Chapter VII: Book XXXII: 1 (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 ship[4] 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 advantage[5] in the onset, and charged with a redoubled impetuosity. In our own time, too, one of these fish arrested the ship of the Emperor[6] 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 surprised[8] 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 already[10] 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 shells[11] 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 exhalations[16] 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 poisoned[21] 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 mussels[23] 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-flies[26] by the smell.

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

The statements which Ovid has made as to the instincts of fish, in the work[27] 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, furrows[32] the sand with its tail, and so conceals itself, until the net has passed over it. The muræna,[33] trusting in the slippery smoothness[34] of its rounded back, boldly faces the meshes of the net, and by repeatedly wriggling its body, makes its escape. The polyp[35] 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 aware[37] 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 muræna[39] 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 already[41] 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-giant[42] 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-fish[43] smell of iron.[44] The hardest of all fishes, beyond a doubt, is that known as the “orbis:”[45] it is spherical, destitute[46] of scales, and all head.[47]

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

Trebius Niger informs us that whenever the loligo[48] 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 eat[51] 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 Temple[54] 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 Hierapolis[56] 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 Stabiæ[57] in Campania, the melanuri[58] 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 rock[61] [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 diversity[64] 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 grunts[66] 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 Beneventum[67] in Italy, salted provisions of all kinds require[68] 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 without[69] 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 couches[70] 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 spoken[71] 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 venomous[77] than the pastinaca, a sea-fish which kills trees even with its sting, as already[78] stated. And yet, poisonous as it is, the galeos[79] 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 testes[82] 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 hysterical[86] 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 cerastes[91] or prester[92] with panax[93] 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 viscus[94] 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] tortoises[101] which live in muddy waters, and tortoises[101] 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 dyed[104] 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 third[105] 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 laid[107] 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 ships[108] 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 already[109] stated in what country the honey is venomous: the fish known as the dorade[110] 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 already[113] stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish, too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote to the venom[114] 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-star[117] 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-dragon[118] or by the sea-scorpion, are cured by an application[119] 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 sarda[125] 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 Magi[131] 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 double[133] 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 already[135] stated. The Greeks call them “phryni:” they are the largest in size of all the frogs, have two protuberances[136] like horns, and are full[137] 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 snake[140] 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 scytale[144] 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 coracinus[147] 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 deteriorated[150] 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 carpathum[153] 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 part[154] 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 spots[155] where numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea; hence it is that the pelagia[156] 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 Grynium[157] and of Myrina,[158] for example. Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of the moon, as already stated by us when[159] 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 Circeii[161] 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 meat[162] 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 Cyzicus[165] are larger than those of Lake Lucrinus,[166] fresher[167] than those of the British coasts,[168] sweeter[169] than those of Medulæ,[170] more tasty[171] 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 foot[176] 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 refreshing[178] 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 useful[180] 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 already[182] 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 property[183] 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 nitre[185] 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 peucedanum[190] 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 callionymus[193] 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 coracinus[197] has the effect of sharpening the eyesight.