Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXX. REMEDIES DERIEVED FROM LIVING CREATURES., CHAP. 53. (16.)—OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS.

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CHAP. 53. (16.)—OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS.

There are still some other marvellous facts related, with reference to the animals which we have mentioned. A dog will not bark at a person who has any part of the secundines of a bitch about him, or a hare's dung or fur. The kind of gnats called "muliones,"¹ do not live more than a single day. Persons when taking honey from the hives, will never be touched by the bees if they carry the beak of a wood-pecker² about them. Swine will be sure to follow the person who has given them a raven's brains, made up into a bolus. The dust in which a she-mule has wallowed, sprinkled upon the body, will allay the flames of desire. Rats may be put to flight by castrating a male rat, and setting it at liberty. If a snake's slough is beaten up with some spelt, salt, and wild thyme, and introduced into the throat of oxen, with wine, at the time that grapes are ripening, they will be in perfect health for a whole year to come: the same, too, if three young swallows are given to them, made up into three boluses. The dust gathered from the track of a snake, sprinkled among bees, will make them return to the hive. If the right testicle of a ram³ is tied up, he will generate females only. Persons who have about them the sinews taken from the wings or legs of a crane, will never be fatigued with any kind of laborious exertion. Mules will never kick when they have drunk wine.

Of all known substances, it is a mule's⁴ hoofs only that are not corroded by the poisonous waters of the fountain Styx: a memorable discovery made by Aristotle,⁵ to his great infamy, on the occasion when Antipater sent some of this water to Alexander the Great, for the purpose of poisoning him.

We will now pass on to the aquatic productions.

SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, eight hundred and fifty-four.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro,⁶ Nigidius,⁷ M. Cicero,⁸ Sextius Niger⁹ who wrote in Greek, Licinius Macer.¹⁰

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Eudoxus,¹¹ Aristotle,¹² Hermippus,¹³ Homer, Apion,¹⁴ Orpheus,¹⁵ Democritus,¹⁶ Anaxilaiis.¹⁷

MEDICAL AUTHORS QUOTED.—Botrys,¹⁸ Horus,¹⁹ Apollodorus,²⁰ Menander,²¹ Archidemus,²² Aristogenes,²³ Xenocrates,²⁴ Diodorus,²⁵ Chrysippus,²⁶ Nicander,²⁷ Apollonius²⁸ of Pitanæ.

1 See B. xi. c. 19.

2 See B. x. c. 20.

3 See B. viii. c. 72.

4 Some authorities say the ass, and others the Onager, or wild ass.

5 This story is generally regarded as an absurdity, and is rejected by Arrian and Plutarch.

6 See end of B. ii.

7 See end of B. vi.

8 See end of B. vii.

9 See end of B. xii.

10 See end of B. xix.

11 See end of B. ii.

12 See end of B. ii.

13 An eminent philosopher, a native of Smyrna, and disciple of Callimachus. He flourished about the middle of the third century B.C., and left numerous works, the principal of which was a Biography of the Philosophers, Poets, and Historians, which seems to have been highly esteemed. It is thought, too, that he wrote a work on Magic and Astrology; but there are some doubts about the writer's identity.

14 A native of Oasis in Egypt, who taught rhetoric at Rome in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius. Some curious particulars are given respecting him in c. 6 of the present Book. His ostentation, vanity, and insolent pretensions fully merited the title "Cymbalum mundi," which Tiberius bestowed on him. He was a man, however, of considerable learning and great eloquence, and was distinguished for his hatred to the Jews. Of his numerous works only some fragments remain.

15 See end of B. xx.

16 See end of B. ii.

17 See end of B. xxi.

18 See end of B. xiii.

19 See end of B. xxix.

20 See end of . xi.

21 See end of B. xix.

22 See end of B. xii.

23 See end of B. xxix.

24 See end of B. xx.

25 See end of B. xxix.

26 See end of B. xx.

27 See end of B. viii.

28 See end of B. xxix.

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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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 53. (16.)—OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 53. (16.)—OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.