Lanae habent et cum ovis societatem, simul fronti impositae contra epiphoras[1]. non opus est eas in hoc usu radicula esse curatas: neque aliud quam candidum ex ovo infundi ac pollinem thuris, Idem[2]. Est et unum de collyriis mixtum cum thuris manna, ut id lana colligas, et circa tempora imponas. hoc fluentes oculorum lac{h}rymas stringit: et facit somnum, si exiguum oleum adijcias, Sextus. Infantes apud nos a matribus vel nutricibus post balneum statim quotidie toto corpore illinuntur albumine ovi conquassato cum modico vini tepido. Ovo (albo eius potissimum) tanquam sine morsu exiccante, utimur ad anacollemata[3] quae fronti imponuntur. et palpebrarum etiam pilos (quorum ortus non est directus, Serap.) eodem reflectimus (ἀνακολλῶμεν,) idoneo aliquo admixto, quale etiam thus est, praesertim pingue, et non vetus aut aridum. Verum in his non ovi temperies, sed lentor ipse utilis est: quem forte aliquis etiam ideo utiliorem esse dixerit, quod remedio cui miscetur, adversus non sit. nam alia quaedam lenta et viscosa adversantur, ut viscum quod acre et calidum est, Galenus et Serapio.

The wools  form an alliance also with the eggs when are put together on the forehead against persisting lacrimations. It is not necessary for this use that they are treated with soapwort neither that is put above other but egg white and dust of incense, still Pliny. Also an ointment exists containing it mixed with grains of incense, so that you pick it up with wool and you apply it on the temples. This ointment reduces the lacrimation and allows to sleep if you add a little bit of oil, Sextus Placitus Papiriensis. Among us the infants after the bath are suddenly smeared daily on the whole body by mothers or by nurses with beaten egg white with little lukewarm wine. We use the egg (above all its albumen), since it dry up without bothering, to prepare poultices applied on forehead. And still with the egg we give a fold (anakollømen) to the hair of eyelids (to those not having a correct direction, Serapion) mixing something of suitable, as also the incense is, above all greasy, and that must not be old or dry. To say the truth in these compounds is not the softness of the egg to be useful, but the glueyness itself: and perhaps someone will say that it is even more useful since it is not  an antagonist of the remedy with which is mixed. In fact some other gluey and sticky compounds act as antagonists like the birdlime which is prickly and warm, Galen and Serapion.

Candido ovorum in oculis et pili reclinantur, ammoniaco trito admixtoque Plinius[4]. Agglutinatorium ad fluxionem oculorum, Ovi tenuis vitellum cum thure fronti imponito. Aut cochleam cum testa sua et ovi candido ad strigmentitiam formam redactam in splenio <a tempore> altero ad alterum extendendo imponito, sua sponte decidit ubi restiterit fluxus, Archigenes apud Galenum de compos. sec. locos. Candidum ovi fronti impositum cum thure fluxiones arcet, avertitque, Dioscorides[5]: pro cuius verbis Graecis Ἀνακόλλημά ἐστι ῥευματιζομένων σὺν λιβανωτῷ κατὰ τοῦ μετώπου ἐπιτιθέμενον: Barbari translationem cum thuris polline, frontibus perunctis, rheumatismos reclinat, Marcellus {Vergilius} <Virgilius> reprehendit. Ex Plinio[6] enim (inquit) accepto reclinandi verbo, voluisse videtur eadem Plinio, non Dioscoridi, hoc loco docere: et de reclinandis palpebrarum pilis in hoc scriptore praecipere, cum non de palpebris reclinandis, compescendis, firmandisve Dioscorides hic praecipiat, nisi nos fallimur: sed de compescenda omni a superiore parte in oculos destillatione, seu rheumatismo. quam ob causam iubet fronti imponi. Verbum quidem anacollema, manifeste indicat vim remedii lentore suo glutinantis, aut naturae suae vi fluentia firmantis ac retinentis. Verum non eam ob causam, ut videtur, ex ovorum candido fieri anacollema Dioscorides ait: sed quoniam glutinoso lentore fronti haereret, Haec ille.

With the egg white on the eyes also the eyelashes are folded, mixing it with crushed gum ammoniac, Pliny. Poultice to stop the lacrimation: Put on the forehead the yolk of a small egg with incense. Or put a snail with its shell and white of egg in the form of poultice contained in a cataplasm extending from a temple to the other, it spontaneously falls when the flow will stop, Archigenes in De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos of Galen. The white of egg applied on forehead with incense stops the flows of humours and makes them regress, Dioscorides: Marcellus Virgilius - Marcello Adriani - blames the translation of his Greek words Anakóllëma estí rheumatizoménøn sùn libanøtøi katà toû metøtou epitithémenon done by Ermolao Barbaro: with dust of incense, after having smeared the foreheads, it makes regress the catarrhs. In fact - he says - after having inferred from Pliny the verb reclinandi - to bow backwards - it seems that he wanted to express in this passage the same things according to the point of view of Pliny and not of Dioscorides: and that in the text of this author he prescribes to straighten the hair of eyelids, while Dioscorides in this passage doesn't prescribe to subvert the eyelids, to hold them motionless or stuck, unless I am mistaken: on the contrary to stop whatever type of dripping or of catarrh into the eyes coming from the upper district. That's why he says to apply it on the forehead. Actually the word anacollema clearly points out the power of the remedy of conglutinating thanks to its glueyness, or to stop with the strength of its nature the flowing liquids, and to stop them. In truth, as it seems, Dioscorides says to make a poultice from the egg white not for such a reason: but since with its sticky viscosity it sticks to the forehead. These the words of Marcellus Virgilius.

Et ipsius translationem hoc in loco nos etiam potius quam Hermolai probamus. sed reclinandi verbum cum de palpebris sermo est, compescere aut firmare, ut ipse interpretatur, non significat. neque enim veteres Graeci medici ἀνακολλᾶσθαι dicunt palpebras (nam de his quoque hoc verbo utuntur aeque, quam de fluxione retinenda) quae effluant, sed quae retortae in oculum pungendo molestae sunt, cum ad situm et rigorem naturalem illitis quibusdam (glutinantibus et rigorem cum aruerint praestantibus) reducuntur. quos pilos aliqui  forfice evellunt. Haec quod ad propriam vocum significationem, quod vero ad rem ipsam, ipsaque remedia, pleraque quae pilos reclinare possunt glutinoso humore suo, eadem si fronti illinantur, catarrhum etiam ad oculos sistere posse videntur.

And I also agree with his translation of this passage rather than with that of Ermolao. But when there is some talk about eyelids, the verb reclinandi doesn't mean, as he interprets, to hold or to block them. In fact neither the ancient Greek physicians say that must be glued - anakollâsthai – the watering eyelids (in fact also for the eyelids they use this verb as to express the fact of stopping a lacrimation), but those that being folded in direction of the eye become bothersome being that they sting, hence they are carried back in their place and in their natural rigidity by smearing on something (conglutinating, which when dried up also produces the rigidity). Some pluck those hair with tweezers. All of this as far as an appropriate meaning of the words is concerned: but as far as the matter itself and the remedies themselves is concerned, most of those able in folding back the eyelashes through their sticky consistence, still the same remedies, if smeared on the forehead, it seems that they can also stop the catarrh coming down to the eyes

¶ De anacollemate fronti apponendo ex albumine ovorum thurisque polline, ne fluxus (lac{h}rymae et epiphorae) in oculos decumbant, et de pilis palpebrarum retortis albumine per se vel cum ammoniaco reclinandis, paulo ante scripsimus. Ova per se infuso candido oculis epiphoras cohibent, urentesque refrigerant, Plinius[7]. Inter ocularia pharmaca mordacitatis maxime expertia sunt quae dixi, suntque acrimoniae omnis expertes tres praecipue liquores, primus {foenigraeci} <fenograeci> decoctum, alter lac, tertius tenuis ovorum liquor. In hoc genere esse existimandum est tum gummi, tum tragacantham. et nisi praedicta tria copiaque et usu prompta et expedita essent, liceret parum gummi aut tragacanthae in multa aqua maceratum in eundem usum velut illa assumere, etc. Galenus in opere de compos. med. sec. loc. Et rursus, Eiusdem generis cum praedictis pharmacis, subtenuis ovorum liquor existit, ex redundanti potens humiditates abluere, et exasperata oblinere. verum obturandi meatus vim cum illis aequaliter non habet, sicut neque vim resiccandi. Atqui {foenigraeci} <fenograeci> succus quod ad viscositatem attinet, similis est albo ovorum liquori, etc. Et iterum, Lenitivos liquores dico ovi candidum et {foenigraeci} <fenograeci> decoctum, et lac.

¶ Just before we wrote about the poultice to be applied on the forehead prepared with egg white and dust of incense so that the flows of liquids (tears and persisting lacrimations) don't go down in the eyes, as well as about the twisted eyelashes to be straightened with only egg white or joined with gum ammoniac. The eggs alone stop the persisting lacrimations putting the egg white on the eyes, and they refresh them when burning, Pliny. Among the remedies for ophthalmologic employment those more devoid of irritating effect are those I told, and above all three liquids are devoid of any irritating effect, the first one is the decoction of fenugreek, the other one is the milk, the third one is the fluid liquid of the eggs. It needs to believe that belong to this type both the gum arabic and the gum tragacanth. And if the above-mentioned three medicines were not ready for use and available in abundance, as equivalent could be used and for the same purpose a little bit of gum arabic or gum tragacanth soaked in a lot of water, etc., Galen in the treatise De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos. And still: a rather fluid liquid of the egg of the same kind of the aforesaid medicines exists, extremely efficient in making regress the damp secretions and in mitigating the irritations. But it doesn't possess an equivalent power in closing the pores, and neither the power of dehydrating. But the extract of fenugreek, as far as the viscosity is concerned, is similar to the egg white, etc. And still: I affirm that they are liquids endowed with lenitive power the egg white and the decoction of fenugreek, as well as the milk.

Ut plurimum vero albus ovi liquor cum accommodatis pharmacis lippitudines curare sufficit: per collyria videlicet Monohemera, hoc est unius diei appellata, etc. Albus et tenuis ovorum liquor, quo ad ophthalmias etiam utimur, e numero pharmacorum ab omni morsu et acrimonia alienissimorum est, nec ita fallit ut lac non raro fallere solet, emulsum scilicet ab animalibus, quae cruditate, aut labore nimio, aut siti affecta fuerunt, aut malis usa cibariis, quod in mulieribus saepe accidit, unde lac intemperatum efficitur. Ova vero unum duntaxat, ex vetustate scilicet, vitium habent, quod facile est cavere recentibus utentem, Galenus de simplic. lib. 11. Albumen ovi sedat dolores acres, magis quam ulla alia eiusdem facultatis: quoniam agglutinatur et remanet, nec facile recedit ut lac, Avicenna. Gallinae ovum notissimum est omnibus habere vim ad omnium oculorum dolorem. album infusum in oculos sedat punctiones, Sextus: omnesque fervores et prurigines, Constantinus. Ovi candido ad lippitudines utimur, Galenus.

That's how the egg white is able to recover from inflammations of the eyes joined with  fitting medicines: certainly through eyewashes monohemera, that is called in a daily unique dose, etc. The white and fluid liquid of the egg, which we also use against the ophthalmitis, belongs to the number of remedies wholly devoid of any irritating and prickly effect, and it doesn't fail as not rarely usually fails the milk, that is that one milked from animals suffering from indigestion, or from excessive work, or from thirst, or fed on bad foods, a thing often happening in the women, hence the milk becomes rotten. But the eggs have only a defect, that is, due to the fact to be old, but it is easy to safeguard himself for he who uses the fresh ones, Galen book XI of De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis et facultatibus. The egg white eases the piercing pains more than any other product endowed with the same properties: since it congeals and such it remains, and it doesn't easily go bad like the milk does, Avicenna. It is widely known that the egg of hen is endowed with power against the pain of whatever ocular affection. The egg white poured in the eyes soothes the piercing pains, Sextus Placitus Papiriensis,: and every burning and itch, Constantinus Africanus. We use the egg white against the inflammations of the eyes, Galen.

Ova per se infuso candido oculis epiphoras cohibent, urentesque refrigerant. quidam cum croco praeferunt, et pro aqua miscent collyriis. infantibus vero contra lippitudines vix aliud remedium est, butyro ammixto recenti, Plinius[8]. Candidum ovi inflammationes oculorum infusum lenit, Dioscor. Et rursus, Inflammationes oculorum lana exceptum, addito rosaceo, melle et vino, mitigat. Ad cruentos et sugillatos oculos candidum ovi instillatum prodest, atque amplius pura lana exceptum [447] et superne impositum, Archigenes apud Galenum de compos. sec. loc.

The eggs alone stop the persisting lacrimations by putting the egg white on the eyes, and they refresh them when burning. Some prefer them in association with saffron and mix them with the eyewashes in place of water. To say the truth for the infants it is difficult that another remedy exists against the inflammations of the eyes, mixing with fresh butter, Pliny. The egg white by local application relieves the ocular inflammations, Dioscorides. And still: Picked up with a wool cloth, with the addition of oil of roses, honey and wine, it eases the inflammations of the eyes. The white of egg instilled is useful against the eyes showing haemorrhages and bruises, and still more picked with a cloth of pure wool and applied on, Archigenes in Galen in the treatise De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos.