CHAP. 60. (15.)—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE BLADDER, AND FOR URINARY CALCULI.
Diseases of the bladder, and the torments attendant upon calculi, are treated with the urine of a wild boar, or the bladder of that animal taken as food; both of them being still more efficacious if they have been thoroughly soaked first. The bladder, when eaten, should be boiled first, and if the patient is a female, it should be a sow’s bladder. There are found in the liver of the wild boar certain small stones,[2356] or what in hardness resemble small stones, of a white hue, and resembling those found in the liver of the common swine: if these stones are pounded and taken in wine, they will expel calculi, it is said. So oppressed is the wild boar by the burden of his urine,[2357] that if he has not first voided it, he is unable to take to flight, and suffers himself to be taken as though he were enchained to the spot. This urine, they say, has a consuming effect upon urinary calculi. The kidneys of a hare, dried and taken in wine, act as an expellent upon calculi. We have already[2358] mentioned that in the gammon of the hog there are certain joint-bones; a decoction made from them is remarkably useful for urinary affections. The kidneys of an ass, dried and pounded, and administered in undiluted wine, are a cure for diseases of the bladder. The excrescences that grow on horses’ legs, taken for forty days in ordinary wine or honied wine, expel urinary calculi. The ashes, too, of a horse’s hoof, taken in wine or water, are considered highly useful for this purpose; and the same with the dung of a she-goat—if a wild goat, all the better—taken in honied wine: goats’ hair, too, is used, reduced to ashes.
For carbuncles upon the generative organs, the brains and blood of a wild boar or swine are highly recommended: and for serpiginous affections of those parts, the liver of those animals is used, burnt upon juniper wood more particularly, and mixed with papyrus and arsenic;[2359] the ashes, also, of their dung; ox-gall, kneaded to the consistency of honey, with Egyptian alum and myrrh, beet-root boiled in wine being laid upon it; or else beef. Running ulcers of those parts are treated with veal-suet and marrow, boiled in wine, or with the gall of a she-goat, mixed with honey and the extracted juice of the bramble.[2360] In cases where these ulcers are serpiginous, it is recommended to use goats’ dung with honey or vinegar, or else butter by itself. Swellings of the testes are reduced by using veal-suet with nitre, or the dung of the animal boiled in vinegar. The bladder of a wild boar, eaten roasted, acts as a check upon incontinence of urine; a similar effect being produced by the ashes of the feet of a wild boar or swine sprinkled in the drink; the ashes of a sow’s bladder taken in drink; the bladder or lights of a kid; a hare’s brains taken in wine; the testes of a male hare grilled; the rennet of that animal taken with goose-grease and polenta;[2361] or the kidneys of an ass, beaten up and taken in undiluted wine.
The magicians tell us, that after taking the ashes of a boar’s genitals in sweet wine, the patient must make water in a dog kennel, and repeat the following formula—“This I do that I may not wet my bed as a dog does.” On the other hand, a swine’s bladder, attached to the groin, facilitates the discharge of the urine, provided it has not already touched the ground.
CHAP. 61.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS AND OF THE FUNDAMENT.
For diseases of the fundament, a sovereign remedy is bear’s gall, mixed with the grease; to which some persons are in the habit of adding litharge and frankincense. Butter, too, is very good, employed with goose-grease and oil of roses. The proportions in which they are mixed will be regulated by the circumstances of the case, care being taken to see that they are of a consistency which admits of their being easily applied. Bull’s gall upon lint is a remarkably useful remedy, and has the effect of making chaps of the fundament cicatrize with great rapidity. Swellings of those parts are treated with veal suet—that from the loins in particular—mixed with rue. For other affections, goats’ blood is used, with polenta. Goats’ gall too, is employed by itself, for the cure of condylomata, and sometimes, wolf’s gall, mixed with wine.
Bears’ blood is curative of inflamed tumours and apostemes upon these parts in general; as also bulls’ blood, dried and powdered. The best remedy, however, is considered to be the stone which the wild ass[2362] voids with his urine, it is said, at the moment he is killed. This stone, which is in a somewhat liquefied state at first, becomes solid when it reaches the ground: attached to the thigh, it disperses all collections of humours and all kinds of suppurations: it is but rarely found, however, and it is not every wild ass that produces it, but as a remedy it is held in high esteem. Asses’ urine too, used in combination with gith, is highly recommended; the ashes of a horse’s hoof, applied with oil and water; a horse’s blood, that of a stone-horse in particular; the blood, also, of an ox or cow, or the gall of those animals. Their flesh too, applied warm, is productive of similar results; the hoofs reduced to ashes, and taken in water or honey; the urine of a she-goat; the flesh of a he-goat, boiled in water; the dung of these animals, boiled with honey; or else a boar’s gall, or swine’s urine, applied in wool.
Riding on horseback, we well-know, galls and chafes the inside of the thighs: the best remedy for accidents of this nature is to rub the parts with the foam which collects at a horse’s mouth. Where there are swellings in the groin, arising[2363] from ulcers, a cure is effected by inserting in the sores three horse-hairs, tied with as many knots.