Memoirs of Casanova — Volume 12: Return to Paris by Giacomo Casanova
page 73 of 161 (45%)
page 73 of 161 (45%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
I said that as her lover was away she would want a sure friend to live in
the same house with her, and give her the dose according to the directions of Paracelsus. All at once she burst into a peal of laughter, and asked me if I had been jesting all the time. I thought the game was up. The remedy was an absurd one, on the face of it; and if her common sense told her as much it would also make her guess my motive. But what limits are there to the credulity of a woman in her condition? "If you wish," said I, persuasively, "I will give you the manuscript where all that I have said is set down plainly. I will also shew you what Boerhaeve thinks about it." I saw that these words convinced her; they had acted on her as if by magic, and I went on while the iron was hot. "The aroph," said I, "is the most powerful agent for bringing on menstruation." "And that is incompatible with the state I am now in; so the aroph should procure me a secret deliverance. Do you know its composition?" "Certainly; it is quite a simple preparation composed of certain ingredients which are well known to me, and which have to be made into a paste with butter or virgin honey. But this composition must touch the orifice of the uterus at a moment of extreme excitement." |
|