CHAP. 45.—METHODS OF PRESERVING THE BREASTS FROM INJURY.

Goose-grease, mixed up with oil of roses and a spider, protects the breasts after delivery. The people of Phrygia and Lycaonia have made the discovery, that the grease of the otis[1] is good for affections of the breasts, resulting from recent de- livery: for females affected with suffocations of the uterus, they employ a liniment made of beetles. The shells of par- tridges' eggs, burnt to ashes and mixed with cadmia[2] and wax, preserve the firmness[3] of the breasts. It is generally thought, that if the egg of a partridge or * * * * is passed three times round a woman's breasts, they will never become flaccid; and that, if these eggs are swallowed, they will be productive of fruitfulness, and promote the plentiful secretion of the milk. It is believed, too, that by anointing a woman's breasts with goose-grease, pains therein may be allayed; that moles formed in the uterus may be dispersed thereby; and that itch[4] of the uterus may be dispelled by the application of a liniment made of crushed bugs.

1. See B. x. cc. 29, 50.

2. See B. xxxiv. cc. 22, 23.

3. See B. xxviii. c. 77.

4. "Scabiem vulvarum."