ANIMAL 'MATERIA MEDICA.' 



THE legend that the young ^sculapius cured a man 

 by the use of a herb which he had seen a sick goat 

 search for and eat upon the slopes of Pelion, is 

 evidence of the antiquity of the belief that animals 

 are acquainted with the use of medicinal plants. The 

 belief did not lose in force in later days ; and in the 

 'bestiaries' and medical works of the Middle Ages, 

 the medical knowledge possessed by animals was 

 almost as much exaggerated as were the healing 

 virtues of various parts of the animals themselves. 

 But enough is now known of the nature of animal 

 materia medica to excite interest and curiosity without 

 the aid of fable. There is abundant evidence that 

 very many species know and constantly make use 

 of simple remedies for definite disorders, and at the 

 same time observe rules of health to which only the 

 highest civilisation or the sanction of religious 

 prescription compels man to conform. It has been 

 noted that the general condition of animal health, 



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