22 pliny's natural history. [Book XXXII. 



to the kype or hook, as the case may be, makes a most excel- 

 lent bait, for purples more particularly, is a well-known fact. 

 Frogs, they say, have a double^* 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 

 *'rubet8B,"^^ or "bramble-frogs," as already^^ stated. The 

 Greeks call them "phrjmi:" they are the largest in size of 

 all the frogs, have two protuberances^^ like horns, and are 

 fulP^ of poison. Authors quite vie with one another in relat- 

 ing 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 boil- 

 ing 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,^^ 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."**^ This bone, it is said, has the pro- 

 perty 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 



'* See B. xi. c. 76. ^s From *'rubus," a "bramble." 



^ In B. viii. c. 48. It is not improbable that the " rubetae " of the 

 ancients were toads. 



37 Projections of the bones in which the eyes are set, as Dalechamps 

 remarks. 



28 ^'Plenae veneficiorum." It was long a matter of doubt whether the 

 toad is really poisonous, but it has been recently ascertained that the 

 pustules on the skin contain a most active poison. 



39 "Solium" and "oleum" are the readings here, but we adopt the 

 conjecture of M. Ian, and substitute " oUam." 



40 " Averting dogs," 



