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.).