Chap. 9.] REMEDIES DEBITED FROM THE HUMAN HAIR. 2^1 



may be prevailed upon by his prayers, not to follow, as the 

 destroyer of his glory, close upon his back. 



CHAP. 8. REMEDIES DEEIVED FROM THE WAX OF THE HUMAN 



EAR. 



The human bite is also looked upon as one of the most dan- 

 gerous of all. The proper remedy for it is human ear-wax : 

 a thing that \ve must not be surprised at, seeing that, if ap- 

 plied immediately, it is a cure for the stings of scorpions even, 

 and serpents. The best, however, for this purpose, is thai 

 taken from the ears of the wounded person. Agnails, too, 

 it is said, may be cured in a similar manner. A human tooth, 

 reduced to powder, is a cure, they say, for the sting of a ser- 

 pent. 



CHAP. 9. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE HUMAN HAIR, 



TEETH, ETC. 



The first hair, it is said, that is cut from an infant's head, 

 and, in fact, the hair of all persons that have not reached the 

 age of puberty, attached to the limbs, will modify the attacks 

 of gout. A man's hair, applied with vinegar, is a cure for the 

 bite of a dog, and, used with oil or wine, for wounds on the 

 head. It is said, too, if we choose to believe it, that the hair 

 of a man torn down from the cross, is good for quartan fevers. 

 Ashes, too, of burnt human hair are curative of carcinomata. 

 If a woman takes the first tooth that a child has shed, provided 

 it has not touched the ground, and has it set in a bracelet, and 

 wears it constantly upon her arm, it will preserve her from 

 all pains in the uterus and adjacent parts. If the great toe 

 is tied fast to the one next to it, it will reduce tumours in the 

 groin ; and if the two middle fingers of the right hand are 

 slightly bound together with a linen thread, it will act as a 

 preservative against catarrhs and ophthalmia. A stone, it is 

 said, that has been voided by a patient suffering from calculi, 

 if attached to the body above the pubes, will alleviate the 

 pains of others similarly afflicted, as well as pains in the liver ; 

 it will have the effect, also, of facilitating delivery. Granius 8 * 5 

 adds, however, that for this last purpose, the stone will be more 

 efficacious if it has been extracted with the knife. Delivery, 

 when near at hand, will be accelerated, if the man by whom 

 88 See end of the present Book. 



U 2 



