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

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CHAP. 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 sole¹ is applied to that part; the torpedo,² also, or else a live turbot;³ it being then set at liberty in the sea. The seascorpion,⁴ killed in wine, is a cure for diseases of the bladder and for urinary calculi; the stone, also, that is found in the tail⁵ of this last fish, taken in drink, in doses of one obolus; the liver of the enhydris;⁶ and the ashes of the fish called "blendius;⁷ taken with rue. In the head, too, of the fish called "bacchus,"⁸ 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,⁹ taken in wine, is very useful for this purpose, as also the pulmo marinus,¹⁰ 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,¹¹ 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.

Scallops¹² 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."¹³ 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.

1 See B. ix. cc. 20, 24, 36.

2 See B. ix. cc. 24, 48, 67, 74, 75.

3 "Rhombus." See B. ix. cc. 20, 36, 67, 79.

4 See Chapters 23, 34, 30 and 53 of this Book.

5 Rondelet, B. vi. c. 19, suggests "capite"—"in the head" —but the present reading is supported by the text of Plinius Valerianus, B. ii. c. 39, and of Marcus Empiricus, c. 28.

6 As to the identity of the Enhydris, see Chapters 19 and 26 of the present Book : also B. xxx. c. 8.

7 Probably the βλεννὸς of Oppian, B. i. c. 108. Dalechamps identifies it with the mullet called "myxon," apparently the same fish as the "bacchus" mentioned in Chapter 25 of this Book. Rondelet appears to identify it with some other sea-fish, small, and extremely rare. On the other hand, the fish mentioned by Oppian is thought by Littré to be the "gobius" of the Latins, ("gobio" or "cobio," mentioned by Pliny in B. ix. c. 83, and in c. 53 of the present Book), which is generally considered the same as our gudgeon, and was a worthless fish, "vilis piscis," as Juvenal says. One of the Linnæan orders of fishes is called "Blennius," the blenny.

8 See B. ix. c. 28.

9 See B. ix. c. 68.

10 Or sea-lungs. See B. ix. c. 71, and B. xviii. c. 85.

11 Or crawfish.

12 "Pectines." See B. ix. cc. 51, 52, 68, 74, 112.

13 Athenæus adds a fourth name, "solen;" and a fifth was "dactylus," see B. ix. c. 87. According to Dalechamps, the name "donax" was given to one kind of scallop, from its fancied resemblance to a thick, hollow, river-reed, and that of "onyx" from the resemblance of its colour to that of the finger-nails.

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

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

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CHAP. 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.

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

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CHAP. 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.

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