The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
There are also certain remedies of this nature derived from preserved
fish. Persons, for instance, who have received injuries from serpents,
or have been bitten by other venomous animals, are recommended to eat
salt fish, and to drink undiluted wine every now and then, so as,
through its agency, to bring up the whole of the food again by vomit:
this method being particularly good in cases where injuries have been
received from the lizard called “chalcis,”[120] the cerastes,[121] the
reptile known as the “seps,”[122] the elops,[123] or the dipsas.[124]
For the sting of the scorpion, salted fish should be taken in larger
quantities, but not brought up again, the patient submitting to any
amount of thirst it may create: salt fish, too, should be applied, by
way of plaster, to the wound. For the bite of the crocodile there is
no more efficient remedy known. For the sting of the serpent called
“prester,” the sarda[125] is particularly good. Salt fish is employed
also as a topical application for the bite of the mad dog; and even in
cases where the wound has not been cauterized with hot iron, this is
found to be sufficiently effectual as a remedy. For injuries, also,
inflicted by the sea-dragon,[126] an application is made of salt fish
steeped in vinegar. Cybium,[127] too, is productive of similar effects.
As a cure for the venomous sting inflicted with its stickle by the
sea-dragon, the fish itself is applied topically to the wound, or else
its brain, extracted whole.
CHAP. 18.—THE SEA-FROG: SIX REMEDIES. THE RIVER-FROG: FIFTY-TWO
REMEDIES. THE BRAMBLE-FROG: ONE REMEDY. THIRTY-TWO OBSERVATIONS ON
THESE ANIMALS.
The broth prepared from sea-frogs,[128] boiled in wine and vinegar,
is taken internally as a neutralizer of poisons and of the venom
of the bramble-frog,[129] as also for injuries inflicted by the
salamander.[130] For the cure of injuries caused by the sea-hare
and the various serpents above mentioned, it is a good plan to eat
the flesh of river-frogs, or to drink the liquor in which they have
been boiled: as a neutralizer, too, of the venom of the scorpion,
river-frogs are taken in wine. Democritus assures us that if the
tongue is extracted from a live frog, with no other part of the body
adhering to it, and is then applied—the frog being first replaced in
the water—to a woman while asleep, just at the spot where the heart is
felt to palpitate, she will be sure to give a truthful answer to any
question that may be put to her.
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