298 PLINY's NATTJiiAL HISTOET. [Book XXVIII. 



CHAP. 17. VAElOtrS OTHER REMEDIES. 



To sit by a pregnant woman, or by a person to whom any 

 remedy is being administered, with the fingers of one hand 

 inserted between those of the other, acts as a magic spell ; a 

 discovery that was made, it is said, when Alcmena^^ was 

 delivered of Hercules. If the fingers are thus joined, clasping 

 one or both knees, or if the ham of one leg is first put upon 

 the knee of the other, and then changed about, the omen is of 

 still worse signification. Hence it is, that in councils held by 

 generals and persons in authority, our ancestors forbade these 

 postures, as being an impediment to all business. ^^ They have 

 given a similar prohibition also with reference to sacrifices and 

 the ofi'ering of public vows ; but as to the usage of uncovering 

 the head in presence of the magistrates, that has been enjoined, 

 Varro says, not as a mark of respect, but with a view to 

 health, the head being strengthened^^ by the practice of keeping 

 it uncovered. 



When anything has got into the eye, it is a good plan to 

 close the other ; and when water has got into the right ear, 

 the person should hop about on the left foot, with the head 

 reclining upon the right shoulder, the reverse being done 

 when the same has happened to the left ear. If the secretion 

 of the phlegm produces coughing, the best way of stopping it 

 is for another person to blow in the party's face. When the 

 uvula is relaxed, another person should take the patient with 

 his teeth by the crown,^^ and lift him from the ground ; while 

 for pains in the neck, the .hams should be rubbed, and for 

 pains in the haras the neck. If a person is seized in bed with 

 cramp in the sinews of the legs or thighs, he should set his 

 feet upon the ground : so, too, if he has cramp on the left 

 side, he should take hold of the great toe of the left foot with 

 the right hand, and if on the right side, the great toe of the 

 right foot with the left hand. For cold shiverings or for 

 excessive bleeding at the nostrils, the extremities of the body 

 should be well rubbed with sheep's wool. To arrest inconti- 

 nence of urine, the extremities of the generative organs should 



10 See Ovid, Met. ix. 273, et seq. 



1^ Much more probably, because they were considered to be significant 

 of anything but seriousness and attention. 



12 Exemplified in the case of the Egyptians, Herodotus says. 



13 The remedy would seem to be worse than the evil. 



