54 PLINY'S KATUHAL HISTORY. [Book XXXII 



iua?nav 9 calcined and mixed with salt, oil, nnd cunila, 79 arc 

 curative of diseases of the uterus : used as a fumigation, they 

 bring away the afterbirth. Fat,*" too, of the sea-calf, melted 

 by the agency of fire, is introduced into the nostrils of feniirhnr- 

 when swooning from hysterical suffocations ; and for a similar 

 purpose, the rennet of that animal is applied as a pessary, in 

 wool. 



The pulmo marinus,* 1 attached to the body as an amulet, is 

 an excellent promoter of menstruation ; an effect which is 

 equally produced by pounding live sea-urchins, and taking 

 them in sweet wine. Kiver-crabs,^ bruised in wine, and taken 

 internally, arrest menstruation. The Bilurus, 83 that of Africa- 1 

 more particularly, used as a fumigation, facilitates parturition, 

 it is said. Crabs, taken in water, arrest menstruation; but 

 used with hyssop, they act as an emmenagogue, we are told. 

 In cases, too, where the infant is in danger of suffocation at 

 the moment of delivery, a similar drink, administered to the 

 mother, is highly efficacious. Crabs, too, either fresh or dried, 

 are taken in drink, for the purpose of preventing abortion. 

 Hippocrates" 5 prescribes them as a promoter of menstruation, 

 and as an expellent of the dead foetus, beaten up with five* 

 r-.'ots of lapathum. and rue and some soot, and administered 

 in hunied wine. Crabs, boiled and taken in their liquor, 

 with lapathum 81 and parsley, promote the menstrual dis- 

 charge, and increase the milk. In cases of fever, attended 

 with pains in the head and throbbing of the eyes, crabs are 

 said to be highly beneficial to females, given in astringent 

 wine. 



Castoreum, 58 taken in honied wine, is useful as a promoter 

 of menstruation : in cases of hysterical suffocation, it is given 



'* See B. is. c. 42. - See B. xx. c. C5. 



*" In other words, seal-oil. 



fl Or sea-lungs. Sec Chapter 3G of this Book. * Or crawfish. 



M Sec B. ix. c. 17 ; also Chapter 43 of this Book. 



M Meaning Kgypt, probahly ; see the passages referred to in the pre- 

 ceding note. * J)e Morh. Mulier. I. 128. 



* 5 We would adopt the suggestion of M. Ian, and read "quinis cum," 

 in preference to "cum quimV," "five crabs with roots of luputhum and 

 rue." , * See B. xx. c. 85. 



*' Sec Chapter 13 of the present Book. 



