414 PLIIST'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIX. 



that the gall to be used for these purposes should be kept in a 

 silver box. 



Partridges' eggs, boiled in a copper vessel, with honey, are 

 curative of ulcers of the eyes, and of glaucoma. For the 

 treatment of blood-shot eyes, the blood of pigeons, ring-doves, 

 turtle-doves, and partridges is remarkably useful ; but that 

 of the male pigeon is generally looked upon as the most effica- 

 cious. For this purpose, a vein is opened beneath the wing, 

 it being warmer than the rest of the blood, and consequently 

 more 1 beneficial. After it is applied, a compress, boiled in 

 honey, should be laid upon it, and some greasy wool, boiled in 

 oil and wine. ]S"yctalopy, 2 too, is cured by using the blood of 

 these birds, or the liver of a sheep the most efficacious 

 being that of a tawny sheep as already 3 stated by us 

 when speaking of goats. A decoction, too, of the liver is 

 recommended as a wash for the eyes, and, for pains and swell- 

 ings in those organs, the marrow, used as a liniment. The eyes 

 of a horned owl, it is strongly asserted, reduced to ashes and 

 mixed in an eye-salve, will improve the sight. Albugo is made 

 to disappear by using the dung of turtle-doves, snails burnt to 

 ashes, and the dung of the cenchris, a kind of hawk, according 

 to the Greeks. 4 All the substances above mentioned, used in 

 combination with honey, are curative of argema : honey, too, 

 in which the bees have died, is remarkably good for the eyes. 



A person who has eaten the young of the stork will never 

 suffer from ophthalmia for many years to come, it is said ; and 

 the same when a person carries about him the head of a 

 dragon: 5 it is stated, too, that the fat of this last-named 

 animal, applied with honey and old oil, will disperse incipient 

 films of the eyes. The young of the swallow are blinded at 

 full moon, and the moment their sight is restored, 6 their heads 

 are burnt, and the ashes are employed, with honey, to improve 

 the sight, and for the cure of pains, ophthalmia, and contu- 

 sions of the eyes. 



Lizards, also, are employed in numerous ways as a remedy 



1 A puerile reason, Ajasson remarks. It is much more probable that 

 the reason was, because this vein was the most easily discovered. 



2 See B. xxviii. c. 47. 3 In B. xxviii. c. 47. 



4 See B. x. c. 52. 5 The serpent so called. 



6 An absurdity. The probability is, that the sight of the young birds 

 was only supposed to be destroyed, the operation being imperfectly performed. 



