126 
pliot's natural HISTOET. [BookVIL 
JN'asamoTies, who now occupy their territory .^^ This race, how- 
ever, still survives in a few persons who are descendants of 
those who either took to flight or else were absent on the oc- 
casion of the battle. The Marsi, in Italy, are still in possession 
of the same power, for which, it is said, they are indebted 
to their origin from the son of Circe, from whom they acquired 
it as a natural quality. But the fact is, that all men possess 
in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents, and the 
human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though 
they had been touched with boiling water. The same sub- 
stance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their 
throat, and more particularly so, if it should happen to be the 
saliva of a man who is fasting.^^ 
Above the Nasamones,^^ and the Machlyse, who border upon 
them, are found, as we learn from Calliphanes, the nation of 
the Androgyni, a people who unite the two sexes in the same 
individual, and alternately perform the functions of each. 
Aristotle also states, that their right breast is that of a male, 
the left that of a female.^^ 
Isigonus and IN'ymphodorus inform us that there are in 
Africa certain families of enchanters,^^ who, by means of their 
charms, in the form of commendations, can cause cattle to 
perish, trees to wither, and infants to die. Isigonus adds, that 
Herodotus, B. iv. c. 173, gives a somewhat different account ; see also 
Aulus Gellius, B. xvi. c. 11, who follows the narrative of Herodotus. Gel- 
lius also gives an account of the Marsi, which is similar to that of Pliny. — B. 
^9 It is scarcely necessary to remark, that this alleged effect of the human 
saliva is without foundation. The saliva of a person who has fasted for 
some time, is still, in this country, a popular remedy for ophthalmia. It 
contains a greater proportion of saline matter than saliva under ordinary 
circumstances . — B . 
The Nasamones have been enumerated among the inhabitants of the 
northern part of Africa, near the Greater Syrtis, v. 5. See also Herodotus, 
B. ii. c. 32, and B. vi. c. 172 and 190.— B. 
51 Certain individuals are occasionally met with, whose generative organs 
exhibit an unusual formation, so as to give the idea of their uniting both 
sexes in the same person ; and there are instances, where parts peculiar to 
both sexes actually appear to exist, hut always in an imperfect or rudimentary 
state ; all beyond this is undoubtedly fabulous. See Todd's Cyclop, of 
Anat. in loco. — B. 
52 There are, at the present day, individuals among the negroes, who 
profess to have the power of enchantment, which, however, appears to 
consist in their possessing the knowledge of various poisons, which they 
not unfrequently administer, and by these means obtain great influence 
over the minds of the people. — B. 
