[2202] This excretion was, till lately, thought of great importance, as indicative of the health of the patient.
[2203] From the Greek πτύω, “to spit.”
[2204] “Argema.”
[2205] Who had to use lant, or stale urine, in their business.
[2206] At a future period we shall have to discuss the identity of the “nitrum” of Pliny. See B. xxxi. c. 46.
[2207] This was also one of the Pythagorean precepts.
[2208] Works and Days, l. 727, et seq.
[2209] The use of the word “prodidere” shows that treatises had been written on these abominable subjects. Laïs, Elephantis, and Salpe were probably the “meretrices” to whom he here alludes. See c. 23, and the end of this Book.
[2210] There is probably no foundation for this assertion.
[2211] “Rana.” He means the “rubeta” probably, or “bramble-frog,” so often mentioned by him. See Note 84, p. 290.