414 PLilfY's NATURAL HISTOBT. [Book XXIX. 
that the gall to be used for these purposes should be kept in a 
silver box. 
Partridges' eggs, boiled in a copper vessel, with honey, are 
curative of ulcers of the eyes, and of glaucoma. Por the 
treatment of blood-shot eyes, the blood of pigeons, ring-doves, 
turtle-doves, and partridges is remarkably useful ; but that 
of the male pigeon is generally looked upon as the most effica- 
cious. For this purpose, a vein is opened beneath the wing, 
it being warmer than the rest of the blood, and consequently 
more^ beneficial. After it is applied, a compress, boiled in 
honey, should be laid upon it, and some greasy wool, boiled in 
oil and wine. jS"yctalopy,2 too, is cured by using the blood of 
these birds, or the liver of a sheep — the most efficacious 
being that of a tawny sheep — as already^ stated by us 
when speaking of goats. A decoction, too, of the liver is 
recommended as a wash for the eyes, and, for pains and swell- 
ings in those organs, the marrow, used as a liniment. The eyes 
of a horned owl, it is strongly asserted, reduced to ashes and 
mixed in an eye-salve, will improve the sight. Albugo is made 
to disappear by using the dung of turtle-doves, snails burnt to 
ashes, and the dung of the cenchris, a kind of hawk, according 
to the Greeks.'* All the substances above mentioned, used in 
combination with honey, are curative of argema : honey, too, 
in which the bees have died, is remarkably good for the eyes. 
A person who has eaten the young of the stork will never 
suffer from ophthalmia for many years to come, it is said ; and 
the same when a person carries about him the head of a 
dragon:^ it is stated, too, that the fat of this last-named 
animal, applied with honey and old oil, will disperse incipient 
films of the eyes. The young of the swallow are blinded at 
full moon, and the moment their sight is restored,® their heads 
are burnt, and the ashes are employed, with honey, to improve 
the sight, and for the cure of pains, ophthalmia, and contu- 
sions of the eyes. 
Lizards, also, are employed in numerous ways as a remedy 
^ A puerile reason, Ajasson remarks. It is much more probable tbat 
the reason was, because this vein was the most easily discovered. 
2 See B. xxviii. c. 47. ^ In B. xxviii. c. 47. 
* See B. X. c. 52. ^ The serpent so called. 
6 An absurdity. The probability is, that the sight of the young birds . 
was only supposed to be destroyed, the operation being imperfectly performed. 
