The heart, it is said, taken with the food or drink, is remedial for all kinds of pains in the body; the milt for pains in the spleen; the caul, in combination with oil, for inflammatory ulcers; and the marrow for pains in the spine and weakness in the sinews. The strings of the kidneys, they say, if taken with wine and frankincense, will restore fruitfulness, in cases where it has been banished through the agency of noxious spells; the uterus, taken in drink with the rind of a sweet pomegranate, is highly beneficial for diseases of the uterus; and the fat of the loins, used as a fumigation, removes all impediments to delivery, and accelerates parturition. The marrow of the back, attached to the body as an amulet, is an effectual remedy for fantastic illusions,[2235] and the genitals of the male animal, used as a fumigation, are good for the cure of spasms. For ophthalmia, ruptures, and inflammations, the feet, which are kept for the purpose, are touched; the left feet for affections on the right side of the body, and the right feet for affections on the left. The left foot, if laid upon the body of a woman in travail, will be productive, they say, of fatal effects; but the right foot, similarly employed, will facilitate delivery. The vesicle which has contained the gall, taken in wine or with the food, is beneficial for the cardiac disease; and the bladder, taken in wine, is a good preservative against incontinence of urine. The urine, too, which is found in the bladder, taken with oil, sesame, and honey, is said to be useful for diseases of long standing.
The first rib and the eighth, used as a fumigation, are said to be useful for ruptures; the vertebræ for women in travail; and the blood, in combination with polenta,[2236] for griping pains in the bowels. If the door-posts are touched with this blood, the various arts of the magicians will be rendered of no effect; they will neither be able to summon the gods into their presence nor to converse with them, whatever the method to which they have recourse, whether lamps or basin, water or globe,[2237] or any other method.
The flesh of the hyæna, taken as food, is said to be efficacious for the bite of a mad dog, and the liver still more so. The flesh or bones of a human being which have been found in the belly of a slain hyæna, used as a fumigation, are said to be remedial for gout: but if among these remains the nails are found, it is looked upon as a presage of death to some one among those who have captured it. The excrements or bones which have been voided by the animal at the moment when killed, are looked upon as counter-charms to magic spells. The dung found in the intestines is dried and administered in drink for dysentery; and it is applied to all parts of the body with goose-grease, in the form of a liniment, in the case of persons who have received injury from some noxious medicament. By rubbing themselves with the grease, and lying upon the skin, of a hyæna, persons who have been bitten by dogs are cured.
On the other hand, the ashes of the left pastern-bone, they say, boiled with weasel’s blood, and applied to a person’s body, will ensure universal hatred; a similar effect being equally produced by the eye when boiled. But the most extraordinary thing of all is, their assertion that the extremity of the rectum of this animal is a preservative against all oppression on the part of chiefs and potentates, and an assurance of success in all petitions, judgments, and lawsuits, and this, if a person only carries it about him. The anus, according to them, has so powerful an effect as a philtre, that if it is worn on the left arm, a woman will be sure to follow the wearer the moment he looks at her. The hairs, too, of this part, reduced to ashes, and applied with oil to the body of a man who is living a life of disgraceful effeminacy, will render him not only modest, they assure us, but of scrupulous morals even.
CHAP. 28.—NINETEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CROCODILE.
For fabulous stories connected with it the crocodile may challenge the next place; and, indeed for cunning, the one[2238] which lives both upon land and in the water is fully its equal: for I would here remark, that there are two varieties of this animal. The teeth of the right jaw of the amphibious crocodile, attached to the right arm as an amulet, acts as an aphrodisiac, that is, if we choose to believe it. The eye-teeth of the animal, filled with frankincense—for they are hollow—are a cure for periodical fevers, care being taken to let the patient remain five days without seeing the person who has attached them to his body. A similar virtue is attributed to the small stones which are found in the belly of this animal, as being a check to the cold shiverings in fevers, when about to come on; and with the same object the Ægyptians are in the habit of anointing their sick with the fat of the crocodile.
The other kind of crocodile[2239] resembles it, but is much inferior in size: it lives upon land only, and among the most odoriferous flowers; hence it is that its intestines are so greatly in request, being filled as they are with a mass of agreeable perfumes. This substance is called “crocodilea,” and it is looked upon as extremely beneficial for diseases of the eyes, and for the treatment of films and cataract, being applied with leek-juice in the form of an ointment. Applied with oil of cyprus,[2240] it removes blemishes growing upon the face; and, employed with water, it is a cure for all those diseases, the nature of which it is to spread upon the face, while at the same time it restores the natural tints of the skin. An application of it makes freckles disappear, as well as all kinds of spots and pimples; and it is taken for epilepsy, in doses of two oboli, in oxymel. Used in the form of a pessary it acts as an emmenagogue. The best kind of crocodilea, is that which is the whitest, friable, and the lightest in weight: when rubbed between the fingers it should ferment like leaven. The usual method is to wash it, as they do white lead. It is sometimes adulterated with amylum[2241] or with Cimolian earth, but the most common method of sophistication is to catch the crocodiles and feed them upon nothing but rice. It is recommended as one of the most efficient remedies for cataract to anoint the eyes with crocodile’s gall, incorporated with honey. We are assured also that it is highly beneficial for affections of the uterus to make fumigations with the intestines and rest of the body, or else to envelope the patient with wool impregnated with the smoke.
The ashes of the skin of either crocodile, applied with vinegar to such parts of the body as are about to undergo an incision, or indeed the very smell of the skin when burning, will render the patient insensible to the knife. The blood of either crocodile, applied to the eyes, effaces marks upon those organs and improves the sight. The body, with the exception of the head and feet, is eaten, boiled, for the cure of sciatica, and is found very useful for chronic coughs, in children more particularly: it is equally good, too, for the cure of lumbago. These animals have a certain fat also, which, applied to the hair, makes it fall off; persons anointed with this fat are effectually protected against crocodiles, and it is the practice to drop it into wounds inflicted by them. A crocodile’s heart, attached to the body in the wool of a black sheep without a speck of any other colour, due care too being taken that the sheep was the first lamb yeaned by its dam, will effectually cure a quartan fever, it is said.
CHAP. 29.—FIFTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CHAMÆLEON.
To these animals we shall annex some others that are equally foreign, and very similar in their properties. To begin then with the chamæleon, which Democritus has considered worthy to be made the subject of an especial work, and each part of which has been consecrated to some particular purpose—This book, in fact, has afforded me no small amusement, revealing as it does, and exposing the lies and frivolities of the Greeks.—In size, the chamæleon resembles the crocodile last mentioned, and only differs from it in having the back-bone arched at a more acute angle, and a larger tail. There is no animal, it is thought, more[2242] timid than this, a fact to which it owes its repeated changes of colour.[2243] It has a peculiar ascendancy over the hawk tribe; for, according to report, it has the power of attracting those birds, when flying above it, and then leaving them a voluntary prey for other animals. Democritus[2244] asserts that if the head and neck of a chamæleon are burnt in a fire made with logs of oak, it will be productive of a storm attended with rain and thunder; a result equally produced by burning the liver upon the tiles of a house. As to the rest of the magical virtues which he ascribes to this animal, we shall forbear to mention them, although we look upon them as unfounded;[2245] except, indeed, in some few instances where their very ridiculousness sufficiently refutes his assertions.