Scatalogic Rites of All Nations: A dissertation upon the employment of excrementitious remedial agents in religion, therapeutics, divination, witchcraft, love-philters, etc., in all parts of the globeBourke, John Gregory
Religion
Scatalogic Rites of All Nations: A dissertation upon the employment of excrementitious remedial agents in religion, therapeutics, divination, witchcraft, love-philters, etc., in all parts of the globe
Bourke, John Gregory
Scatology
“Ad profluvium mulierum, Taurus ibicuncque pastus fuerit folia ulmi
arboris de fimo ipsius facias siccari et terre in pollinem tenuissimum,
mitte ipsum in carbones in quodam testo, et deponas in vaso et sedeat
mulier quæ patitur encatesma diligenter co-operta (well covered up), et
sanabitur ut mireris” (“De Tauro”).
_Testo_ means the “lid of a pot;” _encatesma_ means a “sitting-bath;” and
the sense seems to be that the woman was to take the dung of a bull which
had been eating the leaves of an elm-tree, dry, reduce to fine powder,
throw on hot coals on the lid of a pot, and let the woman sit on this,
well covered up, and have a steam-bath.
For all kinds of tumors, as well as for every kind of head-ache, the
dung of elephants was applied externally. (“De Elephantis.”) He makes no
mention of the use of asses’ dung, but strongly recommends the use of
the excrement of the horse. “Ad sanguinem e naribus profluentem, equi
stercus siccum et aspersum, sanguinem fluentem retinet, maxime naribus
suffumigatum.” He also recommends the use of horse-dung externally in
the treatment of ear-ache, and for retention of the menses internally.
“Ad aurium dolorem, stercus equi siccum et rosaceo succo liquefactum
et collatum, auribus instillatur aurium dolorem perfecte tollit....
Ad ventrem non fluentem, nimiumque tumescentem, Equi stercus aqua
liquefactum, et percolatum, postea bibitum, mox faciet egressum.”—(“De
Equo.”)
Cat-dung was used in the eradication of dandruff and of scald in the
head; for excessive after-birth hemorrhages in the form of fumigation
or bath. For the relief of a person who had swallowed a bone or thorn,
his fauces were rubbed with cat-dung. For the relief of the quartan
ague, hang cat-dung and cow horn or hoof to the patient’s arm; after
the seventh attack the fever will leave him for good.—(Idem. See under
“Witchcraft,” extract from Etmuller, p. 267.)
Vulture-dung, mixed with the white dung of dog, cured dropsy and palsy,
especially if from a vulture which had lived on human flesh; to be taken
internally.—(“De Vulture.”)
The urine of a virgin boy or girl was an invaluable application for
affections of the eyes; also for stings of bees, wasps, and other
insects. As a cure for elephantiasis, the urine of boys was to be
drunk freely. “Ad elephantiam puerorum, pueri lotium si puer biberit
liberaliter.”
The crust from human urine was useful in burns and in bites of mad dogs.
(Idem. See notes on the Parisian “Mangeurs du blanc.”) For cancers man’s
ordure was burnt and sprinkled over the sore places; for tertian fevers,
it had to be that of the patient himself; and to be held in the left hand
while burning, then placed in a rag, and tied to his left arm before the
hour of the recurrence of the fever. “Ad tertianas, ipsius ægri stercus
sinistra manu sublatum comburunt et in sinistro brachio ante horam
accessionis suspendunt.”—(“De Puello et Puella Virgine.”)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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