The first hair, it is said, that is cut from an infant's head,
and, in fact, the hair of all persons that have not reached the
age of puberty, attached to the limbs, will modify the attacks
of gout. A man's hair, applied with vinegar, is a cure for the
bite of a dog, and, used with oil or wine, for wounds on the
head. It is said, too, if we choose to believe it, that the hair
of a man torn down from the cross, is good for quartan fevers.
Ashes, too, of burnt human hair are curative of carcinomata.
If a woman takes the first tooth that; a child has shed, provided
it has not touched the ground, and has it set in a bracelet, and
wears it constantly upon her arm, it will preserve her from
all pains in the uterus and adjacent parts. If the great toe
is tied fast to the one next to it, it will reduce tumours in the
groin; and if the two middle fingers of the right hand are
slightly bound together with a linen thread, it will act as a
preservative against catarrhs and ophthalmia. A stone, it is
said, that has been voided by a patient suffering from calculi,
if attached to the body above the pubes, will alleviate the
pains of others similarly afflicted, as well as pains in the liver;
it will have the effect, also, of facilitating delivery. Granius[1]
adds, however, that for this last purpose, the stone will be more
efficacious if it has been extracted with the knife. Delivery,
when near at hand, will be accelerated, if the man by whom
1.