The Life of the Grasshopper 



trouble or other; but I remain profoundly 

 incredulous. I am struck, however, by the 

 fact that the same specific was recommended 

 long ago by Dioscorides. The old Cilician 

 doctor tells us : 



"Cicada, qua inassata manduntur, <ue- 

 sica doloribus prosunt" 1 



Ever since the far-off days of this patri- 

 arch of materiel medica, the Provengal peas- 

 ant has retained his faith in the remedy re- 

 vealed to him by the Greeks who brought 

 the olive, the fig-tree and the vine from 

 Phocaea. One thing alone is changed: Di- 

 oscorides advises us to eat our Cicadae 

 roasted; nowadays they are boiled and 

 taken as an infusion. 



The explanation given of the insect's 

 diuretic properties is wonderfully ingenuous. 

 The Cicada, as all of us here know, shoots 

 a sudden spray of urine, as it flies away, in 

 the face of any one who tries to take hold 

 of it. He is therefore bound to hand on his 

 powers of evacuation to us. Thus must 

 Dioscorides and his contemporaries have 



1 " Cicadae eaten roasted are good for pains in the 

 bladder." 



56 



