452 plint's natural histoht. [Book XXX. 



a preservative against the maladj'. A kite's liver, too, eatea 

 by the patient, is highly vaunted ; the slough also of a ser- 

 pent; a vulture's liver, beaten up vpith the blood of the bird, 

 and taken thrice seven days in drink ; or the heart of a young 

 vulture, worn attached to the body. 



And not only this, but the vulture itself is recommended as 

 a food for the patient, and that, too, when it has been glutted 

 with human flesh. Some recommend the breast of this bird 

 to be taken in drink from a cup made of cerrus"^ wood, or the 

 testes of a dunghill cock to be taken in milk and water ; the 

 patient abstaining from wine the five preceding days, and the 

 testes being dried for the purpose. There have been authori- 

 ties found to recommend one-and-twenty red flies — and those 

 found dead, too ! — taken in drink, the nuniber being reduced 

 where the patient is of a feeble habit. 



CHAP. 28. (11.) EEMEDIES FOE JAUNDICE. 



Jaundice is combated by administering ear-wax to the patient, 

 or else the filth that adheres to the udders of sheep, in doses 

 of one denarius, with- a modicum of mj^rrh, in two cyathi of 

 wine; the ashes, also, of a dog's head, mixed with honied 

 wine ; a millepede, in one semi-sextarius of wine ; earth- 

 worms, in hydromel with myrrh ; wine in which a hen's 

 feet have been washed, after being first cleansed with water — 

 the hen must be one with yellow^^ feet — the brains of a partridge 

 or of an eagle, in three cyathi of wine ; the ashes of a ring- 

 dove's feathers or intestines, in honied wine, in doses of three 

 spoonfuls ; or ashes of sparrows burnt upon twigs, in doses of 

 two spoonfuls, in hydromel. 



There is a bird, known as the " icterus,"^'' from its peculiar 

 colour : if the patient looks at it, he will be cured of jaun- 

 dice, they say, and the bird will die. In my opinion this 

 is the same bird that is known in Latin by the name oi 

 ''galgulus."=^^ 



CHAP. 29. EEMEDTES FOR PHRENITIS. 



In cases of phrenitis a sheep's lights, attached warm round 

 the patient's head, would appear to be advantageous. But as 

 to giving a man sufiering from delirium a mouse's brains in 



-^ See B. xvi. e. 6. 29 LJi^e our game poultry. 



20 This word beinf^ also the Greek name for the jaundice. 

 2* See B. X. c. 50.' The Wit.'.ull. 



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