Part 38

The glis is mentioned as a favorite delicacy of the Romans by Varro, Pliny, Martial, Galen, and Ammianus Marcellinus. We learn from Varro that it was regularly reared for the table. (R. R. iii, 15.) It is the glis esculentus or rellmouse.

All the authorities agree that the flesh of the stag or roe is difficult to digest. Hence Rhases forbids it, except after hard exercise. Simeon Seth adds that, as in summer, stags frequently eat poisonous serpents, it may be dangerous to take of their flesh at that season. Celsus appears to have had a more favorable opinion of venison than most of the ancient authorities, for he ranks “omnis venatio” among the things which agree best with the stomach. Seth says that hare is sufficiently nutritious, if properly digested, but that it disagrees with persons of a dry temperament, and is apt to form melancholic humours. The poet Martial also praises it extravagantly. Apicius gives many complicated receipts for dressing hares. Pliny remarks that there never is any fat on hares. (Hist. Nat. xi, 85.) Hippocrates says that their flesh is dry and astringent. Horace frequently praises the shoulder of the hare. (Sat. ii, 4, 44.) In our days, the loins are preferred. The cuniculus, or rabbit, was greatly esteemed in Spain, but does not appear to have been much used by the Greeks or Romans.

Galen says the ass was eaten in times of scarcity, but was not a regular article of food. Xenophon, however, mentions, in the 1st book of the ‘Anabasis,’ that the flesh of the wild asses caught in the Syrian desert was most delicious. Martial also speaks of the wild ass as being tender. (Epigr. xiii, 97.)

SECT. LXXXV.—ON THE PARTS OF ANIMALS.

The extremities are tendinous, without fat and without flesh; and are therefore viscid, contain little nourishment, and are laxative of the belly, except those of birds owing to their great dryness. The snout and ears are gristly and indigestible. The tongue is spongy, full of blood, and gives little nourishment. The glands are sweet and friable; and those of the breast are sweeter than the others, and, in particular, those of swine which are giving milk. These are no less nutritious than the flesh. The kidneys and testicles are strong-smelled and indigestible, but those of cocks fed upon grain are sweet, and supply a good nourishment to the body; whereas those of bulls, buck-goats, and rams are indigestible, and contain bad juices. The brain produces phlegm, thick and bad chyme, is difficult to evacuate and digest, injurious to the stomach, and occasions nausea; but when properly digested it is sufficiently nutritious. The marrow is oily and sweeter than the brain, but in other respects resembles it. Fat and suet contain little nourishment, and are hurtful to the stomach. The heart and liver contain thick juices, are difficult to digest and evacuate. But the liver of swine is better. The spleen contains bad juices, and occasions melancholic humours. The lungs are more digestible as being spongy, but contain less nourishment and form phlegm. The stomach, womb, and intestines are hard, indigestible, and form phlegm. In general, the nourishment from wild animals is drier and less excrementitious than that from tame. All blood is of difficult digestion, especially the thick and melancholic, as is that of oxen; but that of hares is esteemed very delicious, and many are in the practice of boiling it with the liver, and some with the other viscera. Some eat also that of young swine; and even Homer was aware that the blood of goats is eaten by certain people.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. Since our author has stated very distinctly the characters of the parts of animals (having abridged the fuller account of Galen), it will serve no purpose for us to enlarge upon every one of these articles; and, therefore, we shall be content with making a few cursory remarks. For further information, see Galen (de Alim. Facult. and de Euchym.); Oribasius (Med. Coll. v); Aëtius (ii); Rhases (ad Mansor. iii, 11); Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 22); Serapion (de Simpl. ex Animal.)

Galen remarks that, as some rendered the liver of swine sweet, by feeding them upon dried figs, so he knew some persons who were in the practice of preparing the livers of geese in like manner, by feeding them upon milk, by which means they were rendered not only delicious, but also very nutritious, wholesome, digestible, and not difficult to evacuate. Oribasius and Haly Abbas speak of it in much the same terms; but Haly adds that much of it ought not to be eaten at once, as it is slowly digested. Athenæus speaks of it as a delicacy in great request at Rome. (Deipnos. ix, 32). The liver of a white goose fed upon fatty figs is one of the delicacies mentioned by Horace as having been presented at the supper of Nasidienus. (Sat. ii, 8.) See also Juvenal (v, 114), and Persius (vi, 7.) If we may believe Martial, the liver, in these cases, sometimes grew to such a size as to surpass the body of the animal. (Epigr. xiii, 58.) We are informed by Pliny, that it was disputed to whom the culinary art was indebted for the discovery of this exquisite delicacy. (H. N. x, 21.)

Galen states that all fat and suet are of an oily nature, and that they ought rather to be used as condiments than as articles of food. Serapion gives the most circumstantial account of the qualities of these animal oils.

The vulva or womb of a sow was esteemed an exquisite delicacy by the Romans. There were three kinds of it—that is to say, it was taken in three different states of the animal. The first, called ejectitia, was procured by forcing the animal to part with its young. The second, or porcaria, was the womb of the animal, taken after it had littered. The third, called sterilis, was the womb of a sow that had never been with young. This last is ranked by Celsus among those things which are useful to the stomach. See Plutarch (de Esu Carnium); Pliny (Hist. Nat. xi, 37.) Simeon Seth, however, condemns it as indigestible. (See Not. Bogdani.)

SECT. LXXXVI.—ON MILK.

Milk, when digested, is nutritive, but is injurious to the gums and teeth; and, therefore, after taking it, one ought to rinse one’s mouth, first with honied water, and then with an astringent wine. It also produces headach, occasions flatulence of the stomach, and hypochondria, and engenders stones in the kidneys. The more watery kind contains less nourishment, but is more laxative, while, on the other hand, the thick is more nutritive, and moves the belly less. That of the goat is of a middling consistence, as that of the sheep is thicker; and it, immediately after the ewe has brought forth lambs, is thinner, but it afterwards becomes thicker and worse.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. It appears, from Homer, that the milk of various animals was used for food in the heroic ages of Greece. His commentator, Eustathius, remarks that it is very nutritious, and, in proof of this, relates the case of one Philinus, who used no other food or drink. (Ad Iliad. xiii, 6.)

Hippocrates, who often makes mention of milk as a medicine, and as an article of food, states that it sometimes occasions the formation of stones in the bladder (de Aer., Aquis et Locis, 24); and this opinion was adopted by all the ancient authorities on medicine. Milk, he says, is bad for those who are subject to headach, for those in fever, or who have flatulency of the bowels, with rumbling or thirst; also for those who are bilious and have bloody discharges from the bowels. He recommends it in consumption, and during convalescence from protracted fevers. (Aph. v, 64.)

According to Galen, the thickest milk of all, and the fattest, is that of cows; the most liquid and least fat is that of the camel; and after it that of the mare, and then of the ass; the milk of goats is of a middle consistence, and that of sheep thicker than it. It is clear, he adds, that thick milk contains more cheese, and liquid more whey. Liquid milk, therefore, is more laxative than thick; and, on the contrary, thick milk is more nutritious than liquid. He mentions that whey, either alone or with a certain mixture of salt, may often be used as an excellent laxative medicine. He states that if a goat or any other animal eat of scammony or spurge, her milk will be rendered purgative. He says that milk is most beneficial in complaints of the chest, but most injurious in diseases of the head and hypochondrium. He, and all the ancient authorities after him, state that milk is apt to hurt the teeth.

Celsus calls milk a wholesome and nutritious article of food; but says that it is apt to disagree with the stomach, and to prove flatulent. The learned Varro says of milk: “Est omnium rerum quas cibi causa capimus liquentium maxime alibile, et id ovillum, inde caprinum.” (De R. R. ii, 11.)

Aristotle arranges the milk of the camel, the mare, and the ass, in the same order, with respect to consistence, as Galen. (H. A. iv, 20.) Pliny, evidently having in view this passage of Aristotle, says that the milk of camels is the thinnest, then that of the mare, and that the milk of asses is the thickest. This is going further than he was justified by his authority. He remarks that the milk of cows gives the most cheese. (Hist. Nat. xi, 41.)

Dioscorides calls milk nutritious, laxative and flatulent. His account of its properties is interesting. (ii, 74.)

All the Greek authorities subsequent to Galen evidently copy from him. Seth says that the longer milk is kept the worse it becomes. When properly digested, he adds, it moistens the body, induces soundness thereof, and is useful in complaints of the chest.

According to Haly Abbas, the milk of cows is the thickest of all, and the most nutritious; that of camels the thinnest, and the least nutritious; goat’s milk is intermediate between them; the milk of sheep, intermediate between that of cows and goats; and the milk of asses, between that of goats and of camels. (Theor. v, 26.) Rhases enumerates them in a considerably different order; he says that the milk of cows is the thickest, and that of asses the thinnest, while that of goats is intermediate. (Ad Mansor. iii, 15.) Averrhoes calls the milk of asses and of goats the best. See also Serapion (ex Animalibus, 457); and Avicenna (ii, 2, 434.)

The following remarks of Macrobius seem to us very acute and pertinent; and, if well founded, they ought to operate as a powerful consideration to every healthy mother to suckle her own offspring: “Quamobrem non frustra creditum est, sicut valeat ad fingendas corporis et animi similitudines vis et natura seminis, non secus ad eandem rem lactis quoque ingenia et proprietates valere. Neque in hominibus id solum, sed in pecudibus quoque animadversum. Nam si ovium lacte hædi, aut caprarum agni forsitan alantur: constat ferme in his lanam duriorem, in illis pilum gigni teneriorem.” (Saturn. v, 11.)

The Galactophagi, a Scythian nation who lived principally upon mare’s milk, are made mention of by Homer (Iliad, xiii), and by Stobæus (Sermo, v.) Eustathius says that they made much use of a preparation from milk, called oxygala. (Ad Iliad, u. s.)

Aristotle calls butter the fat of milk, which has concreted to the consistence of oil. (Hist. Animal.) Hecatæus, in Athenæus, calls it the oil of milk. (Deipnos. x.) Dioscorides says that it is used for condiments instead of oil, and in confectionary instead of suet.

SECT. LXXXVII.—ON THE DRINKING OF MILK.

He who drinks milk ought to abstain from all other food until it be digested, and pass downwards. It is best therefore to drink it in the morning, newly milked, and to take no food after it, nor any hard exercise, because this would make it turn acid. But it is better to walk about gently, and rest between, without sleeping. After doing this, the first part will be evacuated, and then one may drink another part, and when it is evacuated another may be taken. At first, therefore, it purges properly, not indeed from the general system, but what was contained in the belly. Afterwards it enters the veins, and nourishes excellently, and is no longer evacuated. In bilious defluxions, and colliquative diarrhœas, the milk should be given boiled. Boil it at first gently, and for a short time, so that none of it may run over, and that part of it may be consumed. Afterwards it may be boiled more and more, taking care not to burn it, nor convert it into cheese. This will be best guarded against by boiling it softly, and clearing away what is separated by the agitation. It may be agitated with a smooth and slender reed; and, if it froth at the lips, this may be cleared away with a sponge, for often the part there spoils all the rest. The milk then, as is said, ought to be boiled until it become thicker and sweeter than the raw. And the thin and serous part may be dissipated by putting heated pebbles into the milk. This is beneficial in defluxions of the belly, and particularly in bilious ones.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. This account of the process of administering milk is taken from Oribasius, who, in his turn, is indebted to Ruffus. Avicenna, in like manner, copies from Ruffus. There is not in any other ancient author so full a description of the process of boiling milk. On the ancient modes of preparing milk for various purposes, and their uses, see ‘Geopon.’ (xviii), and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 38.) Pliny mentions that some cure gout in the hands and feet by milk. Simeon Seth joins our author, or rather Ruffus, in recommending boiled milk in dysentery. He likewise praises its effects in phthisis and dry coughs.