436 PLLTTY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Cook XXX. 



flesh is forbidden to the patient. " Taurus" 72 is the name 

 usually given to an earth- beetle, very similar to a tick in 

 appearance, and which it derives from the diminutive horns 

 with which it is furnished : some persons call it the " earth- 

 louse." 73 Prom the earth thrown up by these insects a lini- 

 ment is prepared for scrofula and similar diseases, and for gout, 

 the application not being washed off till the end of three days. 

 This last remedy is effectual for a whole year, and all those 

 other properties are attributed to it which we have mentioned 74 

 when speaking of crickets. There are some, again, who make 

 a similar use of the earth thrown up by ants ; while others 

 attach to the patient as many earth-worms as there are scrofu- 

 lous tumours, the sores drying as the worms dry up. 



Some persons cut off the head and tail of a viper, as already 

 mentioned, 75 about the rising of the Dog-star, which done, they 

 burn the middle, and give a pinch of the ashes in three fingers, 

 for thrice seven days, in drink such is the plan they use for 

 the cure of scrofula. Others, again, pass round the scrofulous 

 tumours a linen thread, with which a viper has been suspended 

 by the neck till dead. Millepedes 76 are also used, with one 

 fourth part of turpentine ; a remedy which is equally recom- 

 mended for the cure of all kinds of apostemes. 



CHAP. 13. REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE SHOULDERS. 



The ashes of a burnt weasel, mixed with wax, are a cure 

 for pains in the shoulders. To prevent the arm-pits of young 

 persons from becoming hairy, they should be well rubbed with 

 ants' eggs. Slave- dealers also, to impede the growth of 

 the hair in young persons near puberty, employ the blood that 



72 " The bull." Dalechamps takes this to be the stag-beetle or bull-fly ; 

 but that, as Ajasson remarks, has four horns, two antennae, and two large 

 mandibules ; in addition to which, from its size, it would hardly be called 

 the " earth-louse." He concludes that a lamellicorn is meant ; but whether 

 belonging to the Lucanidge or the Scarabseidee, it is impossible to say. 



73 " Pediculus terrse." 



In B. xxix. c. 33. 75 In B. xxix. c. 21. 



76 He probably speaks of woodlice here. Ettmuller asserts their utility 

 in this form for scrofula. Valisnieri says the same ; Spielmann prescribes 

 them for arthrosis ; Riviere considers them as a detergent for ulcers, and 

 a resolvent for tumours of the mamillae ; and Baglivi maintains that they 

 are a first-rate diuretic, and unequalled as a lithontriptic. They contain 

 muriate of lime and of potash, which may possibly, in some small degree, 

 give them an aperitive virtue. 



