STATUE.—LICE.
Democritus thought, in his Memoirs, quoted by Pliny, that “the skull of
a malefactor is most efficacious.... While, for the treatment of others,
that of one who has been a friend or guest is required.” (Pliny, lib.
xxviii. c. 2.) ... “Skull of a man who has been slain,” and “whose body
remains unburnt.... Skull of a man who has been hanged.”—(Idem.)
“Xenocrates, who, says Galen, flourished two generations or sixty years
before him, writes with an air of confidence on the good effects to be
obtained by eating of the human brain, flesh, or liver; by swallowing in
drink the burnt or unburnt bones of the head, shin, or fingers of a man,
or the blood.”—(“Saxon Leechdoms,” lib. i. p. 18.)
“Against a boring worm ... burn to ashes a man’s head-bone or skull; put
it on with a pipe.”—(Idem, vol. ii. p. 127, article “Leech Book.”)
Paracelsus gives the recipe for distilling “The Oyle of the Skull of
a Man.... Take the skull of a man that was never buried, and beate it
into powder.” (“The Secrets of Physicke,” Theophrastus Paracelsus, Eng.
transl. London, 1633, p. 97.) “The dose is three grains against the
falling sickness.”—(Idem.)
Schurig notes that the human skull is a remedy for the falling
sickness.—(See “Chylologia.”)
The skull of a man was used for diseases of men; that of a woman, for
diseases of women.—(See “Rare Secrets in Physicke,” collected by the
Comtesse of Kent, London, 1654, p. 3.)
Beckherius prescribed it in cephalic affections, epilepsy, paralysis,
apoplexy, vertigo, etc., taken in powder, or raw, simply or in
combination.—(“Medicus Microcosmus,” p. 199 _et seq._)
But the skull was, preferentially, “Cranii humani nunquam sepulti” (p.
217); or, “Cranii humani violenter mortui” (p. 266). Moss from such a
skull was also used medicinally (idem, p. 237). If possible, it should be
that of a man who had been executed on a scaffold, “patibula.”
“Powder of a man’s bones, burnt, chiefly of the skull that is found in
the earth, given, cureth the epilepsy. The bones of a man cureth a man,
the bones of a woman, cureth a woman.” But the patient had to abstain
from wine for nine days.—(“The Poor Man’s Physician,” John Moncrief,
Edin. 1716, p. 70.)
“Os hominis adustum,” a cure for epilepsy (Avicenna, vol. i. p. 330 a
18); “Mumia” (idem, vol. i. p. 357, a 55); “Ossa hominis in potu data”
(idem, vol. i. p. 371, a 6).
Epilepsie. “Take pilles made of the skull of one that is hanged.”—(Reg.
Scot. “Discoverie,” p. 175.)
The skulls of ancestors were used as drinking cups by the Tibetans,
according to Rubruquis, in Purchas (vol. i. p. 23).
“Among primitive people the head is peculiarly sacred.”—(“The Golden
Bough,” Frazer, vol. i. p. 187.)
Dr. Bernard Schaff gives the following formula for the cure of fevers:
“Take a human skull from among those not enclosed in tombs, and calcine
it in a crucible or in the open fire; administer in doses of from one
scruple to half a dram an hour or two before the paroxysm of the fever.”
He adds that among the common people the belief prevailed that the skull
should be obtained at the early dawn of day, about the time of the winter
solstice, and with the ceremonies (_sacris_) peculiar to that season,
that it should be picked up in silence; but for his part he does not
believe in such things.
“Recipitur cranium humanum ex ipsis quoque sepulchrorum claustris
depromptum (vulgus addit tempore matutino ante Solis ortum sub sacris
angeronæ, hoc est, ore tacito, aufferatur, quod tamen, cum aliquam sapere
videatur superstitionem, imitari nolui) et vel igne aperto, vel in
crucibulo, calcinatur, usquedem colorem acquirat cineritium pulverisatum
hocce cranium adhibetur a ℈ i. ad ʒ; i. vel ii. horas ante paroxysmi
principio.”—(“Ephem. Phys. Medic.,” Leipzig, 1694, vol. ii. p. 93.)
The skull of a malefactor who had died on the scaffold or wheel, and
which had been exposed in the open air long enough to make it perfectly
dry and white, was considered a specific in epilepsy, being much superior
for that purpose to the skulls obtained from graveyards.
Soldiers thought that if they drank from a human skull before going into
battle they would secure immunity from the weapons of the enemy. This
belief undoubtedly came into Europe with the Scythians.
“Milites putant, si quis ex cranio humano hauriat potum fore ut sit
immunis ab insultis armorum.”—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 268, 269.)
Etmuller also shows that these skulls were ground up and administered to
epileptic patients, many modes of preparation and administration being
given.
Flemming wrote that human skull was considered a potent remedy in all
ailments for which practitioners would administer human brain,—that is,
in nerve troubles and in epilepsy. Preferably, the skull should be taken
from a corpse which had died a violent death,—“Quæ e cadavere violenta
morte extincto est desumta.” It was an ingredient in many preparations
bearing the high-sounding titles of “majesterium epilepticum,”
“specificum cephalicum,” etc. As a powder, ground raw or calcined, it was
sometimes administered as a febrifuge and in paralysis.—(“De Remediis,”
p. 10.)
Mr. W. W. Rockhill states that the Lamas of Thibet use skulls in their
religious ceremonies, but reject those which smell like human urine.
“Blood of a dead man’s skull” used to check hemorrhage.—(Pettigrew, “Med.
Superst.,” p. 113.)
“There is a divination-bowl,—an uncanny object, made of the inverted
cranium of a Buddhist priest.”—(“Tidbits from Tibet,” in the “Evening
Star,” Washington, D. C., Nov. 3, 1888, describing the W. W. Rockhill
collection in the National Museum.)
Before the coming of the whites the savages of Australia employed human
skulls as drinking-vessels,—“human skulls with the sutures stopped up
with a resinous gum.”—(“Native Tribes of S. Australia,” Adelaide, 1879,
received through the kindness of the Royal Society, Sydney, New South
Wales, F. B. Kyngdon, Secretary.)
“The powder of a man’s bones, and particularly that made from a skull
found in the earth, was esteemed in Scotland as a cure for epilepsy. As
usual, the form runs that the bones of a man will cure a man, and the
bones of a woman will cure a woman. Grose notes the merits of the moss
found growing upon a human skull, if dried and powdered and taken as
snuff, in cases of headache.” (Black, “Folk-Medicine,” p. 96.) He also
informs us that the same beliefs and the same remedy obtained in England
and Ireland.
“Among the articles which may be regarded more as household furniture ...
are the dried human skulls, which are found wrapped in banana-leaves in
the habitation of nearly every well-regulated Dyak family. They are hung
up on the wall, or depend from the roof. The lower jaw is always wanting,
as the Dyak finds it more convenient to decapitate his victim below the
occiput, leaving the lower jaw attached to his body.”—(“Head-Hunters of
Borneo,” Carl Bock, London, 1881, p. 199.)
The careful manner in which the Mandans preserved the skulls of their
dead, as narrated by Catlin, is recalled to mind.
MOSS GROWING ON HUMAN SKULLS.
The medicinal use of the moss growing on the skulls of those who had died
violent deaths is mentioned by Von Helmont.—(“Oritrika,” p. 768.)
Etmuller speaks of the _usnea_, or moss, growing on the skull of a
malefactor, which was given in cases of epilepsy (vol. ii. p. 273).
Flemming regarded such moss, if taken from the skull of a malefactor, who
had been hanged or broken on the wheel, as of great efficacy in epilepsy,
in brain troubles, and as a styptic for hemorrhages (p. 11).
“Such a moss, if dried, powdered, and taken as snuff, will cure the
headache.”—(Brand, “Popular Antiquities,” vol. iii. p. 277, article
“Physical Charms,” quoting Grose. The same reference is given by
Pettigrew, “Medical Superstitions,” p. 86.)
HUMAN BRAIN.
The human brain, dissolved or distilled in spirits of wine, was employed
in nerve troubles and as an anti-epileptic.—(Flemming, “De Remediis ex
Corpore Humano desumtis,” p. 10.)
LICE.
One might infer that habits of personal cleanliness did not prevail
in England two centuries ago, judging from the terms of the following
prescription, which seemingly takes as a matter of course that the
patient could at any time obtain the insects needed:—
“For the cure of sore eyes ... take two or three lice out of one’s head;
put them under the lid.”—(“Rare Secrets in Physicke,” collected by the
Comtesse of Kent, London, 1654, p. 75.)
The author of this work knows, from disagreeable personal experience
and observation, that the Indians of North America very generally were
addicted to the disgusting practice of cleaning each other’s heads and
putting all captured prey in their mouths. Such an office was considered
a very delicate attention to be paid by a woman to her husband or lover,
or from male friend to male friend, while on a campaign. No instance was
noted of the use in a medical sense of these troublesome parasites.
MOSS GROWING ON THE HEAD OF A STATUE.
“It is asserted that a plant growing on the head of a statue gathered
in the lappet of any one of the garments, and then attached with a red
string to the neck, is an instantaneous cure for the headache.” (Pliny,
lib. xxiv. c. 106.) This would seem to be germane to the idea of moss
growing on the human skull.
WOOL.
“The ancient Romans attributed to wool a degree of religious importance
even; and it was in this spirit that they enjoined that the bride should
touch the door-posts of her husband’s house with wool.”—(Pliny, lib.
xxix. cap. 10.)
In Cumberland, England, a reputed cure for earache is the application of
a bit of wool from a black sheep, moistened in cow’s urine. Possibly it
is a modified form of this latter notion that is found at Mount Desert,
where it is said that the wool must be wet in new milk; while in Vermont,
to be efficacious, it is thought that the wool must be gathered from the
left side of the neck of a perfectly black sheep. In other localities,
negro’s wool is a reputed cure for the same pain.
It seems almost incredible, whatever their origin, that remedies of so
offensive a character as many of those above given can still retain a
place even in the rudest traditional pharmacopœia; but there seems to be
in the uneducated human mind a sort of reverence for or faith in that
which is in itself disagreeable or repulsive. This idea apparently rules
instead of rational judgment in the selection of many popular remedies in
the shape of oils of the most loathsome description, such as “skunk-oil,”
“angle-worm oil” (made by slowly rendering earth-worms in the sun),
“snake-oil” of various kinds, etc.—(“Animal and Plant Lore,” Mrs. Fanny
D. Bergen, in “Popular Science Monthly,” New York, September, 1888, p.
658.)
* * * * *
In the application of human blood and human skulls just presented, one
feature must be patent to the most superficial student; in the treatment
of epilepsy, the blood or the skull was, preferentially, to be that of
a dying gladiator or a criminal. There was evidently a reason for this,
beyond mere expediency.
Gladiatorial games were instituted as sacred games, in which the victims
to be offered in sacrifice were determined by the destiny of the combat.
Long after man’s better reason and better nature had revolted against the
loathsome rites of human sacrifice, religion and custom still held him in
their clutches. He would not offer up his own progeny, as of yore, but he
still continued to immolate captives taken in war, as so many gladiators
had been, or offenders against the laws.
The victim generally shared with the sacrificing priest the honor
of representing the deity in whose name his life was to be taken.
Consequently he became holy; everything belonging to him became
“medicine,” and in no disease could it be administered more efficaciously
than in epilepsy,—the essentially “sacred disease” (morbus sacer) sent
direct from the gods.
Moreover, criminals executed for violations of the laws of conquering
nations, or for infractions of the discipline, or contempt of the
doctrines of a triumphant religion, might, by the conquered rustics,
who still cherished a half-concealed veneration for the old rulers and
supplanted rites, be looked upon as martyrs, whose bones, blood, and
crania would relieve disease and drive away misfortune.
The idea of sanctity, too, attached to “innocent maids and boys,” whose
undefiled blood might rectify the polluted fluid that coursed languidly
through the veins of the leper.
The belief that the gods are to be gratified and propitiated by the
spectacle of human suffering, especially when self-inflicted, has been
current from the first ages of the world, and will most probably last, in
one form or another, as long as the world shall last. It has cropped out
in every shape, from the rigorous abstinence of the ascetic to the brutal
flagellation of the fanatical devotee, and from that to the emasculation
of the Galli, the Khlysthi, and the Hottentot, and the self-immolation
of the servant of Juggernath. Maurice enumerates five different kinds of
meritorious suicide yet recognized in Hindostan, and we have no reason
for refusing to believe that our own ancestors were saturated with the
same false notions, which, retaining their hold upon the minds of an
illiterate peasantry, would surround with the mystery of holiness any act
of self-destruction attributable to mania or other impulse supposed to be
from on high.
BONES AND TEETH.—MARROW.
“If a circle is traced round an ulcer with a human bone, it will be
effectually prevented from spreading.”—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. c. 11.)
Etmuller believed that by the use of an unbroken human bone it was
possible to induce as copious a purgation as might be desired. “Beneficio
ossis humani integri potest fieri purgatio artificialis tanta quantum
volumus,” etc.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 273.)
“‘Holy oyle of dead men’s bones,’ good for the ‘falling sickness.’”—(“The
Newe Jewell of Health,” George Baker, Chirurgeon, London, 1576, black
letter, p. 170.)
Beckherius prescribed human bones in medicine.—(See “Med. Microcos.,” p.
252 _et seq._)
Etmuller, not content with prescribing the bones ground into powder, also
directed the administration of human marrow (vol. ii. p. 268).
HUMAN TEETH.
“A tooth taken from a body before burial,” worn as an amulet, cured
toothache.—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. c. 12.)
“The first tooth that a child has shed,” worn as an amulet, protects from
pain in the uterus.—(Idem, lib. xxviii. c. 7.)
Pounded dead men’s teeth were used in fumigating the genitalia of persons
“ligated” by witchcraft.—(See Frommann, “Tract. de Fascin.,” p. 965.)
Etmuller taught that the teeth were similar to the bones, and used in
the alleviation of the same infirmities. Those drawn from the jaws
of a man who had died a violent death were highly commended for all
sickness brought on by witchcraft, as well as for loss of virility.
“Ossibus similes sunt dentes, qui ipsi ex homine imprimis violenta morte
interempto commendatur ad morbos per veneficium, si nimium et illis fiat
suffitus; item in impotentia” (vol. ii. p. 273).
“Si dentes pueri, imprimis cum cadunt, suspendantur antequam ad terram
deveniant et ponantur in lamina argenti et suspendantur supra mulieres
eas prohibent impregnari et parere” (idem, p. 263).
Teeth are worn as amulets by pregnant women or ground into powder, and
taken in a potion; in both forms, believed to be useful in averting the
plague. Powdered teeth, drunk in wine, cured epilepsy, and restored
impaired virility.—(Flemming, “De Remediis,” p. 13.)
“Knock a tooth that is pulled out into the bark of a young tree.”—(Grimm,
“Teutonic Mythology,” vol. iii. p. 1173.)
Human teeth, bones, and other parts of dead bodies are still used by
the negroes in our Southern States in their “voudoo” ceremonies, and
as charms, in the old-time belief that their possession secures a man
invisibility. See an article on this subject in the “Evening Star,” of
Washington, D. C., January 1, 1889.
“In North Hants, a tooth taken from the mouth of a corpse is often
enveloped in a little bag and worn around the neck to secure the
wearer against headache.... In the northeast of Scotland, the
sufferer was required to pull with his own teeth a tooth from the
skull.”—(“Folk-Medicine,” Black, p. 98.)
The use of human teeth and fingers as “charms,” “amulets,” and
“medicine,” will be treated of in another work, at greater length. At
present it will be sufficient to call attention to the great potency
associated in the minds of the American aborigines with such relics. The
author obtained, in one of General Crook’s campaigns, in a battle with
the Northern Cheyennes, in northern Wyoming, in the winter of 1876, a
necklace of human fingers, the prized adornment and “medicine” of the
chief medicine-man. This curious link between the savagery of America and
the superstitions of Europe is now in the National Museum, Washington, D.
C.
Flemming prescribed the ground bones of criminals (raw or burnt), as an
internal medicine for gout, dysentery, etc.; but he did not limit himself
to human bones, as he expressly states that, as a substitute, the bones
of horses, asses, or other beasts could be employed. (“De Remediis,” p.
12.)
TARTAR IMPURITIES FROM THE TEETH.
Paullini goes so far as to recommend the use of the tartar impurities
from the teeth, and the dirt from soiled stockings, as a remedy for
nose-bleed. (Paullini, p. 52.)
In this he most probably follows an ancient line of practice, of which
other authors have neglected to give a detailed account. Galen and others
have shown that the scrapings from the body, and all other “sordes” were
used medicinally, and there was no reason why dental tartar should not be
added to the materia medica.
RENAL AND BILIARY CALCULI.—HUMAN BILE.
Calculi were used in the treatment of calculary troubles and in
childbirth.—(Pliny, lib. xxvii. cap. 9. See also Galen.)
Prescribed for stone in the bladder or kidneys by Beckherius.—(“Med.
Microcosmus,” pp. 167-170.)
Flemming advocates the same use of them.—(“De Remediis,” p. 23.)
“A man’s stone, drunk fasting, is most powerful of any to break the stone
and expel it with the urine.”—(“The Poor Man’s Physician,” Moncrief, p.
131.)
Flemming also used biliary calculi in the cure of yellow jaundice.—(“De
Remediis,” p. 14.)
Human bile was used internally in epilepsy, and externally in deafness
and ulcerations of the ear.—(Idem.)
BEZOAR STONES.—LYNCURIUS.
From the most ancient times there were used in the medical practice of
Europe certain stones, known as belemnites, thunder-stones, lyncurius,
etc., believed to be efficacious in treatment of stone in the bladder.
This lyncurius was regarded as the coagulated urine of the lynx, and
under that phase of the case properly comes within the scope of this
volume.—(See “Pomet on Drugs,” English translation, London, 1738, p. 408.)
The “bezoar” stone, so frequently alluded to by old writers, was simply
excrementitious matter hardened in an animal’s stomach.
COSMETICS.
Pigeon’s dung was applied externally for all spots and blemishes on the
face. (Pliny, lib. xxx. cap. 9.) Mouse-dung, externally, for lichens.
(Idem.) “Brand Marks” (stigmata) were removed by using pigeon’s dung
diluted in vinegar. (Idem, lib. xxx. cap 10.) Crocodile-dung, or
“crocodilea,” removed blemishes from the face. (Idem, lib. xxxviii. caps.
29, 50.) It also removed freckles.
“An application of bull-dung, they say, will impart a rosy tint to the
cheeks, and not even crocodilea is better for the purpose.”—(Idem, lib.
xxviii. cap. 50.)
Galen alludes to the extensive use as a cosmetic, by the Greek and Roman
ladies, of the dung of the crocodile; in the same manner, the dung of
starlings that had been fed on rice alone was employed.—(Galen, “Opera
Omnia,” Kuhn’s edition, lib. xxx. p. 308.)
Dioscorides prescribed crocodile-dung as a beautifier of the faces of
women.—(“Mat. Med.,” vol. i. p. 222 _et seq._)
Bull-dung was used by women as a cosmetic to remove all facial
blemishes.—(Sextus Placitus, “De Med. ex Animal.,” article “De Tauro.”)
The urine of a boy took away freckles from a face washed with it. “Ad
profluvium mulieris, si locum sæpe lotio viri laverit.” For birthmarks on
children take the crust which gathers on urine standing in chamber-pots,
break up and bake; place the child in the bath, and rub the marks well.
“Ad maculas infantium, matellæ quæ crustem ex lotio duxerint, fractæ
et coctæ, in balneo infantem, si ex eo unxeris omnia supra-scripta
emendat.”—(Idem, “De Puello et Puella Virgine.”)
Beckherius approved of the use of the meconium of infants to erase
birthmarks.—(“Med. Microcos.,” p. 113.)
Etmuller states that from cow-dung, as well as from human ordure, by
repeated digestion and distillation and sublimation, was prepared
“Zibethum Occidentale,” so named by Paracelsus. From this was distilled
the “water of all flowers,” so termed because the cattle had eaten so
many flowers in their pasturage. This was passing good as a cosmetic to
remove pimples and all kinds of blotches.
Human ordure itself was made use of for the same purpose (vol. ii. p.
171).
“’Tis stale to have a coxcomb kiss your hands
While yet the chamber-lye is scarce wiped off.”
(“Ram Alley,” Ludowick Barry, London, 1611, edition of
London, 1825.)
Dog-urine was prescribed to restore the color of the hair.—(Avicenna,
vol. ii. p. 333, a 50.)
“Alopecia” (baldness) was cured by mouse-dung (idem, vol. i. p. 360, b
50), and by “stercus caprarum.”—(Idem, vol. i. p. 389, b 53.)
“Urina canis putrefacta conservat nigredinem capillorum.”—(Idem, vol. ii.
p. 333, a 50.)
Réclus says that even now, in Paris, many people who have within reach
the best of toilet waters prefer to use urine as a detersive.—(See “Les
Primitifs,” p. 72, “Les Inoits Occidentaux.”)
The Ove-herero, living south of Angola, West Africa, rub their bodies
with dry cow-dung to impart lustre.—(“Muhongo,” interpreted by Rev. Mr.
Chatelain.)
“Aqua omnium florum” was distilled from the dung of cows dropped in the
month of May. “Verno seu Maiali tempore ... ex stercore recenti vaccæ
herbas depascentis.” (Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 249.) “Ex hoc ipso stercore,
eodem modo atque ex stercore humano per digestionem et sublimationem,
repetitam potest preparari Zibethum Occidentale, sic dictum a Paracelso,
quoniam suavem spirat instar Zibethi. Destillatur aqua ex hoc stercore
quæ vocatur aqua omnium florum, quia bos innumeris floribus vescitur; hæc
aqua omnium florum est singulare cosmeticum applicatum externe delendis
nævis et maculis in facie.”—(Etmuller, vol. ii. pp. 249, 250.)
Some people added to this a “water distilled from the sperm of
frogs.”—(Idem, vol. ii. p. 171, 172.)
Catamenial blood was supposed to be a remedy for pimples on the face.
(Idem, p. 265.) In portions of Northern Mexico the women apply it to
their faces as a beautifier.
Cow-dung was very generally relied upon in this sense. The dung of a
black cow entered into the composition of the celebrated “Eau de Mille
Fleurs.” The ordure of small lizards was also used to smooth out the
wrinkles from the faces of old women.
Fox-dung and the dung of sparrows and starlings were in use for softening
the hands. Arabian women use as a cosmetic a mixture of saffron and
chicken-dung. Cow-dung is sometimes as aromatic as musk. It used to be
employed to restore the odor to old and faded musk, or to hang the latter
in a privy, where it would re-acquire its former strength; but would not
retain it long (see under “Latrines”).
To improve the complexion Paullini recommended a water distilled from
human excrements; also the worms that grow therein distilled to a water.
The cosmetic of country wenches is their own urine.
Human excrements have peculiar salts more strengthening and useful than
soap. A young girl improved her complexion wonderfully by washing her
face in cow-dung and drinking her brother’s urine fresh and warm, while
fasting (pp. 263, 264).