352 
flint's natukal history. [EookXXVlII. 
CHAP. 62. (16.) REMEDIES FOR GOUT AND FOR DISEASES OF 
THE FEET. 
For the cure of gout, bears' grease is employed, mixed in 
equal proportions with bull-suet and wax ; some persons add 
to the composition, hypocisthis^^ and nut-galls. Others, again, 
prefer he-goat suet, mixed with the dung of a she-goat and 
saffron, or else with mustard, or sprigs of ivy pounded and 
used with perdicium,^^ or with flowers of wild cucumber. Cow- 
dung is also used, with lees of yinegar. Some persons speak 
highly in praise of the dung of a calf which has not begun to 
graze, or else a bulFs blood, without any other addition ; a 
fox, also, boiled alive till only the bones are left ; a wolf boiled 
alive in oil to the consistency of a cerate ; he- goat suet, with 
an equal proportion of helxine,^^ and one- third part of mus- 
tard ; or ashes of goats' dung, mixed with axle-grease. They 
say, too, that for sciatica, it is an excellent plan to apply this 
dung boiling hot beneath the great toes ; and that, for diseases 
of the joints, it is highly efficacious to attach bears' gall or 
hares' feet to the part affected. Gout, they say, may be allayed 
by the patient always carrying about with him a hare's foot, 
cut off from the animal alive. 
Bears' grease is a cure for chilblains and all kinds of chaps 
upon the feet ; with the addition of alum, it is still more effi- 
cacious. The same results are produced by using goat- suet ; 
a horse's teeth powdered ; the gall of a wild boar or hog ; or 
else the lights of those animals, applied with their grease ; and 
this, too, where the soles are blistered, or the feet have been 
crushed by a substance striking against them. In cases where 
the feet have been frozen, ashes of burnt hare's fur are used ; 
and for contusions of the feet, the lights of that animal are 
applied, sliced or reduced to ashes. Blisters occasioned by the 
sun are most effectually treated by using asses' fat, or else 
beef- suet, with oil of roses. Corns, chaps, and callosities of 
the feet are cured by the application of wild boars' dung or 
swine's dung, used fresh, and removed at the end of a couple 
See B. xxvi, c. 31. Bears' grease is of no use whatever for the cure 
of gout. 
81 See B. xix. c. 31, B. xxi. cc. 62, 104, and B. xxii. cc. 19, 20. 
82 See B. xxi, c. 56. 
83 Thi-s mode of cure, Ajasson says, is still employed in the East, where 
the preparation is known by the name of moza. 
