BOOK XXXII.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 seapig,
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 an 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 pastinaca
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
102 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,
103 mixed with that of frogs, is
an excellent remedy for injuries caused by the salamander;
104
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
105 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
106 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,
107 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
108 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
109 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 admi-
ration; 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 <*> 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
110 stated in what country the honey is
venomous: the fish known as the dorade
111 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
112
We have already mentioned too, on several occasions,
113 how
highly venomous is the menstruous fluid: the surmullet, as
already
114 stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish,
too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote
to the venom
115 of the pastinaca, the land and sea scorpion,
the dragon,
116 and the phalangium.
117 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
118 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.
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
119 or by the sea-scorpion,
are cured by an application
120 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,"
121 the cerastes,
122
the reptile known as the "seps,"
123 the elops,
124 or the dipsas.
125
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
126 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,
127 an application is made of salt
fish steeped in vinegar. Cybium,
128 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,
129 boiled in wine and vinegar, is taken internally as a neutralizer of poisons and of the
venom of the bramble-frog,
130 as also for injuries inflicted by
the salamander.
131 For the cure of injuries caused by the seahare 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
132 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.
133
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
134 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,"
135 or "bramble-frogs," as already
136 stated. The
Greeks call them "phryni:" they are the largest in size of
all the frogs, have two protuberances
137 like horns, and are
full
138 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,
139 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."
140 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
141 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.
142
River-crabs,
143 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,
144 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
145 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,
146 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,
147 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
148 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,
149 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,
150 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
151 thereby.
The hippocampus,
152 taken in drink, neutralizes the poison
of the sea-hare. As a counter-poison to dorycnium,
153 sea-urchins
are remarkably useful; as also in cases where persons
have taken juice of carpathum
154 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
155 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
156 where
numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea; hence it
is that the pelagia
157 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
158 and of Myrina,
159 for example.
Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of
the moon, as already stated by us when
160 treating of the aquatic
animals: but it is at the beginning of summer, more par-
ticularly, and when the rays of the sun penetrate the shallow
waters, that they are swollen with an abundance of milk.
161 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
162 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
163 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."
164
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.
165 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
166 are larger than those of
Lake Lucrinus,
167 fresher
168 than those of the British coasts,
169
sweeter
170 than those of Medulæ,
171 more tasty
172 than those of
Ephesus, more plump than those of Lucus,
173 less slimy than
those of Coryphas,
174 more delicate than those of Istria,
175 and
whiter than those of Circeii."
176 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
177 in diameter:
among ourselves, too, the nomenclature of some spendthrift
and gourmand has found for certain oysters the name of "tridacna,"
178
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
179 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.
180 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
181 as a counterpoison.
CHAP. 22.—SEA-WEED: TWO REMEDIES.
According to Nicander, sea-weed is also a theriac.
182 There
are numerous varieties of it, as already
183 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
184 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,
185 mixed with nitre
186 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.
187
Alopecy is cured also with ashes of the sea-mouse,
188 mixed with
oil; ashes of the sea-urchin, burnt, flesh and all together;
the gall of the sea-scorpion;
189 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,
190
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
191 and
oil of roses.
CHAP. 24.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EYES AND EYE-LIDS.
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;
192 the same, too, with
castoreum,
193 in combination with honey. The gall of the
callionymus
194 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.
195 This fish is known also as
the "uranoscopos,"
196 from the eyes being situate in the upper
part of the head.
197 The gall, too, of the coracinus
198 has the
effect of sharpening the eyesight.
The gall of the red sea-scorpion,
199 used with stale oil or Attic
honey, disperses incipient cataract; for which purpose, the
application should be made three times, on alternate days. A
similar method is also employed for removing indurations
200 of
the membrane of the eyes. The surmullet, used as a diet,
weakens the eyesight, it is said. The sea-hare is poisonous
itself, but the ashes of it are useful as an application for preventing
superfluous hairs on the eyelids from growing again,
when they have been once pulled out by the roots. For this
purpose, however, the smaller the fish is, the better. Small
scallops, too, are salted and beaten up with cedar resin for a
similar purpose, or else the frogs known as "diopetes"
201 and
"calamitæ," are used; the blood of them being applied with vine
gum to the eyelids, after the hairs have been removed.
Powdered shell
202 of sæpia, applied with woman's milk,
allays swellings and inflammations of the eyes; employed by
itself it removes eruptions of the eyelids. When this remedy
is used, it is the practice to turn up the eyelids, and to leave
the medicament there a few moments only; after which, the
part is anointed with oil of roses, and the inflammation modified
by the application of a bread-poultice. Powdered bone
of sæpia is used also for the treatment of nyctalopy, being
applied to the eyes with vinegar. Reduced to ashes, this
substance removes scales upon the eyes: applied with honey,
it effaces marks upon those organs: and used with salt and
cadmia,
203 one drachma of each, it disperses webs which impede
the eyesight, as also albugo in the eyes of cattle. They
say, too, that if the eyelids are rubbed with the small bone
204
taken from this fish, a perfect cure will be experienced.
Sea-urchins, applied with vinegar, cause epinyctis to disappear.
According to what the magicians say, they should be
burnt with vipers' skins and frogs, and the ashes sprinkled in
the drink; a great improvement of the eyesight being guaranteed
as the sure result.
"Ichthyocolla"
205 is the name given to a fish with a glutinous
skin; the glue made from which is also known by the same
name, and is highly useful for the removal of epinyctis.
Some persons, however, assert that it is from the belly of the
fish, and not the skin—as in the case of bull glue—that the
ichthyocolla is prepared. That of Pontus
206 is highly esteemed:
it is white, free from veins or scales, and dissolves with the
greatest rapidity. The proper way of using it, is to cut it
into small pieces, and then to leave it to soak in water or
vinegar a night and a day, after which it should be pounded
with sea-shore pebbles, to make it melt the more easily. It
is generally asserted that this substance is good for pains in
the head and for tetanus.
The right eye of a frog, suspended from the neck in a piece
of cloth made from wool of the natural colour,
207 is a cure for
ophthalmia in the right eye; and the left eye of a frog, similarly
suspended, for ophthalmia in the left. If the eyes, too,
of a frog are taken out at the time of the moon's conjunction,
and similarly worn by the patient, enclosed in an eggshell,
they will effectually remove indurations of the membrane of
the eyes. The rest of the flesh applied topically, removes
all marks resulting from blows. The eyes, too, of a crab,
worn attached to the neck, by way of amulet, are a cure for
ophthalmia, it is said. There is a small frog
208 which lives in
reed-beds and among grass more particularly, never croaks,
being quite destitute of voice, is of a green colour, and is apt
to cause tympanitis in cattle, if they should happen to swallow
it. The slimy moisture on this reptile's body, scraped off with
a spatula and applied to the eyes, greatly improves the sight,
they say: the flesh, too, is employed as a topical application
for the removal of pains in the eyes.
Some persons take fifteen frogs, and after spitting them
upon as many bulrushes, put them into a new earthen vessel:
they then mix the juices which flow from them, with gum of
the white vine,
209 and use it as an application for the eye-lids;
first pulling out such eye-lashes as are in the way, and then
dropping the preparation with the point of a needle into the
places from which the hairs have been removed. Meges
210
used to prepare a depilatory for the eyelids, by killing frogs
in vinegar, and leaving them to putrefy; for which purpose
he employed the spotted frogs which make their appearance in
vast numbers
211 during the rains of autumn. Ashes of burnt
leeches, it is thought, applied in vinegar, are productive of a
similar effect; care must be taken, however, to burn them in
a new earthen vessel. Dried liver, too, of the tunny,
212 made
up into an ointment, in the proportion of four denarii, with
oil of cedar, and applied as a depilatory for nine months together,
is considered to be highly effectual for this purpose.
CHAP. 25.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EARS. THE BATIA:
ONE REMEDY. THE BACCHUS OR MYXON: TWO REMEDIES.
THE SEA-LOUSE: TWO REMEDIES.
For diseases of the ears, fresh gall of the fish called
"batia"
213 is remarkably good; the same, too, when it has
been kept in wine. The gall, also, of the bacchus,
214 by some
known as the "myxon," is equally good; as also that of the
callionymus,
215 injected into the ears with oil of roses, or else
castoreum,
216 used with poppy-juice. There are certain animals
too, known as "sea-lice,"
217 which are recommended as an
injection for the ears, beaten up with vinegar. Wool, too,
that has been dyed with the juice of the murex, employed
by itself, is highly useful for this purpose; some persons,
however moisten it with vinegar and nitre.
218
Others, again, more particularly recommend for all affections
of the ears one cyathus of the best garum,
219 with one cyathus
and a half of honey, and one cyathus of vinegar, the whole
gently boiled in a new pot over a slow fire, and skimmed with
a feather every now and then: when it has become wholly
free from scum, it is injected lukewarm into the ears. In
cases where the ears are swollen, the same authorities recommend
that the swellings should be first reduced with juice of
coriander. The fat of frogs, injected into the ears, instantly
removes all pains in these organs. The juice of river-crabs,
kneaded up with barley-meal, is a most effectual remedy for
wounds in the ears. Shells of the murex, reduced to ashes,
and applied with honey, or the burnt shells of other shellfish,
220
used with honied wine, are curative of imposthumes of
the parotid glands.
CHAP. 26.—REMEDIES FOR TOOTH-ACHE. THE DOG-FISH : FOUR
REMEDIES. WHALE'S FLESH.
Tooth-ache is alleviated by scarifying the gums with bones
of the sea-dragon, or by rubbing the teeth once a year with
the brains of a dog-fish
221 boiled in oil, and kept for the purpose.
It is a very good plan too, for the cure of tooth-ache, to lance
the gums with the sting of the pastinaca
222 in some cases.
This sting, too, is pounded, and applied to the teeth with white
hellebore, having the effect of extracting them without the
slightest difficulty. Another of these remedies is, ashes of
salted fish calcined in an earthen vessel, mixed with powdered
marble. Stale cybium,
223 rinsed in a new earthen vessel, and
then pounded, is very useful for the cure of tooth-ache.
Equally good, it is said, are the back-bones of all kinds of salt
fish, pounded and applied in a liniment. A decoction is made of
a single frog boiled in one hemina of vinegar, and the teeth
are rinsed with it, the decoction being retained in the mouth.
In cases where a repugnance existed to making use of this
remedy, Sallustius Dionysius
224 used to suspend frogs over
boiling vinegar by the hind legs, so as to make them discharge
their humours into the vinegar by the mouth, using considerable
numbers of frogs for the purpose: to those, however, who
had a stronger stomach, he prescribed the frogs themselves,
eaten with their broth. It is generally thought, too, that
this recipe applies more particularly to the double teeth, and
that the vinegar prepared as above-mentioned, is remarkably
useful for strengthening them when loose.
For this last purpose, some persons cut off the legs of two
frogs, and then macerate the bodies in two heminæ of wine,
recommending this preparation as a collutory for strengthening
loose teeth. Others attach the frogs, whole, to the exterior of
the jaws :
225 and with some it is the practice to boil ten frogs,
in three sextarii of vinegar, down to one-third, and to use the
decoction as a strengthener of loose teeth. By certain authorities,
too, it has been recommended to boil the hearts of six-and-thirty
frogs beneath a copper vessel, in one sextarius of old
oil, and then to inject the decoction into the ear on the same
side of the jaw as the part affected: while others again have
used, as an application for the teeth, a frog's liver, boiled, and
beaten up with honey. All the preparations above described
will be found still more efficacious if made from the seafrog
226
In cases where the teeth are carious and emit an
offensive smell, it is recommended to dry some whale's
227 flesh
in an oven for a night, and then to add an equal quantity of
salt, and use the mixture as a dentifrice. "Enhydris"
228 is the
name given by the Greeks to a snake that lives in the water.
With the four upper teeth of this reptile, it is the practice, for
the cure of aching in the upper teeth, to lance the upper gums,
and with the four lower teeth, for aching in the lower. Some
persons, however, content themselves with using an eyetooth
only. Ashes, too, of burnt crabs are used for this purpose;
and the murex, reduced to ashes, makes an excellent dentifrice.
CHAP. 27.—REMEDIES FOR LICHENS, AND FOR SPOTS UPON THE
FACE. THE DOLPHIN: NINE REMEDIES. COLUTHIA OR CORYPHIA:
THREE REMEDIES. HALCYONEUM : SEVEN REMEDIES.
THE TUNNY : FIVE REMEDIES.
Lichens and leprous spots are removed by applying the fat
of the sea-calf,
229 ashes of the mæna
230 in combination with three
oboli of honey, liver of the pastinaca
231 boiled in oil, or ashes
of the dolphin or hippocampus
232 mixed with water. After the
parts have been duly excoriated, a cicatrizing treatment ought
to be pursued. Some persons bake dolphin's liver in an
earthen vessel, till a grease flows therefrom like oil
233 in ap-
pearance: this they use by way of ointment for these diseases.
Burnt shells of the murex or purple, applied with honey,
have a detergent effect upon spots on the face in females:
used as an application for seven consecutive days, a fomentation
made of white of eggs being substituted on the eighth,
they efface wrinkles, and plump out the skin. To the genus
" murex" belong the shell-fish known by the Greeks as "coluthia"
or "coryphia," equally turbinated, but considerably
smaller: for all the above purposes they are still more efficacious,
and the use of them tends to preserve the sweetness of
the breath. Fish-glue
234 effaces wrinkles and plumps out the skin;
being boiled for the purpose in water some four hours, and then
pounded and kneaded up till it attains a thin consistency, like
that of honey. After being thus prepared, it is put by in a new
vessel for keeping; and, when wanted for use, is mixed, in
the proportion of four drachmæ, with two drachmæ of sulphur,
two of alkanet, and eight of litharge; the whole being
sprinkled with water and beaten up together. The preparation
is then applied to the face, and is washed off at the end
of four hours. For the cure of freckles and other affections
of the face, calcined bones of cuttle-fish are also used; an
application which is equally good for the removal of fleshy
excrescences and the dispersion of running sores.
(8.) For the cure of itch-scab, a frog is boiled in five semisextarii
of sea-water, the decoction being reduced to the consistency
of honey. There is a sea production called "halcyoneum," composed,
as some think, of the nests
235 of the birds known as the
"halcyon"
236 and "ceyx," or, according to others, of the concretion
of sea-foam, or of some slime of the sea, or a certain
lanuginous inflorescence thrown up by it. Of this halcyoneum
there are four different kinds; the first, of an ashy colour, of a
compact substance, and possessed of a pungent odour; the
second, soft, of a milder nature, and with a smell almost iden-
tical with that of sea-weed; the third, whiter, and with a
variegated surface; the fourth, more like pumice in appearance,
and closely resembling rotten sponge. The best of all is
that which nearly borders upon a purple hue, and is known as
the "Milesian" kind: the whiter it is, the less highly it is
esteemed.
The properties of halcyoneum are ulcerative and detergent:
when required for use, it is parched and applied without oil.
It is quite marvellous how efficiently it removes leprous sores,
lichens, and freckles, used in combination with lupines and
two oboli of sulphur. It is employed, also, for the removal
of marks upon the eyes.
237 Andreas
238 has recommended for the
cure of leprosy ashes of burnt crabs, with oil; and Attalus,
239
fresh fat of tunny.
CHAP. 28.—REMEDIES FOR SCROFULA, IMPOSTHUMES OF THE PAROTID
GLANDS, QUINSY, AND DISEASES OF THE FAUCES. THE
MÆNA: THIRTEEN REMEDIES. THE SEA-SCOLOPENDRA: TWO
REMEDIES. THE SAURUS: ONE REMEDY. SHELL-FISH: ONE
REMEDY. THE SILURUS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.
Ulcerations of the mouth are cured by an application of
brine in which mænæ
240 have been pickled, in combination with
calcined heads of the fish, and honey. For the cure of scrofula,
it is a good plan to prick the sores with the small bone
that is found in the tail of the fish known as the sea-frog;
241
care being taken to avoid making a wound, and to repeat the
operation daily, until a perfect cure is effected. The same
property, too, belongs to the sting of the pastinaca, and to the
sea-hare, applied topically to the sores: but in both cases due
care must be taken to remove them in an instant. Shells of
sea-urchins are bruised, also, and applied with vinegar; shells
also of sea-scolopendræ,
242 applied with honey; and river-crabs
pounded or calcined, and applied with honey. Bones, too, of
the sæpia, triturated and applied with stale axle-grease, are
marvellously useful for this purpose.
This last preparation is used, also, for the cure of imposthumes
of the parotid glands; a purpose for which the liver
of the sea-fish known as the "saurus"
243 is employed. Nay,
even more than this, fragments of earthen vessels in which
salt fish have been kept are pounded with stale axle-grease,
and applied to scrofulous sores and imposthumes of the parotid
glands; as also calcined murex, incorporated with oil. Stiffness
in the neck is allayed by taking what are known as sea-lice,
244
in doses of one drachma in drink, taking castoreum
245 mixed
with pepper in honied wine, or making a decoction of frogs in
oil and salt, and taking the liquor.
Opisthotony, too, and tetanus are treated in a similar manner;
and spasms, with the addition of pepper. Ashes of burnt
heads of salted mænæ are applied externally, with honey, for the
cure of quinsy; as also a decoction of frogs, boiled in vinegar,
a preparation which is equally good for affections of the tonsillary
glands. River-crabs, pounded, one to each hemina of
water, are used as a gargle for the cure of quinsy; or else
they are taken with wine and hot water. Garum,
246 put beneath
the uvula with a spoon, effectually cures diseases of that part.
The silurus,
247 used as food, either fresh or salted, improves the
voice.
CHAP. 29.—REMEDIES FOR COUGH AND DISEASES OF THE CHEST.
Surmullets act as an emetic, dried and pounded, and taken
in drink. Castoreum, taken fasting, with a small quantity of
hammoniacum
248 in oxymel, is extremely good for asthma:
spasms, too, in the stomach are assuaged by taking a similar
potion with warm oxymel. Frogs stewed in their own liquor
in the saucepan, the same way in fact that fish are dressed,
are good for a cough, it is said. In some cases, also, frogs are
suspended by the legs, and after their juices
249 have been received
in a platter, it is recommended to gut them, and the entrails
being first carefully removed, to preserve them for the above
purpose. There is a small frog,
250 also, which ascends trees, and
croaks aloud there: if a person suffering from cough spits into
its mouth and then lets it go, he will experience a cure, it is said.
For cough attended with spitting of blood, it is recommended
to beat up the raw flesh of a snail, and to drink it in hot water.
CHAP. 30. (9.)—REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE LIVER AND SIDE.
THE ELONGATED CONCH: SIX REMEDIES. THE TETHEA: FIVE
REMEDIES.
For pains in the liver, a sea-scorpion is killed in wine, and
the liquid is taken. The meat, too, of the elongated conch
251 is
taken with honied wine and water, in equal quantities, or, if
there are symptoms of fever, with hydromel. Pains in the
side are assuaged by taking the flesh of the hippocampus,
252
grilled, or else the tethea,
253 very similar to the oyster, with
the ordinary food. For sciatica, the pickle of the silurus is
injected, by way of clyster. The flesh of conchs, too, is prescribed,
for fifteen days, in doses of three oboli soaked in two
sextarii of wine.
CHAP. 31.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE BOWELS. SEA-WORT:
ONE REMEDY. THE MYAX: TWENTY-FIVE REMEDIES. THE MITULUS:
EIGHT REMEDIES. PELORIDES: ONE REMEDY. SERIPHUM:
TWO REMEDIES. THE ERYTHINUS: TWO REMEDIES.
The silurus,
254 taken in its broth, or the torpedo,
255 used as
food, acts as a laxative upon the bowels. There is a sea-wort,
256
also, similar in appearance to the cultivated cabbage: it is
injurious to the stomach, but acts most efficiently as a purgative,
requiring to be cooked with fat meat for the purpose, in
consequence of its extreme acridity. The broth, too, of all
boiled fish is good for this purpose; it acting, also, as a strong
diuretic, taken with wine more particularly. The best kind
of all is that prepared from the sea-scorpion, the iulis,
257 and
rock-fish in general, as they are destitute of all rankness and
are free from fat. The proper way of cooking them is with
dill, parsley, coriander, and leeks, with the addition of oil and
salt. Stale cybium,
258 too, acts as a purgative, and is particularly
useful for carrying off crudities, pituitous humours, and bile.
The myax
259 is of a purgative nature, a shell-fish of which
we shall take this opportunity of giving the natural history
at length. These fish collect together in masses, like the
murex,
260 and are found in spots covered with sea-weed. They
are the finest eating in autumn, and are found in the greatest
perfection in places where fresh-water streams discharge themselves
into the sea; for which reason it is that those of Egypt
are held in such high esteem. As the winter advances, they
contract a bitter flavour, and assume a reddish hue. The
liquor of these fish, it is said, acts as a purgative upon the
bowels and bladder, has a detergent effect upon the intestines,
acts aperiently upon all the passages, purges the kidneys, and
diminishes the blood and adipose secretions. Hence it is that
these shell-fish are found of the greatest use for the treatment
of dropsy, for the regulation of the catamenia, and for the removal
of jaundice, all diseases of the joints, and flatulency.
They are very good, also, for the reduction of obesity, for
diseases of the bile and of the pituitous secretions, for affections
of the lungs, liver, and spleen, and for rheumatic defluxions.
The only inconvenience resulting from them is, that
they irritate the throat and impede the articulation. They
have, also, a healing effect upon ulcers of a serpiginous nature,
or which stand in need of detergents, as also upon carcinomatous
sores. Calcined, the same way as the murex, and employed
with honey, they are curative of bites inflicted either
by dogs or human beings, and of leprous spots or freckles. The
ashes of them, rinsed, are good for the removal of films upon
the eyes, granulations of those organs and indurations of the
membrane, as also for diseases of the gums and teeth, and for
pituitous eruptions. They serve, also, as an antidote to dorycnium
261
and to opocarpathon.
262
There are two species of this shell-fish, of a degenerate kind:
the mitulus,
263 which has a strong flavour, and a saltish taste;
and the myisca,
264 which differs from the former in the roundness
of its shell, is somewhat smaller, and is covered with filaments,
the shell being thinner, and the meat of a sweeter flavour. The
ashes, also, of the mitulus, like those of the murex, are possessed
of certain caustic properties, and are very useful for the
removal of leprous spots, freckles, and blemishes of the skin.
They are rinsed, too, in the same manner as lead,
265 for the
removal of swellings of the eyelids, of indurations of the
membranes, and of films upon the eyes, as also of sordid ulcers
upon other parts of the body, and of pustules upon the head.
The meat of them, also, is employed as an application for bites
inflicted by dogs.
As to pelorides,
266 they act as a gentle laxative upon the
bowels, an effect equally produced by castoreum, taken in doses
of two drachmæ, in hydromel: where, however, a more drastic
purgative is required, one drachma of dried garden-cucumber
root is added, and two drachmæ of aphronitrum.
267 The
tethea
268 is good for griping pains in the bowels and for attacks
of flatulency: they are generally found adhering to the leaves
of marine plants, sucking their nutriment therefrom, and may
be rather looked upon as a sort of fungus than as a fish. They
are useful, also, for the removal of tenesmus and of diseases of
the kidneys.
There grows also in the sea a kind of absinthium, known by
some persons as "seriphum,"
269 and found in the vicinity of
Taposiris,
270 in Egypt, more particularly. It is of a more
slender form than the land absinthium, acts as a purgative
upon the bowels, and effectually removes intestinal worms.
The sæpia, too, is a laxative; for which purpose these fish are
administered
271 with the food, boiled with a mixture of oil, salt,
and meal. Salted mænæ,
272 applied with bull's gall to the navel,
acts as a purgative upon the bowels.
The liquor of fish, boiled in the saucepan with lettuces, dispels
tenesmus. River-crabs,
273 beaten up and taken with water, act
astringently upon the bowels, and they have a diuretie effect, if
taken with white wine. Deprived of the legs, and taken in
doses of three oboli with myrrh and iris, one drachma of each,
they disperse urinary calculi. For the cure of the iliac passion
and of attacks of flatulency, castoreum
274 should be taken,
with seed of daucus
275 and of parsley, a pinch in three fingers
of each, the whole being mixed with four cyathi of warm
honied wine. Griping pains in the bowels should be treated
with castoreum and a mixture of dill and wine. The fish
called "erythinus,"
276 used as food, acts astringently upon the
bowels. Dysentery is cured by taking frogs boiled with squills,
and prepared in the form of boluses, or else hearts of frogs
beaten up with honey, as Niceratus
277 recommends. For the
cure of jaundice, salt fish should be taken with pepper, the
patient abstaining from all other kinds of meat.
CHAP. 32.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN, FOR URINARY CALCULI, AND FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE BLADDER. THE SOLE: ONE REMEDY. THE TURBOT: ONE REMEDY. THE BLENDIUS: ONE REMEDY. THE SEA-NETTLE: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE PULMO MARINUS: SIX REMEDIES. ONYCHES: FOUR REMEDIES.
For the cure of spleen diseases, the fish known as the sole
278
is applied to that part; the torpedo,
279 also, or else a live turbot;
280
it being then set at liberty in the sea. The seascorpion,
281
killed in wine, is a cure for diseases of the bladder
and for urinary calculi; the stone, also, that is found in the
tail
282 of this last fish, taken in drink, in doses of one obolus;
the liver of the enhydris;
283 and the ashes of the fish called
"blendius;
284 taken with rue. In the head, too, of the fish
called "bacchus,"
285 there are found certain small stones, as it
were: these, taken in water, six in number, are an excellent
cure for urinary calculi. They say, too, that the sea-nettle,
286
taken in wine, is very useful for this purpose, as also the
pulmo marinus,
287 boiled in water, The eggs of the sæpia have
a diuretic effect, and carry off pituitous humours from the
kidneys. Ruptures and convulsions are very effectually treated
by taking river-crabs,
288 bruised in asses' milk more particularly;
and urinary calculi by drinking sea-urchins pounded,
spines and all, in wine; the due proportion being one semisextarius
of wine for each urchin, and the treatment being
continued till its good effects are visible. The flesh, too, of
the sea-urchin, taken as food, is very useful as a remedy for
the same malady.
Scallops
289 also, taken as food, act detergently upon the bladder:
the male fish is by some persons called "donax," and by
others "aulos," the female being known as "onyx."
290 The
male scallop has a diuretic effect: the flesh of the female is
sweeter than that of the male, and of an uniform colour.
The eggs, too, of the sæpia promote the urinary secretions, and
act detergently upon the kidneys.
CHAP. 33.—REMEDIES FOR INTESTINAL HERNIA, AND FOR DISEASES
OF THE RECTUM. THE WATER-SNAKE: ONE REMEDY.
THE HYDRUS: ONE REMEDY. THE MULLET: ONE REMEDY.
THE PELAMIS: THREE REMEDIES.
For the cure of intestinal hernia the sea-hare is applied,
bruised with honey. The liver of the water-snake,
291 and that
of the hydrus,
292 bruised and taken in drink, are remedial for
urinary calculi. Sciatica is cured by using the pickle of the
silurus
293 as a clyster, the bowels being first thoroughly purged.
For chafing of the fundament, an application is made of heads
of mullets and surmullets, reduced to ashes; for which purpose
they are calcined in an earthen vessel, and must be applied
in combination with honey. Calcined heads, too, of
the fish known as mænæ
294 are useful for the cure of chaps
and condylomata; as also heads of salted pelamides,
295 reduced
to ashes, or calcined cybium,
296 applied with honey.
The torpedo,
297 applied topically, reduces procidence of the
rectum. River-crabs,
298 reduced to ashes, and applied with oil
and wax, are curative of chaps of the fundament: sea-crabs,
too, are equally useful for the purpose.
CHAP. 34.—REMEDIES FOR INFLAMED TUMOURS, AND FOR DISEASES
OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. THE SCIÆNA: ONE REMEDY.
THE PERCH: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SQUATINA: THREE REMEDIES.
THE SMARIS: THREE REMEDIES.
The pickle of the coracinus
299 disperses inflammatory tumours;
an effect which is equally produced by using the cal-
cined intestines and scales of the sciæna.
300 The sea-scorpion,
301
too, is used for the same purpose, boiled in wine, and applied
as a fomentation to the part affected. Shells of sea-urchins,
bruised and applied with water, act as a check upon incipient
inflammatory tumours. Ashes of the murex, or of the purple,
are employed in either case, whether it is wanted to disperse
inflammatory tumours in an incipient state, or to bring them
to a head and break them. Some authorities prescribe the following
preparation: of wax and frankincense twenty drachmæ,
of litharge forty drachmæ, of calcined murex ten drachmæ,
and of old oil, one semisextarius. Salt fish, boiled and applied
by itself, is highly useful for the above purposes.
River crabs, bruised and applied, disperse pustules on the
generative organs: the same, too, with calcined heads of
mænæ,
302 or the flesh of that fish, boiled and applied. Heads
of salted perch,
303 reduced to ashes, and applied with honey, are
equally useful for the purpose; or else calcined heads of pelamides,
304
or skin of the squatina reduced to ashes.
305 It is the
skin of this fish that is used, as already
306 stated, for giving a
polish to wood; for the sea even, we find, furnishes its aid to our
artificers. For a similar purpose the fishes called "smarides"
307
are applied topically; as also ashes of the shell of the murex
or of the purple, applied with honey; which last are still more
efficacious when the flesh has been burnt with the shell.
Salt fish, boiled with honey, is particularly good for the
cure of carbuncles upon the generative organs. For relaxation
of the testes, the slime
308 of snails is recommended, applied in
the form of a liniment.
The flesh of hippocampi,
309 grilled and taken frequently as
food, is a cure for incontinence of urine; the ophidion,
310 too,
a little fish similar to the conger in appearance, eaten with a
lily root; or the small fry found in the bellies of larger fish
that have swallowed them, reduced to ashes and taken in
water. It is recommended, too, to burn
311 African snails, both
shells and flesh, and to administer the ashes with wine
312 of
Signia.
CHAP. 36.—REMEDIES FOR GOUT, AND FOR PAINS IN THE FEET.
THE BEAVER: FOUR REMEDIES. BRYON: ONE REMEDY.
For the cure of gout and of diseases of the joints, oil is
useful in which the intestines of frogs have been boiled.
Ashes, too, of burnt bramble-frogs
313 are similarly employed,
with stale grease; in addition to which, some persons use calcined
barley, the three ingredients being mixed in equal proportions.
It is recommended too, in cases of gout, to rub the
parts affected with a sea-hare,
314 fresh caught, and to wear
shoes made of beaver's skin, Pontic beaver more particularly,
or else of sea-calf's
315 skin, an animal the fat of which is very
useful for the purpose: the same being the case also with bryon,
a plant of which we have already spoken,
316 similar to the lettuce
in appearance, but with more wrinkled leaves, and destitute
of stem. This plant is of a styptic nature, and, applied topically,
it tends to modify the paroxysms of gout. The same,
too, with sea-weed, of which we have also spoken already;
317
due precaution being taken not to apply it dry.
Chilblains are cured by applying the pulmo marinus;
318 ashes
of sea-crabs with oil; river crabs,
319 bruised and burnt to ashes
and kneaded up with oil; or else fat of the silurus.
320 In
diseases of the joints, the paroxysms are modified by applying
fresh frogs every now and then: some authorities recommend
that they should be split asunder before being applied. The
liquor from mussels
321 and other shell-fish has a tendency to
make flesh.
CHAP. 37.—REMEDIES FOR EPILEPSY.
Epileptic patients, as already
322 stated, are recommended to
drink the rennet of the sea-calf,
323 mixed with mares' milk or
asses' milk, or else with pomegranate juice, or, in some cases,
with oxymel: some persons, too, swallow the rennet by itself,
in the form of pills. Castoreum
324 is sometimes administered, in
three cyathi of oxymel, to the patient fasting; but where the
attacks are frequent, it is employed in the form of a clyster,
with marvellous effect. The proper proportions, in this last case,
are two drachmæ of castoreum, one sextarius of oil and honey,
and the same quantity of water. At the moment that the
patient is seized with a fit, it is a good plan to give him castoreum,
with vinegar, to smell. The liver, too, of the sea-
weasel
325
is given to epileptic patients, or else that of sea-mice,
326
or the blood of tortoises.
CHAP. 38. (10.)—REMEDIES FOR FEVERS. THE FISH CALLED
ASELLUS: ONE REMEDY. THE PHAGRUS: ONE REMEDY. THE
BALÆNA: ONE REMEDY.
Recurrent fevers are effectually checked by making the patient
taste the liver of a dolphin, just before the paroxysm
comes on. Hippocampi
327 are stifled in oil of roses, and the patients
are rubbed therewith in cold agues, the fish, also, being
worn as an amulet by the patient. In the same way, too, the
small stones that are found at full moon in the head of the fish
called "asellus"
328 are worn, attached in a piece of linen cloth
to the patient's body. A similar virtue is attributed to the
longest tooth of the river-fish called phagrus,
329 attached to
the patient with a hair, provided he does not see the person
who attaches it to him for five days. Frogs are boiled in oil
in a spot where three roads meet, and, the flesh being first
thrown away, the patients are rubbed with the decoction, by
way of cure for quartan fever. Some persons, again, suffocate
frogs in oil, and, after attaching them to the patient without
his knowing it, anoint him with the oil. The heart of a frog,
worn as an amulet, modifies the cold chills in fevers; the
same, too, with oil in which the intestines of frogs have been
boiled. But the best remedy for quartan fevers, is to wear
attached to the body either frogs from which the claws have
been
330 removed, or else the liver or heart of a bramble-frog,
331
attached in a piece of russet-coloured cloth.
River-crabs,
332 bruised in oil and water, are highly beneficial
in fevers, the patient being anointed with the preparation just
before the paroxysms come on: some authorities recommend
the addition of pepper to the mixture. Others prescribe for
quartan fevers a decoction of river-crabs in wine, boiled down
to one fourth, the patient taking it at the moment of leaving
the bath: by some, too, it is recommended to swallow the left
eye of a river-crab. The magicians engage to cure a tertian
fever, by attaching as an amulet to the patient, before sunrise,
the eyes of river-crabs, the crabs when thus blinded being set
at liberty in the water. They say, too, that these eyes, attached
to the body in a piece of deer's hide, with the flesh of a
nightingale,
333 will dispel sleep and promote watchfulness. In
cases where there are symptoms of lethargy, the rennet of the
balæna
334 or of the sea-calf
335 is given to the patient to smell;
some persons, too, use the blood of tortoises as a liniment for
lethargic patients.
Tertian fevers, it is said, may be cured by wearing one of
the vertebræ
336 of a perch attached to the body, and quartan
fevers by using fresh river snails, as an aliment. Some persons
preserve these snails in salt for this purpose, and give
them, pounded, in drink.
CHAP. 39.—REMEDIES FOR LETHARGY, CACHEXY, AND DROPSY.
Strombi,
337 left to putrefy in vinegar, act as an excitant upon
lethargic patients by their smell; they are very useful, too,
for the cure of cardiac diseases. For cachectic patients, where
the body is wasting with consumption, tetheæ
338 are considered
beneficial, mixed with rue and honey. For the cure of
dropsy, dolphin's fat is melted and taken with wine, the repulsive
taste of it being neutralized by first touching the
nostrils with unguent or some other odoriferous substance, or
else by plugging the nostrils in some way or other. The flesh
of strombi, pounded and given in three heminæ of honied
wine and the same quantity of water, or, if there is fever,
in hydromel, is very useful for dropsy: the same, too, with
the juice of river-crabs, administered with honey. Water
frogs, too, are boiled with old wine and spelt,
339 and taken as
food, the liquor in which they have been boiled being drunk
from the same vessel: or else the feet, head, and tail of a
tortoise are cut off, and the intestines removed, the rest of
the flesh being seasoned in such a manner as to allow of
its being taken without loathing. River-crabs, too, eaten with
their broth, are said to be very good for the cure of phthisis.
CHAP. 40.—REMEDIES FOR BURNS AND FOR ERYSIPELAS.
Burns are cured by applying ashes of calcined sea-crabs or
river-crabs with oil: fish-glue, too, and calcined frogs are
used as an application for scalds produced by boiling water.
The same treatment also restores the hair, provided the ashes
are those of river-crabs: it is generally thought, too, that the
preparation should be applied with wax and bears' grease.
Ashes, too, of burnt beaver-skin are very useful for these
purposes. Live frogs act as a check upon crysipelas, the belly
side being applied to the part affected: it is recommended,
too, to attach them lengthwise by the hinder legs, so as to
render them more beneficial by reason of their increased respiration.
340
Heads, too, of salted siluri
341 are reduced to ashes
and applied with vinegar.
Prurigo and itch-scab, not only in man but in quadrupeds
as well, are most efficaciously treated with the liver of the
pastinaca
342 boiled in oil.
CHAP. 41.—REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SINEWS.
The exterior callosity with which the flesh of purples is
covered, beaten up, unites the sinews, even when they have
been severed asunder. It is a good plan, for patients suffering
from tetanus, to take sea-calf's rennet in wine, in doses of one
obolus, as also fish-glue.
343 Persons affected with fits of trembling
find much relief from castoreum,
344 provided they are
well anointed with oil. I find it stated that the surmullet,
345
used as an article of diet, acts injuriously upon the sinews.
CHAP. 42.—METHODS OF ARRESTING HÆMORRHAGE AND OF LETTING BLOOD. THE POLYP: ONE REMEDY.
Fish, used as an aliment, it is generally thought, make
blood. The polyp,
346 bruised and applied, arrests hæmorrhage,
it is thought: in addition to which we find stated the following
particulars respecting it—that of itself it emits a sort of
brine, in consequence of which, there is no necessity to use
any in cooking it—that it should always be sliced with a reed
—and that it is spoilt by using an iron knife, becoming tainted
thereby, owing to the antipathy
347 which naturally exists
(between it and iron). For the purpose also of arresting
hæmorrhage, ashes of burnt frogs are applied topically, or else
the dried blood of those animals. Some authorities recommend
the frog to be used, that is known by the Greeks as
"calamites,"
348 from the fact that it lives among reeds
349 and
shrubs; it is the smallest and greenest of all the frogs, and
either the blood or the ashes of it are recommended to be employed.
Others, again, prescribe, in cases of bleeding at the
nostrils, an injection of the ashes of young water-frogs, in the
tadpole state, calcined in a new carthen vessel.
On the other hand, again, in cases where it is required to
let blood, the kind of leech is used which is known among
us by the name of "sanguisuga.
350" Indeed, the action of
these leeches is looked upon as pretty much the same as that
of the cupping-glasses
351 used in medicine, their effect being to
relieve the body of superfluous blood, and to open the pores of
the skin. Still, however, there is this inconvenience attending
them—when they have been once applied, they create a
necessity
352 for laving recourse to the same treatment at about
the same period in every succeeding year. Many physicians
have been of opinion also, that leeches may be successfully applied
in cases of gout. When gorged, they fall off in consequence
of los<*>ag their hold through the weight of the blood,
but if not, they must be sprinkled with salt
353 for the purpose.
Leeches ar apt, however, to leave their heads buried in the
flesh; the consequence of which is an incurable wound, which
has caused death in many cases, that of Messalinus,
354 for example,
a patrician of consular rank, after an application of
leeches to his knee. When this is the case, that which was
intended as a remedy is turned into an active poison;
355 a result
which is to be apprehended in using the red leeches more
particularly. Hence it is that when these last are employed,
it is the practice to snip them with a pair of scissors while
sucking; the consequence of which is, that the blood oozes
forth, through a siphon, as it were, and the head, gradually
contracting as the animal dies, is not left behind in the wound.
There is a natural antipathy
356 existing between leeches and
bugs, and hence it is that the latter are killed by the aid
of a fumigation made with leeches. Ashes of beaver-skin
burnt with tar, kneaded up with leek-juice, arrest bleeding at
the nostrils.
CHAP. 43.—METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN BODIES FROM
THE FLESH.
To extract pointed weapons which have pierced the flesh,
ashes of calcined shells of the sæpia are used, as also of the
purple, the meat of salted fish, bruised river-crabs, or flesh
of the silurus
357 (a river-fish that is found in other streams
as well as the Nilus
358), applied either fresh or salted. The
ashes also of this fish, as well as the fat, have the property of
extracting pointed bodies, and the back-bone, in a calcined
state, is used as a substitute for spodium.
359
CHAP. 44.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CARBUNCLES.
Ulcers of a serpiginous nature, as also the fleshy excrescences
which make their appearance in them, are kept in check by
applying ashes of calcined heads of mænæ,
360 or else ashes of
the silurus.
361 Carcinomata, too, are treated with heads of
salted perch, their efficacy being considerably increased by
using some salt along with the ashes, and kneading them up
with heads of cunila
362 and olive-oil. Ashes of sea-crabs, calcined
with lead, arrest the progress of carcinomatous sores: a
purpose for which ashes of river-crabs, in combination with
honey and fine lint, are equally useful; though there are some
authorities which prefer mixing alum and barley with the
ashes. Phagedænic ulcers are cured by an application of
dried silurus pounded with sandarach;
363 malignant cancers,
corrosive ulcers, and putrid sores, by the agency of stale
cybium.
364
Maggots that breed in sores are removed by applying frogs'
gall; and fistulas are opened and dried by introducing a tent
made of salt fish, with a dossil of lint. Salt fish, kneaded up
and applied in the form of a plaster, will remove all proud
flesh in the course of a day, and will arrest the further progress
of putrid and serpiginous ulcers. Alex,
365 applied in
lint, acts detergently, also, upon ulcers; the same, too, with the
ashes of calcined shells of sea-urchins. Salted slices of the
coracinus
366 disperse carbuncles, an effect equally produced by
the ashes of salted surmullets.
367 Some persons, however, use
the head only of the surmullet, in combination with honey
or with the flesh of the coracinus. Ashes of the murex, applied
with oil, disperse tumours, and the gall of the sea-scorpion
makes scars disappear.
CHAP. 45.—REMEDIES FOR WARTS, AND FOR MALFORMED NAILS.
THE GLANIS: ONE REMEDY.
To remove warts, the liver of the glanis
368 is applied to the
part; ashes also of heads of mænæ
369 bruised with garlic—
substances which should be used raw where it is thymewarts
370
that require to be removed—the gall of the red seascorpion,
371
smarides
372 pounded and applied, or alex
373 thoroughly
boiled. Ashes of calcined heads of mænæ
374 are used to rectify
malformed nails.
CHAP. 46.—REMEDIES FOR FEMALE DISEASES. THE GLAUCISCUS:
ONE REMEDY.
The milk is increased in females by eating the glauciscus
375
in its own liquor, or else smarides
376 with a ptisan, or boiled
with fennel. Ashes of calcined shells of the murex or purple,
applied with honey, are an effectual cure for affections of the
mamillæ; river-crabs, too, and sea-crabs, applied topically, are
equally good. The meat of the murex, applied to the mamillæ,
removes hairs
377 growing upon those parts. The squatina,
378
applied topically, prevents the mamillæ from becoming too distended.
Lint greased with dolphin's
379 fat, and then ignited,
produces a smoke which acts as an excitant upon females
suffering from hysterical suffocations; the same, too, with
strombi,
380 left to putrefy in vinegar. Heads of perch or of
mænæ,
381 calcined and mixed with salt, oil, and cunila,
382 are
curative of diseases of the uterus: used as a fumigation, they
bring away the afterbirth. Fat,
383 too, of the sea-calf, melted
by the agency of fire, is introduced into the nostrils of females
when swooning from hysterical suffocations; and for a similar
purpose, the rennet of that animal is applied as a pessary, in
wool.
The pulmo marinus,
384 attached to the body as an amulet, is
an excellent promoter of menstruation; an effect which is
equally produced by pounding live sea-urchins, and taking
them in sweet wine. River-crabs,
385 bruised in wine, and taken
internally, arrest menstruation. The silurus,
386 that of Africa
387
more particularly, used as a fumigation, facilitates parturition,
it is said. Crabs, taken in water, arrest menstruation; but
used with hyssop, they act as an emmenagogue, we are told.
In cases, too, where the infant is in danger of suffocation at
the moment of delivery, a similar drink, administered to the
mother, is highly efficacious. Crabs, too, either fresh or dried,
are taken in drink, for the purpose of preventing abortion.
Hippocrates
388 prescribes them as a promoter of menstruation,
and as an expellent of the dead fœtus, beaten up with five
389
roots of lapathum and rue and some soot, and administered
in honied wine. Crabs, boiled and taken in their liquor,
with lapathum
390 and parsley, promote the menstrual discharge,
and increase the milk. In cases of fever, attended
with pains in the head and throbbing of the eyes, crabs are
said to be highly beneficial to females, given in astringent
wine.
Castoreum,
391 taken in honied wine, is useful as a promoter
of menstruation: in cases of hysterical suffocation, it is given
to the patient to smell at with pitch and vinegar, or else it is
made up into tablets and used as a pessary. For the purpose
also of bringing away the afterbirth it is found a useful plan
to employ castoreum with panax,
392 in four cyathi of wine;
and in cases where the patient is suffering from cold, in doses
of three oboli. If, however, a female in a state of pregnancy
should happen to step over castoreum, or over the beaver itself,
abortion, it is said, will be the sure result: so, too, if castoreum
is only held over a pregnant woman's head, there will be
great danger of miscarriage.
There is a very marvellous fact, too, that I find stated in
reference to the torpedo:
393 if it is caught at the time that the
moon is in Libra, and kept in the open air for three days, it
will always facilitate parturition, as often as it is introduced
into the apartment of a woman in labour. The sting, too, of
the pastinaca,
394 attached to the navel, is generally thought to
have the property of facilitating delivery: it must be taken,
however, from the fish while alive; which done, the fish must
be returned to the sea. I find it stated by some authorities that
there is a substance called "ostraceum," which is also spoken
of as "onyx"
395 by others; that, used as a fumigation, it is
wonderfully beneficial for suffocations of the uterus; that in
smell it resembles castoreum, and is still more efficacious, if
burnt with this last substance; and that in a calcined state it
has the property of healing inveterate ulcers, and cancerous
sores of a malignant nature. As to carbuncles and carcinomatous
sores upon the secret parts of females, there is nothing
more efficacious, it is said, than a female crab beaten up, just
after full moon, with flower of salt
396 and applied with water.
CHAP. 47.—METHODS OF REMOVING SUPERFLUOUS HAIR.
DEPILATORIES.
Depilatories are prepared from the blood, gall, and liver of the
tunny, either fresh or preserved; as also from pounded liver of
the same fish, preserved with cedar resin
397 in a leaden box; a re-
cipe which we find given by the midwife Salpe
398 for disguising
the age of boys on sale for slaves. A similar property belongs
to the pulmo marinus,
399 to the blood and gall of the sea-hare,
and to the sea-hare itself, stifled in oil. The same, too, with
ashes of burnt crabs or sea scolopendræ,
400 mixed with oil;
sea-nettles,
401 bruised in squill vinegar; and brains of the torpedo
402
applied with alum on the sixteenth day of the moon.
The thick matter emitted by the small frogs, which we have
described when treating
403 of eye-diseases, is a most efficient
depilatory, if applied fresh: the same, too, with the frog itself,
dried and pounded, and then boiled down to one-third in three
heminæ of water, or else boiled in a copper vessel with oil in a
like proportion. Others, again, prepare a depilatory from fifteen
frogs, in manner already
404 stated under the head of remedies
for the eyes. Leeches, also, grilled in an earthen vessel, and
applied with vinegar, have the same property as a depilatory;
the very odour, too, which attaches to the persons who thus burn
them is singularly efficacious for killing bugs.
405 Cases are to be
found, too, where persons have used castoreum with honey,
for many days together, as a depilatory. In the case, however,
of every depilatory, the hairs should always be removed before
it is applied.
CHAP. 48.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.
Dentition in infants is promoted, and the gums greatly relieved,
by rubbing them with ashes of a dolphin's teeth,
mixed with honey, or else by touching the gums with the tooth
itself of that fish. One of these teeth, worn as an amulet, is
a preventive of sudden frights;
406 the tooth of the dog-fish
407
being also possessed of a similar property. As to ulcers which
make their appearance in the ears, or in any other parts of the
body, they may be cured by applying the liquor of river-crabs,
408
with barley-meal. These crabs, too, bruised in oil and employed
as a friction, are very useful for other kinds of maladies. A
sponge moistened with cold water from time to time,
409 or a frog
applied, the back part to the head, is a most efficacious cure for
siriasis
410 in infants. When the frog is removed, it will be found
quite dry, they say.
CHAP. 49.—METHODS OF PREVENTING INTOXICATION. THE FISH
CALLED RUBELLIO: ONE REMEDY. THE EEL: ONE REMEDY. THE
GRAPE-FISH: ONE REMEDY.
A surmullet
411 stifled in wine; the fish called "rubellio;"
412 or
a couple of eels similarly treated; or a grapefish,
413 left to putrefy
in wine, all of them, produce an aversion to wine in those
who drink thereof.
CHAP. 50.—ANTAPHRODISIACS AND APHRODISIACS. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS:
ONE REMEDY. THE CROCODILE: ONE REMEDY.
In the number of antaphrodisiacs, we have the echeneïs;
414 the
skin from the left side of the forehead of the hippopotamus,
415
attached to the body in lamb-skin; and the gall of a live torpedo,
416
applied to the generative organs.
The following substances act as aphrodisiacs—the flesh of
river-snails, preserved in salt and given to drink in wine; the
erythinus
417 taken as food; the liver of the frog called "diopetes"
or "calamites"
418 attached to the body in a small piece of crane's
skin; the eye-tooth of a crocodile, attached to the arm; the
hippocampus;
419 and the sinews of a bramble-frog,
420 worn as
an amulet upon the right arm. A bramble-frog, attached to
the body in a piece of fresh sheep-skin, effectually puts an end
to love.
CHAP. 51.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF ANIMALS.
A decoction of frogs in water, reduced to the form of a lini-
ment, is curative of itch-scab in horses; indeed, it is said, that
a horse, when once treated in this manner, will never again
be attacked with the disease. Salpe says that if a live frog
is given to dogs in their mess, they will lose the power of
barking.
CHAP. 52.—OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTIONS. ADARCA OR CALAMOCHNOS:
THREE REMEDIES. REEDS: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE
INK OF THE SÆPIA.
Among the aquatic productions ought also to be mentioned
calamochnos, in Latin known as "adarea,"
421 a substance which
collects about small reeds, from a mixture of the foam of fresh
and of sea water. It possesses certain caustic properties, and
hence it is that it is so useful as an ingredient in "acopa"
422
and as a remedy for cold shiverings; it is used too, for removing
freckles upon the face of females. And now we are
speaking of adarca, the reed ought equally to be mentioned. The
root of that known as the "phragmites,"
423 pounded fresh, is
curative of sprains, and, applied topically with vinegar, removes
pains in the spine. The calcined bark, too, of the
Cyprian
424 reed, known as the "donax," is curative of alopecy
and inveterate ulcers; and its leaves are good for the extraction
of foreign bodies adhering to the flesh, and for the cure
of erysipelas: should, however, the flower of the panicle happen
to enter the ears, deafness
425 is the consequence.
The ink of the sæpia
426 is possessed of such remarkable potency,
that if it is put into a lamp, Anaxilaüs tells us, the light
will become entirely changed,
427 and all present will look
as black as Æthiopians. The bramble-frog, boiled in water,
and given to swine with their drink, is curative of the maladies
with which they are affected; an effect equally produced by
the ashes of any other kind of frog. If wood is rubbed with
the pulmo marinus,
428 it will have all the appearance of being
on fire; so much so, indeed, that a walking-stick, thus treated,
will light the way like a torch.
429
CHAP. 53. (11.)—THE NAMES OF ALL THE ANIMALS THAT EXIST
IN THE SEA, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX IN NUMBER.
Having now completed our exposition of the properties which
belong to the aquatic productions, it would appear by no means
foreign to my purpose to give a list of the various animated
beings which inhabit the seas; so many as these are in number,
of such vast extent, and not only making their way into
the interior of the land to a distance of so many miles, but also
surrounding the exterior of it to an extent almost equal to that
of the world itself. These animals, it is generally considered,
embrace one hundred and seventy-six different
430 species, and it
will be my object to set them forth, each by its distinct name,
a thing that cannot possibly be done in reference to the terrestrial
animals and the birds.
For, in fact, we are by no means acquainted with all the
wild beasts or all the birds that are to be found in India, Æthiopia,
Scythia, or the desert regions of the earth; and even of
man himself there are numerous varieties, which as yet we
have been unable
431 to make ourselves acquainted with. In addition,
too, to the various countries above mentioned, we have
Taprobane
432 and other isles of the Ocean, about which so many
fabulous stories are related. Surely then, every one must allow
that it is quite impossible to comprise every species of animal in
one general view for the information of mankind. And yet, by
Hercules! in the sea and in the Ocean, vast as it is, there exists
nothing that is unknown to us,
433 and, a truly marvellous fact,
it is with those things which Nature has concealed in the deep
that we are the best acquainted!
To begin then with the monsters
434 that are found in this ele-
ment. We here find sea-trees,
435 physeters,
436 balænæ,
437 pistrices,
438
tritons,
439 nereids,
440 elephants,
441 the creatures known as seamen,
442
sea-wheels,
443 oreæ,
444 sea-rams,
445 musculi,
446 other fish too
with the form of rams,
447 dolphins,
448 sea-calves,
449 so celebrated by
Homer,
450 tortoises
451 to minister to our luxury, and beavers, so
extensively employed in medicine,
452 to which class belongs
the otter,
453 an animal which we nowhere find frequenting the
sea, it being only of the marine animals that we are speaking.
There are dog-fish,
454 also, drinones,
455 cornutæ,
456 swordfish,
457
saw-fish,
458 hippopotami
459 and crocodiles,
460 common to the
sea, the land, and the rivers; tunnies
461 also, thynnides, siluri,
462
coracini,
463 and perch,
464 common to the sea only and to rivers.
To the sea only, belong also the acipenser,
465 the dorade,
466
the asellus,
467 the acharne,
468 the aphye,
469 the alopex,
470 the
eel,
471 the araneus,
472 the boca,
473 the batia,
474 the bacchus,
475 the batrachus,
476
the belonæ,
477 known to us as "aculeati,"
478 the balanus,
479
the corvus,
480 the citharus, the least esteemed of all the
turbots, the chalcis,
481 the cobio,
482 the callarias,
483 which would
belong to the genus of the aselli
484 were it not smaller; the
colias,
485 otherwise known as the fish of Parium
486 or of Sexita,
487
this last from a place of that name in Bætica its native region,
the smallest, too, of the lacerti;
488 the colias of the
Mæotis, the next smallest of the lacerti; the cybium,
489 (the
name given, when cut into pieces, to the pelamis
490 which returns
at the end of forty days from the Euxine to the Palus
Mæotis); the cordyla
491—which is also a small pelamis, so
called at the time when it enters the Euxine from the Palus
Mæotis—the cantharus,
492 the callionymus
493 or uranoscopus,
the cinædus, the only
494 fish that is of a yellow colour; the
cnide, known to us as the sea-nettle;
495 the different kinds of
crabs,
496 the striated chemæ,
497 the smooth chemæ, the chemæ
belonging to the genus of pelorides,
498 all differing in the variety
of their colours and in the roundness of the shells; the
chemæ glycymarides,
499 still larger than the pelorides; the coluthia
or coryphia;
500 the various kinds of shellfish, among
which we find the pearl oysters,
501 the cochleæ,
502 (belonging to
which class are the pentadactyli,
503) the helices,
504 by some known
as actinophori, the spokes
505 on whose shells are used for musical
purposes;
506 and, in addition to these, the round cochleæ, the
shells of which are used in measuring oil, as also the seacucumber,
507 the cynopos,
508 the cammarus,
509 and the cynosdexia.
510
Next to these we have the sea-dragon,
511 a fish which, according
to some, is altogether distinct from the dracunculus,
512 and
resembles the gerricula in appearance, it having on the gills a
stickle which points towards the tail and inflicts a wound like
that of the scorpion
513 when the fish is handled—the erythinus,
514
the echeneïs,
515 the sea-urchin,
516 the sea-elephant, a black
kind of crayfish, with four forked legs, in addition to two
arms with double joints, and furnished, each of them, with
a pair of claws, indented at the edge; the faber,
517 also, or
zæus, the glauciscus,
518 the glanis,
519 the gonger,
520 the gerres,
521
the galeos,
522 the garos,
523 the hippos,
524 the hippuros,
525 the hirundo,
526
the halipleumon,
527 the hippocampus,
528 the hepar,
529 the
ictinus
530 and the iulis.
531 There are various kinds also of lacerti,
532
the springing loligo,
533 the crayfish,
534 the lantern-fish,
535
the lepas,
536 the larinus, the sea-hare,
537 and the sea-lion,
538 with
arms like those of the crab, and in the other parts of the body
like the cray-fish.
We have the surmullet
539 also, the sea black-bird,
540 highly
esteemed among the rock-fish; the mullet,
541 the melanurus,
542
the mæna,
543 the mæotis,
544 the muræna,
545 the mys,
546 the mitulus,
547
the myiscus,
548 the murex,
549 the oculata,
550 the ophidion,
551
the oyster,
552 the otia,
553 the orcynus—the largest of all the pelamides
554 and one that never returns to the Palus Mæotis, like
the tritomus
555 in appearance, and best when old—the orbis,
556
the orthagoriscus,
557 the phager,
558 the phycis
559 a rock-fish, the
pelamis,
560 (the largest kind of which is called "apolectum,"
561
and is tougher than the tritomus) the sea-pig,
562 the phthir,
563
the sea-sparrow,
564 the pastinaca,
565 the several varieties of the
polyp,
566 the scallop,
567 which is larger and more swarthy in
summer than at other times, and the most esteemed of which
are those of Mitylene,
568 Tyndaris,
569 Salonæ,
570 Altinum,
571 the
island of Chios, and Alexandria in Egypt; the small scallop,
572
the purple,
573 the pegris,
574 the pinna,
575 the pinnotheres,
576 the
rhine
577 or squalus of the Latins, the turbot,
578 the scarus
579 a
fish which holds the first rank at the present day; the sole,
580 the
sargus,
581 the squilla,
582 the sarda
583—such being the name of an
elongated pelamis
584 which comes from the Ocean; the scomber,
585
the salpa,
586 the sorus,
587 the scorpæna,
588 the sea-scorpion,
589 the solas,
590
the sciæna,
591 the sciadeus,
592 the scolopendra,
593 the smyrus,
594
the sæpia,
595 the strombus,
596 the solen,
597 otherwise known as the
aulos, donax, onyx or dactylus; the spondylus,
598 the smaris,
599
the starfish,
600 and the sponges.
601 There is the sea-thrush
602 also,
famous among the rock-fish, the thynnis,
603 the thranis, by some
writers known as the xiphias;
604 the thrissa,
605 the torpedo,
606 the
tethea,
607 the tritomus, a large kind of pelamis,
608 which admits
of being cut into three cybia;
609 the shells of Venus,
610 the grapefish,
611
and the xiphias.
612
CHAP. 54.—ADDITIONAL NAMES OF FISHES FOUND IN THE POEM
OF OVID.
To the above enumeration we will add some names given in
the poem of Ovid,
613 which are not to be found in any other
writer: species, however, which are probably peculiar to the
Euxine, on the shores
614 of which he commenced that work
towards the close of his life. The fishes thus mentioned by
him are the sea-ox, the cercyrus, that dwells among the rocks,
the orphus,
615 the red erythinus,
616 the iulus,
617 the tinted mormyr,
the chrysophrys
618 a fish of a golden colour, the parus,
619
the tragus,
620 the melanurus
621 remarkable for the beauty of its
tail, and the epodes,
622 a flat fish.
In addition to these remarkable kinds of fishes, the same
poet tells us that the channes
623 conceives of itself, that the
glaucus
624 never makes its appearance in summer, that the pompilus
625 always accompanies vessels in their course, and that
the chromis
626 makes its nest in the water. The helops, he
says, is unknown to our waters; from which it would appear
that those are in error who look upon it as identical with our
acipenser.
627 Many persons have given the preference to the
helops before all other fish, in point of flavour.
There are several fishes also, which have been mentioned by
no author; such, for instance, as the one called "sudis" by
the Latins, and "sphyrene" by the Greeks, names which indicate
the peculiar form of its muzzle.
628 It is one of the very
largest kinds, but rarely found, and by no means of inferior
flavour. "Perna," too, is the name given to a kind of shellfish,
found in vast numbers in the vicinity of the islands of the
Euxine. These fish are found firmly planted in the sand, resembling
in appearance the long shank
629 of a hog. Opening
wide their shells, where there is sufficient space, they lie in
wait for their prey; this opening being not less than a foot in
breadth, and the edges of it garnished around with teeth
closely set, much resembling the teeth of a comb in form.
Within the shell, the meat consists of a vast lump of flesh.
I once saw, too, a fish called the "hyæna,"
630 which had been
caught off the island of Ænaria.
631
In addition to these animals, there are certain excretions
thrown up by the sea, which do not merit any further notice,
and indeed ought to be reckoned among the sea-weeds, rather
than looked upon as animated beings.
SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, nine
hundred and ninety.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Licinius Macer,
632 Trebius Niger,
633
Sextius Niger
634 who wrote in Greek, the Poet Ovid,
635 Cassius
Hemina,
636 Mæcenas,
637 Iacchus,
638 Sornatius.
639
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Juba,
640 Andreas,
641 Salpe,
642
Apion,
643 Pelops,
644 Apelles,
645 Thrasyllus,
646 Nicander.
647