METHODS FOR ARRESTING HÆMORRHAGE

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Sanguinem sistit in naribus sebum ex omento pecudum inditum, item coagulum ex aqua, maxime agninum, subductum vel infusum, etiam si alia non prosint, adips anserinus cum butyro pari pondere pastillis ingestus, coclearum terrena, sed et ipsae extractae testis; e naribus 110 fluentem cocleae contritae fronti inlitae, aranei tela; gallinacei cerebellum vel sanguis profluvia ex cerebro, item columbinus ob id servatus concretusque. si vero ex vulnere inmodice fluat, fimi caballini cum putaminibus ovorum cremati cinis inpositus mire sistit.

Ulceribus medetur oesypum cum hordei cinere et aerugine aequis partibus, ad carcinomata quoque ac serpentia valet. erodit et ulcerum margines, carnesque exscrescentes ad aequalitatem redigit; explet quoque et ad cicatricem perducit. magna vis et in cinere pecudum fimi ad carcinomata, addito nitro, aut in cinere ex ossibus feminum agninorum, praecipue in iis ulceribus, quae cicatricem non trahant. magna et pulmonibus, praecipue arietum: carnes excrescentes in ulceribus ad aequalitatem efficacissime reducunt; fimo quoque ipso ovium sub testo calefacto et subacto tumor vulnerum sedatur, fistulae purgantur sananturque, item epinyctides. summa vero in canini capitis cinere: excrescentia omnia spodii vice erodit ac persanat. et murino fimo eroduntur, item mustelae fimi cinere. duritias in alto ulcerum et carcinomata persequitur multipeda trita admixta resina terebinthina et sinopide. eadem utilissima sunt in iis ulceribus, quae vermibus periclitentur. quin et vermium ipsorum genera mirandos usus habent. cosses, qui in ligno nascuntur, sanant ulcera omnia, nomas vero combusti cum pari pondere anesi ex oleo inliti. vulnera recentia conglutinant terreni adeo, ut nervos quoque abscisos inlitis solidari intra septimum diem persuasio sit; itaque in melle servandos censent. cinis eorum margines ulcerum duriores absumit cum pice lliquida vel symphyto et melle. quidam arefactis in sole ad vulnera ex aceto utuntur nec solvunt nisi biduo intermisso. eadem ratione et coclearum terrena prosunt, totaeque exemptae recentia vulnera tusae inpositae conglutinant et nomas sistunt.—(Herpes quoque animal a Graecis vocatur, quo praecipue sanantur quaecumque serpunt ).— cocleae prosunt et cum testis suis tusae; cum murra quidem et ture etiam praecisos nervos sanare dicuntur. draconum quoque adeps siccatus in sole magnopere prodest, item gallinacei cerebrum recentibus plagis. sale viperino in cibo sumpto tradunt et ulcera tractabiliora fieri ac celerius sanari. Antonius quidem medicus, cum incidisset insanabilia ulcera, viperas edendas dabat miraque celeritate persanabat. trixallidum cinis margines ulcerum duros aufert cum melle, item fimi columbini cum arrhenico et melle, eademque erodentia sunt. bubonis cerebrum cum adipe anserino mire vulnera dicitur glutinare; quae vero vocantur cacoēthe, cinis feminurm arietis cum lacte muliebri, diligenter prius elutis linteolis, ulula avis cocta in oleo, cui liquato miscetur butyrum ovillum et mel. ulcerum labra duriora apes in melle mortuae emolliunt, et elephantiasin sanguis et cinis mustelae. verberum vulnera atque vibices pellibus ovium recentibus inpositis obliterantur.

Articulorum fracturis cinis feminum pecudis peculiariter medetur cum cera—efficacius idem medicamentum fit maxillis simul ustis cornuque cervino et cera mollita rosaceo—; ossibus fractis caninum cerebrum linteolo inlito, superpositis lanis, quae subinde oleo subfundantur; fere XIIII diebus solidat, nec tardius cinis silvestris muris cum melle aut vermium terrenorum, qui et ossa extrahit.

Cicatrices ad colorem reducit pecudum pulmo, praecipue ex ariete, sebum ex nitro, lacertae viridis cinis, vernatio anguium ex vino decocta, fimum columbinum cum melle, item vitiligines albas ex vino, vitiliginem et cantharides cum rutae foliorum II partibus. in sole, donec formicet cutis, tolerandae sunt, postea fovere oleoque perunguere necessarium iterumque inlinere, idque pluribus diebus facere, caventes exulcerationem altam. ad easdem vitiligines et muscas inlini iubent cum radice Eupatoriae, gallinarum fimi candidum servatum in oleo vetere cornea pyxide, vespertilionis sanguinem, fel irenacei ex aqua. scabiem vero bubonis cerebrum cum aphronitro, sed ante omnia sanguis caninus sedat, pruritum cocleae minutae, latae contritae inlitae.

Harundines et tela quaeque alia extrahenda sunt 20 corpori evocat mus dissectus inpositus, praecipue vero lacerta dissecta et vel caput tantum eius contusum cum sale inpositum, cocleae ex iis, quae gregatim folia sectantur, contusae inpositae cum testis et eae, quae manduntur, exemptae testis, sed cum leporis coagulo efficacissime. ossa anguium eundem cum coagulo cuiuscumque quadripedis intra tertium diem adprobant effectum. laudantur et cantharides tritae cum farina hordei.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Bleeding at the nostrils is arrested by mutton suet taken from the caul, introduced into the nostrils; by drawing up rennet, lamb’s rennet in particular, mixed with water, into the nostrils, or by using it as an injection, a remedy which succeeds even where other remedies have failed; by making up goose-grease into a bolus with an equal quantity of butter, and plugging the nostrils with it; or by using the earth that adheres to snails, or else the snails themselves, extracted from the shell. Excessive discharges from the nostrils are arrested also by applying crushed snails, or cobwebs, to the forehead. For issues of blood from the brain, the blood or brains of poultry are used, as also pigeons’ dung, thickened and kept for the purpose. In cases where there is an immoderate flow of blood from a wound, an application of horse-dung, burnt with egg-shells, is marvellously good for stopping it.

For the cure of ulcers, wool-grease is used; with ashes of burnt barley and verdigrease, in equal quantities; a preparation which is good, too, for carcinomata and spreading sores. It cauterizes the flesh also around the margins of ulcers, and reduces and makes level fungous excrescences formed by sores. Ashes, too, of burnt sheep’s dung, mixed with nitre, are of great efficacy for the cure of carcinomata; as also those of lambs’ thigh-bones, in cases more particularly where ulcers refuse to cicatrize. Very considerable, too, is the efficacy of lights, ram’s lights in particular, which are of the greatest utility for reducing and making level the fleshy excrescences formed by ulcerous sores. With sheep’s dung, warmed beneath an earthen pan and kneaded, the swellings attendant upon wounds are reduced, and fistulous sores and epinyctis are cleansed and made to heal.

But it is in the ashes of a burnt dog’s head that the greatest efficacy is found; as it quite equals spodium in its property of cauterizing all kinds of fleshy excrescences, and causing sores to heal. Mouse-dung, too, is used as a cautery, and weasels’ dung, burnt to ashes. Pounded millepedes, mixed with turpentine and earth of Sinope, are used for penetrating carcinomata and fleshy indurations in deep-seated sores; and the same substances are remarkably useful for the treatment of ulcers threatened with maggots.

Indeed the several varieties of worms themselves are possessed of marvellously useful properties. The worms, for instance, that breed in wood are curative of all kinds of ulcers: reduced to ashes, with an equal quantity of anise, and applied with oil, they heal cancerous sores. Earthworms are so remarkably healing for wounds recently inflicted, that it is a very general belief that by the end of seven days they will unite sinews even that have been cut asunder: hence it is that it is recommended to keep them preserved in honey. Ashes of burnt earth-worms, in combination with tar or Simblian honey, cauterize the indurated margins of ulcerous sores. Some persons dry earthworms in the sun, and apply them to wounds with vinegar, the application not being removed till the end of a couple of days. The earth also that adheres to snails is useful, similarly employed; snails, too, taken whole from the shell, are pounded and applied to fresh wounds, to heal them, and they arrest the progress of cancerous sores.

There is an insect called “herpes” by the Greeks, which is particularly useful for the cure of all kinds of serpiginous sores. Snails, beaten up, shells and all, are very good for this purpose; and it is said that, with myrrh and frankincense, they will unite the sinews even when cut asunder. The fat, too, of a dragon, dried in the sun, is remarkably useful, and so are the brains of a cook or capon for recent wounds. By taking with the food salt in which vipers have been preserved, ulcers are rendered more easy of treatment, it is said, and are made to heal all the sooner. Antonius the physician, after operating in vain upon ulcers, that were incurable with the knife, used to prescribe viper’s flesh to be eaten by the patient, whereby a marvellously speedy cure was effected.

The locust called “troxallis,” reduced to ashes and applied with honey, removes the indurated margins of ulcerous sores: ashes, also, of burnt pigeons’ dung, with arsenic and honey, are very effectual in all cases where a cautery is required. The brains of a horned owl, applied with goose-grease, are marvellously efficacious for uniting wounds, it is said. For the malignant ulcer known as “cacoëthes,” the ashes of a ram’s thigh-bones are used, mixed with woman’s milk, the sores being washed with linen cloths well rinsed. For the same purpose, the bird known as the screech-owl is boiled in oil, ewe-milk butter and honey being added to the preparation, when properly dissolved. An application of bees that have died in the honey, acts emolliently upon the indurated margins of ulcerous sores; and for the cure of elephantiasis, the blood and ashes of a weasel are employed. Wounds and weals produced by blows are effaced by an application of sheep-skins fresh from the body.

For fractures of the joints, ashes of sheep’s thigh-bones are particularly useful, applied in combination with wax; and the remedy is all the more efficacious, if a sheep’s jaw-bones are burnt with the other ingredients, together with a deer’s antler, and some wax dissolved in oil of roses. For broken bones, a dog’s brains are used, spread upon a linen cloth, with wool laid upon the surface and moistened every now and then. The fractured bone will mostly unite in the course of fourteen days; and a cure equally expeditious may be effected by using the ashes of burnt field-mice, with honey, or of burnt earthworms; a substance which is extremely useful for the extraction of splintered bones.

Cicatrizations are restored to their original colour by applying sheep’s lights, those of a ram in particular; mutton-suet, mixed with nitre; the ashes of a green lizard; a snake’s slough, boiled in wine; or else pigeons’ dung, mixed with honey; a preparation which, in combination with wine, is good for the removal of white morphew. For the cure, also, of morphew, cantharides are used, with two-thirds of rue-leaves; a preparation which the patient must keep applied, in the sun, till the skin itches and rises in blisters; after which it must be fomented and well rubbed with oil, and the application repeated. This must be done for several days in succession, due precautions being taken that the ulcerations do not penetrate too deep.

For the cure, too, of morphew, a liniment is recommended, made of flies and root of agrimony; the white part also of poultry dung, kept in a horn box with stale oil; a bat’s blood; or else the gall of a hedge-hog applied with water. Itch-scab is cured by using the brains of a horned owl, incorporated with saltpetre; but dog’s blood is the best thing to keep it in check. The small, broad, snail that is found, crushed and applied topically, is an effectual cure for itching sensations.

Arrows, pointed weapons, and other foreign substances that require to be extracted from the body, are removed by the application of a mouse split asunder, or of a lizard more particularly, similarly divided, or else the head only of the animal, pounded with salt. The snails, too, that are found in clusters upon leaves, are pounded and applied with their shells on; as also those that are used as food, the shells being first removed, applied with hare’s rennet in particular. The bones of a snake, applied with the rennet of any four-footed animal, will produce a similar effect before the end of two days: cantharides, also, bruised and applied with barley-meal, are highly extolled.