Lion’s fat, mixed with oil of roses, protects the skin of the face from all kinds of spots, and preserves the whiteness of the complexion; it is remedial also for such parts of the body as have been frozen by snow, and for swellings in the joints. The frivolous lies of the magicians assert that persons who are anointed with lion’s fat, will more readily win favour with kings and peoples; more particularly when the fat has been used that lies between the eyebrows of the animal—a place, in fact, where there is no fat to be found! The like effects they promise also from the possession of a lion’s tooth, one from the right side in particular, as also the shaggy hairs that are found upon the lower jaw. The gall, used as an ointment in combination with water, improves the eyesight, and, employed with the fat of the same animal, is a cure for epilepsy; but a slight taste only must be taken of it, and the patient must run immediately after swallowing it, in order to digest it. A lion’s heart, used as food, is curative of quartan fevers, and the fat, taken with oil of roses, of quotidian fevers. Wild beasts will fly from persons anointed with lion’s fat, and it is thought to be a preservative even against treacherous practices. CHAP. 26.—TEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CAMEL. A camel’s[2226] brains, dried and taken in vinegar, are a cure, they say, for epilepsy: the same, too, with the gall, taken with honey; which is a remedy also for quinzy. A camel’s tail dried it is said, is productive of diarrhœa, and ashes of burnt camel’s dung, mixed with oil, make the hair curl. These ashes applied topically, are very useful for dysentery, as also taken in drink, the proper dose being a pinch in three fingers at a time; they are curative also of epilepsy. Camel’s urine it is said, is very useful to fullers, and is good for the cure of running sores. Barbarous nations, we are told, are in the habit of keeping it till it is five years old, and then taking it as a purgative, in doses of one semisextarius. The hairs of the tail, it is said, plaited and attached to the left arm, are a cure for quartan fevers. CHAP. 27.—SEVENTY-NINE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE HYÆNA. But of all animals, it is the hyæna that has been held in the highest admiration by the magicians, who have gone so far as to attribute to it certain magical virtues even, and the power of alluring[2227] human beings and depriving them of their senses. Of its change of sex each year, and other monstrous peculiarities[2228] in its nature, we have spoken already;[2229] we will now proceed to describe the medicinal virtues that are ascribed to it.