98 plint's natueal history. [Book XL 
serpents and human blood : against this frightful composition 
there is no remedy, for with the slightest touch it is productive 
of instant death. 
CHAP. 116. ANIMALS WHICH WEEK PED UPON POISON DO 
NOT DIE, AND THE PLESH OP WHICH IS POISONOUS. 
The animals which feed upon poison have been already^'' 
mentioned. Some of them, which are harmless of themselves, 
become noxious if fed upon venomous substances. The wild 
boar of Pamphylia and the mountainous parts of Cilicia, after 
having devoured a salamander, will become poisonous to those 
who eat its flesh ; and yet the danger is quite imperceptible 
by reason of any peculiarity in the smell and taste. The sala- 
mander, too, will poison either water or wine, in which it 
happens to be drowned ; and what is more, if it has only drunk 
thereof, the liquid becomes poisonous. The same is the case, 
too, with the frog known to us as the bramble-frog. So nu- 
merous are the snares that are laid in wait for life ! Wasps 
greedily devour the flesh of the serpent, a nutriment which 
renders their stings fatal ; so vast is the diflerence to be found 
between one kind of food and another. In the country, too, 
of the Ichthyophagi,^''' as we learn from Theophrastus, the oxen 
are fed upon fish, but only when alive. 
CHAP. 117. — REASONS FOR INDIGESTION. REMEDIES POK 
CRUDITY. : 
The most wholesome nutriment for man is plain food. An ! 
accumulation of flavours is injurious, and still more so, if ! 
heightened by sauces. All acrid elements are difficult of di- j 
gestion, and the same is the case if food is devoured greedily, I 
or in too large quantities. Pood is also less easily digested in | 
summer than in winter, and in old age than in youth. The j 
vomits which man has invented, by way of remedy for this |i 
evil, render the body more cold, and are more particularly inju- |j 
rious to the eyes and teeth. 
CHAP. 118. PROM WHAT CAUSES CORPULENCE ARISES; 
HOW IT MAY BE REDUCED. | 
Digestion during sleep is more productive of corpulence than j 
strength. Hence it is, that it is preferable for athletes td ? 
6s B. ix. c. 33, 67 Or Fish -eaters. 
