144 '^HE SWALLOW 



much inflamed, the ashes of an old mother 

 bird mixed with honey would be handed to 

 you. Or, the ashes of the swallow's heart 

 stirred into white wine would be prescribed. 

 A very special eye remedy was then con- 

 cocted from the ashes of the bird taken in 

 the days of hatching, mixed with certain 

 waters " at the full of the moon," together 

 with other absurd observances, — all of 

 which seem to us very ridiculous. 



To heal other bodily ills in those ignorant 

 and superstitious times, they made as many 

 as seventeen different kinds of healing lotions 

 out of our bird. In one, her ashes were 

 stirred into castor oil, and in another her 

 blood was mixed with incense. The people 

 treated all diseases of the throat and of the 

 skin with this absurd medicine, as well as 

 fever and ague, drunkenness and hydrophobia.. 



The mud nest also had a place in the 

 medieval doctor's medicine case. He ad- 

 vised its use for sore throats and for aching 

 teeth, for deaf ears and for weak brains. 



