CHAP. 50. (12.)—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE FACE.
It is generally believed that asses' milk effaces wrinkles in
the face, renders the skin more delicate, and preserves its whiteness: and it is a well-known fact, that some women are in the
habit of washing their face with it seven
1 hundred times daily,
strictly observing that number. Poppæa, the wife of the
Emperor Nero, was the first to practise this; indeed, she had
sitting-baths, prepared solely with asses' milk, for which purpose whole troops of she-asses
2 used to attend her on her journies.
3 Purulent eruptions on the face are removed by an
application of butter, but white lead, mixed with the butter,
is an improvement. Pure butter, alone, is used for serpiginous eruptions of the face, a layer of barley-meal being pow-
dered over it. The caul of a cow that has just calved, is
applied, while still moist, to ulcers of the face.
The following recipe may seem frivolous, but still, to please
the women,
4 it must not be omitted; the pastern-bone of a
white steer, they say, boiled forty days and forty nights, till it is
quite dissolved, and then applied to the face in a linen cloth,
will remove wrinkles and preserve the whiteness of the skin.
An application of bull's dung, they say, will impart a rosy
tint to the cheeks, and not crocodilea
5 even is better for the
purpose; the face, however, must be washed with cold water,
both before and after the application. Sun-burns and all other
discolorations of the skin, are removed by the aid of' calves'
dung kneaded up by hand with oil and gum; ulcerations and
chaps of the mouth, by an application of veal or beef-suet,
mixed with goose-grease and juice of' ocimum. There is
another composition, also, made of veal-suet with stag's
marrow and leaves of white-thorn, the whole beaten up
together. Marrow, too, mixed with resin, even if it be cow
marrow only, is equally good; and the broth of cow-beef is
productive of similar effects. A most excellent remedy for
lichens on the face is a glutinous substance prepared from the
genitals of a male calf, melted with vinegar and live sulphur,
and stirred together with the branch of a fig-tree: this composition is applied twice a day, and should be used quite fresh.
This glue, similarly prepared from a decoction of honey and
vinegar, is a cure for leprous spots, which are also removed by
applying a he-goat's liver warm.
Elephantiasis, too, is removed by an application of goats'
gall; and leprous spots and furfuraceous eruptions by em-
ploying bull's gall with the addition of nitre, or else asses' urine
about the rising of the Dog-star. Spots on the face are removed by either bull's gall or ass's gall diluted in water by
itself, care being taken to avoid the sun or wind after the skin
has peeled off. A similar effect is produced, also, by using bull's
gall or calf's gall, in combination with seed of cunila and the
ashes of a deer's horn, burnt at the rising of Canicula.
Asses' fat, in particular, restores the natural colour to scars
and spots on the skin caused by lichen or leprosy. A he-goat's
gall, mixed with cheese, live sulphur, and sponge reduced
to ashes, effectually removes freckles, the composition being
brought to the consistency of honey before being applied.
Some persons, however, prefer using dried gall, and mix with it
warm bran, in the proportion of one obolus to four oboli of honey,
the spots being rubbed briskly first. He-goat suet, too, is highly
efficacious, used in combination with gith, sulphur, and iris; this
mixture being also employed, with goose-grease, stag's marrow,
resin, and lime, for the cure of cracked lips. I find it stated
by certain authors, that persons who have freckles on the skin
are looked upon as disqualified from taking any part in the
sacrifices prescribed by the magic art.