302 
pliny's katueal history. [Book XXVIII. 
closely approach the marvellous nature of prodigies ; to say- 
nothing of still-born infants cut up limb by limb for the most 
abominable practices, expiationf^ made with the menstrual dis- 
(jharge, and other devices which have been mentioned, not 
only by mid wives but by harlots'^* even as well ! The smell of a 
woman^s hair, burnt, will drive away serpents, and hysterical 
suffocations, it is said, may be dispelled thereby. The ashes 
of a woman's hair, burnt in an earthen vessel, or used in 
combination with litharge, will cure eruptions and prurigo of 
the eyes : used in combination with honey they will remove 
warts and ulcers upon infants ; with the addition of honey and 
frankincense, they will heal wounds upon the head, and fill up 
all concavities left by corrosive ulcers ; used with hogs' lard, 
they will cure inflammatory tumours and gout; and applied topi- 
cally to the part aflected, they will arrest erysipelas and hae- 
morrhage, and remove itching pimples on the body which 
resemble the stings of ants. 
CHAP. 21. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM WOMAn's MILK. 
As to the uses to which woman's milk has been applied, it 
is generally agreed that it is the sweetest and the most deli- 
cate of all, and that it is the best^* of remedies for chronic 
fevers and coeliac affections, when the woman has j ust weaned 
her infant more particularly. In cases, too, of sickness at 
stomach, fevers, and gnawing sensations, it has been found by 
experience to be highly beneficial ; as also, in combination 
with frankincense, for abscesses of the mamillse. When the 
eyes are bloodshot from the effects of a blow, or affected with 
pain or defiuxion, it is a very good plan to inject woman's milk 
into them, more particularly in combination with honey and 
juice of daffodil, or else powdered frankincense. In all cases, 
however, the milk of a woman who has been delivered of a 
male child is the most efficacious, and still more so if she has 
had male twins ; provided always she abstains from wine and 
food of an acrid nature. Mixed with the white of an egg in 
a liquid state, and applied to the forehead in wool, it arrests 
2* The use of the word ''prodidere" shows that treatises had been 
written on these abominable subjects. Lais, Elephantis, and Salpe were 
probably the " meretrices to whom he here alkides. See c. 23, and the 
end of this Book. 
25 There is probably no foundation for this assertion. 
