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.
To this the Magi[131] add some other particulars, which, if there is any truth in them, would lead us to believe that frogs ought to be considered much more useful to society than laws.[132] They say, for instance, that if a man takes a frog and transfixes it with a reed, entering the body at the sexual parts and coming out at the mouth, and then dips the reed in the menstrual discharge of his wife, she will be sure to conceive an aversion for all paramours. That the flesh of frogs, attached to the kype or hook, as the case may be, makes a most excellent bait, for purples more particularly, is a well-known fact. Frogs, they say, have a double[133] liver; and of this liver, when exposed to the attacks of ants, the part that is most eaten away is thought to be an effectual antidote to every kind of poison.
There are some frogs, again, which live only among brakes and thickets, for which reason they have received the name of “rubetæ,”[134] or “bramble-frogs,” as already[135] stated. The Greeks call them “phryni:” they are the largest in size of all the frogs, have two protuberances[136] like horns, and are full[137] of poison. Authors quite vie with one another in relating marvellous stories about them; such, for instance, as that if they are brought into the midst of a concourse of people, silence will instantly prevail; as also that by throwing into boiling water a small bone that is found in their right side, the vessel will immediately cool, and the water refuse to boil again until it has been removed. This bone, they say, may be found by exposing a dead bramble-frog to ants, and letting them eat away the flesh: after which the bones must be put into the vessel,[138] one by one.
On the other hand, again, in the left side of this reptile there is another bone, they say, which, thrown into water, has all the appearance of making it boil, and the name given to which is “apocynon.”[139] This bone, it is said, has the property of assuaging the fury of dogs, and, if put into the drink, of conciliating love and ending discord and strife. Worn, too, as an amulet, it acts as an aphrodisiac, we are told. The bone, on the contrary, which is taken from the right side, acts powerfully as a refrigerative upon boiling liquids, it is said: attached to the patient in a piece of fresh lamb’s-skin, it has the repute of assuaging quartan and other fevers, and of checking amorous propensities. The spleen of these frogs is used as an antidote to the various poisons that are prepared from them; and for all these purposes the liver is considered still more efficacious.
CHAP. 19.—THE ENHYDRIS: SIX REMEDIES. THE RIVER-CRAB: FOURTEEN REMEDIES. THE SEA-CRAB: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE RIVER-SNAIL: SEVEN REMEDIES. THE CORACINUS: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SEA-PIG: TWO REMEDIES.
There is also a snake[140] which lives in the water, the fat and gall of which, carried about them by persons when in pursuit of the crocodile, are said to be marvellously efficacious, the beast not venturing, in such case, to make an attack upon them. As such preservative, they are still more effectual if mixed with the herbaceous plant known as potamogiton.[141] River-crabs,[142] taken fresh and beaten up and drunk in water, or the ashes of them, kept for the purpose, are useful in all cases of poisoning, as a counter-poison: taken with asses’ milk they are particularly serviceable as a neutralizer of the venom of the scorpion; goats’ milk or any other kind of milk being substituted where asses’ milk cannot be procured. Wine, too, should also be used in all such cases. River-crabs, beaten up with ocimum,[143] and applied to scorpions, are fatal to them. They are possessed of similar virtues, also, for the bites of all other kinds of venomous animals, the scytale[144] in particular, adders, the sea-hare, and the bramble-frog. The ashes of them, preserved, are good for persons who give symptoms of hydrophobia after being bitten by a mad dog, some adding gentian as well, and administering the mixture in wine. In cases, too, where hydrophobia has already appeared, it is recommended that these ashes should be kneaded up into boluses with wine, and swallowed. If ten of these crabs are tied together with a handful of ocimum,[145] all the scorpions in the neighbourhood, the magicians say, will be attracted to the spot. They recommend, also, that to wounds inflicted by the scorpion, these crabs, or the ashes of them, should be applied, with ocimum. For all these purposes, however, sea-crabs, it should be remembered, are not so useful. Thrasyllus informs us that there is nothing so antagonistic to serpents as crabs; that swine, when stung by a serpent, cure themselves by eating them; and that, while the sun is in the sign of Cancer,[146] serpents suffer the greatest tortures.
The flesh, too, of river-snails, eaten either raw or boiled, is an excellent antidote to the venom of the scorpion, some persons keeping them salted for the purpose. These snails are applied, also, topically to the wound.
The coracinus[147] is a fish peculiar to the river Nilus, it is true, but the particulars we are here relating are for the benefit of all parts of the world: the flesh of it is most excellent as an application for the cure of wounds inflicted by scorpions. In the number of the poisonous fishes we ought to reckon the sea-pig,[148] a fish which causes great suffering to those who have been pierced with the pointed fin upon its back: the proper remedy in such case is the slime taken from the other parts of the body of the fish.
CHAP. 20.—THE SEA-CALF: TEN REMEDIES. THE MURÆNA: ONE REMEDY. THE HIPPOCAMPUS: NINE REMEDIES. THE SEA-URCHIN: ELEVEN REMEDIES.
In cases of hydrophobia resulting from the bite of the mad dog, the practice is to rub the patient’s face with the fat of the sea-calf; an application rendered still more efficacious by the admixture of hyæna’s marrow, oil of mastich, and wax. Bites inflicted by the muræna are cured by an application of the head of that fish, reduced to ashes. The pastinaca,[149] also, is remedial for its own bite, the ashes of the same fish, or of another of the same genus, being applied to the wound with vinegar. When this fish is intended for food, every portion of the back that is of a saffron colour should be removed, as well as the whole of the head: care, too, should be taken not to wash it over much; an observation equally applicable to all kinds of shell-fish, when intended for food, the flavour being deteriorated[150] thereby.