For the cure of purulent[2381] eruptions ashes of burnt asses’ dung are applied, with butter; and for the removal of swarthy pimples, dried goats’ milk cheese, steeped in honey and vinegar, is applied in the bath, no oil being used. Pustules are treated with ashes of swine’s dung, applied with water, or else ashes of deer’s antlers. CHAP. 70.—REMEDIES FOR SPRAINS, INDURATIONS, AND BOILS. For the cure of sprains the following applications are used; wild boars’ dung or swine’s dung; calves’ dung; wild boars’ foam, used fresh with vinegar; goats’ dung, applied with honey; and raw beef, used as a plaster. For swellings, swine’s dung is used, warmed in an earthen pot, and beaten up with oil. The best emollient for all kinds of indurations upon the body is wolf’s fat, applied topically. In the case of sores which are wanted to break, the most effectual plan is to apply cow-dung warmed in hot ashes, or else goats’ dung boiled in vinegar or wine. For the cure of boils, beef-suet is applied with salt; but if they are attended with pain, it is melted with oil, and no salt is used. Goat-suet is employed in a similar manner. CHAP. 71.—REMEDIES FOR BURNS. THE METHOD OF TESTING BULL-GLUE; SEVEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT. For the treatment of burns, bears’ grease is used, with lily roots; dried wild boars’ dung also, or swine’s dung; the ashes of burnt bristles, extracted from plasterers’ brushes, beaten up with grease; the pastern-bone of an ox, reduced to ashes, and mixed with wax and bull’s marrow or deer’s marrow; or the dung of a hare. The dung, too, of a she-goat, they say, will effect a cure without leaving any scars. The best glue is that prepared from the ears and genitals of the bull, and there is no better cure in existence for burns. There is nothing, however, that is more extensively adulterated; which is done by boiling up all kinds of old skins, and shoes even, for the purpose. The Rhodian glue is the purest of all, and it is this that painters and physicians mostly use. The whiter it is, the more highly glue is esteemed: that, on the other hand, which is black and brittle like wood, is looked upon as good for nothing. CHAP. 72.—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE SINEWS AND FOR CONTUSIONS. For pains in the sinews, goats’ dung, boiled in vinegar with honey, is considered one of the most useful remedies, and this even where the sinew[2382] is threatened with putrefaction. Strains and contusions are healed with wild boars’ dung, that has been gathered in spring and dried. A similar method is employed where persons have been dragged by a chariot or lacerated by the wheels, or have received contusions in any other way, the application being quite as effectual, should the dung happen to be fresh. Some think it a better plan, however, to boil it in vinegar; and if only powdered and taken in vinegar, they vouch for its good effects where persons are ruptured, wounded internally, or suffering from the effects of a fall.