Chap. 38.] KEMEDIES FOE DISEASES OF THE EYES. 41 1 



rius of antimony are then added, and the mixture is applied 

 with wool-grease. For the same purpose, also, the young ones 

 of a mouse are beaten up, in old wine, to the consistency of the 

 strengthening preparations known as " acopa."^^ "When eye- 

 lashes are plucked out that are productive of inconvenience, they 

 are prevented from growing again by using a hedge-hog's gall ; 

 the liquid portion, also, of a spotted lizard's eggs ; the ashes 

 of a burnt salamander ; the gall of a green lizard, mixed with 

 white wine, and left to thicken to the consistency of honey in 

 a copper vessel in the sun ; the ashes of a swallow's young, 

 mixed with the milky juice of tithjTnalos ;^^ or else the slime 

 of snails. 



CHAP. 38, EEMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE EYES. 



According to what the magicians say, glaucoma^ may be 

 cured by using the brains of a puppy seven days old ; the probe 

 being inserted in the right side [of the eye], if it is the right 

 eye that is being operated on, and in the left side, if it is the 

 left. The fresh gall, too, of the asio^^ is used, a bird belonging 

 to the owlet tribe, with feathers standing erect like ears. 

 Apollonius of Pitanae used to prefer dog's gall, in combina- 

 tion with honey, to that of the hysena, for the cure of cataract, 

 as also of albugo. The heads and tails of mice, reduced to 

 ashes and applied to the eyes, improve the sight, it is said ; a 

 result which is ensured with even greater certainty by using the 

 ashes of a dormouse or wild mouse, or else the brains or gall 

 of an eagle. The ashes and fat of a field-mouse, beaten up 

 with Attic honey and antimony, are remarkably useful for 

 watery eyes — what this antimony^ is, we shall have occasion 

 to say when speaking of metals. 



For the cure of cataract, the ashes of a weasel are used, as 

 also the brains of a lizard or swallow. Weasels, boiled and 

 pounded, and so applied to the forehead, allay defluxions of the 

 eyes, either used alone, or else with fine flour or with frankin- 

 cense. Employed in a similar manner, they are very good for 

 sun-stroke, or in other words, for injuries inflicted by the sun. 

 It is a remarkably good plan, too, to burn these animals alive, 

 and to use their ashes, with Cretan honey, as a liniment for 



^6 See c. 13 of this Book. 87 See B. xxvi. c. 39. 



*** A disease of the crystalline humours of the eye. 



^ See B. X. c. 33. 9° " Stibium." See B. xxiiii. c. 33. 



