Castor referente Plin.[1] vomicas rumpere, purgare, persanare [281] promittens, marrubii succum in ovum inane conijcit, ipsumque ovum infundit <cum> melle aequis portionibus {, tepefactam} <tepefactum>. Idem remedium Serenus[2] repetiit, inquiens:

Ovum defundes in fictile, deinde putamen

Marrubii succo implebis, post melle liquenti

Omnia consociata tepenti prospera potu

{Sumantur} <Sumuntur>[3], reserantque malum, purgantque, levantque.

As Pliny reports, Antonius Castor, vouching for breaking open, purging and healing abscesses, places cooled white horehound juice in an empty egg, and pours on them the same warmed egg with honey in equal parts. Serenus Sammonicus repeated the same remedy in saying:

You will pour an egg in a clay vase, and then you will fill the eggshell with horehound juice, then the whole put together with lukewarm fluid honey is drunk profitably, and it breaks open the swelling, and drains it, and makes it disappear.

Sed clarius idem medicamentum a Marcello[4] traditur his verbis: Ovum incoctum, hoc est, crudum in calicem effunditur, et testa eius succo marrubii impletur, et in ipsum (eundem scilicet, in quem ovum depletum est) calicem defunditur, et mellis optimi despumati tantundem. Omnia haec in se permiscentur, ac tepefacta hauriuntur, miro modo vomicas rumpunt, et ad sanitatem laborantem stomachum perducunt. Verum huiusmodi remedium ad hanc historiam minime pertinet: siquidem ovi testa praeter mensuram nullum alium hic usum praestat.

But the same remedy is more clearly quoted by Marcellus Empiricus with these words: An uncooked egg, that is, raw, is placed in a cup, and its shell is filled with white horehound juice which is poured in the same cup (that is, the same in which the egg has been emptied), and the same amount of best refined honey. All these things are mixed and drunk lukewarm, in marvelous way they break open the abscesses and recover a suffering stomach. In truth such a remedy is not pertaining to this topic at all: since the eggshell in this case serves to no other purpose than as a measure.

Gallinaceum adipem intra corpus empyicis[5] tantum dari legimus apud eundem Marcellum Empiricum[6]: cuius haec sunt verba: Anethi sicci veteris pulverem, et resinae pityinae[7] pulverem cum adipe veteri Anserino aut Gallinaceo edendum mane ieiuno empyico cochlearia tria, et vespere tantundem dabis, mire subvenies. Ad phthisim iam aegro vergenti sorbilia ova Avicennae laudantur maxime. Marcellus ad phthisicos ova cruda, inquit, duo in calicem verguntur, eo adijciuntur olei optimi, gari floris, passi Cretici singulorum unciae[8] quinque: cumque haec in calicem conieceris axungiae vetustissimae tantundem in vase igne dissolves, eundemque {liquorum} <liquorem>[9] calidum caeteris rebus adijcies: omniaque pariter super aquam ferventem remittes, et calida phthisicis bibenda praebebis. Pro hecticis[10] albos pullos Marsilius praefert, tanquam minus calidos: sed Gilbertus Anglicus[11] vulgo experimento cognitum esse dicit albos pullos in ventriculo non facile coqui.

Still in Marcellus Empiricus we read that chicken's fat is given internally only to those suffering of suppuration, and his words are as follows: In the morning on empty stomach as well as in the evening, you will give to one who is suffering suppuration three spoons of old dry dill dust and pine resin dust jointly with aged goose's or chicken's fat to be eaten, and you will help him marvelously. For a patient evolving toward phthisis sucking eggs of Avicenna are very praised. Marcellus says: For phthisical patients two raw eggs are poured in a cup, five ounces each [136.4 g] are added of good oil, of pick of fish sauce, of Cretan raisin wine: and after you placed these things in a cup, you will melt with fire in a vase the same quantity of very old fat, and you will add this warm liquid to other things: and likewise you will put all of them on boiling water and give them to phthisical patients to be drunk warm. For those suffering of continuous fever Marsilio di Santa Sofia prefers white chickens since they are less warm: but Gilbertus Anglicus says that it is known by common experience that white chickens are not easily digested in the stomach.

Cum vero in iam dictis pectoris affectibus aegri tussiant, itaque videndum nunquid et tussis hinc sua remedia promere queat. Avicenna in primis ovum sorbile tussi prodesse scribit, sed Plinius[12] solo luteo liquido devorato, ita ut dentibus non attingatur, eam vim attribuit. Idem etiam alibi[13] tussientibus ova cruda cum passo, oleique pari modo dari asserit. Datur item ovo mel permixtum, aut ova trita cum melle, ut Plinii verbis utar, unde et Serenus[14] ait

Ovum melle teres domitum ferventibus undis,

Et sumes.

But since in the above-mentioned thoracic diseases the patients cough, one must then analyze if also the cough can get remedies hence. In first place Avicenna writes that the sucking egg is helpful in case of cough, but Pliny attributes this power only to the yellow liquid swallowed in such a way that it is not touched by teeth. He still affirms elsewhere that those having a cough are given raw eggs with raisin wine and matching amount of oil. Likewise honey is given mixed with egg, or minced eggs with honey, to use Pliny’s words, hence also Serenus Sammonicus says:

Crush an egg with honey after you boiled it,

And you will take it.

Sed si ita non cedat tussis, in ovum sorbile ex Marcelli praecepto {mastichae} <mastiches> pulverem immittes: at opus esse ait, ut mox coagitatum statim sorbeas, ne delatione fiat crusta: quo exhausto tussim facile sedanda iri pollicetur, modo id saepe reiteraveris. Alibi etiam omnem tussim, etsi gravem maiorum natu intra quinque dies, parvulorum intra triduum sanare dixit, qui sulphuris triti quantum tribus digitis prehendere potest, in ovo semicocto sorbili per triduum ieiuno aut per quinque dies dederit.

But if cough doesn’t yield in this way, according to a recipe of Marcellus Empiricus you will put dust of resin of mastic tree in a sucking egg: but he says that it must be immediately drunk as soon as mixed, so that a crust doesn’t take shape because of a delay: he assures that after it has been drunk the cough will be easily relieved, as long as you often repeat this. Elsewhere he also said that he who for three days will give on empty stomach, otherwise for five days, an amount of powdered sulphur as he can take with three fingers and mixed in a soft-boiled egg, he will succeed in curing within five days whatever cough even if serious in adult persons, in children within three days.

Plinius[15] vero medicos, refert, propter tussim resina in ovo fere {in} <e> larice uti. Marcellus ad humidam tussim, ventriculi Gallinacei membranam[16], qua sordes aqualiculi continentur arefactam diligenterque tritam, et cum vino potui datam plurimum conferre, quin im<m>o sanare promittit. Si syncope ab humoribus tenuioribus dependeat, vitelli ovorum dandi erant, iubente Galeno, quod, cum facillime coquantur subito, et multum, et probe nutriant. Sunt qui Gallinae plumam intinctam in aceto, et naribus inditam, ac illitam statim {syncopem} <syncopen> curare referant.

In truth Pliny reports that physicians for cough use larch resin mostly put in egg. Marcellus assures that the membrane of chicken's gizzard - or muscular stomach, in which are contained the dregs of the belly, dried and well crushed, and given to be drunk with wine, is very helpful in case of humid cough, or better, is healing it. If a faint comes from not very thick liquids, it was necessary to give egg yolks, as Galen was recommending, because, since they are very easily digested, they nourish quickly, quite a lot and well. Some affirm that a hen’s feather dipped in vinegar and introduced in nostrils, and rubbed, solves a faint at once.

Qui praecordiorum ardore vexantur, etsi febriant, et lumbricis infestentur, hoc remedio, teste Marcello sanabuntur: Ovum crudum inquit, summiter apertum <exinanies>[17], idque implebis oleo viridi, et defundes, et lotio virginis pueri implebis, et defundes: tum adijcies parum mellis, et in unum cum ovi ipsius interioribus permiscebis, et potandum ieiune dabis, hoc stercus vetustissimum et lumbricos noxios pellit, et febrem acutissimam relevat.

Those who are suffering from breast burning, even though they have fever and are infested by worms, they will be recovered by this remedy as Marcellus is assuring in saying: You will empty a raw egg open at its top and fill it with green oil and pour it out, and fill it with urine of a virgin boy and pour it out: then you will put a small amount of honey and mix it until became all one with the content of the egg itself, and give it to be drunk on empty stomach; this preparation expels the oldest feces and the harmful worms, and mitigates the most high fever.

Stomachicis Dioscorides[18] tradit subditam ventriculo Galli membranam cornu non absimilem, cuius pellis in decoctionibus detrahi solet, siccari, terique et in vino utilissime dari in potu scripsit: Sed Galenus[19] id esse penitus falsum experimento comprobasse se ait. Unde subit admirari, inquit Sylvius, nimium Galeno addictus in ea {haeresi} <haerese> falsa medicos omnes etiam hodie permanere. Putant, opinor, eam vim illi esse quod ea similis sit tunicae internae ventriculi nostri, sed vi tanta coquendi praedita, ut lapillos conficiat. Sed aequius fuerit ex Struthiocamelo sumere, quippe cui mira sit natura coquendi, quae sine delectu devora<ve>rit, ut refert Plinius[20], ut ferrum, et ossa vervecum integra. Unde et pelles eorum[21] cum plumis mollioribus concinnatas stomachicis applicant. Et rursus: An non vident, inquit, harum pellicularum temperamentum vitiari siccatione, et vim illam coquendi vivis inesse, non superesse mortuis: nec fortasse pellibus illis insitam, sed potius a carne multa crassa densaque pelliculam hanc ambiente?

Dioscorides reports for those having stomach trouble to dry that horn-like membrane adhering to rooster’s gizzard, that pellicle usually peeling off when boiling, and he wrote to crush it and give it with wine, with the utmost advantage. But Galen says that by an experiment he showed that this is quite false. Hence Jacques Dubois, too much follower of Galen, says that he cannot  but be surprised that still today all physicians are standing in that false thesis. In my opinion, they think that it has such a power since is similar to the inner coating of our stomach, but that is endowed with so a great digestive power that it crumbles pebbles. But it would have been more correct to take it from the ostrich, since the latter is endowed with an extraordinary digestive power of the things it swallowed without tasting, as Pliny reports, as iron and entire bones of castrated rams. Hence they apply to those having stomach trouble also their skin - ostriches' skin -  arranged jointly with the softest feathers. And Jacques Dubois says again: But do they not realize that the power of these membranes of coilin is ruined by drying, and that such a digestive power is present in alive subjects, while it doesn’t remain in dead bodies: and that perhaps it is not even present in those skins, but that rather it comes from the big amount of thick and dense flesh surrounding all over this membrane?