Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

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  CHAP. 45.

  METHODS OF PRESERVING THE BREASTS FROM INJURY.

  Goose-grease, mixed up with oil of roses and a spider, protects the breasts after delivery. The people of Phrygia and Lycaonia have made the discovery, that the grease of the otis is good for affections of the breasts, resulting from recent de- livery: for females affected with suffocations of the uterus, they employ a liniment made of beetles. The shells of par- tridges’ eggs, burnt to ashes and mixed with cadmia and wax, preserve the firmness of the breasts. It is generally thought, that if the egg of a partridge or * * * * is passed three times round a woman’s breasts, they will never become flaccid; and that, if these eggs are swallowed, they will be productive of fruitfulness, and promote the plentiful secretion of the milk. It is believed, too, that by anointing a woman’s breasts with goose-grease, pains therein may be allayed; that moles formed in the uterus may be dispersed thereby; and that itch of the uterus may be dispelled by the application of a liniment made of crushed bugs.

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  CHAP. 46.

  VARIOUS KINDS OF DEPILATORIES.

  Bats’ blood has all the virtues of a depilatory: but if applied to the cheeks of youths, it will not be found sufficiently efficacious, unless it is immediately followed up by an application of verdigrease or hemlock-seed; this method having the effect of entirely removing the hair, or at least reducing it to the state of a fine down. It is generally thought, too, that bats’ brains are productive of a similar effect; there being two kinds of these brains, the red and the white. Some persons mix with the brains the blood and liver of the same animal: others, again, boil down a viper in three semisextarii of oil, and, after boning it, use it as a depilatory, first pulling out the hairs that are wanted not to grow. The gall of a hedgehog is a depilatory, more particularly if mixed with bats’ brains and goats’ milk: the ashes, too, of a burnt hedgehog are used for a similar purpose. If, after plucking out the hairs that arc wanted not to grow, or if, before they make their appearance, the parts are well rubbed with the milk of a bitch with her first litter, no hairs will grow there. The same result is ensured, it is said, by using the blood of a tick taken from off a dog, or else the blood or gall of a swallow.

  (15.) Ants’ eggs, they say, beaten up with flies, impart a black colour to the eyebrows. If it is considered desirable that the colour of the infant’s eyes should be black, the preg- nant woman must eat a rat. Ashes of burnt earth-worms, applied with oil, prevent the hair from turning white.

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  CHAP. 47.

  REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.

  For infants that are troubled with coagulation of the milk, a grand preservative is lamb’s rennet, taken in water; and in cases where the milk has so coagulated, it may be remedied by administering rennet in vinegar. For the pains incident to dentition, sheep’s brains are a very useful remedy. The inflammation called “siriasis,” to which infants are liable, is cured by attaching to them the bones that are found in the dung of dogs. Hernia in infants is cured by letting a green lizard bite the child’s body while asleep, after which the lizard is attached to a reed, and hung up in the smoke; by the time the animal dies, the child will be perfectly cured, it is said. The slime of snails, applied to the eyes of children, straightens the eyelashes, and makes them grow. Ashes of burnt snails, applied with frankincense and juice of white grapes, are a cure for hernia [in infants], if applied for thirty days consecutively. Within the horns of snails, there are certain hard substances found, like grits of sand: attached to infants, they facilitate dentition.

  Ashes of empty snail-shells, mixed with wax, are a preventive of procidence of the rectum; but they must be used in combination with the matter that exudes from a viper’s brains, on the head being pricked. Vipers’ brains, attached to the infant’s body in a piece of skin, facilitate dentition, a similar effect being produced by using the larger teeth of serpents. Ravens’ dung, attached to an infant with wool, is curative of cough.

  It is hardly possible to preserve one’s seriousness in describing some of these remedies, but as they have been transmitted to us, I must not pass them in silence. For the treatment of hernia in infants, a lizard is recommended; but it must be a male lizard, a thing that may be ascertained by its having but one orifice beneath the tail. The method of proceeding, is for the lizard to bite the part affected through cloth of gold, cloth of silver, and cloth dyed purple; after which it is tied fast in a cup that has never been used, and smoked. Incontinence of urine in infants is checked by giving them boiled mice with their food. The large indented horns of the scarabmus, attached to the bodies of infants, have all the virtues of an amulet. In the head of the boa; there is a small stone, they say, which the serpent spits out, when it is in fear of death: if the reptile is taken by surprise, and the head cut off, and this stone ex- tracted, it will aid dentition to a marvellous degree, attached to the neck of infants. The brains, too, of the same serpent are recommended to be attached to the body for a similar purpose, as also the small stone or bone that is found in the back of the slug.

  An admirable promoter of dentition is found in sheep’s brains, applied to the gums; and equally good for diseases of the ears, is an application of goose-grease, with juice of ocimum. Upon prickly plants there is found a kind of rough, hairy, grub: attached to the neck of infants, these insects give instant relief, it is said, when any of the food has stuck in the throat.

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  CHAP. 48.

  PROVOCATIYES OF SLEEP.

  As a soporific, wool-grease is employed, diluted in two cyathi of wine with a modicum of myrrh, or else mixed with goose-grease and myrtle wine. For a similar purpose also, a cuckoo is attached to the body in a hare’s skin, or a young heron’s bill to the forehead in an ass’s skin: it is thought, too, that the beak alone, steeped in wine, is equally efficacious. On the other hand, a bat’s head, dried and worn as an amulet, acts as a preventive of sleep.

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  CHAP. 49.

  APHRODISIACS AND ANTAPHRODISIACS.

  A lizard drowned in a man’s urine has the effect of an antaphrodisiac upon the person whose urine it is; for this animal is to be reckoned among the philtres, the magicians say. The same property is attributed to the excrements of snails, and to pigeons’ dung, taken with oil and wine. The right lobe of a vulture’s lungs, attached to the body in the skin of a crane, acts powerfully as a stimulant upon males: an effect equally produced by taking the yolks of five pigeons’ eggs, in honey, mixed with one denarius of hog’s lard; sparrows, or eggs of sparrows, with the food; or by wearing the right testicle of a cock, attached to the body in a ram’s skin. The ashes of a burnt ibis, it is said, employed as a friction with goose-grease and oil of iris, will prevent abortion when a female has once, conceived; while the testes of a game-cock, on the other hand, rubbed with goose-grease and attached to the body in a ram’s skin, have all the effect of an antaphrodisiac: the same, too, with the testes of any kind of dunghill cock, placed, together with the blood of a cock, beneath the bed. Hairs taken from the tail of a she-mule while being covered by the stallion, will make a woman conceive, against her will even, if knotted together at the moment of the sexual congress. If a man makes water upon a dog’s urine, he will become disinclined to copulation, they say.

  A singular thing, too, is what is told about the ashes of a spotted lizard — if indeed it is true — to the effect that, wrapped in linen and held in the left hand, they act as an aphrodisiac, while, on the contrary, if they are transferred to the right, they will take effect as an antaphrodisiac. A bat’s blood, too, they say, received on a flock of wool and placed beneath a woman’s head, will promote sexual desire; the same being the case also with a goose’s tongue, taken with the food or drink.

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  CHAP. 50.

  REMEDIES FOR PHTHIRIASIS, AND FOR VARIOUS OTHER AFFECTIONS.
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  In phthiriasis, all the vermin upon the body may be killed in the course of three days, by taking the cast-off slough of a serpent, in drink, or else whey of milk after the cheese is removed, with a little salt, Cheese, it is said, will never become rotten with age or be touched by mice, if a weasel’s brains have been mixed with the rennet. It is asserted, too, that if the ashes, of a burnt weasel are mixed with the cramming for chickens or young pigeons, they will be safe from the attacks of weasels. Beasts of burden, when troubled with pains in staling, find immediate relief, if a bat is attached to the body; and they are effectually cured of bots by passing a ring-dove three times round their generative parts — a truly marvellous thing to relate, the ring-dove, on being set at liberty, dies, and the beast is in- stantly relieved from pain.

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  CHAP. 51.

  REMEDIES FOR INTOXICATION.

  The eggs of an owlet, administered to drunkards three days in wine, are productive of a distaste for that liquor. A sheep’s lights roasted, eaten before drinking, act as a preventive of inebriety. The ashes of a swallow’s beak, bruised with myrrh and sprinkled in the wine, act as a preservative against intoxica- tion: Horus, king of Assyria, was the first to discover this.

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  CHAP. 52.

  PECULIARITIES RELATIVE TO CERTAIN ANIMALS.

  In addition to these, there are some other peculiar properties attributed to certain animals, which require to be mentioned in the present Book. Some authors state that there is a bird in Sardinia, resembling the crane and called the “gromphena;” but it is no longer known even by the people of that country, in my opinion. In the same province, too, there is the ophion, an animal which resembles the deer in the hair only, and to be found nowhere else. The same authors have spoken also of the “subjugus,” but have omitted to state what animal it is, or where it is to be found. That it did formerly exist, however, I have no doubt, as certain remedies are described as being derived from it. M. Cicero speaks of animals called “biuri,” which gnaw the vines in Campania.

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  CHAP. 53. (16.)

  OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS.

  There are still some other marvellous facts related, with reference to the animals which we have mentioned. A dog will not bark at a person who has any part of the secundines of a bitch about him, or a hare’s dung or fur. The kind of gnats called “muliones,” do not live more than a single day. Persons when taking honey from the hives, will never be touched by the bees if they carry the beak of a wood-pecker about them. Swine will be sure to follow the person who has given them a raven’s brains, made up into a bolus. The dust in which a she-mule has wallowed, sprinkled upon the body, will allay the flames of desire. Rats may be put to flight by castrating a male rat, and setting it at liberty. If a snake’s slough is beaten up with some spelt, salt, and wild thyme, and introduced into the throat of oxen, with wine, at the time that grapes are ripening, they will be in perfect health for a whole year to come: the same, too, if three young swallows are given to them, made up into three boluses. The dust gathered from the track of a snake, sprinkled among bees, will make them return to the hive. If the right testicle of a ram is tied up, he will generate females only. Persons who have about them the sinews taken from the wings or legs of a crane, will never be fatigued with any kind of laborious exertion. Mules will never kick when they have drunk wine.

  Of all known substances, it is a mule’s hoofs only that are not corroded by the poisonous waters of the fountain Styx: a memorable discovery made by Aristotle, to his great infamy, on the occasion when Antipater sent some of this water to Alexander the Great, for the purpose of poisoning him.

  We will now pass on to the aquatic productions.

  SUMMARY. — Remedies, narratives, and observations, eight hundred and fifty-four.

  ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED. — M. Varro, Nigidius, M. Cicero, Sextius Niger who wrote in Greek, Licinius Macer.

  FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED. — Eudoxus, Aristotle, Hermippus, Homer, Apion, Orpheus, Democritus, Anaxilaiis.

  MEDICAL AUTHORS QUOTED. — Botrys, Horus, Apollodorus, Menander, Archidemus, Aristogenes, Xenocrates, Diodorus, Chrysippus, Nicander, Apollonius of Pitanæ.

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  BOOK XXXI. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE AQUATIC PRODUCTION

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  CHAP. 1. (1.)

  REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WATER.

  WE have now to speak of the benefits derived, in a medicinal point of view, from the aquatic productions; for not here even has all-bounteous Nature reposed from her work. Amid waves and billows, and tides of rivers for ever on the ebb and flow, she still unceasingly exerts her powers; and nowhere, if we must confess the truth, does she display herself in greater might, for it is this among the elements that holds sway over all the rest. It is water that swallows up dry land, that extinguishes flame, that ascends aloft, and challenges possession of the very heavens: it is water that, spreading clouds as it does, far and wide, intercepts the vital air we breathe; and, through their collision, gives rise to thunders and lightnings, as the elements of the universe meet in conflict.

  What can there be more marvellous than waters suspended aloft in the heavens? And yet, as though it were not enough to reach so high an elevation as this, they sweep along with them whole shoals of fishes, and often stones as well, thus lading themselves with ponderous masses which belong to other elements, and bearing them on high. Falling upon the earth, these waters become the prime cause of all that is there produced; a truly wondrous provision of Nature, if we only consider, that in order to give birth to grain and life to trees and to shrubs, water must first leave the earth for the heavens, and thence bring down to vegetation the breath of life! The admission must be surely extorted from us, that for all our resources the earth is indebted to the bounteousness of water. It will be only proper, therefore, in the first place to set forth some instances of the powerful properties displayed by this element; for as to the whole of them, what living mortal could describe them?

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  CHAP. 2. (2.)

  THE DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF WATERS.

  On all sides, and in a thousand countries, there are waters bounteously springing forth from the earth, some of them cold, some hot, and some possessed of these properties united: those in the territory of the Tarbelli, for instance, a people of Aquitania, and those among the Pyrencæan Mountains, where hot and cold springs are separated by only the very smallest distance. Then, again, there are others that are tepid only, or lukewarm, announcing thereby the resources they afford for the treatment of diseases, and bursting forth, for the benefit of man alone, out of so many animated beings.

  Under various names, too, they augment the number of the divinities, and give birth to cities; Puteoli, for example, in Campania, Statyellæ in Liguria, and Sextiæ in the province of Gallia Narbonensis. But nowhere do they abound in greater number, or offer a greater variety of medicinal properties than in the Gulf of Baiæ; some being impregnated with sulphur, some with alum, some with salt, some with nitre, and some with bitumen, while others are of a mixed quality, partly acid and partly salt. In other cases, again, it is by their vapours that waters are so beneficial to man, being so intensely hot as to heat our baths even, and to make cold water boil in our sitting-baths; such, for instance, as the springs at Baiæ, now known as “Posidian,” after the name of a freedman of the Emperor Claudius; waters which are so hot as to cook articles of food even. There are others, too, — those, for example, formerly the property of Licinius Crassus — which send forth their vapours in the sea even, thus providing resources for the health of man in the very midst of the waves!

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  CHAP. 3.

  REMEDIES DERIVED FROM WATER.

  According to their respective kinds, these waters are beneficial for diseases of the sinews, feet, or hips, for sprains or
for fractures; they act, also, as purgatives upon the bowels, heal wounds, and are singularly useful for affections of the head and ears: indeed, the waters of Cicero are good for the eyes. The country-seat where these last are found is worthy of some further mention: travelling from Lake Avernus towards Puteoli, it is to be seen on the sea-shore, renowned for its fine portico and its grove. Cicero gave it the name of Academia, after the place so called at Athens: it was here that he composed those treatises of his that were called after it; it was here, too, that he raised those monuments to himself; as though, indeed, he had not already done so throughout the length and breadth of the known world.

  Shortly after the death of Cicero, and when it had come into the possession of Antistius Vetus, certain hot springs burst forth at the very portals of this house, which were found to be remarkably beneficial for diseases of the eyes, and have been celebrated in verse by Laurea Tullius, one of the freedmen of Cicero; a fact which proves to demonstration that his servants even had received inspiration from that majestic and all-powerful genius of his. I will give the lines, as they deserve to be read, not there only, but everywhere: Great prince of Roman eloquence, thy grove,