TEE COMMON SEINE. 
59 
to be engaged in the labor of sinking a tunnel for the purpose of aiding its escape. Several 
travellers have seen the Skink thus bury itself, and have all carried away the same opinion of 
its powers. 
If quietly approached, it may often be detected sleeping in the hot sunbeams, lying 
stretched at length upon the stones or rocks, and so far steeped in slumber, that it may be 
approached quite closely without taking alarm. 
The name of Officinal Skink has been given to this reptile on account of the high place 
which it formerly held among the medical profession, and the extreme value which it was 
thought to possess when dried, pounded, made up neatly into draughts or boluses, and 
used as a medicine. There is hardly a disease to which the human race is liable, which was 
not thought curable by the prepared body of this reptile, certainly not the least repulsive 
of all the disgusting substances which the early physicians delighted to choose from the 
animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdom, to fill their multitudinous boxes and bottles, and 
to inflict upon their patients. Sometimes a physician would even evince his belief in the 
efficacy of his medicine by taking it himself, and would swallow, with full belief in its 
COMMON SKINK.— Scincus officinalis. 
healing powers, the burnt liver of a hyena, the moss from a dead man’s skull, the grated flesh 
of a mummy, or the remains of a pounded Lizard, together with many other substances too 
revolting to mention. 
Did a warrior receive a wound from a poisoned arrow, or was a woodman bitten by a 
venomous snake, there was nothing so effectual for the cure as the dried flesh of the Skink, 
sometimes called El Adda, and sometimes known by the name of Dhab. He who provided 
himself with this all-powerful medicine was secure against fits of all kinds, which never 
attacked the system fortified by a dose of powdered Skink, or were speedily driven away if 
the sufferer had not previously partaken of this panacea. All skin diseases were cured by the 
Skink, and even the fearful elephantiasis yielded to its potent sway. 
Were the system too inexcitable and lethargic, and did the blood course too slowly 
through the veins, a little Skink powder would restore the natural powers to their full 
vigor. Or, on the contrary, if the patient happened to be feverish, restless, with a burning 
forehead, a parched skin, and a hurried pulse, a dose of the same useful medicine would 
cool the system, cure the headache, and bring the pulse to its normal state. It is an 
infallible remedy for worms, eradicates cancer, and removes cataract. In fine, a satisfactory 
estimate of its valuable properties may be gained by perusing, in the daily journals, any 
