FISHES AND FISHING, 155 



practised, to catch eels, in some of the small inlets of 

 the Mediterranean. A sheep's gut was allowed to de- 

 scend into the water ; the eel sucked down the end, 

 and then began to tug, which giving the signal to the 

 boy, he immediately with the whole force of his lungs 

 distended the gut ; the eel's throat and stomach be- 

 came so oppressed by the expanded substance, that 

 he had no power of resistance, and was drawn a cap- 

 tive to the shore. 



In the Appendix, !N"o. 2, to the '^ Conspectus of the 

 Pharmacopoeias," by Anthony Todd Thomson, M.D., 

 r.L.S., &c., &c., the conger is thus mentioned 

 amongst the poisons : — " This fish, although it is 

 frequently eaten with impunity, yet has, in some 

 instances, produced all the symptoms of Cholera 

 Morbus, succeeded by paralysis of the lower extre- 

 mities." The treatment he advises, " evacuate the 

 contents of the stomach, and after having allayed their 

 irritability by opium, dilute freely with saccharine 

 and acidulous liquids ; and bleed, if symptoms of in- 

 flammation of the lower bowels supervene." 



Dr. Brookes says, " The flesh is very white and 

 sweet, but not easy of digestion; it was greatly 

 esteemed by the ancients, and does not want its ad- 

 vocates among the moderns, especially when it is 

 fried." 



There being so great a variety of this species of 



