Chap. 49.] APHRODISIACS a:nd antaphrodisiacs. 467 



tracted, it will aid dentition to a marvellous degree, attached 

 to the neck of infants. The brains, too, of the same serpent 

 are recommended to be attached to the body for a similar pur- 

 pose, as also the small stone or bone that is found in the back 

 of the slug. 



An admirable promoter of dentition is found in sheep's 

 brains, applied to the gums ; and equally good for diseases of 

 the ears, is an application of goose-grease, with juice of ocimum. 

 Upon prickly plants there is found a kind of rough, hairy, 

 grub: attached to the neck of infants, these insects give instant 

 relief, it is said, when any of the food has stuck in the throat. 



CHAP. 48. PROVOCATIVES OF SLEEP. 



As a soporific, wool-grease is employed, diluted in two 

 cyathi of wine with a modicum of mj^rh, or else mixed with 

 goose-grease and myrtle wine. For a similar purpose also, a 

 cuckoo is attached to the body in a hare's skin, or a young 

 heron's bill to the forehead in an ass's skin : it is thought, too, 

 that the beak alone, steeped in wine, is equally efficacious. On 

 the other hand, a bat's head, dried and worn as an amulet, acts 

 as a preventive of sleep. 



CHAP. 49. — aphrodisiacs and antaphrodisiacs. 



A lizard drowned in a man's urine has the effect of an ant- 

 aphrodisiac upon the person whose urine it is ; for this animal 

 is to be reckoned among the philtres, the magicians say. The 

 same property is attributed to the excrements of snails, and to 

 pigeons' dung, taken with oil and wine. The right lobe of a 

 vulture's lungs, attached to the body in the skin of a crane, 

 acts powerfully as a stimulant upon males : an effect equallj' 

 produced by taking the yolks of five pigeons* eggs, in honey, 

 mixed with one denarius of hog's lard ; sparrows, or eggs of 

 sparrows, with the food ; or by wearing the right testicle of a 

 cock, attached to the bod)^ in a ram's skin. The ashes of a 

 burnt ibis, it is said, employed as a friction with goose-grease 

 and oil of iris, will prevent abortion when a female has once 

 conceived ; while the testes of a game-cock, on the other hand, 

 rubbed with goose-grease and attached to the body in a ram's 

 skin, have all the eflfect of an antaphrodisiac : the same, too, 

 with the testes of any kind of dunghill cock, placed, together 

 with the blood of a cock, beneath the bed. Hairs taken from 



H H 2 



