84 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL 



In treatises on angling and fish in the sixteenth, seven- 

 teenth, and eighteenth centuries, we find many curious 

 and scattered remarks on the medicinal properties of the 

 finny race. Caspar Schwenkfeld, in his Therio Tro- 

 ph&um Silesia, says, " all fish, by reason of the nature 

 and custom of the elements from which they have sprung 

 and derive their virtue, and on account of their cold and 

 gelatinous nature, are very difficult of digestion. They 

 likewise generate cold and phlegmatic blood, from whence 

 many similar grievous disorders date their origin ; for 

 they weaken the nerves, and prepare them for paralysis ; 

 and as they injure the more cold and damp stomachs, so, 

 on the contrary, they greatly benefit the more bilious and 

 warm." 



In the Histoire des Poissons, Paris, 1585, we find, 

 that the liver of the sturgeon, when steeped in cold water 

 for a length of time, was an effectual remedy for cramps 

 in the stomach. It is recommended to be applied exter- 

 nally, and with a tight bandage. The pike was long 

 celebrated, in many parts of Germany and France, for its 

 charms and medicinal excellencies. A little bone in the 

 form of a cross, which is said to be discoverable in the 

 head of this fish, was long worn by the credulous as a sort 

 of talisman against witchcraft and enchantment. The 

 heart of this fish is recommended to be eaten against the 

 paroxysms of fevers ; his gall to be used as a liniment in 

 affections of the eyes ; his mandibula dried into dust 

 against pleurisy ; and little fishes found in his belly were 



