AVICENNA.
A careful examination of a Latin edition of “Averrhoes,” Lyons, 1537, discovered nothing in regard to the medicinal use of human or animal egestæ.
But, on the contrary, the works of Avicenna teem with such references; there is hardly a page of the index to his portly volumes that does not contain mention of stercoraceous remedies. Out of all this abundance these selections will show that the Arabian physicians made of such medicaments the same free use as their older brethren of the subverted Roman empire: “Matricem mundant,” “Urina” (vol. i. p. 330, a 38); “Sanguinem sistunt,” “Urina hominis cum cinere vitis” (vol. i. p. 466, a 26); “Scabei,” “Scabiei ulcerosa conferunt,” “Urina” (vol. i. p. 330, a 8); “Sciatica conferunt,” “Stercus vaccarum et Caprarum cum adipe porci” (vol. i. p. 390, a 5); for scrofula “Stercus Caprarum” (vol. i. p. 388, a 11); “Lentiginibus conferunt,” “stercus lupi” (vol. i. p. 387, b 66); “Erysipelati conferunt,” “fex urinæ hominis” (vol. i. p. 330, a 11); while for the same disease, as well as for “excoriationi conferunt” were prescribed “stercus cameli et pecudis” (vol. i. p. 388, a 11); “Urinæ fex,” (idem, vol. i. p. 408, a 39); “Lapidi conferunt,” “Stercus muris cum thure” (vol. i. p. 390, b 2); again (vol. i. p. 361, a 60); “urina porci” (vol. i. p. 408, a 66).
Lizard-dung an ingredient in a collyrium (vol. ii. p. 322, a 34).
“Matricis dolores conferunt,” “urina hominis decocta cum porris” (vol. i. p. 408, b 1). Goat-dung “Matrici fluxui conferunt,” “stercus caprarum siccum” (vol. i. p. 388, a 15, and vol. i. p. 390, a 50).
For epilepsy, one of the remedies was “stercus cameli” (vol. i. p. 338, a 6). Yellow jaundice, “Icteritias conferunt,” “urina mulieris cum aqua mellis” (vol. i. p. 330, a 31); for burns, “Stercus caprarum et ovium cum aceto” (vol. i. p. 389, b 62). Another remedy for burns was, “Stercus columbarum cum melle et semine lini” (vol. i. p. 389, b 65).
“Impetigine conferunt,” “urina” (vol. i. p. 330, a 10); for ulcers, “Stercus cameli et pecudis” (vol. i. p. 388, a 9); also for the same, “stercus canis ab ossibus cum mellis” (vol. i. p. 390, a 2); also “urina asini et hominis” (vol. i. p. 408, a 31); human urine again prescribed for ulcers, in vol. i. p. 231, 646.
“Stercoris muris decoctio” alleviated difficulty in urination (vol. i. p. 361, a 63). “Impetigine conferunt,” “stercus columbarum et turdorum” (vol. i. p. 390, a 1).
As a cure for the wounds of Armenian arrows (9, “De sagittis Armenis”) Avicenna says: “Jam parvenit ad me quod potus stercoris humani est theriaca ad illud” (vol. i. p. 305, a 5). (“Theriaca” means literary a remedy for the bites of serpents and wild beasts, but in the present case it is used to mean a panacea.)
For poisonous bites, “ad morsum viperarum et omnium venenosorum animalium” “et iterum quæ bonæ sunt” (“Medicinæ” understood) “est stercus caprinum commixtum in vino et detur in potu” (vol. ii. p. 227, b 36); “Urina hominis” also prescribed for the same in the same paragraph. The dung of goats, mixed with pepper and cinnamon, a provocative of the menses (vol. i. p. 390, a 49).
The dung of mice prescribed internally for the cure of running from the ears, to aid in the expulsion of the after-birth, calculus, poison of venomous reptiles, etc. (vol. i. pp. 361, a 58).
“Matrici fluxui conferunt,” “stercus caprarum siccum” (vol. i. p. 388, a 15, and vol. i. pp. 390, a 50).
“Spasma conferunt,” “Urina” (vol. i. p. 408, a 40); “Splenis duritiei conferunt,” “Stercus caprarum” (vol. i. p. 30, a 50).
“Ano conferunt,” “Urina infantium lactentium” (vol. i. p. 408, a 55).
“Stercus pecudis adustum cum aceto” was prescribed for the bite of a mad dog (vol. i. pp. 388, a 21); “Urina cum nitro” (idem, vol. i. p. 408, b 7); “Canis stercus pro anginæ curatione” (vol. i. p. 616, a 59).