132 History of Monsters

administered; indeed, he compounds every kind of pill, suppositories, infusions, pessaries, clysters, nasal drops, troches, sternutatories, tablets, phlegm-clearing agents, purgative powders, gargles, fumigations, eye-washes, sachets, electuaries, embrocations, scented pomanders, washes, ointments, liniments, poultices, plasters, epithems, cerates, caustics, and medicated baths. Thus we may sing with Ovid:

"There are a thousand forms of evil, and a thousand forms of health."

Finally, surgery must not be overlooked, for it too provides its own instruments for salvation. As Ovid wrote:

"To save the body, you must endure the iron and the fire."

The surgeon employs the scalpel, the cautery, forceps, saws, probes, razors, needles, tweezers, bandages, tenacula, compresses, lint or pledgets, wraps, buckles, and stretching devices. Furthermore, to avoid every kind of medicine and to safeguard health, Galen handed down a precept worthy of being carved in cedar: that one will never fall into sickness if he avoids indigestion, shuns violent movement after eating, and engages in exercise before his meal.

# CASTRATION

Apuleius gave castration the elegant name of "detestation," hinting at the reason it is commonly performed on beasts, and especially on horses: namely, that those suffering from excessive heat of lust might be tamed by this procedure. But why do we reflect on this only in beasts, when Julius Alexandrinus disclosed that women once vexed by a ruinous fire of Venus were also castrated?

In humans of our own age, castration is employed—when other remedies fail—in cases where a dilated or ruptured peritoneum allows the intestines to descend into the scrotum, creating a hernia. This renders men unfit for labor and other functions; moreover, those suffering from this type of hernia face the perpetual danger of not only inflammation but also a lethal intestinal blockage. Therefore, to avoid the obvious risk of death and to make patients more fit for work, men are cured in this way. Near the right or left side of the hernia, through the removal of one of the testes, cauterization, and suturing, the dilated or ruptured peritoneum is joined so that the intestines can no longer descend. This work is performed with the greatest diligence by the "Orchitomi" (testicle-cutters), particularly those from Norcia in Italy.

In ancient times, men were castrated to guard virgins, so that they might be more efficient than female servants and yet unfit for intercourse. This is what the word "Eunuch" signifies; indeed, *eunouchos* is derived from *apo tou tēn eunēn echein*, because they had charge of the bedchambers and the women's quarters. A eunuch is also called a *spado*, from the word *spaō* (to pull out), because their testicles have been extracted. Furthermore, they say that a Turkish Emperor once saw a castrated horse mating with a mare, and because of this, he ordered that when boys were made eunuchs, the penis should be cut off along with the testicles. Thus it has come to pass that the Turks even in this day, in the castration of boys, remove the member along with the testes.

That women can also be castrated should not be doubted, as we have learned from the authority of Julius Alexandrinus cited above. Although this work is fraught with greater difficulty, there is no threat to life when the surgeon is skilled. Schenckius recounts a stupendous story of a woman suffering from a prolapsed and gangrenous uterus; the uterus was resected by a surgeon without risk to her life.

And Weyer mentions a certain John of Essen who, while staying in the County of Mark (where he had been hired to castrate cattle), castrated his own daughter when he noticed her behaving familiarly with a young man.

We also learn from Lonicer’s *Diverse History* that the Lydians were the first to castrate women, as they were accustomed to using them in place of eunuchs—a fact later confirmed by Caelius Rhodiginus. Cardanus, however, claims that both males and females can be made eunuchs without a surgical ope-