Atque Galenus[1] aurium dolores ovi candido leniri asserit: et rursus: ad dolorem auris ex inflammatione obortum, misceri ait opium muliebri lacti, et ovi candido, quae ipsa etiam per se aurium inflammationibus profuisse testatur. Et rursus: Ad aurium nocumenta ex aqua, inquit, ovi aquato, modo eodem, quo in oculorum inflammationibus uti ipso consuevimus, praeparato utitor. Item pellis interior e ventriculo Galli Gallinacei arefacta, tritaque ex vino, adiecto paululo opii, medicamen auribus utilissimum facit, quod calefactum infusum suppurationem earum expurgat, et sanat[2]. Idem Plinius[3] attestatur, inquiens: Ventris Gallinaceorum membrana, quae abijci solet, inveterata, et in vino trita, auribus purulentis calida infunditur<, gallinarum adeps>.

And Galen affirms that earaches are reduced by egg white: and again: against earache risen from inflammation he says to mix opium with milk of woman and egg white, things that he testifies to have been already useful for ear inflammations by themselves. And he says again: Against ears’ injuries from water, we have to use a watery egg’s solution prepared alike that we have taken the habit to use in ocular inflammations. Similarly is as very useful remedy for ears the inner membrane of rooster gizzard dried, minced and put in wine with addition of a little opium, and infused after has been warmed it cleans out and cures their suppuration. Pliny testifies this when saying: The membrane of chicken's gizzard usually thrown away, aged and minced with wine is infused warm in purulent ears, as well as hen's fat.

Si lingua asperior reddita fuerit, adipe Gallinae inungere poteris, nam is asperitatibus egregie medetur. Dentium dolores mitigat oleum ex ovis illitum cum pinguedine Anseris. Galenus[4] vero ad eundem dolorem ovorum putamina, sepiam, et oleum iubet misceri, et coqui, donec tertia pars reliquatur, et tepidum ore contineri. Mirum quod tradit Plinius[5] de sedando dentium dolore: Ossiculis, inquit, Gallinarum in pariete servatis, fistula salva, {adacto} <tacto> dente, vel gingiva scarificata, proiectoque ossiculo statim dolorem abire tradunt. Alibi[6] etiam ubi cinerem putaminis in vino potum sanguinis eruptionibus mederi dixisset, mox addit sic fieri et dentifricium: Dentifricium, inquit, praestat cinis ex ovis sed non sine vino. Atqui Plinius in verbis iam recitatis scribens, sic fit et dentifricium, intelligere videtur[7], non quasi id quoque cum vino fiat, ut medicamentum proxime ab eo memoratum in vino bibendum contra sanguinis eruptiones, sed usto similiter putamine, et absque membrana, ut de proximo remedio dixerat. Si dentientium puerorum gingivae doleant, Aegineta[8] adipe Gallinaceorum molliendas consulit. Kiranides cerebro Gallinarum puerorum gingivas perfricari vult, ut dentes eorum absque dolore nascantur. Labiorum rimas, si Marcello, et Plinio[9] credimus, adeps Gallinaceus vel Anserinus impositus egregie curat. Alias[10] vero uterque membranam putaminis detractam ovo sive crudo, sive decocto ad eadem mala praedicant. Et Nicolaus Myrepsus[11] mirabilem inde curam promittit.

If the tongue has grown rather rough, you can grease it with hen's fat, for it heals roughness in excellent fashion. Eggs' oil applied with fat of goose mitigates toothaches. But Galen for the same pain prescribes to mix eggshells, ink of cuttlefish and oil, and boil until it is reduced to one third, and to hold it lukewarm in mouth. It is marvelous what Pliny reports about toothache's sedation. He says: They say that pain disappears immediately if the tooth is touched or if the gum is incised with small hens’ bones kept in a wall with the hollow channel of the marrow left intact, and the small bone is thrown away. In another point after he said that eggshell’s ash drunk with wine recovers from bleedings, immediately adds that also a toothpaste can be made in this way in saying: The ash of the eggs supplies also a toothpaste, but not without wine. But Pliny when writing in this way a toothpaste can also be made in the just quoted phrase, it almost seems that he want to say not that it can also be done with wine as the remedy he just mentioned to be drunk with wine against bleedings, but after having reduced alike to ashes the eggshell, and without shell membrane, as he had said about the just previous remedy. If gums of teething children give pain, Paul of Egina advises to soften them with chicken's fat. Kiranides prescribes to rub children gums with brain of hen so that their teeth may grow without giving pain. If we believe Marcellus Empiricus and Pliny, the application of chicken's or goose's fat cures excellently the chaps of the lips. On the other hand both are praising against the same illnesses the shell membranes removed from either raw or cooked egg. Also Nicolaus Myrepsus assures an amazing healing through their use.

Tumorem mammillae repelles agitato ovo cum vino quinquies copiosiore, eo liquore madefactum linteum imponens: Ornithologus[12] ex libro Germanico manuscripto. Ad tonsillarum inflammationes, et anginas Galenus[13] iusculo Gallinae hoedive utitur. Et rursus alibi[14] ex Archigene describens fomentum, cuius vapor intra os recipiendus est, ad gurguliones inflammatos, et tonsillas: Origanum, inquit, et[15] hyssopum, cum sufficienti aceto diligenter in olla fervefacito obturata: operculum autem circa medium habeat foramen. Deinde arundinem ad foramen operculi, ac os aegri adaptato, ac fomentum admittito. Si vero os a fervore arundinis comburatur, ovum vacuum utrinque perforatum aegri in ore contineant, et per ipsum arundo inseratur. Kiranides ovum crudum ad ani rupturas adhibet ad inflammationes eiusdem commendat, sed Dioscorides[16], et Plinius, etsi diversimode, ovorum luteis utuntur. Ille enim ad inflammationem, et condylomata sedis vitellum ovi cum meliloto utile esse ait: hic vero generatim[17] loquens: Sedis etiam vitiis, inquit, utilia sunt ovorum lutea indurata igni, ut calore quoque prosint.

After having beaten an egg with a five times greater quantity of wine you can decrease a swelling of the breast placing on it a napkin soaked with this fluid: the Ornithologist is saying this, who took it from a German manuscript book. Galen uses a broth of hen or kid against tonsils’ and throat’s inflammations. And again, in another treatise, describing a fomentation - a warm humid remedy - drawn from Archigenes, whose vapor is to be introduced in mouth, against inflamed throats and tonsils, he says: Heat carefully oregano and hyssop with enough quantity of vinegar in a pot with the cover: however the cover has to own a hole in the center. Then fit a reed to the hole of the cover and to the mouth of the sick person, and let the fomentation to enter.  But if the mouth is scalded by the heat of the reed, the patients have to hold in mouth an empty egg with a hole at both sides, and the reed must be inserted through the egg itself. Kiranides uses raw egg against the lacerations of the anus and recommends it for its inflammations, but Dioscorides and Pliny, even if in a different way, are using egg yolk. For the former says that egg yolk with melilot is useful against inflammation and condylomas of buttocks: but the latter generally speaking says: Egg yolks hardened with fire are useful also against the affections of buttocks, so that they can be good also with their warmth.

Adeps Gallinaceus recens laudatur a Rase, et Dioscoride[18] ad dolorem matricis, et in eiusdem apostemate instar emplastri imponitur. Vult autem Dioscorides, ut recens sit, et sine sale conditus. Nam sale, inquit[19], inveteratus et qui temporis spatio acrimoniam concepit, vulvae inimicus est. Avicenna ad ulcera vulvae salubre pessarium ait fieri ex albumine cum oleo ex alcanna. Mirabile remedium in {arthritidea} <arthritide a> muliere quadam, et adhibetur in quovis loco, ubi iuncturae exeunt (forte existunt[20]) Gallina bene habita quadrima, absinthio referta coquatur in tribus situlis aquae ad duarum partium consumptionem. Hinc aeger foveatur, (vaporetur, fiat stuffa[21]) bis quotidie donec liberetur, fricando semper ad inferiora. Legitur in additionibus ad practicam Varignanae.

Fresh fat of chicken is praised by Razi and Dioscorides against the pain of the uterus, and in case of abscess therein it is applied as poultice. But Dioscorides wants that it is fresh and that salt has not been added. He says: For that which has been aged with salt and with passing of time grew rancid, is harmful to vulva. Avicenna says that a wholesome vaginal suppository can be prepared using egg white with oil of henna. As extraordinary remedy in case of arthritis, used by a woman in any district where the articulations are dislocating (perhaps are existing) let cook in three pitchers of water, up to reduce them to a third, a four year-old hen in good general conditions after having stuffed her with absinth. With this liquid the sick person has to warm himself (he must do vaporizations, to take a sauna bath) twice every day until when he is freed from symptoms, always rubbing downward. This is read in the treatise Additiones ad practicam of Guglielmo da Varignana.

Podagras plurimum iuvare fimum recens appositum Marcellus, et Plinius[22] volunt. Kiranides hepar Gallinae tritum, et cum hordei farina, et aqua emplastri modo impositum eisdem prodesse scribit. Aëtius ova Gallinae quatuor c{a}erato cuidam adijcit podagrico[23]. Pedum ulcera Gallinacei, vel Columbini fimi cinis ex oleo impositus sanat, teste Marcello, sed Plinius[24] paulo aliter. Fimi Gallinacei, inquit, cinis pedum exulcerationes sanat: Columbini fimi cinis ex oleo. Alibi[25] etiam fimum Gallinaceum cum oleo, et nitro clavos pedum sanare dixit.

Pliny and Marcellus Empiricus are thinking that the application of fresh dung is very helpful in cases of gout. Kiranides writes that hen's liver minced and applied as poultice with barley flour and water is useful for the episodes of gout themselves. Aetius of Amida adds four hen eggs to a wax poultice for gout. As Marcellus Empiricus testifies the application of ash of chicken’s or dove’s dung dissolved in oil cures the ulcers of the feet, but Pliny is expressing himself somewhat differently. He says: The ash of chicken’s dung cures the ulcerations of feet: the ash of dove’s dung must be used with oil. In another point he said that also chicken’s dung with oil and saltpeter cures the callousness of the feet.

Atque istaec tam de internorum, quam externorum corporis humani affectuum, qui ab harum avium partibus, excretis, et ovis remedia habent, curatione dicta sunto; videamus modo an nihil aliud praeter iam dicta medicis Gallinacea istaec familia praestet, quod facere eam videbimus, si diligentius cum veterum, tum recentiorum scripta revolvamus. Illis itaque in primis Aëtius pulli Gallinacei pinguis ius adsorbendum dari iubet postquam vomuerint, qui toxicum bibere. Quinim<m>o obscurus[26] quidam hoc annotatum sese reperisse ait in margine codicis cuiusdam Serapionis iuxta caput de urina, si ovi {albumem} <albumen> cum vitello ponatur in matula alicuius, quem veneno infectum esse [291] suspicio est, intra aliquot horas locus veneni in {hepate} <hepati> demonstrabitur.

And all these things are concerning the treatment of both internal and external illnesses of human body drawing their remedies from the parts of the body, from the excrements and from the eggs of these birds; now we take a look if by chance this gallinaceous family offers to physicians something else besides what has been already said, and we will realize that it does this if we reread with greater attention the writings of either ancient and more recent authors. Insofar Aetius of Amida prescribes to give to swallow to those who drunk a poison, after they vomited, first of all a broth of fat chicken. But on the other hand an unknown author says he found what follows in an annotation in the margin of a codex of Serapion close to the chapter regarding the urine, if egg white with yolk is placed in a chamber pot of someone who is suspected to have been poisoned, within some hours the location of the poison will be shown in the liver.