CHAP. 43. (14.)—REMEDIES FOR FEMALE COMPLAINTS.
For diseases incident to females, a ewe's placenta is very
useful, as already
1 mentioned by us, when speaking of goats:
sheep's dung, too, is equally good. A fumigation of' burnt
locusts, applied to the lower parts, affords relief to strangury,
in females more particularly. It; immediately after conception, a woman eats a cock's testes every now and then, the
child of which she is pregnant will become
2 a male, it is said.
The ashes of a burnt poricupinel taken in drink, are a preventive
of abortion: bitches' milk facilitates delivery: and the after-
birth of a bitch, provided it has not touched the ground, will
act as an expellent of the fœtus. Milk, taken as a drink,
strengthens the loins of women when in travail. Mouse-dung,
diluted with rain water, reduces the breasts of females, when
swollen after delivery. The ashes of a burnt hedge-hog,
applied with oil, act as a preventive of abortion. Delivery is
facilitated, in cases where the patient has taken, either goose-
dung in two cyathi of water, or the liquid that escapes from
the uterus of a weasel by its genitals.
Earth-wormrs, applied topically, effectually prevent pains in
the sinews of the neck and shoulders; taken in raisin wine,
they expel the after-birth, when retarded. Applied by themselves, earthworms ripen abscesses of the breasts, open them,
draw the humours, and make them cicatrize: taken in honied
wine, they promote the secretion of the milk. In hay-grass there
are small worms found, which, attached to the neck, act as a
preventive of premature delivery; they are removed, however,
at the moment of childbirth, as otherwise they would have the
effect of impeding delivery; care must be taken, also, not to put
them on the ground. To promote conception, five or seven of
them are administered in drink. Snails, taken with the food,
accelerate delivery; and, applied with saffron, they promote
conception. Used in the form of a liniment, with amylum
3
and gum tragacanth, they arrest uterine discharges. Taken
with the food, they promote menstruation; and, mixed with
deer's marrow, in the proportion of one denarius and the same
quantity of cyprus
4 to each snail, they reduce the uterus when
displaced. Taken from the shell, and beaten up with oil of
roses, they dispel inflations of the uterus; the snails of Astypalæa being those that are mostly chosen for these purposes.
Those of Africa, again, are employed in a different manner,
two of them being beaten up with a pinch of fenulgreek in
three fingers, and four spoonfuls of honey, and the preparation
applied to the abdomen, after it has been rubbed with juice of
iris.
5 There is a kind of small, white, elongated snail,
6 that
is found straying here and there: dried upon tiles in the sun,
and reduced to powder, these snails are mixed with bean-meal,
in equal proportions, forming a cosmetic which whitens and
softens the skin. The small, broad, kind of snail, mixed with
polenta, is good for the removal of a tendency to scratch and
rub the skin.
If a pregnant woman steps over a viper, she will be sure to
miscarry;
7 the same, too, in the case of the anphisbæna, but
only when it is dead. If, however, a woman carries about her a
live amphlisbæna in a box, she may step over one with impunity, even though it be dead. An amphisbæna, preserved for
the purpose, will ensure an easy delivery, even though it be
dead.
8 It is a truly marvellous fact, but if a pregnant woman
steps over one of these serpents that has not been preserved, it
will be perfectly harmless, provided she immediately steps
over another that has been preserved. A fumigation made
with a dried snake, acts powerfully as an emmenagogue.