12 PLINT' 8 NATURAL HI8T0KT. [Book XXXII. 



shields, and helmets with it ; but at the present day, owing to 

 the value set upon it as an article of exportation, it has become 

 so extremely rare, that it is seldom to be seen even in the 

 regions that produce it. Branches of coral, hung at the neck 

 of infants,''® are thought to act as a preservative against danger. 

 Calcined, pulverized, and taken in water, coral gives relief to 

 patients suffering from griping pains in the bowels, affections 

 of the bladder, and urinary calculi. Similarly taken in 

 wine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water, it acts as a 

 soporific. It resists the action of fire a considerable time be- 

 fore it is calcined. 



There is also a statement made that if this medicament is 

 frequently taken internally, the spleen will be gradually con- 

 sumed. Powdered coral, too, is an excellent remedy for pa- 

 tients who bring up or spit blood. Calcined coral is used as 

 an ingredient in compositions for the eyes, being productive of 

 certain astringent and cooling effects : it makes fiesh, also, in 

 the cavities left by ulcers, and effaces scars upon the skin. 



CHAP. 12. THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST 



BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. THE HATREDS MANIFESTED BY 

 CBKTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTINACA *. EIGHT llEME- 

 DIES. THE GALEOS I FIFTEEN KEMED1E8. THE SUB-MULLET I 

 FIFTEEN REMEDIES. 



In reference to that repugnance which exists between cer- 

 tain things, known to the Greeks as *' antipathia," there is 

 nothing more venomous" than the pastinaca, a sea-fish which 

 kills trees even with its sting, as already'^ stated. And yet, 

 poisonous as it is, the galeos'^ pursues it; a fish which, 



'^ A practice still retained, though the original intention of it has been 

 lost sight of. As to the form of the coral now used by infants, see 

 Note 85 to B. xxviii. c. 7. 



"'■' In reality, the Pastinaca or Sting-ray is not venomous ; hut the 

 wounds inflicted by the sting in its tail are highly dangerous, from their 

 tendency to gangrene 



*"* In B. ix. c. 72. As Ajasson remarks, it is quite possible that the 

 Bting of the Pastinaca miglit penetrate to tlie heart of a young tree, and 

 80 kill it ; but that is no proof of its being: poisonous. See also B. ix. cc. 

 40, 67. 



" Or Mustela, the sea-weasel, mentioned in B. ix. c. 29, and in c. 37 

 of the present Book. See also Note 12 to B. ix. c. '29. Ajasson is of 

 opinion that under the names of " Galeos " and " Mustela," the ancients 

 confounded the Squalus galeus and the Squalus mustelus of Linnaeus. 



