THE TENCH 147 



After quoting without question the authority of Rondeletius 

 for the cure of a sick man at Rome by the application of 

 a tench to his feet, he cites as among the sacred remedies 

 known to the Jews the prescription for swallowing live 

 lice as " a certain cure for the yellow jaundice. This, and 

 many other medicines, were discovered by them, or by 

 revelation ; for, doubtless, we attained them not by study." 



Born a goddess, Dulness never dies ; 



and it is certainly discouraging to find that Mr. J. H. Keene, 

 to whose Practical Fisherman I owe much interesting infor- 

 mation, makes the following amazing statement, savouring 

 more of the sixteenth than the nineteenth century : 



" I myself know of a complete cure of a bad case of 

 jaundice by the agency of a tench. The fish was split open 

 and the inside and backbone taken out ; it was then tied 

 over the region of the liver, and in three days the cure was 

 almost perfect. The tench was found dyed a complete 

 greenish-yellow hue on being taken off." 



Quite so, and the effect would have been just as satisfactory 

 to the patient, provided he had equal faith in the means, 

 had an old shoe or a back number of the Lancet been 

 used instead of a tench. 



Mr. Keene also lends his support, as a practical angler, 

 to the groundless statement that pike, out of gratitude, 

 will not attack tench, and that it is useless to offer that fish 

 as a bait. Now, the discredit which is inseparable from silly 

 stories such as these, rightly extends to those who repeat 

 them, and it is high time, for the honour of the fisherman's 

 craft, that they should be stopped. It may be impossible 

 to disprove the medicinal properties of tench, for it is 

 proverbially difficult to prove a negative ; but any man may 

 convince himself that pike will seize small tench when offered 

 on spinning tackle. The Rev. W. Houghton states that 

 he has occasionally killed pike by trolling with a small 



