NASAL POLYPUS. 
201 
be like a piece of torn flesh hanging in the nostril, and is to 
be extracted. The second consists of hard flesh, which fills 
the nostril, and is to be treated by the cautery, with the 
application afterwards of the “ flos aeris ” to the part. The 
third is a round and soft piece of flesh growing from the 
cartilage, and is to be extracted by a ligature, which opera- 
tion he describes minutely. The fourth is of a stony hard- 
ness, and is to be cut all round with a scalpel, then burnt, 
and the part touched with e flos aeris/ The fifth grows from 
the top of the cartilage, and is to be burnt/’ 
Galen gives various u prescriptions from Archigenes, 
Asclepiades, Lampon, and others, for removing polypus. 
The most active ingredients in them are copperas, burnt 
copper, verdigris, alum, chalcitis, and arsenic/’ 
Antonio Musa recommends a powder consisting of equal 
parts of arsenic and copperas. c< This may prove dangerous,” 
says Adams, “ if misapplied ; but, in the hands of a cautious 
surgeon, such an application will be found both safe and 
effectual/’ 
Celsus, Oribasius, Scribonius, Octavius Horatianus, 
Aetius, Alexander, Marcellus, and amongst the Arabians, 
Serapion, Albucasis, Avicenna, Mesne, Haly Abbas, Rhazes, 
and Alsaharavius, complete the list, with Guy of Cauliac, of 
ancient writers on polypus, quoted by Adams. 
We can add to these some who have more exclusively 
written on the veterinary art, such as Marcus Porcius Cato, the 
celebrated censor, but superstitious friend of incantations, in 
whose work, 6 De Re Rustica,’ much is spoken of “ Polypus in 
Naso.” 
Apsyrtus, Hierocles, and Hippocrates are quoted on this 
subject in the famous c Hippiatricon.’ Publius Vegetius Re- 
natus, who lived from 450 to 510 years after Christ, did not 
omit to mention it in his c Artis Veterinariae, sive digestorum 
Mulomedicinae/ the most complete work of its period.* 
From Vegetius, apart secondary writings, we pass to the 
middle of the fourteenth century, when there appeared a 
book in great part compiled from the c Artis Veterinariae/ 
and which bore the title of c Mascalcia di Dino di Pietro 
Dini, Maniscalco e cittadino fiorentino/ in which a whole 
chapter is devoted to fleshy productions of the nose or 
polypi. 
Three centuries later, the illustrious senator of Bologna, 
Carlo Ruini, filled a side and a half of his royal quarto 
volume when speaking of nasal polypi : he was thoroughly 
* See Ercolani, c Ricerclie storico Analitiche sugli Scrittori di Veteri* 
naria/ Torino, 1851. 
xxviii. 26 
