330 
PLINY S NATURAL HISTORY. 
[Book XXYIII. 
, used with honey and resin. Similar properties are attributed 
to the liver of the domesticated boar and the outer filaments, 
and those only, of the gall, these last being taken in doses of 
four denarii ; the brains also, taken in wine, are equally ef- 
fectual. The fumes of the burning horns or hair of a she-goat 
will repel serpents, they say : the ashes, too, of the horns, used 
either internally or externally, are thought to be an antidote 
to their poison. A similar effect is attributed to goats' milk, 
taken with Taminian*^ grapes ; to the urine of those animals, 
taken with squill vinegar ; to goats' milk cheese, applied with 
origanum ;^ and to goat suet, used with wax. 
In addition to all this, as will be seen hereafter, there are a 
thousand other remedial properties attributed to this animal ; 
a fact which surprises me all the more, seeing that the goat, 
it is said, is never free from fever.^ The wild animals of the 
same species, which are very numerous, as already^^ stated, 
have a still greater efficacy attributed to them; but the he- 
goat has certain properties peculiar to itself, and Democritus 
attributes properties still more powerful to the animal when it 
has been the only one yeaned. It is recommended also to apply 
she-goat's dung, boiled^^ in vinegar, to injuries inflicted by 
serpents, as also the ashes of fresh dung mixed with wine. 
As a general rule, persons who find that they are recovering 
but slowly from injuries inflicted by a serpent, will find their 
' health more speedily re-established by frequenting the stalls 
where goats are kept. Those, however, whose object is a more 
assured remedy, attach immediately to the wound the paunch 
of a she-goat killed for the purpose, dung and all. Others, 
again, use the flesh of a kid just killed, and fumigate it with 
the singed hair, the smell of which has the effect of repelling 
serpents. 
For stings of serpents, as also for injuries inflicted by the 
scorpion and shrew-mouse, some employ the skin of a goat 
newly killed, as also the flesh and dung of a horse that has 
been out at pasture, or a hare's rennet in vinegar. They say, 
too, that if a person has the body well rubbed with a hare's 
rennet, he will never receive injury from venomous animals. 
"When a person has been stung by a scorpion, she- goat's dung, 
7 See B. xxiii, cc. 13, 14. 8 gee B. xx. c. 67. 
9 See B. viii. c. 76. * In B. viii. c. 76. 
1^ A remedy of which H. Cloquet highly approves, on chemical grounds. 
