78 PEOSB HALLETJTICS. 



and teeth ; each of which was supposed to act as a spe- 

 cific against some human infirmity or disease. To men- 

 tion but a very few of these endless panaceas, the triglia 

 being Diana's own fish, was reputed so powerful an 

 antaphrodisiac, that it was only necessary to dine often 

 upon this species to become a worthy votary of the 

 goddess of chastity* The numb-fish (narke) applied 

 alive over the temples in headache is mentioned by Galen 

 as a specific for that complaint. He used it, homoeo- 

 pathicaUy no doubt (for it produces numbness), in para- 

 lysis. A sole placed over the region of the spleen was 

 supposed to act beneficially in splenitis. Pliny cites 

 authorities to prove that the remora (stay-fish) was used 

 with great efficacy in putting ofi" an accouchement, and 

 generally in checking any of the natural actions of the 

 body under undue excitement.f It was a medical on 

 dit, that a shark's tooth rubbed across an infant's gums, 

 greatly accelerated the process of dentition, securing to 

 him not only sound incisors, but a shark-like appetite to 

 cater for it. The bile of the scorpena figures away in 

 prescriptions signed by no less venerable hands than 

 those of Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, and Pliny. 

 Fish-livers enjoyed considerable reputation, both as topi- 

 cal applications in local diseases, and in the treatment of 

 fever and dropsy. The liver of the mustela was in such 

 vogue that the caupones of those days cut it out, and 

 then restored the quondam possessor alive to his pond, 

 where he continued to grow notwithstanding the muti- 

 lation. This relation sounds, Kke that of Bruce's Abys- 



* Dr. Pisanelli, of Bologna, speaks of Laving given this fish 

 witli equal success in diarrhoea and hydrophobia. 



t It was also said to suspend judgment in lawsuits as effectually 

 as if they had got into chancery ; on which account ' plaintiffs 

 seldom ventured into the fish-market, the mere sight of it being 

 at such a juncture held as inauspicious.' 



