Chap. 24.J EEMEDIES DERIVED FEOil THE ELEPHANT. 30^ 



this fluid ; the result being that the hydrophobia will immedi- 

 ately disappear. This arises, no doubt, from that ' powerful 

 sympathy which has been so much spoken of by the Greeks, 

 and the existence of which is proved by the fact, **^ already menl 

 tioned, that dogs become mad upon tasting this fluid. It is awell- 

 known fact, too, that the menstruous discharge, reduced to ashes, 

 and applied with furnace soot and wax, is a cure for ulcers upon 

 all kinds of beasts of burden; and that stains made upon a gar- 

 ment with it can only be removed by the agency of the urine 

 of the same female. EquaUy certain it is, too, that this fluid, re- 

 duced to ashes and mixed with oil of roses, is very useful, applied 

 to the forehead, for allaying head-ache, in women more parti- 

 cularly ; as also that the nature of the discharge is most viru- 

 lent in females whose virginity has been destroyed solely bv 

 the lapse of time. 



Another thing universally acknowledged and one which I 

 am ready to believe with the greatest pleasure, is the fact, that 

 if the door-posts are only touched with the menstruous fluid 

 all spells of the magicians will be neutralized—a set of men 

 the most lying in existence, as any one may ascertain. I will 

 give an example of one of the most reasonable of their pre- 

 scriptions— Take the parings of the toe-nails and finger-nails 

 of a sick person, and mix them up with wax, the party saying 

 that he IS seeking a remedy for a tertian, quartan, or quotidian 

 fever, as the case may be; then stick this wax, before sunrise, 

 upon the door of another person— such is the prescription they 

 give for these diseases ! What deceitful persons they must be 

 if there is no truth in it ! And how highly criminal, if they 

 really do thus transfer diseases from one person to another ! 

 Some of them, again, whose practices are of a less c^uiltv 

 nature, recommend that the parings of all the finger°-nails 

 should be thrown at the entrance of ant-holes, the first ant to be 

 taken which attempts to draw one into the hole; this, they say 

 must be attached to the neck of the patient, and he wiU ex- 

 perience a speedy cure. 



CHAP. 24. (8.)— REMEDIES DEEIVED FROM FOREIGN- ANIMALS: 

 THE ELEPHANT, EIGHT REMEDIES. 



Such then are the remedies from human beings which mav 

 with any degree of propriety be described, and many of thos^ 

 only with the leave and good-will of the reader. The rest are 

 ^0 See E. vii. c. 13. " ^2 



