446 
Pliny's natural histokt. 
[Book XXX. 
a mule's hoofs, burnt to ashes; or tbe powder of pounded 
horse teeth, sprinkled upon the parts. In cases of decidence 
of either of the testes, an application of the slime discharged 
by snails is remedial, they say. For the treatment of sordid 
or running ulcers of those parts, the fresh ashes of a burnt 
dog's head are found highly useful ; the small, broad kind of 
snail, beaten up in vinegar ; a snake's slough, or the ashes of 
it, applied in vinegar; honey in which the bees have died, 
mixed with resin ; or the kind of snail without a shell, that is 
found in Africa, as already^ ^ mentioned, beaten up with pow- 
dered frankincense and white of eggs, the application being 
renewed at the end of thirty days ; some persons, however, 
substitute a bulb for the franldncense. 
Eor the cure of hydrocele, a spotted lizard, they say, is 
marvellously good, the head, feet, and intestines being first 
removed, and the rest of the body roasted and taken frequently 
with the food. For incontinence^^ of urine dogs' fat is used, 
mixed with a piece of split alum the size of a bean ; ashes, 
also, of African snails burnt with the shells, taken in drink ; 
or else the tongues of three geese roasted and eaten with the 
food, a remedy which we owe to Anaxilaiis. Mutton-suet,*^ 
mixed with parched salt, has an aperient effect upon inflam- 
matory tumours, and mouse-dung, mixed with powdered 
frankincense and sandarach, acts upon them as a dispellent : 
the ashes, also, of a burnt lizard, or the lizard itself, split 
asunder and applied ; or else bruised millepedes, mixed with one 
third part of turpentine. Some make use of earth of Sinope'^* 
for this purpose, mixed with a bruised snail. Ashes of 
empty snail-shells burnt alone, mixed with wax, possess cer- 
tain repercussive properties ; the same, too, with pigeons' dung, 
employed by itself, or applied with oat- meal or barley-meal. 
Cantharides, mixed with lime, remove inflammatory tumours 
quite as effectually as the lancet ; and small snails, applied 
topically with honey, have a soothing effect upon tumours in 
the groin. 
^1 In B. xxix. c. 36 and in c. 19 of tkis Book. 
1" See B. xxxii. c. 35. 
^3 Ajasson remarks that this may probably be useful. 
See B. XXXV. cc. 12, 13. 
