THE COMMON SEINE. 



59 



to be engaged in the labor of sinking a tunnel for the purpose of aiding its escape. Several 

 travellers have seen the Skink thus bury itself, and have all carried away the same opinion of 

 its powers. 



If quietly approached, it may often be detected sleeping in the hot sunbeams, lying 

 stretched at length upon the stones or rocks, and so far steeped in slumber, that it may be 

 approached quite closely without taking alarm. 



The name of Officinal Skink has been given to this reptile on account of the high place 

 which it formerly held among the medical profession, and the extreme value which it was 

 thought to possess when dried, pounded, made up neatly into draughts or boluses, and 

 used as a medicine. There is hardly a disease to which the human race is liable, which was 

 not thought curable by the prepared body of this reptile, certainly not the least repulsive 

 of all the disgusting substances winch the early physicians delighted to choose from the 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdom, to till their multitudinous boxes and bottles, and 

 to inflict upon their patients. Sometimes a physician would even evince his belief in the 

 efficacy of his medicine by taking it himself, and would swallow, with full belief in its 



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COMMON SKINK.— Acinous officinalis 



healing powers, the burnt liver of a hyena, the moss from a dead man's skull, the grated flesh 

 of a mummy, or the remains of a pounded Lizard, together with many other substances too 

 revolting to mention. 



Did a warrior receive a wound from a poisoned arrow, or was a woodman bitten by a 

 venomous snake, there was nothing so effectual for the cure as the dried flesh of the Skink, 

 sometimes called El Adda, and sometimes known by the name of Dhab. He who provided 

 himself with this all-powerful medicine was secure against fits of all kinds, which never 

 attacked the system fortified by a dose of powdered Skink, or were speedily driven away if 

 the sufferer had not previously partaken of this panacea. All skin diseases were cured by the 

 Skink, and even the fearful elephantiasis yielded to its potent sway. 



Were the system too inexcitable and lethargic, and did the blood course too slowly 

 through the veins, a little Skink powder would restore the natural powers to their full 

 vigor. Or, on the contrary, if the patient happened to be feverish, restless, with a burning 

 forehead, a parched skin, and a hurried pulse, a dose of the same useful medicine would 

 cool the system, cure the headache, and bring the pulse to its normal state. It is an 

 infallible remedy for worms, eradicates cancer, and removes cataract. In tine, a satisfactory 

 estimate of its valuable properties may be gained by perusing, in the daily journals, any 



