HUMAN ORDURE.
Beckherius cites a case where its use for three days cured a man of yellow jaundice; dried, powdered, and drunk in wine, it cured febrile paroxysms (p. 112); it was recommended to be that of a boy fed for some time on bread and beans.
To smell human ordure in the morning, fasting, protected from plague (pp. 112, 113).
He also gives the mode of preparing “zibethum,” or “occidental sulphur” (p. 116).
As a cure for angina a mixture was prescribed containing the white dung of dogs; also human ordure, swallow-dung, licorice, and candy (p. 113). In cancer, human ordure was applied as a plaster, mixed with turpentine, tobacco, antimony, powdered litharge, powdered crabs, etc. (pp. 113, 114).
He also gives the formulas for preparing aqua and oleum ex stercore humano (p. 114). In other places the use of ordure and urine in medicine is mentioned as a matter of course.—(See p. 274; also under the headings of “Ass,” “Mouse,” “Horse,” etc.; again, pp. 114, 192 et seq.)
Beckherius gives a list of a number of preparations which to our more enlightened view of such things must appear trivial, and need not be repeated here in detail,—such as one for “extracting the vitriol of metals,” etc. Into the preparation of all these human urine entered.
Potable gold was made with a menstruum of spirits of wine and human urine, half and half (pp. 100-102); there was an “oil of sulphur” prepared from human urine (103); there was a “precipitate of mercury and urine” (idem); there was finally a ludum urinæ, the residuum after the distillation of the aqua or the spiritus respectively, which was prescribed medicinally in the same way as these were (pp. 109, 110).
Von Helmont called the salt obtained by the distillation of human urine “duelech.” (See “Oritrike, or Physicke Refined,” John Baptist von Helmont, English translation, London, 1662, pp. 847-849.) This was the name generally given by Paracelsus to the stone in the bladder. Von Helmont instances a cure of tympanitis or dropsy by a belly-plaster of hot cow-dung, and adds, “Neither, therefore, doth Paracelsus vainly commend dungs, seeing that they are the salts of putrefied meats” (p. 520).
Petræus (Henricus) Nosolog. Harmon. lib. i. dissertat. 13, p. 252, et Joh. Schæderas, pharmacop. med. chym. lib. v. p. 829, “stercus siccatum tritum et cum melle illitum ad anguinam curandam magni usus esse dicunt.”—(“Bib. Scatalogica,” p. 84.)
The ponderous tomes of Michael Etmuller contain all that was known or believed in on this subject at the time of their publication, A.D. 1690. He gives reasons for the employment of each excrement, solid or liquid, human or animal, which need not be detailed at this moment.
Human urine. “Urina calif. exsiccat, resolvit, abstergit, discutit, mundificat, putredini resistit, ideoque usus est præcipue intrinsecus in obstructione epatis, lienis, vesicæ, biliaræ, pestis preservatione, hydrope, ictero.... Exstrinsecus siccat scabiem, resolvit tumores, mundificat vulnera etiam venenata, arcet gangrænam, solvit alvum (in clysmata) abstergit furfures capitis.... compescit febriles insullus (pulsui applicata) exulceratas aures sanat (instillata pueri urina) oculorum tubedine subvenit (instillata) artuum tremorem tollit (lotione) uvulæ tumorem discutit (gargas), lienis dolores sedat (cum cinere cataplasmata).”
From the urine of a wine-drinking boy, “urina pueri (ann. 12) vinum bibentis,” distilled over human ordure, was made “spiritus urinæ” of great value in the expulsion of calculi, although it stunk abominably, “sed valde fœtet.” This was employed in the treatment of gout, asthma, calculi, and diseases of the bladder. (Etmuller, “Schroderi Diluc.,” vol. ii. p. 265.) There are several other methods given of obtaining this “spiritus urinæ per distillationem.”
Then there was a “spiritus urinæ per putrefactionem.” To make this, the urine of a boy twelve years old, who had been drinking wine, was placed in a receptacle, surrounded by horse-dung for forty days, allowed to putrefy, then decanted upon human ordure, and distilled in an alembic, etc. There were other methods for making this also, but this one will suffice. The resulting fluid was looked upon as a great “anodyne” for all sorts of pains, and given both internally and externally, as well as in scurvy, hypochondria, cachexy, yellow and black jaundice, calculi of the kidneys and bladder, epilepsy, and mania.
“Potable gold” was made from this spirit. “Idem spiritus optime purificatus (scil. aliquoties) in aqua pluvia solvendo et distillando cumque spiritus vini analytice unitus solvit aurum, unde aurum potabile” (vol ii. p. 266).
A urine bath was good for gout in the feet. A drink of one’s own urine was highly praised as a preservative from the plague. “Urinæ: Potus urinæ propriæ laudatur in preservanda et curanda peste.” Such a draught was also used by women in labor. “Urinæ hausta a mulieribus parturientibus partum facilitat.” Clysters of urine were administered in tympanites, or dropsy of the belly. Urine was applied in ulcerations of the ears.
Saltpetre was formerly made from earth, lime, etc., saturated with human urine, ordure, etc.
The “spiritus urinæ” obtained by the distillation of urine, removed obstructions from the bladder, meatus, etc., expelled calculi, and was a diaphoretic and an anti-scorbutic; it was likewise used in the cure of hypochondria, cachexy, chlorosis, etc., taken internally.
From the distillation of vitriol and urine an anti-epileptic medicine was obtained.—(Idem, vol. ii. p. 271.)
From the above-mentioned “spiritus urinæ per distillationem” was prepared “magisterium urinæ seu microcosmi,” useful in cases of atrophy; it also prevented the pains of the stone, if taken monthly before the new moon.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 266.)
Human ordure. “Stercus (carbon humanum Paracelsi, aliis sulph. occiden.) emollit, maturat, anodynum est. Ea propter magni usus ad mitigandum dolores incantatione introductos (impositum) ad anthraces pestilentiales maturandos, ad phlegmonem, v. g. gutturis seu anginam curandam (siccatum, tritum et cum melle illitum) ad inflammationem vulnerum arcendam. Quin et intrinsecus a nonnullis adhibetur in angina (crematum et potui datum), in febribus ad paroxysmos profligandos (eodem modo propinatum dos. 32), in epilepsia, quam stercus primum infantuli siccatum et pulverisatum, et ad complures dies exhibitum, radicitus evellere aiunt” (vol. ii. p. 266).
He alludes to the “aqua” and the “oleum” “ex stercore distillatum,” both used in ophthalmic diseases, as cosmetics to restore color to the face, to restore and produce hair, to cure tumors and fistulas, and remove cicatrices, and for the cure of epilepsy. “Interne prodesse aiunt comitialibus et hydropicis, lapidemque renum et vesicæ pellere, morsibusque canis rabidi, venenatorumque animalium subvenire.” The “oleum ex stercore” had to be prepared from the ordure of a young man, not a boy, “juvenis, non pueri” (vol. ii. p. 266).
Etmuller tells the same story we have already had from so many other sources, in regard to the medicinal properties ascribed to human ordure. It was looked upon as a valuable remedy, applied as a poultice for all inflammations and suppurations, carbuncles and pest buboes, administered for the cure of bites of serpents, and all venomous animals. It should be taken raw, dried, or in drink. It was the only specific against the bites of the serpents of India, especially the “napellus,” whose bite kills in four hours unless the patient adopts this method of cure. It was considered a specific against the plague, and of great use in effecting “magico-magnetic” or “sympathetic or transplantation” cures. It was also in high repute for baffling the efforts of witches.
“Water distilled from ordure was good for sore eyes, especially if the man whose ordure was used had been fed only on bread and wine. This was administered internally for dropsy, calculus, epilepsy, bites of mad dogs, carbuncles, etc.” (vol. ii. p. 272).
“Zibetta occidentalis nihil est aliud quam stercus mediante digestione ad suavolentiam redactum, qua Zibettam mentitur; vid. Agricola,” vol. ii. p. 266.
Of the value of this “zibethum” Etmuller quotes from an older authority: “Rosencranzerus in Astron. inferior (p. 232), dicit quod zibethum humanum ... si illinatur parti genitali mulieris fœmina attrahat fœtum et precaveatur abortus” (vol. ii. p. 272).
Human ordure, containing as it does “an anodyne sulphur, ... destructive of acids,” was supposed to be beneficial in burns, inflammations, and as a plaster for the dispersal of plague buboes.... “In insulis Botiis dictis, gens quoddam serpentis repiriri, cujus morsum mors sequatur, nisi stercus proprium demorsi mox assumatur. Tandem aqua stercoris humani cosmetica, ab aliis ophthalmatica censetur sic ut et ejusdem oleum contra cancrum mammarum specifice commendatur” (vol. ii. p. 171).
“In stercoribus animalium magna latet vis medica, ratione scilicet salis volatilis; in specie stercus porcinum omnes hæmorrhagias ad miraculum sistit, sive in forma pulveris ad ʒ i., sive in forma electuarii adhibens; annus est quo rustica quædam post abortum insigne patiebatur mensium profluvium cui cum meo suasu maritus inscie propinasset stercus suillum, fluxus cessavit et mulier pristinæ reddita sanitati. Stercus equinum summum est remedium in passione hysterica, et doloribus colicis, si succus expressus cum cerevisia vel vino propinetur; sic quoque conducit in variolis et morbilis infantum, propinatus cum cerevisia calida, qui optime per sudorem expellit ut taceam de effectu quem præstat in pleuritide laudando.
“Ut ita licet volatilia in uno puncto convenire videantur, diversis tamen, ratione diversæ et specificæ cujuslibet craseus medeantur morbos.” (vol. ii. sect. 3, “Pyrotechnia Rationalis,”—“de Animalibus,” Etmuller, “Opera Omnia,” xx.)
“Animalium omnium participant de natura salis ammoniaci constant quippe (are certainly known) ex acido et alcali oleoso volatili indeque, auræ beneficio alterantur in nitro, præsertim avium excrementa quicquid igitur præstant, operantur ex vi salis ammoniacali” (vol. ii. p. 171).
The use of animal dungs was noted, but not unqualifiedly commended by Etmuller, in the following cases: dog-dung, mixed with honey, for inflammation of the throat; wolf-dung, in form of powder, as an anti-colic.
Dog-dung (album Græcum officinalis) was regarded as useful in dysentery, epilepsy, colic; was applied externally in angina, malignant ulcers, hard tumors, warty growths, etc. Especial value was attached to such dung gathered in the month of July, from a bone-fed dog, because it was whiter, purer, and less fetid. Dog-urine was employed as a lotion for warty growths, ulcers on the head, etc. (vol. ii. p. 253).
“Dicitur in officinis semper album Græcum, nunquam stercus.” The dog “debite nutriatur cum ossibus solis, cum nullo vel pauco potu” (vol. ii. p. 254).
Goat-dung was used in hard tumors of the spleen and other parts of the body; in buboes, ear-abscesses, inveterate ulcers, dropsy, scabby head, lichen, etc. (p. 254). In all these its use was external, but for other troubles of the spleen, yellow jaundice, retention of the menses, and similar ailments, it was given internally. Goat-urine was given internally in removal of calculi, urinary troubles, and (after distillation) for dropsy. The egestæ of the wild goat were used for almost identically the same disorders (vol. ii. p. 254).
The juice of horse-dung was used by the English in colic, pleurisy, and hysteria.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 254.)
Pig-dung, dried, snuffed up into the nostrils, cured nasal hemorrhages. Compare this with the use made of the dried excrement of the Grand Lama as a sternutatory and general curative.
Hyena-dung was used in medicine, but the diseases are not mentioned.
Sparrow-dung and mouse-dung, if made into pills, and taken to the number of nine, would bring on the menses of women.
Cow-dung was recommended as a fomentation in gout.
The use of cow-dung, internally, was highly commended for expelling calculi and for the cure of retention of urine, on account of the “volatile nitrous salts which ascended in the alembic, and which had a good effect upon the kidneys.”
The common people drank the juice expressed from this dung in all cases of colic and pleurisy, for which they found it a beneficial medicine. “Ulterius valde convenit ad pellendum calculum et ciendam urinam propter sal. vol. nitrosum qui ascendit per alembicam unde ad nephritidem et ciendam urinam valde commendatur a poterio.... Plebii in colico dolore succum ex stercore propinant, quod verum est, non solum in colico sed etiam in pleuritide præsentaneum remedium” (vol. ii. pp. 249, 250).
The juice of young geese, gathered in the month of March, was used in jaundice and cachexy.... Hen-dung was sometimes employed as a substitute for goose-dung. Peacock-dung was employed in all cases of vertigo.... Swallow-dung was used in cases of angina and inflammation of the tonsils (vol. ii. p. 171).
Hawk-dung was used for sore eyes. Duck-dung “fimus morsui venenatorum animalium imponitur” (vol. ii. p. 286).
Goat-dung, drunk in cases of hemorrhage.... Goat-urine considered a specific for the expulsion of calculi of the bladder. Asses’ urine drunk for diseases of the kidneys, atrophy, paralysis, consumption, etc. Asses’ dung taken internally in form of powder or potion, and applied also externally in all cases of hemorrhage, excessive uterine flow, and troubles of that nature (vol. ii. p. 247). It was thought by some to be best when gathered in the month of May; others thought that dog-dung should be substituted. Cow-urine was a beneficial application to sore eyes.
Cow-dung was used in all cases of burns, inflammations, rheumatism, etc., “apum ac vesparum morsibus.” (We have already seen that it has been used for bee stings in the State of New Jersey.) “Suffitu reprimit uterum prolapsum.” Finally, it was used as a plaster in dropsy.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 248.)
Dove-dung was applied generally in cataplasms and rubefacient plasters for the cure of rheumatism, headache, vertigo, colic pains, apoplexy; also in boils, scorbutic swellings, etc., and drunk as a cure for dropsy.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 287.)
Quail-dung, “fimum in vino potum, dysenteriam sanare tradit Kynarides” (vol. ii. p. 288).
Fresh calf-dung was rubbed on the skin for the cure of erysipelas.
Fox-dung was applied externally for the cure of all cutaneous disorders (vol. ii. pp. 283-285).
Kid-dung (Capreolus or Chevreuil) was drunk as a cure for yellow jaundice (vol. ii. p. 257).
Cat-dung was applied as a poultice to scab in the head and to gout in the feet (vol. ii. p. 259).
Horse-dung, fresh or burnt to ashes, was applied externally as a styptic, used as a fumigation to aid in the expulsion of the fœtus and after-birth; also drunk as a potion for colic pains, strangulation of the uterus, expulsion of the fœtus and after-birth, and for pleurisy. “Stercus equinum est medicina magni et multi usus.... Interne succus ex stercore recenti expressus.” For the certain cure of pleurisy, it should be the dung of a young stallion, especially if oat-fed. “In Angina certe stercus equinum non cedit stercori hirundinum ... et canis” (vol. ii. p. 263).
Lion-dung, taken internally, was an anti-epileptic.
Hare-dung was administered internally in calculus and dysentery, and externally for burns.
Hare-urine was applied in ear troubles.
Wolf-dung was found efficacious, taken internally, in colic.
Musk was frequently given, mixed with zibethum, as a carminative; also as a nervine and a cardiac.
Mouse-dung found its advocates as a remedy, given internally, in the constipation of children, calculi, used in enemata.
The internal administration of rat-dung removed catamenial obstructions.
Mouse-dung was styled “album nigrum;” dog-dung, “album Græcum.”
Sheep-dung was administered internally in yellow jaundice; “maximi usus in aurigine, sumptum cum petroselino” (rock-parsley),—while, externally, it was applied to hard tumors, swellings, boils, burns, etc.
The urine of red or black sheep was given internally in dropsy. “Urina (nigræ vel rubræ ovis) sumpta, aquam inter cutem abigit.” The dose was from five to six ounces.
Hog-dung, externally, in cutaneous disorders, bites of venomous animals, nasal hemorrhage,—for the cure of this last even the odor was sufficient; “sufficit etiam odor.”
Michaelus Etmuller, “Opera Omnia,” “Schroderi dilucidati Zoölogia,” Lyons, 1690, vol. ii. pp. 263-279, inclusive.
Quail-dung was administered for epilepsy when the bird had been fed on hellebore.—(Etmuller, “Opera Omnia,” “Schrod. Diluc. Zoöl.” vol. ii. p. 288.)
Cuckoo-dung, taken in drink, cured the bites of mad dogs.—(Idem.)
White hen-dung was preferred for medicinal purposes. It was employed for the same ailments as dove-dung, but was not believed to be so efficacious. It was especially valuable in colic and uterine pains, in yellow jaundice, calculus, abscesses in the side, suppression of urine, etc. (vol. ii. p. 289).
There was another cure for the bites of mad dogs,—the dung of the swallow taken internally. It was also considered to be a cure for colic pains and kidney troubles, and was made into a suppository in cases of irritation of the rectum (vol. ii. p. 290).
Kite-dung was sometimes applied externally in pains of the joints (vol. ii. p. 291).
As a purgative, starling dung is enumerated in this strange list of filthy medicaments (vol. ii. p. 292).
The egestæ of wild oxen was used for the same therapeutical purposes as the excrement of the domesticated bovines (vol. ii. p. 252).
Peacock-dung. “Stercus proprietate vertiginem et epilepsiam sanat (in dies multos exhibitum).” It should be administered in wine, and the treatment was to be persisted in from the new until the full moon, or longer. “Continuando a novilunio usque ad plenilunium, aut amplius.... In epilepsiam est specificum magno usu expertum.” It was likewise considered of great value in the cure of vertigo, but the dung of the cock should be given to men; that of the hen, to women. Etmuller, however, did not think this distinction to be necessary (vol. ii. pp. 292, 293).
The dung of geese, old or young, was employed in the treatment of yellow jaundice, for which it was believed to be a specific. The dose was one scruple. The geese should have been fed on “herba chelidonii.” Next to the yellow jaundice, it was of special value in scurvy, taken either in the form of a powder or a decoction. For the cure of dropsy it was the main ingredient in several of the remedies prescribed. It was also the principal component in the manufacture of “aqua ophthalmica Imperatoris Maximiliani,” to prepare which, the dung of young geese was gathered in the months of April and May (vol. ii. p. 287).
Stork-dung, stercus ciconiæ. Believed to be potential in epilepsy and diseases of the same type. “Stercus, si ex aqua hauritur, comitialibus aliisque morbis capitis prodesse credunt.”—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 287.)
The laxative properties of mouse-dung were extolled by Dr. Jacob Augustine Hunerwolf, in “Ephemeridum Physico-Medicarum,” Leipzig, 1694, vol. i. p. 189.
Rosinus Lentilius relates that there was a certain old hypochondriac, of fifty or more, who, in order to ease himself of an obstinate constipation, for more than a month drank copious draughts of his own urine, fresh and hot, but with the worst results, “Per mensem circiter urinam suam statim a mictu calentem ipsa matuta hauriret.”—(In “Ephem. Physico-Medicarum,” Leipzig, 1694, vol. ii. p. 169.)
On the page just cited and those immediately following, can be found some ten or twelve pages of fine print, quarto, elucidative of the uses of the human excreta, medicinally, and as a matter of morbid appetite.
To the Ephemeridum, Dr. Lentilius also contributed a careful résumé of all that was at that time known of the medicinal or other form of the internal employment of the human excreta; he premised his remarks by saying that while some persons sent to foreign countries and ransacked their woods and forests for medicines, there were others who sought their remedies nearer home, and did not disdain the employment of the vilest excrements. “I am not speaking now,” he remarks, “of the excrements of animals, but of human ordure and human urine. We know,” he continues, “that horse-dung is used for the cure of colic, pig-dung for checking internal hemorrhages, dog-dung or album Græcum for angina, goose-dung for yellow jaundice, peacock-dung for vertigo, and goat-dung, in Courland beer, for malignant fevers.” The Mexicans used human ordure as an antidote against serpent bites in two-scruple doses, drunk in some convenient liquor: “De homerda contra venenatos Mexicano—serpentis ictus—ad ʒ ii. in convenienti liquore hausta” (p. 170). The same mixture was drunk by the Japanese, as a remedy against the wounds made by poisoned weapons: “De eadem mixtura sed e stercore proprio confusa contra telorum venena Japonensibus pota.” Observe that in this last case the ordure had to be that of the wounded man himself.
Etmuller recommends its use in expelling from the system the virus of “napelli” whatever that may have been. To cure the plague, the patient was to consume a quantity equal in size to a filbert. To frustrate the effects of incantation and witchcraft, it had to be drunk in oil. Used in the same manner, it was supposed to be of use in expelling worms: “De eadem mixtura, sed a stercore proprio,” etc., as already quoted. “De stercore humano, seu recente seu arido, adsunto ad expugnandum napelli virus, etiam a nostratibus commendato, de quo vid. Etmuller, etc.... In peste fuganda mane ad avellanas quantitatem devorando, ... ad morbos e fascino ex aceto propinato ... ad expellendos vermes eodem modo usurpato.” He alludes also to “Oletum” and the medicines made with it, as an ingredient; but says he will leave “Zibethum” and “Occidental Sulphur” to Paracelsus and the members of his school. He quotes Galen as recommending the drinking of the urine of a stout, healthy boy, as a preventive of the plague. “Urina pueri sani bibita ... preservans a peste,” quoting Galen, lib. x. “De Simp. Med. Fac.” A draught of her husband’s urine was of great assistance to a woman in uterine troubles: “Sic, in δυσοχία urinæ maritalis haustum concelebrant alii.” The urine of a chaste boy was much commended by many writers for internal use in dropsy, splenic inflammation, etc. “Sic urinam impolluti pueri quotidie potum, esse medicamentum laudabile et præsentaneum, ad lienis morbos et hydropem.” It would be useless to quote further in the words of the original. Lentilius goes on to say that a potion of one’s own urine was extolled in the treatment of the bites of snakes, wounds by deadly weapons, incipient dropsy and consumption.
To drink one’s own urine for the space of three days was a sure cure for the yellow jaundice, also in preserving from the plague. But Von Helmont was of the opinion that in this last case its virtues were derived from the fact that it was a stimulant and served to keep up the spirits. By Etmuller, its use was strongly recommended in the treatment of the yellow jaundice, etc. (citing Etmuller). It was likewise highly extolled by Avicenna.
We are next treated to a feast of big words, in which we learn that on account of its “nitrosity” and “volatility,” it was regarded as a “detersive,” and “penetrative,” while, on account of the alkali it contained, it was a neutralizer of the “fermenting acids,” and therefore applicable in cardialgia, anorexia, gout, toothache, colic, yellow jaundice, and intermittent fevers, either the urine “of the patient himself or that of a wine-drinking boy.”
Boyle, the eminent philosopher, is quoted as saying that, in his opinion, the virtues of human urine, as a medicine, internally and externally, would require a volume by themselves. Boyle is also credited with having published a tract on this subject, in Leipzig, 1692, over the signature “B.”
Lentilius devotes a number of pages of close, logical reasoning to demonstrate the fallacy of supposing that human excreta can be of any possible utility in therapeutics. According to his opinion, Nature voided them from the body because the body had no further use for them; therefore, their re-absorption could scarcely be other than deleterious; this was all the more true in disease, because the patient being in a morbid state, that which he ejected could by no process of correct reasoning be regarded as healthy. This argument, although of great interest and value, is very long and pertains rather to the history of medicine proper than to this essay.
Lentilius concludes by saying that no more cruel threat could be made than that of Sennacherib against the Jews that he would make them eat their own excrement and drink the water which bathed his feet: “Quam futurum esse, ut quisquis sua stercora voraturus, et aquam pedum suorum bibiturus sit.” Esa. 36, ver. 12. “Væ miseris ægrotis, quo rumores ad urinæ potum rediit.”—(In “Ephem. Phys. Medic.” Leipzig, 1694, vol. ii. pp. 169 to 176, inclusive; the pages are quarto, the number of words to the page about 375.)
Lentilius has either stolen bodily from Paullini, or anticipated him; he has all of Paullini’s facts, but seems, in addition, to have been much of a philosopher, which Paullini was not.
Christian Franz Paullini’s “Filth Pharmacy,” Frankfort, 1696, is better known than any other of the works cited, being in German, of small size, and confining itself almost exclusively to a recapitulation of diseases, with the appropriate excrementitious curative opposite each.
Six different editions are contained in the Library of the U. S. Army Medical Museum, in Washington; of these, that of Frankfort, 1696 (268 pages, duodecimo), was selected, and the work of translation entrusted to Messrs. Smith and Pratz; being perfectly familiar with English and German, their interpretation, made slowly and carefully, may be relied on as minutely correct.
Paullini has done nothing beyond collecting his ample list of cases in which the human and animal excreta were employed in the treatment of diseases; he has in no instance ventured upon an explanation of the reason for such use, such as Etmuller supplied.
He treats of the employment of human ordure and urine, and animal excreta, in the following diseases: headache, insomnia, vertigo, dementia, melancholia, mania, gout, convulsions, palsy, epilepsy, sore eyes, cataract, ophthalmia, ear troubles, bleeding of the nose, nasal polypi, carious teeth, dropsy of the head, wens, asthmatic troubles, coughs, spitting of blood, consumption, pleurisy, fainting spells, diseases of the mammary glands, tumors, colic, abnormal appetite, worms, hernia, sciatica, ulceration of the bowels, constipation, diarrhœa, dysentery, obstructions of the liver, dropsy, jaundice, kidney troubles, gravel, stone, retention of urine, excessive flow of urine, impaired virility, swelling of the testicles, uterine displacements, menstrual troubles, sterility, accidents to pregnant women, miscarriages, difficult labor, pains after childbirth, gout of feet, rheumatism, fevers of all kinds, poisons, plague, syphilitic and venereal diseases, abscesses, sprains, contusions, bruises, wounds, ring-worm, felons, itch, freckles, as a cosmetic, for rash, tetter, loss of hair, lice, gangrene, colds, warts, fissure of the rectum, fistulas, corns, bunions, love-potions, and to baffle witchcraft.
For headache, pigeon-dung was used internally, and the dung of a red cow and of the peacock, externally.
Insomnia, donkey-dung, internally; gout and pigeon dung, externally. Human urine was also used for the same purpose (pp. 28, 29).
Vertigo. Pigeon, peacock, and squirrel dung, all used internally.
Dementia. Donkey-dung, externally.
Melancholia. Calf or ox dung, internally; owl-dung, externally.
Mania. Human ordure, internally; boy’s urine, internally, and also owl’s and chicken’s dung, internally.
Gout. Boy’s urine, externally, and owl’s, jenny’s, horse’s, cow’s, deer’s, and sow’s dung, externally.
Convulsions. Peacock and horse dung, externally.
Palsy. Let the patient wash with his own urine or that of a young boy (pp. 28, 29); administer peacock’s or horse’s dung internally.
For the cure of the dread disease, epilepsy, human ordure and the urine of boys were administered internally, and there were likewise internal applications of the dung of horses, peacocks, mice, dogs, black cows, lions, storks, and wild hogs; no external applications are noted for this disease (pp. 28, 29, 42, 43).
Another remedy for epilepsy was to take the excrements of a fine, healthy youth, dry them, and extract the oil by means of heat; rectify this oil and take inwardly (pp. 42, 43).
For inflamed and running eyes make a collyrium of the warm urine of young boys, mingled with other ingredients. Make an external application of boys’ urine, or of the dung of swallows, pigeons, cows, goats, prairie hens, horses, lizards, doves. There was no internal administration of any of the above suggested.
For ophthalmic troubles, the same treatment as the above.
Cataract. Make an external application of human ordure, of boy’s urine, or of the dung of wolves, green lizards, or geese.
Earache or ringing in the ear, or abscesses. Apply the urine of young boys mixed with honey, or apply fresh human urine.
Other ear troubles. External application of boy’s urine or of the patient’s own urine; external application of the dung of the white goat, or pigeon’s, cat’s, deer’s, rabbit’s, jenny’s, wild hog’s or wolf’s dung.
Bleeding at the nose. External application of dog’s urine, of horse urine, or of the dung of calf, donkey, hog, cow, horse, camel, or rabbit.
Nasal polypi. Dung of dog or donkey, externally.
Toothache or carious teeth. One’s own ordure, or the dung of wolf, dog, raven, mouse, or horse, in all cases externally (pp. 52, 53).
Toothache. Apply a poultice of human excrement, mixed with camomile-flowers, to the cheek.
Dropsy of the head. Take boy’s urine internally.
Croup and throat troubles generally. Boy’s urine, both internally and externally; a gargle and a potion of one’s own urine; and both internal and external applications of the white dung of dogs, gathered in July; or the dung of geese, pigeons, eagles, goats, owls, hens, or wolves.
Asthmatic troubles. Salts of urine or pigeon’s dung, externally.
Coughs. The dung of dogs, internally, or the dung of geese; the dung of ravens, deer, or sparrows, externally.
Spitting of blood. The excreta of wild sows, doves, sheep, cows, horses, mice, dogs, or peacocks, internally.
Consumption. The patient’s ordure, internally; his own or a boy’s urine, or mice-dung, internally (pp. 74, 75).
Another remedy for consumption was to let the patient drink a mixture of his own urine beaten up with fresh egg; repeat for several successive mornings; also, let him eat his own excrement (pp. 74, 76).
For pleurisy, we read that there was an external application of the patient’s own urine, or that the dung of donkeys, horses, stallions, mares, hens, pigeons, and dogs was given internally.
Fainting-spells. Human ordure, externally; one’s own urine, internally; cow-urine or the dung of horses, sheep, or birds, externally.
Diseases of the mammary glands. The dung of cows or mice, internally, and also an external application of that of oxen, goats, hogs, dogs, cows, or pigeons.
Cancer of the breast. The patient’s own ordure internally, with external applications of the dung of geese, cows, goats, or rabbits.
Wens. External applications of the dung of cows, rats, mice, goats, sheep, geese, pigeons, or jennies.
Colic. Human ordure, internally; “Eau de Millefleurs,” internally (we know that “Eau de Millefleurs” was itself a composition of cow-dung); take bees internally (the only instance recorded of such a use of this insect), or the dung of horses, cats, swallows, or chickens, externally.
A youth in Leyden fell madly in love with a young girl, but could not get the consent of his parents to marry her. He was seized with a violent fever and constipation. In this desperate condition he imagined that a drink of fresh urine from his beloved would benefit him; he accordingly wrote to her, begging her to satisfy his longing, which she accordingly granted, and after drinking of the beverage to his heart’s content, he found immediate relief (whether from the constipation or the passion Paullini neglects to state).—(Paullini, pp. 106, 107.)
Abnormal appetite. The same remedies as are enumerated for colic, q. v.
Worms. The patient’s own urine, internally; the dung of horses or cows or hogs, internally.
Hernia. Rabbit-dung, internally.
Sciatica. External application of the dung of goats, pigeons, horses, or chickens.
Constipation. Human ordure, internally; human urine, internally; or the excreta of sows, mice, chickens, geese, sparrows, magpies, or pigeons internally.
Diarrhœa. Dog-dung, internally; sow, donkey, or cow dung, externally.
Dysentery. The patient’s own ordure or that of a boy, internally; human urine, internally; or the excreta of dogs, horses, hogs, crows, rabbits, donkeys, mules, or elephants, internally.
Obstructions of the liver. Salts of urine, internally; or the dung of geese, swallows, or deer, internally.
Dropsy. Human ordure, internally; the patient’s own urine or that of a boy, internally; or external applications of dung of geese, chickens, goats, donkeys, dogs, deer, horses, or sheep, internally.
Kidney troubles. Human urine, both internally and externally; goose-dung, internally; sheep-dung, externally; donkey or deer dung, internally.
Kidney diseases, stone in the bladder. Take internally human urine or water, distilled over human ordure, or the dried catamenia of women, or the scrapings of chamber-pots taken in brandy.—(Paullini, pp. 142, 143.)
Gravel. The patient’s own urine, internally; or the dung of pigeons, rats, chickens, mice, wild hogs, or donkeys, both internally and externally.
Excessive urination. The dung of goats, mice, or wild hog, internally.
Difficult urination. The urine of a girl, internally; the urine of the patient, both internally and externally; the dung of sparrows, internally; or the dung of donkeys, goats, chickens, geese, roosters, or pigeons, externally.
Impaired virility and swelling of the testicles. The dung of prairie hens, or that of sparrows, internally; or the dung of rabbits, bulls, cows, or goats, externally.
Uterine displacements. Human ordure, internally; the dung of falcons, horses, or bulls, internally, or the dung of sows, donkeys, or sheep. Human excrement was applied outwardly in treatment of falling of the womb; this was also considered a good method of treating inflammation of the vagina; stale urine and the steam of old socks, and asses’ dung, was applied outwardly. The scrapings of chamber vessels was taken inwardly, mixed with other ingredients (pp. 154, 155).
For menstrual troubles menstrual blood was administered internally; the urine of boys, internally; the excreta of donkeys and rabbits, both internally and externally; and those of hogs, rats, and horses, externally.
For cessation of the menses. Take internally pulverized menses dried, and wear a chemise smeared with human blood (most probably the chemise of a woman who had been more fortunate in her purgation); or boil boys’ urine and garlic together, and inhale the steam (p. 158).
Gout, rheumatism. The patient’s own urine, both internally and externally; the urine of boys, externally; the dung of mice or rabbits, internally; the excreta of cows, bulls, calves, donkeys, pigeons, peacocks, storks, dogs, goats, or wild hogs, externally.
Another remedy for gout and rheumatism was the excreta of chickens, dogs, or cocks, internally.
Tertiary fever. Human ordure and urine, internally; the excreta of sows, donkeys, chickens, and swallows, and the white dung of dogs, internally.
Quaternary fever. The ordure of infants, internally; the urine of an old woman, mixed with donkey-dung, externally; the dung of geese gathered in May, of dogs, of sparrows, chickens, and sheep, internally; and cat-dung, externally.
Malignant fevers. The urine of the patient, internally; the urine of a jenny, internally; the dung of a red cow, of a reindeer, horse, sheep, or goat, internally; no external applications in this case.
Antidotes for poisons. Human ordure internally, and human urine both internally and externally; the excreta of hogs, ducks, swallows, goats, calves, or chickens, internally; of pigeons, cows, sheep, donkeys, and horses, externally.
Plague. Human ordure and urine, internally; bull-dung, internally; the dung of cows, chickens, or pigeons, externally.
Syphilis and venereal diseases. Human urine, internally, also externally; and the excreta of horses and dogs, externally.
Abscesses and sprains. The urine of boys, externally; the excreta of cows, goats, dogs, pigeons, chickens, camels, geese, externally; or of the wild hog, both internally and externally.
Boils. Human ordure and urine, externally; the dung of chickens, pigeons, goats, dogs, cows, bulls, sheep, or foxes, externally.
Wounds. Human ordure and urine, externally; the excreta of dogs and goats, internally; or of cows, pigeons, chickens, donkeys, and sheep, externally.
Ring-worm, felons. Human ordure, externally; menstrual blood, externally; the excreta of geese, cows, sows, cats, sheep, goats, or chickens, externally.
Itch, freckles, rash, tetter, etc. Geese-dung, internally; the excreta of donkeys, dogs, chickens, crocodiles, foxes, or pigeons, externally.
Loss of hair, lice. Human urine, externally; the excreta of pigeons, cats, rats, mice, swallows, geese, rabbits, or goats, externally.
Gangrene. The urine of a virgin, externally; the white dung of chickens, or horse-dung, externally.
Colds. Human ordure and urine, externally; the excreta of sheep, cows, bulls, chickens, hogs, pigeons, or horses, externally.
Warts. The patient’s own urine, externally; the excreta of dogs, sheep, camels, goats, cows, calves, or of a black dog, externally.
Fissure of the rectum, bunions, corns. The excreta of dogs, hogs, sheep, pigeons, chickens, goats, mice, or of cows, gathered in May, externally.
Fistula. Human ordure, externally; the dung of dogs and mice, internally.
Yellow jaundice. Take internally the oil of human excrements, or drink human urine for nine days (pp. 132, 133).
Bloody flux. Human excrements dried, taken internally, are of great benefit (pp. 108, 109).
Insomnia. Take the “Spiritus Urinæ” internally.
Fits or spasms. Take the urine of young boys internally (pp. 28 and 29.)
“Take an old rusty piece of iron, be it a horse-shoe or anything else; lay it on the fire until it be red-hot; then take it out of the fire and let the patient make water upon it and take the fume thereof at his nose and mouth, using this three days together, and it will cure him (of yellow jaundice).”—(“The Poor Man’s Physician,” John Moncrief, Edinburgh, 1716, p. 174.)
“For running ulcers of the head ... bathe the whole head with old urine.”—(Idem, p. 66.)
“To provoke flow of urine ... neat’s dung, mixt with honey, made hot, applied to the share bone.”—(Idem, p. 133.)
For stone in bladder, “mouce-dung drunk.”—(Idem, p. 134.)
“The dung, flesh, and haire of a hare drunk.”—(Idem, p. 131.)
“Goat’s-dung drunk ... for the space of three days.” (Jaundice.)—(Idem, p. 116.)
“Goat’s-dung, if drunk, brought back the catamenia.”—(Idem, p. 141.)
“Goose and hen dung, drunk with the best wine, miraculously cureth sudden suffocations of the mother.”—(Idem, p. 144.)
“For a perverse or froward mother (i. e., womb), apply stinking smells to the privities, and sweet smells to the nose.”—(Idem, pp. 144, 151.)
“For the squinsy ... take the dung of a hog, newly made and as hot as you can get it, ... apply to the place, and it cureth.”—(Idem, p. 172.)
“For all imposthemes ... the dung of a goose which had first fasted three days, and then fed on an eel before being killed,” was applied externally.—(Idem, p. 180.)
“For swellings behind the ears, ... goat-dung, boiled,” was applied as a plaster.—(Idem, p. 84.)
For boils, carbuncles, etc., “an emplaister made of the dung of a peacock cureth faithfully.”—(Idem, p. 163.)
“For the cure of fistula, ‘man’s-dung and pepper’ were to be applied externally; goat’s-dung externally; dove’s-dung was to be drunk in goat’s-milk; the juice of cow-dung, in wine, was to be cast into the fistula, and a plaster of the same was to be applied.”—(Idem, pp. 165, 166.)
“Qui mane jejune, per novem dies, bibit propriam urinam non patietur epilepsiam, paralysim, nec colicam, et qui bibit propriam urinam sanabitur a sumpto veneno.”—(Idem, pp. 169, 170.)
“D’après le témoignage de Charles Lancilotti, l’acqua di sterco humano pigliata in una calante por lo spation di nuove giorni sana quelli che patiscono il male caduco.” (Voyez Guida alla Chimica.)—(“Bib. Scatalogica,” p. 29.)
Schurig’s “Chylologia,” published in Dresden, 1725, contains citations from nearly seven hundred authorities. As these are nearly all of very ancient date, and only in a few cases accessible to scholars restricted to American libraries, this learned work of Schurig becomes all the more valuable to such as desire to study intelligently and profoundly this subject of the use of human and animal excreta in religious rites or in religious medicine.
Some of the writers quoted by Schurig favor, others oppose the medical employment of the human excretions. Among those in favor of it, according to him, may be seen the names of Galen and Dioscorides. In Schurig’s day there seems to have been much opposition developing, especially when other remedies were available; although Schurig says that the Dutch soldiers returning from the Indies spoke in praise of what they had seen there of the use of such medicaments. Among European practitioners, human ordure was employed alone, mixed with water or other ingredients, or a water and an oil were distilled from it.
It would be a useless task to repeat the names of all the authorities mentioned by this learned German, or to give in detail all the prescriptions in which the alvine dejecta figure as components. Their insertion here would add nothing to the value of these notes, as they are strictly pharmaceutical in their spirit; it may, however, be of some interest to the student to learn just what diseases were supposed to be amenable to this course of treatment, and just how the curatives were to be administered.
For angina pectoris, the ordure passed by a young boy after eating lupines, to be taken internally (p. 758). For the same disease there were other recipes for ordure in pills, plasters, and decoctions, as well as for electuaries of ordure, to be blended with honey (p. 756).
For bringing boils, ulcers, etc., to a head, for sprains, luxations, etc., a poultice of human ordure, applied hot, was considered the best specific (p. 757).
For rheumatic gout, a hot poultice of human ordure was considered of value (p. 757).
Renal calculi. “Aqua ex stercore distillata” was given internally (p. 757). For cancers and malign ulcers, human ordure was used as a local poultice; also given internally, in pills or powders. Pope Benedict was cured of a cancer by this treatment (pp. 758, 759).
Epilepsy. Peacock-dung was used internally in conjunction with human ordure (p. 762).
Erysipelas was treated with a poultice of human ordure (p. 762). “Oleum ex stercore distillatum” was also given internally (p. 762).
Cicatrices, small-pox pustules. Bathe with “aqua ex stercore distillata” (p. 760).
Gangrene, cured by application of warm ordure and urine (p. 763).
Dropsy; use “aqua ex stercore distillata” internally (p. 764).
Yellow jaundice, by human ordure drunk in wine (p. 764). Here he quotes Paullini, and others with whom we are already familiar.
Piles. Plaster of human ordure (p. 766). The same method of treatment for tumors (p. 777).
Ring-worm and other skin diseases. Use “oleum ex stercore” internally (p. 766).
Inflammation of the breasts of young mothers; local application of human ordure (p. 767).
Burns and scalds. “Aqua ex stercore” locally (p. 760). Inflammations, ditto (p. 766).
Dysentery. “Aqua ex stercore” internally (p. 761), quoting Paullini.
Empyematis. “Oleum ex stercore,” internally (p. 761).
Epilepsy. “Cured and prevented by excrement. infantis,” internally (p. 761).
For all fevers. Ordure, mixed with honey, internally, quoting Paullini (pp. 762, 763).
Fistula in ano or in lachryma. Local application of human ordure (p. 763).
Birth-marks were effaced by a plaster of human ordure, or of meconium (p. 771).
Ophthalmia, cataract, etc. Human ordure, applied as a plaster. Also, “aqua ex stercore distillata,” internally (p. 771).
Toothache. Plaster of human ordure, mixed with powdered chamomile flowers, quoting Paullini (p. 772).
Œdema. Plaster of human ordure and of cow-dung (p. 772).
Felons. Plaster of human ordure. Also, one of the same, mixed with assafœtida, quoting Paullini (p. 772).
Hysteria. Human ordure, drunk in wine (p. 773).
Bites of mad dogs, serpents, and all wild animals. Ordure, or “oleum ex stercore distillatum,” or “aqua ex stercore distillata,” internally (pp. 767, 768).
In the island of Manilla, human ordure was held in such high estimation as a remedy for the cure of the bites of all venomous animals, that it was carried fresh, or dessicated, in little pyxes or pouches suspended from the neck, ready for instant use. An example is given, on the authority of a Franciscan friar, for years a missionary in that country, of a man so bitten, and so near death that he could not open his mouth, whose teeth were pried asunder, and this remedy inserted. He recovered immediately.
Human ordure was also used internally, in Mexico, for the cure of serpent bites, as we have learned previously from other sources. (p. 767.)
For worms in the head. “Oleum ex stercore distillatum,” applied locally (p. 777).
Poisons. Human ordure, internally (pp. 777, 778).
For wounds occasioned by poisoned weapons, in the island of Macassar, human ordure was administered internally, until vomiting was induced. The same treatment was observed in Armenia, while in Celebes it was the recognized antidote against vegetable poisons, quoting Paullini (pp. 778, 779).
Plague. Human ordure and human urine were mixed together, and taken internally, to cure or prevent the plague. Human ordure was also taken alone, in the form of pills, and applied to plague buboes as a plaster. Schurig says he personally knew a certain clergyman in Dresden, in 1680, who took such pills with good effect (p. 775).
Scabs and tetter, local applications of “oleum ex stercore distil.” (p. 776).
Pleurisy, “Ol. ex sterc. dist.,” internally (p. 774).
Gout. Human ordure as a plaster, and also internally (p. 775); here he again cites Paullini, among others not known to us.