NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 321 



the same vertue to di"ive away the shaking fits of agues when tliey 

 are coraming, which is the cause that the .Egyptians use ordinarily 

 to anoint their sicke folk with the fat of this beast. 



The blood, administered to the eyes, was supposed to 

 promote clearness of vision. The fat bore a high price, 

 for he who was anointed with it might fearlessly dive in 

 the Nile, though surrounded by crocodiles. It was 

 reckoned excellent good for the bites of serpents, accord- 

 ing to Dioscorides ; and Leo lauds its efficacy in the case 

 of old ulcers, and even of cancers. Boiled in water with 

 vinegar, it was held a sovereign remedy for the toothache, 

 if the patient washed his face with the decoction ; and 

 no doubt it did the sufferers as much good as any nostrum 

 now advertised. The skin, if carried round fields or 

 gardens, and afterwards suspended there, was held to be 

 a sure defence against approaching hailstorms. In 

 modem times, not only is the musk of the glands held 

 precious (or was, not long ago), but other parts of the 

 animal were used for medicinal purposes. Hasselquist 

 notices the ' folliculus,' of the bigness of a hazel-nut, 

 under the shoulders of the old crocodiles, containing a 

 thick matter which smells like musk. The Egyptians, 

 he says, are very anxious to get this when they kill a 

 crocodile, it being a perfume much esteemed by the 

 grandees, but Hasselquist did not find one in any that 

 he dissected. Nor was it likely that he should, if he 

 looked for the folliculus under the shoulders ; though he 

 might have fovmd it under the jaws. He states that the 

 Egyptians use the fat against the rheumatism and stiff- 

 ness of the tendons, esteeming it a powerful remedy out- 

 wardly applied. He mentions the gall, as being con- 

 sidered good for the eyes ; and that, and the eyes of the 

 crocodiles themselves, as used by the Egyptians for pur- 

 poses about which we care not to be particular. 



I am not aware that a true crocodile has ever been 

 exhibited alive in this country. I never saw one, though 



p3 



