CHAP. 44.—METHODS OF FACILITATING DELIVERY.
The cast-off slough of a snake, attached to the loins, facilitates delivery; care must be taken, however, to remove it immediately after. It is administered, too, in wine, mixed with frankincense: taken in any other form, it is productive of abortion. A staff, by the aid of which a person has parted[2871] a frog from a snake, will accelerate parturition. Ashes of the troxallis,[2872] applied with honey, act as an emmenagogue; the same, too, with the spider that descends as it spins its thread from aloft; it must be taken, however, in the hollow of the hand, crushed, and applied accordingly: if, on the contrary, the spider is taken while ascending, it will arrest menstruation.
The stone aëtites,[2873] that is found in the eagle’s nest, preserves the fœtus against all insidious attempts at producing abortion. A vulture’s feather, placed beneath the feet of the woman, accelerates parturition. It is a well-known fact, that pregnant women must be on their guard against ravens’ eggs, for if a female in that state should happen to step over one, she will be sure to miscarry by the mouth.[2874] A hawk’s dung, taken in honied wine, would appear to render females fruitful. Goose-grease, or that of the swan, acts emolliently upon indurations and abscesses of the uterus.
CHAP. 45.—METHODS OF PRESERVING THE BREASTS FROM INJURY.
Goose-grease, mixed up with oil of roses and a spider, protects the breasts after delivery. The people of Phrygia and Lycaonia have made the discovery, that the grease of the otis[2875] is good for affections of the breasts, resulting from recent delivery: for females affected with suffocations of the uterus, they employ a liniment made of beetles. The shells of partridges’ eggs, burnt to ashes and mixed with cadmia[2876] and wax, preserve the firmness[2877] of the breasts. It is generally thought, that if the egg of a partridge or * * * is passed three times round a woman’s breasts, they will never become flaccid; and that, if these eggs are swallowed, they will be productive of fruitfulness, and promote the plentiful secretion of the milk. It is believed, too, that by anointing a woman’s breasts’ with goose-grease, pains therein may be allayed; that moles formed in the uterus may be dispersed thereby; and that itch[2878] of the uterus may be dispelled by the application of a liniment made of crushed bugs.
CHAP. 46.—VARIOUS KINDS OF DEPILATORIES.
Bats’ blood has all the virtues of a depilatory: but if applied to the cheeks of youths, it will not be found sufficiently efficacious, unless it is immediately followed up by an application of verdigrease or hemlock-seed; this method having the effect of entirely removing the hair, or at least reducing it to the state of a fine down. It is generally thought, too, that bats’ brains are productive of a similar effect; there being two kinds of these brains, the red and the white. Some persons mix with the brains the blood and liver of the same animal: others, again, boil down a viper in three semisextarii of oil, and, after boning it, use it as a depilatory, first pulling out the hairs that are wanted not to grow. The gall of a hedgehog is a depilatory, more particularly if mixed with bats’ brains and goats’ milk: the ashes, too, of a burnt hedgehog are used for a similar purpose. If, after plucking out the hairs that are wanted not to grow, or if, before they make their appearance, the parts are well rubbed with the milk of a bitch with her first litter, no hairs will grow there. The same result is ensured, it is said, by using the blood of a tick taken from off a dog, or else the blood or gall of a swallow.
(15.) Ants’ eggs, they say, beaten up with flies, impart a black colour[2879] to the eyebrows. If it is considered desirable that the colour of the infant’s eyes should be black, the pregnant woman must eat a rat.[2880] Ashes of burnt earth-worms, applied with oil, prevent the hair from turning white.
CHAP. 47.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.
For infants that are troubled with coagulation of the milk, a grand preservative is lamb’s rennet, taken in water; and in cases where the milk has so coagulated, it may be remedied by administering rennet in vinegar. For the pains incident to dentition, sheep’s brains are a very useful remedy. The inflammation called “siriasis,”[2881] to which infants are liable, is cured by attaching to them the bones that are found in the dung of dogs. Hernia in infants is cured by letting a green lizard bite the child’s body while asleep, after which the lizard is attached to a reed, and hung up in the smoke; by the time the animal dies, the child will be perfectly cured, it is said. The slime of snails, applied to the eyes of children, straightens the eyelashes, and makes them grow. Ashes of burnt snails applied with frankincense and juice of white grapes, are a cure for hernia [in infants], if applied for thirty days consecutively. Within the horns[2882] of snails, there are certain hard substances found, like grits of sand: attached to infants, they facilitate dentition.