That he should be whole man and sound.”—Canto iii. St. xxiii.
Dryden has also introduced the same superstition in his Enchanted Island. Act. v. Scene ii.
Ariel. Anoint the sword which pierced him with this Weapon salve, and wrap it close from air Till I have time to visit it again.
Again, in Scene 4th, Miranda enters with Hippolito’s sword, wrapt up:—
Hip. O my wounds pain me,
[She unwraps the sword.]
Mir. I am come to ease you. Hip. Alas I feel the cold air come to me; My wound shoots worse than ever. Mir. Does it still grieve you?
[She wipes and anoints the sword.]
Hip. Now, methinks, there’s something laid just upon it: Mir. Do you find no ease? Hip. Yes, Yes; upon the sudden all this pain Is leaving me—Sweet heaven, how am I eased!
[29]. At the same time it must be acknowledged that many of these revolting applications have actually produced benefit by a physical operation; we need only mention the nauseous remedies recommended by many writers on Midwifery to expedite delivery, which induced the desired effect by producing nausea, or vomiting. Hartman says (Opera. Fol. p. 72) that he has often witnessed amongst the poor, that difficult labour has been accelerated by a draught of the husband’s urine! and, he adds, that horse dung infused in wine is efficacious in expelling the Placenta. Sarah Stone, a midwife who published some cases in 1737, mentions several instances of women in labour, to whom was given the juice of leeks, mixed with their husband’s urine, in order to strengthen the pains. Nauseous remedies have always enjoyed the confidence of the vulgar; this prejudice would seem to be the result of a species of false reasoning, by no means uncommon, that as every thing medicinal is nauseous, so must every thing that is nauseous be consequently medicinal.