432 
pltny's natukal histobt. 
[Bpok XXX. 
CHAP. 9. (4.) KEMEDIES FOR OFEEITSIVE ODOUES AND SORES OF 
THE MOUTH. 
To impart sweetness to the breath, it is recommended to 
rub the teeth with ashes of burnt mouse-dung and honey : 
some persons are in the habit of mixing fennel root. To pick 
the teeth with a vulture' s feather, is productive of a sour 
breath ; but to use a porcupine's quill for that purpose, greatly 
strengthens the teeth. Ulcers of the tongue and lips are cured 
by taking a decoction of swallows, boiled in honied wine ; and 
chapped lips are healed by using goose-grease or poultry -grease, 
wool-grease mixed with nut-galls, white spiders' webs, or the 
fine cobwebs that are found adhering to the beams of roofs. 
If the inside of the mouth has been scalded with any hot sub- 
stance, bitches' milk will afford an immediate cure. 
CHAP. 10. REMEDIES POR SPOTS UPON THE PACE. 
Wool-grease, mixed with Corsican honey — which by the way 
is considered the most acrid honey of all — removes spots upon 
the face. Applied with oil of roses in wool, it causes scurf upon 
the face to disappear : some persons add butter to it. In cases 
of morphew, the spots are first pricked with a needle, and then 
rubbed with dog's gall. For livid spots and bruises on the 
face, the lights of a ram or sheep are cut fine and applied 
warm, or else pigeons' dung is used. Goose-grease or poultry- 
grease is a good preservative of the skin of the face. For 
lichens a liniment is used, made of mouse-dung in vinegar, or 
of the ashes of a hedge-hog mixed with oil : but, when these 
remedies are employed, it is recommended first to foment the 
face with nitre dissolved in vinegar. Maladies of the face are also 
removed by employing the ashes of the smaU, broad, snail that 
is so commonly found, mixed with honey. Indeed, the ashes 
of all snails are of an inspissative nature, and are possessed of 
certain calorific and detersive properties : hence it is that they 
form an ingredient in caustic applications, and are used in the 
form of a liniment for itch-scabs, leprous sores, and freckles on 
the face. 
I find it stated that a certain kind of ant known by the name 
of " Herculanea," is beaten up, with the addition of a little 
^ Dalechamps thinks that these " Herculean " ants were so called from 
their great size. Ajasson queries whether they may not be the grenadier 
ants of Dupont de Nemours. 
