BOOK XXXII.1 REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS.

BOOK XXXII.1 REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS.

CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE POWER OF NATURE AS MANIFESTED IN ANTIPATHIES. THE ECHENEÏS: TWO REMEDIES.

Following the proper order of things, we have now arrived at the culminating point of the wonders manifested to us by the operations of Nature. And even at the very outset, we find spontaneously presented to us an incomparable illustration of her mysterious powers: so much so, in fact, that beyond it we feel ourselves bound to forbear extending our enquiries, there being nothing to be found either equal or analogous to an element in which Nature quite triumphs over herself, and that, too, in such numberless ways. For what is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in what department of her works has Nature been more seconded by the ingenuity of man, than in this, by his inventions of sails and of oars? In addition to this, we are struck with the ineffable might displayed by the Ocean’s tides, as they constantly ebb and flow, and so regulate the currents of the sea as though they were the waters of one vast river.

And yet all these forces, though acting in unison, and impelling in the same direction, a single fish, and that of a very diminutive size—the fish known as the “echeneïs”2—possesses the power of counteracting. Winds may blow and storms may rage, and yet the echeneïs controls their fury, restrains their mighty force, and bids ships stand still in their career; a result which no cables, no anchors, from their ponderousness quite incapable of being weighed, could ever have produced! A fish bridles the impetuous violence of the deep, and subdues the frantic rage of the universe—and all this by no effort of its own, no act of resistance on its part, no act at all, in fact, but that of adhering to the bark! Trifling as this object would appear, it suffices to counteract all these forces combined, and to forbid the ship to pass onward in its way! Fleets, armed for war, pile up towers and bulwarks on their decks, in order that, upon the deep even, men may fight from behind ramparts as it were. But alas for human vanity!—when their prows, beaked as they are with brass and with iron,3 and armed for the onset, can thus be arrested and rivetted to the spot by a little fish, no more than some half foot in length!

At the battle of Actium, it is said, a fish of this kind stopped the prætorian ship4 of Antonius in its course, at the moment that he was hastening from ship to ship to encourage and exhort his men, and so compelled him to leave it and go on board another. Hence it was, that the fleet of Cæsar gained the advantage5 in the onset, and charged with a redoubled impetuosity. In our own time, too, one of these fish arrested the ship of the Emperor6 Caius in its course, when he was returning from Astura to Antium:7 and thus, as the result proved, did an insignificant fish give presage of great events; for no sooner had the emperor returned to Rome than he was pierced by the weapons of his own soldiers. Nor did this sudden stoppage of the ship long remain a mystery, the cause being perceived upon finding that, out of the whole fleet, the emperor’s five-banked galley was the only one that was making no way. The moment this was discovered, some of the sailors plunged into the sea, and, on making search about the ship’s sides, they found an echeneïs adhering to the rudder. Upon its being shown to the emperor, he strongly expressed his indignation that such an obstacle as this should have impeded his progress, and have rendered powerless the hearty endeavours of some four hundred men. One thing, too, it is well known, more particularly surprised8 him, how it was possible that the fish, while adhering to the ship, should arrest its progress, and yet should have no such power when brought on board.

According to the persons who examined it on that occasion, and who have seen it since, the echeneïs bears a strong resemblance to a large slug.9 The various opinions entertained respecting it we have already10 noticed, when speaking of it in the Natural History of Fishes. There is no doubt, too, that all fish of this kind are possessed of a similar power; witness, for example, the well-known instance of the shells11 which are still preserved and consecrated in the Temple of Venus at Cnidos, and which, we are bound to believe, once gave such striking evidence of the possession of similar properties. Some of our own authors have given this fish the Latin name of “mora.”12 It is a singular thing, but among the Greeks we find writers who state that, worn as an amulet, the echeneïs has the property,13 as already mentioned, of preventing miscarriage, and of reducing procidence of the uterus, and so permitting the fœtus to reach maturity: while others, again, assert that, if it is preserved in salt and worn as an amulet, it will facilitate parturition; a fact to which it is indebted for another name which it bears, “odinolytes.”14 Be all this as it may, considering this most remarkable fact of a ship being thus stopped in its course, who can entertain a doubt as to the possibility of any manifestation of her power by Nature, or as to the effectual operation of the remedies which she has centred in her spontaneous productions?

CHAP. 2.—THE TORPEDO: NINE REMEDIES.

And then, besides, even if we had not this illustration by the agency of the echeneïs, would it not have been quite sufficient only to cite the instance of the torpedo,15 another inhabitant also of the sea, as a manifestation of the mighty powers of Nature? From a considerable distance even, and if only touched with the end of a spear or staff, this fish has the property of benumbing even the most vigorous arm, and of rivetting the feet of the runner, however swift he may be in the race. If, upon considering this fresh illustration, we find ourselves compelled to admit that there is in existence a certain power which, by the very exhalations16 and, as it were, emanations therefrom, is enabled to affect the members of the human body,17 what are we not to hope for from the remedial influences which Nature has centred in all animated beings?

CHAP. 3.—THE SEA HARE: FIVE REMEDIES.

No less wonderful, too, are the particulars which we find stated relative to the sea-hare.18 Taken with the food or drink, it is a poison to some persons; while to others, again, the very sight of it is venomous.19 Indeed, if a woman in a state of pregnancy so much as looks upon one of these fishes, she is immediately seized with nausea and vomiting—a proof that the injury has reached the stomach—and abortion is the ultimate result. The proper preservative against these baneful effects is the male fish, which is kept dried for the purpose in salt, and worn in a bracelet upon the arm. And yet this same fish, while in the sea, is not injurious, by its contact even. The only animal that eats it without fatal consequences, is the mullet;20 the sole perceptible result being that its flesh is rendered more tender thereby, but deteriorated in flavour, and consequently not so highly esteemed.

Persons when poisoned21 by the sea-hare smell strongly of the fish—the first sign, indeed, by which the fact of their having been so poisoned is detected. Death also ensues at the end of as many days as the fish has lived: hence it is that, as Licinius Macer informs us, this is one of those poisons which have no definite time for their operation. In India,22 we are assured, the sea-hare is never taken alive; and, we are told that, in those parts of the world, man, in his turn, acts as a poison upon the fish, which dies instantly in the sea, if it is only touched with the human finger. There, like the rest of the animals, it attains a much larger size than it does with us.

CHAP. 4.—MARVELS OF THE RED SEA.

Juba, in those books descriptive of Arabia, which he has dedicated to Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus, informs us that there are mussels23 on those coasts, the shells of which are capable of holding three semisextarii; and that, on one occasion, a whale,24 six hundred feet in length and three hundred and sixty feet broad,25 made its way up a river of Arabia, the blubber of which was bought up by the merchants there. He tells us, too, that in those parts they anoint their camels with the grease of all kinds of fish, for the purpose of keeping off the gad-flies26 by the smell.

CHAP. 5. (2.)—THE INSTINCTS OF FISHES.

The statements which Ovid has made as to the instincts of fish, in the work27 of his known as the “Halieuticon,”28 appear to me truly marvellous. The scarus,29 for instance, when enclosed in the wicker kype, makes no effort to escape with its head, nor does it attempt to thrust its muzzle between the oziers; but turning its tail towards them, it enlarges the orifices with repeated blows therefrom, and so makes its escape backwards. Should,30 too, another scarus, from without, chance to see it thus struggling within the kype, it will take the tail of the other in its mouth, and so aid it in its efforts to escape. The lupus,31 again, when surrounded with the net, furrows32 the sand with its tail, and so conceals itself, until the net has passed over it. The muræna,33 trusting in the slippery smoothness34 of its rounded back, boldly faces the meshes of the net, and by repeatedly wriggling its body, makes its escape. The polyp35 makes for the hooks, and, without swallowing the bait, clasps it with its feelers; nor does it quit its hold until it has eaten off the bait, or perceives itself being drawn out of the water by the rod.

The mullet,36 too, is aware37 that within the bait there is a hook concealed, and is on its guard against the ambush; still however, so great is its voracity, that it beats the hook with its tail, and strikes away from it the bait. The lupus,38 again, shows less foresight and address, but repentance at its imprudence arms it with mighty strength; for, when caught by the hook, it flounders from side to side, and so widens the wound, till at last the insidious hook falls from its mouth. The muræna39 not only swallows the hook, but catches at the line with its teeth, and so gnaws it asunder. The anthias,40 Ovid says, the moment it finds itself caught by the hook, turns its body with its back downwards, upon which there is a sharp knife-like fin, and so cuts the line asunder.

According to Licinius Macer, the muræna is of the female sex only, and is impregnated by serpents, as already41 mentioned; and hence it is that the fishermen, to entice it from its retreat, and catch it, make a hissing noise in imitation of the hissing of a serpent. He states, also, that by frequently beating the water it is made to grow fat, that a blow with a stout stick will not kill it, but that a touch with a stalk of fennel-giant42 is instantly fatal. That in the case of this animal, the life is centred in the tail, there can be no doubt, as also that it dies immediately on that part of the body being struck; while, on the other hand, there is considerable difficulty in killing it with a blow upon the head. Persons who have come in contact with the razor-fish43 smell of iron.44 The hardest of all fishes, beyond a doubt, is that known as the “orbis:”45 it is spherical, destitute46 of scales, and all head.47

CHAP. 6.—MARVELLOUS PROPERTIES BELONGING TO CERTAIN FISHES.

Trebius Niger informs us that whenever the loligo48 is seen darting above the surface of the water, it portends a change of weather: that the xiphias,49 or, in other words, the swordfish, has a sharp-pointed muzzle, with which it is able to pierce the sides of a ship and send it to the bottom: instances of which have been known near a place in Mauritania, known as Cotte, not far from the river Lixus.50 He says, too, that the loligo sometimes darts above the surface, in such vast numbers, as to sink the ships upon which they fall.

CHAP. 7.—PLACES WHERE FISH EAT FROM THE HAND.

At many of the country-seats belonging to the Emperor the fish eat51 from the hand: but the stories of this nature, told with such admiration by the ancients, bear reference to lakes formed by Nature, and not to fish-preserves; that at Elorus, a fortified place in Sicily, for instance, not far from Syracuse. In the fountain, too, of Jupiter, at Labranda,52 there are eels which eat from the hand, and wear ear-rings,53 it is said. The same, too, at Chios, near the Old Men’s Temple54 there; and at the Fountain of Chabura in Mesopotamia, already mentioned.55

CHAP. 8.—PLACES WHERE FISH RECOGNIZE THE HUMAN VOICE. ORACULAR RESPONSES GIVEN BY FISH.

At Myra, too, in Lycia, the fish in the Fountain of Apollo, known as Surium, appear and give oracular presages, when thrice summoned by the sound of a flute. If they seize the flesh thrown to them with avidity, it is a good omen for the person who consults them; but if, on the other hand, they flap at it with their tails, it is considered an evil presage. At Hierapolis56 in Syria, the fish in the Lake of Venus there obey the voice of the officers of the temple: bedecked with ornaments of gold, they come at their call, fawn upon them while they are scratched, and open their mouths so wide as to admit of the insertion of the hands.

Off the Rock of Hercules, in the territory of Stabiæ57 in Campania, the melanuri58 seize with avidity bread that is thrown to them in the sea, but they will never approach any bait in which there is a hook concealed.

CHAP. 9.—PLACES WHERE BITTER FISH ARE FOUND, SALT, OR SWEET.

Nor is it by any means the least surprising fact, that off the island of Pele,59 the town of Clazomenæ,60 the rock61 [of Scylla] in Sicily, and in the vicinity of Leptis in Africa,62 Eubœa, and Dyrrhachium,63 the fish are bitter. In the neighbourhood of Cephallenia, Ampelos, Paros, and the rocks of Delos, the fish are so salt by nature that they might easily be taken to have been pickled in brine. In the harbour, again, of the last-mentioned island, the fish are sweet: differences, all of them, resulting, no doubt, from the diversity64 of their food.

Apion says that the largest among the fishes is the sea-pig,65 known to the Lacedæmonians as the “orthagoriscos;” he states also that it grunts66 like a hog when taken. These accidental varieties in the natural flavour of fish—a thing that is still more surprising—may, in some cases, be owing to the nature of the locality; an apposite illustration of which is, the well-known fact that, at Beneventum67 in Italy, salted provisions of all kinds require68 to be salted over again.

CHAP. 10.—WHEN SEA-FISH WERE FIRST EATEN BY THE PEOPLE OF ROME. THE ORDINANCE OF KING NUMA AS TO FISH.

Cassius Hemina informs us that sea-fish have been in use at Rome from the time of its foundation. I will give his own words, however, upon the subject:—“Numa ordained that fish without69 scales should not be served up at the Festivals of the Gods; a piece of frugality, the intention of which was, that the banquets, both public and private, as well as the repasts laid before the couches70 of the gods, might be provided at a smaller expense than formerly: it being also his wish to preclude the risk that the caterers for the sacred banquets would spare no expense in buying provisions, and so forestall the market.”

CHAP. 11.—CORAL: FORTY-THREE REMEDIES AND OBSERVATIONS.

In the same degree that people in our part of the world set a value upon the pearls of India—a subject on which we have already spoken71 on the appropriate occasion at sufficient length—do the people of India prize coral: it being the prevailing taste in each nation respectively that constitutes the value of things. Coral is produced in the Red Sea also, but of a more swarthy hue than ours. It is to be found also in the Persian Gulf, where it is known by the name of “iace.” But the most highly-esteemed of all, is that produced in the vicinity of the islands called Stœchades,72 in the Gallic Gulf, and near the Æolian Islands and the town of Drepana in the Sea of Sicily. Coral is to be found growing, too, at Graviscæ, and off the coast of Neapolis in Campania: as also at Erythræ, where it is intensely red, but soft, and consequently little valued.

Its form is that of a shrub,73 and its colour green: its berries are white and soft while under water, but the moment they are removed from it, they become hard and red, resembling the berries of cultivated cornel in size and appearance. They say that, while alive, if it is only touched by a person, it will immediately become as hard as stone; and hence it is that the greatest pains are taken to prevent this, by tearing it up from the bottom with nets, or else cutting it short with a sharp-edged instrument of iron: from which last circumstance it is generally supposed to have received its name of “curalium.”74 The reddest coral and the most branchy is held in the highest esteem; but, at the same time, it must not be rough or hard like stone; nor yet, on the other hand, should it be full of holes or hollow.

The berries of coral are no less esteemed by the men in India than are the pearls of that country by the females among us: their soothsayers, too, and diviners look upon coral as an amulet endowed with sacred properties,75 and a sure preservative against all dangers: hence it is that they equally value it as an ornament and as an object of devotion. Before it was known in what estimation coral was held by the people of India, the Gauls were in the habit of adorning their swords, shields, and helmets with it; but at the present day, owing to the value set upon it as an article of exportation, it has become so extremely rare, that it is seldom to be seen even in the regions that produce it. Branches of coral, hung at the neck of infants,76 are thought to act as a preservative against danger. Calcined, pulverized, and taken in water, coral gives relief to patients suffering from griping pains in the bowels, affections of the bladder, and urinary calculi. Similarly taken in wine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water, it acts as a soporific. It resists the action of fire a considerable time before it is calcined.

There is also a statement made that if this medicament is frequently taken internally, the spleen will be gradually consumed. Powdered coral, too, is on excellent remedy for patients who bring up or spit blood. Calcined coral is used as an ingredient in compositions for the eyes, being productive of certain astringent and cooling effects: it makes flesh, also, in the cavities left by ulcers, and effaces scars upon the skin.

CHAP. 12.—THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. THE HATREDS MANIFESTED BY CERTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTINACA: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE GALEOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES. THE SUR-MULLET: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

In reference to that repugnance which exists between certain things, known to the Greeks as “antipathia,” there is nothing more venomous77 than the pastinaca, a sea-fish which kills trees even with its sting, as already78 stated. And yet, poisonous as it is, the galeos79 pursues it; a fish which, though it attacks other marine animals as well, manifests an enmity to the pastinaca in particular, just as on dry land the weasel does to serpents; with such avidity does it go in pursuit of what is poisonous even! Persons stung by the pustinaca find a remedy in the flesh of the galeos, as also in that of the sur-mullet and the vegetable production known as laser.80

CHAP. 13. (3).—AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. CASTOREUM: SIXTY-SIX REMEDIES AND OBSERVATIONS.

The might of Nature, too, is equally conspicuous in the animals which live upon dry land as well;81 the beaver, for instance, more generally known as “castor,” and the testes82 of which are called in medicine “castorea.” Sextius, a most careful enquirer into the nature and history of medicinal substances, assures us that it is not the truth that this animal, when on the point of being taken, bites off its testes: he informs us, also, that these substances are small, tightly knit, and attached to the back-bone, and that it is impossible to remove them without taking the animal’s life. We learn from him that there is a mode of adulterating them by substituting the kidneys of the beaver, which are of considerable size, whereas the genuine testes are found to be extremely diminutive: in addition to which, he says that they must not be taken to be bladders, as they are two in number, a provision not to be found in any animal. Within these pouches,83 he says, there is a liquid found, which is preserved by being put in salt; the genuine castoreum being easily known from the false, by the fact of its being contained in two pouches, attached by a single ligament. The genuine article, he says, is sometimes fraudulently sophisticated by the admixture of gum and blood, or else hammoniacum:84 as the pouches, in fact, ought to be of the same colour as this last, covered with thin coats full of a liquid of the consistency of honey mixed with wax, possessed of a fetid smell, of a bitter, acrid taste, and friable to the touch.

The most efficacious castoreum is that which comes from Pontus and Galatia, the next best being the produce of Africa. When inhaled, it acts as a sternutatory. Mixed with oil of roses and peucedanum,85 and applied to the head, it is productive of narcotic effects—a result which is equally produced by taking it in water; for which reason it is employed in the treatment of phrenitis. Used as a fumigation, it acts as an excitant upon patients suffering from lethargy: and similarly employed, or used in the form of a suppository, it dispels hysterical86 suffocations. It acts also as an emmenagogue and as an expellent of the afterbirth, being taken by the patient, in doses of two drachmæ, with pennyroyal,87 in water. It is employed also for the cure of vertigo, opisthotony, fits of trembling, spasms, affections of the sinews, sciatica, stomachic complaints, and paralysis, the patient either being rubbed with it all over, or else taking it as an electuary, bruised and incorporated with seed of vitex,88 vinegar, and oil of roses, to the consistency of honey. In the last form, too, it is taken for the cure of epilepsy, and in a potion, for the purpose of dispelling flatulency and gripings in the bowels, and for counteracting the effects of poison.

When taken as a potion, the only difference is in the mode of mixing it, according to the poison that it is intended to neutralize; thus, for example, when it is taken for the sting of the scorpion, wine is used as the medium; and when for injuries inflicted by spiders or by the phalangium,89 honied wine where it is intended to be brought up again, and rue where it is desirable that it should remain upon the stomach. For injuries inflicted by the chalcis,90 it is taken with myrtle wine; for the sting of the cerastes91 or prester92 with panax93 or rue in wine; and for those of other serpents, with wine only. In all these cases two drachmæ of castoreum is the proper dose, to one of the other ingredients respectively. It is particularly useful, also, in combination with vinegar, in cases where viscus94 has been taken internally, and, with milk or water, as a neutralizer of aconite: as an antidote to white hellebore it is taken with hydromel and nitre.95 It is curative, also, of tooth-ache, for which purpose it is beaten up with oil and injected into the ear, on the side affected. For the cure of ear-ache, the best plan is to mix it with meconium.96 Applied with Attic honey in the form of an ointment, it improves the eyesight, and taken with vinegar it arrests hiccup.

The urine, too, of the beaver, is a neutralizer of poisons, and for this reason is used as an ingredient in antidotes. The best way of keeping it, some think, is in the bladder of the animal.

CHAP. 14. (4.)—THE TORTOISE: SIXTY-SIX REMEDIES AND OBSERVATIONS.

The tortoise,97 too, is an animal that is equally amphibious with the beaver, and possessed of medicinal properties as strongly developed; in addition to which, it claims an equal degree of notice for the high price which luxury sets upon its shell,98 and the singularity of its conformation. Of tortoises, there are various kinds, land tortoises,99 sea tortoises,100 tortoises101 which live in muddy waters, and tortoises101 which live in fresh; these last being known to some Greek authors by the name of “emydes.” The flesh of the land-tortoise is employed for fumigations more particularly, and we find it asserted that it is highly salutary for repelling the malpractices of magic, and for neutralizing poisons. These tortoises are found in the greatest numbers in Africa; where the head and feet being first cut off, it is said, they are given to persons by way of antidote. Eaten, too, in a broth made from them, they are thought to disperse scrofula, diminish the volume of the spleen, and effect the cure of epilepsy. The blood of the land-tortoise improves the eyesight, and removes cataract: it is kept also, made up with meal into pills, which are given with wine when necessary, to neutralize the poison of all kinds of serpents, frogs, spiders, and similar venomous animals. It is found a useful plan, too, in cases of glaucoma, to anoint the eyes with gall of tortoises, mixed with Attic honey, and, for the cure of injuries inflicted by scorpions, to drop the gall into the wound.

Ashes of tortoiseshell, kneaded up with wine and oil, are used for the cure of chaps upon the feet, and of ulcerations. The shavings of the surface of the shell, administered in drink, act as an antaphrodisiac: a thing that is the more surprising, from the fact that a powder prepared from the whole of the shell has the reputation of being a strong aphrodisiac. As to the urine of the land-tortoise, I do not think that it can be obtained otherwise than by opening it and taking out the bladder; this being one of those substances to which the adepts in magic attribute such marvellous properties. For the sting of the asp, they say, it is wonderfully effectual; and even more so, if bugs are mixed with it. The eggs of the tortoise, hardened by keeping, are applied to scrofulous sores and ulcers arising from burns or cold: they are taken also for pains in the stomach.

The flesh of the sea-tortoise,102 mixed with that of frogs, is an excellent remedy for injuries caused by the salamander;103 indeed there is nothing that is a better neutralizer of the secretions of the salamander than the sea-tortoise. The blood of this animal reproduces the hair when lost through alopecy, and is curative of porrigo and all kinds of ulcerations of the head; the proper method of using it being to let it dry, and then gently wash it off. For the cure of ear-ache, this blood is injected with woman’s milk, and for epilepsy it is eaten with fine wheaten flour, three heminæ of the blood being mixed with one hemina of vinegar. It is prescribed also for the cure of asthma; but in this case in combination with one hemina of wine. Sometimes, too, it is taken by asthmatic patients, with barley-meal and vinegar, in pieces about the size of a bean; one of these pieces being taken each morning and evening at first, but after some days, two in the evening. In cases of epilepsy, the mouth of the patient is opened and this blood introduced. For spasmodic affections, when not of a violent nature, it is injected, in combination with castoreum, as a clyster. If a person rinses his teeth three times a year with blood of tortoises, he will be always exempt from tooth-ache. This blood is also a cure for asthmatic affections, and for the malady called “orthopnœa,” being administered for these purposes in polenta.

The gall of the tortoise improves the eye-sight, effaces scars, and cures affections of the tonsillary glands, quinsy, and all kinds of diseases of the mouth, cancers of that part more particularly, as well as cancer of the testes. Applied to the nostrils it dispels epilepsy, and sets the patient on his feet: incorporated in vinegar with the slough of a snake, it is a sovereign remedy for purulent discharges from the ears. Some persons add ox-gall and the broth of boiled tortoise-flesh, with an equal proportion of snake’s slough; but in such case, care must be taken to boil the tortoise in wine. Applied with honey, this gall is curative of all diseases of the eyes; and for the cure of cataract, gall of the sea-tortoise is used, in combination with blood of the river-tortoise and milk. The hair, too, of females, is dyed104 with this gall. For the cure of injuries inflicted by the salamander, it will be quite sufficient to drink the broth of boiled tortoise-flesh.

There is, again, a third105 kind of tortoise, which inhabits mud and swampy localities: the shell on its back is flat and broad, like that upon the breast, and the callipash is not arched and rounded, the creature being altogether of a repulsive appearance. However, there are some remedial medicaments to be derived even from this animal. Thus, for instance, three of them are thrown into a fire made with wood cuttings, and the moment their shells begin to separate they are taken off: the flesh is then removed, and boiled with a little salt, in one congius of water. When the water has boiled down to one third, the broth is used, being taken by persons apprehensive of paralysis or of diseases of the joints. The gall, too, is found very useful for carrying off pituitous humours and corrupt blood: taken in cold water, it has an astringent effect upon the bowels.

There is a fourth kind of tortoise, which frequents rivers. When used for its remedial properties, the shell of the animal is removed, and the fat separated from the flesh and beaten up with the plant aizoüm,106 in combination with unguent and lily seed: a preparation highly effectual, it is said, for the cure of quartan fevers, the patient being rubbed with it all over, the head excepted, just before the paroxysms come on, and then well wrapped up and made to drink hot water. It is stated also, that to obtain as much fat as possible, the tortoise should be taken on the fifteenth day of the moon, the patient being anointed on the sixteenth. The blood of this tortoise, dropt, by way of embrocation, upon the region of the brain, allays head-ache; it is curative also of scrofulous sores. Some persons recommend that the tortoise should be laid107 upon its back and its head cut off with a copper knife, the blood being received in a new earthen vessel; and they assure us that the blood of any kind of tortoise, when thus obtained, will be an excellent liniment for the cure of erysipelas, running ulcers upon the head, and warts. Upon the same authority, too, we are assured that the dung of any kind of tortoise is good for the removal of inflammatory tumours. Incredible also as the statement is, we find it asserted by some, that ships108 make way more slowly when they have the right foot of a tortoise on board.

CHAP. 15.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE AQUATIC ANIMALS, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE RESPECTIVE DISEASES.

We will now proceed to classify the various remedies derived from the aquatic animals, according to the several diseases; not that we are by any means unaware that an exposition of all the properties of each animal at once, would be more to the reader’s taste, and more likely to excite his admiration; but because we consider it more conducive to the practical benefit of mankind to have the various recipes thus grouped and classified; seeing that this thing may be good for one patient, that for another, and that some of these remedies may be more easily met with in one place and some in another.

CHAP. 16. (5.)—REMEDIES FOR POISONS, AND FOR NOXIOUS SPELLS. THE DORADE: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SEA-STAR: SEVEN REMEDIES.

We have already109 stated in what country the honey is venomous: the fish known as the dorade110 is an antidote to its effects. Honey, even in a pure state, is sometimes productive of surfeit, and of fits of indigestion, remarkable for their severity; the best remedy in such case, according to Pelops, is to cut off the feet, head, and tail, of a tortoise, and boil and eat the body; in place, however, of the tortoise, Apelles mentions the scincus, an animal which has been described elsewhere.111 We have already mentioned too, on several occasions,112 how highly venomous is the menstruous fluid: the surmullet, as already113 stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish, too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote to the venom114 of the pastinaca, the land and sea scorpion, the dragon,115 and the phalangium.116 The head of this fish, taken fresh and reduced to ashes, is an active neutralizer of all poisons, that of fungi more particularly.

It is asserted also, that if the fish called the sea-star117 is smeared with a fox’s blood, and then nailed to the upper lintel of the door, or to the door itself, with a copper nail, no noxious spells will be able to obtain admittance, or, at all events, to be productive of any ill effects.

CHAP. 17.—REMEDIES FOR THE STINGS OF SERPENTS, FOR THE BITES OF DOGS, AND FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY VENOMOUS ANIMALS. THE SEA-DRAGON: THREE REMEDIES. TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM SALTED FISH. THE SARDA: ONE REMEDY. ELEVEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM CYBIUM.

Stings inflicted by the sea-dragon118 or by the sea-scorpion, are cured by an application119 of the flesh of those animals to the wound; the bites, too, of spiders are healed by the same means. In fine, as an antidote to every kind of poison, whether taken internally or acting through the agency of a sting or bite, there is considered to be nothing in existence more effectual than a decoction of the sea-dragon and sea-scorpion.

There are also certain remedies of this nature derived from preserved fish. Persons, for instance, who have received injuries from serpents, or have been bitten by other venomous animals, are recommended to eat salt fish, and to drink undiluted wine every now and then, so as, through its agency, to bring up the whole of the food again by vomit: this method being particularly good in cases where injuries have been received from the lizard called “chalcis,”120 the cerastes,121 the reptile known as the “seps,”122 the elops,123 or the dipsas.124 For the sting of the scorpion, salted fish should be taken in larger quantities, but not brought up again, the patient submitting to any amount of thirst it may create: salt fish, too, should be applied, by way of plaster, to the wound. For the bite of the crocodile there is no more efficient remedy known. For the sting of the serpent called “prester,” the sarda125 is particularly good. Salt fish is employed also as a topical application for the bite of the mad dog; and even in cases where the wound has not been cauterized with hot iron, this is found to be sufficiently effectual as a remedy. For injuries, also, inflicted by the sea-dragon,126 an application is made of salt fish steeped in vinegar. Cybium,127 too, is productive of similar effects. As a cure for the venomous sting inflicted with its stickle by the sea-dragon, the fish itself is applied topically to the wound, or else its brain, extracted whole.

CHAP. 18.—THE SEA-FROG: SIX REMEDIES. THE RIVER-FROG: FIFTY-TWO REMEDIES. THE BRAMBLE-FROG: ONE REMEDY. THIRTY-TWO OBSERVATIONS ON THESE ANIMALS.

The broth prepared from sea-frogs,128 boiled in wine and vinegar, is taken internally as a neutralizer of poisons and of the venom of the bramble-frog,129 as also for injuries inflicted by the salamander.130 For the cure of injuries caused by the sea-hare and the various serpents above mentioned, it is a good plan to eat the flesh of river-frogs, or to drink the liquor in which they have been boiled: as a neutralizer, too, of the venom of the scorpion, river-frogs are taken in wine. Democritus assures us that if the tongue is extracted from a live frog, with no other part of the body adhering to it, and is then applied—the frog being first replaced in the water—to a woman while asleep, just at the spot where the heart is felt to palpitate, she will be sure to give a truthful answer to any question that may be put to her.

To this the Magi131 add some other particulars, which, if there is any truth in them, would lead us to believe that frogs ought to be considered much more useful to society than laws.132 They say, for instance, that if a man takes a frog and transfixes it with a reed, entering the body at the sexual parts and coming out at the mouth, and then dips the reed in the menstrual discharge of his wife, she will be sure to conceive an aversion for all paramours. That the flesh of frogs, attached to the kype or hook, as the case may be, makes a most excellent bait, for purples more particularly, is a well-known fact. Frogs, they say, have a double133 liver; and of this liver, when exposed to the attacks of ants, the part that is most eaten away is thought to be an effectual antidote to every kind of poison.

There are some frogs, again, which live only among brakes and thickets, for which reason they have received the name of “rubetæ,”134 or “bramble-frogs,” as already135 stated. The Greeks call them “phryni:” they are the largest in size of all the frogs, have two protuberances136 like horns, and are full137 of poison. Authors quite vie with one another in relating marvellous stories about them; such, for instance, as that if they are brought into the midst of a concourse of people, silence will instantly prevail; as also that by throwing into boiling water a small bone that is found in their right side, the vessel will immediately cool, and the water refuse to boil again until it has been removed. This bone, they say, may be found by exposing a dead bramble-frog to ants, and letting them eat away the flesh: after which the bones must be put into the vessel,138 one by one.

On the other hand, again, in the left side of this reptile there is another bone, they say, which, thrown into water, has all the appearance of making it boil, and the name given to which is “apocynon.”139 This bone, it is said, has the property of assuaging the fury of dogs, and, if put into the drink, of conciliating love and ending discord and strife. Worn, too, as an amulet, it acts as an aphrodisiac, we are told. The bone, on the contrary, which is taken from the right side, acts powerfully as a refrigerative upon boiling liquids, it is said: attached to the patient in a piece of fresh lamb’s-skin, it has the repute of assuaging quartan and other fevers, and of checking amorous propensities. The spleen of these frogs is used as an antidote to the various poisons that are prepared from them; and for all these purposes the liver is considered still more efficacious.

CHAP. 19.—THE ENHYDRIS: SIX REMEDIES. THE RIVER-CRAB: FOURTEEN REMEDIES. THE SEA-CRAB: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE RIVER-SNAIL: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE CORACINUS: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SEA-PIG: TWO REMEDIES.

There is also a snake140 which lives in the water, the fat and gall of which, carried about them by persons when in pursuit of the crocodile, are said to be marvellously efficacious, the beast not venturing, in such case, to make an attack upon them. As such preservative, they are still more effectual if mixed with the herbaceous plant known as potamogiton.141 River-crabs,142 taken fresh and beaten up and drunk in water, or the ashes of them, kept for the purpose, are useful in all cases of poisoning, as a counter-poison: taken with asses’ milk they are particularly serviceable as a neutralizer of the venom of the scorpion; goats’ milk or any other kind of milk being substituted where asses’ milk cannot be procured. Wine, too, should also be used in all such cases. River-crabs, beaten up with ocimum,143 and applied to scorpions, are fatal to them. They are possessed of similar virtues, also, for the bites of all other kinds of venomous animals, the scytale144 in particular, adders, the sea-hare, and the bramble-frog. The ashes of them, preserved, are good for persons who give symptoms of hydrophobia after being bitten by a mad dog, some adding gentian as well, and administering the mixture in wine. In cases, too, where hydrophobia has already appeared, it is recommended that these ashes should be kneaded up into boluses with wine, and swallowed. If ten of these crabs are tied together with a handful of ocimum,145 all the scorpions in the neighbourhood, the magicians say, will be attracted to the spot. They recommend, also, that to wounds inflicted by the scorpion, these crabs, or the ashes of them, should be applied, with ocimum. For all these purposes, however, sea-crabs, it should be remembered, are not so useful. Thrasyllus informs us that there is nothing so antagonistic to serpents as crabs; that swine, when stung by a serpent, cure themselves by eating them; and that, while the sun is in the sign of Cancer,146 serpents suffer the greatest tortures.

The flesh, too, of river-snails, eaten either raw or boiled, is an excellent antidote to the venom of the scorpion, some persons keeping them salted for the purpose. These snails are applied, also, topically to the wound.

The coracinus147 is a fish peculiar to the river Nilus, it is true, but the particulars we are here relating are for the benefit of all parts of the world: the flesh of it is most excellent as an application for the cure of wounds inflicted by scorpions. In the number of the poisonous fishes we ought to reckon the sea-pig,148 a fish which causes great suffering to those who have been pierced with the pointed fin upon its back: the proper remedy in such case is the slime taken from the other parts of the body of the fish.

CHAP. 20.—THE SEA-CALF: TEN REMEDIES. THE MURÆNA: ONE REMEDY. THE HIPPOCAMPUS: NINE REMEDIES. THE SEA-URCHIN: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

In cases of hydrophobia resulting from the bite of the mad dog, the practice is to rub the patient’s face with the fat of the sea-calf; an application rendered still more efficacious by the admixture of hyæna’s marrow, oil of mastich, and wax. Bites inflicted by the muræna are cured by an application of the head of that fish, reduced to ashes. The pastinaca,149 also, is remedial for its own bite, the ashes of the same fish, or of another of the same genus, being applied to the wound with vinegar. When this fish is intended for food, every portion of the back that is of a saffron colour should be removed, as well as the whole of the head: care, too, should be taken not to wash it over much; an observation equally applicable to all kinds of shell-fish, when intended for food, the flavour being deteriorated150 thereby.

The hippocampus,151 taken in drink, neutralizes the poison of the sea-hare. As a counter-poison to dorycnium,152 sea-urchins are remarkably useful; as also in cases where persons have taken juice of carpathum153 internally; more particularly if the urchins are used with the liquor in which they are boiled. Boiled sea-crabs, too, are looked upon as highly efficacious in cases of poisoning by dorycnium; and as a neutralizer of the venom of the sea-hare they are particularly good.

CHAP. 21. (6.)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF OYSTERS: FIFTY-EIGHT REMEDIES AND OBSERVATIONS. PURPLES: NINE REMEDIES.

Oysters, too, neutralize the venom of the sea-hare—and now that we are speaking of oysters, it may possibly be thought that I have not treated of this subject at sufficient length in the former part154 of my work, seeing that for this long time past the palm has been awarded to them at our tables as a most exquisite dish. Oysters love fresh water and spots155 where numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea; hence it is that the pelagia156 are of such small size and so few in number. Still, however, we do find them breeding among rocks and in places far remote from the contact of fresh water, as in the neighbourhood of Grynium157 and of Myrina,158 for example. Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of the moon, as already stated by us when159 treating of the aquatic animals: but it is at the beginning of summer, more particularly, and when the rays of the sun penetrate the shallow waters, that they are swollen with an abundance of milk.160 This, too, would appear to be the reason why they are so small when found out at sea; the opacity of the water tending to arrest their growth, and the moping consequent thereon producing a comparative indisposition for food.

Oysters are of various colours; in Spain they are red, in Illyricum of a tawny hue, and at Circeii161 black, both in meat and shell. But in every country, those oysters are the most highly esteemed that are compact without being slimy from their secretions, and are remarkable more for their thickness than their breadth. They should never be taken in either muddy or sandy spots, but from a firm, hard bottom; the meat162 should be compressed, and not of a fleshy consistence; and the oyster should be free from fringed edges, and lying wholly in the cavity of the shell. Persons of experience in these matters add another characteristic; a fine purple thread, they say, should run round the margins of the beard, this being looked upon as a sign of superior quality, and obtaining for them their name of “calliblephara.”163

Oysters are all the better for travelling and being removed to new waters; thus, for example, the oysters of Brundisium, it is thought, when fed in the waters of Avernus, both retain their own native juices and acquire the flavour of those of Lake Lucrinus.164 Thus much with reference to the meat of the oyster; we will now turn to the various countries which produce it, so that no coast may be deprived of the honours which properly belong to it. But in giving this description we will speak in the language of another, using the words of a writer who has evinced more careful discernment in treating of this subject than any of the other authors of our day. These then are the words of Mucianus, in reference to the oyster:—“The oysters of Cyzicus165 are larger than those of Lake Lucrinus,166 fresher167 than those of the British coasts,168 sweeter169 than those of Medulæ,170 more tasty171 than those of Ephesus, more plump than those of Lucus,172 less slimy than those of Coryphas,173 more delicate than those of Istria,174 and whiter than those of Circeii.”175 For all this, however, it is a fact well ascertained that there are no oysters fresher or more delicate than those of Circeii, last mentioned.

According to the historians of the expedition of Alexander, there were oysters found in the Indian Sea a foot176 in diameter: among ourselves, too, the nomenclature of some spendthrift and gourmand has found for certain oysters the name of “tridacna,”177 wishing it to be understood thereby, that they are so large as to require three bites in eating them. We will take the present opportunity of stating all the medicinal properties that are attributed to oysters. They are singularly refreshing178 to the stomach, and tend to restore the appetite. Luxury, too, has imparted to them an additional coolness by burying them in snow, thus making a medley of the produce of the tops of mountains and the bottom of the sea. Oysters are slightly laxative to the bowels; and boiled in honied wine, they relieve tenesmus, in cases where it is unattended with ulceration. They act detergently also upon ulcerations of the bladder.179 Boiled in their shells, unopened just as they come to hand, oysters are marvellously efficacious for rheumatic defluxions. Calcined oyster-shells, mixed with honey, allay affections of the uvula and of the tonsillary glands: they are similarly used for imposthumes of the parotid glands, inflamed tumours, and indurations of the mamillæ. Applied with water, these ashes are good for ulcerations of the head, and impart a plumpness to the skin in females. They are sprinkled, too, upon burns, and are highly esteemed as a dentifrice. Applied with vinegar, they are good for the removal of prurigo and of pituitous eruptions. Beaten up in a raw state, they are curative of scrofula and of chilblains upon the feet.

Purples, too, are useful180 as a counterpoison.

CHAP. 22.—SEA-WEED: TWO REMEDIES.

According to Nicander, sea-weed is also a theriac.181 There are numerous varieties of it, as already182 stated; one, for instance, with an elongated leaf, another red, another again with a broader leaf, and another crisped. The most esteemed kind of all is that which grows off the shores of Crete, upon the rocks there, close to the ground: it being used also for dyeing wool, as it has the property183 of so fixing the colours as never to allow of their being washed out. Nicander recommends it to be taken with wine.

CHAP. 23. (7.)—REMEDIES FOR ALOPECY, CHANGE OF COLOUR IN THE HAIR, AND ULCERATIONS OF THE HEAD. THE SEA-MOUSE: TWO REMEDIES, THE SEA-SCORPION: TWELVE REMEDIES. THE LEECH: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE MUREX: THIRTEEN REMEDIES. THE CONCHYLIUM: FIVE REMEDIES.

Ashes of the hippocampus,184 mixed with nitre185 and hog’s lard, or else used solely with vinegar, are curative of alopecy; the skin being first prepared for the reception of the necessary medicaments by an application of powdered bone of sæpia.186 Alopecy is cured also with ashes of the sea-mouse,187 mixed with oil; ashes of the sea-urchin, burnt, flesh and all together; the gall of the sea-scorpion;188 or else ashes of three frogs burnt alive in an earthen pot, applied with honey, or what is still better, in combination with tar. Leeches left to putrefy for forty days in red wine stain the hair black. Others, again, recommend one sextarius of leeches to be left to putrefy the same number of days in a leaden vessel, with two sextarii of vinegar, the hair to be well rubbed with the mixture in the sun. According to Sornatius, this preparation is naturally so penetrating, that if females, when they apply it, do not take the precaution of keeping some oil in the mouth, the teeth even will become blackened thereby. Ashes of burnt shells of the murex or purple are used as a liniment, with honey, for ulcerations of the head; the shells, too, of other shell-fish,189 powdered merely, and not calcined, are very useful for the same purpose, applied with water. For the cure of head-ache, castoreum is employed, in combination with peucedanum190 and oil of roses.

CHAP. 24.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EYES AND EYELIDS. TWO REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE FAT OF FISHES. THE CALLIONYMUS: THREE REMEDIES. THE GALL OF THE CORACINUS: ONE REMEDY. THE SÆPIA: TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES. ICHTHYOCOLLA: FIVE REMEDIES.

The fat of all kinds of fish, both fresh-water as well as sea fish, melted in the sun and incorporated with honey, is an excellent improver of the eye-sight;191 the same, too, with castoreum,192 in combination with honey. The gall of the callionymus193 heals marks upon the eyes and cauterizes fleshy excrescences about those organs: indeed, there is no fish with a larger quantity of gall than this, an opinion expressed too by Menander in his Comedies.194 This fish is known also as the “uranoscopos,”195 from the eyes being situate in the upper part of the head.196 The gall, too, of the coracinus197 has the effect of sharpening the eyesight.

The gall of the red sea-scorpion,198 used with stale oil or Attic honey, disperses incipient cataract; for which purpose, the application should be made three times, on alternate days. A similar method is also employed for removing indurations199 of the membrane of the eyes. The surmullet, used as a diet, weakens the eyesight, it is said. The sea-hare is poisonous itself, but the ashes of it are useful as an application for preventing superfluous hairs on the eyelids from growing again, when they have been once pulled out by the roots. For this purpose, however, the smaller the fish is, the better. Small scallops, too, are salted and beaten up with cedar resin for a similar purpose, or else the frogs known as “diopetes”200 and “calamitæ,” are used; the blood of them being applied with vine gum to the eyelids, after the hairs have been removed.

Powdered shell201 of sæpia, applied with woman’s milk, allays swellings and inflammations of the eyes; employed by itself it removes eruptions of the eyelids. When this remedy is used, it is the practice to turn up the eyelids, and to leave the medicament there a few moments only; after which, the part is anointed with oil of roses, and the inflammation modified by the application of a bread-poultice. Powdered bone of sæpia is used also for the treatment of nyctalopy, being applied to the eyes with vinegar. Reduced to ashes, this substance removes scales upon the eyes: applied with honey, it effaces marks upon those organs: and used with salt and cadmia,202 one drachma of each, it disperses webs which impede the eyesight, as also albugo in the eyes of cattle. They say, too, that if the eyelids are rubbed with the small bone203 taken from this fish, a perfect cure will be experienced.

Sea-urchins, applied with vinegar, cause epinyctis to disappear. According to what the magicians say, they should be burnt with vipers’ skins and frogs, and the ashes sprinkled in the drink; a great improvement of the eyesight being guaranteed as the sure result.

“Ichthyocolla”204 is the name given to a fish with a glutinous skin; the glue made from which is also known by the same name, and is highly useful for the removal of epinyctis. Some persons, however, assert that it is from the belly of the fish, and not the skin—as in the case of bull glue—that the ichthyocolla is prepared. That of Pontus205 is highly esteemed: it is white, free from veins or scales, and dissolves with the greatest rapidity. The proper way of using it, is to cut it into small pieces, and then to leave it to soak in water or vinegar a night and a day, after which it should be pounded with sea-shore pebbles, to make it melt the more easily. It is generally asserted that this substance is good for pains in the head and for tetanus.

The right eye of a frog, suspended from the neck in a piece of cloth made from wool of the natural colour,206 is a cure for ophthalmia in the right eye; and the left eye of a frog, similarly suspended, for ophthalmia in the left. If the eyes, too, of a frog are taken out at the time of the moon’s conjunction, and similarly worn by the patient, enclosed in an eggshell, they will effectually remove indurations of the membrane of the eyes. The rest of the flesh applied topically, removes all marks resulting from blows. The eyes, too, of a crab, worn attached to the neck, by way of amulet, are a cure for ophthalmia, it is said. There is a small frog207 which lives in reed-beds and among grass more particularly, never croaks, being quite destitute of voice, is of a green colour, and is apt to cause tympanitis in cattle, if they should happen to swallow it. The slimy moisture on this reptile’s body, scraped off with a spatula and applied to the eyes, greatly improves the sight, they say: the flesh, too, is employed as a topical application for the removal of pains in the eyes.

Some persons take fifteen frogs, and after spitting them upon as many bulrushes, put them into a new earthen vessel: they then mix the juices which flow from them, with gum of the white vine,208 and use it as an application for the eye-lids; first pulling out such eye-lashes as are in the way, and then dropping the preparation with the point of a needle into the places from which the hairs have been removed. Meges209 used to prepare a depilatory for the eyelids, by killing frogs in vinegar, and leaving them to putrefy; for which purpose he employed the spotted frogs which make their appearance in vast numbers210 during the rains of autumn. Ashes of burnt leeches, it is thought, applied in vinegar, are productive of a similar effect; care must be taken, however, to burn them in a new earthen vessel. Dried liver, too, of the tunny,211 made up into an ointment, in the proportion of four denarii, with oil of cedar, and applied as a depilatory for nine months together, is considered to be highly effectual for this purpose.

CHAP. 25.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EARS. THE BATIA: ONE REMEDY. THE BACCHUS OR MYXON: TWO REMEDIES. THE SEA-LOUSE: TWO REMEDIES.

For diseases of the ears, fresh gall of the fish called “batia”212 is remarkably good; the same, too, when it has been kept in wine. The gall, also, of the bacchus,213 by some known as the “myxon,” is equally good; as also that of the callionymus,214 injected into the ears with oil of roses, or else castoreum,215 used with poppy-juice. There are certain animals too, known as “sea-lice,”216 which are recommended as an injection for the ears, beaten up with vinegar. Wool, too, that has been dyed with the juice of the murex, employed by itself, is highly useful for this purpose; some persons, however moisten it with vinegar and nitre.217

Others, again, more particularly recommend for all affections of the ears one cyathus of the best garum,218 with one cyathus and a half of honey, and one cyathus of vinegar, the whole gently boiled in a new pot over a slow fire, and skimmed with a feather every now and then: when it has become wholly free from scum, it is injected lukewarm into the ears. In cases where the ears are swollen, the same authorities recommend that the swellings should be first reduced with juice of coriander. The fat of frogs, injected into the ears, instantly removes all pains in these organs. The juice of river-crabs, kneaded up with barley-meal, is a most effectual remedy for wounds in the ears. Shells of the murex, reduced to ashes, and applied with honey, or the burnt shells of other shell-fish,219 used with honied wine, are curative of imposthumes of the parotid glands.

CHAP. 26.—REMEDIES FOR TOOTH-ACHE. THE DOG-FISH: FOUR REMEDIES. WHALE’S FLESH.

Tooth-ache is alleviated by scarifying the gums with bones of the sea-dragon, or by rubbing the teeth once a year with the brains of a dog-fish220 boiled in oil, and kept for the purpose. It is a very good plan too, for the cure of tooth-ache, to lance the gums with the sting of the pastinaca221 in some cases. This sting, too, is pounded, and applied to the teeth with white hellebore, having the effect of extracting them without the slightest difficulty. Another of these remedies is, ashes of salted fish calcined in an earthen vessel, mixed with powdered marble. Stale cybium,222 rinsed in a new earthen vessel, and then pounded, is very useful for the cure of tooth-ache. Equally good, it is said, are the back-bones of all kinds of salt fish, pounded and applied in a liniment. A decoction is made of a single frog boiled in one hemina of vinegar, and the teeth are rinsed with it, the decoction being retained in the mouth. In cases where a repugnance existed to making use of this remedy, Sallustius Dionysius223 used to suspend frogs over boiling vinegar by the hind legs, so as to make them discharge their humours into the vinegar by the mouth, using considerable numbers of frogs for the purpose: to those, however, who had a stronger stomach, he prescribed the frogs themselves, eaten with their broth. It is generally thought, too, that this recipe applies more particularly to the double teeth, and that the vinegar prepared as above-mentioned, is remarkably useful for strengthening them when loose.

For this last purpose, some persons cut off the legs of two frogs, and then macerate the bodies in two heminæ of wine, recommending this preparation as a collutory for strengthening loose teeth. Others attach the frogs, whole, to the exterior of the jaws:224 and with some it is the practice to boil ten frogs, in three sextarii of vinegar, down to one-third, and to use the decoction as a strengthener of loose teeth. By certain authorities, too, it has been recommended to boil the hearts of six-and-thirty frogs beneath a copper vessel, in one sextarius of old oil, and then to inject the decoction into the ear on the same side of the jaw as the part affected: while others again have used, as an application for the teeth, a frog’s liver, boiled, and beaten up with honey. All the preparations above described will be found still more efficacious if made from the sea-frog.225 In cases where the teeth are carious and emit an offensive smell, it is recommended to dry some whale’s226 flesh in an oven for a night, and then to add an equal quantity of salt, and use the mixture as a dentifrice. “Enhydris”227 is the name given by the Greeks to a snake that lives in the water. With the four upper teeth of this reptile, it is the practice, for the cure of aching in the upper teeth, to lance the upper gums, and with the four lower teeth, for aching in the lower. Some persons, however, content themselves with using an eyetooth only. Ashes, too, of burnt crabs are used for this purpose; and the murex, reduced to ashes, makes an excellent dentifrice.

CHAP. 27.—REMEDIES FOR LICHENS, AND FOR SPOTS UPON THE FACE. THE DOLPHIN: NINE REMEDIES. COLUTHIA OR CORYPHIA: THREE REMEDIES. HALCYONEUM: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE TUNNY: FIVE REMEDIES.

Lichens and leprous spots are removed by applying the fat of the sea-calf,228 ashes of the mæna229 in combination with three oboli of honey, liver of the pastinaca230 boiled in oil, or ashes of the dolphin or hippocampus231 mixed with water. After the parts have been duly excoriated, a cicatrizing treatment ought to be pursued. Some persons bake dolphin’s liver in an earthen vessel, till a grease flows therefrom like oil232 in appearance: this they use by way of ointment for these diseases.

Burnt shells of the murex or purple, applied with honey, have a detergent effect upon spots on the face in females: used as an application for seven consecutive days, a fomentation made of white of eggs being substituted on the eighth, they efface wrinkles, and plump out the skin. To the genus “murex” belong the shell-fish known by the Greeks as “coluthia” or “coryphia,” equally turbinated, but considerably smaller: for all the above purposes they are still more efficacious, and the use of them tends to preserve the sweetness of the breath. Fish-glue233 effaces wrinkles and plumps out the skin; being boiled for the purpose in water some four hours, and then pounded and kneaded up till it attains a thin consistency, like that of honey. After being thus prepared, it is put by in a new vessel for keeping; and, when wanted for use, is mixed, in the proportion of four drachmæ, with two drachmæ of sulphur, two of alkanet, and eight of litharge; the whole being sprinkled with water and beaten up together. The preparation is then applied to the face, and is washed off at the end of four hours. For the cure of freckles and other affections of the face, calcined bones of cuttle-fish are also used; an application which is equally good for the removal of fleshy excrescences and the dispersion of running sores.

(8.) For the cure of itch-scab, a frog is boiled in five semisextarii of sea-water, the decoction being reduced to the consistency of honey. There is a sea production called “halcyoneum,” composed, as some think, of the nests234 of the birds known as the “halcyon”235 and “ceyx,” or, according to others, of the concretion of sea-foam, or of some slime of the sea, or a certain lanuginous inflorescence thrown up by it. Of this halcyoneum there are four different kinds; the first, of an ashy colour, of a compact substance, and possessed of a pungent odour; the second, soft, of a milder nature, and with a smell almost identical with that of sea-weed; the third, whiter, and with a variegated surface; the fourth, more like pumice in appearance, and closely resembling rotten sponge. The best of all is that which nearly borders upon a purple hue, and is known as the “Milesian” kind: the whiter it is, the less highly it is esteemed.

The properties of halcyoneum are ulcerative and detergent: when required for use, it is parched and applied without oil. It is quite marvellous how efficiently it removes leprous sores, lichens, and freckles, used in combination with lupines and two oboli of sulphur. It is employed, also, for the removal of marks upon the eyes.236 Andreas237 has recommended for the cure of leprosy ashes of burnt crabs, with oil; and Attalus,238 fresh fat of tunny.

CHAP. 28.—REMEDIES FOR SCROFULA, IMPOSTHUMES OF THE PAROTID GLANDS, QUINSY, AND DISEASES OF THE FAUCES. THE MÆNA: THIRTEEN REMEDIES. THE SEA-SCOLOPENDRA: TWO REMEDIES. THE SAURUS: ONE REMEDY. SHELL-FISH: ONE REMEDY. THE SILURUS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

Ulcerations of the mouth are cured by an application of brine in which mænæ239 have been pickled, in combination with calcined heads of the fish, and honey. For the cure of scrofula, it is a good plan to prick the sores with the small bone that is found in the tail of the fish known as the sea-frog;240 care being taken to avoid making a wound, and to repeat the operation daily, until a perfect cure is effected. The same property, too, belongs to the sting of the pastinaca, and to the sea-hare, applied topically to the sores: but in both cases due care must be taken to remove them in an instant. Shells of sea-urchins are bruised, also, and applied with vinegar; shells also of sea-scolopendræ,241 applied with honey; and river-crabs pounded or calcined, and applied with honey. Bones, too, of the sæpia, triturated and applied with stale axle-grease, are marvellously useful for this purpose.

This last preparation is used, also, for the cure of imposthumes of the parotid glands; a purpose for which the liver of the sea-fish known as the “saurus”242 is employed. Nay, even more than this, fragments of earthen vessels in which salt fish have been kept are pounded with stale axle-grease, and applied to scrofulous sores and imposthumes of the parotid glands; as also calcined murex, incorporated with oil. Stiffness in the neck is allayed by taking what are known as sea-lice,243 in doses of one drachma in drink, taking castoreum244 mixed with pepper in honied wine, or making a decoction of frogs in oil and salt, and taking the liquor.

Opisthotony, too, and tetanus are treated in a similar manner; and spasms, with the addition of pepper. Ashes of burnt heads of salted mænæ are applied externally, with honey, for the cure of quinsy; as also a decoction of frogs, boiled in vinegar, a preparation which is equally good for affections of the tonsillary glands. River-crabs, pounded, one to each hemina of water, are used as a gargle for the cure of quinsy; or else they are taken with wine and hot water. Garum,245 put beneath the uvula with a spoon, effectually cures diseases of that part. The silurus,246 used as food, either fresh or salted, improves the voice.

CHAP. 29.—REMEDIES FOR COUGH AND DISEASES OF THE CHEST.

Surmullets act as an emetic, dried and pounded, and taken in drink. Castoreum, taken fasting, with a small quantity of hammoniacum247 in oxymel, is extremely good for asthma: spasms, too, in the stomach are assuaged by taking a similar potion with warm oxymel. Frogs stewed in their own liquor in the saucepan, the same way in fact that fish are dressed, are good for a cough, it is said. In some cases, also, frogs are suspended by the legs, and after their juices248 have been received in a platter, it is recommended to gut them, and the entrails being first carefully removed, to preserve them for the above purpose. There is a small frog,249 also, which ascends trees, and croaks aloud there: if a person suffering from cough spits into its mouth and then lets it go, he will experience a cure, it is said. For cough attended with spitting of blood, it is recommended to beat up the raw flesh of a snail, and to drink it in hot water.

CHAP. 30. (9.)—REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE LIVER AND SIDE. THE ELONGATED CONCH: SIX REMEDIES. THE TETHEA: FIVE REMEDIES.

For pains in the liver, a sea-scorpion is killed in wine, and the liquid is taken. The meat, too, of the elongated conch250 is taken with honied wine and water, in equal quantities, or, if there are symptoms of fever, with hydromel. Pains in the side are assuaged by taking the flesh of the hippocampus,251 grilled, or else the tethea,252 very similar to the oyster, with the ordinary food. For sciatica, the pickle of the silurus is injected, by way of clyster. The flesh of conchs, too, is prescribed, for fifteen days, in doses of three oboli soaked in two sextarii of wine.

CHAP. 31.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE BOWELS. SEA-WORT: ONE REMEDY. THE MYAX: TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES. THE MITULUS: EIGHT REMEDIES. PELORIDES: ONE REMEDY. SERIPHUM: TWO REMEDIES. THE ERYTHINUS: TWO REMEDIES.

The silurus,253 taken in its broth, or the torpedo,254 used as food, acts as a laxative upon the bowels. There is a sea-wort,255 also, similar in appearance to the cultivated cabbage: it is injurious to the stomach, but acts most efficiently as a purgative, requiring to be cooked with fat meat for the purpose, in consequence of its extreme acridity. The broth, too, of all boiled fish is good for this purpose; it acting, also, as a strong diuretic, taken with wine more particularly. The best kind of all is that prepared from the sea-scorpion, the iulis,256 and rock-fish in general, as they are destitute of all rankness and are free from fat. The proper way of cooking them is with dill, parsley, coriander, and leeks, with the addition of oil and salt. Stale cybium,257 too, acts as a purgative, and is particularly useful for carrying off crudities, pituitous humours, and bile.

The myax258 is of a purgative nature, a shell-fish of which we shall take this opportunity of giving the natural history at length. These fish collect together in masses, like the murex,259 and are found in spots covered with sea-weed. They are the finest eating in autumn, and are found in the greatest perfection in places where fresh-water streams discharge themselves into the sea; for which reason it is that those of Egypt are held in such high esteem. As the winter advances, they contract a bitter flavour, and assume a reddish hue. The liquor of these fish, it is said, acts as a purgative upon the bowels and bladder, has a detergent effect upon the intestines, acts aperiently upon all the passages, purges the kidneys, and diminishes the blood and adipose secretions. Hence it is that these shell-fish are found of the greatest use for the treatment of dropsy, for the regulation of the catamenia, and for the removal of jaundice, all diseases of the joints, and flatulency. They are very good, also, for the reduction of obesity, for diseases of the bile and of the pituitous secretions, for affections of the lungs, liver, and spleen, and for rheumatic defluxions. The only inconvenience resulting from them is, that they irritate the throat and impede the articulation. They have, also, a healing effect upon ulcers of a serpiginous nature, or which stand in need of detergents, as also upon carcinomatous sores. Calcined, the same way as the murex, and employed with honey, they are curative of bites inflicted either by dogs or human beings, and of leprous spots or freckles. The ashes of them, rinsed, are good for the removal of films upon the eyes, granulations of those organs and indurations of the membrane, as also for diseases of the gums and teeth, and for pituitous eruptions. They serve, also, as an antidote to dorycnium260 and to opocarpathon.261

There are two species of this shell-fish, of a degenerate kind: the mitulus,262 which has a strong flavour, and a saltish taste; and the myisca,263 which differs from the former in the roundness of its shell, is somewhat smaller, and is covered with filaments, the shell being thinner, and the meat of a sweeter flavour. The ashes, also, of the mitulus, like those of the murex, are possessed of certain caustic properties, and are very useful for the removal of leprous spots, freckles, and blemishes of the skin. They are rinsed, too, in the same manner as lead,264 for the removal of swellings of the eyelids, of indurations of the membranes, and of films upon the eyes, as also of sordid ulcers upon other parts of the body, and of pustules upon the head. The meat of them, also, is employed as an application for bites inflicted by dogs.

As to pelorides,265 they act as a gentle laxative upon the bowels, an effect equally produced by castoreum, taken in doses of two drachmæ, in hydromel: where, however, a more drastic purgative is required, one drachma of dried garden-cucumber root is added, and two drachmæ of aphronitrum.266 The tethea267 is good for griping pains in the bowels and for attacks of flatulency: they are generally found adhering to the leaves of marine plants, sucking their nutriment therefrom, and may be rather looked upon as a sort of fungus than as a fish. They are useful, also, for the removal of tenesmus and of diseases of the kidneys.

There grows also in the sea a kind of absinthium, known by some persons as “seriphum,”268 and found in the vicinity of Taposiris,269 in Egypt, more particularly. It is of a more slender form than the land absinthium, acts as a purgative upon the bowels, and effectually removes intestinal worms. The sæpia, too, is a laxative; for which purpose these fish are administered270 with the food, boiled with a mixture of oil, salt, and meal. Salted mænæ,271 applied with bull’s gall to the navel, acts as a purgative upon the bowels.

The liquor of fish, boiled in the saucepan with lettuces, dispels tenesmus. River-crabs,272 beaten up and taken with water, act astringently upon the bowels, and they have a diuretic effect, if taken with white wine. Deprived of the legs, and taken in doses of three oboli with myrrh and iris, one drachma of each, they disperse urinary calculi. For the cure of the iliac passion and of attacks of flatulency, castoreum273 should be taken, with seed of daucus274 and of parsley, a pinch in three fingers of each, the whole being mixed with four cyathi of warm honied wine. Griping pains in the bowels should be treated with castoreum and a mixture of dill and wine. The fish called “erythinus,”275 used as food, acts astringently upon the bowels. Dysentery is cured by taking frogs boiled with squills, and prepared in the form of boluses, or else hearts of frogs beaten up with honey, as Niceratus276 recommends. For the cure of jaundice, salt fish should be taken with pepper, the patient abstaining from all other kinds of meat.

CHAP. 32.—-REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN, FOR URINARY CALCULI, AND FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE BLADDER. THE SOLE: ONE REMEDY. THE TURBOT: ONE REMEDY. THE BLENDIUS: ONE REMEDY. THE SEA-NETTLE: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE PULMO MARINUS: SIX REMEDIES. ONYCHES: FOUR REMEDIES.

For the cure of spleen diseases, the fish known as the sole277 is applied to that part; the torpedo,278 also, or else a live turbot;279 it being then set at liberty in the sea. The sea-scorpion,280 killed in wine, is a cure for diseases of the bladder and for urinary calculi; the stone, also, that is found in the tail281 of this last fish, taken in drink, in doses of one obolus; the liver of the enhydris;282 and the ashes of the fish called “blendius;”283 taken with rue. In the head, too, of the fish called “bacchus,”284 there are found certain small stones, as it were: these, taken in water, six in number, are an excellent cure for urinary calculi. They say, too, that the sea-nettle,285 taken in wine, is very useful for this purpose, as also the pulmo marinus,286 boiled in water. The eggs of the sæpia have a diuretic effect, and carry off pituitous humours from the kidneys. Ruptures and convulsions are very effectually treated by taking river-crabs,287 bruised in asses’ milk more particularly; and urinary calculi by drinking sea-urchins pounded, spines and all, in wine; the due proportion being one semisextarius of wine for each urchin, and the treatment being continued till its good effects are visible. The flesh, too, of the sea-urchin, taken as food, is very useful as a remedy for the same malady.

Scallops288 also, taken as food, act detergently upon the bladder: the male fish is by some persons called “donax,” and by others “aulos,” the female being known as “onyx.”289 The male scallop has a diuretic effect: the flesh of the female is sweeter than that of the male, and of an uniform colour. The eggs, too, of the sæpia promote the urinary secretions, and act detergently upon the kidneys.

CHAP. 33.—REMEDIES FOR INTESTINAL HERNIA, AND FOR DISEASES OF THE RECTUM. THE WATER-SNAKE: ONE REMEDY. THE HYDRUS: ONE REMEDY. THE MULLET: ONE REMEDY. THE PELAMIS: THREE REMEDIES.

For the cure of intestinal hernia the sea-hare is applied, bruised with honey. The liver of the water-snake,290 and that of the hydrus,291 bruised and taken in drink, are remedial for urinary calculi. Sciatica is cured by using the pickle of the silurus292 as a clyster, the bowels being first thoroughly purged. For chafing of the fundament, an application is made of heads of mullets and surmullets, reduced to ashes; for which purpose they are calcined in an earthen vessel, and must be applied in combination with honey. Calcined heads, too, of the fish known as mænæ293 are useful for the cure of chaps and condylomata; as also heads of salted pelamides,294 reduced to ashes, or calcined cybium,295 applied with honey.

The torpedo,296 applied topically, reduces procidence of the rectum. River-crabs,297 reduced to ashes, and applied with oil and wax, are curative of chaps of the fundament: sea-crabs, too, are equally useful for the purpose.

CHAP. 34.—-REMEDIES FOR INFLAMED TUMOURS, AND FOR DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. THE SCIÆNA: ONE REMEDY. THE PERCH: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SQUATINA: THREE REMEDIES. THE SMARIS: THREE REMEDIES.

The pickle of the coracinus298 disperses inflammatory tumours; an effect which is equally produced by using the calcined intestines and scales of the sciæna.299 The sea-scorpion,300 too, is used for the same purpose, boiled in wine, and applied as a fomentation to the part affected. Shells of sea-urchins, bruised and applied with water, act as a check upon incipient inflammatory tumours. Ashes of the murex, or of the purple, are employed in either case, whether it is wanted to disperse inflammatory tumours in an incipient state, or to bring them to a head and break them. Some authorities prescribe the following preparation: of wax and frankincense twenty drachmæ, of litharge forty drachmæ, of calcined murex ten drachmæ, and of old oil, one semisextarius. Salt fish, boiled and applied by itself, is highly useful for the above purposes.

River crabs, bruised and applied, disperse pustules on the generative organs: the same, too, with calcined heads of mænæ,301 or the flesh of that fish, boiled and applied. Heads of salted perch,302 reduced to ashes, and applied with honey, are equally useful for the purpose; or else calcined heads of pelamides,303 or skin of the squatina reduced to ashes.304 It is the skin of this fish that is used, as already305 stated, for giving a polish to wood; for the sea even, we find, furnishes its aid to our artificers. For a similar purpose the fishes called “smarides”306 are applied topically; as also ashes of the shell of the murex or of the purple, applied with honey; which last are still more efficacious when the flesh has been burnt with the shell.

Salt fish, boiled with honey, is particularly good for the cure of carbuncles upon the generative organs. For relaxation of the testes, the slime307 of snails is recommended, applied in the form of a liniment.

CHAP. 35.—REMEDIES FOR INCONTINENCE OF URINE. THE OPHIDION: ONE REMEDY.

The flesh of hippocampi,308 grilled and taken frequently as food, is a cure for incontinence of urine; the ophidion,309 too, a little fish similar to the conger in appearance, eaten with a lily root; or the small fry found in the bellies of larger fish that have swallowed them, reduced to ashes and taken in water. It is recommended, too, to burn310 African snails, both shells and flesh, and to administer the ashes with wine311 of Signia.

CHAP. 36.—REMEDIES FOR GOUT, AND FOR PAINS IN THE FEET. THE BEAVER: FOUR REMEDIES. BRYON: ONE REMEDY.

For the cure of gout and of diseases of the joints, oil is useful in which the intestines of frogs have been boiled. Ashes, too, of burnt bramble-frogs312 are similarly employed, with stale grease; in addition to which, some persons use calcined barley, the three ingredients being mixed in equal proportions. It is recommended too, in cases of gout, to rub the parts affected with a sea-hare,313 fresh caught, and to wear shoes made of beaver’s skin, Pontic beaver more particularly, or else of sea-calf’s314 skin, an animal the fat of which is very useful for the purpose: the same being the case also with bryon, a plant of which we have already spoken,315 similar to the lettuce in appearance, but with more wrinkled leaves, and destitute of stem. This plant is of a styptic nature, and, applied topically, it tends to modify the paroxysms of gout. The same, too, with sea-weed, of which we have also spoken already;316 due precaution being taken not to apply it dry.

Chilblains are cured by applying the pulmo marinus;317 ashes of sea-crabs with oil; river crabs,318 bruised and burnt to ashes and kneaded up with oil; or else fat of the silurus.319 In diseases of the joints, the paroxysms are modified by applying fresh frogs every now and then: some authorities recommend that they should be split asunder before being applied. The liquor from mussels320 and other shell-fish has a tendency to make flesh.

CHAP. 37.—REMEDIES FOR EPILEPSY.

Epileptic patients, as already321 stated, are recommended to drink the rennet of the sea-calf,322 mixed with mares’ milk or asses’ milk, or else with pomegranate juice, or, in some cases, with oxymel: some persons, too, swallow the rennet by itself, in the form of pills. Castoreum323 is sometimes administered, in three cyathi of oxymel, to the patient fasting; but where the attacks are frequent, it is employed in the form of a clyster, with marvellous effect. The proper proportions, in this last case, are two drachmæ of castoreum, one sextarius of oil and honey, and the same quantity of water. At the moment that the patient is seized with a fit, it is a good plan to give him castoreum, with vinegar, to smell. The liver, too, of the sea-weasel324 is given to epileptic patients, or else that of sea-mice,325 or the blood of tortoises.

CHAP. 38. (10.)—REMEDIES FOR FEVERS. THE FISH CALLED ASELLUS: ONE REMEDY. THE PHAGRUS: ONE REMEDY. THE BALÆNA: ONE REMEDY.

Recurrent fevers are effectually checked by making the patient taste the liver of a dolphin, just before the paroxysm comes on. Hippocampi326 are stifled in oil of roses, and the patients are rubbed therewith in cold agues, the fish, also, being worn as an amulet by the patient. In the same way, too, the small stones that are found at full moon in the head of the fish called “asellus”327 are worn, attached in a piece of linen cloth to the patient’s body. A similar virtue is attributed to the longest tooth of the river-fish called phagrus,328 attached to the patient with a hair, provided he does not see the person who attaches it to him for five days. Frogs are boiled in oil in a spot where three roads meet, and, the flesh being first thrown away, the patients are rubbed with the decoction, by way of cure for quartan fever. Some persons, again, suffocate frogs in oil, and, after attaching them to the patient without his knowing it, anoint him with the oil. The heart of a frog, worn as an amulet, modifies the cold chills in fevers; the same, too, with oil in which the intestines of frogs have been boiled. But the best remedy for quartan fevers, is to wear attached to the body either frogs from which the claws have been329 removed, or else the liver or heart of a bramble-frog,330 attached in a piece of russet-coloured cloth.

River-crabs,331 bruised in oil and water, are highly beneficial in fevers, the patient being anointed with the preparation just before the paroxysms come on: some authorities recommend the addition of pepper to the mixture. Others prescribe for quartan fevers a decoction of river-crabs in wine, boiled down to one fourth, the patient taking it at the moment of leaving the bath: by some, too, it is recommended to swallow the left eye of a river-crab. The magicians engage to cure a tertian fever, by attaching as an amulet to the patient, before sunrise, the eyes of river-crabs, the crabs when thus blinded being set at liberty in the water. They say, too, that these eyes, attached to the body in a piece of deer’s hide, with the flesh of a nightingale,332 will dispel sleep and promote watchfulness. In cases where there are symptoms of lethargy, the rennet of the balæna333 or of the sea-calf334 is given to the patient to smell; some persons, too, use the blood of tortoises as a liniment for lethargic patients.

Tertian fevers, it is said, may be cured by wearing one of the vertebræ335 of a perch attached to the body, and quartan fevers by using fresh river snails, as an aliment. Some persons preserve these snails in salt for this purpose, and give them, pounded, in drink.

CHAP. 39.—REMEDIES FOR LETHARGY, CACHEXY, AND DROPSY.

Strombi,336 left to putrefy in vinegar, act as an excitant upon lethargic patients by their smell; they are very useful, too, for the cure of cardiac diseases. For cachectic patients, where the body is wasting with consumption, tetheæ337 are considered beneficial, mixed with rue and honey. For the cure of dropsy, dolphin’s fat is melted and taken with wine, the repulsive taste of it being neutralized by first touching the nostrils with unguent or some other odoriferous substance, or else by plugging the nostrils in some way or other. The flesh of strombi, pounded and given in three heminæ of honied wine and the same quantity of water, or, if there is fever, in hydromel, is very useful for dropsy: the same, too, with the juice of river-crabs, administered with honey. Water frogs, too, are boiled with old wine and spelt,338 and taken as food, the liquor in which they have been boiled being drunk from the same vessel: or else the feet, head, and tail of a tortoise are cut off, and the intestines removed, the rest of the flesh being seasoned in such a manner as to allow of its being taken without loathing. River-crabs, too, eaten with their broth, are said to be very good for the cure of phthisis.

CHAP. 40.—REMEDIES FOR BURNS AND FOR ERYSIPELAS.

Burns are cured by applying ashes of calcined sea-crabs or river-crabs with oil: fish-glue, too, and calcined frogs are used as an application for scalds produced by boiling water. The same treatment also restores the hair, provided the ashes are those of river-crabs: it is generally thought, too, that the preparation should be applied with wax and bears’ grease. Ashes, too, of burnt beaver-skin are very useful for these purposes. Live frogs act as a check upon erysipelas, the belly side being applied to the part affected: it is recommended, too, to attach them lengthwise by the hinder legs, so as to render them more beneficial by reason of their increased respiration.339 Heads, too, of salted siluri340 are reduced to ashes and applied with vinegar.

Prurigo and itch-scab, not only in man but in quadrupeds as well, are most efficaciously treated with the liver of the pastinaca341 boiled in oil.

CHAP. 41.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SINEWS.

The exterior callosity with which the flesh of purples is covered, beaten up, unites the sinews, even when they have been severed asunder. It is a good plan, for patients suffering from tetanus, to take sea-calf’s rennet in wine, in doses of one obolus, as also fish-glue.342 Persons affected with fits of trembling find much relief from castoreum,343 provided they are well anointed with oil. I find it stated that the surmullet,344 used as an article of diet, acts injuriously upon the sinews.

CHAP. 42.—METHODS OF ARRESTING HÆMORRHAGE AND OF LETTING BLOOD. THE POLYP: ONE REMEDY.

Fish, used as an aliment, it is generally thought, make blood. The polyp,345 bruised and applied, arrests hæmorrhage, it is thought: in addition to which we find stated the following particulars respecting it—that of itself it emits a sort of brine, in consequence of which, there is no necessity to use any in cooking it—that it should always be sliced with a reed—and that it is spoilt by using an iron knife, becoming tainted thereby, owing to the antipathy346 which naturally exists [between it and iron]. For the purpose also of arresting hæmorrhage, ashes of burnt frogs are applied topically, or else the dried blood of those animals. Some authorities recommend the frog to be used, that is known by the Greeks as “calamites,”347 from the fact that it lives among reeds348 and shrubs; it is the smallest and greenest of all the frogs, and either the blood or the ashes of it are recommended to be employed. Others, again, prescribe, in cases of bleeding at the nostrils, an injection of the ashes of young water-frogs, in the tadpole state, calcined in a new earthen vessel.

On the other hand, again, in cases where it is required to let blood, the kind of leech is used which is known among us by the name of “sanguisuga.349” Indeed, the action of these leeches is looked upon as pretty much the same as that of the cupping-glasses350 used in medicine, their effect being to relieve the body of superfluous blood, and to open the pores of the skin. Still, however, there is this inconvenience attending them—when they have been once applied, they create a necessity351 for having recourse to the same treatment at about the same period in every succeeding year. Many physicians have been of opinion also, that leeches may be successfully applied in cases of gout. When gorged, they fall off in consequence of losing their hold through the weight of the blood, but if not, they must be sprinkled with salt352 for the purpose.

Leeches are apt, however, to leave their heads buried in the flesh; the consequence of which is an incurable wound, which has caused death in many cases, that of Messalinus,353 for example, a patrician of consular rank, after an application of leeches to his knee. When this is the case, that which was intended as a remedy is turned into an active poison;354 a result which is to be apprehended in using the red leeches more particularly. Hence it is that when these last are employed, it is the practice to snip them with a pair of scissors while sucking; the consequence of which is, that the blood oozes forth, through a siphon, as it were, and the head, gradually contracting as the animal dies, is not left behind in the wound. There is a natural antipathy355 existing between leeches and bugs, and hence it is that the latter are killed by the aid of a fumigation made with leeches. Ashes of beaver-skin burnt with tar, kneaded up with leek-juice, arrest bleeding at the nostrils.

CHAP. 43.—METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN BODIES FROM THE FLESH.

To extract pointed weapons which have pierced the flesh, ashes of calcined shells of the sæpia are used, as also of the purple, the meat of salted fish, bruised river-crabs, or flesh of the silurus356 (a river-fish that is found in other streams as well as the Nilus357), applied either fresh or salted. The ashes also of this fish, as well as the fat, have the property of extracting pointed bodies, and the back-bone, in a calcined state, is used as a substitute for spodium.358

CHAP. 44.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CARBUNCLES.

Ulcers of a serpiginous nature, as also the fleshy excrescences which make their appearance in them, are kept in check by applying ashes of calcined heads of mænæ,359 or else ashes of the silurus.360 Carcinomata, too, are treated with heads of salted perch, their efficacy being considerably increased by using some salt along with the ashes, and kneading them up with heads of cunila361 and olive-oil. Ashes of sea-crabs, calcined with lead, arrest the progress of carcinomatous sores; a purpose for which ashes of river-crabs, in combination with honey and fine lint, are equally useful: though there are some authorities which prefer mixing alum and barley with the ashes. Phagedænic ulcers are cured by an application of dried silurus pounded with sandarach;362 malignant cancers, corrosive ulcers, and putrid sores, by the agency of stale cybium.363

Maggots that breed in sores are removed by applying frogs’ gall; and fistulas are opened and dried by introducing a tent made of salt fish, with a dossil of lint. Salt fish, kneaded up and applied in the form of a plaster, will remove all proud flesh in the course of a day, and will arrest the further progress of putrid and serpiginous ulcers. Alex,364 applied in lint, acts detergently, also, upon ulcers; the same, too, with the ashes of calcined shells of sea-urchins. Salted slices of the coracinus365 disperse carbuncles, an effect equally produced by the ashes of salted surmullets.366 Some persons, however, use the head only of the surmullet, in combination with honey or with the flesh of the coracinus. Ashes of the murex, applied with oil, disperse tumours, and the gall of the sea-scorpion makes scars disappear.