362 
PLINT's natural HISTOrvY. 
[Book xxviir. 
they apply hare's rennet with honey ; and to prevent hairs 
from growing again when once removed, they use a liniment 
of hare's blood. 
For inflations of the uterus, it is found a good plan to apply 
wild hoars' dung or swine's dung topically with oil : but a 
still more effectual remedy is to dry the dung, and sprinkle it, 
powdered, in the patient's drink, even though she should be 
in a state of pregnancy or suffering the pains of child-birth. 
Ey administering sow's milk with honied wine, parturition is 
facilitated ; and if taken by itself it will promote the secre- 
tion of the milk when deficient, in nursing women. By rub- 
bing the breasts of famaies with sow's blood they are pre- 
vented from becoming too large. If pains are felt in the 
breasts, they will be alleviated by drinking asses' milk ; and the 
same milk, taken with honey, has considerable efficacy as an 
emmenagogue. Stale fat, too, from the same animal, heals 
ulcerations of the uterus : applied as a pessary, in wool, it acts 
emoUiently upon indurations of that organ ; and, applied fresh 
by itself, or in water when stale, it has all the virtues of a 
depilatory. 
An ass's milt, dried and applied in water to the breasts, 
promotes the secretion of the milk ; and used in the form of a 
fumigation, it acts as a corrective upon the uterus. A fumi- 
gation made with a burnt ass's hoof, placed beneath a woman, 
accelerates parturition, so much so, indeed, as to expel the dead 
foetus even : hence it is that it should only be employed in cases 
of miscarriage, it having a fatal effect upon the living foetus. 
Asses' dung, applied fresh, has a wonderful effect, they say, in 
arresting discharges of blood in females : the same, too, with 
the ashes of this dung, which, used as a pessary, are very good 
for the uterus. If the skin is rubbed with the foam from a 
horse's mouth for forty days together, before the first hair has 
made its appearance, it will effectually prevent the* growth 
thereof : a decoction, too, made from deer's antlers is productive 
of a similar effect, being all the better if they are used quite 
fresh. Mares' milk, used as an injection, is highly beneficial 
to the uterus. 
Where the foetus is felt to be dead in the uterus, the 
lichens or excrescences from a horse's legs, taken in fresh 
water, will act as an expellent : an effect produced also by a 
fumigation made with the hoofs or dry dung of that animal. 
