Chap. 49.] BEMEDIES TOB TOOTH-ACHE. 339 



excellent remedy is a wolf's head, reduced to ashes : it is a 

 well-known fact, too, that there are bones generally found in 

 the excrements of that animal ; these bones, attached to the 

 body as an amulet, are productive of advantageous effects. For 

 the cure of tooth-ache, hare's rennet is injected into the ear : 

 the head also of that animal, reduced to ashes, is used in the 

 form of a dentifrice, and, with the addition of nard, is a correc- 

 tive of bad breath. Some persons, however, think it a better 

 plan to mix the ashes of a mouse's head with the dentifrice. 

 In the side of the hare there is a bone found, similar to a, 

 needle in appearance : for the cure of tooth-ache it is recom- 

 mended to scarify the gums with this bone. The pastern-bone 

 of an ox, ignited and applied to loose teeth which ache, has 

 the effect of strengthening them in the sockets ; the same bone, 

 reduced to ashes, and mixed with myrrh, is also used as a denti- 

 frice. The ashes of burnt pig's feet are productive of a similar 

 effect, as also the calcined bones of the cotylo'id cavities in which 

 the hip-bones move. It is a well-known fact, that, introduced 

 into the throat of beasts of burden, these bones are a cure for 

 worms, and that, in a calcined state, they are good for strength- 

 ening the teeth. 



When the teeth have been loosened by a blow, they are 

 strengthened by using asses' milk, or else ashes of the burnt 

 teeth of that animal, or a horse's lichen, reduced to powder, 

 and injected into the ear with oil. By lichen 45 1 do not mean 

 the hippomanes, a noxious substance which I purposely forbear 

 to enlarge upon, but an excrescence which forms upon the 

 knees of horses, and just above the hoofs. In the heart 46 of 

 this animal there is also found a bone which bears a close 

 resemblance to the eye-teeth of a dog : if the gums are scarified 

 with this bone, or with a tooth taken from the jaw-bone of a 

 dead horse, corresponding in place with the tooth affected, the 

 pain will be removed, they say. Anaxilaiis assures us that if 

 the liquid which, exudes from a mare when covered, is ignited 

 on the wick of a lamp, it will give out a most marvellous 

 representation 47 of horses' heads ; and the same with reference 



44 See B. xxi. c. 105. 45 See B. viii. c. 66. 



46 See B. xi. c. 70. Ajasson remarks that this bone is only found in 

 animals that have undergone much fatigue, and that it results from the 

 consolidation of certain tendinous fibres which form the ligament of the heart. 



47 " Capitum visus " seems to be a more probable reading than " capi- 



z 2 



