus parturire sit iuxta qui ederit, adeo ut etiam contra inlatas noxias valeat. eundem supervenire perniciosum est. magnus et leporis usus mulieribus. vulvas adiuvat pulmo aridus potus, profluvia iocur cum Samia terra ex aqua potum, secundas coagulum—caventur pridiana balnea—, inlitum quoque cum croco et porri suco; in vellere adpositum abortus mortuos expellit. si vulva leporum in cibis sumatur, mares concipi putant; hoc et testiculis eorum et coagulo profici; conceptum leporis utero exemptum iis, quae parere desierint, restibilem fecunditatem adferre. sic conceptus leporis saniem et viro Magi propinant, item virgini VIIII grana fimi, ut stent perpetuo mammae. coagulum quoque ob id cum melle inlinunt, sanguinem ubi evolsos pilos renasci nolunt. inflationi vulvae fimum aprunum suillumve cum oleo inlini prodest. efficacius sistit farina aridi, ut aspergatur potioni, vel si gravidae aut puerperae torqueantur. lacte suis poto cum mulso, adiuvantur partus mulierum; per se vero potum deficientia ubera puerperarum replet. eadem circumlita sanguine feminae suis minus crescunt. si dole ant, lactis asinini potu mulcentur, quod addito melle sumptum et purgationes earum adiuvat. sanat et vulvarum exulcerationes eiusdem animalis sebum inveteratum et in vellere adpositum duritias vulvarum emollit. per se vero recens vel inveteratum ex aqua inlitum psilotri vim optinet. eiusdem animalis lien inveteratus ex aqua inlitus mammis abundantiam facit, vulvas suffitu corrigit. ungulae asininae suffitio partum maturat, ut vel abortus evocetur, nec aliter adhibetur, quoniam viventem partum necat. eiusdem animalis fimum si recens inponatur, profluvia sanguinis mire sedare dicitur, nec non et cinis eiusdem fimi, qui et vulvae prodest inpositus. equi spuma inlita per dies XL, priusquam primum nascantur, pili restinguntur, item cornus cervini decocto; melius, si recentia sint cornua. lacte equino iuvantur vulvae collutae. quod si mortuus partus sentiatur, lichen equae e dulci potus eicit, item ungula suffitu aut fimum aridum. vulvas procidentes butyrum infusum sistit. induratam vulvam aperit fel bulbulum rosaceo admixto, foris vellere cum resina terebinthina inposito. aiunt et suffitu fimi e mare bove procidentes vulvas reprimi, partus adiuvari, conceptus vero vaccini lactis potu. sterilitatem a partus vexatione fieri certum est. hanc emendari Olympias Thebana adfirmat felle tauri et adipe serpentium et aerugine ac melle medicatis locis ante coitus. vitulinum quoque fel in purgationibus sub coitu adspersum vulvae etiam duritias veteres emollit et profluvium minuit umbilico peruncto atque in totum vulvae prodest. modum statuunt fellis pondere $X$, opii tertiam, admixto amygdalino oleo, quantum satis esse appareat; haec in vellere inponunt. masculi fel vituli cum mellis dimidio tritum servatur ad vulvas. carnem vituli si cum aristolochia inassatam edant circa conceptum, marem parituras promittunt. medulla vituli in vino et aqua decocta cum sebo exulcerationibus vulvarum inposita prodest, item adips vulpium excrementumque felium, hoc cum resina et rosaceo inpositum. caprino cornu suffiri vulvam utilissimum putant. silvestrium caprarum sanguis cum palma marina pilos detrahit; ceterarum vero fel callum vulvarum emollit inspersum et a purgatione conceptus facit. sic quoque psilotri vis efficitur; evulsis pilis triduo servatur inlitum. profluvium quamvis inmensum urinae caprae potu sisti obstetrices promittunt et si fimum inlinatur. membrana caprarum, in qua partus editur, inveterata potuque sumpta in vino secundas pellit. haedorum pilis suffiri vulvas utile putant et in profluvio sanguinis coagulum bibi aut cum hyoscyami semine inponi. e bove silvestri nigro si sanguine ricini lumbi perungantur mulieri, taedium veneris fieri dicit Osthanes, idem amoris potu hirci urinae admixto propter fastidium nardo.

Infantibus nihil butyro utilius per se et cum melle, privatim et in dentitione et ad gingivas et ad oris ulcera. dens lupi adalligatus infantium pavores prohibet dentiendique morbos, quod et pellis lupina praestat. dentes quidem eorum maximi equis quoque adalligati infatigabilem cursum praestare dicuntur. leporum coagulo ubere inlito sistitur infantium alvus. iocur asini admixta modice panace instillatum in os a comitialibus morbis et aliis infantes tuetur; hoc XL diebus fieri praecipiunt. et pellis asini iniecta inpavidos infantes facit. dentes, qui equis primum cadunt, facilem dentitionem praestant adalligati infantibus; efficacius, si terram non attigere. lien bubulus in melle et datur et inlinitur ad lienis dolores; sedat ulcera manantia cum melle lien vituli, in vino decoctus tritusque et inlitus ulcuscula oris. cerebrum caprae Magi per anulum aureum traiectum, priusquam lac detur, infantibus instillant contra comitiales ceterosque infantium morbos. caprinum fimum inquietos infantes adalligatum panno cohibet, maxime puellas. lacte caprino aut cerebro leporum perunctae gingivae faciles dentitiones faciunt.

Somnos fieri lepore sumpto in cibis Cato arbitrabatur, vulgus et gratiam corpori in VIIII dies, frivolo quidem ioco, cui tamen aliqua debeat subesse causa in tanta persuasione. Magi felle caprae, sacrificatae dumtaxat, inlito oculis vel sub pulvino posito somnum allici dicunt.—Sudores inhibet cornus caprini cinis e myrteo oleo perunctis.

Coitus stimulat fel aprunum inlitum, item medullae suum haustae, sebum asininum anseris masculi adipe admixto inlitum; item a coitu equi Vergilio quoque descriptum virus et testiculi equini aridi, ut potioni interi possint, dexterve asini testis in vino potus portioneve adalligatus bracchiali; eiusdem a coitu spuma conlecta russeo panno et inclusa argento, ut Osthanes tradit. Salpe genitale id in oleum fervens mergi iubet septies eoque perungui pertinentes partes, Dalion cinerem ex eodem bibi vel tauri a coitu urinam, luto ipso inlini pubem. at e diversotauri fimo inlito cohibetur virorum venus.— Ebrietatem arcet pulmo apri aut suis assus, ieiunis in cibo sumptus eo die, item haedinus.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Menstruation is promoted by using bull’s gall, in unwashed wool, as a pessary: Olympias of Thebes 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 expellent 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.

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.

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.

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 recommends the genitals of this animal to be plunged seven times in boiling oil, and the corresponding parts to be well rubbed therewith. Bialcon 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: he 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.