Chap. 14. J THE TORTOISE. 15 



rue in wine ; and for those of other serpents, with wine only. 

 In till these cases two drachma; of castoreum is the proper 

 dose, to one of the other ingredients respectively. It is par- 

 ticularly useful, also, in combination with vinegar, in cases 

 where viscus* 4 has been taken internally, find, with milk or 

 water, as a neutralize? of aconite: as an antidote to white 

 hellebore it is taken with hydromel and nitre. 9i It is cura- 

 tive, also, of tooth-ache, for which purpose it i.s beaten up 

 with oil and injected into the ear, on the side affected. For 

 the cure of ear-ache, the best plan is to mix it with meco- 

 nium. 96 Applied with Attic honey in the form of an ointment, 

 it improves the eyesight, and taken with vinegar it arrests 

 hiccup. 



The urine, too, of the beaver, is a neutralizcr of poisons, 

 mid for this reason is used as an ingredient in antidotes. The 

 best way of keeping it, some think, is in the bladder of the 

 animal. 



CHAP. 14 (4.) TIIE TORTOISK: SIXTY-SIX REMEDIES AXI> OBSER- 

 VATIONS. 



The tortoise,* 7 too, is an animal that is equally amphibious 

 with the beaver, and possessed of medicinal properties as 

 strongly developed ; in addition to which, it claims an equal 

 degree of notice for the high price which luxury sets upon its 

 shell, 9 * and the singularity of its conformation. Of tortoises, 

 there are various kinds, land tortoises, 1 * sea tortoises, 1 tortoises- 

 which live in muddy waters, and tortoises 2 which live in fresh ; 

 these last being known to some Greek authors by the name of 

 " emydcs." The llesh of the land- tortoise is employed for 

 fumigations more particularly, and we find it asserted that it 

 is highly salutary for repelling the malpractices of magic, and for 



91 Or Mistletoe ; see B. xvi. c. 92. 



95 As to the identity of the "iiitrum" of the ancients, see C. xixi. 

 C. 4G and the Notes. 



w Sou I*, xx. c. 70. 



V7 Under the head of '* tcstudines," he includes the tortoises, terra- 

 pcnos, and turtles, which form an ordt-r of reptiles, known in Natural 

 History as Chelonia, and characterised by the body being enclosed be- 

 tween a double shield or shell, out of which protrude the head, tail, and 

 four extremities. 



w See II. h. PC. 11, 12. " Our tortoises so called. 



1 Our Chehmides, or turtles. 



The Kmydcs and Triouyehcs of Modern Natural Ilistory. 



