OPINIONS OF THE MAGICIANS RELATIVE TO THE MOLE. FIVE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Peculiare vanitatis sit argumentum, quod animalium cunctorum talpas maxime mirantur tot modis a rerum natura damnatas, caecitate perpetua, tenebris etiamnum aliis defossas sepultisque similes. nullis aeque credunt extis, nullum religionum capacius iudicant animal, ut, si quis cor eius recens palpitansque devoret, divinationes et rerum efficiendarum eventus promittant. dente talpae vivae exempto sanari dentium dolores adalligato adfirmant. cetera ex eo animali placita eorum suis reddemus locis. nec quicquam probabilius invenietur quam muris aranei morsibus adversari eas, quoniam et terra orbitis, ut diximus, depressa adversatur.

Cetero dentium doloribus, ut iidem narrant, medetur canum, qui rabie perierunt, capitum cinis crematorum sine carnibus instillatus ex oleo cyprio per aurem, cuius e parte doleant, caninus dens sinister maximus, circumscariphato qui doleat, aut draconis os e spina, item enhydridis; est autem serpens masculus et albus. huius maximo dente circumscariphant, aut in superiorum dolore duos superiores adalligant, e diverso inferiores. huius adipe perunguuntur qui crocodilum captant. dentes scariphant et ossibus lacertae e fronte luna plena exemptis ita, ne terrain adtingant. colluunt dentibus caninis decoctis in vino ad dimidias partes. cinis eorum pueros tarde dentientes adiuvat cum melle. fit eodem modo et dentifricium. cavis dentibus cinis e murino fimo inditur vel iocur lacertarum aridum. anguinum cor, si mordeatur adalligeturve, efficax habetur. sunt inter eos qui murem bis in mense iubeant mandi doloresque ita cavere. vermes terreni decocti in oleo infusique auriculae, cuius a parte doleant, praestant levamentum. eorundem cinis exesis dentibus coniectus ex facili cadere eos cogit, integros dolentes inlitus iuvat; comburi autem oportet in testo. prosunt et cum mori radice in aceto scillite decocti ita, ut colluantur dentes. is quoque vermiculus, qui in herba Veneris labro appellata invenitur, cavis dentium inditus mire prodest. nam urucaee brassicae foliis contact cadunt, et e malva cimices infunduntur auribus cum rosaceo. harenulae, quae inveniuntur in cornibus coclearum, cavis dentium inditae statim liberant dolore. coclearum inanium cinis cum murra gingivis prodest, serpentis cum sale in olla exustae cinis cum rosaceo in contrariam aurem infusus, anguinae vernationis membrana cum oleo taedaeque resina calefacta et auri alterutri infusa—adiciunt aliqui tus et rosaceum—; eadem cavis indita, ut sine molestia cadant, praestat. vanum arbitror esse circa canis ortum angues candidos membranam eam exuere, quoniam ante ortum in Italia visum est multoque minus credibile in tepidis regionumtam sero exui. hanc autem vel inveteratam cum cera celerrime evellere tradunt. et dens anguium adalligatus dolores mitigat. sunt qui et araneum animal ipsum sinistra manu captum tritumque in rosaceo et in aurem infusum, cuius a parte doleat, prodesse arbitrentur. ossiculi gallinarum in pariete servati fistula salva tacto dente vel gingiva scariphata proiectoque ossiculo statim dolorem abire tradunt, item fimo corvi lana adalligato vel passerum cum oleo calefacto et proximae auriculae infuso. pruritum quidem intolerabilem facit, et ideo utilius est passeris pullorum sarmentis crematorum cinerem ex aceto infricare.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Let the following stand as a remarkable proof of the frivolous nature of the magic art. Of all animals it is the mole that the magicians admire most! a creature that has been stamped with condemnation by Nature in so many ways; doomed as it is to perpetual blindness, and adding to this darkness a life of gloom in the depths of the earth, and a state more nearly resembling that of the dead and buried. There is no animal in the entrails of which they put such implicit faith, no animal, they think, better suited for the rites of religion; so much so, indeed, that if a person swallows the heart of a mole, fresh from the body and still palpitating, he will receive the gift of divination, they assure us, and a foreknowledge of future events. Tooth-ache, they assert, may be cured by taking the tooth of a live mole, and attaching it to the body. As to other statements of theirs relative to this animal, we shall draw attention to them on the fitting occasions, and shall only add here that one of the most probable of all their assertions is, that the mole neutralizes the bite of the shrew-mouse; seeing that, as already stated, the very earth even that is found in the rut of a cart-wheel, acts as a remedy in such a case.

But to proceed, with the remedies for tooth-ache—the magicians tell us, that it may be cured by using the ashes of the head of a dog that has died in a state of madness. The head, however, must be burnt without the flesh, and the ashes injected with oil of cyprus into the ear on the side affected. For the same purpose also, the left eye-tooth of a dog is used, the gum of the affected tooth being lanced with it; one of the vertebræ also of a dragon or of an enhydris, which is a male white serpent. The eye-tooth, too, of this last, is used for scarifying the gums; and when the pain affects the teeth of the upper jaw, they attach to the patient two of the upper teeth of the serpent, and, similarly, two of the lower ones for tooth-ache in the lower jaw. Persons who go in pursuit of the crocodile, anoint themselves with the fat of this animal. The gums are also scarified with the frontal bones of a lizard, taken from it at full moon, and not allowed to touch the ground: or else the mouth is rinsed with a decoction of dogs’ teeth in wine, boiled down to one half.

Ashes of dogs’ teeth, mixed with honey, are useful for difficult dentition in children, and a dentifrice is similarly prepared from them. Hollow teeth are plugged with ashes of burnt mouse-dung, or with a lizard’s liver, dried. To eat a snake’s heart, or to wear it, attached to the body, is considered highly efficacious. There are some among the magicians, who recommend a mouse to be eaten twice a month, as a preventive of tooth-ache. Earth-worms, boiled in oil and injected into the ear on the side affected, afford considerable relief: ashes, too, of burnt earth-worms, introduced into carious teeth, make them come out easily; and, used as a friction, they allay pains in such of the teeth as are sound: the proper way of burning them is in an earthen potsherd. They are useful, too, boiled with root of the mulberry-tree in squill vinegar, and employed as a collutory for the teeth. The small worm that is found in the plant known as Venus bath, is remarkably useful, introduced into a hollow tooth; and as to the cabbage caterpillar, it will make hollow teeth come out, by the mere contact only. The bugs that are found upon mallows, are injected into the ears, beaten up with oil of roses.

The small grits of sand that are found in the horns of snails, introduced into hollow teeth, remove the pain instantaneously, Ashes of empty snail-shells, mixed with myrrh, are good for the gums; the ashes also of a serpent, burnt with salt in an earthen pot, and injected, with oil of roses, into the ear opposite to the side affected; or else the slough of a snake, warmed with oil and torch-pine resin, and injected into either ear. Some persons add frankincense and oil of roses, a preparation which, of itself, introduced into hollow teeth, makes them come out without pain. It is all a fiction, in my opinion, to say that white snakes cast this slough about the rising of the Dog-star; for such a thing has never been seen in Italy, and it is still more improbable that sloughing should take place at so late a period in the warmer climates. We find it stated also, that this slough, even when it has been kept for some time, mixed with wax, will extract a tooth very expeditiously, if applied thereto: a snake’s tooth, also, attached to the body as an amulet, allays tooth-ache. Some persons think that it is a good remedy to catch a spider with the left hand, to beat it up with oil of roses, and then to inject it into the ear on the side affected.

The small bones of poultry, preserved in a hole in a wall, the medullary channel being left intact, will immediately cure tooth-ache, they say, if the tooth is touched or the gum scarified therewith, care being taken to throw away the bone the moment the operation is performed. A similar result is obtained by using raven’s dung, wrapped in wool and attached to the body, or else sparrow’s dung, warmed with oil and injected into the ear on the side affected. This last remedy, however, is productive of an intolerable itching, for which reason it is considered a better plan to rub the part with the ashes of young sparrows burnt upon twigs, mixed with vinegar for the purpose.