Chap. 16.] EEMEDIES FBOM THE SEXUAL CONGRESS. 
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(5.) Hippocrates informs us that the viscera of persons who 
do not take the morning meaP become prematurely aged and 
feeble ; but then he has pronounced this aphorism, it must be 
remembered, by way of suggesting a healthful regimen, and not 
to promote gluttony ; for moderation in diet is, after all, the 
thing most conducive to health. L. Lucullus gave charge to 
one of his slaves to overlook him in this respect ; and, a thing 
that reflected the highest discredit on him, when, now an aged 
man and laden with triumphs, he was feasting in the Capitol 
even, his hand had to be removed from the dish to which he 
was about to help himself. Surely it was a disgrace for a man 
to be governed by his own slave^ more easily than by himself ! 
CHAP. 15. (6.) REMEDIES DEEIVED FROM SNEEZING. 
Sneezing, provoked By a feather, relieves heaviness in the 
head ; it is said too, that to touch the nostrils of a mule with 
the lips, will arrest sneezing and hiccup. For this last pur- 
pose, Yarro recommends us to scratch the palm, first of one 
hand and then of the other ; while many say that it is a good 
plan to shift the ring from ofi" the left hand to the longest finger 
of the right, and then to plunge the hands into hot water. 
Theophrastus says, that aged persons sneeze with greater diffi- 
culty than others. 
CHAP. 16. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE SEXUAL CONGRESS. 
Democritus spoke in condemnation of the sexual congress, as* 
being merely an act through which one human being springs from 
another ; and really, by Hercules ! the more rarely it is used 
the better. Still however, athletes, we find, when they become 
dull and heavy, are re-established by it : the voice, too, is re- 
stored by it, when from being perfectly clear, it has degenerated 
into hoarseness. The congress of the sexes is a cure also for 
pains in the loins, dimness of the eyesight,^ alienation of the 
mental difficulties, and melancholy. 
^ " Non prandentium." 
Callisthenes the physician is the person supposed to be alluded to. 
Lucullus did not seem to be of opinion that a man must be a fool or a 
physician at forty.'* 
^ "Ut in qua homo alius exsiliret ex homine.*' The true meaning of 
this it seems impossible, with certainty, to ascertain : though a more in- 
delicate one than that given might be easily suggested. 
^ On the contrary, some authorities say that it is apt to cause dimness of 
sight. 
