THE MHORR GAZELLE 77 



such a cold, slimy object to the feet of a man in a 

 burning ague would, it must be admitted, conduce 

 to speedy animation, .combined with vivacity of 

 thought and freedom of language on the part of 

 the sufferer, even if no permanent result were 

 obtained. Dr. Caius also recommended this fish, 

 saying that tench were "good plaisters, but bad 

 nourishment, for being laid to the soles of the feet, 

 they often draw away the ague." 



Amongst other strange materia medica, we may 

 note that the web of a spider was a reputed remedy 

 against fever, and its body, or eggs, would disperse 

 white specks in the eye : a living toad laid on the 

 most deep-rooted cancer would infallibly cure it : 

 whilst poison poured into the inverted horn of a 

 rhinoceros was at once detected by the frothing 

 bubbles which rose from the depths of so magical 

 a cup. In many cases the implicit faith maintained 

 in these remedies almost amounted to superstition : 

 high prices were paid for substances utterly worth- 

 less for the purpose for which they were purchased, 

 and popular credulity appears to have known no 

 bounds. Prominent amongst these pseudo-remedies 

 and once as highly-prized as any of them in 

 mediaeval medicine, rank the curious objects known 

 as bezoar stones. These bezoars were formerly 

 worn round the neck as amulets, and valued as 

 antidotes to poison and fevers : the Chinese used 

 them both as a pigment and as a drug. It is 



