HELICID^. —SNAIL, 
7 
use in France in cases of phthisis, catarrh, bronchitis, 
etc. etc. 
Oil of Black Snails — Spanish Cure for Consumption. 
“Make a flannel bag of a triangular shape (like a jelly 
bag), fit the corner into a wide-mouthed bottle, fill it 
with black snails in the hottest time of the year ; tie up 
the mouth, and suspend bottle and bag on a wall, the 
hottest you can find. The proper place is the sunny 
angle of a wall where the south and west sun fall longest. 
The snails will give out a larger quantity of frothy liquid, 
which will drain into the bottle ; cork it close for use, 
and give a teaspoonful at a time, three or four times a 
day, in milk or any other liquid. 
The common garden snail, Helioo aspersa, also gives out 
a frothy liquid which might be collected in the same 
manner, and used with benefit by consumptive patients. 
The friend who kindly gave me the above recipe tells 
me that these black snails resemble H. aspersa, but the 
colour is much darker, and at a distance looks almost 
black. In an old English medical book, date 1756, 
syrup of snails is recommended for coughs, weaknesses, 
etc., and is made by hanging snails up in a bag, with 
some sugar, by which means the syrup drops into a ves- 
sel placed to receive it. 
Popular Spanish Cure for the Headache. — Make a 
poultice of bruised snails. They must be broken up 
with their shells and put into a piece of linen folded 4 
times so as to make it thick, dip it in brandy, and squeeze 
it tolerably dry ; then apply it to the forehead. 
M. Figuier remembers when studying botany in the 
garden of the School of Medicine, as a youth, at Mont- 
pellier, seeing the celebrated tenor singer, M. Laborde, 
every morning partake of live snails, as he was suffering 
