CHAPTER XVII
UNDOING OF AIGUILLETTES (IMPOTENCE FOR A TIME)
Know, O Vizir (God be good to you!), that impotence arises from three causes:
- Firstly, from the tying of aiguillettes.[1]
- Secondly, from a feeble and relaxed constitution.
- And thirdly, from too premature ejaculation.
To cure the tying of aigullettes you must take galanga,[2] cinnamon from Mecca, cloves, Indian cachou,[3] nutmeg, Indian cubebs, sparrow-wort,[4] cinnamon, Persian pepper, Indian thistle,[5] cardamoms,[6] pyrether, laurelseed, and gillyflowers. All these ingredients must be pounded together carefully, and one drinks of it as much as one can, morning and night, in broth, particularly in pigeon broth; fowl broth may, however, be sub-
- ↑ It happens sometimes at the encounter of a man and woman that the former, though burning with desire, cannot accomplish the act of coition, owing to the state of inertia resisting all incitement to which his member is reduced. It is then said of him that his aiguillette (needle) is tied.
- ↑ The galanga is an Indian root. There are two kinds: the galanga major and the galanga minor.
- ↑ The cachou, from the Indian catche, or the Brazilian cajou, is a vegetable substance which comes to us from India.
Observation in the autograph edition.—Certain texts have it, Indian tartar or Indian harehar. It cannot be exactly determined to what substances these two names belong.
- ↑ See Note 2, page 199.
- ↑ This is the thistle which grows in the West Indies. Taken as a decoction, this plant acts as a pectoral and an aperient.
Observation in the autograph edition.—The texts which have been consulted give as the name of the plant, the use of which is recommended, chelass el heundi, a name for which an English equivalent could not be found.
- ↑ See Note 1, page 199.
