REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

supercilia denigrari muscis tritis tradunt; si vero oculi nigri nascentium placeant, soricem praegnanti edendum; capilli ne canescant, vermium terrenorum cinere praestari admixto oleo.

Infantibus, qui lacte concreto vexantur, praesidio est agninum coagulum ex aqua potum, aut si coagulato lacte accident, discutitur coagulo ex aceto dato. ad dentitiones cerebrum pecoris utilissimum est. ossibus in canino fimo inventis adustio infantium, quae vocatur siriasis, adalligatis emendatur, ramex infantium lacertae viridis admotae dormientibus morsu. postea harundini inligant et suspendunt in fumo traduntque pariter cum expirante ea sanari infantem. coclearum saliva inlita infantium oculis palpebras corrigit gignitque. ramicosis coclearum cinis cum ture ex ovi albo specillo inlitus per dies XXX medetur. inveniuntur in corniculis coclearum harenaceae duritiae; hae dentitionem facilem praestant adalligatae. coclearum inanium cinis cerae mixtus procidentium interaneorum partes extremas prohibet; oportet autem cineri misceri saniem punctis emissam ante. cerebrum viperae inligatum pellicula dentitiones adiuvat.idem valent et grandissimi dentes serpentium. fimum corvi lana adalligatum infantium tussi medetur.—Vix est serio conplecti quaedam, non omittenda tamen, quia sunt prodita. ramici infantium lacerta mederi iubent. marem hanc prendi; intellegi eo, quod sub cauda unam cavernam habeat. id agendum, ut per aureum vel argenteum claustrum mordeat vitium; tum in calice novo inligatam in fumo poni. urina infantium cohibetur muribus elixis in cibo datis. scarabaeorum cornua grandia denticulata adalligata iis amuleti naturam obtinent. bovae capiti lapillum inesse tradunt, quem ab ea expui, si necem timeat; inopinantis praeciso capite exemptum adalligatumque mire prodesse dentitioni. item cerebrum eiusdem ad eundem usum adalligari iubent et limacis lapillum sive ossiculum; invenitur in dorso. magnifice iuvat et ovis cerebrum gingivis inlitum, sicut aures adeps anserinus cum ocimi suco inpositus. sunt vermiculi in spinosis herbis asperi, lanuginosi; hos adalligatos protinus mederi tradunt infantibus, si quid ex cibo haereat.

Somnos adlicit oesypum cum murrae momento in vini cyathis II dilutum vel cum adipe anserino et vino myrtite, avis cuculus leporina pelle adalligatus, ardiolae rostrum in pelle asinina fronti adalligatum. putant et per se rostrum effectus eiusdem esse vino collutum. e diverso somnum arcet vespertilionis caput aridum adalligatum.

In urina virili enecata lacerta venerem eius, qui fecerit, inhibet; nam inter amatoria esse Magi dicunt. inhibent et cocleae, fimum columbinum cum oleo et vino potum. pulmonis vulturini dextrae partes venerem concitant viris adalligatae gruis pelle, item si lutea ex ovis quinis columbarum admixta adipis suilli denarii pondere ex melle sorbeantur, passeres in cibo vel ova eorum, gallinacei dexter testis arietina pelle adalligatus. ibium cinere cum adipe anseris et irino perunctis sic conceptos partus contineri, contra inhiberi venerem pugnatoris galli testiculis anserino adipe inlitis adalligatisque pelle arietina tradunt, item cuiuscumque galli, si cum sanguine gallinacei leto subiciantur. cogunt concipere invitas saetae ex cauda mulae, si iunctis evellantur, inter se conligatae in coitu. qui in urinam canis suam egesserit, dicitur ad venerem pigrior fieri. mirum et de stelionis cinere, si verum est, linamento involutum in sinistra manu venerem stimulare, si transferatur in dextram, inhibere, item vespertilionis sanguinem collectum flocco subpositumque capiti mulierum libidinem movere aut anseris linguam in cibo vel potione sumptam.

Phthiriasim et totius corporis pota membrana senectutis anguium triduo necat, serum exempto caseo potum cum exiguo sale.—Caseos, si cerebrum mustelae coagulo addatur, negant corrumpi vetustate aut a muribus attingi. eiusdem mustelae cinis si detur in offa gallinaceis et columbinis, tutos esse a mustelis.—Iumentorum urinae tormina vespertilione adalligato finiuntur, verminatio ter circumlato mediis palumbe. mirum dictu, palumbis emissus moritur iumentumque liberatur confestim.

Ebriosis ova noctuae per triduum data in vino taedium eius adducunt. ebrietatem arcet pecudum assus pulmo praesumptus. hirundinis rostri cinis cum murra tritus et vino, quod bibetur, inspersus securos praestabit a temulentia. invenit Orus Assyriorum rex.

Praeter haec sunt notabilia animalium ad hoc volumen pertinentium: gromphenam, avem in Sardinia narratam grui similem, ignotam iam etiam Sardis existimo. in eadem provincia ophion, cervis tantum pilo similis nec alibi nascens. iidem auctores sirulugum nec quale esset animal nec ubi nasceretur tradiderunt. fuisse quidem non dubito, cum et medicinae ex eo sint demonstratae. M. Cicero tradit animalia biuros vocari, qui vites in Campania erodant.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Ants’ eggs, they say, beaten up with flies, impart a black colour to the eyebrows. If it is considered desirable that the colour of the infant’s eyes should be black, the pregnant woman must eat a rat. Ashes of burnt earth-worms, applied with oil, prevent the hair from turning white.

For infants that are troubled with coagulation of the milk, a grand preservative is lamb’s rennet, taken in water; and in cases where the milk has so coagulated, it may be remedied by administering rennet in vinegar. For the pains incident to dentition, sheep’s brains are a very useful remedy. The inflammation called “siriasis,” to which infants are liable, is cured by attaching to them the bones that are found in the dung of dogs. Hernia in infants is cured by letting a green lizard bite the child’s body while asleep, after which the lizard is attached to a reed, and hung up in the smoke; by the time the animal dies, the child will be perfectly cured, it is said. The slime of snails, applied to the eyes of children, straightens the eyelashes, and makes them grow. Ashes of burnt snails applied with frankincense and juice of white grapes, are a cure for hernia [in infants], if applied for thirty days consecutively. Within the horns of snails, there are certain hard substances found, like grits of sand: attached to infants, they facilitate dentition.

Ashes of empty snail-shells, mixed with wax, are a preventive of procidence of the rectum; but they must be used in combination with the matter that exudes from a viper’s brains, on the head being pricked. Vipers’ brains, attached to the infant’s body in a piece of skin, facilitate dentition, a similar effect being produced by using the larger teeth of serpents. Ravens’ dung, attached to an infant with wool, is curative of cough.

It is hardly possible to preserve one’s seriousness in describing some of these remedies, but as they have been transmitted to us, I must not pass them in silence. For the treatment of hernia in infants, a lizard is recommended; but it must be a male lizard, a thing that may be ascertained by its having but one orifice beneath the tail. The method of proceeding, is for the lizard to bite the part affected through cloth of gold, cloth of silver, and cloth dyed purple; after which it is tied fast in a cup that has never been used, and smoked. Incontinence of urine in infants is checked by giving them boiled mice with their food. The large indented horns of the scarabæus, attached to the bodies of infants, have all the virtues of an amulet. In the head of the boa there is a small stone, they say, which the serpent spits out, when it is in fear of death: if the reptile is taken by surprise, and the head cut off, and this stone extracted, it will aid dentition to a marvellous degree, attached to the neck of infants. The brains, too, of the same serpent are recommended to be attached to the body far a similar purpose, as also the small stone or bone that is found in the back of the slug.

An admirable promoter of dentition is found in sheep’s brains, applied to the gums; and equally good for diseases of the ears, is an application of goose-grease, with juice of ocimum. Upon prickly plants there is found a kind of rough, hairy, grub: attached to the neck of infants, these insects give instant relief, it is said, when any of the food has stuck in the throat.

As a soporific, wool-grease is employed, diluted in two cyathi of wine with a modicum of myrrh, or else mixed with goose-grease and myrtle wine. For a similar purpose also, a cuckoo is attached to the body in a hare’s skin, or a young heron’s bill to the forehead in an ass’s skin: it is thought, too, that the beak alone, steeped in wine, is equally efficacious. On the other hand, a bat’s head, dried and worn as an amulet, acts as a preventive of sleep.

A lizard drowned in a man’s urine has the effect of an antaphrodisiac upon the person whose urine it is; for this animal is to be reckoned among the philtres, the magicians say. The same property is attributed to the excrements of snails, and to pigeons’ dung, taken with oil and wine. The right lobe of a vulture’s lungs, attached to the body in the skin of a crane, acts powerfully as a stimulant upon males: an effect equally produced by taking the yolks of five pigeons’ eggs, in honey, mixed with one denarius of hog’s lard; sparrows, or eggs of sparrows, with the food; or by wearing the right testicle of a cock, attached to the body in a ram’s skin. The ashes of a burnt ibis, it is said, employed as a friction with goose-grease and oil of iris, will prevent abortion when a female has once conceived; while the testes of a game-cock, on the other hand, rubbed with goose-grease and attached to the body in a ram’s skin, have all the effect of an antaphrodisiac: the same, too, with the testes of any kind of dunghill cock, placed, together with the blood of a cock, beneath the bed. Hairs taken from the tail of a she-mule while being covered by the stallion, will make a woman conceive, against her will even, if knotted together at the moment of the sexual congress. If a man makes water upon a dog’s urine, he will become disinclined to copulation, they say.

A singular thing, too, is what is told about the ashes of a spotted lizard—if indeed it is true—to the effect that, wrapped in linen and held in the left hand, they act as an aphrodisiac, while, on the contrary, if they are transferred to the right, they will take effect as an antaphrodisiac. A bat’s blood, too, they say, received on a flock of wool and placed beneath a woman’s head, will promote sexual desire; the same being the case also with a goose’s tongue, taken with the food or drink.

In phthiriasis, all the vermin upon the body may be killed in the course of three days, by taking the cast-off slough of a serpent, in drink, or else whey of milk after the cheese is removed, with a little salt. Cheese, it is said, will never become rotten with age or be touched by mice, if a weasel’s brains have been mixed with the rennet. It is asserted, too, that if the ashes of a burnt weasel are mixed with the cramming for chickens or young pigeons, they will be safe from the attacks of weasels. Beasts of burden, when troubled with pains in staling, find immediate relief, if a bat is attached to the body; and they are effectually cured of bots by passing a ring-dove three times round their generative parts—a truly marvellous thing to relate, the ring-dove, on being set at liberty, dies, and the beast is instantly relieved from pain.

The eggs of an owlet, administered to drunkards three days in wine, are productive of a distaste for that liquor. A sheep’s lights roasted, eaten before drinking, act as a preventive of inebriety. The ashes of a swallow’s beak, bruised with myrrh and sprinkled in the wine, act as a preservative against intoxication: Horus, king of Assyria, was the first to discover this.

In addition to these, there are some other peculiar properties attributed to certain animals, which require to be mentioned in the present Book. Some authors state that there is a bird in Sardinia, resembling the crane and called the “gromphena;” but it is no longer known even by the people of that country, in my opinion. In the same province, too, there is the ophion, an animal which resembles the deer in the hair only, and to be found nowhere else. The same authors have spoken also of the “subjugus,” but have omitted to state what animal it is, or where it is to be found. That it did formerly exist, however, I have no doubt, as certain remedies are described as being derived from it. M. Cicero speaks of animals called “biuri,” which gnaw the vines in Campania.