436 
PLTNy's KATUIIAL HISTOUY. 
[Book XXX. 
flesh is forbidden to the patient. Tanrus"^^ is the name 
usually given to an earth-beetle, very similar to a tick in 
appearance, and which it derives from the diminutive horns 
with which it is furnished : some persons call it the earth- 
louse."^^ From the earth thrown up by these insects a lini- 
ment is prepared for scrofula and similar diseases, and for gout, 
the application not being washed off till the end of three days. 
This last remedy is effectual for a whole year, and all those 
other properties are attributed to it which we have mentioned^* 
when speaking of crickets. There are some, again, who make 
a similar use of the earth thrown up by ants ; while others 
attach to the patient as many earth-worms as there are scrofu- 
lous tumours, the sores drying as the worms dry up. 
Some persons cut off the head and tail of a viper, as already 
mentioned,^^ about the rising of the Dog-star, which done, they 
burn the middle, and give a pinch of the ashes in three fingers, 
for thrice seven days, in drink — such is the plan they use for 
the cure of scrofula. Others, again, pass round the scrofulous 
tumours a linen thread, with which a viper has been suspended 
by the neck till dead. Millepedes'^^ are also used, with one 
fourth part of turpentine ; a remedy which is equally recom- 
mended for the cure of all kinds of apostemes. 
CHAP. 13. EEMEDIES EOR DISEASES OE THE SHOULDEES. 
The ashes of a burnt weasel, mixed with wax, are a cure 
for pains in the shoulders. To prevent the arm-pits of young 
persons from becoming hairy, they should be well rubbed with 
ants' eggs. Slave-dealers also, to impede the growth of 
the hair in young persons near puberty, emplo}^ the blood that 
''^ " The bull." Dalecharaps takes this to be the stag-beetle or bull-fly ; 
but that, as Ajasson remarks, has four horns, two antennse, and two large 
mandibules ; in addition to which, from its size, it would hardly be called 
the earth-louse." He concludes that a lamellicorn is meant ; hut whether 
belonging to the Lucanidse or the Scarabaeidse, it is impossible to say. 
"''^ Pediculus terras." 
'^^ In B. xxix. c. 33. In B. xxix. c. 21. 
"^^ He probably speaks of woqdlice here. Ettmuller asserts their utility 
in this form for scrofula. Valisnieri says the same ; Spielmann prescribes 
them for arthrosis ; Eiviere considers them as a detergent for ulcers, and 
a resolvent for tumours of the mamillse ; and Baglivi maintains that they 
are a first-rate diuretic, and unequalled as a lithontriptic. They contain 
muriate of lime and of potash, which may possibly, in some small degree, 
give them an aperitive virtue. 
