440 Flint's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXX.. 



for the cure of the spleen.'' This done, it is enjoined that the 

 milt should be covered up with mortar in the wall of the 

 patient's sleeping-room, and sealed with a ring, a charm^^ being- 

 repeated thrice nine times. A dog's milt, removed from the 

 animal while still alive, taken with the food, is a cure for dis- 

 eases of the spleen : some, again, attach it fresh to that part 

 of the patient's body. Others give the patient — without his 

 knowing it — the milt of a puppy two daj^s old, to eat, in 

 squill vinegar ; tlie milt, too, of a hedge-hog is similarly 

 used. Ashes of burnt snails are employed, in combination 

 with linseed, nettle-seed, and hone}', the treatment being per- 

 sisted in till the patient is thoroughly cured. 



A green lizard has a remedial effect, suspended alive in an 

 earthen vessel, at the entrance of the sleeping-room of the 

 patient, who, every time he enters or leaves it, must take care 

 to touch it with his hand : the head, too, of a horned owl, re- 

 duced to ashes and incorporated with an unguent ; honey, also, 

 in which the bees have died ; and spiders, the one known as 

 the '4ycos"^^ in particular, 



CHAP. 18. REMEDIES FOR PAINS IN THE SIDE AND IN THE lOINS. 



For pains in the side, the heart of a hoopoe is highly es- 

 teemed ; ashes, too, of burnt snails, that liave been boiled in 

 a ptisan, snails being sometimes applied in the form of a lini- 

 ment, alone. Potions employed for this purpose have a sprink- 

 ling in them of the ashes of a mad dog's skull. For the cure 

 of lumbago, the spotted lizard^^ from beyond seas is used : 

 the head and intestines being first removed, the body is boiled 

 in wine, Avith half a denarius of black poppy, and the decoc- 

 tion is taken in drink. Green lizards, also, are taken with 

 the food, the feet and head being first removed ; or else three 

 snails are crushed, shells and all, and boiled with fifteen pepper- 

 corns in wine. The feet of an eagle are wrenclied off in a 

 contrary direction to the joint, and the right foot is attached 

 to the right side, the left foot to the left, according as the 

 pains are situate. The millepede,^^ which we have spoken of 



91 "Carmen." Holland says "the aforesaid cliarm:" but tins does 

 not appear from the context, l*'romthe account, however, given by Marcus 

 Ji^mpiricus, we learn that the charm, thus repeated twenty-seven times, is 

 the same as that already g'iven. 



9^ Or " wolf." See B. xi. c. 28. 93 gee B.,sxix. c. 28. 



•' Or woudlouse. See B. xxix. c. 39. 



