Chap. 77.] REMEDIES FOE. PEHALE DISEASES- 363 



Procidence of the uterus is arrested by using butter, in the 

 form of an injection ; and indurations of that organ are removed 

 by similarly employing ox-gall, with oil of roses, turpentine 

 being applied externally in wool. They say, too, that a fumi- 

 gation, made from ox- dung, acts as a corrective upon procidence 

 of the uterus, and facilitates parturition ; and that conception 

 is promoted by the use of cows' milk. It is a well-known 

 fact that sterility is often entailed by suffering in child-birth ; 

 an evil which may be averted, Olympias of Thebes assures us, 

 by rubbing the parts, before sexual intercourse, with bull's 

 gall, serpents' fat, verdigrease, and honey. In cases, too, where 

 menstruation is too abundant, the external parts should be 

 sprinkled with a solution of calf's gall, the moment, before the 

 sexual congress ; a method which acts emolliently also upon 

 indurations of the abdomen. Applied to the navel as a lini- 

 ment, it arrests excessive discharges, and is generally beneficial 

 to the uterus. The proportions generally adopted are one 

 denarius of gall, one-third of a denarius of opium, and as much 

 oil of almonds as may appear to be requisite ; the whole being 

 applied in sheep's wool. The gall, too, of a bull-calf is beaten 

 up with half the quantity of honey, and kept in readiness for 

 the treatment of uterine diseases. If a woman about the time 

 of conception eats roasted veal with the plant aristolochia, 8 she 

 will bring forth a male child, we are assured. Calf's marrow, 

 boiled in wine and water with the suet, and applied as a pes- 

 sary, is good for ulcerations of the uterus ; the same, too, with 

 foxes' fat and cats' dung, the last being applied with resin and 

 oil of roses. 



It is considered a remarkably good plan to subject the uterus 

 to fumigations made with burnt goats' horns. The blood of 

 the wild goat, mixed with sea-palm, 9 acts as a depilatory. The 

 gall of the other kinds of goat, used as an injection, acts 

 emolliently upon callosities of the uterus, and ensures concep- 

 tion immediately after menstruation: it possesses also the 

 virtues of a depilatory, the application being left for three days 

 upon the flesh after the hair has been removed. The midwives 

 assure us that she-goats' urine, taken in drink, and the dung, 

 applied topically, will arrest uterine discharges, however 

 much in excess. The membrane in which the kid is en- 

 closed in the uterus, dried and taken in wine, acts as an expei- 

 8 See B. xxv. cc. 79, 84, 91. 9 See B. xiii. c. 49. 



