After childbirth, the milk frequently being converted into cheese in the
breasts, produces inflammations. Wherefore at first we may use these
applications: Having squeezed a soft sponge out of tepid oxycrate, apply
it to the breasts, and bind it on in the proper form; or use dates
triturated in oxycrate with bread, or a whole egg with rose-oil and some
cerate; or alum, fleawort, with coriander and purslain, may be applied in
the form of a cataplasm; or apply the firestone triturated with cerate,
and bind it on. When there is distension or thrombus in the part, apply
a cataplasm of bread with water and honey, or with wine and honey; or
bread with the green herb perdicias (_pellitory of the wall?_), along
with cerate twice a-day; or bean-flour with hydromel, or sodden must. But
if they cannot bear the weight we must use an embrocation of hot sweet
oil by means of soft wool. But we must foment them with the steam of hot
water, or a decoction of fenugreek, or of marshmallows, or of linseed.
And we are to apply to them a cataplasm made of fine flour with linseed,
or fenugreek with hydromel, or sesame with honey, or pounded butter. But
we must interdict sucking of the breasts, because it only attracts more
milk to them. When the inflammation is on the decline we may apply the
following cerates: Boil beet in oil until it is softened, throw it away,
but add to the oil a moderate quantity of wax, and use.—_Another_: Mix
the red parts of ten raw eggs in a cerate consisting of wax, oz. iiss,
and of rose-oil, oz. iv; stir with a spatula, and add as much salt water
as it can receive, and then again stir with a spatula, and use. For
hardness of the breasts, the composition from honey is applicable, and
all emollient applications. When the swelling is converted into pus, we
must use those applications which have been mentioned for parotis, and
those that will be mentioned afterwards for apostemes.
_From Archigenes, for spreading ulcers of the breasts attended with
malignity._ Of good Adriatic wine, xx sextarii; of the sumach, lb. j;
of cypress balls, lb. j; of black galls, called _omphacitæ_, oz. vj; of
cassia, oz. vj; when bruised, macerate in wine for ten days, then boil
down to one half, stirring with a cypress spatula; then throw away the
herbs; and when the juice is boiled to the consistence of honey, lay it
up in a glass vessel. Use it for spreading ulcers, undiluted, or, if it
is too thick, let it be diluted with wine. It is so made as to apply to
spreading ulcers in the breasts, to runnings of the ears, foul defluxions
from the gums, and dysentery. When diluted with milk it acts as a
paregoric in soothing pain. Other kinds of ulceration of the breasts must
be treated like ulcers in general.
_Preservatives of the breasts._ Having pounded cumin with water, apply
to the nipples, then lay upon the breasts a sponge squeezed out of
oxymel, and bind it with a bandage. After three days, having taken away
the cumin, put on a cataplasm of the bulbous roots of the lily upon the
nipples, and having bandaged it let it remain again for three days, and
do the same three times a month.—_Another_: Apply powdered hemlock for
nine days, and the sponge externally, as mentioned above; and after an
interval of a few days repeat the same. The rubbings from the Naxian
whetstone act as a preservative of the breasts of virgins.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Oribasius (Synops. ix, 9); Aëtius (xvi, 35); Nonnus
(151); Scribonius Largus (102); Avicenna (iii, 12); Haly Abbas (Theor.
ix, 40; Pract. viii, 29); Alsaharavius (Pract. xiv); and Rhases (Contin.
xv.)
A considerable part of this Section is copied from Oribasius. Aëtius,
however, has treated of these complaints more fully than any other
author. He gives from Philumenus various prescriptions for inflamed
breasts, the most important ingredients in which seem to be ceruse and
litharge, with wax or honey. One of them also contains the recent leaves
of henbane, evidently for the purpose of allaying pain. For indurated
mammæ he directs linseed, or the seed of fenugreek with hydromel to be
applied. In short, his applications and our author’s are very similar.
He describes a certain induration of the mamma under the name of
_chondriasis_. This affection is alluded to by Aristotle (H. A. vi, 20.)
When an abscess forms, he recommends us to open it and evacuate the pus.
Nonnus, as usual, copies from our author.
Avicenna treats fully of these complaints, but his remedies are mostly
borrowed from the Greeks. The most simple of his applications for
apostemes of the breasts is a sponge squeezed out of tepid vinegar
and water. Haly Abbas recommends the same, or a plaster of the oil of
roses, bread, and the yelk of an egg. When suppuration is expected, he
directs us to apply a cataplasm of figs. Alsaharavius treats minutely of
this subject. When pain of the breast arises from coagulated milk, he
recommends a piece of cloth soaked in warm water or vinegar. When milk
cannot be extracted from the breasts, he directs them to be sucked by
means of a suitable instrument shaped like a nipple. To dispel coagulated
milk Rhases recommends a mixture of hot vinegar and rose-oil. He also
recommends a composition of mint and common salt.