2 



HA R D WICKE ' S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



put it into an earthen vessel, where it will fix, and 

 preserve it from air." Oleum animale, says Hooper 

 (p. 568), is "an empyreumatic substance, obtained 

 by distillation from animal substances. It is some- 

 times exhibited as an anti-spasmodic and diaphoretic, 

 in the dose of from ten to forty drops." 



Of the fat of sheep in particular, it was distinguished 

 by physicians as Sebum ovile or S. ovilhcm (though a 

 butcher could not tell it from "mutton-suet"), and 

 was of universal occurrence as a medium for adminis- 

 tering more active remedies. Salmon preferred it (or 

 beef-suet) to other fats in mixing drugs for keeping, 

 as it was not reckoned liable to go rancid for a year 

 or more. In Bate's Emplastrum soleare (p. 702) for 

 the feet, the sheep's fat should apparently be lifted 

 out of the category of mere vehicles. For other 

 examples I need only refer to Bate, pp. 363, 705, 

 etc., and to the ointments in Buchan's appendix. 



Wool was accredited with the possession of many 

 curative properties. CEsype, -ypos, -ypum, or -ypus, 

 Hooper relates (p. 568), "frequently is met with in 

 the ancient pharmacy for a certain oily substance 

 boiled out of particular parts of the fleeces of wool, 

 as what grows on the flank, neck and parts most used 

 to sweat." The attribution of healing powers to 

 this product was by no means confined to the com- 

 pilers of ancient pharmacies. Thus, Bate's spinal 

 balsam (p. 685), having been exhibited for rickets 

 and similar complaints, we are directed to "lay over 

 it greasie wooll as it is new shorn off the sheep's 

 back, and binding it fast to with a double linen cloth 

 sewed on." 



Buchan (p. 347) recommends the following simple 

 treatment for the gout: "The leg and foot should 

 be wrapt in soft flannel, fur or wool. The last is 

 most readily obtained and seems to answer the 

 purpose better than anything else. The people of 

 Lancashire look upon wool as a kind of specific in 

 the gout. They wrap a great quantity of it about 

 the leg andifoot affected and cover it with a skin of soft 

 dressed leather. This they suffer to continue for eight 

 or ten days, and, sometimes, for a fortnight or three 

 weeks or longer, if the pain does not cease. I never 

 knew any external application answer so well. The 

 wool which they use is generally greased and carded 

 or combed. They choose the softest which can be 

 had and seldom or never remove it till the fit be 

 entirely gone off. 



For galling of the flesh, Howard (vol. ii. p. 970) 

 has it that the application of raw wool, or the lungs 

 of a lamb still warm, are remedies. 



For staying fluxes (or dysentery) sheep's-heads 

 achieve a high reputation. Buchan pinned his faith 

 in. sheep's-head jelly as a cure. Take, he bids us 

 (p. 315), "a sheep's head and feet with the skin upon 

 them and burn the wool off with a hot iron ; boil 

 them till the broth is quite a jelly. A little cinnamon 

 or mace may be added, to give the broth an agree- 

 able flavour, and the patient may take a little of it 



warm, with toasted bread, three or four times a day. 

 . . . This might be shown to possess virtues every 

 way suited to the cure of a dysentery which does not 

 proceed from a putrid state of the humours. . . . We 

 know that whole familes have often been cured by it 

 after they had used many other medicines in vain. 

 It will be necessary to continue the use of it for 

 a considerable time and to make it the principal 

 food." 



Bate provided a remedy of the same character in 

 his Enema dysentericum (p. 708). His prescription 

 ran : " R. A sheep's-head killed with the wool and 

 broken to pieces ; the tongue and brain being taken 

 out, boil it in water (any quantity up to six pounds), 

 and strain out for clysters." To make the then 

 orthodox mess of it we were further told that we 

 might add camomiles, mallows, and other things to 

 the liquid. 



Salmon's specific for the bloody flux was his Enema 

 spirituosum (p. 709), a mixture of five drops each of 

 oils of turpentine and aniseed in eight ounces, each, 

 of spirits of wine and "broth of a sheep's head," 

 exhibited warm. With this, he tells us, he performed 

 marvellous cures ; amongst others that of " one-poor 

 man who had lain twelve weeks languishing under 

 that distemper. I, being sent for, found the man, 

 as I thought, dead, at least a-dying and senseless, 

 his eyes closed, his teeth set. ... I presently 

 caused this clyster to be exhibited. He seem'd 

 to sleep and lie quietly after it, resting twelve 

 hours with it in his body and awaked easie. . . . 

 Afterwards, once a day for a week, and in a short 

 time he perfectly recovered." 



Ewe's milk was prescribed as a luxury, being, 

 according to Hooper's analytical account, the richest 

 of milks obtainable. It possesses, going by the same 

 authority (pp. 498-500), the least serum of all and a 

 great deal of cream. Its butter was soft and its 

 cheese almost of a glutinous consistency, but excellent 

 in quality. 



Lamb's blood occurs in one of Bate's consumption 

 draughts (p. 9), and Salmon tells us the blood of a 

 sheep will answer in default of others, in another anti- 

 phthisical prescription (p. 2). 



Freshly dropped sheep's dung is the largest com- 

 ponent of Bate's Extraction ictericum (p. 279), a 

 jaundice remedy. 



One of Bate's consumption cures, along with a 

 medley of other ingredients, includes four feet of 

 sheep boiled, strained, sugared and skimmed (p. 

 612). 



For the consideration of the sheep's bezoar I am 

 constrained to refer to the general account of those 

 stones which is to follow. 



Goat. — The high medical reputation of goat's 

 milk is not of a recent birth. Says Howard (vol. ii. 

 p. 1066): "Their milk is esteemed the greatest 

 nourisher of all liquids, women's milk excepted, and 

 very comfortable to the stomach." Hooper (p. 500) 



