Chap. 39.J EEMEDIES FOE WOUNDS. 459 



burnt barley and verdigrease, in equal quantities ; a prepa- 

 ration which is good, too, for carcinomata and spreading sores. 

 It cauterizes the flesh also around the margins of ulcers, and 

 reduces and makes level fufigous excrescences form.ed by sores. 

 .Vshes, too, of burnt sheep's dung, mixed with nitre, are of great 

 efficacy for the cure of carcinomata ; as also those of lambs* 

 thigh-bones, in cases more particularly where nlcers refuse to 

 cicatrize. Very considerable, too, is the efficacy of lights, 

 ram's lights in particular, which are of the greatest utility for 

 reducing and making level the fleshy excrescences formed by 

 ulcerous sores. With sheep's dung, warmed beneath an 

 earthen pan and kneaded, the swellings attendant upon wounds 

 are reduced, and fistulous sores and epinyctis are cleansed and 

 made to heal. 



But it is in the ashes of a burnt dog's head that the 

 greatest efficacy is found ; as it quite equals spodium*^ in 

 its property of cauterizing all kinds of fleshy excrescences, 

 and causing sores to heal. Mouse-dung, too, is used as a 

 cauterj', and weasels' dung, burnt to ashes. Pounded mille- 

 pedes, mixed with turpentine and earth of Sinope,"^^ are used 

 for penetrating carcinomata and fleshy indurations in deep- 

 seated sores ; and the same substances are remarkably useful 

 for the treatment of ulcers threatened with maggots. 



Indeed the several varieties of worms themselves are pos- 

 sessed of marvellously useful properties. The worms,*' for 

 instance, that breed in wood are curative of all kinds of ulcers : 

 reduced to ashes, with an equal quantity of anise, and applied 

 with oil, they heal cancerous sores. Earthworms are so remark- 

 ably healing for wounds recently inflicted, that it is a very 

 general belief that by the end of seven days they will unite 

 sinews even that have been cut asunder : hence it is that it is re- 

 commended to keep them preserved in honey. Ashes of burnt 

 earth-worms, in combination with tar or Simblian honey,*® cau- 

 terize the indurated margins of ulcerous sores. Some persons dry 

 earthworms in the sun, and apply them to wounds with vinegar, 

 the application not being removed till the end of a couple of days. 

 The earth also that adheres to snails is useful, similarly em- 



^■' See B, xxxiv. c. 34. 



« See B. XXXV. cc. 12, 13. '^^ "Cosses." 



*7 Dioscorides speaks of this honey as the produce of Sicily. 



