Ghap. 77.] 
BEMEDIES ion TEMALE DISEASES 
363 
Procidence of the uterus is arrested by using butter, in the 
form of an injection ; and indurations of that organ are removed 
by similarly employing ox-gall, with oil of roses, turpentine 
being applied externally in wool. They say, too, that a fumi- 
gation, made from ox- dung, acts as a corrective upon procidence 
of the uterus, and facilitates parturition ; and that conception 
is promoted by the use of cows' milk. It is a well-known 
fact that sterility is often entailed by suffering in child-birth ; 
an evil which may be averted, Olympias of Thebes assures us, 
by rubbing the parts, before sexual intercourse, with bull's 
gall, serpents' fat, verdigrease, and honey. In cases, too, where 
menstruation is too abundant, the external parts should be 
sprinkled with a solution of calf's gall, the moment before the 
sexual congress ; a method which acts emoUiently also upon 
indurations of the abdomen. Applied to the navel as a lini- 
ment, it arrests excessive discharges, and is generally beneficial 
to the uterus. The proportions generally adopted are — one 
denarius of gall, one-third of a denarius of opium, and as much 
oil of almonds as may appear to be requisite ; the whole being 
applied in sheep's wool. The gall, too, of a bull-calf is beaten 
up with half the quantity of honey, and kept in readiness for 
the treatment of uterine diseases. If a woman about the time 
of conception eats roasted veal with the plant aristolochia,^ she 
will bring forth a male child, we are assured. Calf's marrow, 
boiled in wine and water with the suet, and applied as a pes- 
sary, is good for ulcerations of the uterus ; the same, too, with 
foxes' fat and cats' dung, the last being applied with resin and 
oil of roses. 
It is considered a remarkably good plan to subject the uterus 
to fumigations made with burnt goats' horns. The blood of 
the wild goat, mixed with sea-palm,^ acts as a depilatory. The 
gall of the other kinds of goat, used as an injection, acts 
emolliently upon callosities of the uterus, and ensures concep- 
tion immediately after menstruation: it possesses also the 
virtues of a depilatory, the application being left for three days 
upon the flesh after the hair has been removed. The mid wives 
assure us that she-goats' urine, taken in drink, and the dung, 
applied topically, will arrest uterine discharges, however 
much in excess. The membrane in which the kid is en- 
closed in the uterus, dried and taken in wine, acts as an expei- 
9 See B. XXV. cc. 79, 84, 91. f See B. xiii. c. 49. 
