PEDIPALPI — SCORPIONS. 329 



their grief before her, walked with bare feet, or lay upon 

 the ground, without receiving any injury from them.^ 



The Ethiopians that dwell near the River Hydaspis com- 

 monly eat Scorpions and serpents without the slightest harm, 

 "which certainly proceeds from no other thing than a secret 

 and wonderful constitution of the body !" says Mercurlalis.'^ 



Lutfullah, the learned Mohammedan gentleman, in his 

 Autobiography, relates the following : 



"On the morning of the 11th (April, 1839), I ordered my 

 servant boy to shake my bedding and put it in the sun for 

 an hour or so, that the moisture imbibed by the quilt might 

 be dried. As soon as the quilt was removed from its place, 

 what did I behold but an immense Scorpion, tapering to- 

 wards its tail of nine vertebra3, armed with a sting at the 

 end, crawling with impunity at the edge of the carpet. I 

 had never seen such a large monster before. It was black 

 in the body, with small bristles all over, dark green in the 

 tail, and red at the sting. This hideous sight rendered me 

 and the servant horror-struck. In the mean time, an Afghan 

 friend of mine, by name Ata Moharaed Khan Kakar, a re- 

 spectable resident of the town, honoured me with a visit, 

 and, seeing the reptile, observed, ' Lutfullah, you are a lucky 

 man, having made a narrow escape this morning. This cursed 

 worm is called Jerrara, and its fatal sting puts a period to 

 animal life in a moment ; return, therefore, your thanks to 

 the Lord, all merciful, who gave you a new life in having 

 saved you from the mortal sting of this evil bed-companion 

 of yours.' 'I have no fear of the worm,' replied I, 'for it 

 dare not sting me unless it is written in the book of fate to 

 be stung by it.' Saying this, I made the animal crawl into 

 a small earthen vessel, and stopped the mouth of it with 

 clay ; and then making a large fire, I put the vessel therein 

 for an hour or so, to turn the reptile into ashes, which, ad- 

 ministered in doses of half a grain to adults, are a specific 

 remedy for violent colicky pains. "^ 



The ashes of burnt Scorpions, besides being good for 

 colicky pains, as Lutfullah says, were often prescribed by 

 the ancient physicians for stone in the bladder ;* and Topsel, 



i ^Elian, xvi. 41, and xii. 38. Wilkinson's And. Egypt., v. 254. 



2 Wanley's Wonders, ii. 459. 



^Autobwff., Lond. 1858, p. 304-5. 



•* Prescribed by Galen, Pliny, Lanfrankus, etc. 



