Introductory Book

Mediocrity was not goodness, if it was strong, such as eyes that are very closed or very open, and of little movement. That which was very open and of little closure was in that, mobility and gentleness of the heart, and not strong in its works. These were not average, they were discreet at every time. Whence, to the laws, a witness is like a tree, as Christ says, who took it, it is on account of the root. This happens such that the superior members are anterior to the inferior.

Against pain of the head

The cure for head pain is this way: if it is from the heat of the sun in summer, wash it with rose water and anoint it with poplar salve, and if it is in the shade, let him sit and apply a cold iron to the forehead. If the pain is from coldness, wash it with warm water for a long time and anoint with dialtea mallow ointment and eat galangal and chew for a long time. If the pain is from obstruction, eat onions and wash with warm water, eat one nutmeg daily, and hold cloves to the nostrils and sleep enough. If it is from the profit of the stomach, then a fistula should be taken, which is laxative; or if it is from cavities, then it should be eaten. Know that to each one...

Against pustules

...and the triticum wheat well. Against pustules and redness of the face, take the fronds of white rani possibly a type of brier or bramble and thorns and grind well, and take the juice of it and add pulverized camphor and mix and anoint the face, then go to sleep. And it should be known that before this

is done, bread should be pressed with its own poultice and the shoots of dill, and because of this, [take] less from the superior vein, the cephalic, but if the aforementioned matter is from the median vein, which is also in the head, and

Concerning frenzy

in the front part, frenzy is an aposteme born in the meninges membranes of the brain, occurring? from abuse, or it seems by one wishing, or blood, or sometimes heat, and acute fever. And see the cure in the chapter on fevers. The sign that it is present are these: such as keeping vigil, furthermore, the face is like the mind, the light is rough, and the smell of the ears, which possesses its own nature, is tempered, and when it has released, if he becomes too weak, diminish parts from the cephalic vein. After all this, a syrup made of water-lily. Item: let him be purged with a decoction of tamarinds and cassia. With the head shaved, let an ointment be made from... several medicinal ingredients listed: water-cress, parsley, violet oil, wild herbs ...let a plaster be made of the seeds of fumitory, parsley, poppy, and lettuce, and this should be prepared with the milk of a woman or the juice of lettuce; apply this plaster to the forehead, then the juice of poppy in rose oil, line the forehead, with wild herbs added. Because of this, cover the head and protect it well from the cold. Place it in a dark place and do not let the lung of an animal of a large body be forgotten. Wrapped in a cloth, a puppy or a rooster split down the back is very, very effective.