Dictum est saepe pharmaca illa quae vim eximiam nullam obtinent, vehementioribus materiae instar admisceri. unde fit ut polychresta[1], hoc est multiplici usu celebria habeantur, et potentioribus (diversis) inserviant. Huiusmodi etiam ovum est, quod diverso insuper elixationis aut assationis accedente modo, magis etiam varium de se praebet usum. nam siccantibus humores pharmacis, elixando duratum, vel assatum vel frixum miscetur: iis vero quae contentos in thorace et pulmone humores incidunt, sorbile, hoc est leviter elixum dum incalescat tantum, Galenus. Idem in libro de boni et mali succi cibis, ovorum vires prope ad alicam accedere scribit.

Often has been affirmed that those drugs not having some special faculty must be mixed as excipients with those more effective. Thence it happens that they are judged as famous thanks to their manifold employment, polychresta, and on the contrary they are in the service of those more powerful (endowed with different action). Also the egg is endowed with these characteristics, since, being that the manner of presenting itself is different besides the boiled or roast one, it offers an employment that is even more various. In fact it is joined with drugs drying the humors either hard-boiled through the boiling, or roast or fried: but to those acting against the liquids contained in thorax and in lung it is joined prepared à la coque, that is, boiled just so that it warms itself, Galen. Still he in the treatise De probis pravisque alimentorum sucis writes that the faculties of the eggs are very close to the emmer - Triticum dicoccum.

¶ De iisdem particulatim. Ova medentur apostematibus circa anum et pectinem: et supponitur licinium infusum in eis et in oleo rosarum, propter abscessus ani et percussionem eius, Avicenna. Et rursus, Emplastris apostemata prohibentibus miscentur ova: item clysteribus propter ulcera et apostemata: et erysipelata eisdem utiliter illinuntur cum oleo. Ova confracta contusa (illita) super tumores apostematum, prohibent ea augeri, et oleum rosarum cum eis mixtum, Petrus Aponensis in Problemata Arist. Cur pelles recenter detractae, maximeque arietum, verberum vulneribus et vibicibus admotae, et ova super confracta (ἐπικαταγνύμενα) prohibent ulcera, ne consistant, Aristoteles quaerit in Problematis 9. 1. Vide in Ariete G. quod autem ad ova, inquit ea viscositate sua cutim veluti agglutinare, et prohibere ne ulcerum calore nimio humores attrahi possint.

¶ Details on the remedies gotten from the whole eggs. The eggs are curative towards perianal abscesses and in their pubic location: and a bandage soaked in eggs and in oil of roses is applied in case of anal abscess and of its injury, Avicenna. And still: The eggs are mixed with the poultices making to regress the abscesses: likewise to the clysters for ulcerations and abscesses: and they are successfully smeared on erysipelas with oil. The eggs broken and beaten (smeared) on swellings of the abscesses prevent them to grow, also mixing oil of roses, Pietro d'Abano in Expositio problematum Aristotelis. Why the recently removed skins, and above all of rams, applied on whip's wounds and bruises, and the application of broken eggs (epikatagnýmena) prevent the ulcers from persisting, Aristotle is wandering in IX,1 of Problemata. See in the chapter of the ram paragraph G. As far as eggs is concerned, he says that they with their stringiness almost agglutinates the skin and prevent the liquids from to be attracted by the excessive warmth of the ulcers.

¶ Recentia illita adustiones ignis sanant, Kiranides. Ambusta aquis si statim ovo occupentur, pustulas non sentiunt. quidam ammiscent farinam hordeaceam, et salis parum, Plin.[2] Ova medentur adustioni ignis. uteris autem eis cum lana, et prohibent ulcerationem. ac similiter adustioni aquae etiam, Avicenna. Plura lege inferius inter facultates albuminis. Ova cum oleo trita ignes sacros[3] leniunt, betae foliis superilligatis, Plin.

¶ The fresh ones smeared make to recover the fire burns, Kiranides. The scalds from hot water, if suddenly covered with egg, don't give rise to vesicles. Some mix barley meal and a little bit of salt, Pliny. The eggs make to recover a burn produced by fire. You have to use them with wool, and they prevent the ulceration. And in the same manner also in a burn due to the water, Avicenna. Read further data more ahead among the properties of the egg white. The eggs beaten with oil mitigate the lesions due to carbuncle - due to erysipelas, to herpes zoster - by tying above leaves of beet, Pliny.

¶ Tumorem mamillae repelles agitato ovo cum vino quinquies copiosiore, eo liquore madefactum linteum imponens, Ex libro Germanico manuscripto. ¶ Ovo gallinaceo caput inlinito, postea aqua vel succo herbae cyclamini{s} caput lavato: hoc pacto lendes necati ultra non renascuntur, Marcellus. Galenus alicubi in opere de medic. compon. sec. locos, ova extergere negat.

¶ After an egg has been beaten with a five times larger quantity of wine you can make to regress a swelling of the breast by putting above a napkin soaked with this liquid, from a manuscript German book. ¶ Smear the head with egg of hen, subsequently wash yourself with water or with juice of the green part of the cyclamens: in this way the nits having been killed don't revive, Marcellus Empiricus. Galen in a passage of De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos treatise denies that the eggs succeed in eliminating them.

¶ Dioscorides[4] inter aconiti remedia numerat ova in oleum evacuata, ita ut totum hoc cum muria misceatur, et sorbeatur tepidum. Verba Graeca sunt, Ὠά τε κενωθέντα ἐπὶ αὐτό καὶ χλιανθέντα, (Marcellus legit διεθέντα, quanquam vertit trita) σὺν ἅλμῃ καὶ ῥοφούμενα. Aegineta habet, Ὠά τε κενωθέντα ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, λειανθέντα, σὺν ἅλμῃ ῥοφούμενα. apparet autem vox λειανθέντα, corrupta a χλιανθέντα. Caeterum haec verba ἐπὶ αὐτό vel ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, Ruellius interpretatur in idem, scilicet oleum, quoniam impressi codices Graeci, proxime ante oleum nominant. tanquam id tum per se, tum cum absinthio potum prosit. Aegineta et Aetius non oleum eo loco, sed vinum merum vel per se vel cum absinthio potum auxiliari scribunt. et sic Marcellus {Vergilius} <Virgilius> quoque vertit, nec in annotationibus quicquam admonet, tanquam omnino in codice suo Graeco sic legerit.

¶ Dioscorides among the remedies against the aconite lists the eggs emptied in the oil, so that the whole is mixed with brine and drunk lukewarm. The Greek words are: Øá te kenøthénta epì autó kaì chlianthénta - And the eggs evacuated in it and crushed (Marcellus Virgilus reads diethénta - dissolved, even if he translates minced), sùn hálmëi kaì rhophoúmena - with salty water and sipped. Paul of Aegina reports: Øá te kenøthénta epì tò autó, leianthénta, sùn hálmëi rhophoúmena - And the eggs evacuated in it, crushed, sipped with salty water. Really it seems that the term leianthénta is a corruption issued from chlianthénta. Besides these words epì autó or epì tò autó, Jean Ruel translates them as into the same, that is, in the oil, since the printed Greek codex report them just before oil. As if the oil were giving benefit both alone and drunk with the absinthe. Paul of Aegina and Aetius of Amida write that in this case doesn't benefit the oil, but pure wine drunk alone or with absinthe. And in this way is also translating Marcellus Virgilius, and in his annotations he doesn't give any warning, like in the Greek codex at his disposal he had read just like we have just said.

Cornarius ex Aetio lib. 13. cap. 61., sic reddit, Ova in unum vasculum evacuata, conquassata et tepefacta, ex muriaque absorpta. Rursum Marcellus ὠά κενωθέντα ovorum putamina vertit, quod ea tantum ovis depletis et evacuatis supersint, et quod apud Aeginetam legatur λειανθέντα, quam vocem ipse exponit trita et infracta. Nicandri[5] quoque versus citat ceu qui pro sua opinione faciant: Πολλάκι δ’ὀρταλίχων ἁπαλὴν ὠδῖνα κενώσας, | Ἀφρόν ἐπεγκεράσαιο θοοῦ δορπήϊα κέπφου. Mihi quidem Nicander nequaquam de putaminibus ovorum sentire videtur, sed de ipsis ovis (syne<c>dochice dico, pro albumine et vitello tantum) evacuatis, ita ut tota ovi interna substantia in vase aliquo una cum muria conquassetur et misceatur, bibaturque. nam pro muria (hálmen Dioscorides vocat) Nicander spumam marinam dixit, qua scilicet pasci et inescari solent cepphi[6] marinae aves. Sic et Nicandri Scholiastes sensisse videtur, scribens: Ova deplere praecipit et cum spuma marina miscere. Et Hermolaus ex Dioscoride, Ova in patinam depleri et subigi cum salsugine iubet.

Johann Haynpol, alias Janus Cornarius, translates from Aetius of Amida book XIII chapter 61 in the following way: The eggs emptied in a small container, beaten and made lukewarm, and drunk with salty water. On the contrary Marcellus translates øá kenøthénta - evacuated eggs - with eggshells, being that after the eggs have been emptied and evacuated only the shells remain, and since in Paul of Aegina is read leianthénta - crushed, a word that he translates with crushed and broken. He also quotes some verses of Nicander of Colophon which would support his point of view: Polláki d'ortalíchøn hapalën ødîna kenøsas, | Aphrón epenkerásaio thooû dorpëïa képphou - Often of the birds the soft egg he empties, blends the foam of sea and the foods of the fast gull. Really it seems to me that Nicander doesn't want at all to mean eggshells, but the empty eggs themselves (I say that he uses a synecdoche, only meaning egg white and yolk), so that the whole contents of the egg is beaten and mixed in a vase along with salty water, and therefore drunk. In fact Nicander instead of salty water (Dioscorides calls it hálmë) said foam of sea, that is that one with which it is custom to graze and lure the gulls, sea birds. It seems that also the commentator of Nicander meant in this way when writing: He prescribes to empty the eggs and to mix them with the foam of sea. And Ermolao Barbaro, inferring from Dioscorides: He prescribes to empty the eggs in a bowl and to beat them with salty water.

¶ Lac cum ovo et rosaceo valet ad oculorum phlegmonas, Galenus lib. 10. de simplicib. Ad oculorum dolores et vigilias[7]: Mulsam instillato, et ovum praemaceratum (nimirum in mulsa) ac putamine mundatum, in duas portiones secato, et super oculum deligato, et somno occupabitur, Idem Euporiston 3. 18. ¶ Cibo quot modis iuvent, notum est, cum transmeent faucium tumorem, calfactuque obiter foveant, Plinius[8]. Dantur et tussientibus cocta (ad duritiem nimirum. haec enim Graeci ἑφθά absolute vocant, et haec etiam proprie teri possunt. quanquam et sorbilia per se ad tussim prodesse non est negandum) et trita cum melle, Idem[9]. Ad tussim, Ovum melle teres domitum ferventibus undis, et sumes, Serenus. Vide infra in Ovo duro. ¶ Equo strophoso ova quatuor in os confringe, et ut simul cum putaminibus deglutiat cura, Anatolius. Ova gallin. numero quatuor adijciuntur cerato cuidam podagrico apud Aetium 12.43.[10] ¶ Infunduntur et virilitatis vitiis singula, cum ternis passi cyathis amylique semuncia a balneis, Plinius[11].

¶ The milk with egg and oil of roses is effective against the inflammations of the eyes, Galen book X of De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis et facultatibus. Against the ocular pains and the consequent sleepless nights: Instill mead, and cut in two parts an egg pre-macerated (obviously in mead) and polished up from the shell and do a bandaging over the eyes, and the sick person will be picked up by the sleep, still Galen - Oribasius - Euporista III,18. ¶ In how many ways the eggs become useful as food, it is known, since they succeed in passing through the swollen throat, and in the meantime with their heat they exert a beneficent effect, Pliny. They are given cooked also those people having cough, (obviously hard-cooked; in fact Greeks in no uncertain terms call them hephthà – hard-cooked, and just these can be minced; although we cannot deny that also those à la coque are good by themselves against the cough) and minced with honey, still Pliny. Against the cough: You will crush an egg with honey after having boiled it, and you will take it, Serenus Sammonicus. ¶ For a colicky horse break four eggs in its mouth and pay attention that it swallows them along with shells, Anatolius. In Aetius of Amida XII,43 are added four eggs of hen to a wax poultice for the gout. ¶ When leaving the bath, against the troubles of the virility also the eggs are given one at the time together with three cyathi [around 150 ml] of raisin wine and an one-half ounce [around 14 g] of starch.

¶ Pars II. De oleo ovorum. Oleum de ovis experientia plurima probatum est cutim expurgare, impetiginem, serpiginem, et alia cutis vitia persanare, capillos regignere, ulcera maligna et fistulosa curare. Vitelli ovorum elixando duratorum triginta, aut circiter, manibus friati, in sartagine terrea plumbata (sartagine lapidea, Monachi[12] in Mesuen) frigantur igni mediocri, movendo cochleari ligneo aut ferreo, donec rubescant, et oleum ab his resolvatur, quod pressi cochleari largius remittent. Vel iidem vitelli elixando indurati mola frangantur, deinde in offas tundantur, et torculari exprimantur, quale in oleo amygdalino explicuimus, et oleum destillabit. Vel ipsi vitelli corpulento [442] vasi (cucurbitae destillatoriae) oleumque in capitellum (alembicum) ignis violentia attollatur, qualiter oleum philosophorum post dicendum, Io. Mesues paraphraste Iac. Sylvio[13].

¶ Section 2 - The oil gotten from eggs. According to a wide experience it has been shown that the oil gotten from eggs cleanses the skin, makes to perfectly recover the impetigo, the tinea - or ringworm - and other illnesses of the skin, regenerates the hair, recovers the malignant and associated with fistulae ulcers. They have to be fried at low fire in a terracotta frying pan internally coated with lead (in a frying pan of stone, Callistus Monachus filius Mercurii [?] expounding Mesue the Young or Pseudo Mesue) roughly thirty yolks of eggs hard-cooked by boiling and crumbled with the hands, stirring with a wood or iron spoon until they became red and the oil comes out, and if squeezed with the spoon they release it in greater quantity. Or break with a grinder the same hard-boiled yolks, then they are crushed crowding them and are squeezed with a press as we explained when speaking about the oil of almonds, and the oil will drip. Or these same yolks in a rounded vase (distillatory pumpkin), and the oil has to be climbed in a capital (a still) by the violence of the fire, so as afterwards it will have to be said later about the oil of the philosophers, Mesue the Young paraphrased by Jacques Dubois.