444 
PLINT's NATUEAL history. [Book XXX. 
the abdomen with mouse-dung. The flesh of a hedge -hog is 
agreeable eating, fhej say, if killed with a single blow upon 
the head, before it has had time to discharge its urine^* upon 
its body : [persons* who eat this flesh, it is said, will never by 
any possibility suffer from strangury.] The flesh of a hedge- 
hog thus killed, is a cure for urinary obstructions of the blad- 
der ; and the same, too, with fumigations made therewith. If, 
on the other hand, the animal has discharged its urine upon its 
body, those who eat the flesh will be sure to be attacked by 
strangury, it is said. As a lithontriptic,^ earth-worms are 
recommended, taken in ordinary wine or raisin wine ; or else 
boiled snails, prepared the same way^ as for the cure of asthma. 
For the cure of urinary obstructions, snails are taken from the 
shells, pounded, and administered in one cyathus of wine, three 
the first day, two the second, and one the third. Por the ex- 
pulsion of calculi, the empty shells are reduced to ashes and 
taken in drink : the liver also of a water- snake, and the ashes 
of burnt scorpions are similarly employed, or are taken with 
bread or eaten with a locust. For the same purpose, the 
small grits that are found in the gizzard of poultry or in the 
craw of the ringdove, are beaten up and sprinkled in the 
patient's drink ; the craw, too, of poultry is taken, dried, or if 
fresh, grilled. 
For urinary calculi and other obstructions of the bladder, 
dung of ring-doves is taken, with beans ; ashes also of wild 
ring-doves' feathers, mixed with vinegar and honey ; the in- 
testines of those birds, reduced to ashes, and administered in 
doses of three spoonfuls ; a small clod from a swallow's nest, 
dissolved in warm water ; the dried crop of an ossifrage ; the 
dung of a turtle-dove, boiled in honied wine ; or the broth of 
a boiled turtle-dove. 
It is very beneficial also for urinary affections to eat thrushes 
with myrtle-berries, or grasshoppers grilled on a shallow-pan ; 
or else to take the millepedes, known as onisci,"^ in drink. 
For pains in the bladder, a decoction of lambs' feet is used. 
3* See B. viii. c. 56. 
* This passage is omitted by Sillig as an evident interpolation from the 
context a couple of lines below. 
^ The belief in lithontriptics can hardly be said to exist at the present 
day. Ajasson refers to the grant made by the British Parliament of £5000 
to Mrs. Stephens for her lithontriptic ! ! 
In c. 16 of this Book. See B. xxix. c. 39. 
