Note 314 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)

“The ikan kli is armed with two sharp barbed spines attached to the fore-part of the pectoral fins, and can and does inflict very nasty wounds with them, when incautiously handled. The spines are reputed to be poisonous, but it is believed that if the brain of the offending fish is applied to the wound, it will act as a complete antidote to the poisonous principle, and the wound will heal without trouble. The English cure for hydrophobia—that is, ‘the hair of the dog that bit you’—will occur to all as a modification of the same idea.”314