398 Pliny's natural histobt. [Book XXIX. 



by far the most dangerous ; for while other reptiles attack 

 individuals only, and never kill many persons at a time — not 

 to mention the fact that after stinging a human being they 

 are said to die of remorse, and the earth refuses to harbour^- 

 them — the salamander is able to destroy whole nations at once, 

 unless they take the proper precautions against it. Eor if this 

 reptile happens to crawl up a tree, it infects all the fruit with 

 its poison, and kills those who eat thereof by the chilling pro- 

 perties of its venom, which in its effects is in no way different 

 from aconite. ?^ay, even more than this, if it only touches 

 with its foot the wood upon which bread is baked, or if it 

 happens to fall into a well, the same fatal effects will be sure 

 to ensue. The saliva, too, of this reptile, if it comes in contact 

 with any part of the body, the sole of the foot even, will 

 cause the hair to fall off from the whole of the body. And yet 

 the salamander, highly venomous as it is, is eaten by certain 

 animals, swine for example ; owing, no doubt, to that antipathy 

 which prevails in the natural world. 



From what we find stated, it is most probable, that, next 

 to the animals which eat it, the best neutralizers of the poison 

 of this reptile, are, cantharides taken in drink, or a lizard eaten 

 with the food ; other antidotes we have already mentioned, or 

 shall notice in the appropriate place. As to what the ma- 

 gicians'^^ say, that it is proof against fire, being, as they tell us, 

 the only animal that has the property of extinguishing fire, if it 

 had been true, it would have been made trial of at Rome long 

 before this. Sextius says that the salamander, preserved in 

 hone)' and taken with the food, after removing the intestines, 

 head, and feet, acts as an aphrodisiac : he denies also that it 

 has the property of extinguishing fire. 



CHAP. 24. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM BIRDS FOR IISTJITRIES IN- 

 FLICTED BY SERPENTS. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE VULTURE. 



Among the birds that afford us remedies against serpents, it 

 is the vulture that occupies the highest rank; the black vulture, 

 it has been remarked, being less efficacious than the others. 

 The smell of their feathers, burnt, will repel serpents, they say ; 

 and it has been asserted that persons who carry the heart of 



32 See B ii. c. 63. 



2" He probably alludes to tlie Magi of Persia here, as most of the stories 

 about the salamauder appear to bear the aspect of an Eastern origia. 



