Chap. 45.] tTlIE KATtJEE OF SALT* 509 



the sacregl rites of the Jews. In the same way, too, alex has 

 corne to be manufactured from oysters, sea-urchins, sea-nettles, 

 cammari, 52 and the liver of the surmullet ; and a thousand 

 different methods have heen devised of late for ensuring the 

 putrefaction of salt in such a way as to secure the flavours 

 most relished by the palate. 



Thus much, by the way, with reference to the tastes of the 

 present day ; though at the same time, it must be remembered, 

 these substances are by no means without their uses in medi- 

 cine. Alex, for instance, is curative of scab in sheep, incisions 

 being made in the skin, and the liquor poured therein. It is 

 useful, also, for the cure of wounds inflicted by dogs or by 

 the sea-dragon, the application being made with lint. Eecent 

 burns, too, are healed by the agency of garum, due care being 

 taken to apply it without mentioning it by name. It is useful, 

 too, for bites inflicted by dogs, and for that of the crocodile in 

 particular ; as also for the treatment of serpiginous or sordid 

 ulcers. For ulcerations, and painful affections of the mouth 

 and ears, it is a marvellously useful remedy. 



Muria, also, as well as the salsugo which we have mentioned, 63 

 has certain astringent, mordent, and discussive properties, and is 

 highly useful for the cure of dysentery, even when ulceration 

 has attacked the intestines. Injections are also made of it 

 for sciatica, and for coaliac fluxes of an inveterate nature. In 

 spots which lie at a distance in the interior, it is used as a fo- 

 mentation, by way of substitute for sea- water. 



CHAP. 45. (9.) THE NATURE OF SALT. 



Salt, regarded by itself, is naturally igneous, and yet it 

 manifests an antipathy to fire, and flies 51 from it. It consumes 

 everything, and yet upon living bodies it has an astringent, 

 desiccative, and binding effect, while the dead it preserves 

 from putrefaction, 55 and makes them last for ages even. In 

 respect, however, of its medicinal properties, it is of a mordent, 

 burning, detergent, attenuating, and resolvent nature ; it is, how- 

 ever, inj urious to the stomach, except that it acts as a stimulant 

 without scales being forbidden to the Jews by the Levitical Law. See Lev. 

 c. xi. ver. 10. It is, most probably, Pliny's own mistake. 



62 See B. xxvii. c. 2. 53 At the end of c. 42. 



54 He alludes to its decrepitation in flame. 



55 Pharnaces caused the body of his father Mithridates to. be deposited 

 in brine, in order to transmit it to Pompey, 



