Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXII.<a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS., CHAP. 50.—ANTAPHRODISIACS AND APHRODISIACS. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS: ONE REMEDY. THE CROCODILE: ONE REMEDY. <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. 50.—ANTAPHRODISIACS AND APHRODISIACS. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS: ONE REMEDY. THE CROCODILE: ONE REMEDY.

In the number of antaphrodisiacs, we have the echeneïs;¹ the skin from the left side of the forehead of the hippopotamus,² attached to the body in lamb-skin; and the gall of a live torpedo,³ 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 erythinus⁴ taken as food; the liver of the frog called "diopetes" or "calamites"⁵ attached to the body in a small piece of crane's skin; the eye-tooth of a crocodile, attached to the arm; the hippocampus;⁶ and the sinews of a bramble-frog,⁷ 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.

1 Or Remora. See B. ix. c. 41.

2 See B. viii. c. 39.

3 See Note 90 above.

4 See B. ix. c. 23.

5 See Chapter 24 of this Book.

6 See B. ix. c. 1.

7 "Rubeta." See B. viii. c. 48, B. xi. cc. 19, 76, 116, B. xxv. c. 76, and c. 18 of this Book.

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

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

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CHAP. 50.—ANTAPHRODISIACS AND APHRODISIACS. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS: ONE REMEDY. THE CROCODILE: ONE REMEDY.

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. 50.—ANTAPHRODISIACS AND APHRODISIACS. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS: ONE REMEDY. THE CROCODILE: ONE REMEDY.

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