CHAP. 80.—STIMULANTS FOR THE SEXUAL PASSIONS.
Among the aphrodisiacs, we find mentioned, a wild boar’s gall, applied externally; swine’s marrow, taken inwardly; asses’ fat, mixed with the grease of a gander and applied as a liniment; the virulent substance described by Virgil[2396] as distilling from mares when covered; and the dried testes of a horse, pulverized and mixed with the drink. The right testicle, also, of an ass, is taken in a proportionate quantity of wine, or worn attached to the arm in a bracelet; or else the froth discharged by that animal after covering, collected in a piece of red cloth and enclosed in silver, as Osthanes informs us. Salpe recommends the genitals of this animal to be plunged seven times in boiling oil, and the corresponding parts to be well rubbed therewith. Bialcon[2397] says that these genitals should be reduced to ashes and taken in drink; or else the urine that has been voided by a bull immediately after covering: he recommends, also, that the groin should be well rubbed with earth moistened with this urine.
Mouse-dung, on the other hand, applied in the form of a liniment, acts as an antaphrodisiac. The lights of a wild boar or swine, roasted, are an effectual preservative against drunkenness; they must, however, be eaten fasting, and upon the same day. The lights of a kid, too, are productive of the same effect.