Chaps. 10-21.

Chap. 10.—Thirty-Two Remedies Derived from Wool-grease.

And not only this, but the filthy excretions even of sheep, the sweat adhering to the wool of the flanks and of the axillary concavities—a substance known as “œsypum” [“Œsypum” is often mentioned by Ovid as a favourite cosmetic with the Roman ladies.] —are applied to purposes almost innumerable; the grease produced by the sheep of Attica being the most highly esteemed. There are numerous ways of obtaining it, but the most approved method is to take the wool, fresh clipped from those parts of the body, or else the sweat and grease collected from any part of the fleece, and boil it gently in a copper vessel upon a slow fire: this done, it is left to cool, and the fat which floats upon the surface collected into an earthen vessel. The material originally used is then subjected to another boiling, and the two results are washed in cold water; after which, they are strained through a linen cloth and exposed to the sun till they become bleached and quite transparent, and are then put by in a pewter box for keeping.

The best proof of its genuineness is its retention of the strong smell of the original grease, and its not melting when rubbed with water upon the hand, but turning white, like white-lead in appearance. This substance is extremely useful for inflammations of the eyes and indurations of the eyelids. Some persons bake the wool in an earthen pot, until it has lost all its grease, and are of opinion that, prepared this way, it is a more useful remedy for excoriations and indurations of the eyelids, for eruptions at the corners of the eyes, and for watery eyes. And not only does this grease heal ulcerations of the eyes, but, mixed with goose-grease, of the ears and generative organs as well; in combination also with melilote and butter, it is a cure for inflammations of the uterus, and for excoriations of the rectum and condylomata. The other uses to which it is applied, we shall detail on a more appropriate occasion.

The grease, too, of the wool about the tail is made up into pills, unmixed with any substance: these pills are dried and pulverized, being an excellent application for the teeth, when loose even, and for the gums, when attacked by spreading ulcers of a cancerous nature. Sheep’s wool, too, cleaned, is applied by itself, or with the addition of sulphur, for dull, heavy pains, and the ashes of it, burnt, are used for diseases of the generative organs: indeed, this wool is possessed of such sovereign virtues, that it is used as a covering for medicinal applications even. It is also an especial remedy for the sheep itself, when it has lost its stomach, and refuses to feed; for, upon plucking some wool from the tail, and then tying the tail therewith, as tight as possible, the sheep will fall to feeding immediately. It is said however, that the part of the tail which lies beyond the knot so made will quickly mortify and die.

Chap. 11. (3.)—Twenty-Two Remedies Derived from Eggs.

There is a considerable affinity also between wool and eggs, which are applied together as a frontal to the forehead by way of cure for defluxions of the eyes. Wool, however, is not required for this purpose to have been dressed with radicula, [See B. xix. c. 1, B. xxiv. c. 58, and B. xxv. c. 21.] the only thing requisite to be combined with it being the white of an egg and powdered frankincense. The white of an egg, also applied by itself, arrests defluxions of the eyes, and has a cooling effect upon inflammations of those organs: some, however, prefer mixing saffron with it, and employ it as an ingredient in eye-salves, in place of water. For ophthalmia in infants there is hardly any remedy to be found, except white of egg mixed with fresh butter. Eggs beaten up with oil, are very soothing for erysipelas, beet leaves being laid on the liniment.

White of egg, mixed with pounded gum ammoniac, is used as a bandoline for arranging the hairs of the eyelids; and, in combination with pine-nuts and a little honey, it forms a liniment for the removal of pimples on the face. If the face is well rubbed with it, it will never be sun-burnt. If, the moment the flesh has been scalded, an egg is applied, no blisters will form: some persons, however, mix with it barley-meal and a little salt. In cases of ulceration formed by burns, there is nothing better than parched barley and hogs’ lard, mixed with the white of an egg. The same mixture is also used as an application for diseases of the rectum, in infants even, and in cases, too, when there is procidence of those parts. For the cure of chaps upon the feet, white of eggs is boiled, with two denarii of white lead, an equal quantity of litharge, a little myrrh, and some wine. For the cure of erysipelas they use the whites of three eggs with amylum: [See B. xviii. c. 17.] it is said, too, that white of egg has the effect of knitting wounds and of expelling urinary calculi. The yolk of eggs boiled hard, applied in woman’s milk with a little saffron and honey, has a soothing effect upon pains in the eyes. The yolk is applied also to the eyes in wool, mixed with honied wine and oil of roses: or else mixed with ground parsley-seed and polenta, and applied with honied wine. The yolk of a single egg, swallowed raw by itself without being allowed to touch the teeth, is remarkably good for cough, defluxions of the chest, and irritations of the fauces. It is used, too, both internally and externally, in a raw state, as a sovereign cure for the sting of the hæmorrhoïs; [See B. xx. c. 23.] and it is highly beneficial for the kidneys, for irritations and ulcerations of the bladder, and for bloody expectorations. For dysentery, the yolks of five eggs are taken raw in one semi-sextarius of wine, mixed with the ashes of the shells, poppy-juice, and wine.

For cœliac fluxes, it is recommended to take the yolks of eggs, with like proportions of pulpy raisins and pomegranate rind, in equal quantities, for three consecutive days; or else to follow another method, and take the yolks of three eggs, with three ounces of old bacon and honey, and three cyathi of old wine; the whole being beaten up to the consistency of honey, and taken in water, when needed, in pieces the size of a hazel nut. In some cases, too, the yolks of three eggs are fried in oil, the whole of the egg having been steeped a day previously in vinegar. It is in this way that eggs are used for the treatment of spleen diseases; but for spitting of blood, they should be taken with three cyathi of must. Yolk of egg is used, too, for the cure of bruises of long standing, in combination with bulbs and honey. Boiled and taken in wine, yolks of eggs arrest menstruation: applied raw with oil or wine, they dispel inflations of the uterus. Mixed with goose-grease and oil of roses, they are useful for crick in the neck; and they are hardened over the fire, and applied warm, for the cure of maladies of the rectum. For condylomata, eggs are used in combination with oil of roses; and for the treatment of burns, they are hardened in water, and set upon hot coals till the shells are burnt, the yellow being used as a liniment with oil of roses.

Eggs become entirely transformed into yolk, on being removed after the hen has sat upon them for three days; in which state they are known by the name of “sitista.” [Hermolaüs suggests “schista,” “divided,” and Dalechamps proposes “synchyta,” “mixed.” The reading is very doubtful.] The chicks that are found within the shell are used for strengthening a disordered stomach, being eaten with half a nut-gall, and no other food taken for the next two hours. They are given also for dysentery, boiled in the egg with one semi-sextarius of astringent wine, and an equal quantity of olive oil and polenta. The pellicle that lines the shell is used, either raw or boiled, for the cure of cracked lips; and the shell itself, reduced to ashes, is taken in wine for discharges of blood: care must be taken, however, to burn it without the pellicle. In the same way, too, a dentifrice is prepared. The ashes of the shell, applied topically with myrrh, arrest menstruation when in excess. So remarkably strong is the shell of an egg, that if it is set upright, no force or weight can break it, unless a slight inclination be made to one side or other of the circumference. Eggs taken whole in wine, with rue, dill, and cummin, facilitate parturition. Used with oil and cedar-resin, they remove itch and prurigo, and, applied in combination with cyclaminos, [Or Sowbread. See B. xxv. c. 67.] they are remedial for running ulcers of the head. For purulent expectorations and spitting of blood, a raw egg is taken, warmed with juice of cut-leek and an equal quantity of Greek honey. For coughs, eggs are administered, boiled and beaten up with honey, or else raw, with raisin wine and an equal quantity of olive oil. For diseases of the male organs, an injection is made, of an egg, three cyathi of raisin wine, and half an ounce of amylum, [See B. xviii. c. 17.] the mixture being used immediately after the bath. Where injuries have been inflicted by serpents, boiled eggs are used as a liniment, beaten up with nasturtium.

In what various ways eggs are used as food is well known to all, passing downwards, however swollen the throat may be, and warming the parts as they pass. Eggs, too, are the only diet which, while it affords nutriment in sickness, does not load the stomach, possessing at the same moment all the advantages both of food and drink. We have already [In B. x. c. 80.] stated, that the shell of an egg becomes soft when steeped in vinegar: it is by the aid of eggs thus prepared, and kneaded up with meal into bread, that patients suffering from the cœliac flux are often restored to strength. Some, however, think it a better plan to roast the eggs, when thus softened, in a shallow pan; a method, by the aid of which, they arrest not only looseness of the bowels, but excessive menstruation as well. In cases, again, where the discharges are greatly in excess, eggs are taken raw, with meal, in water. The yolks, too, are employed alone, boiled hard in vinegar and roasted with ground pepper, when wanted to arrest diarrhœa.

For dysentery, there is a sovereign remedy, prepared in the following manner: an egg is emptied into a new earthen vessel, which done, in order that all the proportions may be equal, fill the shell, first with honey, then with oil, and then with vinegar; beat them up together, and thoroughly incorporate them: the better the quality of the several ingredients, the more efficacious the mixture will be. Others, again, instead of oil and vinegar, use the same proportions of red resin and wine. There is also another way of making up this preparation: the proportion of oil, and of that only, remains the same, and to it they add two sixtieth parts of a denarius of the vegetable which we have spoken of under the name of “rhus,” [See B. xxiv. c. 54.] and five oboli of honey. All these ingredients are boiled down together, and no food is eaten by the patient till the end of four hours after taking the mixture. Many persons, too, have a cure for griping pains in the bowels, by beating up two eggs with four cloves of garlick, and administering them, warmed in one semi-sextarius of wine.

Not to omit anything in commendation of eggs, I would here add that glair of egg, mixed with quicklime, unites broken [This is the fact, and it is similarly used for mending china. White of egg, mixed with whiskey or spirits of wine, will answer the purpose equally well.] glass. Indeed, so great is the efficacy of the substance of an egg, that wood dipped in it will not take fire, and cloth with which it has come in contact will not ignite. [Ajasson remarks that there is some slight truth in this assertion.] On this occasion, however, it is only of the eggs of poultry that I have been speaking, though those of the various other birds as well are possessed of many useful properties, as I shall have to mention on the appropriate occasions.

Chap. 12.—Serpents’ Eggs.

In addition to the above, there is another kind of egg, [Pliny alludes here to the beads or rings of glass which were used by the Druids as charms to impose on the credulity of their devotees, under the name of Glain naidr, or “the Adder gem.” Mr. Luyd (in Rowland’s Mona Antiqua, p. 342) says that the genuine Ovum anguinum can be no other than a shell of the kind called echinus marinus, and that Dr. Borlase observes that, instead of the natural anguinum, artificial rings of stone, glass, and sometimes baked clay, were substituted as of equal validity. The belief in these charms very recently existed in Cornwall and Wales, if indeed it does not at the present day. The subject is very fully discussed in Brand’s Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. p. 286, et seq., and p. 369, et seq., Bohn’s Edition. These gems and beads are not uncommonly found in tumuli of the early British period.] held in high renown by the people of the Gallic provinces, but totally omitted by the Greek writers. In summer [A similar belief in its origin was prevalent in Cornwall and Wales, and whoever found it was supposed to ensure success in all his undertakings.] time, numberless snakes become artificially entwined together, and form rings around their bodies with the viscous slime which exudes from their mouths, and with the foam secreted by them: the name given to this substance is “anguinum.” [“The snake’s egg”— ovum being understood.] The Druids tell us, that the serpents eject these eggs into the air by their hissing, [“The vulgar opinion in Cornwall and most parts of Wales is that these are produced through all Cornwall by snakes joining their heads together and hissing, which forms a kind of bubble like a ring about the head of one of them, which the rest, by continual hissing, blow on till it comes off at the tail, when it immediately hardens and resembles a glass ring.”— Gough’s Camden, Vol II. p. 571, Ed. 1789.] and that a person must be ready to catch them in a cloak, so as not to let them touch the ground; they say also that he must instantly take to flight on horseback, as the serpents will be sure to pursue him, until some intervening river has placed a barrier between them. The test of its genuineness, they say, is its floating against the current of a stream, even though it be set in gold. But, as it is the way with magicians to be dexterous and cunning in casting a veil about their frauds, they pretend that these eggs can only be taken on a certain day of the moon; as though, forsooth, it depended entirely upon the human will to make the moon and the serpents accord as to the moment of this operation.

I myself, however, have seen one of these eggs: it was round, and about as large as an apple of moderate size; the shell [The shell of a sea urchin most probably. See Note 81 above.] of it was formed of a cartilaginous substance, and it was surrounded with numerous cupules, as it were, resembling those upon the arms of the polypus: it is held in high estimation among the Druids. The possession of it is marvellously vaunted as ensuring success [See Note 82 above.] in law-suits, and a favourable reception with princes; a notion which has been so far belied, that a Roman of equestrian rank, a native of the territory of the Vocontii, [A nation of Gaul. See B. iii. cc. 5, 21.] who, during a trial, had one of these eggs in his bosom, was slain by the late Emperor Tiberius, and for no other reason, that I know of, but because he was in possession of it. It is this entwining of serpents with one another, and the fruitful results of this unison, that seem to me to have given rise to the usage among foreign nations, of surrounding the caduceus [The wand held by heralds, and generally represented as being carried by Mercury in his character of messenger of the gods.] with representations of serpents, as so many symbols of peace—it must be remembered, too, that on the caduceus, serpents are never [And therefore not portentous of war.] represented as having crests.

Chap. 13.—The Method of Preparing Commagenum. Four Remedies Derived from It.

Having to make mention, in the present Book, of the eggs of the goose and the numerous uses to which they are applied, as also of the bird itself, it is our duty to award the honour to Commagene [See B. v. cc. 13, 20.] of a most celebrated preparation there made. This composition is prepared from goose-grease, a substance applied to many other well-known uses as well; but in the case of that which comes from Commagene, a part of Syria, the grease is first incorporated with cinnamon, cassia, [See B. xii. c. 43.] white pepper, and the plant called “commagene,” [See B. x. c. 28. Generally supposed to be Syrian nard; though some identify it with the Comacum of Theophrastus.] and then placed in vessels and buried in the snow. The mixture has an agreeable smell, and is found extremely useful for cold shiverings, convulsions, heavy or sudden pains, and all those affections, in fact, which are treated with the class of remedies known as “acopa;” [See B. xxiii. cc. 45, 80.] being equally an unguent and a medicament.

There is another method, also, of preparing it in Syria: the fat of the bird is preserved in manner already [In B. xxviii. c. 38.] described, and there is added to it erysisceptrum, [See B. xxiv. c. 69.] xylobalsamum, [See B. xii. c. 54.] palm elate, [See B. xii. c. 62.] and calamus, each in the same proportion as the grease; the whole being gently boiled some two or three times in wine. This preparation is made in winter, as in summer it will never thicken, except with the addition of wax. There are numerous other remedies, also, derived from the goose, as well as from the raven; [No MS., it would appear, gives “corvis” here, the reading being “capris,” “goats.” Ajasson, however, is most probably right in his suggestion that “corvis” is the correct reading.] a thing I am much surprised at, seeing that both the goose and the raven [See B. x. c. 15.] are generally said to be in a diseased state at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.

Chap. 14. (4.)—Remedies Derived from the Dog.

We have already [In B. x. c. 26.] spoken of the honours earned by the geese, when the Gauls were detected in their attempt to scale the Capitol. It is for a corresponding reason, also, that punishment is yearly inflicted upon the dogs, by crucifying them alive upon a gibbet of elder, between the Temple of Juventas [Or Youth, in the Eighth Region of the City.] and that of Summanus. [See B. ii. c. 53.]

In reference to this last-mentioned animal, the usages of our forefathers compel us to enter into some further details. They considered the flesh of sucking whelps to be so pure a meat, that they were in the habit of using them as victims even in their expiatory sacrifices. A young whelp, too, is sacrificed to Genita Mana; [An ancient divinity, who is supposed to have presided over childbirth. See Plutarch, Quæst. Rom. 52.] and, at the repasts celebrated in honour of the gods, it is still the usage to set whelps’ flesh on table; at the inaugural feasts, too, of the pontiffs, this dish was in common use, as we learn from the Comedies [In the Saturio probably, quoted by Festus, and now lost. The aborigines of Canada, and the people of China and Tartary, hold whelps’ flesh in esteem as a great delicacy.] of Plautus. It is generally thought that for narcotic [“Toxica.”] poisons there is nothing better than dogs’ blood; and it would appear that it was this animal that first taught man the use of emetics. Other medicinal uses of the dog which are marvellously commended, I shall have occasion to refer to on the appropriate occasions.

Chap. 15.—Remedies Classified According to the Different Maladies. Remedies for Injuries Inflicted by Serpents. Remedies Derived from Mice.

We will now resume the order originally proposed. [Of remedies classified according to the different maladies.] For stings inflicted by serpents fresh sheeps’-dung, boiled in wine, is considered a very useful application: as also mice split asunder and applied to the wound. Indeed, these last animals are possessed of certain properties by no means to be despised, at the ascension of the planets more particularly, as already [In B. xi. c. 76.] stated; the lobes increasing or decreasing in number, with the age of the moon, as the case may be. The magicians have a story that swine will follow any person who gives them a mouse’s liver to eat, enclosed in a fig: they say, too, that it has a similar effect upon man, but that the spell may be destroyed by swallowing a cyathus of oil.

Chap. 16.—Remedies Derived from the Weasel.

There are two varieties of the weasel; the one, wild, [The ferret, most probably.] larger than the other, and known to the Greeks as the “ictis:” its gall is said to be very efficacious as an antidote to the sting of the asp, but of a venomous nature in other respects. [See c. 33 of this Book.] The other kind, [The common weasel.] which prowls about our houses, and is in the habit, Cicero tells us, [Probably in his work entitled “Admiranda,” now lost. Holland says “some take these for our cats.”] of removing its young ones, and changing every day from place to place, is an enemy to serpents. The flesh of this last, preserved in salt, is given, in doses of one denarius, in three cyathi of drink to persons who have been stung by serpents: or else the maw of the animal is stuffed with coriander seed and dried, to be taken for the same purpose in wine. The young one of the weasel is still more efficacious for these purposes.

Chap. 17.—Remedies Derived from Bugs.

There are some things, of a most revolting nature, but which are recommended by authors with such a degree of assurance, that it would be improper to omit them, the more particularly as it is to the sympathy or antipathy of objects that remedies owe their existence. Thus the bug, for instance, a most filthy insect, and one the very name of which inspires us with loathing, is said to be a neutralizer of the venom of serpents, asps in particular, and to be a preservative against all kinds of poisons. As a proof of this, they tell us that the sting of an asp is never fatal to poultry, if they have eaten bugs that day; and that, if such is the case, their flesh is remarkably beneficial to persons who have been stung by serpents. Of the various recipes [Guettard, a French commentator on Pliny, recommends bugs to be taken internally for hysteria!] given in reference to these insects, the least revolting are the application of them externally to the wound, with the blood of a tortoise; the employment of them as a fumigation to make leeches loose their hold; and the administering of them to animals in drink when a leech has been accidentally swallowed. Some persons, however, go so far as to crush bugs with salt and woman’s milk, and anoint the eyes with the mixture; in combination, too, with honey and oil of roses, they use them as an injection for the ears. Field-bugs, again, and those found upon the mallow, [Perhaps the Cimex pratensis is meant here. Neither this nor the Cimex juniperinus, the Cimex brassicæ, or the Lygæus hyoscami has the offensive smell of the house bug.] are burnt, and the ashes mixed with oil of roses as an injection for the ears.

As to the other remedial virtues attributed to bugs, for the cure of vomiting, quartan fevers, and other diseases, although we find recommendations given to swallow them in an egg, some wax, or in a bean, I look upon them as utterly unfounded, and not worthy of further notice. They are employed, however, for the treatment of lethargy, and with some fair reason, as they successfully neutralize the narcotic effects of the poison of the asp: for this purpose seven of them are administered in a cyathus of water, but in the case of children only four. In cases, too, of strangury, they have been injected into the urinary channel: [An excellent method, Ajasson remarks, of adding to the tortures of the patient.] so true it is that Nature, that universal parent, has engendered nothing without some powerful reason or other. In addition to these particulars, a couple of bugs, it is said, attached to the left arm in some wool that has been stolen from the shepherds, will effectually cure nocturnal fevers; while those recurrent in the daytime may be treated with equal success by enclosing the bugs in a piece of russet-coloured cloth. The scolopendra, on the other hand, is a great enemy to these insects; used in the form of a fumigation, it kills them.

Chap. 18.—Particulars Relative to the Asp.

The sting of the asp takes deadly effect by causing torpor and drowsiness. Of all serpents, injuries inflicted by the asp are the most incurable; and their venom, if it comes in contact with the blood or a recent wound, produces instantaneous death. If, on the other hand, it touches an old sore, its fatal effects are not so immediate. Taken internally, in however large a quantity, the venom is not injurious, [This is the fact.] as it has no corrosive properties; for which reason it is that the flesh of animals killed by it may be eaten with impunity.

I should hesitate in giving circulation to a prescription for injuries inflicted by the asp, were it not that M. Varro, then in the eighty-third year of his age, has left a statement to the effect that it is a most efficient remedy for wounds inflicted by this reptile, for the person stung to drink his own urine.

Chap. 19.—Remedies Derived from the Basilisk.

As to the basilisk, [See B. viii. c. 33.] a creature which the very serpents fly from, which kills by its odour even, and which proves fatal to man by only looking upon him, its blood has been marvellously extolled by the magicians. [The Magi of the East, probably.] This blood is thick and adhesive, like pitch, which it resembles also in colour: dissolved in water, they say, it becomes of a brighter red than that of cinnabar. They attribute to it also the property of ensuring success to petitions preferred to potentates, and to prayers even offered to the gods; and they regard it as a remedy for various diseases, and as an amulet preservative against all noxious spells. Some give it the name of “Saturn’s blood.”

Chap. 20.—Remedies Derived from the Dragon.

The dragon [Some serpent of the boa species, probably. See B. viii. cc. 13, 14, 22, 41, and B. x. cc. 5, 92, 95, 96.] is a serpent destitute of venom. Its head, placed beneath the threshold of a door, the gods being duly propitiated by prayers, will ensure good fortune to the house, it is said. Its eyes, dried and beaten up with honey, form a liniment which is an effectual preservative against the terrors of spectres by night, in the case of the most timorous even. The fat adhering to the heart, attached to the arm with a deer’s sinews in the skin of a gazelle, will ensure success in law-suits, it is said; and the first joint of the vertebræ will secure an easy access to persons high in office. The teeth, attached to the body with a deer’s sinews in the skin of a roe-buck, have the effect of rendering masters indulgent and potentates gracious, it is said.

But the most remarkable thing of all is a composition, by the aid of which the lying magicians profess to render persons invincible. They take the tail and head of a dragon, the hairs of a lion’s forehead with the marrow of that animal, the foam of a horse that has won a race, and the claws of a dog’s feet: these they tie up together in a deer’s skin, and fasten them alternately with the sinews of a deer and a gazelle. It is, however, no better worth our while to refute such pretensions as these, than it would be to describe the alleged remedies for injuries inflicted by serpents, seeing that all these contrivances are so many evil devices to poison [By leading them to confound truth with fiction.] men’s morals.

Dragon’s fat will repel venomous creatures; an effect which is equally produced by burning the fat of the ichneumon. [See B. viii. c. 35.] They will take to flight, also, at the approach of a person who has been rubbed with nettles bruised in vinegar.

Chap. 21.—Remedies Derived from the Viper.

The application of a viper’s head, even if it be not the one that has inflicted the wound, is of infinite utility as a remedy. It is highly advantageous, too, to hold the viper that inflicted the injury on the end of a stick, over the steam of boiling water, for it will quite undo [This is perhaps the meaning of “præcanere.” Sillig suggests “recanere.”] the mischief, they say. The ashes, also, of the viper, are considered very useful, employed as a liniment for the wound. According to what Nigidius tells us, serpents are compelled, by a sort of natural instinct, to return to the person who has been stung by them. The people of Scythia split the viper’s head between the ears, in order to extract a small stone, [Which was said to act as an antidote to the poison, applied to the wound.] which it swallows in its alarm, they say: others, again, use the head entire.

From the viper are prepared those tablets which are known as “theriaci” [“Antidotes to serpents’ poison.”] to the Greeks: for this purpose the animal is cut away three fingers’ length from both the head and the tail, after which the intestines are removed and the livid vein adhering to the back-bone. The rest of the body is then boiled in a shallow pan, in water seasoned with dill, and the bones are taken out, and fine wheaten flour added; after which the preparation is made up into tablets, [“Pastilli.”] which are dried in the shade and are employed as an ingredient in numerous medicaments. I should remark, however, that this preparation, it would appear, can only be made from the viper. Some persons, after cleansing the viper in manner above described, boil down the fat, with one sextarius of olive oil, to one half. Of this preparation, when needed, three drops are added to some oil, with which mixture the body is rubbed, to repel the approach of all kinds of noxious animals.