of the hoof of the elk, stag, goat, hull, etc., were employed as a
vomitory, but in their absence, human finger-nails were substituted;
“istam ungulorum speciem quæ ab homine desumitur, substitui.”
Human finger-nail clippings were also recommended in “sympathetic”
cures.—(Flemming, “De Remediis,” p. 21.)
“He who trims his nails and buries the parings is a pious man; he who
burns them is a righteous man; but he who throws them away is a wicked
man, for mischance might follow should a female step over them.”—(Paul
Isaac Hershon, “Talmudic Miscellany,” Boston, 1880, p. 49; footnote to
above, “The orthodox Jews in Poland are to this day careful to bury away
or burn their nail-parings.”)
On a fragment of a Chaldean tablet occurs this curious passage:—
“A son to his mother,
(if) he has said to her, Thou art not my mother
His hair and nails shall be cut off,
In the town he shall be banished from land and water.”
(“Chaldean Magic,” François Lenormant, London, 1873, p. 382.)
In the province of Moray, Scotland, “In hectic fevers and consumptive
diseases they pare the nails of the fingers and toes of the patient,
put these in a bag made of a rag from his clothes, ... then wave their
hand with the rag thrice round his head, crying ‘Deas Soil,’ after which
they bury the rag in some unknown place.” Pliny, in his Natural History,
mentions it as practised by the magicians or Druids of his time.—(Brand,
“Pop. Ant.,” vol. iii. p. 286, art. “Physical Charms.”)
SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE HUMAN SALIVA.
The most recent work on this subject is the extended monograph of Mrs.
Fanny D. Bergen, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, now in press, and to
the pages of which the author of this volume has contributed his own
collection of data.
Reference may also be had, with advantage, to Brand’s Popular
Antiquities, Reginald Scot’s “Discoverie of Witchcraft,” Black’s
“Folk-Medicine,” Samuel Augustus Flemming’s “De Remediis ex Corpore
Humano desumtis,” Lenormant’s “La Magie chez les Chaldéens,” and to the
works of Pliny, Galen, “Saxon Leechdoms,” Levinus Lemnius, Beckherius,
Etmuller, and many others.
John Graham Dalyell, “Superstitions of Scotland,” Edinburgh, 1834, has
a chapter on the occult influences attributed to human saliva. When the
Khonds of Orissa were about to sacrifice a human victim, they were wont
to solicit the favor of having him spit in their faces; “sollicitent un
crachat qu’ils s’étendront soigneusement.”—(“Les Primitifs,” Réclus, p.
368.)
In the ritual of the Hill Tribes of the Nilgherris, it is related:—
“Mada a craché dans les fontaines.”
(Quoted in “Les Primitifs,” p. 244.)
Frommann, in his “Tractatus de Fascinatione,” Nuremburg, 1675, speaks of
the anointing of eyes with saliva, to cure blindness; this he compares to
the use made by our Saviour of the same (p. 196).
“The Kirghis tribes apply to their sorcerers, or Baksy, to chase away
demons, and thus to cure the diseases they are supposed to produce. To
this end they whip the invalid until the blood comes, and then spit in
his face.”—(“Chaldean Magic,” François Lenormant, London, 1873, p. 212.)
Many interesting practices connected with the human saliva, are given
in Lady Wilde’s “Ancient Legends and Superstitions of Ireland,” Boston,
1888. See also “The Golden Bough,” James G. Frazer, M.A., London, 1890,
vol. i. pp. 385, 386.
CERUMEN OR EAR-WAX.
Pliny speaks of its use in medicine (lib. xxviii. cap. 7); Galen does
also. Flemming recommended its internal use in colic and cramps; and
externally as an application to wounds.—(“De Remediis,” etc., p. 22.)
Paullini was of the opinion that a good salve for sore eyes could be
prepared from cerumen (pp. 42, 43).
“The excrement of the ears, like unto a yellow oyntment, is a great
comfort in the pricking of the sinews.”—(Von Helmont, “Oritrika,” English
translation, London, 1662, p. 247.)
Galen thought that ear-wax was efficacious in the cure of whit-nails; the
other “sordes” were also employed, but he would not write about them, on
account of the difficulty of obtaining them,—such as the perspiration
flowing in the bath, or scraped from the body after severe exercise; and,
finally, the fatty matter of wool was of medicinal value, and seemed to
have the same properties as butter.—(Galen, “Opera Omnia,” lib. xii. p.
309, Kuhn’s edition, Leipzig, 1829.)
WOMAN’S MILK.
Woman’s milk mitigated redness of eyes and inflammation of the lachrymal
glands; it should be used with vitriol. For “gutta serena” it was
applied as an ointment; in cases of atrophy it was regarded by many as
of commendable utility, especially if drawn from the woman’s breast; the
same treatment was a specific in obstinate hiccough.
A butter prepared from woman’s milk was used in diseases of children,
especially colic, and in ocular affections. (See Flemming, “De Remediis,”
etc., p. 18.) Its remedial efficacy forms the basis of Pliny’s c. 21,
lib. xxviii.; if possible, it should be that of a woman who had just
borne male twins. “If a person is rubbed at the same time with the milk
of both mother and daughter, he will be proof for all the rest of his
life against all affections of the eyes.... Mixed with the urine of a
youth who has not yet arrived at puberty, it removes ringing in the
ears.”—(Idem.)
“Matricis vulneribus confert ... lac mulieris.”—(Avicenna, vol. i. p.
337, a 36.)
The Empress of China took the milk of sixty wet nurses to keep herself
alive, according to Mr. Frank G. Carpenter.
Woman’s milk is still used in the rude trephining of the African Kabyles
as a dressing.—(See “Prehistoric Trephining,” by Dr. Robert Fletcher, in
vol. v. “Contributions to North American Ethnology,” Washington, D. C.,
1882.)
HUMAN SWEAT.
Human perspiration was believed to be valuable not only as a means of
prognosis in some diseases, but its appearance was dreaded in others. If
the perspiration of a fever-stricken patient was mixed with dough, baked
into bread, and given to a dog, the dog would catch the fever, and the
man recover. It was efficacious in driving away scrofulous wens, and in
rendering philters abortive. It was narrated that if a man, who under
the influence of a philter, was forced to love a girl against his will,
would put on a pair of new shoes, and wear them out by walking in them,
and then drink wine out of the right shoe, where it could mingle with the
perspiration already there, he would promptly be cured of his love, and
hate take its place.
This corresponds closely to the urine case already noted; and it is
proper to repeat Flemming’s own words on the matter: “Narrant quod,
si quis philtro fascinatus era fuerit, ad amandam præter voluntatem
virginem, ut is noves induat calces, miliareque unum obambulando
conficiat, quo sudor animadvertatur postque vinum e calceo dextri pedis
sudore madido, hauriat, sic ab illicito amore liberari amoremque in odium
converti dicunt.”—(“De Remediis,” p. 19.)
See Etmuller, who used it in scrofula, lib. ii. p. 265; Pliny, lib. 28;
Galen and Avicenna (sweat of gladiators), vol. i. p. 398, a 17, and
elsewhere.
SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE CATAMENIAL FLUID.
For the opinions entertained by the ancients regarding its occult powers,
read Pliny (Bohn’s edition), lib. xxviii. cap. 23, and again lib. viii.
cap. 13. “On the approach of a woman in this state, must will become
sour, seeds which are touched by her become sterile, grafts wither away,
garden-plants are parched up, and the fruit will fall from the tree
beneath which she sits; ... a swarm of bees if looked upon by her will
die immediately, brass and iron will immediately become rusty.... Dogs
tasting the catamenial fluid will go mad.... In addition to this, the
bitumen which is found at certain periods of the year floating on the
Lake of Judea, known as Asphaltites,—a substance which is peculiarly
tenacious, and adheres to everything it touches,—can only be divided into
separate pieces by a thread which has been dipped into this virulent
matter.” (Lib. vii. cap. 13, and again lib. xxviii. cap. 23.) In a
footnote it is stated that both Josephus (“Bell. Jud.,” lib. iv. cap.
9) and Tacitus (lib. v. cap. 6) give an account of this supposed action
of this fluid on the bitumen of Lake Asphaltites. “Hail-storms, they
say, whirl-winds, and lightning even, will be scared away by a woman
uncovering her body merely, even though menstruating at the time.” (Lib.
xxviii. cap. 23.) Menstruating women, in Cappadocia, perambulated the
fields of grain to preserve them from worms and caterpillars. (Idem.)
“Young vines, too, it is said, are injured irremediably by the touch of
a woman in this state; and both rue and ivy plants, possessed of highly
medicinal virtues, will die instantly upon being touched by her....
The edge of a razor will become blunted on coming in contact with
her.”—(Idem.)
“All plants will turn pale upon the approach of a woman who has the
menstrual discharge upon her.” (Pliny, lib. xix. cap. 57.) The same
opinion prevailed in France down to our own times. (Idem, footnote.)
“Expiations were made with the menstrual discharge, ... not only by
midwives, but even by harlots as well” (lib. xxviii. cap. 20).
Frommann cites Aristotle and Pliny in reference to the maleficent
effects of the menses and of the uncanniness of a menstruating woman.
Aristotle said her glance took the polish out of a mirror, and the next
person looking into it would be bewitched. Frommann quotes a man who said
he saw a tree in Goa which had withered because a catamenial napkin had
been hung in it.—(“Tractatus de Fascinatione,” Nuremburg, 1675, pp. 17,
18.)
“Stains upon a garment made with the catamenial fluid can only be removed
by the agency of the urine of the same female.”—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. cap.
24.)
“An Australian black fellow who discovered that his wife had lain on his
blanket at her menstrual period, killed her, and died of terror himself
within a fortnight. Hence Australian women at these times are forbidden
under pain of death to touch anything that men use.” (“The Golden Bough,”
Frazer, vol. i. p. 170. He supplies other examples from the Eskimo and
the Indians of North America. “Tinneh,” etc., p. 170.) In the following
example we are not certain that the young women selected were undergoing
purgation, but there is some reason for believing that such was the case,
especially in view of the general dissemination of the ideas connected
with the catamenia. “In a district of Transylvania, when the ground is
parched with drought, some girls strip themselves naked, and, led by an
older woman, who is also naked, they steal a harrow and carry it across
the field to a brook, where they set it afloat. Next they sit on the
harrow, and keep a tiny flame burning on each corner of it for an hour;
then they leave the harrow and go home. A similar rain-charm is resorted
to in India; naked women drag a plough across the field by night.”—(“The
Golden Bough,” Frazer, vol. i. p. 17.)
For all bites of centipedes the people of Angola, Portuguese and negroes,
apply the catamenial fluid. This remedy is implicitly believed in by all
concerned.—(Rev. Mr. Chatelain, missionary to Angola, Africa.)
For the Inuit, see “Les Primitifs,” Réclus, Paris, 1885.
The dread felt by the American Indians on this subject is too well known
to need much attention in these pages; it corresponds in every respect
to the particulars recited by Pliny. Squaws, at the time of menstrual
purgation, are obliged to seclude themselves; in most tribes they are
compelled to occupy isolated lodges; and in all are forbidden to prepare
food for any one but themselves.
It is believed that were a menstruating woman to step astride of a
rifle or a bow or a lance, the weapon would have no further utility.
Medicine-men are in the habit of making a saving clause, whenever they
proceed to make “medicine;” this is to the effect that the “medicine”
will be all right provided no woman in this peculiar condition be allowed
to approach the tent or lodge of the officiating charlatan.
Among the Navajoes of Arizona it is customary for the women to wear a
strip of sheep-skin, called a “chogan;” when the necessity for its use
has disappeared, the woman goes outside of the village and conceals it
in the forks of one of the cedar or juniper trees so numerous in the
mountains. The author once found one of these; but the people with him
were impressed with the idea that no good would come from being near it.
At another time he knew of a young boy who had been hit by a “chogan”
which had been dislodged by a wind-storm. He was almost frantic with
terror, and devoted three or four days to singing and to washing in a
“sweat-bath.”
The Ostiaks of Siberia would seem to have the same ideas on this subject
as the Apaches and Navajoes have.—(See Pallas, “Voyages,” vol. iv. p. 95.)
Danielus Beckherius informs his readers that menstrual blood was used
in medicine (pp. 23 _et seq._); philters were prepared from it (idem,
p. 341). “Zenith juvencarum sc. sanguines menstruum” were given for
epilepsy,—that is, the first menses of a girl (idem, p. 42). The lint
of the napkin itself was thus given also (idem),—“litura pannorum
menstruorum datur patienti sanari morbum comitialium.” The first napkin
used by a healthy virgin was preserved for use in cases of plague,
malignant carbuncles, etc., dampened with water and laid on the part
affected; also used in erysipelas (idem, p. 43, “Med. Microcosmus”).
Dried catamenia were given internally for calculi, epilepsy, etc., and
externally for podagra; they were also used in treatment of the plague,
for carbuncles, aposthumes, being placed thereon with a rag wet with
rosewater or oil, into which menstrual fluid had been poured; it was good
as a cosmetic to drive away pimples (p. 265).
To restrain an immoderate flow of the menses a napkin was saturated with
menstrual blood, and then kept for a certain time in an aperture made in
the bark of a cherry-tree. “Ad immodicum menstruorum fluxum cohibendum
sunt qui pannum menstruum sanguine imbutum certo tempore cerasi radice
in cortice apertæ indunt, incisuramque iterum operiunt.”—(Etmuller, “Op.
Omnia;” Schrod. “Dil. Zoöl.,” vol. ii. p. 265.)
Paullini prescribes the “dried catamenia of women” for the cure of kidney
diseases (pp. 142, 143), also for ring-worm, felons, menstrual troubles.
Frommann gives the same cure for immoderate menses, by placing the napkin
in a cherry-tree.—(See “Tract. de Fascinatione,” p. 1006.)
“Excoriationi conferunt ... sanguis menstruus.”—(Avicenna, vol. i. p.
388.)
According to Flemming, menstrual blood was believed to be so powerful
that the mere touch of a menstruating woman would render vines and all
kinds of fruit-trees sterile (herein he seems to be following Pliny).
It was believed to be valuable medicinally in relieving obstructions
to the menstrual flow of other women; even the soiled smock of a woman
who had menstruated happily was efficacious in assisting another woman
whose menses for any cause were retarded. A small portion of the menses,
dried and taken internally, mitigated the ailment known as dysmenorrhœa.
Flemming states that, while in his time this remedy had been gradually
superseded, its use was still kept up among the poor and ignorant, in
erysipelas, face-blotches, and as an ingredient in an ointment for
podagra or gout.—(“De Remediis,” pp. 16, 17.)
The Laplanders “say that they can stop a vessel in the middle of its
course, and that the only remedy against the power of this charm is the
sprinkling of female purgations, the odor of which is insupportable to
evil spirits.”—(“Regnard’s Journey to Lapland,” in Pinkerton, vol. i. p.
180.)
“To cure a young woman of consumption she was given monthly discharges to
drink.”—(“Dutchess County, New York,” 1832, Mr. Joseph Y. Bergen, Jr.,
Cambridge, Mass.)
Isaiah compareth our justice “panno menstruatæ.”—(Harington, “Ajax,” p.
24.)
“Crines fœminæ menstruosæ, the haires of a menstruous woman are turned
into serpents within short space.”—(Scot, “Discoverie,” p. 221.)
“Men have a special objection to see the blood of women at certain times;
they say that if they were to see it they would not be able to fight
against their enemies and would be killed.” (Mrs. James Smith, “The
Roandik Tribes,” p. 5.) Hence, although bleeding is a common Australian
cure among men, women are not allowed to be bled. (Angas, vol. i. p. 3.)
“This aversion is perhaps the explanation of that seclusion of women at
puberty, childbirth, etc., which has assumed different forms in many
parts of the world.”—(“Totemism,” Frazer, p. 54, footnote.)
Old women were suspected of using the first menstrual flow of a young
girl in love-philters.—(Samuel Augustus Flemming, “De Remediis.”)
“For colic take the scrapings of the nails of a catamenial virgin, mix
with water, and take.”—(Sagen-Märchen, Volksaberglauben aus Schwaben,
Freiburg, 1861, p. 487.)
There were many curious ideas prevalent in olden times as to the manner
in which the basilisk or cockatrice could be engendered. “Si l’on place
dans une gourde de verre du sang menstruel, et si l’on fait putréfier
celui-ci dans le ventre d’un cheval, il en naît un basilic.”—(“Mélusine,”
Paris, January-February, 1890, p. 19.)
Although the Israelites had many notions in common with the American
Indians on the subject of the catamenial fluid, and the seclusion of
women undergoing purgation, there does not seem to have been any effort
made to preserve or to hide the cloths used on such occasions. Thus the
Prophet Isaiah (lxiv. 6) says of the idols of the Gentiles that they must
be cast aside as the napkins soiled with the menses. “Hoc est disperges
ea (de idolis loquitur) sicut immunditionem menstruatæ.”—(Contributed by
Doctor Robert Fletcher.)
References to use of the catamenial fluid in witchcraft will be found in
Beckherius, quoting Josephus:
“Hiawatha, wise and thoughtful,
You shall bless to-night the corn-fields,
Draw a magic circle round them,
To protect them from destruction.
“Rise up from your bed in silence,
Lay aside your garments wholly,
Walk around the fields you planted,
“Covered with your tresses only,
Robed with darkness as a garment.”
(“Hiawatha,” Longfellow, canto xiii., “Blessing the Corn-Fields.”)
Menstruating women were excluded from the Jewish synagogues and from
the communion table of the early Christian Church: “Menstruatæ mulieres
superstitiose exclusæ ab ecclesia.”—(Baronius, “Annales,” Lucca, 1758,
tome 3, 266, xi.)
AFTER-BIRTH AND LOCHIÆ.
Both of these were used medicinally; the lochiæ were useful in
restraining uterine hemorrhages; after-birth, dried and powdered,
deprived love-philters of their power; it was used as an anti-epileptic,
to relieve retention of the menses, etc. (See Flemming, “De Remediis,” p.
17.) Secundines were used in the treatment of epilepsy.—(See Etmuller,
vol ii. p. 265).
HUMAN SEMEN.
Etmuller knew nothing of the remedial value of human semen beyond the
fact that Paracelsus had recommended its use in some cases (vol. ii. p.
272).
Pliny mentions the use of human semen as a medicine (lib. xxviii. c. 10).
The savage Australians have “a last and most disgusting remedy ...
deemed infallible in the most extreme cases.... ‘Mulierem ob juventutem
firmitatemque corporis lectam sex vel plures viri in locum haud procul
a castris remotum deducant. Ibique omnes deinceps in illa libidinem
explent. Tum mulier ad pedes surgere jubetur quo facilius id quod maribus
excepit effluere possit. Quod in vase collectum ægrotanti ebibendum
præbent.’ The aborigines have unbounded faith in this truly horrible
dose, and enumerate many, many instances where it has effected marvellous
cures. We, however, have known of its having been administered in several
cases without the remotest revivifying result. It may be that this fluid
is—in fact some savants positively assert that it is so—the very essence
of life, as well as containing the germs thereof, and that administering
a draught thereof to a patient slowly but surely dying from exhaustion,
consequent upon a long fit of illness (the illness itself having died out
or been cured) might have the wonderful effect detailed so positively
by the natives; but this is a question for physicians to decide.”—(“The
Abor. of Victoria and Riverina,” Melbourne, 1889, p. 55, P. Beveridge,
received through the kindness of the Royal Soc., Sydney, N. S. Wales, F.
B. Kyngdon, Secretary.)
“Impetigine conferunt ... sperma.”—(Avicenna, vol. i. p. 330, a 10.)
For gout Avicenna prescribed “Sanguis menstruus,” “Sperma hominis” (vol.
i. p. 330, a 12; idem, a 13); “Sanguis menstruus calidus” (vol. i. p.
388, b 9); also “Stercus caprarum” (vol. i. p. 390, a 13). Consult also
what has been said of this secretion under “Love-philters.”
HUMAN BLOOD.
The medicinal employment of human blood is described by Pliny (lib.
xxviii. cap. 105).
Beckherius says that human blood was employed in the treatment of
epilepsy. Faustina, the wife of the philosophical emperor, Marcus
Antoninus, anxious to have a child, drank the warm blood of a dying
gladiator, and then shared her husband’s bed, and at once became
pregnant, and brought forth the cruel Commodus. Human blood was also used
in effecting “sympathetic cures.”—(“Medic. Microcos.” pp. 122, 128.)
But it was essential that the human blood so employed should be pure
and undefiled; lovers who wished to increase the affection of their
mistresses, were recommended to try an infusion of their own blood into
the loved one’s veins. The blood of man and also that of some animals,
notably the dog, sheep, etc., were employed in mania, delirium, cancer,
etc. The method of transfusion was preferred. Epileptics would sometimes
drink a draught of the warm blood caught gushing from the neck of a
decapitated criminal; the blood of a man, just decapitated, drunk warm,
cured epilepsy and restrained uterine hemorrhage.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p.
272.)
Grimm alludes to the fact that the blood of innocent maids and boys was
used as a remedy for leprosy; that of malefactors, in epilepsy.—(“Teut.
Mythol.” vol. iii. p. 1173.)
See the discussion of this matter under the caption of “Human Skulls.”
Consult the work “Blood-Covenant,” by Dr. H. C. Trumbull.
In regard to the conduct of the empress Faustina, see “History of the
Inquisition,” Henry C. Lea, N. Y. 1889, vol. iii. p. 391.
HUMAN SKIN, FLESH, AND TALLOW.
Girdles of human skin were regarded as efficacious in helping women in
labor; Etmuller, in his “Comment. Ludovic.” disapproves of their use,
but, in another part of his works, describes how and for what purposes
they were to be employed.
“Corium humanum et ex inde paratum cingulum magni est usu in suffocatione
uterina arcenda, uti etiam in pellendo fœto mortuo, item in partu
difficile” (vol. ii. p. 272).
References to such girdles or belts, called “cingulæ” or “chirothecæ”
are to be found in the writings of Samuel Augustus Flemming and others.
Human flesh, of corpses, was administered under the name of “Mummy.” (See
Beckherius, “Med. Microcos.” p. 263 _et seq._) He enumerates no less than
fifty prescriptions for all sorts of ailments. The “mummy” should be from
a malefactor, hanged on a gibbet, never buried, and the age should have
been between 25 and 40, of good constitution, without organic or other
diseases, and gathered in clear weather.
Human flesh occurs in recipes in “The Chyrurgeon’s Closet,” London, 1632,
pp. 6, 53.
Andrew Lang refers to the use of “mummy powder” by the physicians of the
Court of Charles II.—(“Myth,” etc. vol. i. p. 96.)
Human tallow was employed in medicine, rendered from the skin and
other parts. It was regarded as efficacious in eradicating small-pox
pustules, while an “oleum Philosophorum” was distilled from it and held
in high repute for tumors, catarrhal troubles, affections of the ear,
etc.—(Flemming, “De Remediis,” p. 9.)
Human flesh “mumia,” was recommended in the preparation of the best
“Paracelsus salve.... Recommended for cure of bruises and against
congealed blood.... Most excellent and most approved medicines.”