52 flint's natural history. [Book XXXII. 



purple, the meat of salted fish, bruised river- crabs, or flesh 

 of the silurus^^ (a river-fish that is found in other streams 

 as well as the Nilus^^), applied either fresh or salted. The 

 ashes also of this fish, as well as the fat, have the property of 

 extracting pointed bodies, and the back-bone, in a calcined 

 state, is used as a substitute for spodium.^^ 



CHAP. 44. REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CAR- 

 BUNCLES. 



Ulcers of a serpiginous nature, as also the fleshy excrescences 

 which make their appearance in them, are kept in check by 

 applying ashes of calcined heads of msense,^^ or else ashes of 

 the silurus.^^ Carcinomata, too, are treated with heads of 

 salted perch, their efficacy being considerably increased by 

 using some salt along with the ashes, and kneading them up 

 with heads of cunila^" and olive-oil. Ashes of sea-crabs, cal- 

 cined with lead, arrest the progress of carcinomatous sores ; a 

 purpose for which ashes of river-crabs, in combination with 

 honey and fine lint, are equally useful ; though there are some 

 authorities which prefer mixing alum and barley with the 

 ashes. Phagedsenic ulcers are cured by an application of 

 dried silurus pounded with sandarach;^^ malignant cancers, 

 corrosive ulcers, and putrid sores, by the agency of stale 

 cj'bium.^^ 



Maggots that breed in sores are removed by applying frogs' 

 gall ; and fistulas are opened and dried by introducing a tent 

 made of salt fish, with a dossil of lint. Salt fish, kneaded up 

 and applied in the form of a plaster, will remove all proud 

 flesh in the course of a day, and will arrest the further pro- 

 gress of putrid and serpiginous ulcers. Alex,^^ applied in 

 lint, acts detergently, also, upon ulcers ; the same, too, with the 

 ashes of calcined shells of sea-urchins. Salted slices of the 

 coracinus^^ disperse carbuncles, an eff'ect equally produced by 

 the ashes of salted surmullets.^' Some persons, however, use 



■" See B. ix. cc. 17, 25, 75. 



^^ See E. ix. c. 17. Ajasson says that it is also found of enormous 

 size, in the Danube and in the Theisse. 

 ^^ See B. xxxiv. c. 33. ^8 See B. ix. c. 42. 



59 See Note 55 above. ^o u Cunila capitata." See B. xx. c. 65. 



^^ See B. xxxiv. c. 55. ^' Tunny sliced and salted; see B. ix. c. 18. 

 63 See B. xxxi. c. 44. ^4 gee B. ix. cc. 24, 32. 



♦^5 See B. ix. c. 30. 



