48 pliny's natural histoet. [Book XXXII. 



longest tooth of the river-fish called phagrus,-'* attached to 

 the patient with a hair, provided he does not see the person 

 who attaches it to him for five days. Frogs are boiled in oil 

 in a spot where three roads meet, and, the flesh being first 

 thrown away, the patients are rubbed with the decoction, by 

 way of cure for quartan fever. Some persons, again, suffocate 

 frogs in oil, and, after attaching them to the patient without 

 his knowing it, anoint him with the oil. The heart of a frog, 

 worn as an amulet, modifies the cold chills in fevers ; the 

 same, too, with oil in which the intestines of frogs have been 

 boiled. But the best remedy for quartan fevers, is to wear 

 attached to the body either frogs from which the claws have 

 been^^ removed, or else the liver or heart of a bramble-frog,^^ 

 attached in a piece of russet-coloured cloth. 



Eiver-crabs,^^ bruised in oil and water, are highly beneficial 

 in fevers, the patient being anointed with the preparation just 

 before the paroxysms come on : some authorities recommend 

 the addition of pepper to the mixture. Others prescribe for 

 quartan fevers a decoction of river- crabs in wine, boiled down 

 to one fourth, the patient taking it at the moment of leaving 

 the bath : by some, too, it is recommended to swallow the left 

 eye of a river-crab. The magicians engage to cure a tertian 

 fever, by attaching as an amulet to the patient, before sunrise, 

 the eyes of river-crabs, the crabs when thus blinded being set 

 at liberty in the water. They say, too, that these eyes, attached 

 to the body in a piece of deer's hide, with the flesh of a 

 nightingale,^- will dispel sleep and promote watchfulness. In 

 cases where there are symptoms of lethargy, the rennet of the 

 balsena ^^ or of the sea-calf ^^ is given to the patient to smell ; 

 some persons, too, use the blood of tortoises as a liniment for 

 lethargic patients. 



Tertian fevers, it is said, may be cured by wearing one of 

 the vertebrae ^^ of a perch attached to the body, and quartan 

 fevers by using fresh river snails, as an aliment. Some per- 

 sons preserve these snails in salt for this purpose, and give 

 them, pounded, in drink. 



28 See B. ix. c. 24. 29 u Ablatis unguibus." 



30 ''Rubeta." si Our crawfisb. 



32 Because the nightingale sings at night, instead of sleeping. 



33 See B. ix. cc. 2, 5, 6, 7, 15. 34 Ov seal. 35 u Spondylus." 



