CHAP. 20. (7.)—FORTY-ONE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE
FEMALE SEX.
The remedies said to be derived from the bodies of females
closely approach the marvellous nature of prodigies; to say
nothing of still-born infants cut up limb by limb for the most
abominable practices, expiations made with the menstrual discharge, and other devices which have been mentioned, not
only by midwives but by harlots[1] even as well! The smell of a
woman's hair, burnt, will drive away serpents, and hysterical
suffocations, it is said, may be dispelled thereby. The ashes
of a woman's hair, burnt in an earthen vessel, or used in
combination with litharge, will cure eruptions and prurigo of
the eyes: used in combination with honey they will remove
warts and ulcers upon infants; with the addition of honey and
frankincense, they will heal wounds upon the head, and fill up
all concavities left by corrosive ulcers; used with hogs' lard,
they will cure inflammatory tumours and gout; and applied topically to the part affected, they will arrest erysipelas and hæmorrhage, and remove itching pimples on the body which
resemble the stings of ants.