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.

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.”

℞: