Chap. 44.] METHODS OF FACILTTATIJiTa DELIYEUT. 
463 
them on the ground. To promote conception, five or seven of 
them are administered in drink. Snails, taken with the food, 
accelerate delivery ; and, applied with saffron, they promote 
conception. Used in the form of a liniment, with amylum ^ 
and gum tragacanth, they arrest uterine discharges. Taken 
with the food, they promote menstruation ; and, mixed with 
deer's marrow, in the proportion of one denarius and the same 
quantity of cyprus to each snail, they reduce the uterus when 
displaced. Taken from the shell, and beaten up with oil of 
roses, they dispel inflations of the uterus ; the snails of Asty- 
palsea being those that are mostly chosen for these purposes. 
Those of Africa, again, are employed in a different manner, 
two of them being beaten up with a pinch of fenugreek in 
three fingers, and four spoonfuls of honey, and the preparation 
applied to the abdomen, after it has been rubbed with juice of 
iris.^^ There is a kind of small, white, elongated snaiV^ that 
is found straying here and there : dried upon tiles in the sun, 
and reduced to powder, these snails are mixed with bean-meal, 
in equal proportions, forming a cosmetic which whitens and 
softens the skin. The small, broad, kind of snail, mixed with 
polenta, is good for the removal of a tendency to scr|itch and 
rub the skin. 
If a pregnant woman steps over a viper, she will be sure to 
miscarry the same, too, in the case of the amphisbsena, but 
only when it is dead. If, however, a woman carries about her a 
live amphisbsena in a box, she may step over one with impu- 
nity, even though it be dead. An amphisbsena, preserved for 
the purpose, will ensure an easy delivery, even though it be 
dead.^^ It is a truly marvellous fact, but if a pregnant woman 
steps over one of these serpents that has not been preserved, it 
will be perfectly harmless, provided she immediately steps 
over another that has been preserved. A fumigation made 
with a dried snake, acts powerfully as an emmenagogue. 
CHAP. 44. METHODS OF FACILIT ACTING DELIVERY. 
The cast-off slough of a snake, attached to the loins, facili- 
58 See B. xviii. c. 17. See B. xii. c. 51. eo gee B. xxi. cc. 19, 83. 
Varro calls them " albulse," and says that they were tbiind at Keute. 
6^ Of course she will be liable to do so, from fright. 
The whole of this account appears to be in a very confused state, and 
is probably corrupt. Sillig's punctuation has not been adopted. 
