330 PLINY'S NATUKAL HISTORY. [Book XXVIII. 



used with honey and resin. Similar properties are attributed 

 to the liver of the domesticated boar and the outer filaments, 

 and those only, of the gall, these last being taken in doses of 

 four denarii ; the brains also, taken in wine, are equally ef- 

 fectual. The fumes of the burning horns or hair of a she-goat 

 will repel serpents, they say : the ashes, too, of the horns, used 

 either internally or externally, are thought to be an antidote 

 to their poison. A similar effect is attributed to goats' milk, 

 taken with Taminian 7 grapes ; to the urine of those animals, 

 taken with squill vinegar ; to goats' milk cheese, applied with 

 origanum ; 8 and to goat suet, used with wax. 



In addition to all this, as will be seen hereafter, there are a 

 thousand other remedial properties attributed to this animal ; 

 a fact which surprises me all the more, seeing that the goat, 

 it is said, is never free from fever. 9 The wild animals of the 

 same species, which are very numerous, as already 10 stated, 

 have a still greater efficacy attributed to them; but the he- 

 goat has certain properties peculiar to itself, and Democritus 

 attributes properties still more powerful to the animal when it 

 has been the only one yeaned. It is recommended also to apply 

 she- goat's dung, boiled 11 in vinegar, to injuries inflicted by 

 serpents, as also the ashes of fresh dung mixed with wine. 

 As a general rule, persons who find that they are recovering 

 but slowly from injuries inflicted by a serpent, will find their 

 health more speedily re-established by frequenting the stalls 

 where goats are kept. Those, however, whose object is a more 

 assured remedy, attach immediately to the wound the paunch 

 of a she-goat killed for the purpose, dung and all. Others, 

 again, use the flesh of a kid just killed, and fumigate it with 

 the singed hair, the smell of which has the effect of repelling 

 serpents. 



For stings of serpents, as also for injuries inflicted by the 

 scorpion and shrew-mouse, some employ the skin of a goat 

 newly killed, as also the flesh and dung of a horse that has 

 been out at pasture, or a hare's rennet in vinegar. They say, 

 too, that if a person has the body well rubbed with a hare's 

 rennet, he will never receive injury from venomous animals. 

 When a person has been stung by a scorpion, she-goat's dung, 



7 See B. xxiii. cc. 13, 14. 8 See B. xx. c. 67. 



9 See B. viii. c. 76. 10 In B. viii. c. 76. 



11 A remedy of which H. Cloquet highly approves, on chemical grounds, 



