Chapter M: C. H. Gaidoz takes exception to this interpretation. In his opinion, (9)

To the Ephemeridum, Dr. Lentilius also contributed a careful résumé of all that was at that time known of the medicinal or other form of the internal employment of the human excreta; he premised his remarks by saying that while some persons sent to foreign countries and ransacked their woods and forests for medicines, there were others who sought their remedies nearer home, and did not disdain the employment of the vilest excrements. “I am not speaking now,” he remarks, “of the excrements of animals, but of human ordure and human urine. We know,” he continues, “that horse-dung is used for the cure of colic, pig-dung for checking internal hemorrhages, dog-dung or album Græcum for angina, goose-dung for yellow jaundice, peacock-dung for vertigo, and goat-dung, in Courland beer, for malignant fevers.” The Mexicans used human ordure as an antidote against serpent bites in two-scruple doses, drunk in some convenient liquor: “De homerda contra venenatos Mexicano—serpentis ictus—ad ʒ ii. in convenienti liquore hausta” (p. 170). The same mixture was drunk by the Japanese, as a remedy against the wounds made by poisoned weapons: “De eadem mixtura sed e stercore proprio confusa contra telorum venena Japonensibus pota.” Observe that in this last case the ordure had to be that of the wounded man himself.

Etmuller recommends its use in expelling from the system the virus of “napelli” whatever that may have been. To cure the plague, the patient was to consume a quantity equal in size to a filbert. To frustrate the effects of incantation and witchcraft, it had to be drunk in oil. Used in the same manner, it was supposed to be of use in expelling worms: “De eadem mixtura, sed a stercore proprio,” etc., as already quoted. “De stercore humano, seu recente seu arido, adsunto ad expugnandum napelli virus, etiam a nostratibus commendato, de quo vid. Etmuller, etc.... In peste fuganda mane ad avellanas quantitatem devorando, ... ad morbos e fascino ex aceto propinato ... ad expellendos vermes eodem modo usurpato.” He alludes also to “Oletum” and the medicines made with it, as an ingredient; but says he will leave “Zibethum” and “Occidental Sulphur” to Paracelsus and the members of his school. He quotes Galen as recommending the drinking of the urine of a stout, healthy boy, as a preventive of the plague. “Urina pueri sani bibita ... preservans a peste,” quoting Galen, lib. x. “De Simp. Med. Fac.” A draught of her husband’s urine was of great assistance to a woman in uterine troubles: “Sic, in δυσοχία urinæ maritalis haustum concelebrant alii.” The urine of a chaste boy was much commended by many writers for internal use in dropsy, splenic inflammation, etc. “Sic urinam impolluti pueri quotidie potum, esse medicamentum laudabile et præsentaneum, ad lienis morbos et hydropem.” It would be useless to quote further in the words of the original. Lentilius goes on to say that a potion of one’s own urine was extolled in the treatment of the bites of snakes, wounds by deadly weapons, incipient dropsy and consumption.

To drink one’s own urine for the space of three days was a sure cure for the yellow jaundice, also in preserving from the plague. But Von Helmont was of the opinion that in this last case its virtues were derived from the fact that it was a stimulant and served to keep up the spirits. By Etmuller, its use was strongly recommended in the treatment of the yellow jaundice, etc. (citing Etmuller). It was likewise highly extolled by Avicenna.

We are next treated to a feast of big words, in which we learn that on account of its “nitrosity” and “volatility,” it was regarded as a “detersive,” and “penetrative,” while, on account of the alkali it contained, it was a neutralizer of the “fermenting acids,” and therefore applicable in cardialgia, anorexia, gout, toothache, colic, yellow jaundice, and intermittent fevers, either the urine “of the patient himself or that of a wine-drinking boy.”

Boyle, the eminent philosopher, is quoted as saying that, in his opinion, the virtues of human urine, as a medicine, internally and externally, would require a volume by themselves. Boyle is also credited with having published a tract on this subject, in Leipzig, 1692, over the signature “B.”

Lentilius devotes a number of pages of close, logical reasoning to demonstrate the fallacy of supposing that human excreta can be of any possible utility in therapeutics. According to his opinion, Nature voided them from the body because the body had no further use for them; therefore, their re-absorption could scarcely be other than deleterious; this was all the more true in disease, because the patient being in a morbid state, that which he ejected could by no process of correct reasoning be regarded as healthy. This argument, although of great interest and value, is very long and pertains rather to the history of medicine proper than to this essay.

Lentilius concludes by saying that no more cruel threat could be made than that of Sennacherib against the Jews that he would make them eat their own excrement and drink the water which bathed his feet: “Quam futurum esse, ut quisquis sua stercora voraturus, et aquam pedum suorum bibiturus sit.” Esa. 36, ver. 12. “Væ miseris ægrotis, quo rumores ad urinæ potum rediit.”—(In “Ephem. Phys. Medic.” Leipzig, 1694, vol. ii. pp. 169 to 176, inclusive; the pages are quarto, the number of words to the page about 375.)

Lentilius has either stolen bodily from Paullini, or anticipated him; he has all of Paullini’s facts, but seems, in addition, to have been much of a philosopher, which Paullini was not.

Christian Franz Paullini’s “Filth Pharmacy,” Frankfort, 1696, is better known than any other of the works cited, being in German, of small size, and confining itself almost exclusively to a recapitulation of diseases, with the appropriate excrementitious curative opposite each.

Six different editions are contained in the Library of the U. S. Army Medical Museum, in Washington; of these, that of Frankfort, 1696 (268 pages, duodecimo), was selected, and the work of translation entrusted to Messrs. Smith and Pratz; being perfectly familiar with English and German, their interpretation, made slowly and carefully, may be relied on as minutely correct.

Paullini has done nothing beyond collecting his ample list of cases in which the human and animal excreta were employed in the treatment of diseases; he has in no instance ventured upon an explanation of the reason for such use, such as Etmuller supplied.

He treats of the employment of human ordure and urine, and animal excreta, in the following diseases: headache, insomnia, vertigo, dementia, melancholia, mania, gout, convulsions, palsy, epilepsy, sore eyes, cataract, ophthalmia, ear troubles, bleeding of the nose, nasal polypi, carious teeth, dropsy of the head, wens, asthmatic troubles, coughs, spitting of blood, consumption, pleurisy, fainting spells, diseases of the mammary glands, tumors, colic, abnormal appetite, worms, hernia, sciatica, ulceration of the bowels, constipation, diarrhœa, dysentery, obstructions of the liver, dropsy, jaundice, kidney troubles, gravel, stone, retention of urine, excessive flow of urine, impaired virility, swelling of the testicles, uterine displacements, menstrual troubles, sterility, accidents to pregnant women, miscarriages, difficult labor, pains after childbirth, gout of feet, rheumatism, fevers of all kinds, poisons, plague, syphilitic and venereal diseases, abscesses, sprains, contusions, bruises, wounds, ring-worm, felons, itch, freckles, as a cosmetic, for rash, tetter, loss of hair, lice, gangrene, colds, warts, fissure of the rectum, fistulas, corns, bunions, love-potions, and to baffle witchcraft.

For headache, pigeon-dung was used internally, and the dung of a red cow and of the peacock, externally.

Insomnia, donkey-dung, internally; gout and pigeon dung, externally. Human urine was also used for the same purpose (pp. 28, 29).

Vertigo. Pigeon, peacock, and squirrel dung, all used internally.

Dementia. Donkey-dung, externally.

Melancholia. Calf or ox dung, internally; owl-dung, externally.

Mania. Human ordure, internally; boy’s urine, internally, and also owl’s and chicken’s dung, internally.

Gout. Boy’s urine, externally, and owl’s, jenny’s, horse’s, cow’s, deer’s, and sow’s dung, externally.

Convulsions. Peacock and horse dung, externally.

Palsy. Let the patient wash with his own urine or that of a young boy (pp. 28, 29); administer peacock’s or horse’s dung internally.

For the cure of the dread disease, epilepsy, human ordure and the urine of boys were administered internally, and there were likewise internal applications of the dung of horses, peacocks, mice, dogs, black cows, lions, storks, and wild hogs; no external applications are noted for this disease (pp. 28, 29, 42, 43).

Another remedy for epilepsy was to take the excrements of a fine, healthy youth, dry them, and extract the oil by means of heat; rectify this oil and take inwardly (pp. 42, 43).

For inflamed and running eyes make a collyrium of the warm urine of young boys, mingled with other ingredients. Make an external application of boys’ urine, or of the dung of swallows, pigeons, cows, goats, prairie hens, horses, lizards, doves. There was no internal administration of any of the above suggested.

For ophthalmic troubles, the same treatment as the above.

Cataract. Make an external application of human ordure, of boy’s urine, or of the dung of wolves, green lizards, or geese.

Earache or ringing in the ear, or abscesses. Apply the urine of young boys mixed with honey, or apply fresh human urine.

Other ear troubles. External application of boy’s urine or of the patient’s own urine; external application of the dung of the white goat, or pigeon’s, cat’s, deer’s, rabbit’s, jenny’s, wild hog’s or wolf’s dung.

Bleeding at the nose. External application of dog’s urine, of horse urine, or of the dung of calf, donkey, hog, cow, horse, camel, or rabbit.

Nasal polypi. Dung of dog or donkey, externally.

Toothache or carious teeth. One’s own ordure, or the dung of wolf, dog, raven, mouse, or horse, in all cases externally (pp. 52, 53).

Toothache. Apply a poultice of human excrement, mixed with camomile-flowers, to the cheek.

Dropsy of the head. Take boy’s urine internally.

Croup and throat troubles generally. Boy’s urine, both internally and externally; a gargle and a potion of one’s own urine; and both internal and external applications of the white dung of dogs, gathered in July; or the dung of geese, pigeons, eagles, goats, owls, hens, or wolves.

Asthmatic troubles. Salts of urine or pigeon’s dung, externally.

Coughs. The dung of dogs, internally, or the dung of geese; the dung of ravens, deer, or sparrows, externally.

Spitting of blood. The excreta of wild sows, doves, sheep, cows, horses, mice, dogs, or peacocks, internally.

Consumption. The patient’s ordure, internally; his own or a boy’s urine, or mice-dung, internally (pp. 74, 75).

Another remedy for consumption was to let the patient drink a mixture of his own urine beaten up with fresh egg; repeat for several successive mornings; also, let him eat his own excrement (pp. 74, 76).

For pleurisy, we read that there was an external application of the patient’s own urine, or that the dung of donkeys, horses, stallions, mares, hens, pigeons, and dogs was given internally.

Fainting-spells. Human ordure, externally; one’s own urine, internally; cow-urine or the dung of horses, sheep, or birds, externally.

Diseases of the mammary glands. The dung of cows or mice, internally, and also an external application of that of oxen, goats, hogs, dogs, cows, or pigeons.

Cancer of the breast. The patient’s own ordure internally, with external applications of the dung of geese, cows, goats, or rabbits.

Wens. External applications of the dung of cows, rats, mice, goats, sheep, geese, pigeons, or jennies.

Colic. Human ordure, internally; “Eau de Millefleurs,” internally (we know that “Eau de Millefleurs” was itself a composition of cow-dung); take bees internally (the only instance recorded of such a use of this insect), or the dung of horses, cats, swallows, or chickens, externally.

A youth in Leyden fell madly in love with a young girl, but could not get the consent of his parents to marry her. He was seized with a violent fever and constipation. In this desperate condition he imagined that a drink of fresh urine from his beloved would benefit him; he accordingly wrote to her, begging her to satisfy his longing, which she accordingly granted, and after drinking of the beverage to his heart’s content, he found immediate relief (whether from the constipation or the passion Paullini neglects to state).—(Paullini, pp. 106, 107.)

Abnormal appetite. The same remedies as are enumerated for colic, q. v.

Worms. The patient’s own urine, internally; the dung of horses or cows or hogs, internally.

Hernia. Rabbit-dung, internally.

Sciatica. External application of the dung of goats, pigeons, horses, or chickens.

Constipation. Human ordure, internally; human urine, internally; or the excreta of sows, mice, chickens, geese, sparrows, magpies, or pigeons internally.

Diarrhœa. Dog-dung, internally; sow, donkey, or cow dung, externally.

Dysentery. The patient’s own ordure or that of a boy, internally; human urine, internally; or the excreta of dogs, horses, hogs, crows, rabbits, donkeys, mules, or elephants, internally.

Obstructions of the liver. Salts of urine, internally; or the dung of geese, swallows, or deer, internally.

Dropsy. Human ordure, internally; the patient’s own urine or that of a boy, internally; or external applications of dung of geese, chickens, goats, donkeys, dogs, deer, horses, or sheep, internally.

Kidney troubles. Human urine, both internally and externally; goose-dung, internally; sheep-dung, externally; donkey or deer dung, internally.

Kidney diseases, stone in the bladder. Take internally human urine or water, distilled over human ordure, or the dried catamenia of women, or the scrapings of chamber-pots taken in brandy.—(Paullini, pp. 142, 143.)

Gravel. The patient’s own urine, internally; or the dung of pigeons, rats, chickens, mice, wild hogs, or donkeys, both internally and externally.

Excessive urination. The dung of goats, mice, or wild hog, internally.

Difficult urination. The urine of a girl, internally; the urine of the patient, both internally and externally; the dung of sparrows, internally; or the dung of donkeys, goats, chickens, geese, roosters, or pigeons, externally.

Impaired virility and swelling of the testicles. The dung of prairie hens, or that of sparrows, internally; or the dung of rabbits, bulls, cows, or goats, externally.

Uterine displacements. Human ordure, internally; the dung of falcons, horses, or bulls, internally, or the dung of sows, donkeys, or sheep. Human excrement was applied outwardly in treatment of falling of the womb; this was also considered a good method of treating inflammation of the vagina; stale urine and the steam of old socks, and asses’ dung, was applied outwardly. The scrapings of chamber vessels was taken inwardly, mixed with other ingredients (pp. 154, 155).

For menstrual troubles menstrual blood was administered internally; the urine of boys, internally; the excreta of donkeys and rabbits, both internally and externally; and those of hogs, rats, and horses, externally.

For cessation of the menses. Take internally pulverized menses dried, and wear a chemise smeared with human blood (most probably the chemise of a woman who had been more fortunate in her purgation); or boil boys’ urine and garlic together, and inhale the steam (p. 158).

Gout, rheumatism. The patient’s own urine, both internally and externally; the urine of boys, externally; the dung of mice or rabbits, internally; the excreta of cows, bulls, calves, donkeys, pigeons, peacocks, storks, dogs, goats, or wild hogs, externally.

Another remedy for gout and rheumatism was the excreta of chickens, dogs, or cocks, internally.

Tertiary fever. Human ordure and urine, internally; the excreta of sows, donkeys, chickens, and swallows, and the white dung of dogs, internally.

Quaternary fever. The ordure of infants, internally; the urine of an old woman, mixed with donkey-dung, externally; the dung of geese gathered in May, of dogs, of sparrows, chickens, and sheep, internally; and cat-dung, externally.

Malignant fevers. The urine of the patient, internally; the urine of a jenny, internally; the dung of a red cow, of a reindeer, horse, sheep, or goat, internally; no external applications in this case.

Antidotes for poisons. Human ordure internally, and human urine both internally and externally; the excreta of hogs, ducks, swallows, goats, calves, or chickens, internally; of pigeons, cows, sheep, donkeys, and horses, externally.

Plague. Human ordure and urine, internally; bull-dung, internally; the dung of cows, chickens, or pigeons, externally.

Syphilis and venereal diseases. Human urine, internally, also externally; and the excreta of horses and dogs, externally.

Abscesses and sprains. The urine of boys, externally; the excreta of cows, goats, dogs, pigeons, chickens, camels, geese, externally; or of the wild hog, both internally and externally.

Boils. Human ordure and urine, externally; the dung of chickens, pigeons, goats, dogs, cows, bulls, sheep, or foxes, externally.

Wounds. Human ordure and urine, externally; the excreta of dogs and goats, internally; or of cows, pigeons, chickens, donkeys, and sheep, externally.

Ring-worm, felons. Human ordure, externally; menstrual blood, externally; the excreta of geese, cows, sows, cats, sheep, goats, or chickens, externally.

Itch, freckles, rash, tetter, etc. Geese-dung, internally; the excreta of donkeys, dogs, chickens, crocodiles, foxes, or pigeons, externally.

Loss of hair, lice. Human urine, externally; the excreta of pigeons, cats, rats, mice, swallows, geese, rabbits, or goats, externally.

Gangrene. The urine of a virgin, externally; the white dung of chickens, or horse-dung, externally.

Colds. Human ordure and urine, externally; the excreta of sheep, cows, bulls, chickens, hogs, pigeons, or horses, externally.

Warts. The patient’s own urine, externally; the excreta of dogs, sheep, camels, goats, cows, calves, or of a black dog, externally.

Fissure of the rectum, bunions, corns. The excreta of dogs, hogs, sheep, pigeons, chickens, goats, mice, or of cows, gathered in May, externally.

Fistula. Human ordure, externally; the dung of dogs and mice, internally.

Yellow jaundice. Take internally the oil of human excrements, or drink human urine for nine days (pp. 132, 133).

Bloody flux. Human excrements dried, taken internally, are of great benefit (pp. 108, 109).

Insomnia. Take the “Spiritus Urinæ” internally.

Fits or spasms. Take the urine of young boys internally (pp. 28 and 29.)

“Take an old rusty piece of iron, be it a horse-shoe or anything else; lay it on the fire until it be red-hot; then take it out of the fire and let the patient make water upon it and take the fume thereof at his nose and mouth, using this three days together, and it will cure him (of yellow jaundice).”—(“The Poor Man’s Physician,” John Moncrief, Edinburgh, 1716, p. 174.)

“For running ulcers of the head ... bathe the whole head with old urine.”—(Idem, p. 66.)

“To provoke flow of urine ... neat’s dung, mixt with honey, made hot, applied to the share bone.”—(Idem, p. 133.)

For stone in bladder, “mouce-dung drunk.”—(Idem, p. 134.)

“The dung, flesh, and haire of a hare drunk.”—(Idem, p. 131.)

“Goat’s-dung drunk ... for the space of three days.” (Jaundice.)—(Idem, p. 116.)

“Goat’s-dung, if drunk, brought back the catamenia.”—(Idem, p. 141.)

“Goose and hen dung, drunk with the best wine, miraculously cureth sudden suffocations of the mother.”—(Idem, p. 144.)

“For a perverse or froward mother (i. e., womb), apply stinking smells to the privities, and sweet smells to the nose.”—(Idem, pp. 144, 151.)

“For the squinsy ... take the dung of a hog, newly made and as hot as you can get it, ... apply to the place, and it cureth.”—(Idem, p. 172.)

“For all imposthemes ... the dung of a goose which had first fasted three days, and then fed on an eel before being killed,” was applied externally.—(Idem, p. 180.)

“For swellings behind the ears, ... goat-dung, boiled,” was applied as a plaster.—(Idem, p. 84.)

For boils, carbuncles, etc., “an emplaister made of the dung of a peacock cureth faithfully.”—(Idem, p. 163.)

“For the cure of fistula, ‘man’s-dung and pepper’ were to be applied externally; goat’s-dung externally; dove’s-dung was to be drunk in goat’s-milk; the juice of cow-dung, in wine, was to be cast into the fistula, and a plaster of the same was to be applied.”—(Idem, pp. 165, 166.)

“Qui mane jejune, per novem dies, bibit propriam urinam non patietur epilepsiam, paralysim, nec colicam, et qui bibit propriam urinam sanabitur a sumpto veneno.”—(Idem, pp. 169, 170.)

“D’après le témoignage de Charles Lancilotti, l’acqua di sterco humano pigliata in una calante por lo spation di nuove giorni sana quelli che patiscono il male caduco.” (Voyez Guida alla Chimica.)—(“Bib. Scatalogica,” p. 29.)

Schurig’s “Chylologia,” published in Dresden, 1725, contains citations from nearly seven hundred authorities. As these are nearly all of very ancient date, and only in a few cases accessible to scholars restricted to American libraries, this learned work of Schurig becomes all the more valuable to such as desire to study intelligently and profoundly this subject of the use of human and animal excreta in religious rites or in religious medicine.

Some of the writers quoted by Schurig favor, others oppose the medical employment of the human excretions. Among those in favor of it, according to him, may be seen the names of Galen and Dioscorides. In Schurig’s day there seems to have been much opposition developing, especially when other remedies were available; although Schurig says that the Dutch soldiers returning from the Indies spoke in praise of what they had seen there of the use of such medicaments. Among European practitioners, human ordure was employed alone, mixed with water or other ingredients, or a water and an oil were distilled from it.

It would be a useless task to repeat the names of all the authorities mentioned by this learned German, or to give in detail all the prescriptions in which the alvine dejecta figure as components. Their insertion here would add nothing to the value of these notes, as they are strictly pharmaceutical in their spirit; it may, however, be of some interest to the student to learn just what diseases were supposed to be amenable to this course of treatment, and just how the curatives were to be administered.

For angina pectoris, the ordure passed by a young boy after eating lupines, to be taken internally (p. 758). For the same disease there were other recipes for ordure in pills, plasters, and decoctions, as well as for electuaries of ordure, to be blended with honey (p. 756).

For bringing boils, ulcers, etc., to a head, for sprains, luxations, etc., a poultice of human ordure, applied hot, was considered the best specific (p. 757).

For rheumatic gout, a hot poultice of human ordure was considered of value (p. 757).

Renal calculi. “Aqua ex stercore distillata” was given internally (p. 757). For cancers and malign ulcers, human ordure was used as a local poultice; also given internally, in pills or powders. Pope Benedict was cured of a cancer by this treatment (pp. 758, 759).

Epilepsy. Peacock-dung was used internally in conjunction with human ordure (p. 762).

Erysipelas was treated with a poultice of human ordure (p. 762). “Oleum ex stercore distillatum” was also given internally (p. 762).

Cicatrices, small-pox pustules. Bathe with “aqua ex stercore distillata” (p. 760).

Gangrene, cured by application of warm ordure and urine (p. 763).

Dropsy; use “aqua ex stercore distillata” internally (p. 764).

Yellow jaundice, by human ordure drunk in wine (p. 764). Here he quotes Paullini, and others with whom we are already familiar.

Piles. Plaster of human ordure (p. 766). The same method of treatment for tumors (p. 777).

Ring-worm and other skin diseases. Use “oleum ex stercore” internally (p. 766).

Inflammation of the breasts of young mothers; local application of human ordure (p. 767).

Burns and scalds. “Aqua ex stercore” locally (p. 760). Inflammations, ditto (p. 766).

Dysentery. “Aqua ex stercore” internally (p. 761), quoting Paullini.

Empyematis. “Oleum ex stercore,” internally (p. 761).

Epilepsy. “Cured and prevented by excrement. infantis,” internally (p. 761).

For all fevers. Ordure, mixed with honey, internally, quoting Paullini (pp. 762, 763).

Fistula in ano or in lachryma. Local application of human ordure (p. 763).

Birth-marks were effaced by a plaster of human ordure, or of meconium (p. 771).

Ophthalmia, cataract, etc. Human ordure, applied as a plaster. Also, “aqua ex stercore distillata,” internally (p. 771).

Toothache. Plaster of human ordure, mixed with powdered chamomile flowers, quoting Paullini (p. 772).

Œdema. Plaster of human ordure and of cow-dung (p. 772).

Felons. Plaster of human ordure. Also, one of the same, mixed with assafœtida, quoting Paullini (p. 772).

Hysteria. Human ordure, drunk in wine (p. 773).

Bites of mad dogs, serpents, and all wild animals. Ordure, or “oleum ex stercore distillatum,” or “aqua ex stercore distillata,” internally (pp. 767, 768).

In the island of Manilla, human ordure was held in such high estimation as a remedy for the cure of the bites of all venomous animals, that it was carried fresh, or dessicated, in little pyxes or pouches suspended from the neck, ready for instant use. An example is given, on the authority of a Franciscan friar, for years a missionary in that country, of a man so bitten, and so near death that he could not open his mouth, whose teeth were pried asunder, and this remedy inserted. He recovered immediately.

Human ordure was also used internally, in Mexico, for the cure of serpent bites, as we have learned previously from other sources. (p. 767.)

For worms in the head. “Oleum ex stercore distillatum,” applied locally (p. 777).

Poisons. Human ordure, internally (pp. 777, 778).

For wounds occasioned by poisoned weapons, in the island of Macassar, human ordure was administered internally, until vomiting was induced. The same treatment was observed in Armenia, while in Celebes it was the recognized antidote against vegetable poisons, quoting Paullini (pp. 778, 779).

Plague. Human ordure and human urine were mixed together, and taken internally, to cure or prevent the plague. Human ordure was also taken alone, in the form of pills, and applied to plague buboes as a plaster. Schurig says he personally knew a certain clergyman in Dresden, in 1680, who took such pills with good effect (p. 775).

Scabs and tetter, local applications of “oleum ex stercore distil.” (p. 776).

Pleurisy, “Ol. ex sterc. dist.,” internally (p. 774).

Gout. Human ordure as a plaster, and also internally (p. 775); here he again cites Paullini, among others not known to us.

SCHURIG’S IDEAS REGARDING THE USE IN MEDICINE OF THE EGESTÆ OF ANIMALS.

Schurig devotes the fourteenth chapter of his work to a treatise “De Stercoribus Brutorum.” It is unnecessary to enter much into detail upon this point; it will be sufficient to give only a small number of the recipes, with notes upon the manner of administering, and, where possible, the opinions expressed in regard to their efficacy.

From these we may be enabled to form some idea of the line of medical thought of the ancient practitioners.

Beginning with goose-dung, we find it commended as warm and drying in its effects; an aperient and endowed with power over the menses; also over the after-birth and urine; and hence of value in jaundice, scurvy, and dropsy. It was also employed in many other diseases, principally in fevers, in whooping-cough, in cachexy, liver troubles, and when applied externally as a plaster, was of such value in the treatment of sore eyes that the Emperor Maximilian resorted to its use with the greatest advantage; again, applied as a plaster, it was used in angina and in mammary cancer. The dung of young geese was regarded as the best, and it should be gathered when possible in the early spring, preferably in the month of March, while still “green,” on the meadows; most of the old prescriptions insist upon this, as will be seen from the sample given in this paragraph.

The dose of the dried powder was from half a dram to a full dram, and it was administered in wine, or mixed with cinnamon and sugar. It was frequently combined with hen-dung, or diluted with the urine of she-goats or he-calves. Some practitioners doubted whether it was superior to dove-dung for the same diseases. When used in whooping-cough or throat swellings, it was placed under the tongue of the patient. The following are the words with which Schurig begins his panegyric upon its virtues:—

“Calefacit et siccat vehementer; incidit, aperit; menses, secundinas, et urinas potenter movet; hinc maximi usus est in morbo regio, scorbuto, et hydrope.”

℞:

Stercor. Anserin. vern. temp. collect. et in Sole exsic.

Pull. Gallinæ.—ana. ʒi.

Absinth. ℈ii.

Cinnamoni. ℈i.

Sacchar. ℥i½. —M. ft. Pulv. subtiliss.

Asses’ dung was considered by Schurig to be an especially good remedy in all diseases of hemorrhage. “Singulare remedium contra quamvis hæmorrhagias” (p. 800); but it had to be collected in the month of May; “Stercus asininum in Majo collectum.” It was to be taken in doses of one or more drachms, or only the juice squeezed from it into some medicinal water.

Dried in the sun, or in a warm place, it was good for bleeding at the nose; “ad solem vel in loco calido exsiccetur et fiat pulvis qui per nares attractus subito illarum hæmorrhagias compescit.” It was regarded as an infallible remedy for restraining an excessive menstrual flow. “Infallibile remedium ad constringendum fluxum menstruum esse stercus asininum ... asserit Johannes Petrus Albrechtus.”

This dung was also in great vogue in all cases of uterine inflammation, applied locally as a plaster. It was administered both internally and externally for gout of the feet, and used as a component of a plaster for dropsy. It was given internally for colic. Collected in the month of May, it was administered internally to dissolve calculi. “Stercus bubulum mense Majo collectum miram præbet aquam adversus Calculos, quos solvit et una urinam movet, quam nigram prima die pellit, calculis vehementer attritis. Hæc aqua in officinis vocatur omnium florum.” This water, known officinally as “water of all-flowers,” was used in attacks of plague, and in cases of gangrene, inflammation, rheumatism, etc.; also in dropsy and in cancerous ulcers (p. 800 _et seq._).

Schurig devotes considerable space to the dung of dogs, called by some “Flowers of Melampius,” and by others by the “more honest name of album Græcum.” “Stercus caninum, quod nonnulli flores Melampi, pharmacopœi autem honestiore nomine album Græcum vocant (to differentiate it from the black, which was the dung of mice), ad differentiam nigri, quod est muscerda” (p. 803).

He believed that it was in its effects “drying, cleansing, solvent, an aperient, a dissipater of swellings, such as carbuncles, a solver of ulcers,—hence useful in dysentery, in epilepsy, colic, and such complaints, as well as in angina, guttæ, malignant ulcers, hard tumors, dropsy, warts, etc.” “Siccat, abstergit, discutit, aperit, apostemata rumpit, exulceratione abstergit, hinc utile est in Dysenteria, quin etiam in Epilepsia, dolore colico, et similibus;” also “in anginæ, gutturi, ulceribus malignis, tumores duros, hydropicas, verrucas, etc.” Also in fistulas, inflammation of the tonsils, etc. It was applied externally to malignant ulcers by being sprinkled upon them, or as a plaster; applied also as a plaster in dropsy. It was used in combination with the dung of swallows (“stercus hirundinum”), or of owls (“noctuæ”). Used as a gargle in throat trouble (pp. 803-807).

“Album Græcum” was considered best when obtained from “white” dogs, as they were supposed to have the soundest constitutions. This was especially the case in the treatment of epilepsy (p. 80). Here we have a very decided trace of “Color Symbolism.”

“Album Græcum” was taken, preferentially, from dogs which, for at least three days previously, had been nourished on hard bones, with the least possible amount of water to drink; such dung was hard, white, and of faint odor, “durum, album, nec graviter olet.” Some of the prescriptions call for the dung of a fasting dog; “stercum canis per jejunium emaciati” (p. 806).

Schurig tells us that the dung of the goat was used both internally and externally in medicine. It was believed to be efficacious in the expulsion of calculi, in the reduction of hard tumors, in the dissipation of tetter, ring-worm, scald, leprosy, abscesses behind the ears, bites of serpents and other wild animals, in the restriction of excessive catamenial flow, etc. It was applied as a plaster in the treatment of tumors in the limbs, swellings of the testicles, in gout, œdema, cancer, inflammatory rheumatism, carbuncles, atrophy of the muscles, tumors in the mammæ, etc. But when made into a plaster, was frequently mixed with the patient’s own urine (p. 809).

Schurig pronounces it a rubefacient; it was of use in alleviating rheumatic pains, headache, vertigo, pains in side, shoulders, brain, and loins, colic, apoplexy, lethargy; it was supposed to be able to dissolve scrofulous and all other tumors, and was beneficial in the treatment of gout; used internally, it expelled dropsical water through the urine and also dissolved calculi; as a plaster, it was used in the cure of the bites of mad dogs; likewise for scald head; internally, the Austrian midwives employed it in the treatment of hysteria; while, throughout Germany, it was administered in cases of suppression of the menses (p. 809 _et seq._).

As to horse-dung, Schurig has to say that either it or the juice extracted from it was drunk to aid in easing the pains of colic, to assist in the expulsion of the placenta, or of a dead fœtus, or in cases of strangulation of the uterus; externally, it was believed to be serviceable in restraining eruptions of the blood. To be of the greatest medicinal value, this dung should be taken from a stallion fed on oats. It was regarded as of great value in developing small-pox pustules upon women and children (p. 812 _et seq._).

A rustic remedy which seems to have had a wide dissemination, for the alleviation of the cramp-colic, was composed of the juice expressed from horse-dung, mixed with warm beer, taken internally, while at the same time there was applied to the region of the umbilicus a plaster of warm horse-dung and hot ashes; such a plaster was employed in the cure of pleurisy among the English. In the same disease a mixture of warm horse-dung and beer was taken both internally and externally.

Cat-dung, in wine, formed the remedy in cases of vertigo and epilepsy. While its use was recommended principally in external applications, there were not wanting those who relied upon it mainly in internal application. It was reputed to possess especial efficacy in loss of hair, and supposed to be serviceable in preventing baldness, applied as an unguent. Administered internally, it suppressed immoderate menstrual flow. For the cure of felons, which so many in those days believed to be occasioned by a small worm, it was of certain efficacy, if bound round the afflicted thumb or finger. Paullini is quoted as having had personal experience with felons thus cured. But Paullini himself was of opinion that the dung of the goose was of equal value with that of the cat in this case (p. 815).

Hen-dung was recommended for use in burns. It was regarded as beneficial against magic philters, “in specie ex sanguine menstruo fœmineo.” It was considered good for all those ailments for which dove-dung was prescribed, but was not quite so efficacious. It was excellent for colic, for uterine pangs, yellow jaundice, calculus, suppression of urine, for all pains in the bowels, for strangling of the womb and pains therein, for poison, witchcraft, for seat-worms, etc. Externally, it was applied for all sores in the eyes, ulcers, warts, cicatrices, piles, pains in the feet and arms (pp. 816, 817).

Swallow-dung is mentioned as of internal and external application. It was regarded of great efficacy in the treatment of mad-dog bites, quaternary fevers, colic, inflammation of the kidneys, etc. It was applied as a plaster in cases of headache, angina, inflammation of the tonsils, and as a suppository in relaxation of the rectum. Its efficacy was conceded in dyeing the hair, being invaluable when used frequently as an unguent. Etmuller is quoted as expressing the opinion that they owe their action to the presence of “Armoniacal” salts. The swallow’s nest, with all its contents, was also sometimes ground up into a plaster, and swallow-dung itself was occasionally substituted for “album Græcum” (pp. 817 _et seq._).

Lion-dung exerted its potency in cases of difficult labor, and it was the panacea against epilepsy and apoplexy. One of the Grand Dukes of Austria was cured of epilepsy by its use. Preference was given to the excrement of a female lion, except where she had just brought forth young. An anti-epileptic remedy of great repute was composed of burnt crow’s-nest, burnt tortoise, burnt human skulls, linden-tree bark, and lion-dung, made into an infusion by long digestion in spirits of wine (pp. 819, 820).

Leopard’s dung dissolved calculi; was taken as a potion for the cure of dysentery; applied as a plaster for the cure of burns; hernia was cured by a bolus composed of leopard’s dung, human mummy, burnt worms, syrup, and other ingredients. The ashes of the dung, skin, and hair of the leopard, in combination, expelled calculi. This remedy should be drunk, dissolved in wine; it was also a sure remedy for the most obstinate cases of colic. It was applied externally in sciatica, also in constriction of the vulva, and was employed to facilitate conception. In the last-named instance pastilles (trochisci) were likewise made and the parts fumigated. Or a pessary was inserted and kept in place for three days and nights; “et quamvis antea sterilis fuerit, deinceps tamen concipiet.” To prevent falling out of eye-lashes and eye-brows, an ointment was prepared of which the dung of the leopard was an ingredient. Finally, it was in esteem as an aphrodisiac, and to expel wind from the womb (p. 820).

Wolf-dung, drunk in wine, or taken as a powder, in doses of one scruple or more, was used in the treatment of the colic. Paullini is quoted as recommending its use in fevers. The dung of wolves, as of dogs, should, if possible, be that which is white in color, dejected by animals which have been feeding upon bones, and deposited upon rocks, thorns, bushes, or the lower branches of trees, but not on the ground. It was employed internally in pains in the limbs, and administered, also internally, in form of powder, in attacks of vertigo. Desiccated, it was blown into eyes afflicted with cataract. The cavities of carious teeth were filled with wolf-dung, to ease the pains of tooth-ache. For nasal hemorrhage, the smoke of burning wolf-dung was snuffed up into the nostrils; but another prescription was to drink an infusion of wolf-dung in red wine. If sheep detected the odor of wolf-dung about their paddocks, or folds, they would behave as if bewitched, running from side to side, bleating and showing as much terror as if their arch-enemy, the wolf, was himself at hand. Knowing this fact, rascally mountebanks were wont to perpetrate tricks upon the ignorant and unsuspecting rustics, by secreting some of this dung in the stable with the ewes and lambs, frightening them out of their wits, and then persuading their masters that their flocks were suffering from some hidden ailment for the cure of which they would demand a big fee in money or fat sheep.

Schurig recommends the use of mouse-dung, both internally and externally, for various disorders, for constipation in children, for scald head, and dandruff, in which cases it was applied as an ointment, for the elimination of calculi in kidneys and bladder, for all swellings in the fundament, piles, warts, tumors in ano, hemorrhages of the lungs, for the suppression of the menses, and even to excite the growth of the beard. When taken internally, it was administered in broth, milk, or panada; externally, it was made into a plaster with butter and such ingredients. It was at times mixed with the dung of sparrows (p. 823 _et seq._).

Sheep-dung figures in medicinal preparations, to be used either internally or externally. Internally, as a decoction, in yellow jaundice, obstructions and constipation of the bowels, and in small pox. Also as a specific in the cure of gonorrhœa, when given in form of pills. For pains in the intestines, for swellings, burns, and ingrowing toe-nails, it was applied as a plaster (p. 826 _et seq._).

Peacock-dung, the great specific in all cases of epilepsy and vertigo, was administered in doses of one dram, and in France was held in high repute for such purposes. It should be used from the new to the full moon, and be taken in white wine (p. 828).

This paragraph about the medicinal value of the droppings of the peacock deserves more than a cursory glance; in it we have a strong suggestion of the former association of this bird with moon worship. The peacock, we know, was the bird that drew the car of Juno, and that goddess was as much a lunar deity as Diana.

Pig-dung or swine-dung appears as one of the remedies, of both internal and external application, for nasal hemorrhage, and uterine flux. For nasal hemorrhages, it was dried and reduced to powder, and drawn up into the nostrils as a sort of snuff. Applied, externally, warm, to the vulva, it was regarded as an aid in hemorrhage of the uterus; it was also given internally for the same purpose. It was not used exclusively for such hemorrhages, but had a great repute as a styptic in general, and was applied to wounds of all descriptions. It was therefore used both externally and internally for the suppression of excessive menstrual flow, and taken internally to restrain spitting of blood. It was of general use in the treatment of felons, and was also regarded as an invaluable febrifuge.

For nasal hemorrhage, it was occasionally bound round the temples. Oddly enough, it was believed to be a remedy for fetor of breath. “Alii miscent stercus porcinum exsiccatum, cum pulvere rosarum pro corrigendo fœtore” (p. 830 _et seq._).

As an external application for tumors of all kinds, cow-dung had a host of advocates, who likewise extended its use to the cure of scrofulous sores. For scrofulous wens, there was a cataplasm made of a composition of various dungs,—those of the cow, goat, and doves, among others. This was also to be taken internally, in white wine.

A plaster of cow-dung was used in gout of the feet. The dung of grass-fed cows was considered excellent for tumors, etc.; but its efficacy was increased when mixed with cow-urine or the urine of the patient himself; this was also in request for the treatment of œdema. For the stings of bees and wasps, a plaster of cow-dung was frequently used: “Contra apum et vesparum ictus, stercus vaccinum cum aceto utiliter adhibetur” (p. 837). The dung of a black cow, burned and given in scruple doses to a newly born child, preserved it from epilepsy and consumption; it was also employed to mitigate the pains of dentition. The dung of bulls and cows, collected in the month of May, distilled with water, made a panacea for kidney diseases; it also expelled calculi and induced a flow of urine.

“Hæc aqua vocatur aqua omnium florum,” was employed both internally and externally in gangrene, inflammations, rheumatism, spasms, dropsy, suppression of urine, etc., and was used externally to remove freckles and as a general cosmetic.—(“Chylologia,” p. 835 _et seq._)

In the “Complete English Physician,” London, 1730, there are recipes which include the dung of geese, dogs, doves, horses, peacocks, hogs, and cows.

In the “Complete English Dispensatory” of John Quincy, London, 1730, p. 307, under the head “Distillation of Urine,” it is alleged that the salts obtained from the urine “of a sound young man, newly made,” was beneficial in rheumatism and arthritis. “Urina hominis,—urine of a man. Some have got a notion of this being good for the scurvy, and drink their own water for that end, but I cannot see with what reason. Some commend it boiled into the consistence of honey, for rheumatic pain, rubbing it onto the part affected; in which case it may do good, because it cannot but be very penetrating.... Urina vaccæ,—cow piss. Some drink this as a purge. It will operate violently, but it is practised only among the ordinary people, and has nothing in its virtues to prefer it to more convenient and cleanly medicines, any more than the former” (pp. 248, 249).

Father Du Halde says of camel’s dung: “When it is dried and reduced to a powder, it will stop bleeding of the nose by being blown into it.”—(Chinese recipes given in Du Halde’s “History of China,” London, 1736, vol. iv. p. 34.)

“The dung (of sheep) is a prevalent medicine against the jaundice, dropsy, cholick, pleurisy, spleen, stone, gravel, scurvy, etc., taken either in powder, tincture, or decoction. The dung, made into a cataplasm with camphire, sal armoniack, and a little wine, opens, digests, attenuates and eases pain. It is excellent in abscesses about the ears and other emunctories, swellings in women’s breasts, pain of the spleen, and gout.”—(Pomet, “History of Drugs,” English translation, London, 1738, p. 256.)

The rare and erudite pamphlet of Samuel Augustus Flemming, “De Remediis ex Corpore Humano desumtis,” Erfurt, 1738, although containing not more than thirty-two pages, is filled with a mass of curious information upon subjects generally disregarded. Flemming remarks that those who could use urine, calculi, and things of that kind in medical practice, should not shrink from the employment of ordure as well. “And it is truly wonderful,” he says, “that a substance, the very aspect and odor of which are sufficient to induce an inevitable nausea, should be regarded not merely as a matter of curiosity and study, but held in the highest repute as a unique and most precious treasure for the preservation of health.”

Yet Paracelsus, and others of his school, knowing the natural repugnance to the acceptance of such medicines, prepared it under the name of “Zibethum Occidentalis,” and administered it in doses of from one to two drams, given in honey or wine, to ward off attacks of fever; by others, it was employed as a plaster in cases of throat-inflammation, being then called “Aureum.” Others again were of the opinion, from an examination of its chemical nature, that it was fairly entitled to a place in the Materia Medica. An oil and water were distilled from it, and used in ocular sores, corrosive ulcers, and all sorts of fistulas; for affections of the scalp, for the ulcers of erysipelas, for ring-worm and tetter, and especially the pains of gout. Finally, it was believed by many to be of exceptional efficacy in the cure of the plague, being taken internally.

“Qui urina, calculi et aliis delectantur, non a stercore ipso abhorrebunt,” etc. The full citation in Latin need not be repeated, as it is expressed in much the same manner as the views of Schurig, Paullini, Etmuller, Beckherius, and others on the same subject. He cites Zacutus Lusitanus Poterus and Johannes Anglicanus, neither of whose writings are to be found in America.

Speaking of human urine, Flemming says that physicians boasted not only of their ability to diagnose disease from urine, but to use the fluid itself in the treatment of disease. It was employed in two ways: either in the raw state, as emitted from the person in due course of nature, or in chemical preparations extracted from it. It was often administered with beneficial results in dropsy as an enema. In difficult labor, a draught of the husband’s urine taken warm brought easy and safe delivery.

A drink of the patient’s own urine was highly commended in hysteria. As an external application for the eradication of dandruff, scab, and other scalp troubles, it was held in high esteem among the common people.

A salt and a spirit were prepared from urine by distillation, and highly spoken of in the treatment of frenzy, mania, and kindred mental infirmities of a grave type.

Flemming quotes from Beckherius, whose writings have already been presented, and from Quercetanus, in “Pharmac. dogmat.,” p. 119.

(“De Remediis ex Corpore Humano desumtis,” Samuel Augustus Flemming, Erfurt, p. 24 _et seq._)

In the “Physiological Memoirs of Surgeon-General Hammond, U. S. Army,” New York, 1863, a chapter is devoted to uræmic intoxication, or the exhilaration produced by the entrance into the blood of urine, either injected or abnormally absorbed. This part of the subject should be carefully scrutinized by medical experts, whose determinations may make known whether or not the drunken frenzy of the Zuñi dancers could be attributed to the unnatural beverage exclusively or to that in combination with other intoxicants.

Dunglison says: “Human urine was at one time considered aperient; and was given in jaundice in the dose of one or two ounces. Cow’s urine, urina vaccæ, all-flower water, was once used, warm from the cow, as a purge.”—(“Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary,” Philadelphia, Pa., 1860, article “Urine.”)

In the “Lancet,” October, 1880, p. 56, Mr. G. F. Masterman draws attention to the chemical analysis of beef tea, and shows that it is analogous to urine, excepting that it contains less urea and uric acid. “Many writers have endeavored to impress the public and the profession with the true value of beef tea, viz., that it is not a nutrient but a stimulant, and that it mainly contains excrementitious materials.”—(“Beef Tea, Liebig’s Extract, Extractum Carnis, and Urine,” Richard Neale, M. D., in the “Practitioner,” London, November, 1881, p. 343 _et seq._)

“In South America urine is a common vehicle for medicine, and the urine of little boys is spoken highly of as a stimulant in malignant small-pox. Among the Chinese and Malays of Batavia urine is very freely used. One of the worst cases of epistaxis ceased after a pint of fresh urine was drunk, although it had for thirty-six hours or more resisted every form of European medicine. This was by no means an unusual result of the use of urine, as I was informed by many of the natives.... As a stimulant and general pick-up, I have frequently seen a glass of child’s or a young girl’s urine tossed off with great gusto and apparent benefit. The use of urate of ammonia and guano was noticed by Bauer in 1852, who found their external use of value in phthisis, lepra, morphoæ, and other obstinate skin diseases. Dr. Hasting’s report of the value of the excreta of reptiles in 1862, in the treatment of phthisis, will also be fresh in the recollection of the older members of the profession.”—(Idem.)

Some of the tribes of Central Africa use human urine as an invigorant during the fever season, much as Europeans employ quinine.—(Rev. Mr. Chatelain, missionary in Angola, Africa.)

“The people of Angola apply fresh urine to all cuts and bruises.”—(“Muhongo,” African boy from Angola, West Africa, in personal interview with Captain Bourke, translated by Rev. Mr. Chatelain, missionary.)

ORDURE AND URINE IN FOLK-MEDICINE.

Excrementitious remedies are still to be met with in the folk-medicine of various countries; indeed, the problem would be to determine in what country of the world at the present day the more ignorant classes do not still use them. The extracts to be now given will show that folk-medicine still retains a hold upon medicaments the use of which is generally believed to have passed away with the centuries.

“I never had an opportunity of seeing the following deed, but it was many times asserted to me by serious persons: In our province, Brittany, when somebody in the peasantry has a cheek swollen by the effects of toothache, a very good remedy is to apply upon the swollen cheek, as a poultice, freshly expelled cow-dung, and even human dung, just expelled and still smoking, which is considered as much more efficient.”—(Personal letter from Captain Henri Jouan, French Navy, Cherbourg, France, July 29, 1888.)

“Dans nos pays, on ne connaît pas, contre les piqûres, de guêpes et autres insectes, venimeux, et contre les brûlures caustiques, de l’Urtica Ureus, de meilleur remède que l’application de l’urine.”—(Personal letter from Dr. Bernard, Cannes, France, August, 1888.)

In describing the medicine of the Samoans, Turner says: “On some occasions mud and even the most unmentionable filth was mixed up and taken as an emetic draught.”—(London, 1884, p. 139, “Samoa.”)

“Maw-wallop. A filthy composition, sufficient to provoke vomiting.”—(Grose, “Dict. of Buckish Slang,” London, 1811.)

“In Fayette County an emetic for croup is made by mixing urine and goose-grease, and administering internally, and also rubbing some of the mixture over the throat and breast.”—(“Folk-Lore of the Pennsylvania Germans,” Hoffman, in “Journal of American Folk-Lore,” Cambridge, Mass., January-March, 1889, p. 28.)

For incised wounds use human urine as a lotion; for lacerated wounds apply human excrement.—(Sagen-Märchen, Volksaberglauben, aus Schwaben, Freiburg, 1861, p. 487.)

“Horse-dung and beer” are mentioned as the remedy used in England and France for the cure of “exceeding faintness.”—(See Black, “Folk-Medicine,” London, 1883, pp. 152, 153, quoting Floyer and De La Pryne.)

Among the many quaint recipes preserved in the Materia Medica of English physicians down almost to our own day we find that pigeon’s dung was used “to make a cataplasm against scrophulous and other like hard tumors; ... for an ointment against baldness; ... for a cataplasm to ripen a plague sore; ... to make a powder against the stone.”—(John Mathews Eaton, “Treatise on Breeding Pigeons,” London, pp. 39, 40, quoting Dr. Salmon.)

Wolf-dung recommended in the treatment of colic.—(Black, “Folk-Medicine,” p. 54.)

“A decoction of sheep’s dung and water was used in recent times in Scotland for whooping-cough and in cases of jaundice.”—(Idem, p. 167.)

On the same page Black shows that the same remedy was extensively employed in Ireland in the treatment of the measles.

“In the south of Hampshire a plaster of warm cow-dung is applied to open wounds.”—(Idem, p. 161.)

“Water of cow-dung,” collected in May and June, used as a purge by people in England.—(Southey, “Commonplace Book,” p. 554.)

On the same page he says that “man’s excrement which had been some days discharged, thinned with so much ale,” was given to horses with the blind staggers,—“a common experiment.”—(Idem.)

A poultice of pigeon’s dung and pounded rose-leaves was in use for a stitch in the side.—(Southey, “The Doctor,” London, 1848, p. 59.)