River snails, and those with a white shell, have a strong, rank, juice, and forest snails are by no means good for the stomach, having a laxative effect upon the bowels; the same too, with all kinds of small snails. Sea-snails,[2792] on the other hand, are more beneficial to the stomach; but it is for pains in that region that they are found the most efficacious: the best plan, it is said, is to eat them alive, of whatever kind they may happen to be, with vinegar. In addition to these, there are the snails called “aceratæ,”[2793] with a broad shell, and found in numerous localities: of the uses to which they are put we shall[2794] speak further on the appropriate occasions. The craw of poultry, dried and sprinkled in the drink, or else used fresh and grilled, has a soothing effect upon pectoral catarrhs and coughs attended with phlegm.[2795] Snails, beaten up raw and taken in three cyathi of warm water, allay cough. A piece of dog’s skin, wrapped round any one of the fingers, affords relief to patients suffering from catarrh. A broth made of boiled partridges is strengthening for the stomach.
CHAP. 16.—REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE LIVER, AND FOR SPITTING OF BLOOD.
For the cure of pains in the liver, a wild weasel is taken with the food, or the liver only of that animal; a ferret also, roasted like a sucking-pig. In cases of asthma, millepedes are used, thrice seven of them being soaked in Attic honey, and taken internally by the aid of a reed:[2796] for all vessels, it should be remembered, turn black on coming in contact with them. Some persons grill one sextarius of these insects on a flat pan, till they become white, and then mix them with honey. There are some authorities who call this insect a “centipede,” and recommend it to be given in warm water. Snails are administered to persons subject to fainting fits, alienation of the senses, and vertigo: for which purposes, a snail is beaten up, shell and all, with three cyathi of raisin wine, and the mixture is administered warm with the drink, for nine days at most. Others, again, give one snail the first day, two the second, three the third, two the fourth, and one the fifth; a mode of treatment also adopted for the cure of asthma and of abscesses.
There is, according to some authorities, an insect resembling the locust in appearance, destitute of wings, and known by the Greek name of “troxallis,” it being without a name in Latin: a considerable number of writers, however, consider it as identical with the insect known to us as “gryllus.”[2797] Twenty of these insects, they say, should be grilled, and taken in honied wine, by patients troubled with hardness of breathing or spitting of blood. Some persons pour pure grape-juice,[2798] or sea-water, upon unwashed snails, and then boil and eat them for food; or else they bruise the snails, shells and all, and take them with this grape-juice. A similar method is also adopted for the cure of cough. Honey in which the bees have died, is particularly good for the cure of abscesses. For spitting of blood a vulture’s lungs are used, burnt upon vine logs, and mixed with half the quantity of pomegranate blossoms, or with the same proportion of quince and lily blossom: the whole being taken morning and evening, in wine, if there is no fever; but where there are symptoms of fever, instead of wine, water is used in which quinces have been boiled.
CHAP. 17.—REMEDIES FOR AFFECTIONS OF THE SPLEEN.
According to the prescriptions given by the magicians, a fresh sheep’s milt is the best application for pains in the spleen, the person who applies it uttering these words: “This I do for the cure of the spleen.” This done, it is enjoined that the milt should be covered up with mortar in the wall of the patient’s sleeping-room, and sealed with a ring, a charm[2799] being repeated thrice nine times. A dog’s milt, removed from the animal while still alive, taken with the food, is a cure for diseases of the spleen: some, again, attach it fresh to that part of the patient’s body. Others give the patient—without his knowing it—the milt of a puppy two days old, to eat, in squill vinegar; the milt, too, of a hedge-hog is similarly used. Ashes of burnt snails are employed, in combination with linseed, nettle-seed, and honey, the treatment being persisted in till the patient is thoroughly cured.
A green lizard has a remedial effect, suspended alive in an earthen vessel, at the entrance of the sleeping-room of the patient, who, every time he enters or leaves it, must take care to touch it with his hand: the head, too, of a horned owl, reduced to ashes and incorporated with an unguent; honey, also, in which the bees have died; and spiders, the one known as the “lycos”[2800] in particular.
CHAP. 18.—REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE SIDE AND IN THE LOINS.
For pains in the side, the heart of a hoopoe is highly esteemed; ashes, too, of burnt snails, that have been boiled in a ptisan, snails being sometimes applied in the form of a liniment, alone. Potions employed for this purpose have a sprinkling in them of the ashes of a mad dog’s skull. For the cure of lumbago, the spotted lizard[2801] from beyond seas is used: the head and intestines being first removed, the body is boiled in wine, with half a denarius of black poppy, and the decoction is taken in drink. Green lizards, also, are taken with the food, the feet and head being first removed; or else three snails are crushed, shells and all, and boiled with fifteen peppercorns in wine. The feet of an eagle are wrenched off in a contrary direction to the joint, and the right foot is attached to the right side, the left foot to the left, according as the pains are situate. The millepede,[2802] which we have spoken of as being called the “oniscos,” is a cure for these pains, taken, in doses of one denarius, in two cyathi of wine. The magicians recommend an earth-worm to be put in a wooden dish, which has been split and mended with iron wire; which done, some water must be taken up with the dish, the worm drenched with it and buried in the spot from which it was taken, and the water drunk from the dish. They assert, also, that this is a marvellously excellent cure for sciatica.