Chap. 2.] WONDEErUL FOEMS or DIFFEEEirr NATIONS. 125 



that the Sauromatae, who dwell ten days' journey beyond the 

 Eorysthenes, only take food every other day." 



Crates of Pergamus relates, that there formerly existed in 

 the vicinity of Parium, in the Hellespont, a race of men whom 

 he calls Ophiogenes, and that by their touch they were able to 

 cure those who had been stung by serpents, extracting the 

 poison by the mere imposition of the hand.^^ Varro tells us, 

 that there are still a few individuals in that district, whose 

 saliva effectually cures the stings of serpents. The same, too, 

 was the case with the tribe of the Psylli,*^ in Africa, according 

 to the account of Agatharchides ; these people received their 

 name from Psyllus, one of their kings, whose tomb is in exist- 

 ence, in the district of the Greater Syrtes. In the bodies of 

 these people there was by nature a certain kind of poison, 

 which was fatal to serpents, and the odour of which over- 

 powered them with torpor : with them it was a custom to ex- 

 pose children immediately after their birth to the fiercest ser- 

 pents, and in this manner to make proof of the fidelity of their 

 wives, the serpents not being repelled by such children as were 

 the off'spring of adultery.'^' This nation, however, was almost 

 entirely extirpated by the slaughter made of them by the 



** "Tcrtio die;" literally, "on the third day." In reckoning the time 

 between two periods, the Romans included both of those periods in the 

 computation, whereas we include but one of them. 



*^ In countries where serpents abound, there have been, at all times, 

 jugglers, who profess to have a supernatural power, by which they are ren- 

 dered insensible to the poison of these animals. This is the case with the 

 Egj-ptians, and some of the oriental nations. They remove tlie poison- 

 fang from the serpent, and in this way render it perfectly harmless. Some 

 of the feats which were performed by the magicians in the court of Pha- 

 raoh, seem still to be practised in Egypt ; by pressing upon the upper part 

 of the spine, the animal is rendered rigid, while on removing the pressure, 

 the animal is restored to its original state. These jugglers were also in the 

 habit, much to the surprise of the ignorant spectators, of sucking the 

 poison from the wounds produced by the bite of the serpent, which they 

 accompanied by various ceremonies and incantations : but it is a well- 

 known fact, that this maybe done with perfect safety, in reference to poisons 

 of all kinds, provided there be no breach in the cuticle of the mouth or 

 lips.— B. 



*^ See B. xxviii. c. 7. The best account, probably, of the Psylli, is that 

 found in Lucan's Pharsalia, B. ix. c. 890, et. seq. 



*' This custom is referred to by Lucan, in his account of the Psylli, 

 B. ix. 1. 890, et seq. ; and by ^aElian, llist. Anim. B. i. c. 57, and B. xvi. 

 c. 27, 28.— B. 



