Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXII.<a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS., CHAP. 48.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS. <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. 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;¹ the tooth of the dog-fish² 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,³ 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,⁴ or a frog applied, the back part to the head, is a most efficacious cure for siriasis⁵ in infants. When the frog is removed, it will be found quite dry, they say.

1 In the case of infants, probably.

2 "Canicula." See B. ix. cc. 11, 70.

3 Or "crawfish,"

4 "Crebro humefacto" seems a preferable reading to "cerebro humefacto," though supported by the Bamberg MS.

5 See B. xxii. c. 29, and B. xxx. c. 47.

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. 48.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.

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. 48.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.

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