Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXII.<a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS., CHAP. 16. (5.)—REMEDIES FOR POISONS, AND FOR NOXIOUS SPELLS. THE DORADE: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SEA-STAR: SEVEN REMEDIES. <a href="#note-link1">1</a> It is in the last six Books of Pliny, and those only, we regret to say, that we are enabled to avail ourselves of the new readings of the Bamberg MS., which has been so admirably collated by M. Ian. In a vast number of passages previously looked upon as hopelessly corrupt, or else not at all suspected of being in a mutilated state, this MS. supplies words and clauses, the existence of which in the original was hitherto unknown; indeed by its aid the indefatigable Sillig has been enabled, if we may be allowed the term, almost to rewrite the last six Books of Pliny. From a perusal of these new readings, as Dr. Smith has justly remarked, we have reason to infer "that the text of the earlier Books is still in a very defective state, and that much of the obscurity of Pliny may be traced to this cause."</p>

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

We have already¹ stated in what country the honey is venomous: the fish known as the dorade² 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 elsewhere³ We have already mentioned too, on several occasions,⁴ how highly venomous is the menstruous fluid: the surmullet, as already⁵ stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish, too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote to the venom⁶ of the pastinaca, the land and sea scorpion, the dragon,⁷ and the phalangium.⁸ 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-star⁹ 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 noxions spells will be able to obtain admittance, or, at all events, to be productive of any ill effects.

1 In B. xxi. c. 44.

2 Or Gilt-head. "Aurata." See B. ix. c. 25.

3 In B. viii. c. 38. See also B. xxviii. c. 30.

4 Among others, in B. vii. c. 13, and B. xxviii. c. 23.

5 In B. xxviii. c. 23.

6 As to this point, see c. 12 of this Book, and the Notes.

7 He must mean the Sea-dragon, mentioned in B. ix. c. 43, and in c. 53 of the present Book; for he has already stated in B. xxix. c. 20, that the serpent called "draco" is destitute of venom. See also B. viii. cc. 13, 14, 22, 41, and B. x. cc. 5, 92, 95, 96.

8 See B. viii. c. 41, B. x. c. 95, and B. xi. cc. 24, 28, 29.

9 See B. ix. cc. 71, 86, and c. 53 of the present Book.

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

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

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