28o FISH IN MYTHS, SYMBOLS. DIET, MEDICINE 



less digestible, very nutritious, but upsetting to the internal 

 economy." 



Alexander Aphrodisiensis attributes the superiority of 

 Class A to the fact tliat, as the water round the rocks is in per- 

 petual motion, its denizens continuously exercise themselves. ^ 

 Galen, for a somewhat similar reason, appraises as the lowest 

 in nutriment the inhabitants of marshes, lakes, and muddy 

 waters, because of their lack of swimming exercise and their 

 impure food. 



A further subdivision commends itself to Rhazes. All 

 fishes rough of scale, mucilaginous and white-coloured are 

 best ; those of a black and red shade must be avoided. ^ A 

 special distinguo extends to the part of fish, as Xenocrates 

 plumps for the tails, on account of their being most exercised ! 

 Bonsuetus, centuries after Galen, echoes him : 



" All fish that standing pools and lakes frequent 

 Do ever yield bad juyce and nourishment." ^ 



But however divided the ancient practitioners were in their 

 estimate of the digestibility of a fish diet, or of particular fishes, 

 in their ichthyic remedies internal or external they credulously 

 and enthusiastically coincided. Hence rained piscine pre- 

 scriptions in every form, fresh, salt, cooked, calcined : every 

 part and tissue, flesh, bones, skin, trail, brains, gills, viscera, 

 and teeth — each and all were regarded as specifics against 

 some human disease or infirmity. ^ 



All ailments practically find a cure in the ichthyic panaceas 

 or nostrums which render old medical tomes boresome from 

 repetition, and yet at times diverting. In regular prescrip- 

 tions and old wife recipes alike, fish play a prominent part. 



Have you been bitten by a mad dog, and need a theriac ? 

 Dioscorides' recommendation, ^ as amplified by Pliny, is 



* QucBstiones MediccB et Problemata Physica. 

 '■* Blakey, op. cit., 73. 



^ Cf. Burton, op. cit., i, 97, whose trs. is given above. 



* The bchef in fish as curatives of not only human but also animal ailments 

 still lingers. In this very year, 1920, we read in The field, Aug. 14, of a 

 Ross-shire crofter begging for a live trout to push down the throat of a cow, 

 that had just calved but was suffering from haemorrhage. In consequence, 

 or in spite of the trout, the cow recovered. 



* De Materia Medtca, II. ^2> '< 1- ^^i. sd. (Kiihu). 



