CHAP. 28. (11.)—REMEDIES FOR JAUNDICE.
Jaundice is combated by administering ear-wax to the patient, or else the filth that adheres to the udders of sheep, in doses of one denarius, with a modicum of myrrh, in two cyathi of wine; the ashes, also, of a dog’s head, mixed with honied wine; a millepede, in one semi-sextarius of wine; earth-worms, in hydromel with myrrh; wine in which a hen’s feet have been washed, after being first cleansed with water—the hen must be one with yellow2837 feet—the brains of a partridge or of an eagle, in three cyathi of wine; the ashes of a ring-dove’s feathers or intestines, in honied wine, in doses of three spoonfuls; or ashes of sparrows burnt upon twigs, in doses of two spoonfuls, in hydromel.
There is a bird, known as the “icterus,”2838 from its peculiar colour: if the patient looks at it, he will be cured of jaundice, they say, and the bird will die. In my opinion this is the same bird that is known in Latin by the name of “galgulus.”2839