394 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIX. 



it is said, attached to the left arm in some wool that has been 

 stolen from the shepherds, will effectually cure nocturnal fevers ; 

 while those recurrent in the daytime may he treated with 

 equal success by enclosing the bugs in a piece of russet- coloured 

 cloth. The scolopendra, on the other hand, is a great enemy 

 to these insects ; used in the form of a fumigation, it kills 

 them. 



CHAP. 18. PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO THE ASP. 



The sting of the asp takes deadly effect by causing torpor 

 and drowsiness. Of all serpents, injuries inflicted by the asp 

 are the most incurable ; and their venom, if it comes in contact 

 with the blood or a recent wound, produces instantaneous death. 

 If, on the other hand, it touches an old sore, its fatal effects 

 are not so immediate. Taken internally, in however large a 

 quantity, the venom is not injurious, 15 as it has no corrosive pro- 

 perties ; for which reason it is that the flesh of animals killed 

 by it may be eaten with impunity. 



I should hesitate in giving circulation to a prescription for 

 injuries inflicted by the asp, were it not that M. Yarro, then 

 in the eighty- third year of his age, has left a statement to the 

 effect that it is a most efficient remedy for wounds inflicted b} r 

 this reptile, for the person stung to drink his own urine. 



CHAP. 19. REMEDIES DERIVED PROM THE BASILISK. 



As to the basilisk, 16 a creature which the very serpents fly 

 from, which kills by its odour even, and which proves fatal to 

 man by only looking upon him, its blood has been marvel- 

 lously extolled by the magicians. 17 This blood is thick and 

 adhesive, like pitch, which it resembles also in colour : dis- 

 solved in water, they say, it becomes of a brighter red than 

 that of cinnabar. They attribute to it also the property of 

 ensuring success to petitions preferred to potentates, and to 

 prayers even offered to the gods; and they regard it as a 

 remedy for various diseases, and as an amulet preservative 

 against all noxious spells. Some give it the name of " Saturn's 

 blood." 



15 This is the fact. 16 See B. viii. c. 33, 



V The Magi of the East, probably. 



