Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/351

 A MAJESTIC LITERARY FOSSIL

a pump, probably. &quot; Notwithstanding these Pre cautions&quot; he dy d. No art of speech could more quaintly convey this butcher s innocent surprise. Now that we know what the celebrated Bonetus did when he wanted to relieve a Head-ach, it is no trouble to infer that if he wanted to comfort a man that had a Stomach-ach he disemboweled him.

I have given one &quot;Observation&quot; a single Head- ach case; but the celebrated Bonetus follows it with eleven more. Without enlarging upon the matter, I merely note this coincidence they all &quot;dy d.&quot; Not one of these people got well; yet this obtuse hyena sets down every little gory detail of the several assassinations as complacently as if he imagined he was doing a useful and meritorious work in per petuating the methods of his crimes. &quot;Observa tions,&quot; indeed! They are confessions.

According to this book, &quot;the Ashes of an Ass s hoof mix d with Woman s milk cures chilblains.&quot; Length of time required not stated. Another item: &quot;The constant Use of Milk is bad for the Teeth, and causes them to rot, and loosens the Gums.&quot; Yet in our day babies use it constantly without hurtful results. This author thinks you ought to wash out your mouth with wine before venturing to drink milk. Presently, when we come to notice what fiendish decoctions those people introduced into their stomachs by way of medicine, we shall won der that they could have been afraid of milk.

It appears that they had false teeth in those days. They were made of ivory sometimes, sometimes of bone, and were thrust into the natural sockets, and

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