Caputpurgium
Caputpurgium vocatur quicquid per nares injectum vel masticatum seu etiam gargarizatum apoflegmatismum facit .i. a capite flegma deducit.
Apparatus:
Caputpurgium (-ũ A; -um f) AC f | Capudpurgiũ e | Cap̄purgiũ (-pur- p) B p | Cap’purgiuʒ j
seu | l’ f
etiam om. ef
apoflegmatismũ AC | appoflagmatissimũ B | apofl’atisimuʒ (-mum f) ef | apofl’aticuʒ (-cũ p) jp
a om. p
flegma C f | fleuma ej | flema B | fl’a A p
Translation:
Caputpurgium is the name for a procedure where any medication is injected into the nostrils or chewed or even gargled, which causes apophlegmatismus i.e. a draining of phlegma away from the head.
Commentary:
Simon’s definition of caputpurgium encompasses injection and medication for chewing and for gargling.
But Plinio Prioreschi in his A History of Medicine, vol. V, Medieval medicine, Omaha, 2003. p. 352, annotation 186, defines the term more narrowly: "In the Middle Ages, a 'caputpurge' (caputpurgium – evidently from caput {'head'} and purgare {'to clean(se)'} was a preparation for the 'purging of the head'. … It consisted of a liquid of variable composition which was instilled into the nostrils to induce nasal discharge ('purgation'). The name may also have been applied to a tool used in the process, probably something like a funnel."
WilfGunther 21:50, 21 June 2015 (BST)
See also: Apoflegmatismus, Rhin
