12 PLINY S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXXII. 



shields, and helmets with it ; hut at the present day, owing to 

 the value set upon it as an article of exportation, it has hecome 

 so extremely rure, that it is seldom to bo seen even in the 

 regions that produce it. ^Branches of coral, hung at th 

 of infants, 76 are thought to act as a preservative against danger. 

 Calcined, pulverized, and taken in water, coral gives relief to 

 patients suffering from griping pains in the bowels, affections 

 of the bladder, and urinary calculi. Similarly taken in 

 \vine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water, it acts as a 

 soporitic. It resists the action of fire a considerable time be- 

 fore it is calcined. 



There is also a statement made that if this medicament is 

 frequently taken internally, the spleen will be gradually con- 

 sumed. Powdered coral, too, is an excellent remedy for pa- 

 tients who bring up or Fpit blood. Calcined coral is used as 

 an ingredient in compositions for the eyes, being productive of 

 certain astringent and cooling effects : it makes ilesh, also, in 

 the cavities left by ulcers, and effaces scars upon the skin. 



CIIAP. 12. ~HK ANTIPATUIRS A>*D SYMPATHIES wincir KXIST 



BKTWKKN CKKTAIX -OBJECTS. THE 1IATKKDS MANU-'KSTKI) J'.Y 

 CKHTAIX AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTIXACA I EIGHT HKMK- 

 DIES. THE GALKOS: FIFTEEN liKMEDlES. TI1E SOU- MULLET I 

 FIFTEEN KKUEU1ES. 



In reference to that repugnance which exists between cer- 

 tain things, known to the Greeks as " antipathia," there is 

 nothing more venomous 77 than the pastinaca, a sea-fish which 

 kills trees even with its sting, as already 78 stated. And yet, 

 poisonous as it is, the galeos 79 pursues it; a fish which, 



** A practice still retained, though the original intention of it lias been 

 lost sight of. As to the form of the coral now used by infants, sec 

 Note 85 to i* ^iiii. c. 7. 



I** reality, the Pa^'.iauc* or Sting-ray is not venomous ; hut the 

 \rounds inflicted by the sting in its tail are highly dangerous, from their 

 tendency to gangrene 



" 3 In B. ix. c. 72. As Ajasson remarks, it is quite possible that the 

 etinjj of the Pastinaca might penetrate to the heart of a young tree, and 

 so kill it; but that is no proof of its being poisouou*. See uUo U. ix, cc. 

 40. 67. 



"' Or Mustela, the sea-weasel, mentioned in U. ix. c. 29, and in c. 37 

 of the present Book. Sc-e also Note 12 to B. ix. c. '29. AjasMoii is of 

 opinion that under the names of "CJaleos" and " Mustela," the ancients 

 confounded the Squalus galeus and the Squalus mustelus of Linnaeus. 



