The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 1 (of 3) : $b translated from the Greek: with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgeryPaulus, Aegineta
History
The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 1 (of 3) : $b translated from the Greek: with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgery
Paulus, Aegineta
Medicine; Medicine, Arab; Medicine, Greek and Roman
Of the complaints which befal women in a pregnant state, the most
troublesome are a redundance of crudities, continued vomiting,
salivation, heartburn, and loathing of food; it will therefore be proper
to give directions regarding them. The most suitable remedies are,
exercise on foot, food not too sweet, wines which are yellow, fragrant,
and about five years old, and moderate drink. All these things are
proper for the cure of crudities and vomiting. For medicines, you may
give the plant of knot-grass, boiled in water, for drink; and likewise
dill, and the Pontic-root, called Rha, in the dialect of its native
country. These things may be taken at a meal, or before it. Externally,
the flowers of the wild vine, those of the wild or domestic pomegranate,
the leaves of the alsanders (_smyrnium_), and the seed of the fennel,
may be mixed together according to pleasure, along with dates and old
wine, and applied to the præcordium in the form of a cataplasm. Heartburn
may be alleviated by drinking warm water, by gentle exercise on foot,
and by covering the hypochondrium with soft wool. In the case of those
who have an aversion to food, whet their appetite with a variety of
articles of a savory nature, and also give dry starch. This last is
particularly serviceable to those who long to eat earth, as is the case
in the complaint called Pica, which occurs most frequently about the
third month after conception; because the fœtus being then weak, cannot
consume all the aliment which is brought to the uterus, and hence various
superfluities are collected in the stomach; and therefore they have a
desire for complicated and improper articles, such as extinguished coals,
Cimolian earth, and many more such things. On that account, the affection
has got its appellation, either from the variety of colours which the
bird Pica possesses, or from its being subject to this complaint. Labour
and long journeys will also contribute to restore a desire for wholesome
food. But she who has accustomed herself to live in an indolent manner,
will not be able, when she proves with child, to bear exercise all at
once. To those who loathe food, it may be of service to take acrid
substances, and particularly mustard. For swellings of the feet, it may
be proper to bind over them the herb anthyllis, soaked in vinegar; or to
lay the leaves of a cabbage over them, and to anoint them with Cimolian
earth mixed with vinegar, or with alum and vinegar. It is likewise of
use to sprinkle the feet with a decoction of the Median apples, called
citrons.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. We shall commence by giving a short account of ancient
opinions on a curious subject not touched upon by our author,—we mean, on
the influence of the imagination in pregnant women on the fœtus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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