CHAP. 25.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EARS. THE BATIA: ONE REMEDY. THE BACCHUS OR MYXON: TWO REMEDIES. THE SEA-LOUSE: TWO REMEDIES.
For diseases of the ears, fresh gall of the fish called “batia”[212] is remarkably good; the same, too, when it has been kept in wine. The gall, also, of the bacchus,[213] by some known as the “myxon,” is equally good; as also that of the callionymus,[214] injected into the ears with oil of roses, or else castoreum,[215] used with poppy-juice. There are certain animals too, known as “sea-lice,”[216] which are recommended as an injection for the ears, beaten up with vinegar. Wool, too, that has been dyed with the juice of the murex, employed by itself, is highly useful for this purpose; some persons, however moisten it with vinegar and nitre.[217]
Others, again, more particularly recommend for all affections of the ears one cyathus of the best garum,[218] with one cyathus and a half of honey, and one cyathus of vinegar, the whole gently boiled in a new pot over a slow fire, and skimmed with a feather every now and then: when it has become wholly free from scum, it is injected lukewarm into the ears. In cases where the ears are swollen, the same authorities recommend that the swellings should be first reduced with juice of coriander. The fat of frogs, injected into the ears, instantly removes all pains in these organs. The juice of river-crabs, kneaded up with barley-meal, is a most effectual remedy for wounds in the ears. Shells of the murex, reduced to ashes, and applied with honey, or the burnt shells of other shell-fish,[219] used with honied wine, are curative of imposthumes of the parotid glands.
CHAP. 26.—REMEDIES FOR TOOTH-ACHE. THE DOG-FISH: FOUR REMEDIES. WHALE’S FLESH.
Tooth-ache is alleviated by scarifying the gums with bones of the sea-dragon, or by rubbing the teeth once a year with the brains of a dog-fish[220] boiled in oil, and kept for the purpose. It is a very good plan too, for the cure of tooth-ache, to lance the gums with the sting of the pastinaca[221] in some cases. This sting, too, is pounded, and applied to the teeth with white hellebore, having the effect of extracting them without the slightest difficulty. Another of these remedies is, ashes of salted fish calcined in an earthen vessel, mixed with powdered marble. Stale cybium,[222] rinsed in a new earthen vessel, and then pounded, is very useful for the cure of tooth-ache. Equally good, it is said, are the back-bones of all kinds of salt fish, pounded and applied in a liniment. A decoction is made of a single frog boiled in one hemina of vinegar, and the teeth are rinsed with it, the decoction being retained in the mouth. In cases where a repugnance existed to making use of this remedy, Sallustius Dionysius[223] used to suspend frogs over boiling vinegar by the hind legs, so as to make them discharge their humours into the vinegar by the mouth, using considerable numbers of frogs for the purpose: to those, however, who had a stronger stomach, he prescribed the frogs themselves, eaten with their broth. It is generally thought, too, that this recipe applies more particularly to the double teeth, and that the vinegar prepared as above-mentioned, is remarkably useful for strengthening them when loose.
For this last purpose, some persons cut off the legs of two frogs, and then macerate the bodies in two heminæ of wine, recommending this preparation as a collutory for strengthening loose teeth. Others attach the frogs, whole, to the exterior of the jaws:[224] and with some it is the practice to boil ten frogs, in three sextarii of vinegar, down to one-third, and to use the decoction as a strengthener of loose teeth. By certain authorities, too, it has been recommended to boil the hearts of six-and-thirty frogs beneath a copper vessel, in one sextarius of old oil, and then to inject the decoction into the ear on the same side of the jaw as the part affected: while others again have used, as an application for the teeth, a frog’s liver, boiled, and beaten up with honey. All the preparations above described will be found still more efficacious if made from the sea-frog.[225] In cases where the teeth are carious and emit an offensive smell, it is recommended to dry some whale’s[226] flesh in an oven for a night, and then to add an equal quantity of salt, and use the mixture as a dentifrice. “Enhydris”[227] is the name given by the Greeks to a snake that lives in the water. With the four upper teeth of this reptile, it is the practice, for the cure of aching in the upper teeth, to lance the upper gums, and with the four lower teeth, for aching in the lower. Some persons, however, content themselves with using an eyetooth only. Ashes, too, of burnt crabs are used for this purpose; and the murex, reduced to ashes, makes an excellent dentifrice.
CHAP. 27.—REMEDIES FOR LICHENS, AND FOR SPOTS UPON THE FACE. THE DOLPHIN: NINE REMEDIES. COLUTHIA OR CORYPHIA: THREE REMEDIES. HALCYONEUM: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE TUNNY: FIVE REMEDIES.
Lichens and leprous spots are removed by applying the fat of the sea-calf,[228] ashes of the mæna[229] in combination with three oboli of honey, liver of the pastinaca[230] boiled in oil, or ashes of the dolphin or hippocampus[231] mixed with water. After the parts have been duly excoriated, a cicatrizing treatment ought to be pursued. Some persons bake dolphin’s liver in an earthen vessel, till a grease flows therefrom like oil[232] in appearance: this they use by way of ointment for these diseases.
Burnt shells of the murex or purple, applied with honey, have a detergent effect upon spots on the face in females: used as an application for seven consecutive days, a fomentation made of white of eggs being substituted on the eighth, they efface wrinkles, and plump out the skin. To the genus “murex” belong the shell-fish known by the Greeks as “coluthia” or “coryphia,” equally turbinated, but considerably smaller: for all the above purposes they are still more efficacious, and the use of them tends to preserve the sweetness of the breath. Fish-glue[233] effaces wrinkles and plumps out the skin; being boiled for the purpose in water some four hours, and then pounded and kneaded up till it attains a thin consistency, like that of honey. After being thus prepared, it is put by in a new vessel for keeping; and, when wanted for use, is mixed, in the proportion of four drachmæ, with two drachmæ of sulphur, two of alkanet, and eight of litharge; the whole being sprinkled with water and beaten up together. The preparation is then applied to the face, and is washed off at the end of four hours. For the cure of freckles and other affections of the face, calcined bones of cuttle-fish are also used; an application which is equally good for the removal of fleshy excrescences and the dispersion of running sores.
(8.) For the cure of itch-scab, a frog is boiled in five semisextarii of sea-water, the decoction being reduced to the consistency of honey. There is a sea production called “halcyoneum,” composed, as some think, of the nests[234] of the birds known as the “halcyon”[235] and “ceyx,” or, according to others, of the concretion of sea-foam, or of some slime of the sea, or a certain lanuginous inflorescence thrown up by it. Of this halcyoneum there are four different kinds; the first, of an ashy colour, of a compact substance, and possessed of a pungent odour; the second, soft, of a milder nature, and with a smell almost identical with that of sea-weed; the third, whiter, and with a variegated surface; the fourth, more like pumice in appearance, and closely resembling rotten sponge. The best of all is that which nearly borders upon a purple hue, and is known as the “Milesian” kind: the whiter it is, the less highly it is esteemed.