REMEDIES DERIVED FROM SNEEZING

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Sternumenta pinna gravedinem emendant et si quis mulae nares, ut tradunt, osculo attingat, sternumenta et singultum. ad hoc Varro suadet palmam alterna manu scalpere; plerique anulum e sinistra in longissimum dextrae digitum transferre, in aquam ferventem manus mergere. Theophrastus senes laboriosius sternuere dicit.

Venerem damnavit Democritus, ut in qua homo alius exiliret ex homine. et, Hercules, raritas eius utilior. athletae tamen torpentes restituuntur venere, vox revocatur, cum e candida declinat in fuscam. medetur et lumborum dolori, oculorum hebetationi, mente captis ac melancholicis.

Adsidere gravidis vel, cum remedia alicui adhibeantur, digitis pectinatim inter se inplexis veneficium est, idque conpertum tradunt Alcmena Herculem pariente; peius, si circa unum ambove genua; item poplites alternis genibus inponi. ideo haec in consiliis ducum potestatiumve fieri vetuere maiores velut omnem actum inpedientia, vetuere vero et sacris votisve simili modo interesse; capita autem aperiri aspectu magistratuum non venerationis causa iussere, sed, ut Varro auctor est, valetudinis, quoniam firmiora consuetudine ea fierent.—Cum quid oculo inciderit, alterum conprimi prodest, cum aqua dextrae auriculae, sinistro pede exultari capite in dextrum umerum devexo, invicem e diversa aure; si tussim concitet saliva, in frontem ab alio adflari; si iaceat uva, verticem morsu alterius suspendi; in cervicium dolore poplites fricari aut cervicem in poplitum; pedes in humo deponi, si nervi in his cruribusve tendantur in lectulo, aut, si in laeva parte id accidat, sinistrae plantae pollicem dextra manu adprehendi, item e diverso; extremitates corporis velleribus perstringi contra horrores sanguinemve narium inmodicum,.... lino vel papyro principia genitalium, femur medium ad cohibenda urinae profluvia; in stomachi solutione pedes pressari aut manus in ferventem aquam demitti.—Iam et sermoni parci multis de causis salutare est. triennio Maecenatem Melissum accepimus silentium sibi imperavisse a convolsione reddito sanguine. nam eversos scandentesque ac iacentes si quid ingruat contraque ictus spiritum cohibere singularis praesidii est, quod inventum esse animalis docuimus. —Clavum ferreum defigere in quo loco primum caput fixerit corruens morbo comitiali, absolutorium eius mali dicitur. contra renium aut lumborum, vesicae cruciatus in balnearum soliis pronos urinam reddere mitigatorium habetur.—Vulnera nodo Herculis praeligare mirum quantum ocior medicina est, atque etiam cottidiani cinctus tali nodo vim quandam habere utilem dicuntur, quippe cum Herculaneum prodiderit numerum quoque quaternarium Demetrius condito volumine et quare quaterni cyathi sextariive non essent potandi. contra lippitudines retro aures fricare prodest et lacrimosis oculis frontem.—Augurium ex homine ipso est non timendi mortem in aegritudine, quamdiu oculorum pupillae imaginem reddant.

Magna et urinae non ratio solum, sed etiam religio apud auctores invenitur digestae in genera, spadonum quoque ad fecunditatis veneficia. verum ex iis, quae referre fas sit, inpubium puerorum contra salivas aspidum, quas ptyadas vocant, quoniam venena in oculos hominum expuant, contra oculorum albugines, obscuritates, cicatrices, to argema, palpebras et cum ervi farina contra adustiones, contra aurium pura vermiculosque, si decoquatur ad dimidias partes cum porro capitato novo fictili. vaporatio quoque ea menses feminarum ciet. Salpe fovet illa cum.... oculos firmitatis causa, inlinit sole usta cum ovi albo, efficacius struthocameli, binis horis. hac et atramenti liturae abluuntur. virilis podagris medetur argumento fullonum, quos ideo temptari eo morbo negant. veteri miscetur cinis ostreorum adversus eruptiones in corpore infantium et omnia ulcera manantia. ea exesis, ambustis, sedis vitiis, rhagadiis et scorpionum ictibus inlinitur. obstetricum nobilitas non alio suco efficacius curari pronuntiavit corporum pruritus, nitro addito ulcera capitum, porrigines, nomas, praecipue genitalium. sua cuique autem, quod fas sit dixisse, maxime prodest, confestim perfuso canis morsu, echinorumque spinis inhaerentibus et in spongea lanisve inposita, aut adversus rabidi canis morsus cinere ex ea subacto, contraque serpentium ictus. nam contra scolopendras mirum proditur vertice tacto urinae suae gutta liberari protinus laesos. — Auguria valetudinis ex ea traduntur, si mane candida, dein rufa sit; illo modo concoquere, hoc concoxisse significatur. mala signa rubrae, pessima nigrae, mala bullantis. crassa, in qua quod subsidit album est, significat circa articulos aut viscera dolorem inminere; eadem viridis morbum viscerum, pallida bilis, rubens sanguinis. mala et in qua veluti furfures atque nubeculae apparent. diluta quoque alba vitiosa est, mortifera vero crassa gravi odore et in pueris tennis ac diluta.—Magi vetant eius causa contra solem lunamque nudari aut umbram cuiusquam ab ipso respergi. Hesiodus iuxta obstantia reddi suadet, ne deum aliquem nudatio offendat. Osthanes contra mala medicamenta omnia auxiliari promisit mnatutinis suam cuique instillatam in pedem.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Sneezing, provoked by a feather, relieves heaviness in the head; it is said too, that to touch the nostrils of a mule with the lips, will arrest sneezing and hiccup. For this last purpose, Varro recommends us to scratch the palm, first of one hand and then of the other; while many say that it is a good plan to shift the ring from off the left hand to the longest finger of the right, and then to plunge the hands into hot water. Theophrastus says, that aged persons sneeze with greater difficulty than others.

Democritus spoke in condemnation of the sexual congress, as being merely an act through which one human being springs from another; and really, by Hercules! the more rarely it is used the better. Still however, athletes, we find, when they become dull and heavy, are re-established by it: the voice, too, is restored by it, when from being perfectly clear, it has degenerated into hoarseness. The congress of the sexes is a cure also for pains in the loins, dimness of the eyesight, alienation of the mental difficulties, and melancholy.

To sit by a pregnant woman, or by a person to whom any remedy is being administered, with the fingers of one hand inserted between those of the other, acts as a magic spell; a discovery that was made, it is said, when Alcmena was delivered of Hercules. If the fingers are thus joined, clasping one or both knees, or if the ham of one leg is first put upon the knee of the other, and then changed about, the omen is of still worse signification. Hence it is, that in councils held by generals and persons in authority, our ancestors forbade these postures, as being an impediment to all business. They have given a similar prohibition also with reference to sacrifices and the offering of public vows; but as to the usage of uncovering the head in presence of the magistrates, that has been enjoined, Varro says, not as a mark of respect, but with a view to health, the head being strengthened by the practice of keeping it uncovered.

When anything has got into the eye, it is a good plan to close the other; and when water has got into the right ear, the person should hop about on the left foot, with the head reclining upon the right shoulder, the reverse being done when the same has happened to the left ear. If the secretion of the phlegm produces coughing, the best way of stopping it is for another person to blow in the party’s face. When the uvula is relaxed, another person should take the patient with his teeth by the crown, and lift him from the ground; while for pains in the neck, the hams should be rubbed, and for pains in the hams the neck. If a person is seized in bed with cramp in the sinews of the legs or thighs, he should set his feet upon the ground: so, too, if he has cramp on the left side, he should take hold of the great toe of the left foot with the right hand, and if on the right side, the great toe of the right foot with the left hand. For cold shiverings or for excessive bleeding at the nostrils, the extremities of the body should be well rubbed with sheep’s wool. To arrest incontinence of urine, the extremities of the generative organs should be tied with a thread of linen or papyrus, and a binding passed round the middle of the thigh. For derangement of the stomach, it is a good plan to press the feet together, or to plunge the hands into hot water.

In addition to all this, in many cases it is found highly beneficial to speak but little; thus, for instance, Mæcenas Melissus, we are told, enjoined silence on himself for three years, in consequence of spitting blood after a convulsive fit. When a person is thrown from a carriage, or when, while mounting an elevation or lying extended at full length, he is menaced with any accident, or if he receives a blow, it is singularly beneficial to hold the breath; a discovery for which we are indebted to an animal, as already stated.

To thrust an iron nail into the spot where a person’s head lay at the moment he was seized with a fit of epilepsy, is said to have the effect of curing him of that disease. For pains in the kidneys, loins, or bladder, it is considered highly soothing to void the urine lying on the face at full length in a reclining bath. It is quite surprising how much more speedily wounds will heal if they are bound up and tied with a Hercules’ knot: indeed, it is said, that if the girdle which we wear every day is tied with a knot of this description, it will be productive of certain beneficial effects, Hercules having been the first to discover the fact.

Demetrius, in the treatise which he has compiled upon the number Four, alleges certain reasons why drink should never be taken in proportions of four cyathi or sextarii. As a preventive of ophthalmia, it is a good plan to rub the parts behind the ears, and, as a cure for watery eyes, to rub the forehead. As to the presages which are derived from man himself, there is one to the effect that so long as a person is able to see himself reflected in the pupil of the patient’s eye, there need be no apprehension of a fatal termination to the malady.

The urine, too, has been the subject not only of numerous theories with authors, but of various religious observances as well, its properties being classified under several distinctive heads: thus, for instance, the urine of eunuchs, they say, is highly beneficial as a promoter of fruitfulness in females. But to turn to those remedies which we may be allowed to name without impropriety—the urine of children who have not arrived at puberty is a sovereign remedy for the poisonous secretions of the asp known as the “ptyas,” from the fact that it spits its venom into the eyes of human beings. It is good, too, for the cure of albugo, films and marks upon the eyes, white specks upon the pupils, and maladies of the eyelids. In combination with meal of fitches, it is used for the cure of burns, and, with a head of bulbed leek, it is boiled down to one half, in a new earthen vessel, for the treatment of suppurations of the ears, or the extermination of worms breeding in those organs: the vapour, too, of this decoction acts as an emmenagogue. Salpe recommends that the eyes should be fomented with it, as a means of strengthening the sight; and that it should be used as a liniment for sun scorches, in combination with white of egg, that of the ostrich being the most effectual, the application being kept on for a couple of hours.

Urine is also used for taking out ink spots. Male urine cures gout, witness the fullers for instance, who, for this reason, it is said, are never troubled with that disease. With stale urine some mix ashes of calcined oyster-shells, for the cure of eruptions on the bodies of infants, and all kinds of running ulcers: it is used, too, as a liniment for corrosive sores, burns, diseases of the rectum, chaps upon the body, and stings inflicted by scorpions. The most celebrated midwives have pronounced that there is no lotion which removes itching sensations more effectually; and, with the addition of nitre, they prescribe it for the cure of ulcers of the head, porrigo, and cancerous sores, those of the generative organs in particular. But the fact is, and there is no impropriety in saying so, that every person’s own urine is the best for his own case, due care being taken to apply it immediately, and unmixed with anything else; in such cases as the bite of a dog, for instance, or the quill of a hedge-hog entering the flesh, a sponge or some wool being the vehicle in which it is applied. Kneaded up with ashes, it is good for the bite of a mad dog, and for the cure of stings inflicted by serpents. As to the bite of the scolopendra, the effects of urine are said to be quite marvellous—the person who has been injured has only to touch the crown of his head with a drop of his own urine, and he will experience an instantaneous cure.

Certain indications of the health are furnished by the urine. Thus, for example, if it is white at first in the morning and afterwards high-coloured, the first signifies that the digestion is going on, the last that it is completed. When the urine is red, it is a bad sign; but when it is swarthy, it is the worst sign of all. So, too, when it is thick or full of bubbles, it is a bad sign; and when a white sediment forms, it is a symptom of pains in the region of the viscera or in the joints. A green-coloured urine is indicative of disease of the viscera, a pale urine of biliousness, and a red urine of some distemper in the blood. The urine is in a bad state, too, when certain objects form in it, like bran or fine clouds in appearance. A thin, white, urine also is in a diseased state; but when it is thick and possessed of an offensive smell, it is significant of approaching death: so, too, when with children it is thin and watery.

The adepts in magic expressly forbid a person, when about to make water, to uncover the body in the face of the sun or moon, or to sprinkle with his urine the shadow of any object whatsoever. Hesiod gives a precept, recommending persons to make water against an object standing full before them, that no divinity may be offended by their nakedness being uncovered. Osthanes maintains that every one who drops some urine upon his foot in the morning will be proof against all noxious medicaments.