408 pliny's natural histort. [Book XXIX. 



narcotic poisons the common weasel is kept dried, and taken 

 internally, in doses of two drachmae. 



CHAP. 34. (6.) REMEDIES FOR ALOPECY. 



Where the hair has been lost through alopecy,"^ it is made 

 to grow again by using ashes of burnt sheep's dung, with oil of 

 Cyprus" and honey ; or else the hoof of a mule of either sex, 

 burnt to ashes and mixed with oil of myrtle. In addition to these 

 substances, we find our own writer, Varro, mentioning mouse- 

 dung, which he calls '^ muscerda,"'^ and the heads of flies, 

 applied fresh, the part being first rubbed with a fig-leaf. 

 Some recommend the blood of flies, while others, again, apply 

 ashes of burnt flies for ten days, in the proportion of one part 

 of the ashes to two of ashes of papyrus or of nuts. In other 

 cases, again, we find ashes of burnt flies kneaded up with 

 woman's milk and cabbage, or, in some instances, with honey 

 only. It is generally believed that there is no creature less 

 docile or less intelligent than the fly ; a circumstance which 

 makes it all the more marvellous that at the sacred games at 

 Olympia, immediately after the immolation of the bull in 

 honour of the god called '^Myiodes,"''^ whole clouds of them 

 take their departure from that territory. A mouse's head or 

 tail, or, indeed, the whole of the body, reduced to ashes, is a 

 cure for alopecy, more particularly when the loss of the hair has 

 been the result of some noxious preparation. The ashes of a 

 hedge-hog, mixed with honey, or of its skin, applied with tar, 

 are productive of a similar eflect. The head, too, of this last 

 animal, reduced to ashes, restores the hair to scars upon the 

 body ; the place being first prepared, when this cure is made 

 use of, with a razor and an application of mustard : some 

 persons, however, prefer vinegar for the purpose. All the 

 properties attributed to the hedge-hog are found in the por- 

 cupine in a still higher degree.^^ 



A lizard burnt, as already^^ mentioned, with the fresh root 

 of a reed, cut as fine as possible, to facilitate its being re- 



'6 So called from a\a>7n)|, " a fox," an aniraal very subject to the loss 

 of its hair. '''' See B. xii. c. 51. 



"8 So swine's dung was called " sucerda," and cowdung " bucerda." 



'9 Or Maagrus, the "fly catcher," the name of a hero, invoked atAli- 

 phera, at the festivals of Athena, as the protector against flies. It was 

 also a surname of Hercules. See B. x. c. 40. 



fco See B. viii. c. 53. ^i In c. 32 of this Book. 



