416 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIX. 



very elongated, thin, legs, beaten up in old oil, forms an oint- 

 ment which is used for the cure of albugo. The spider, too, 

 whose web, of remarkable thickness, is generally found ad- 

 hering to the rafters of houses, applied in a piece of cloth, is 

 said to be curative of defluxions of the eyes. The green 

 scarabseus has the property of rendering the sight more 

 piercing 12 of those who gaze upon it : hence it is that the 

 engravers of precious stones use these insects to steady their 

 sight. 



CHAP. 39. REMEDIES FOR PAINS AND DISEASES OF THE EARS. 



A sheep's gall, mixed with honey, is a good detergent of the 

 ears. Pains in those organs are allayed by injecting a bitch's 

 milk ; and hardness of hearing is removed by using dogs' fat, 

 with wormwood and old oil, or else goose-grease. Some per- 

 sons add juice of onions and of garlic, 12 " in equal proportions. 

 The eggs, too, of ants are used, by themselves, for this purpose; 

 these insects being possessed, in fact, of certain medicinal pro- 

 perties, and bears, it is well known, curing themselves when 

 sick, by eating 13 them as food. Goose-grease, and indeed that 

 of all birds, is prepared by removing all the veins and leaving 

 the fat, in a new, shallow, earthen vessel, well covered, to rnelt 

 in the sun, some boiling water being placed beneath it ; which 

 done, it is passed through linen strainers, and is then put by 

 in a cool spot, in a new earthen vessel, for keeping : with the 

 addition of honey it is less liable to turn rancid. Ashes of 

 burnt mice, injected with honey or boiled with oil of roses, 

 allay pains in the ears. In cases where an insect has got into 

 the ears, a most excellent remedy is found in an iojection of 

 mouse gall, diluted with vinegar ; where, too, water has made 

 its way into the passages of the ear, goose-grease is used, in com- 

 bination with juice of onions. Some persons skin a dormouse, 

 and after removing the intestines boil the body in a new vessel 

 with honey. Medical men, however, prefer boiling it down 

 to one-third with nard, and recommend it to be kept in that 

 state, and to be warmed when wanted, and injected with a 

 syringe. It is a well-known fact, that this preparation is an 



12 Green is universally the colour least fatiguing to the eye. 

 2 * See B. xx. c. 23. 



13 See B. vii. c. 27, and B. via. c. 41. The formic acid which ants con- 

 tain may possibly possess some medicinal properties. 



