REMEDIES FOR FEMALE COMPLAINTS

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

In muliebribus malis membranae e partu ovium proficiunt, sicut in capris rettulimus. fimum quoque pecudum eosdem usus habet. locustarum suffitu stranguriae maxume mulierum iuvantur. gallinaceorum testes si subinde a conceptu edat mulier, mares in utero fieri dicuntur. partus conceptos hystricum cinis potus continet, maturat caninum lacte potum, evocat membrana e secundis canum, si terram non attigerit, lumbis parturientium tactis. fimum murinum aqua pluvia dilutum mammas mulierum a partu tumentes reficit. cinis irenaceorum cum oleo perunctarum custodit partus contra abortus. facilius enituntur quae.. um anserinum cum aquae II cyathis sorbuere aut ex utriculo mustelino per genitale effluentes aquas. —Vermes terreni inliti, ne cervicis scapularumque nervi doleant, praestant. graves secundas pellunt in passo poti. iidem per se inpositi mammarum suppurationes concocunt et aperiunt extrahuntque et ad cicatricem perducunt. lac devocant poti cum mulso. inveniuntur et in gramine vermiculi, qui adalligati collo continent partum; detrahuntur autem sub partu, alias eniti non patiuntur; cavendum et ne in terra ponantur. conceptus quoque causa dantur in potu quini aut septeni. —Cocleae in cibo sumptae adcelerant partum, item conceptum inpositae cum croco. eaedem ex amylo et tragacantha inlitae profluvia sistunt. prosunt et purgationibus sumptae in cibo et vulvam aversam corrigunt cum medulla cervina ita, ut uni cocleae denarii pondus addatur et cypri. inflationes quoque vulvarum discutiunt exemptae testis tritae cum rosaceo. ad haec Astypalaeicae maxime eliguntur. alio modo Africanae binae tritae cum feni Graeci quod III digitis capiatur, addito melle coclearibus IIII, inlinuntur alvo prius irino suco perunctae. sunt et minutae loricaeque candidae cocleae passim oberrantes; hae arefactae sole in tegulis tusaeque in farinam miscentur lomento aequis partibus candoremque et levorem corpori adferunt. scabendi desideria tollunt minutae et latae cum polenta.—Viperam mulier praegnans si transcendent, abortum faciet, item amphisbaenam, mortuam dumtaxat, nam vivam habentes in pyxide inpune transeunt; etiam si mortua sit atque adservata, partus faciles praestat. in mortua mirum, si sine adservata transcendent gravida, innoxium fieri, si protinus transcendat adservatam.—Anguis inveterati suffitu menstrua adiuvant. anguium senectus adalligata lumbis faciliores partus facit, protinus a puerperio removenda. dant et in vino bibendam cum ture; aliter sumpta abortum facit. baculum, quo angui rana excussa sit, parturientes adiuvat; trixallidum cinis inlitus cum melle purgationes, item araneus: qui filum deducit ex alto, capi debet manu cava tritusque admoveri, quod, si redeuntem prenderit, inhibebit idem purgationes. —Lapis aëtites in aquilae repertus nido custodit partus contra omnes abortuum insidias. penna vulturina subiecta pedibus adiuvat parturientes. ovum corvi cavendum gravidis constat, quoniam transgressis abortum per os faciat. fimum accipitris in mulso potum videtur fecundas facere. vulvarum duritias, collectiones adeps anserinus aut cygni emollit. mammas a partu custodit adeps anseris cum rosaceo et araneo. Phryges et Lycaones mammis puerperio vexatis invenerunt otidum odipem utilem esse. iis, quae vulva strangulentur, et blattas inlinunt. ovorum perdicis putaminum cinis cadmiae mixtus et cerae stantes mammas servat. putant et ter circumductas ovo perdicis aut.... non inclinari et, si sorbeantur, eadem fecunditatem facere, lactis quoque copiam, cum anserino adipe perunctis mammis dolores minuere, molas uteri rumpere, scabiem vulvarum sedare, si cum cimice trito inlinantur.

Vespertilionum sanguis psilotri vim habet, sed alis puerorum inlitus non satis proficit, nisi aerugo vel cicutae semen postea inducatur; sic enim aut in totum tolluntur pili aut non excedunt lanuginem. idem et cerebro eorum profici putant; est autem duplex, rubens utique et candidum. aliqui sanguinem et iocur eiusdem admiscent. quidam in III heminis olei discocunt viperam exemptis ossibus, psilotri vice utuntur, evolsis prius pilis, quos renasci nolunt. fel irenacei psilotrum est, utique mixtum vespertilionis cerebro et lacte caprino, item per se cinis. lacte canis primiparae, prius evolsis pilis vel nondum natis, perunctae partes alios non sufficiunt. idem evenire traditur sanguine ricini evulsi cani, item hirundinino sanguine vel felle, ovis formicarum.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

For diseases incident to females, a ewe’s placenta is very useful, as already mentioned by us, when speaking of goats: sheep’s dung, too, is equally good. A fumigation of burnt locusts, applied to the lower parts, affords relief to strangury, in females more particularly. If, immediately after conception, a woman eats a cock’s testes every now and then, the child of which she is pregnant will become a male, it is said. The ashes of a burnt porcupine, taken in drink, are a preventive of abortion: bitches’ milk facilitates delivery: and the afterbirth of a bitch, provided it has not touched the ground, will act as an expellent of the fœtus. Milk, taken as a drink, strengthens the loins of women when in travail. Mouse-dung, diluted with rain water, reduces the breasts of females, when swollen after delivery. The ashes of a burnt hedge-hog, applied with oil, act as a preventive of abortion. Delivery is facilitated, in cases where the patient has taken, either goose-dung in two cyathi of water, or the liquid that escapes from the uterus of a weasel by its genitals.

Earth-worms, applied topically, effectually prevent pains in the sinews of the neck and shoulders; taken in raisin wine, they expel the after-birth, when retarded. Applied by themselves, earthworms ripen abscesses of the breasts, open them, draw the humours, and make them cicatrize: taken in honied wine, they promote the secretion of the milk. In hay-grass there are small worms found, which, attached to the neck, act as a preventive of premature delivery; they are removed, however, at the moment of childbirth, as otherwise they would have the effect of impeding delivery; care must be taken, also, not to put them on the ground. To promote conception, five or seven of them are administered in drink. Snails, taken with the food, accelerate delivery; and, applied with saffron, they promote conception. Used in the form of a liniment, with amylum and gum tragacanth, they arrest uterine discharges. Taken with the food, they promote menstruation; and, mixed with deer’s marrow, in the proportion of one denarius and the same quantity of cyprus to each snail, they reduce the uterus when displaced. Taken from the shell, and beaten up with oil of roses, they dispel inflations of the uterus; the snails of Astypalæa being those that are mostly chosen for these purposes.

Those of Africa, again, are employed in a different manner, two of them being beaten, up with a pinch of fenugreek in three fingers, and four spoonfuls of honey, and the preparation applied to the abdomen, after it has been rubbed with juice of iris. There is a kind of small, white, elongated snail, that is found straying here and there: dried upon tiles in the sun, and reduced to powder, these snails are mixed with bean-meal, in equal proportions, forming a cosmetic which whitens and softens the skin. The small, broad, kind of snail, mixed with polenta, is good for the removal of a tendency to scratch, and rub the skin.

If a pregnant woman steps over a viper, she will be sure to miscarry; the same, too, in the case of the amphisbæna, but only when it is dead. If, however, a woman carries about her a live amphisbæna in a box, she may step over one with impunity, even though it be dead. An amphisbæna, preserved for the purpose, will ensure an easy delivery, even though it be dead. It is a truly marvellous fact, but if a pregnant woman steps over one of these serpents that has not been preserved, it will be perfectly harmless, provided she immediately steps over another that has been preserved. A fumigation made with a dried snake, acts powerfully as an emmenagogue.

The cast-off slough of a snake, attached to the loins, facilitates delivery; care must be taken, however, to remove it immediately after. It is administered, too, in wine, mixed with frankincense: taken in any other form, it is productive of abortion. A staff, by the aid of which a person has parted a frog from a snake, will accelerate parturition. Ashes of the troxallis, applied with honey, act as an emmenagogue; the same, too, with the spider that descends as it spins its thread from aloft; it must be taken, however, in the hollow of the hand, crushed, and applied accordingly: if, on the contrary, the spider is taken while ascending, it will arrest menstruation.

The stone aëtites, that is found in the eagle’s nest, preserves the fœtus against all insidious attempts at producing abortion. A vulture’s feather, placed beneath the feet of the woman, accelerates parturition. It is a well-known fact, that pregnant women must be on their guard against ravens’ eggs, for if a female in that state should happen to step over one, she will be sure to miscarry by the mouth. A hawk’s dung, taken in honied wine, would appear to render females fruitful. Goose-grease, or that of the swan, acts emolliently upon indurations and abscesses of the uterus.

Goose-grease, mixed up with oil of roses and a spider, protects the breasts after delivery. The people of Phrygia and Lycaonia have made the discovery, that the grease of the otis is good for affections of the breasts, resulting from recent delivery: for females affected with suffocations of the uterus, they employ a liniment made of beetles. The shells of partridges’ eggs, burnt to ashes and mixed with cadmia and wax, preserve the firmness of the breasts. It is generally thought, that if the egg of a partridge or * * * is passed three times round a woman’s breasts, they will never become flaccid; and that, if these eggs are swallowed, they will be productive of fruitfulness, and promote the plentiful secretion of the milk. It is believed, too, that by anointing a woman’s breasts’ with goose-grease, pains therein may be allayed; that moles formed in the uterus may be dispersed thereby; and that itch of the uterus may be dispelled by the application of a liniment made of crushed bugs.

Bats’ blood has all the virtues of a depilatory: but if applied to the cheeks of youths, it will not be found sufficiently efficacious, unless it is immediately followed up by an application of verdigrease or hemlock-seed; this method having the effect of entirely removing the hair, or at least reducing it to the state of a fine down. It is generally thought, too, that bats’ brains are productive of a similar effect; there being two kinds of these brains, the red and the white. Some persons mix with the brains the blood and liver of the same animal: others, again, boil down a viper in three semisextarii of oil, and, after boning it, use it as a depilatory, first pulling out the hairs that are wanted not to grow. The gall of a hedgehog is a depilatory, more particularly if mixed with bats’ brains and goats’ milk: the ashes, too, of a burnt hedgehog are used for a similar purpose. If, after plucking out the hairs that are wanted not to grow, or if, before they make their appearance, the parts are well rubbed with the milk of a bitch with her first litter, no hairs will grow there. The same result is ensured, it is said, by using the blood of a tick taken from off a dog, or else the blood or gall of a swallow.