Читать книгу Medicine in the Middle Ages. Extracts from "Le Moyen Age Medical" by Dr. Edmond Dupouy; translated by T. C. Minor онлайн

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In an opuscle published in 1530, by one called De Drusæ, we observe that “notwithstanding the natural laws of propriety, women use scents more than clean water; and they thus only increase the bad smells they endeavor to disguise. Some use greasy perfumed ointments, others sponges saturated in fragrants”

“Entre leur cuisses et dessoubz les aisselles,

Pour ne sentir l’espaulle de mouton.”

This horror of water did not last long, however, and at the commencement of the seventeenth century the false modesty of women ended with the creation of river baths, such as exist to-day along the banks of the Seine.

Was this restoration of cleanly habits due to medical advice? This question cannot be answered, but it may not be out of place to cite that remarkable passage from the “Essays of Montaigne” on the hygiene of bathing, which he recommends in certain maladies:

“It is good to bathe in warm water, it softens and relaxes in ports where it stagnates over sands and stones. Such application of external heat, however, makes the kidneys leathery and hard and petrifies the matter within. To those who bathe: it is best to eat little at night to the end that the waters drank the next morning operate more easily, meeting with an empty stomach. On the other hand, it is best to eat a little dinner, in order not to trouble the action of the water, which is not in perfect accord; nor should the stomach be filled too suddenly after its other labor; leave the work of digestion to the night, which is better than the day, when the body and mind are in perpetual movement and activity.