CHAP. 42.—PECULIAR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM VARIOUS ANIMALS,
AND CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE MALADIES. REMEDIES
AGAINST THE POISON OF SERPENTS, DERIVED FROM THE STAG,
THE FAWN, THE OPHION, THE SHE-GOAT, THE KID, AND THE
ASS.
We will therefore classify the various remedies, according
to the maladies for which they are respectively used; and, first
of all, those to which man has recourse for injuries inflicted by
serpents. That deer are destructive to those reptiles
1 no one
is ignorant; as also of the fact that they drag them from their
holes when they find them, and so devour them. And it is
not only while alive and breathing that deer are thus fatal to
serpents, but even when dead and separated limb from limb.
The fumes of their horns, while burning, will drive away
serpents, as already
2 stated; but the bones, it is said, of the
upper part of a stag's throat, if burnt upon a fire, will bring those
reptiles together. Persons may sleep upon a deer's skin in
perfect safety, and without any apprehension of attacks by
serpents; its rennet too, taken with vinegar, is an effectual antidote to the stings of those reptiles; indeed, if it has been only
touched by a person, he will be for that day effectually protected from them. The testes, dried, or the genitals of the
male animal, are considered to be very wholesome, taken in
wine, and so are the umbles, generally known as the "centipellio."
3 Persons having about them a deer's tooth, or who
have taken the precaution of rubbing the body with a deer or
fawn's marrow, will be sure to repel the attacks of all serpents.
But the most effectual remedy of all is thought to be the
rennet of a fawn that has been cut from the uterus of the
dam, as already
4 mentioned in another place. Deer's blood,
burnt upon a fire of lentisk wood, with dracontium,
5 cunilago,
6
and alkanet, will attract serpents, they say; while, on the
other hand, if the blood is removed and pyrethrum
7 substituted
for it, they will take to flight.
I find an animal mentioned by Greek writers, smaller than
the stag, but resembling it in the hair, and to which they give
the name of "ophion."
8 Sardinia, they say, is the only country that produces it; I am of opinion, however, that it is now
extinct, and for that reason I shall not enlarge upon its medicinal properties.
(10.) As a preservative against the attacks of serpents, the
brains and blood of the wild boar are held in high esteem:
the liver also, dried and taken in wine with rue; and the fat,
used with honey and resin. Similar properties are attributed
to the liver of the domesticated boar and the outer filaments,
and those only, of the gall, these last being taken in doses of
four denarii; the brains also, taken in wine, are equally ef-
fectual. The fumes of the burning horns or hair of a she-goat
will repel serpents, they say: the ashes, too, of the horns, used
either internally or externally, are thought to be an antidote
to their poison. A similar effect is attributed to goats' milk,
taken with Taminian
9 grapes; to the urine of those animals,
taken with squill vinegar; to goats' milk cheese, applied with
origanum;
10 and to goat suet, used with wax.
In addition to all this, as will be seen hereafter, there are a
thousand other remedial properties attributed to this animal;
a fact which surprises me all the more, seeing that the goat,
it is said, is never free from fever.
11 The wild animals of the
same species, which are very numerous, as already
12 stated,
have a still greater efficacy attributed to them; but the hegoat has certain properties peculiar to itself, and Democritus
attributes properties still more powerful to the animal when it
has been the only one yeaned. It is recommended also to apply
she-goat's dung, boiled
13 in vinegar, to injuries inflicted by
serpents, as also the ashes of fresh dung mixed with wine.
As a general rule, persons who find that they are recovering
but slowly from injuries inflicted by a serpent, will find their
health more speedily re-established by frequenting the stalls
where goats are kept. Those, however, whose object is a more
assured remedy, attach immediately to the wound the paunch
of a she-goat killed for the purpose, dung and all. Others,
again, use the flesh of a kid just killed, and fumigate it with
the singed hair, the smell of which has the effect of repelling
serpents.
For stings of serpents, as also for injuries inflicted by the
scorpion and shrew-mouse, some employ the skin of a goat
newly killed, as also the flesh and dung of a horse that has
been out at pasture, or a hare's rennet in vinegar. They say,
too, that if a person has the body well rubbed with a hare's
rennet, he will never receive injury from venomous animals.
When a person has been stung by a scorpion, she-goat's dung,
boiled with vinegar, is considered a most efficient remedy: in
cases too, where a buprestis has been swallowed, bacon and the
broth in which it has been boiled, are highly efficacious. Nay,
what is even more than this, if a person applies his mouth to
an ass's ear, and says that he has been stung by a scorpion, the
whole of the poison, they say, will immediately pass away
from him and be transferred to the animal. All venomous
creatures, it is said, are put to flight by a fumigation made
by burning an ass's lights. It is considered an excellent
plan too, to fumigate persons, when stung by a scorpion, with
the smoke of burnt calves' dung.