98 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XL 



serpents and human blood : against this frightful composition 

 there is no remedy, for with the slightest touch it is productive 

 of instant death. 



CHAP. 116. ANIMALS WHICH WHEN FED UPON POISON DO 



NOT DIE, AND THE FLESH OF WHICH IS POISONOUS. 



The animals which feed upon poison have been already 61 ' 

 mentioned. Some of them, which are harmless of themselves, 

 become noxious if fed upon venomous substances. The wild 

 boar of Pamphylia and the mountainous parts of Cilicia, after 

 having devoured a salamander, will become poisonous to those 

 who eat its flesh ; and yet the danger is quite imperceptible 

 by reason of any peculiarity in the smell and taste. The sala- 

 mander, too, will poison either water or wine, in which it 

 happens to be drowned ; and what is more, if it has only drunk 

 thereof, the liquid becomes poisonous. The same is the case, 

 too, with the frog known to us as the bramble-frog. So nu- 

 merous are the snares that are laid in w T ait for life ! Wasp3 

 greedily devour the flesh of the serpent, a nutriment which 

 renders their stings fatal ; so vast is the difference to be found 

 between one kind of food and another. In the country, too, 

 of the Ichthyophagi, 67 as we learn from Theophrastus, the oxen 

 are fed upon fish, but only when alive. 



CHAP. 117. — REASONS FOR INDIGESTION. REMEDIES FOR 



CRUDITY. 



The most wholesome nutriment for man is plain food. An 

 accumulation of flavours is injurious, and still more so, if 

 heightened by sauces. All acrid elements are difficult of di- 

 gestion, and the same is the case if food is devoured greedily, 

 or in too large quantities. Food is also less easily digested in 

 summer than in winter, and in old age than in youth. The 

 vomits which man has invented, by way of remedy for this 

 evil, render the body more cold, and are more particularly inju- 

 rious to the eyes and teeth. 



CHAP. 118. FROM WHAT CAUSES CORPULENCE ARISES; 



HOW IT MAY BE REDUCED. 



Digestion during sleep is more productive of corpulence than 

 strength. Hence it is, that it is preferable for athletes to 

 es B. ix. c. 33. 67 Or Fish-eaters. 



