PROPERTIES OF THE HUMAN SPITTLE

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

e Pythagorae inventis non temere fallere, inpositivorum nominum inparem vocalium numerum clauditates oculive orbitatem ac similes casus dextris adsignare partibus, parem laevis. ferunt difficiles partus statim solvi, cum quis tectum, in quo sit gravida, transmiserit lapide vel missili ex iis, qui III animalia singulis ictibus interfecerint, hominem, aprum, ursum. probabilius id facit hasta velitaris evulsa corpori hominis, si terrain non attigerit; eosdem enim inlata effectus habet. sic et sagittas corpori eductas, si terrain non attigerint, subiectas cubantibus amatorium esse Orpheus et Archelaus scribunt, quin et comitialem morbum sanari cibo e care ferae occisae eodem ferro, quo homo interfectus sit. quorundam partes medicae sunt, sicuti diximus de Pyrrhi regis pollice, et Elide solebat ostendi Pelopis os ulnamqueeam eburneam adfirmabant.—(Naevos in facie tondere religiosum habent etiam nunc multi).—

Omninum vero in primis ieiunam salivam contra serpentes praesidio esse docuimus, sed et alios efficaces eius usus recognoscat vita. despuimus comitiales morbos, hoc est contagia regerimus. simili modo et fascinationes repercutimus dextraeque clauditatis occursum. veniam quoque a deis spei alicuius audacioris petimus in sinum spuendo, et iam eadem ratione terna despuere precatione in omni medicina mos est atque ita effectus adiuvare, incipientes furunculos ter praesignare ieiuna saliva. mirum dicimus, sed experimento facile: si quem paeniteat ictus eminus comminusve inlati et statim expuat in mediam manum qua percussit, levatur ilico in percusso culpa. hoc saepe delumbata quadrupede adprobatur statim a tali remedio correcto animalis ingressu. quidam vero adgravant ictus ante conatum simili modo saliva in manum ingesta. credamus ergo et lichenas leprasque ieiunae inlitu adsiduo arceri; item lippitudines matutina cottidie velut inunctione, carcinomata malo terrae subacto, cervicis dolores saliva ieiuni dextra manu ad dextrum poplitem relata, laeva ad sinistrum; si quod animal aurem intraverit et inspuatur, exire. inter amuleta est editae quemque urinae inspuere, similiter in calciamentum dextri pedis, priusquam induatur, item cum quis transeat locum, in quo aliquod periculum adierit. Marcion Zmyrnaeus, qui de simplicibus effectibus scripsit, rumpi scolopendras marinas sputo tradit, item rubetas aliasque ranas, Ofilius serpentes, si quis in hiatum earum expuat, Salpe torporem sedari quocumque membro stupente, si quis in sinum expuat aut si superiores palpebras saliva tangat.cur nonet haec credamus rite fieri, extranei interventu aut, si dormiens spectetur infans, a nutrice terna adspui in os? quamquam religione eum tutatur et fascinus, imperatorum quoque, non solum infantium, custos, qui deus inter sacra Romana a Vestalibus colitur, et currus triumphantium, sub his pendens, defendit medicus invidiae, iubetque eosdem respicere similis medicina linguae, ut sit exorata a tergo Fortuna gloriae carnifex.

Morsus hominis inter asperrimos quosque numeratur. medentur sordes ex auribus ac, ne quis miretur, et scorpionum ictibus serpentiumque statim inpositae, melius e percussi auribus. produnt ita et reduvias sanari, serpentium vero ictum contusi dentis humani farina.

Capillus puero qui primum decisus est, podagrae inpetus dicitur levare circumligatus; et in totum inpubium inpositus, virorum quoque, capillus canis morsibus medetur ex aceto et capitum volneribus ex oleo aut vino; si credimus, e revulso cruci quartanis, conbustus utique capillus carcinomati. pueri qui primus ceciderit dens, ut terram non attingat, inclusus in armillam et adsidue in bracchio habitus muliebrium locorum dolores prohibet. —Pollex in pede praeligatus proximo digito tumores inguinum sedat, in manu dextera II medii lino leviter colligati destillationes atque lippitudines arcent. quin et eiectus lapillus calculoso alligatusque supra pubem levare ceteros dicitur ac iocineris etiam dolores et celeritatem partus facere; adicit Granius efficaciorem ad hoc esse ferro exemptum. partus accelerat et mas, ex quo quaeque conceperit, si cinctu suo soluto feminam cinxerit, dein solverit adiecta precatione, et cinxisse eundem et soluturum, atque abierit.

Sanguine ipsius hominis ex quacumque parte emisso efficacissime anginam inlini tradunt Orpheus et Archelaus, item ora comitiali morbo conlapsorum, exurger e enim protinus; quidam, si pollices pedum pungantur eaeque guttae referantur in faciem, aut si virgo dextro pollice attingat, hac coniectura censentes virgines carnes edendas. —Aeschines Atheniensis excrementorum cinere anginis medebatur et tonsillis uvisque et carcinomatis. hoc medicamentum vocabat botryon.— Multa genera morborum primo coitu solvuntur primoque feminarum mense aut, si hoc non contigit, longinqua fiunt, maximeque comitiales. quin et a serpente, a scorpione percussos coitu levari produnt, verum feminas venere ea laedi.—Oculorum vitia fieri negant nec lippire eos, qui, cum pedes lavent, aqua inde ter oculos tangant.

Inmatura morte raptorum manu strumas, parotidas, guttura tactu sanari adfirmant, quidam vero cuiuscumque defuncti, dumtaxat sui sexus, laeva manu aversa. et ligno fulgure icto reiectis post terga manibus demorderi aliquid et ad dentem, qui doleat, admoveri remedio esse produnt. sunt qui praecipiant dentem suffiri dente hominis sui sexus et eum, qui caninus vocetur, insepulto exemptum adalligari. —Terram e calvaria psilotrum esse palpebrarum tradunt, herba vero, si qua ibi genita sit, commanducata dentes cadere, ulcera non serpere osse hominis circumscripta. alii e tribus puteis pari mensura aquas miscent et prolibant novo fictili, relicum dant in tertianis accessu febrium bibendum. iidem in quartanis fragmentum clavi a cruce involutum lana collo subnectunt aut spartum e cruce, liberatoque condunt caverna, quam sol non attingat. Magorum haec commenta sunt, ut cotem, qua ferramenta saepe exacuta sint, subiectam ignari cervicalibus de veneficio deficientis evocare indicium, ut ipse dicat, quid sibi datum sit et ubi et quo tempore, auctorem tamen non nominare. fulmine utique percussum circumactum in vulnus hominem loqui protinus constat. inguinibus medentur aliqui liceum telae detractum alligantes novenis septenisve nodis, ad singulos nominantes viduam aliquam atque ita inguini adalligantes. liceo et clavum aliudve, quod quis calcaverit, alligatum ipsos iubent gerere, ne sit dolori vulnus. verrucas abolent a vicensima luna in limitibus supini ipsam intuentes ultra caput manibus porrectis et, quicquid adprehendere, eo fricantes. clavum corporis, cum cadit stella, si quis destringat, vel cito sanari aiunt, cardinibus ostiorum aceto adfusis lutum fronti inlitum capitis dolorem sedare, item laqueum suspendiosi circumdatum temporibus. si quid e pisce haeseritin faucibus, cadere demissis in aquam frigidam pedibus; si vero ex aliis ossibus, inpositis capiti ex eodem vase ossiculis; si panis haereat, ex eodem in utramque aurem addito pane.

Quin et sordes hominis in magnis fecere remediis quaestus gymnici Graecorum, quippe ea strigmenta molliunt, calfaciunt, discutiunt, conplent, sudore et oleo medicinam facientibus. volvis inflammatis contractisque admoventur; sic et menses cient, sedis inflammationes et condylomata leniunt, item nervorum dolores, luxata, articulorum nodos. efficaciora ad eadem strigmenta a balneis, et ideo miscentur suppuratoriis medicamentis. nam illa, quae sunt e ceromate permixta caeno, articulos tantum molliunt, calfaciunt, discutiunt efficacius, sed ad cetera minus valent. excedit fidem inpudens cura, qua sordes virilitatis contra scorpionum ictus singularis remedii celeberrimi auctores clamant, rursus in feminis qua infantium alvo editas in utero ipso contra sterilitatem subdi censent; meconium vocant. immo etiam ipsos gymnasiorum rasere parieles, et illae quoque sordes excalfactoriam vim habere dicuntur; panos discutiunt, ulceribus senum puerorumque et desquamatis ambustisve inlinuntur.

Eo minus omitti convenit ab animo hominis pendentes medicinas. abstinere se cibo omni au potu, alias vino tantum aut carne, alias balneis, cumquid eorum postulet valetudo, in praesentissimis remediis habetur. his adnumeratur exercitatio, intentio vocis, ungui, fricari cum ratione; vehemens enim fricatio spissat, lenis mollit, multa adimit corpus, auget modica. in primis vero prodest ambulatio, gestatio et ea pluribus modis, equitatio stomacho et coxis utilissima, phthisi navigatio, longis morbis locorum mutatio, item somno sibi mederi aut lectulo et rara vomitione. supini cubitus oculis conducunt, at proni tussibus, in latera adversus destillationes. Aristoteles et Fabianus plurimum somniari circa ver et autumnum tradunt, magisque supino cubitu, at prono nihil, Theophrastus celerius concoqui dextri lateris incubitu, difficilius a supinis. sol quoque, remediorum maximum, ab ipso sibi praestari potest, sicuti linteorum strigiliumque vehementia. perfundere caput calida ante balnearum vaporationem et postea frigida saluberrimum intellegitur; item praesumere cibis et interponere frigidam eiusdemque potu somnos antecedere et, si libeat, interrumpere. notandum nullum animal aliud calidos potus sequi, ideoque non esse naturales. mero ante somnos colluere ora propter halitus, frigida matutinis inpari numero ad cavendos dentium dolores, item posca oculos contra lippitudines certa experimenta sunt,

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

It is said, that if a person takes a stone or other missile which has slain three living creatures, a man, a boar, and a bear, at three blows, and throws it over the roof of a house in which there is a pregnant woman, her delivery, however difficult, will be instantly accelerated thereby. In such a case, too, a successful result will be rendered all the more probable, if a light infantry lance is used, which has been drawn from a man’s body without touching the earth; indeed, if it is brought into the house it will be productive of a similar result. In the same way, too, we find it stated in the writings of Orpheus and Archelaüs, that arrows, drawn from a human body without being allowed to touch the ground, and placed beneath the bed, will have all the effect of a philtre; and, what is even more than this, that it is a cure for epilepsy if the patient eats the flesh of a wild beast killed with an iron weapon with which a human being has been slain.

Some individuals, too, are possessed of medicinal properties in certain parts of the body; the thumb of King Pyrrhus, for instance, as already mentioned. At Elis, there used to be shown one of the ribs of Pelops, which, it was generally asserted, was made of ivory. At the present day even, there are many persons, who from religious motives will never clip the hair growing upon a mole on the face.

But it is the fasting spittle of a human being, that is, as already stated by us, the sovereign preservative against the poison of serpents; while, at the same time, our daily experience may recognize its efficacy and utility, in many other respects. We are in the habit of spitting, for instance, as a preservative from epilepsy, or in other words, we repel contagion thereby: in a similar manner, too, we repel fascinations, and the evil presages attendant upon meeting a person who is lame in the right leg. We ask pardon of the gods, by spitting in the lap, for entertaining some too presumptuous hope or expectation. On the same principle, it is the practice in all cases where medicine is employed, to spit three times on the ground, and to conjure the malady as often; the object being to aid the operation of the remedy employed. It is usual, too, to mark a boil when it first makes its appearance, three times with fasting spittle. What we are going to say is marvellous, but it may easily be tested by experiment: if a person repents of a blow given to another, either by hand or with a missile, he has nothing to do but to spit at once into the palm of the hand which has inflicted the blow, and all feelings of resentment will be instantly alleviated in the person struck. This, too, is often verified in the case of a beast of burden, when brought on its haunches with blows; for upon this remedy being adopted, the animal will immediately step out and mend its pace. Some persons, however, before making an effort, spit into the hand in manner above stated, in order to make the blow more heavy.

We may well believe, then, that lichens and leprous spots may be removed by a constant application of fasting spittle; that ophthalmia may be cured by anointing, as it were, the eyes every morning with fasting spittle; that carcinomata may be effectually treated, by kneading the root of the plant known as “apple of the earth,” with human spittle; that crick in the neck may be got rid of by carrying fasting spittle to the right knee with the right hand, and to the left knee with the left; and that when an insect has got into the ear, it is quite sufficient to spit into that organ, to make it come out. Among the counter-charms too, are reckoned, the practice of spitting into the urine the moment it is voided, of spitting into the shoe of the right foot before putting it on, and of spitting while a person is passing a place in which he has incurred any kind of peril.

Marcion of Smyrna, who has written a work on the virtues of simples, informs us that the sea scolopendra will burst asunder if spit upon; and that the same is the case with bramble-frogs, and other kinds of frogs. Opilius says that serpents will do the same, if a person spits into their open mouth; and Salpe tells us, that when any part of the body is asleep, the numbness may be got rid of by the person spitting into his lap, or touching the upper eyelid with his spittle. If we are ready to give faith to such statements as these, we must believe also in the efficacy of the following practices: upon the entrance of a stranger, or when a person looks at an infant while asleep, it is usual for the nurse to spit three times upon the ground; and this, although infants are under the especial guardianship of the god Fascinus, the protector, not of infants only, but of generals as well, and a divinity whose worship is entrusted to the Vestal virgins, and forms part of the Roman rites. It is the image of this divinity that is attached beneath the triumphant car of the victorious general, protecting him, like some attendant physician, against the effects of envy; while, at the same time, equally salutary is the advice of the tongue, which warns him to be wise in time, that so Fortune may be prevailed upon by his prayers, not to follow, as the destroyer of his glory, close upon his back.

The human bite is also looked upon as one of the most dangerous of all. The proper remedy for it is human ear-wax; a thing that we must not be surprised at, seeing that, if applied immediately, it is a cure for the stings of scorpions even, and serpents. The best, however, for this purpose, is that taken from the ears of the wounded person. Agnails, too, it is said, may be cured in a similar manner. A human tooth, reduced to powder, is a cure, they say, for the sting of a serpent.

The first hair, it is said, that is cut from an infant’s head, and, in fact, the hair of all persons that have not reached the age of puberty, attached to the limbs, will modify the attacks of gout. A man’s hair, applied with vinegar, is a cure for the bite of a dog, and, used with oil or wine, for wounds on the head. It is said, too, if we choose to believe it, that the hair of a man torn down from the cross, is good for quartan fevers. Ashes, too, of burnt human hair are curative of carcinomata. If a woman takes the first tooth that a child has shed, provided it has not touched the ground, and has it set in a bracelet, and wears it constantly upon her arm, it will preserve her from all pains in the uterus and adjacent parts. If the great toe is tied fast to the one next to it, it will reduce tumours in the groin; and if the two middle fingers of the right hand are slightly bound together with a linen thread, it will act as a preservative against catarrhs and ophthalmia. A stone, it is said, that has been voided by a patient suffering from calculi, if attached to the body above the pubes, will alleviate the pains of others similarly afflicted, as well as pains in the liver; it will have the effect, also, of facilitating delivery. Granius adds, however, that for this last purpose, the stone will be more efficacious if it has been extracted with the knife. Delivery, when near at hand, will be accelerated, if the man by whom the woman has conceived, unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, adding at the same time this formula, “I have tied it, and I will untie it,” and then taking his departure.

The blood of the human body, come from what part it may, is most efficacious, according to Orpheus and Archelaüs, as an application for quinzy: they say, too, that if it is applied to the mouth of a person who has fallen down in a fit of epilepsy, he will come to himself immediately. Some say that, for epilepsy, the great toes should be pricked, and the drops of blood that exude therefrom applied to the face; or else, that a virgin should touch the patient with her right thumb—a circumstance that has led to the belief that persons suffering from epilepsy should eat the flesh of animals in a virgin state. Æschines of Athens used to cure quinzy, carcinoma, and affections of the tonsillary glands and uvula, with the ashes of burnt excrements, a medicament to which he gave the name of “botryon.”

There are many kinds of diseases which disappear entirely after the first sexual congress, or, in the ease of females, at the first appearance of menstruation; indeed, if such is not the case, they are apt to become chronic, epilepsy in particular. Even more than this—a man, it is said, who has been stung by a serpent or scorpion, experiences relief from the sexual congress; but the woman, on the other hand, is sensible of detriment. We are assured, too, that if persons, when washing their feet, touch the eyes three times with the water, they will never be subject to ophthalmia or other diseases of the eyes.

Scrofula, imposthumes of the parotid glands, and throat diseases, they say, may be cured by the contact of the hand of a person who has been carried off by an early death: indeed there are some who assert that any dead body will produce the same effect, provided it is of the same sex as the patient, and that the part affected is touched with the back of the left hand. To bite off a piece from wood that has been stuck by lightning, the hands being held behind the back, and then to apply it to the tooth, is a sure remedy, they say, for tooth-ache. Some persons recommend the tooth to be fumigated with the smoke of a burnt tooth, which has belonged to another person of the same sex; or else to attach to the person a dog-tooth, as it is called, which has been extracted from a body before burial. Earth, they say, taken from out of a human skull, acts as a depilatory to the eyelashes; it is asserted, also, that any plant which may happen to have grown there, if chewed, will cause the teeth to come out; and that if a circle is traced round an ulcer with a human bone, it will be effectually prevented from spreading.

Some persons, again, mix water in equal proportions from three different wells, and, after making a libation with part of it in a new earthen vessel, administer the rest to patients suffering from tertian fever, when the paroxysms come on. So, too, in cases of quartan fever, they take a fragment of a nail from a cross, or else a piece of a halter that has been used for crucifixion, and, after wrapping it in wool, attach it to the patient’s neck; taking care, the moment he has recovered, to conceal it in some hole to which the light of the sun cannot penetrate.

The following are some of the reveries of magic. A whetstone upon which iron tools have been frequently sharpened, if put, without his being aware of it, beneath the pillow of a person sinking under the effects of poison, will make him give evidence and declare what poison has been administered, and at what time and place, though at the same time he will not disclose the author of the crime. When a person has been struck by lightning, if the body is turned upon the side which has sustained the injury, he will instantly recover the power of speech—that is quite certain. For the cure of inguinal tumours, some persons take the thrum of an old web, and after tying seven or nine knots in it, mentioning at each knot the name of some widow woman or other, attach it to the part affected. To assuage the pain of a wound, they recommend the party to take a nail or any other substance that has been trodden under foot, and to wear it, attached to the body with the thrum of a web. To get rid of warts, some lie in a footpath with the face upwards, when the moon is twenty days old at least, and after fixing their gaze upon it, extend their arms above the head, and rub themselves with anything within their reach. If a person is extracting a corn at the moment that a star shoots, he will experience an immediate cure, they say. By pouring vinegar upon the hinges of a door, a thick liniment is formed, which, applied to the forehead, will alleviate headache: an effect equally produced, we are told, by binding the temples with a halter with which a man has been hanged. When a fish-bone happens to stick in the throat, it will go down immediately, if the person plunges his feet into cold water; but where the accident has happened with any other kind of bone, the proper remedy is to apply to the head some fragments of bones taken from the same dish. In cases where bread has stuck in the throat, the best plan is to take some of the same bread, and insert it in both ears.

In Greece, where everything is turned to account, the owners of the gymnasia have introduced the very excretions even of the human body among the most efficient remedies; so much so, indeed, that the scrapings from the bodies of the athletes are looked upon as possessed of certain properties of an emollient, calorific, resolvent, and expletive nature, resulting from the compound of human sweat and oil. These scrapings are used, in the form of a pessary, for inflammations and contractions of the uterus: similarly employed, they act as an emmenagogue, and are useful for reducing condylomata and inflammations of the rectum, as also for assuaging pains in the sinews, sprains, and nodosities of the joints. The scrapings obtained from the baths are still more efficacious for these purposes, and hence it is that they form an ingredient in maturative preparations. Such scrapings as are impregnated with wrestlers’ oil, used in combination with mud, have a mollifying effect upon the joints, and are more particularly efficacious as a calorific and resolvent; but in other respects their properties are not so strongly developed.

The shameless and disgusting researches that have been made will quite transcend all belief, when we find authors of the very highest repute proclaiming aloud that the male seminal fluid is a sovereign remedy for the sting of the scorpion! In the case too, of women afflicted with sterility, they recommend the application of a pessary, made of the first excrement that is voided by an infant at the moment of its birth; the name they give it is “meconium.” They have even gone so far, too, as to scrape the very filth from off the walls of the gymnasia, and to assert that this is also possessed of certain calorific properties. These scrapings are used as a resolvent for inflamed tumours, and are applied topically to ulcers upon aged people and children, and to excoriations and burns.

It would be the less becoming then for me to omit all mention of the remedies which depend upon the human will. Total abstinence from food or drink, or from wine only, from flesh, or from the use of the bath, in cases where the health requires any of these expedients, is looked upon as one of the most effectual modes of treating diseases. To this class of remedies must be added bodily exercise, exertion of the voice, anointings, and frictions according to a prescribed method: for powerful friction, it should be remembered, has a binding effect upon the body, while gentle friction, on the other hand, acts as a laxative; so too, repeated friction reduces the body, while used in moderation it has a tendency to make flesh. But the most beneficial practice of all is to take walking or carriage exercise; this last being performed in various ways. Exercise on horseback is extremely good for affections of the stomach and hips, a voyage for phthisis, and a change of locality for diseases of long standing. So, too, a cure may sometimes be effected by sleep, by a recumbent position in bed, or by the use of emetics in moderation. To lie upon the back is beneficial to the sight, to lie with the face downwards is good for a cough, and to lie on the side is recommended for patients suffering from catarrh.

According to Aristotle and Fabianus, it is towards spring and autumn that we are most apt to dream; and they tell us that persons are most liable to do so when lying on the back, but never when lying with the face downwards. Theophrastus assures us that the digestion is accelerated by lying on the right side; while, on the other hand, it is retarded by lying with the face upwards. The most powerful, however, of all remedies, and one which is always at a person’s own command, is the sun: violent friction, too, is useful by the agency of linen towels and body-scrapers. To pour warm water on the head before taking the vapour-bath, and cold water after it, is looked upon as a most beneficial practice; so, too, is the habit of taking cold water before food, of drinking it every now and then while eating, of taking it just before going to sleep, and, if practicable, of waking every now and then, and taking a draught. It is worthy also of remark, that there is no living creature but man that is fond of hot drinks, a proof that they are contrary to nature. It has been ascertained by experiment, that it is a good plan to rinse the mouth with undiluted wine, before going to sleep, for the purpose of sweetening the breath; to rinse the mouth with cold water an odd number of times every morning, as a preservative against tooth-ache; and to wash the eyes with oxycrate, as a preventive of ophthalmia. It has been remarked also, that the general health is improved by a varying regimen, subject to no fixed rules.