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CHAP. 47.—-REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE EYES.

For defluxions1 of the eyes, beef suet, boiled with oil, is applied to the parts affected; and for eruptions of those organs, ashes of burnt deer's horns are similarly employed, the tips of the horns being considered the most effectual for the purpose. For the cure of cataract, it is reckoned a good plan to apply a wolf's excrements: the same substance, too, reduced to ashes, is used for the dispersion of films, in combination with Attic honey. Bear's gall, too, is similarly employed; and for the cure of epinyctis, wild boar's lard, mixed with oil of roses, is thought to be very useful. An ass's hoof, reduced to ashes and applied with asses' milk, is used for the removal of marks in the eyes and indurations of the crystalline humours. Beef marrow, from the right fore leg, beaten up with soot, is employed for affections of the eyebrows, and for diseases of the eyelids and corners of the eyes. For the same purpose, also, a sort of calliblepharon2 is prepared from soot, the best of all being that made from a wick of papyrus mixed with oil of sesame; the soot being removed with a feather and caught in a new vessel prepared for the purpose. This mixture, too, is very efficacious for preventing superfluous eyelashes from growing again when once pulled out.

Bull's gall is made up into eye-salves3 with white of egg, these salves being steeped in water and applied to the eyes for four days successively. Veal suet, with goose-grease and the extracted juice of ocimum, is remarkably good for diseases of the eye-lids. Veal marrow, with the addition of an equal proportion of wax and oil or oil of roses, an egg being added to the mixture, is used as a liniment for indurations of the eyelids. Soft goats' milk cheese is used as an application, with warm water, to allay defluxions of the eyes; but when they are attended with swelling, honey is used instead of the water. In both cases, however, the eyes should be fomented with warm whey. In cases of dry ophthalmia, it is found a very useful plan to take the muscles4 lying within a loin of pork, and, after reducing them to ashes, to pound and apply them to the part affected.

She-goats, they say, are never affected with ophthalmia, from the circumstance that they browse upon certain kinds of herbs: the same, too, with the gazelle. Hence it is that we find it recommended, at the time of new moon, to swallow the dung of these animals, coated with wax. As they are able to see, too, by night, it is a general belief that the blood of a hegoat is a cure for those persons affected with dimness of sight to whom the Greeks have given the name of "nyctalopes."5 A similar virtue is attributed to the liver of a she-goat, boiled in astringent wine. Some are in the habit of rubbing the eyes with the thick gravy6 which exudes from a she-goat's liver roasted, or with the gall of that animal: they recommend the flesh also as a diet, and say that the patient should expose his eyes to the fumes of it while boiling: it is a general opinion, too, that the animal should be of a reddish colour. Another prescription is, to fumigate the eyes with the steam arising from the liver boiled in an earthen jar, or, according to some authorities, roasted.

Goats' gall is applied for numerous purposes: with honey, for films upon the eyes; with one-third part of white hellebore, for cataract; with wine, for spots upon the eyes, indurations of the cornea, films, webs, and argema; with extracted juice of cabbage, for diseases of the eyelids, the hairs being first pulled out, and the preparation left to dry on the parts affected; and with woman's milk, for rupture of the coats of the eye. For all these purposes, the gall is considered the most efficacious, when dried. Nor is the dung of this animal held in disesteem, being applied with honey for defluxions of the eyes. The marrow, too, of a goat, or a hare's lights, we find used for pains in the eyes; and the gall of a goat, with raisin wine or honey, for the dispersion of films upon those organs. It is recommended also, for ophthalmia, to anoint the eyes with wolf's fat or swine's marrow: we find it asserted, too, that persons who carry a wolf's tongue, inserted in a bracelet, will always be exempt from ophthalmia.

1 If they are occasioned by irritation, Ajasson thinks that Pliny's re- medy may he of some utility.

2 A cosmetic for "beautifying the eye-brows."

3 "Collyria."

4 This is the translation suggested by Dalechamps for "lumbulis."

5 "Seers by night."

6 "Sanie."

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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