History of Monsters. 129

...vitiligo, scabies, elephantiasis, welts, spots, itching, scars, wrinkles, the loss of nails, hangnails, and any corruption of form or color. To these we add *hydroa* blisters, rashes, ringworm, *sycosis*, premature graying, and hair loss. There is also the "Polish Plait," an epidemic disease in Poland; although it mostly affects the hair of the head, we understand it also plagues other areas where hair grows. Here we must also list conditions such as impetigo, *mentagra*, "holy fire," lichens, every species of leprosy, the atrophy of limbs, and the *dracunculus*—a condition familiar to the Egyptians and Indians.

There are also night-sores, all kinds of pustules, and especially the *boa* (or *boua*), so named because the skin reddens with a multitude of pimples as if bitten by a *boa* serpent. Added to these are scaly conditions that foul the entire skin, and the horrific "louse-disease" (*phthiriasis*), where the whole body swarms with lice. Then there are the *syrones*, which were unknown to the Greek physicians (as Avenzoar writes) but called *assoalar* by the Arabs. These are mites that crawl through the hands, hiding under pustules filled with fluid; they are such tiny creatures that they almost escape sight, though women with sharp vision can easily extract them with a needle. Nor should we omit the ticks that arise from the filth of the beard and groin, which the French call *platas* and the Italians call "blind" because they lack an opening for excrement. Finally, Albucasis mentions an ailment called *nakir*, which is nothing more than a violent wind that occupies the entire surface of the skin.

MOLES

The skin diseases just enumerated bring to mind moles, especially since several notable authors have classified them among the blemishes of the skin. Pliny, for instance, once wrote that moles could be removed with bean flour boiled in vinegar. Nevertheless, far from disfiguring the human body, moles seem rather to commend it. Ovid did not hesitate to approve of a face upon which kind Nature had impressed a mole; for just as a ship (*navis*) seen on a calm sea does not merely decorate it but is regarded as a sign of a navigable sea, so a mole (as if the Greek *naus*) not only brings grace to the face but also signifies the "maritime" passions of the human soul. Indeed, no one doubts that moles pertain to the study of physiognomy. For this reason, Melampus, an ancient Athenian physician, and Abenragel among the Arabs, endeavored to teach what moles located by Nature on each part of the body might signify. Although moles are scattered across the whole body as if by chance, they nonetheless maintain a certain order and kinship among themselves.

A mole seen on the forehead, for example, has a companion on the chest. Indeed, if a mole occupies the middle of the forehead, another will usually be found in the middle of the breast or on the back between the shoulder blades. The further a mole recedes from the center of the forehead toward the right or left side, the more its counterpart will deflect toward one of the arms or shoulders; thus, if it appears at the edge of the forehead near the temples at the hairline, it represents another mole on the shoulders. It often happens that moles on the forehead refer sometimes to those on the chest and sometimes to those on the back, since the front and back of the breast together constitute the thorax.

If a mole is located near the nose and eyebrow, another will be seen impressed on the lower part of the chest. Furthermore, whatever position a mole occupies on the nose, another will hold a similar spot on the penis; likewise, if a mole is observed on a woman’s nose, another will reside on the labia of her private parts.

When these natural warts are found within the space of the nose where the eyes are set apart, they will similarly indicate others between the scrotum and the penis, corresponding to their position on the right or left side. If a mole is found on the eyelid above the pupil, another will be on the scrotum near the testicle. Likewise, if it is on the upper part of the eyelid, another will be seen above the testicle on the opposite side of the scrotum. But if it is on the lower eyelid; similarly