How to Cure a Nosebleed, 1561

awkward woodcut of man touching other man's nose over a table Ortus Sanitatis (1499)

Beat egges shales to pouder and syft them through a linnen cloth and blewe them into his nose: if the shales were of egges whereout yonge chickens are hatched, it were so much the better. Or els take the dounge of an asse, mixe the same wyth vinegre, and holde the same at his nose. Lykewyse doth the dounge of a Sowe or Swyne that hath eaten grasse.

Hieronymus Brunschwig, A Most Excellent and Perfecte Homish Apothecarye

A handy quiz for identifying effective nosebleed remedies:

  1. Did it come out of a farm animal?
  2. Did a farm animal come out of it?

If you answered “yes” to one or both of these questions, go ahead and apply it to your nose.

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