272 



HA RD WICKK S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



also gave the dose, one dram twice daily, in a medium, 

 for convulsions and bowel distempers. 



The mare was in no less requisition ; her milk was 

 administered in a diversity of forms. Caracosinos, 

 Cosmos, Koumiss (with variations of spelling), are 

 some of the names given in medicine to the sour 

 curdle, borrowed from the Tartars, which was not 

 first introduced at the Health Exhibition of 1884, but 

 a common medical prescription a dozen or more 

 decades before that date. Mare's milk in its large 

 proportion of lactose, its abundance of serum, and the 

 softness of its almost inseparable butter and cheese 

 (Hooper, pp. 498 et seq.), possessed distinctive 

 characters which sometimes rendered it more desirable 

 than other milks. The near approach of its qualities, 

 in general, to those of human milk naturally made it 

 an effectual substitute for the latter, and it was some- 

 times provided in default of asses' milk. 



The horse was one of the animals from which 

 bezoar stones were most commonly procured [vide 

 Howard, vol. i. p. 332). Thus, even in death his 

 utility failed us not. Indeed, his carcase rendered us 

 posthumous service worthy of the rhapsodies of the 

 venerable meditator on a broomstick. Its hide when 

 flayed, tanned, dressed, made into shoe-leather, worn 

 out and even decayed, still possessed a benevolent 

 property, for we read (in Howard, vol. ii. p. 970), 

 that " the powder of a burnt old shoe sprinkled on 

 the place," is an effectual healer of galled flesh. 

 Truly, of all the friends of man, this one was faithful 

 to the last ! 



Perhaps I ought not to omit mention of the ignis 

 sapientiiim (or "heat of horse-dung"), a favourite 

 means of distilling and digesting drugs which was put 

 into frequent practice by the chemists of old. This 

 was accomplished by placing the matter in a closed 

 vessel, inserting it in a manure heap of the requisite 

 proportions, and dubbed in the vulgar tongue a 

 "dung-bath" or "horse's belly," and leaving it for a 

 varying length of time, according to the exigencies of 

 the operation. Salmon, who devotes a great deal of 

 instruction to the practical apothecary, sometimes 

 suggests alternative processes, " for want of the con- 

 veniency of horse-dung," but usually first counsels 

 its use. For instances of its application it will 

 suffice to refer the reader to pp. 36, 65, ill, 229, and 

 572 of Bate. 



Horsehair was often of essential service to the 

 physician, as, by insertion, to keep open those 

 artificial ulcers yclept sdoiis {vide Hooper, p. 

 742). Its osseous system too, no doubt, was 

 answerable for a good many of the " calves-foot 

 jellies," and kindred preparations devoted to the 

 strengthening of the weak. 



Ass. — When the Prior de Jonval indited his 

 celebrated panegyric on the value of the ass, he 

 omitted mention of, perhaps, one of its greatest titles 

 to commendation. As if to counterbalance this short- 

 coming, another familiar classic, Ur. Buchan, is 



exuberant in his encomiums on this single head ; 

 pinning his canny faith on the nutritious qualities of 

 the milk this creature affords. "Convulsive or 

 nervous asthma," he tells us (p. 370), "is often 

 relieved by the use of asses' milk ; " but his chief 

 recommendation lies in the unstinted praise which he 

 bestowed on it as a sovereign remedy for phthisis, 

 praise which at once elevated it to the front rank of 

 consumption cures, and lent it a reputation which it 

 has not yet lost. 



In writing of the treatment of consumption, the 

 doctor tells us (p. 163) : "Asses' milk is commonly 

 reckoned preferable to any other, but it cannot 

 always be obtained. ... It is hardly to be expected 

 that a gill or two of asses's milk, drank in the space 

 of twenty-four hours, should be able to produce any 

 considerable change in the humours. This medicine 

 however valuable, very seldom performs a cure. 

 The reason is obvious ; it is commonly used too late, 

 is taken in too small quantities, and is not duly 

 persisted in. I have known very extraordinary eff'ects 

 from asses' milk in obstinate coughs, which 

 threatened a consumption, and do verily believe, if 

 used at this period, that it would seldom fail. Asses' 

 milk ought to be drank, if possible, in its natural 

 warmth and, by a grown person, in the quantity ot 

 half an English pint at a time, four times, or at least 

 thrice a day ; a little light bread along with it, so as 

 to make it a kind of meal." 



Asinum lac, subsequently wrote Hooper, "is much 

 esteemed in medicine," being " preferred to cow's 

 and other kinds, in phthisical cases, and where the 

 stomach is weak, as containing less oleaginous 

 particles, and being more easily converted into chyle." 

 "Asses' milk has a very strong resemblance to 

 human milk, in colour, smell and consistence. When 

 left at rest for a sufficient time, a cream forms upon 

 its surface, but by no means in such abundance as [on] 

 a woman's milk. Asses' milk differs from cow's milk 

 in its cream being less abundant and more insipid, in 

 its containing less curd, and in its possessing a 

 greater proportion of sugar. The milk of women, 

 mares and asses very nearly agree in their qualities." 

 Vide Hooper, pp. 77, 78 and 498—500. 



The Onis, or asses' dung, which was "in repute " 

 with old Hippocrates, I do not find in any of the last 

 century prescriptions which I have examined. It is 

 perhaps needless to add that the ass was enrolled 

 among the furnishers of bezoar-stones, and that its 

 heels and skeleton were, at least, capable of affording 

 a quantum to our supply of gelatine. 



Rhinoceros.— There is little doubt that the 

 rhinoceros was the producer of a share of the 

 unicorn's and unspecified ivory, dealt with under the 

 heads of Narwhal and Elephant respectively.* It is 

 observable that this brute is, in Pinkerton's edition of 

 "Marco Polo's Voyages" (chap, xxiii.) described 



* Science-Gossip, 1890 vol., pp. 153, 154. 



