Chap. 42.] 
IIEMEDIES AGAINST SERPENTS. 
329 
serpents. That deer are destructive to those reptiles^^ no one 
is ignorant ; as also of the fact that they drag them from their 
holes when they find them, and so devour them. And it is 
not only while alive and breathing that deer are thus fatal to 
serpents, but even when dead and separated limb from limb. 
The fumes of their horns, while burning, will drive away 
serpents, as already^^ stated ; but the bones, it is said, of the 
upper part of a stag's throat, if burnt upon a fire, will bring those 
reptiles together. Persons may sleep upon a deer's skin in 
perfect safety, and without any apprehension of attacks by 
serpents ; its rennet too, taken with vinegar, is an effectual anti- 
dote to the stings of those reptiles ; indeed, if it has been only 
touched by a person, he will be for that day effectually pro- 
tected from them. The testes, dried, or the genitals of the 
male animal, are considered to be very wholesome, taken in 
wine, and so are the umbles, generally known as the centi- 
pellio."^ Persons having about them a deer's tooth, or who 
have taken the precaution of rubbing the body with a deer or 
fawn's marrow, will be sure to repel the attacks of all serpents. 
Eut the most effectual remedy of all is thought to be the 
rennet of a fawn that has been cut from the uterus of the 
dam, as already^ mentioned in another place. Deer's blood, 
burnt upon a fire of lentisk wood, with dracontium/ cunilago,* 
and alkanet, will attract serpents, they say ; while, on the 
other hand, if the blood is removed and pyrethrum^ substituted 
for it, they will take to flight. 
I find an animal mentioned by Greek writers, smaller than 
the stag, but resembling it in the hair, and to which they give 
the name of " ophion."^ Sardinia, they say, is the only coun- 
try that produces it ; I am of opinion, however, that it is now 
extinct, and for that reason I shall not enlarge upon its medi- 
cinal properties. 
(10.) As a preservative against the attacks of serpents, the 
brains and blood of the wild boar are held in high esteem : 
the liver also, dried and taken in wine with rue ; and the fat, 
98 See B. viii. c. 50. 99 in b. viii. c. 50. 
1 Or " hundred skins." Called tlie mirefeuillet in French. 
- In B. viii. c. 50. 3 gee B. xxiv. c. 91. 
* See B. XX. c. 63. 
^ The Anthemis pyrethrum of Linnseus, Spanish camomile or pellitory. 
^ Possibly the Musmon of B. viii. c. 49. See also B. xxx. c. 52, 
