Chap. 25.] EEMEDIES FOE DISEASES OF THE EABS. 33 



leeches, it is tliought, applied in vinegar, are productive of a 

 similar effect ; care must be taken, however, to burn them in 

 a new earthen vessel. Dried liver, too, of the tunny,^^ made 

 up into an ointment, in the proportion of four denarii, with 

 oil of cedar, and applied as a depilatory for nine months to- 

 gether, is considered to be highly effectual for this purpose. 



CHAP. 25. REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EARS. THE BATTA : 



ONE REMEDY. THE BACCHUS OR MYXON S TWO REMEDIES. 

 THE SEA- LOUSE: TWO REMEDIES. 



For diseases of the ears, fresh gall of the fish called 

 *'batia"^^ is remarkably good; the same, too, when it has 

 been kept in wine. The gall, also, of the bacchus,^* by some 

 known as the *' myxon," is equally good ; as also that of the 

 callionymus,^® injected into the ears with oil of roses, or else 

 castoreum,'^ used with poppy-juice. There are certain animals 

 too, known as ''sea-lice,"^''' which are recommended as an 

 injection for the ears, beaten up with vinegar. Wool, too, 

 that has been dyed with the juice of the murex, employed 

 by itself, is highly useful for this purpose ; some persons, 

 however moisten it with vinegar and nitre. ^^ 



Others, again, more particularly recommend for all affections 

 of the ears one cyathus of the best garum,^^ with one cyathus 

 and a half of honey, and one cyathus of vinegar, the whole 

 gently boiled in a new pot over a slow fire, and skimmed with 

 a feather every now and then : when it has become whoUy 

 free from scum, it is injected lukewarm into the ears. In 

 cases where the ears are swollen, the same authorities recom- 

 mend that the swellings should be first reduced with juice of 

 coriander. The fat of frogs, injected into the ears, instantly 

 removes all pains in these organs. The juice of river-crabs, 

 kneaded up with barley-meal, is a most effectual remedy for 

 wounds in the ears. Shells of the murex, reduced to ashes, 



^2 Another reading is " taenia," a fish mentioned by Epicharmus, 

 Athenaeus informs us, and considered by Ajasson to be probably identical 

 with the Cepola rubescens, or Cepola taenia of Linn sens. 



^3 The same as the Batis of the Greelj^, Hardouin thinks, the Raia 

 batis, a kind of skate. 



^^ See B. ix. c. 28. '^ See the preceding Chapter. 



^^ See c. 13 of the present Book. ^'' See B. ix. c. 71. 



^8 As to " nitrum," see B. xxxi. c. 46. 



19 See B. xxxi. c. 43. 



VOL. VI. D 



