Si lendes caput infestent, tum ovo Gallinaceo caput illinito, postea aqua, vel succo herbae cyclamini{s} lavato: hoc pacto lendes necati ultra non renascentur. Plinius[1] fimum Gallinarum recens illitum alopecias celeriter curare scribit. Marcellus[2] id cum utroque oleo (non explicat quibusnam) ob eandem causam permiscet. Kiranides, et {Rases} <Rasis> cum aceto imponunt: hic vero locus prius fricari vult cum panno, et caepe, donec rubeat. Capillos regignere oleum ex ovis experientia plurima comprobatum est.

If the eggs of lice are infesting the head, then smear a hen’s egg on head, then wash with water or juice of the green part of cyclamens: the nits – the lice's eggs - having been killed in this way, won’t revive. Pliny writes that smeared hens’ fresh dung quickly cures alopecias. Marcellus Empiricus for the same illness mixes it with both oils (he doesn’t point out with what kind). Kiranides and Razi apply it with vinegar: the latter in truth prescribes that the area first has to be rubbed with a piece of cloth and with onion up to become red. That the oil obtained from eggs regenerates hair is proven by manifold experience.

Ex felle Gallinaceo optimum fit collyrium contra oculorum debilitatem. Acuit enim visum, et valet ad maculas eorundem. Valentius id praestabit, si cum succo chelidoniae herbae, et melle oculis illinatur. Ad dolores oculorum, et vigilias, quibus febricitantes frequenter torquentur, Galenus[3] mulsam instillat, et ovum praemaceratum (nimirum in mulsa) ac putamine mundatum, in duas portiones secat, et super oculum deligat, aegrumque somno fruiturum pollicetur. Et Sextus notissimum esse ait, Gallinarum ova ad dolorem oculorum vim habere, album infusum in oculum punctiones sedare, omnesque fervores et prurigines, ut addit Constantinus. Archigenes apud Galenum[4] agglutinatorium ad fluxionem oculorum praescribens ovi tenuis vitellum cum thure fronti imponi iubet, aut cochleam cum testa sua, et ovi candido ad strigmentitiam formam redactam in splenio <a tempore> altero ad alterum extendendo imponi, ita sua sponte decidere, ubi restiterit fluxus.

From gallinaceous bile a good eyewash is gotten against sight weakness. For it makes the sight sharp and is useful against scotomas - holes in visual field. It will do this more efficaciously if smeared on eyes jointly with juice of celandine herb and honey. Against eyes' pains and sleepless nights by which fever patients are often tormented, Galen instills mead and divides in half an egg previously steeped (obviously in mead) and cleaned out from shell and does a bandaging with it on eyes, and he assures that the patient will enjoy his sleep. And Sextus Placitus Papyriensis says that it is very well known that hen's eggs are endowed with power against eyes’ pains, that albumen instilled in eye relieves sharp pains and every kind of burning and itch, as Constantinus Africanus adds. Archigenes in Galen when prescribing a poultice against lacrimation advises to place on forehead the yolk of a small egg along with incense, or to 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.

Sed idem fere remedium Dioscorides[5] habet, dum ait; Candidum ovi fronti impositum cum thure fluxiones arcet, avertitque. 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 superiori parte in oculos destillatione, seu rheumatismo: quam ob causam iubet fronti imponi. Verbum quidem anacollema[7] 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 adhaereat. Haec ille. Et ipsius translationem hoc in loco nos etiam potius, quam Hermolai probamus[8].

But Dioscorides has almost the same remedy, when he says: The egg white applied on forehead with incense stops humors’ flows and makes them to regress. Marcellus Virgilius - alias Marcello Adriani - blames the translation of his Greek words Anakóllëmá esti rheumatizoménøn sùn libanøtøi katà toû metøpou epitithémenon done by Ermolao Barbaro with powder of incense, after foreheads have been smeared, makes the catarrhs to regress. For he says that, after he gathered from Pliny the verb reclinandi - to turn back, it seems that he wanted to express in this passage the same things according to Pliny and not according to Dioscorides: and that in the text of this author he prescribes to straighten eyelids hair, while Dioscorides in this passage is not prescribing to turn back eyelids, to hold them still or stuck, unless I am wrong: on the contrary to halt whatever kind of dripping or catarrh into eyes coming from the upper region: for this reason he says to apply it on forehead. Really the word anacollema clearly points out the power of the remedy of conglutinating thanks to its gluey quality, or of halting flowing liquids with the strength of its nature, and to end them. In truth, as it seems, Dioscorides says to make a poultice from egg white not for this reason: but since with its gluey stickiness it clings to forehead. These are the words of Marcellus Virgilius. And I also approve his translation of this passage rather than that of Ermolao.

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 forcipe evellunt.

But when the speech is concerning eyelids, the verb reclinandi doesn’t mean, as he interprets, to keep them still or to hold up them. In fact nor ancient Greek physicians say that watering eyelids are to be glued - anakollâsthai - (in fact also for to glue eyelids they use this verb as well as to express a lacrimation checking), but those eyelids which being folded eye-wards become bothersome because they are prickling, so they are reduced to their original place and natural stiffness when smeared with some substance (conglutinating, which when dried up also produces rigidity): some pull out those eyelashes with tweezers.

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, catharrum etiam ad oculos sistere posse videtur. Porro ad oculorum fluxiones Plinius[9] lac muliebre commendat mixto ovorum candido liquore, madidaque lana fronti impositum. Marcellus vero ad oculorum epiphoras limaces complures in mortario novo vel nitido teri vult, ovumque Gallinaceum crudum adijci, et cum lana succida fronti imponi. Idem quoque apud Plinium[10] legas, qui ita habet: Lanae habent et cum ovis societatem simul fronti impositae contra epiphoras. Non opus est eas in hoc usu radicula esse curatas, nec aliud quam candidum ex ovo infundi, ac pollinem thuris. Et rursus: Ova per se infuso candido oculis epiphoras cohibent, urentesque refrigerant. Quidam cum croco praeferunt, et pro aqua miscent collyriis. Eodem pariter modo inflammationes oculorum ovi candidum infusum curat, Dioscoride teste[11].

All this as far as an appropriate meaning of the words is concerning: but regarding the matter itself and the remedies themselves, many of which are able to turn back eyelashes by their gluey consistence, still the same remedies, if smeared on forehead, seem to be able also to stop the catarrh going down to eyes. On the other hand Pliny for eyes’ secretions recommends milk of woman mixed with egg albumen and applied on forehead with a soaked piece of wool. But Marcellus Empiricus against  persisting lacrimation prescribes to crush in a new or clean mortar a lot of snails and to add a raw hen egg and to apply on forehead with a soaked piece of wool. You could read the same thing also in Pliny who is expressing himself as follows: The wools go into partnership also with eggs when placed together on forehead against discharges from eyes. For this use they don’t need to be treated with soapwort nor that anything is placed above but egg albumen and dust of incense. And afterward: The eggs alone stop discharges from eyes placing albumen on eyes, and cool them when burning. Some prefer them with saffron and mix them with eyewashes instead of water. In the same identical way, according to Dioscorides, the egg white instilled cures ocular inflammations.

Galenus ad inflammationes circa palpebras, aures, et mamillas, quae ex ictu istarum partium, vel aliter oboriuntur, toto ovo crudo utitur: item circa corpora nervosa, ut cubitum, tendines digitorum, vel articulos in manibus, pedibusque. Alibi[12] vero privatim contra oculorum phlegmonas lac cum ovo, et rosaceo approbat. Verum oculos in primis refrigerat, et confortat liquor ex ovorum albumine chymicis instrumentis destillatus, et utiliter miscetur collyriis aliisque oculorum remediis. Galenus ad lippitudines etiam candido ovi utitur, et ante ipsum Plinius[13]: Contra lippitudines, inquit, vix aliud remedium est infantibus, candido scilicet per se infuso oculis, butyro admixto recenti.

Galen, against inflammations of eyelids, ears and breasts taking origin from a trauma of these areas or from something else, uses the whole raw egg: likewise for sensitive areas, as elbow, tendons of fingers or small joints of hands and feet. But elsewhere against eyes' inflammations he specifically praises milk with egg and rose oil. In truth the liquid gotten from distillation of egg albumen by chemistry tools first of all cools and strengthens the eyes and is suitably mixed with eyewashes and other remedies for eyes. Galen is using egg albumen also against rheumy eyes, and before him Pliny said: Against rheumy eyes it is difficult to find another remedy for infants, that is, only egg albumen instilled in the eyes after it has been mixed with fresh butter.

Suffusionibus oculorum fel Gallinaceum mederi cum antiqui tum recentiores affirmant: at alii id cum melle, et succo {foeniculi} <faeniculi> commendant: alii loco {foeniculi} <faeniculi> succo rutae, vel {eufragiae} <euphrasiae>, vel chelidonii, vel verbenae utuntur: et Galenus[14] medicamento cuidam liquido ad oculos suffusos, alios Galli fel, alios aliud adiecisse scribit.

Both ancient and more recent authors affirm that chicken's bile cures cataracts: but some recommends it with honey and fennel juice: others instead of fennel use juice of rue, or eyebright, or celandine, or verbena: and Galen writes that some added rooster’s bile to a liquid remedy for cataracts, others something else.