Excerpts from Pricscilla Throop, Hildegard von Bingen's Physica: The Complete English Translation of Her Classic Work on Health and Healing. Other excerpts can be found in the Sources and Uses sections of some of the beast pages.

Book 5 (Fish), Chapter 5: Salmon

Salmon (salmo) is more from cold air than hot. It is more active in the night than during the day and likes the moon more than the sun. When the moon appears, it swims very much in its brightness, just as if it were the splendor of the sun. And so, its flesh is a bit like the moon and is soft and weak. It is not good for any person to eat, because it stirs up all the bad humors in a person. It seeks the bottom of waters, eating plants and roots there, which enable it to be sustained for a long time without other foods. It also eats the seed that grows on grain, which falls in the water. It takes its fecundity from that, and when it spawns, it seeks land. There it sends out its roe, and the male pours its milt over. From these seeds, one little fish is made. And so the salmon continue, until they are emptied of all their spawn. That is, they pour out at one time their spawn/milt at various places, and they rest there until (the little fish) take life from the air.

A person whose gums are rotting and whose teeth are weak and fragile should pulverize salmon bones and add a little roasted salt. He should frequently put this powder around his teeth at night and let saliva flow over his gums. It will clean and heal the flesh around his teeth. Other parts of the salmon are not of value as medicine.

Book 6 (Birds), Chapter 2: Ostrich

The ostrich (strusz) is very hot and has in it the nature of beasts. It has the feathers of birds, but does not fly with them, since it runs quickly, just as a beast. It dwells on land, eating on pasture lands. She is of such great heat that, if she were to keep her eggs warm herself, they would be burned up, and her young would not come forth. And so she conceals them in sand, where they are warmed by its moisture and heat. After the chicks have come out of the eggs, they run, as other chicks do, after and along with their mother.

A person with epilepsy should often eat ostrich flesh. It will furnish him with powers and take away the madness of the epilepsy. This flesh is also healthy for fat and strong people to eat. It diminishes their superfluous flesh and makes them strong. It is not good for thin or sick people, since it would be too strong a food for them.

One who is melancholic, so that he has a heaviness and listlessness of the mind, should frequently eat ostrich liver. It will diminish his melancholy and, by lightening his mind, make it pleasant and charming. [Its eggs are not good to eat, since they are poisonous. But one who has dropsy should pulverize the shells from which the chicks have emerged, and place this in water. He should drink it often, either fasting or with meals, and he will be cured.] The heart and the lungs, and other parts of the ostrich, are not good for medicines, because the ostrich does not have the complete strength of birds or beasts.

Book 7 (Animals), Chapter 29: Mouse

A mouse (mus) is hot and has insidious habits and devilish skills. Since it always flees, its flesh is harmful to humans and not much use as medicine. But, if someone having epilepsy falls on the ground, after he gets up, place a mouse in a vessel (of water). Give that water to the person to drink, and wash his forehead and feet in that water. This should be done each time he falls and he will be cured. Since a mouse flees all things, it will chase off the epilepsy. When a mouse has to give birth, she has difficulty in bringing forth the young. She goes, in pain, to the edge of some water and seeks very small stones there. She eats as many as she can hold in her throat, runs to her hole, and spits them out there. She breathes on them and gets on top of them. She warms them up and immediately gives birth. As soon as she has given birth she hates the stones and kicks them away. She then lies over her young, warming them. If it is possible to find those stones within the same month that she has rejected them, one can tie them over the umbilicus of a pregnant woman who is already in labor but not able to give birth. She will then give birth and, as soon as she does, they should be removed. If one has the ague, take a mouse and give it a blow so it cannot run away. Before it dies, tie the back of the mouse between the shoulder blades of the person when the ague is tormenting him. Let the mouse die between the person’s shoulder blades, and that person will be cured, and ague will invade him no more.

Book 8 (Reptiles), Chapter 1: Dragon

The dragon (draco) has dryness, alien heat, and a certain fiery imbalance in it, but its flesh is not fiery inside. Its breath is so strong and sharp that it immediately ignites when it comes out, just as fire does when it is lured from a stone. It has a strong hatred for human beings and, according to its nature, has diabolic arts in it. Sometimes when it sends out its breath, airy spirits from this breath stir up the air. Everything in its flesh and bones is harmful for human medicine, except its fat. When the dragon sends out its breath, its blood is dried up and not fluid. When its breath is within it, its blood is moist and flows. Whence there is not even any medicine found in its blood.

A person who has a stone in him should take some dragon blood and put it in a damp place so that it gets a bit moist. He should then place the blood in pure water for a short time, until the water takes some heat from it. Having removed the blood, he should drink a moderate amount of that water on an empty stomach. He should soon eat some food. He should do this with the blood and water for nine days, and the stone in him will be broken up by the strength of the blood, and he will be liberated. No one should eat or drink any of this blood pure and simple. If anyone were to do this, he would immediately die.