terebinth and myrtle-berries,[1252] boiled in wine, were supposed to be a preservative against the bite of the tarantula or scorpion, as was the pistachio nut against that of serpents.[1253] Some persons ate a roasted scorpion to cure its own bite;[1254] a powder, moreover, was prepared from sea-crabs supposed to be fatal to this reptile.[1255] Vipers[1256] were made to contribute their part to the materia medica; for, being caught alive, they were enclosed with salt and dried figs in a vase which was then put into a furnace till its contents were reduced to charcoal, which they esteemed a valuable medicine. A considerable quantity of viper’s flesh was in the last century imported from Egypt into Venice, to be used in the composition of medicinal treacle.[1257] From the flowers of the sneezewort,[1258] a sort of snuff appears to have been manufactured, though probably used only in medicines. The ashes of old leather[1259] cured burns, galls, and blistered feet. ----- Footnote 1229: Dioscor. iii. 71. Footnote 1230: Δύναμιν δὲ ἔχει (κρόκινον) θερμαντικὴν, ὑπνωτικὴν, ὅθεν πολλάκις ἐπὶ φρενετικῶν ἁρμόζει καταβρεχόμενον, ἢ ἀποσφραινόμενον, ἦ καὶ κατα μυζωτηρων διαχριόμενον. Dioscor. i. 64. Footnote 1231: Dioscor. iv. 151. Apollod. ii. 2. 2. Footnote 1232: Luc. Alexan. § 47. Dioscor. ii. 202. Footnote 1233: Dioscor. i. 119. Footnote 1234: Λιβανωτις. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 11. 10. Dioscor. iii. 87. “In insulis Græcis rariùs in Melo legit.” Sibth. Flor. Græc. tab. 14. “In Zacintho, nec non in Bœotia.” D. Hawkins. Footnote 1235: Dioscor. ii. 207. Footnote 1236: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 16. 1. Footnote 1237: Dioscor. i. 81. Cf. Cels. ii. 33. Pills of wax were given to nurses to prevent the thickening of the milk. Dioscor. ii. 105. We have already remarked on the exuberance of milk in Greek women. Nevertheless the opinion prevailed that one nurse could not suckle two children: οὐδὲ δύο βρέφη ὑπὸ τροφοῦ μιᾶς ἐκτρεφόμενα Geopon. v. 13. 4. The stone Galactites was worn round the neck by superstitious nurses in order to increase their milk. Plin. viii. 16. xxxvii. 10. Vigenère, Imagen. de Philostrate, p. 576. Footnote 1238: Ἡμιόνιον. Theoph. Hist. | Plant. ix. 18. 7. Footnote 1239: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 18. 10. Footnote 1240: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 15. 4. The belief was prevalent, however, that milk at all times was a species of medicine. Thus when Timagoras accepted, among other things, eighty cows from the king of Persia, with herdsmen to take care of them, he pretended that he had need of their milk on account of the delicacy of his health: ὧς δὴ πρὸς ἀῤῥωστίαν τινὰ γάλακτος βοείου δεόμενος. Plut. Pelopid. § 30. Footnote 1241: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 14. 1. Footnote 1242: Dioscor. in proœm. p. 4. Footnote 1243: Dioscor. i. 23. Footnote 1244: Id. i. 141. Footnote 1245: Id. ii. 205. Footnote 1246: Id. i. 122. Footnote 1247: