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CHAP. 44.—ALEX: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Alex, which is the refuse of garum, properly consists of the dregs of it, when imperfectly strained: but of late they have begun to prepare it separately, from a small fish that is otherwise good for nothing, the apua1 of the Latins, or aphua of the Greeks, so called from the fact of its being engendered from rain.2 The people of Forum Julii3 make their garum from a fish to which they give the name of "lupus."4 In process of time, alex has become quite an object of luxury, and the various kinds that are now made are infinite in number. The same, too, with garum, which is now prepared in imitation of the colour of old honied wine, and so pleasantly flavoured as to admit of being taken as a drink. Another kind, again, is dedicated to those superstitious observances5 which enjoin strict chastity, and that prepared from fish without6 scales, to the sacred rites of the Jews. In the same way, too, alex has come to be manufactured from oysters, sea-urchins, sea-nettles, cammari,7 and the liver of the surmullet; and a thousand different methods have been devised of late for ensuring the putrefaction of salt in such a way as to secure the flavours most relished by the palate.

Thus much, by the way, with reference to the tastes of the present day; though at the same time, it must be remembered, these substances are by no means without their uses in medicine. Alex, for instance, is curative of scab in sheep, incisions being made in the skin, and the liquor poured therein. It is useful, also, for the cure of wounds inflicted by dogs or by the sea-dragon, the application being made with lint. Recent burns, too, are healed by the agency of garum, due care being taken to apply it without mentioning it by name. It is useful, too, for bites inflicted by dogs, and for that of the crocodile in particular; as also for the treatment of serpiginous or sordid ulcers. For ulcerations, and painful affections of the mouth and ears, it is a marvellously useful remedy.

Muria, also, as well as the salsugo which we have mentioned,8 has certain astringent, mordent, and discussive properties, and is highly useful for the cure of dysentery, even when ulceration has attacked the intestines. Injections are also made of it for sciatica, and for cœliac fluxes of an inveterate nature. In spots which lie at a distance in the interior, it is used as a fo- mentation, by way of substitute for sea-water.

1 See B. ix. c. 74. The fry of larger fish, Cuvier says.

2 Ajasson considers this to be an absurd derivation; and thinks it much more probable, that the name is from ἀ privative, and φύω, "to beget;" it being a not uncommon notion that these small fish were pro- duced spontaneously from mud and slime.

3 The present Frejus, in the south of France.

4 "Wolf." Not the fish of that name, Hardouin says, mentioned in B. ix. c. 28.

5 The festivals of Ceres. The devotees, though obliged to abstain from meat, were allowed the use of this garuim, it would appear.

6 Gesner proposes to read "non carêntibus," "with scales"—fishes without scales being forbidden to the Jews by the Levitical Law. See Lev. c. xi. ver. 10. It is, most probably, Pliny's own mistake.

7 See B. xxvii. c. 2.

8 At the end of c. 42.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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