Depilatories are prepared from the blood, gall, and liver of the tunny, either fresh or preserved; as also from pounded liver of the same fish, preserved with cedar resin[396] in a leaden box; a recipe which we find given by the midwife Salpe[397] for disguising the age of boys on sale for slaves. A similar property belongs to the pulmo marinus,[398] to the blood and gall of the sea-hare, and to the sea-hare itself, stifled in oil. The same, too, with ashes of burnt crabs or sea scolopendræ,[399] mixed with oil; sea-nettles,[400] bruised in squill vinegar; and brains of the torpedo[401] applied with alum on the sixteenth day of the moon. The thick matter emitted by the small frogs, which we have described when treating[402] of eye-diseases, is a most efficient depilatory, if applied fresh: the same, too, with the frog itself, dried and pounded, and then boiled down to one-third in three heminæ of water, or else boiled in a copper vessel with oil in a like proportion. Others, again, prepare a depilatory from fifteen frogs, in manner already[403] stated under the head of remedies for the eyes. Leeches, also, grilled in an earthen vessel, and applied with vinegar, have the same property as a depilatory; the very odour, too, which attaches to the persons who thus burn them is singularly efficacious for killing bugs.[404] Cases are to be found, too, where persons have used castoreum with honey, for many days together, as a depilatory. In the case, however, of every depilatory, the hairs should always be removed before it is applied. CHAP. 48.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS. Dentition in infants is promoted, and the gums greatly relieved, by rubbing them with ashes of a dolphin’s teeth, mixed with honey, or else by touching the gums with the tooth itself of that fish. One of these teeth, worn as an amulet, is a preventive of sudden frights;[405] the tooth of the dog-fish[406] being also possessed of a similar property. As to ulcers which make their appearance in the ears, or in any other parts of the body, they may be cured by applying the liquor of river-crabs,[407] with barley-meal. These crabs, too, bruised in oil and employed as a friction, are very useful for other kinds of maladies. A sponge moistened with cold water from time to time,[408] or a frog applied, the back part to the head, is a most efficacious cure for siriasis[409] in infants. When the frog is removed, it will be found quite dry, they say. CHAP. 49.—METHODS OF PREVENTING INTOXICATION. THE FISH CALLED RUBELLIO: ONE REMEDY. THE EEL: ONE REMEDY. THE GRAPE-FISH: ONE REMEDY. A surmullet[410] stifled in wine; the fish called “rubellio;”[411] or a couple of eels similarly treated; or a grapefish,[412] left to putrefy in wine, all of them, produce an aversion to wine in those who drink thereof. CHAP. 50.—ANTAPHRODISIACS AND APHRODISIACS. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS: ONE REMEDY. THE CROCODILE: ONE REMEDY.