SCHURIG’S IDEAS REGARDING THE USE IN MEDICINE OF THE EGESTÆ OF ANIMALS.

Schurig devotes the fourteenth chapter of his work to a treatise “De Stercoribus Brutorum.” It is unnecessary to enter much into detail upon this point; it will be sufficient to give only a small number of the recipes, with notes upon the manner of administering, and, where possible, the opinions expressed in regard to their efficacy.

From these we may be enabled to form some idea of the line of medical thought of the ancient practitioners.

Beginning with goose-dung, we find it commended as warm and drying in its effects; an aperient and endowed with power over the menses; also over the after-birth and urine; and hence of value in jaundice, scurvy, and dropsy. It was also employed in many other diseases, principally in fevers, in whooping-cough, in cachexy, liver troubles, and when applied externally as a plaster, was of such value in the treatment of sore eyes that the Emperor Maximilian resorted to its use with the greatest advantage; again, applied as a plaster, it was used in angina and in mammary cancer. The dung of young geese was regarded as the best, and it should be gathered when possible in the early spring, preferably in the month of March, while still “green,” on the meadows; most of the old prescriptions insist upon this, as will be seen from the sample given in this paragraph.

The dose of the dried powder was from half a dram to a full dram, and it was administered in wine, or mixed with cinnamon and sugar. It was frequently combined with hen-dung, or diluted with the urine of she-goats or he-calves. Some practitioners doubted whether it was superior to dove-dung for the same diseases. When used in whooping-cough or throat swellings, it was placed under the tongue of the patient. The following are the words with which Schurig begins his panegyric upon its virtues:—

“Calefacit et siccat vehementer; incidit, aperit; menses, secundinas, et urinas potenter movet; hinc maximi usus est in morbo regio, scorbuto, et hydrope.”

℞:

Asses’ dung was considered by Schurig to be an especially good remedy in all diseases of hemorrhage. “Singulare remedium contra quamvis hæmorrhagias” (p. 800); but it had to be collected in the month of May; “Stercus asininum in Majo collectum.” It was to be taken in doses of one or more drachms, or only the juice squeezed from it into some medicinal water.

Dried in the sun, or in a warm place, it was good for bleeding at the nose; “ad solem vel in loco calido exsiccetur et fiat pulvis qui per nares attractus subito illarum hæmorrhagias compescit.” It was regarded as an infallible remedy for restraining an excessive menstrual flow. “Infallibile remedium ad constringendum fluxum menstruum esse stercus asininum ... asserit Johannes Petrus Albrechtus.”

This dung was also in great vogue in all cases of uterine inflammation, applied locally as a plaster. It was administered both internally and externally for gout of the feet, and used as a component of a plaster for dropsy. It was given internally for colic. Collected in the month of May, it was administered internally to dissolve calculi. “Stercus bubulum mense Majo collectum miram præbet aquam adversus Calculos, quos solvit et una urinam movet, quam nigram prima die pellit, calculis vehementer attritis. Hæc aqua in officinis vocatur omnium florum.” This water, known officinally as “water of all-flowers,” was used in attacks of plague, and in cases of gangrene, inflammation, rheumatism, etc.; also in dropsy and in cancerous ulcers (p. 800 et seq.).

Schurig devotes considerable space to the dung of dogs, called by some “Flowers of Melampius,” and by others by the “more honest name of album Græcum.” “Stercus caninum, quod nonnulli flores Melampi, pharmacopœi autem honestiore nomine album Græcum vocant (to differentiate it from the black, which was the dung of mice), ad differentiam nigri, quod est muscerda” (p. 803).

He believed that it was in its effects “drying, cleansing, solvent, an aperient, a dissipater of swellings, such as carbuncles, a solver of ulcers,—hence useful in dysentery, in epilepsy, colic, and such complaints, as well as in angina, guttæ, malignant ulcers, hard tumors, dropsy, warts, etc.” “Siccat, abstergit, discutit, aperit, apostemata rumpit, exulceratione abstergit, hinc utile est in Dysenteria, quin etiam in Epilepsia, dolore colico, et similibus;” also “in anginæ, gutturi, ulceribus malignis, tumores duros, hydropicas, verrucas, etc.” Also in fistulas, inflammation of the tonsils, etc. It was applied externally to malignant ulcers by being sprinkled upon them, or as a plaster; applied also as a plaster in dropsy. It was used in combination with the dung of swallows (“stercus hirundinum”), or of owls (“noctuæ”). Used as a gargle in throat trouble (pp. 803-807).

“Album Græcum” was considered best when obtained from “white” dogs, as they were supposed to have the soundest constitutions. This was especially the case in the treatment of epilepsy (p. 80). Here we have a very decided trace of “Color Symbolism.”

“Album Græcum” was taken, preferentially, from dogs which, for at least three days previously, had been nourished on hard bones, with the least possible amount of water to drink; such dung was hard, white, and of faint odor, “durum, album, nec graviter olet.” Some of the prescriptions call for the dung of a fasting dog; “stercum canis per jejunium emaciati” (p. 806).

Schurig tells us that the dung of the goat was used both internally and externally in medicine. It was believed to be efficacious in the expulsion of calculi, in the reduction of hard tumors, in the dissipation of tetter, ring-worm, scald, leprosy, abscesses behind the ears, bites of serpents and other wild animals, in the restriction of excessive catamenial flow, etc. It was applied as a plaster in the treatment of tumors in the limbs, swellings of the testicles, in gout, œdema, cancer, inflammatory rheumatism, carbuncles, atrophy of the muscles, tumors in the mammæ, etc. But when made into a plaster, was frequently mixed with the patient’s own urine (p. 809).

Schurig pronounces it a rubefacient; it was of use in alleviating rheumatic pains, headache, vertigo, pains in side, shoulders, brain, and loins, colic, apoplexy, lethargy; it was supposed to be able to dissolve scrofulous and all other tumors, and was beneficial in the treatment of gout; used internally, it expelled dropsical water through the urine and also dissolved calculi; as a plaster, it was used in the cure of the bites of mad dogs; likewise for scald head; internally, the Austrian midwives employed it in the treatment of hysteria; while, throughout Germany, it was administered in cases of suppression of the menses (p. 809 et seq.).

As to horse-dung, Schurig has to say that either it or the juice extracted from it was drunk to aid in easing the pains of colic, to assist in the expulsion of the placenta, or of a dead fœtus, or in cases of strangulation of the uterus; externally, it was believed to be serviceable in restraining eruptions of the blood. To be of the greatest medicinal value, this dung should be taken from a stallion fed on oats. It was regarded as of great value in developing small-pox pustules upon women and children (p. 812 et seq.).

A rustic remedy which seems to have had a wide dissemination, for the alleviation of the cramp-colic, was composed of the juice expressed from horse-dung, mixed with warm beer, taken internally, while at the same time there was applied to the region of the umbilicus a plaster of warm horse-dung and hot ashes; such a plaster was employed in the cure of pleurisy among the English. In the same disease a mixture of warm horse-dung and beer was taken both internally and externally.

Cat-dung, in wine, formed the remedy in cases of vertigo and epilepsy. While its use was recommended principally in external applications, there were not wanting those who relied upon it mainly in internal application. It was reputed to possess especial efficacy in loss of hair, and supposed to be serviceable in preventing baldness, applied as an unguent. Administered internally, it suppressed immoderate menstrual flow. For the cure of felons, which so many in those days believed to be occasioned by a small worm, it was of certain efficacy, if bound round the afflicted thumb or finger. Paullini is quoted as having had personal experience with felons thus cured. But Paullini himself was of opinion that the dung of the goose was of equal value with that of the cat in this case (p. 815).

Hen-dung was recommended for use in burns. It was regarded as beneficial against magic philters, “in specie ex sanguine menstruo fœmineo.” It was considered good for all those ailments for which dove-dung was prescribed, but was not quite so efficacious. It was excellent for colic, for uterine pangs, yellow jaundice, calculus, suppression of urine, for all pains in the bowels, for strangling of the womb and pains therein, for poison, witchcraft, for seat-worms, etc. Externally, it was applied for all sores in the eyes, ulcers, warts, cicatrices, piles, pains in the feet and arms (pp. 816, 817).

Swallow-dung is mentioned as of internal and external application. It was regarded of great efficacy in the treatment of mad-dog bites, quaternary fevers, colic, inflammation of the kidneys, etc. It was applied as a plaster in cases of headache, angina, inflammation of the tonsils, and as a suppository in relaxation of the rectum. Its efficacy was conceded in dyeing the hair, being invaluable when used frequently as an unguent. Etmuller is quoted as expressing the opinion that they owe their action to the presence of “Armoniacal” salts. The swallow’s nest, with all its contents, was also sometimes ground up into a plaster, and swallow-dung itself was occasionally substituted for “album Græcum” (pp. 817 et seq.).

Lion-dung exerted its potency in cases of difficult labor, and it was the panacea against epilepsy and apoplexy. One of the Grand Dukes of Austria was cured of epilepsy by its use. Preference was given to the excrement of a female lion, except where she had just brought forth young. An anti-epileptic remedy of great repute was composed of burnt crow’s-nest, burnt tortoise, burnt human skulls, linden-tree bark, and lion-dung, made into an infusion by long digestion in spirits of wine (pp. 819, 820).

Leopard’s dung dissolved calculi; was taken as a potion for the cure of dysentery; applied as a plaster for the cure of burns; hernia was cured by a bolus composed of leopard’s dung, human mummy, burnt worms, syrup, and other ingredients. The ashes of the dung, skin, and hair of the leopard, in combination, expelled calculi. This remedy should be drunk, dissolved in wine; it was also a sure remedy for the most obstinate cases of colic. It was applied externally in sciatica, also in constriction of the vulva, and was employed to facilitate conception. In the last-named instance pastilles (trochisci) were likewise made and the parts fumigated. Or a pessary was inserted and kept in place for three days and nights; “et quamvis antea sterilis fuerit, deinceps tamen concipiet.” To prevent falling out of eye-lashes and eye-brows, an ointment was prepared of which the dung of the leopard was an ingredient. Finally, it was in esteem as an aphrodisiac, and to expel wind from the womb (p. 820).

Wolf-dung, drunk in wine, or taken as a powder, in doses of one scruple or more, was used in the treatment of the colic. Paullini is quoted as recommending its use in fevers. The dung of wolves, as of dogs, should, if possible, be that which is white in color, dejected by animals which have been feeding upon bones, and deposited upon rocks, thorns, bushes, or the lower branches of trees, but not on the ground. It was employed internally in pains in the limbs, and administered, also internally, in form of powder, in attacks of vertigo. Desiccated, it was blown into eyes afflicted with cataract. The cavities of carious teeth were filled with wolf-dung, to ease the pains of tooth-ache. For nasal hemorrhage, the smoke of burning wolf-dung was snuffed up into the nostrils; but another prescription was to drink an infusion of wolf-dung in red wine. If sheep detected the odor of wolf-dung about their paddocks, or folds, they would behave as if bewitched, running from side to side, bleating and showing as much terror as if their arch-enemy, the wolf, was himself at hand. Knowing this fact, rascally mountebanks were wont to perpetrate tricks upon the ignorant and unsuspecting rustics, by secreting some of this dung in the stable with the ewes and lambs, frightening them out of their wits, and then persuading their masters that their flocks were suffering from some hidden ailment for the cure of which they would demand a big fee in money or fat sheep.

Schurig recommends the use of mouse-dung, both internally and externally, for various disorders, for constipation in children, for scald head, and dandruff, in which cases it was applied as an ointment, for the elimination of calculi in kidneys and bladder, for all swellings in the fundament, piles, warts, tumors in ano, hemorrhages of the lungs, for the suppression of the menses, and even to excite the growth of the beard. When taken internally, it was administered in broth, milk, or panada; externally, it was made into a plaster with butter and such ingredients. It was at times mixed with the dung of sparrows (p. 823 et seq.).

Sheep-dung figures in medicinal preparations, to be used either internally or externally. Internally, as a decoction, in yellow jaundice, obstructions and constipation of the bowels, and in small pox. Also as a specific in the cure of gonorrhœa, when given in form of pills. For pains in the intestines, for swellings, burns, and ingrowing toe-nails, it was applied as a plaster (p. 826 et seq.).

Peacock-dung, the great specific in all cases of epilepsy and vertigo, was administered in doses of one dram, and in France was held in high repute for such purposes. It should be used from the new to the full moon, and be taken in white wine (p. 828).

This paragraph about the medicinal value of the droppings of the peacock deserves more than a cursory glance; in it we have a strong suggestion of the former association of this bird with moon worship. The peacock, we know, was the bird that drew the car of Juno, and that goddess was as much a lunar deity as Diana.

Pig-dung or swine-dung appears as one of the remedies, of both internal and external application, for nasal hemorrhage, and uterine flux. For nasal hemorrhages, it was dried and reduced to powder, and drawn up into the nostrils as a sort of snuff. Applied, externally, warm, to the vulva, it was regarded as an aid in hemorrhage of the uterus; it was also given internally for the same purpose. It was not used exclusively for such hemorrhages, but had a great repute as a styptic in general, and was applied to wounds of all descriptions. It was therefore used both externally and internally for the suppression of excessive menstrual flow, and taken internally to restrain spitting of blood. It was of general use in the treatment of felons, and was also regarded as an invaluable febrifuge.

For nasal hemorrhage, it was occasionally bound round the temples. Oddly enough, it was believed to be a remedy for fetor of breath. “Alii miscent stercus porcinum exsiccatum, cum pulvere rosarum pro corrigendo fœtore” (p. 830 et seq.).

As an external application for tumors of all kinds, cow-dung had a host of advocates, who likewise extended its use to the cure of scrofulous sores. For scrofulous wens, there was a cataplasm made of a composition of various dungs,—those of the cow, goat, and doves, among others. This was also to be taken internally, in white wine.

A plaster of cow-dung was used in gout of the feet. The dung of grass-fed cows was considered excellent for tumors, etc.; but its efficacy was increased when mixed with cow-urine or the urine of the patient himself; this was also in request for the treatment of œdema. For the stings of bees and wasps, a plaster of cow-dung was frequently used: “Contra apum et vesparum ictus, stercus vaccinum cum aceto utiliter adhibetur” (p. 837). The dung of a black cow, burned and given in scruple doses to a newly born child, preserved it from epilepsy and consumption; it was also employed to mitigate the pains of dentition. The dung of bulls and cows, collected in the month of May, distilled with water, made a panacea for kidney diseases; it also expelled calculi and induced a flow of urine.

“Hæc aqua vocatur aqua omnium florum,” was employed both internally and externally in gangrene, inflammations, rheumatism, spasms, dropsy, suppression of urine, etc., and was used externally to remove freckles and as a general cosmetic.—(“Chylologia,” p. 835 et seq.)

In the “Complete English Physician,” London, 1730, there are recipes which include the dung of geese, dogs, doves, horses, peacocks, hogs, and cows.

In the “Complete English Dispensatory” of John Quincy, London, 1730, p. 307, under the head “Distillation of Urine,” it is alleged that the salts obtained from the urine “of a sound young man, newly made,” was beneficial in rheumatism and arthritis. “Urina hominis,—urine of a man. Some have got a notion of this being good for the scurvy, and drink their own water for that end, but I cannot see with what reason. Some commend it boiled into the consistence of honey, for rheumatic pain, rubbing it onto the part affected; in which case it may do good, because it cannot but be very penetrating.... Urina vaccæ,—cow piss. Some drink this as a purge. It will operate violently, but it is practised only among the ordinary people, and has nothing in its virtues to prefer it to more convenient and cleanly medicines, any more than the former” (pp. 248, 249).

Father Du Halde says of camel’s dung: “When it is dried and reduced to a powder, it will stop bleeding of the nose by being blown into it.”—(Chinese recipes given in Du Halde’s “History of China,” London, 1736, vol. iv. p. 34.)

“The dung (of sheep) is a prevalent medicine against the jaundice, dropsy, cholick, pleurisy, spleen, stone, gravel, scurvy, etc., taken either in powder, tincture, or decoction. The dung, made into a cataplasm with camphire, sal armoniack, and a little wine, opens, digests, attenuates and eases pain. It is excellent in abscesses about the ears and other emunctories, swellings in women’s breasts, pain of the spleen, and gout.”—(Pomet, “History of Drugs,” English translation, London, 1738, p. 256.)

The rare and erudite pamphlet of Samuel Augustus Flemming, “De Remediis ex Corpore Humano desumtis,” Erfurt, 1738, although containing not more than thirty-two pages, is filled with a mass of curious information upon subjects generally disregarded. Flemming remarks that those who could use urine, calculi, and things of that kind in medical practice, should not shrink from the employment of ordure as well. “And it is truly wonderful,” he says, “that a substance, the very aspect and odor of which are sufficient to induce an inevitable nausea, should be regarded not merely as a matter of curiosity and study, but held in the highest repute as a unique and most precious treasure for the preservation of health.”

Yet Paracelsus, and others of his school, knowing the natural repugnance to the acceptance of such medicines, prepared it under the name of “Zibethum Occidentalis,” and administered it in doses of from one to two drams, given in honey or wine, to ward off attacks of fever; by others, it was employed as a plaster in cases of throat-inflammation, being then called “Aureum.” Others again were of the opinion, from an examination of its chemical nature, that it was fairly entitled to a place in the Materia Medica. An oil and water were distilled from it, and used in ocular sores, corrosive ulcers, and all sorts of fistulas; for affections of the scalp, for the ulcers of erysipelas, for ring-worm and tetter, and especially the pains of gout. Finally, it was believed by many to be of exceptional efficacy in the cure of the plague, being taken internally.

“Qui urina, calculi et aliis delectantur, non a stercore ipso abhorrebunt,” etc. The full citation in Latin need not be repeated, as it is expressed in much the same manner as the views of Schurig, Paullini, Etmuller, Beckherius, and others on the same subject. He cites Zacutus Lusitanus Poterus and Johannes Anglicanus, neither of whose writings are to be found in America.

Speaking of human urine, Flemming says that physicians boasted not only of their ability to diagnose disease from urine, but to use the fluid itself in the treatment of disease. It was employed in two ways: either in the raw state, as emitted from the person in due course of nature, or in chemical preparations extracted from it. It was often administered with beneficial results in dropsy as an enema. In difficult labor, a draught of the husband’s urine taken warm brought easy and safe delivery.

A drink of the patient’s own urine was highly commended in hysteria. As an external application for the eradication of dandruff, scab, and other scalp troubles, it was held in high esteem among the common people.

A salt and a spirit were prepared from urine by distillation, and highly spoken of in the treatment of frenzy, mania, and kindred mental infirmities of a grave type.

Flemming quotes from Beckherius, whose writings have already been presented, and from Quercetanus, in “Pharmac. dogmat.,” p. 119.

(“De Remediis ex Corpore Humano desumtis,” Samuel Augustus Flemming, Erfurt, p. 24 et seq.)

In the “Physiological Memoirs of Surgeon-General Hammond, U. S. Army,” New York, 1863, a chapter is devoted to uræmic intoxication, or the exhilaration produced by the entrance into the blood of urine, either injected or abnormally absorbed. This part of the subject should be carefully scrutinized by medical experts, whose determinations may make known whether or not the drunken frenzy of the Zuñi dancers could be attributed to the unnatural beverage exclusively or to that in combination with other intoxicants.

Dunglison says: “Human urine was at one time considered aperient; and was given in jaundice in the dose of one or two ounces. Cow’s urine, urina vaccæ, all-flower water, was once used, warm from the cow, as a purge.”—(“Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary,” Philadelphia, Pa., 1860, article “Urine.”)

In the “Lancet,” October, 1880, p. 56, Mr. G. F. Masterman draws attention to the chemical analysis of beef tea, and shows that it is analogous to urine, excepting that it contains less urea and uric acid. “Many writers have endeavored to impress the public and the profession with the true value of beef tea, viz., that it is not a nutrient but a stimulant, and that it mainly contains excrementitious materials.”—(“Beef Tea, Liebig’s Extract, Extractum Carnis, and Urine,” Richard Neale, M. D., in the “Practitioner,” London, November, 1881, p. 343 et seq.)

“In South America urine is a common vehicle for medicine, and the urine of little boys is spoken highly of as a stimulant in malignant small-pox. Among the Chinese and Malays of Batavia urine is very freely used. One of the worst cases of epistaxis ceased after a pint of fresh urine was drunk, although it had for thirty-six hours or more resisted every form of European medicine. This was by no means an unusual result of the use of urine, as I was informed by many of the natives.... As a stimulant and general pick-up, I have frequently seen a glass of child’s or a young girl’s urine tossed off with great gusto and apparent benefit. The use of urate of ammonia and guano was noticed by Bauer in 1852, who found their external use of value in phthisis, lepra, morphoæ, and other obstinate skin diseases. Dr. Hasting’s report of the value of the excreta of reptiles in 1862, in the treatment of phthisis, will also be fresh in the recollection of the older members of the profession.”—(Idem.)

Some of the tribes of Central Africa use human urine as an invigorant during the fever season, much as Europeans employ quinine.—(Rev. Mr. Chatelain, missionary in Angola, Africa.)

“The people of Angola apply fresh urine to all cuts and bruises.”—(“Muhongo,” African boy from Angola, West Africa, in personal interview with Captain Bourke, translated by Rev. Mr. Chatelain, missionary.)