Chap. 14. J THE TORTOISE. 15 



rue in wine ; and for those of otlier serpents, with wine only. 

 In all these cases two drachmas of castoreum is the proper 

 dose, to one of the other ingredients respectively. It is par- 

 ticularly useful, also, in combination with vinegar, in cases 

 where viscus^ has been taken internally, and, with milk or 

 water, as a neutralizer of aconite : as an antidote to white 

 hellebore it is taken with hydromel and nitre.^^ It is cura- 

 tive, also, of tooth-ache, for which purpose it is beaten up 

 wdth oil and injected into the ear, on the side affected. For 

 the cure of ear-ache, the best plan is to mix it with raeco- 

 nium.^^ Applied with Attic honey in the form of an ointment, 

 it improves the eyesight, and taken with vinegar it arrests 

 hiccup. 



The urine, too, of the beaver, is a neutralizer of poisons, 

 and for this reason is used as an ingredient in antidotes. The 

 best way of keeping it, some think, is in the bladder of the 

 animal. 



CHAP. 14 (4.) — THE TORTOISE '. SIXTY-SIX REMEDIES ANP OBSER- 

 VATIONS. 



The tortoise,'^ too, is an animal that is equally amphibious 

 with the beaver, and possessed of medicinal properties as 

 strongly developed ; in addition to which, it claims an equal 

 degree of notice for the high price which luxury sets upon its 

 shell,^® and the singularity of its conformation. Of tortoises, 

 there are various kinds, land tortoises,^® sea tortoises,^ tortoises- 

 which live in muddy waters, and tortoises^ which live in fresh ; 

 these last being known to some Greek authors by the name of 

 *' emydes." The flesh of the land-tortoise is employed for 

 fumigations more particularly, and we find it asserted that it 

 is highly salutary for repelling the malpractices of magic, and for 



31 Or Mistletoe ; see B. xvi. c. 92. 



^^ As to the identity of the "nitrum" of the ancients, see B. xxxi. 

 c. 46 and the Notes. 



96 See B. XX. c. 76. 



9^ Under the head of " testudines," he includes the tortoises, terra- 

 penes, and turtles, which form an order of reptiles, known in Natural 

 History as Chelonia, and characterised by the body being enclosed be- 

 tween a double shield or shell, out of which protrude the .head, tail, and 

 four extremities. 



98 See B. ix. cc. 11, 12. 9^ Our tortoises so called. 



^ Our Chelonides, or turtles. 



2 The Emydes and Trionyches of Modern Natural History. 



