HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



273 



as the unicorn, and the name has more or less cUmg 

 to it ever since. "Our Topsel" (as Izaac \Yalton 

 calls him), writing in the sixteenth century, remarks 

 that " all the later physicians attribute the virtue of 

 the unicorn's home to the rhinoceros's home, but 

 they are deceived by imitation of Isidorus and 

 Albertus, for there is none of the ancient Grecians 

 that have ever observed any medicine in the 

 rhinoceros. The Indians made bottles of their skins 

 wherein they put their lycion, or sjicaern tneJicatumy 



Hog. — The most important article derivable from 

 the swine was that adipose matter upon which his 

 world-wide renown is based. Aximgia or Adeps 

 siiillu: was the name bestowed upon it in its crude state, 

 by men of medicine, and Axuiigia ciirata when it had 

 been purified. Adeps suillcc, says Hooper (p. 428), 

 with some apparent disregard for the strict rules 

 of orthography and syntax, " forms the base of many 

 unguents, and is often eaten by the poor instead of 

 butter." To cite its manifold uses, even in medicine, 

 would be quite superfluous. It occurs in nearly every 

 ointmentj both for cleansing and healing sores, and for 

 eruptions, ulcers, burns, excoriations, inflammations 

 and ocular complaints. Bate and Salmon also 

 prescribe " hog's grease," in combination with other 

 potent agents, for a multitude of skin diseases, and for 

 gout and nodes, " whitloes and felons." For fuller 

 details, vide Buchan, App. pp. 35 et scq. ; Bate, pp. 

 290-3, 402-3, 699, 703, 705, etc. 



But piggy was not alone prolific in lard. Just as 

 in trade he provisions us with so many more varieties 

 of meat than his rivals, so in the laboratory he 

 maintained his advantage by the diversity of the 

 drugs he contributed. Salmon (p. 2), in discussing 

 Bate's Aqua antiphthisica, which required an ad- 

 mixture of calfs blood, tells us of other bloods that 

 " may equally serve in the same case ; but I have 

 found by experience that hog's blood exceeds them 

 ail." Another consumption cure is provided by 

 Salmon (p. 581), with six grains of the "Volatile 

 salt of hog's blood." 



Salmon again (p. 247), nourished the emaciated 

 "almost to a miracle," with ten to twelve grains of 

 " volatile salt of hog's flesh " and two drams of sugar, 

 in four ounces of his Tinctura mitntiva, administered 

 three times a day-fasting ! For lung complaints he 

 prescribed (p. 597), half an ounce of "water 

 distilled from hog's flesh " in two ounces of syrup of 

 mjTrh. " Against phthisicks," moreover, he ordains 

 (P- 597) two grains of the salt of hog's flesh in a dose 

 of " syrup of pepons, pompions or melons ; " and, for 

 consumptive children (p. 596), another two grains in 

 a mixture of snail-syrup, canary wine and milk water. 



The afterbirth of a sow (Bate, p. 641), when 

 washed in white wine, dried and pulverised, was a 

 remedy for falling sickness and some complaints 

 incident to women. 



Pig's bladder was used to tie mixtures in, to dip 

 them in hot water and dissolve without dispersing 



them (Bate, p. 48), and also for dressing wounds. 

 According to Hooper (p. 639), Plunkel's cancer 

 remedy should be " laid over the sore or cancer upon 

 a piece of pig's bladder cut to the size of the sore and 

 smeared with the yolk of an egg. The plaster must 

 not be stirred until it drops off, of itself, which will be 

 in a week." 



Buchan records (p. 416), a curious use for hog's 

 flesh : If deafness proceeds from dryness of the ears, 

 some, instead of oil, put a small slice of fat bacon 

 into each ear, which is said to answer the purpose 

 very well." 



Howard (vol ii. p. 970) tells us that " gallings, 

 produced by the wringing of uneasy shoes, are 

 mollified and kept from swelling by the application of 

 the lungs of a swine, warm, to the grieved part," and 

 " for gallings, burns and eruptions oipaptila:, a most 

 excellent plaistcr is prepared of one ounce of recent 

 swine's fat " and other articles. 



The bezoar of the pig requires particular mention 

 Smcllet informs us ("Present State," vol. viii. p. 

 126) that "The countries that lie behind Malacca 

 abound with .... hog-stones, reckoned more 

 efficacious than the bezoar-stones," and of this opinion 

 we find ample confirmation elsewhere. Writes 

 Howard (vol. i. p. 333), the hog-bezoar "is found 

 in the East Indies in the gall-bladder of a boar. 

 In figure and size it resembles a filberd, though more 

 irregular. Its colour is not fixed, but most commonly 

 white with a teint of green ; it is smooth and shining, 

 and is valued at ten times its weight in gold. It is 

 said to be the best preservative against poison ; a 

 sovereign cure for the mordoxe, a kind of Indian 

 plague ; admirable against malignant fevers, small- 

 pox, most diseases of women, but promotes abortion 

 if used indiscreetly. To use it, they infuse it in water 

 or wine, till it has communicated a little bitterness to 

 it. The Indians prefer it to the goat bezoar." 



" Boar's tooth" was one of the outlandish sources 

 of "first alcalies." Bate, on p. 635, includes it in an 

 antipleuritic powder. 



FISH REARING UNDER FAVOURABLE 

 CIRCUMSTANCES. 



UNDER the influence of continuous freshening 

 rains, joined to other favourable conditions, 

 the young Salmonidas hatched out last winter have 

 prospered exceedingly this year, at the various Fish- 

 Culture establishments ; and have achieved dimen- 

 sions, in some cases, almost unprecedented. Since 

 fish-culture was introduced we have been brought 

 into closer communion with many of the fluvial 

 forms ; and we are now able to watch their progress 

 from babyhood to maturity, with the result that we 

 understand more and more of the history of their 

 lives. We can tell at a glance how far they are 

 affected by meteorological and other conditions, and 



