218 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



Make a flannel bag of a triangular shape (like a jelly 

 bag), fit the corner into a wide-mouthed bottle, fill it 

 with black snails, in the hottest time of the year ; tie 

 up the mouth, and suspend the bottle and bag on a 

 wall, the hottest you can find. The proper place is the 

 sunny angle of a wall, where the south and west sun fall 

 longest. The snails will give out a large quantity of 

 frothy liquid, which will drain into the bottle ; cork it 

 close for use, and give a teaspoonful at a time, three 

 or four times a day, in milk or any other liquid. 



The common garden snail, Helix aspersa, also gives 

 out a frothy liquid, which might be collected in the 

 same manner, and used with benefit by consump- 

 tive patients. The friend who kindly gave me the 

 above recipe tells me that these black snails resemble 

 Helix aspersa, but the colour is much darker, and at a 

 distance looks almost black. In an old English 

 medical book, dated 1756, syrup of snails is recom- 

 mended for coughs, weaknesses, etc., and is made 

 by hanging snails up in a bag, with some sugar, by 

 which means the syrup drops into a vessel placed to 

 receive it. In Sussex the old women thread the 

 snails through the shell and the animal, and hang 

 them up till they exude the frothy liquid, which they 

 collect and give as a remedy in coughs and colds. 



For a Swelling on the Joints. Take three handfuls 

 of shell snails (off a rabbit-warren), pound them very 

 fine, and mix them with some new milk (not too thin) ; 

 put them between two pieces of fine linen cloth, and 

 apply them on the part. This is to be applied once a 

 day, or as often as it gets dry. 



Popular Spanish Cure for the Headache. Make a 

 poultice of bruised snails. They must be broken up 



