Chaps. 14-21.

Chap. 14. (4.)—The Tortoise: Sixty-six Remedies and Observations.

The tortoise, [Under the head of “testudines,” he includes the tortoises, terrapenes, and turtles, which form an order of reptiles, known in Natural History as Chelonia, and characterised by the body being enclosed between a double shield or shell, out of which protrude the head, tail, and four extremities.] too, is an animal that is equally amphibious with the beaver, and possessed of medicinal properties as strongly developed; in addition to which, it claims an equal degree of notice for the high price which luxury sets upon its shell, [See B. ix. cc. 11, 12.] and the singularity of its conformation. Of tortoises, there are various kinds, land tortoises, [Our tortoises so called.] sea tortoises, [Our Chelonides, or turtles.] tortoises [The Emydes and Trionyches of Modern Natural History.] which live in muddy waters, and tortoises [The Emydes and Trionyches of Modern Natural History.] which live in fresh; these last being known to some Greek authors by the name of “emydes.” The flesh of the land-tortoise is employed for fumigations more particularly, and we find it asserted that it is highly salutary for repelling the malpractices of magic, and for neutralizing poisons. These tortoises are found in the greatest numbers in Africa; where the head and feet being first cut off, it is said, they are given to persons by way of antidote. Eaten, too, in a broth made from them, they are thought to disperse scrofula, diminish the volume of the spleen, and effect the cure of epilepsy. The blood of the land-tortoise improves the eyesight, and removes cataract: it is kept also, made up with meal into pills, which are given with wine when necessary, to neutralize the poison of all kinds of serpents, frogs, spiders, and similar venomous animals. It is found a useful plan, too, in cases of glaucoma, to anoint the eyes with gall of tortoises, mixed with Attic honey, and, for the cure of injuries inflicted by scorpions, to drop the gall into the wound.

Ashes of tortoiseshell, kneaded up with wine and oil, are used for the cure of chaps upon the feet, and of ulcerations. The shavings of the surface of the shell, administered in drink, act as an antaphrodisiac: a thing that is the more surprising, from the fact that a powder prepared from the whole of the shell has the reputation of being a strong aphrodisiac. As to the urine of the land-tortoise, I do not think that it can be obtained otherwise than by opening it and taking out the bladder; this being one of those substances to which the adepts in magic attribute such marvellous properties. For the sting of the asp, they say, it is wonderfully effectual; and even more so, if bugs are mixed with it. The eggs of the tortoise, hardened by keeping, are applied to scrofulous sores and ulcers arising from burns or cold: they are taken also for pains in the stomach.

The flesh of the sea-tortoise, [Or turtle.] mixed with that of frogs, is an excellent remedy for injuries caused by the salamander; [See B. x. c. 86.] indeed there is nothing that is a better neutralizer of the secretions of the salamander than the sea-tortoise. The blood of this animal reproduces the hair when lost through alopecy, and is curative of porrigo and all kinds of ulcerations of the head; the proper method of using it being to let it dry, and then gently wash it off. For the cure of ear-ache, this blood is injected with woman’s milk, and for epilepsy it is eaten with fine wheaten flour, three heminæ of the blood being mixed with one hemina of vinegar. It is prescribed also for the cure of asthma; but in this case in combination with one hemina of wine. Sometimes, too, it is taken by asthmatic patients, with barley-meal and vinegar, in pieces about the size of a bean; one of these pieces being taken each morning and evening at first, but after some days, two in the evening. In cases of epilepsy, the mouth of the patient is opened and this blood introduced. For spasmodic affections, when not of a violent nature, it is injected, in combination with castoreum, as a clyster. If a person rinses his teeth three times a year with blood of tortoises, he will be always exempt from tooth-ache. This blood is also a cure for asthmatic affections, and for the malady called “orthopnœa,” being administered for these purposes in polenta.

The gall of the tortoise improves the eye-sight, effaces scars, and cures affections of the tonsillary glands, quinsy, and all kinds of diseases of the mouth, cancers of that part more particularly, as well as cancer of the testes. Applied to the nostrils it dispels epilepsy, and sets the patient on his feet: incorporated in vinegar with the slough of a snake, it is a sovereign remedy for purulent discharges from the ears. Some persons add ox-gall and the broth of boiled tortoise-flesh, with an equal proportion of snake’s slough; but in such case, care must be taken to boil the tortoise in wine. Applied with honey, this gall is curative of all diseases of the eyes; and for the cure of cataract, gall of the sea-tortoise is used, in combination with blood of the river-tortoise and milk. The hair, too, of females, is dyed [To make it of a yellow or golden colour, Dalechamps says.] with this gall. For the cure of injuries inflicted by the salamander, it will be quite sufficient to drink the broth of boiled tortoise-flesh.

There is, again, a third [Identified by Ajasson with the Emys lutaria of Modern Natural History.] kind of tortoise, which inhabits mud and swampy localities: the shell on its back is flat and broad, like that upon the breast, and the callipash is not arched and rounded, the creature being altogether of a repulsive appearance. However, there are some remedial medicaments to be derived even from this animal. Thus, for instance, three of them are thrown into a fire made with wood cuttings, and the moment their shells begin to separate they are taken off: the flesh is then removed, and boiled with a little salt, in one congius of water. When the water has boiled down to one third, the broth is used, being taken by persons apprehensive of paralysis or of diseases of the joints. The gall, too, is found very useful for carrying off pituitous humours and corrupt blood: taken in cold water, it has an astringent effect upon the bowels.

There is a fourth kind of tortoise, which frequents rivers. When used for its remedial properties, the shell of the animal is removed, and the fat separated from the flesh and beaten up with the plant aizoüm, [Our Houseleek. See B. xxv. c. 102.] in combination with unguent and lily seed: a preparation highly effectual, it is said, for the cure of quartan fevers, the patient being rubbed with it all over, the head excepted, just before the paroxysms come on, and then well wrapped up and made to drink hot water. It is stated also, that to obtain as much fat as possible, the tortoise should be taken on the fifteenth day of the moon, the patient being anointed on the sixteenth. The blood of this tortoise, dropt, by way of embrocation, upon the region of the brain, allays head-ache; it is curative also of scrofulous sores. Some persons recommend that the tortoise should be laid [Because it is then powerless, and can make no effort to rise.] upon its back and its head cut off with a copper knife, the blood being received in a new earthen vessel; and they assure us that the blood of any kind of tortoise, when thus obtained, will be an excellent liniment for the cure of erysipelas, running ulcers upon the head, and warts. Upon the same authority, too, we are assured that the dung of any kind of tortoise is good for the removal of inflammatory tumours. Incredible also as the statement is, we find it asserted by some, that ships [An absurd story, founded, no doubt, on the extremely slow pace of the tortoise. Ajasson remarks that it is the fresh-water tortoise, more particularly, that is so slow in its movements.] make way more slowly when they have the right foot of a tortoise on board.

Chap. 15.—Remedies Derived from the Aquatic Animals, Classified According to the Respective Diseases.

We will now proceed to classify the various remedies derived from the aquatic animals, according to the several diseases; not that we are by any means unaware that an exposition of all the properties of each animal at once, would be more to the reader’s taste, and more likely to excite his admiration; but because we consider it more conducive to the practical benefit of mankind to have the various recipes thus grouped and classified; seeing that this thing may be good for one patient, that for another, and that some of these remedies may be more easily met with in one place and some in another.

Chap. 16. (5.)—Remedies for Poisons, and for Noxious Spells. The Dorade: Four Remedies. The Sea-star: Seven Remedies.

We have already [In B. xxi. c. 44.] stated in what country the honey is venomous: the fish known as the dorade [Or Gilt-head. “Aurata.” See B. ix. c. 25.] is an antidote to its effects. Honey, even in a pure state, is sometimes productive of surfeit, and of fits of indigestion, remarkable for their severity; the best remedy in such case, according to Pelops, is to cut off the feet, head, and tail, of a tortoise, and boil and eat the body; in place, however, of the tortoise, Apelles mentions the scincus, an animal which has been described elsewhere. [In B. viii. c. 38. See also B. xxviii. c. 30.] We have already mentioned too, on several occasions, [Among others, in B. vii. c. 13, and B. xxviii. c. 23.] how highly venomous is the menstruous fluid: the surmullet, as already [In B. xxviii. c. 23.] stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish, too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote to the venom [As to this point, see c. of this Book, and the Notes.] of the pastinaca, the land and sea scorpion, the dragon, [He must mean the Sea-dragon, mentioned in B. ix. c. 43, and in c. of the present Book; for he has already stated in B. xxix. c. 20, that the serpent called “draco” is destitute of venom. See also B. viii. cc. 13, 14, 22, 41, and B. x. cc. 5, 92, 95, 96.] and the phalangium. [See B. viii. c. 41, B. x. c. 95, and B. xi. cc. 24, 28, 29.] The head of this fish, taken fresh and reduced to ashes, is an active neutralizer of all poisons, that of fungi more particularly.

It is asserted also, that if the fish called the sea-star [See B. ix. cc. 71, 86, and c. of the present Book.] is smeared with a fox’s blood, and then nailed to the upper lintel of the door, or to the door itself, with a copper nail, no noxious spells will be able to obtain admittance, or, at all events, to be productive of any ill effects.

Chap. 17.—Remedies for the Stings of Serpents, for the Bites of Dogs, and for Injuries Inflicted by Venomous Animals. The Sea-dragon: Three Remedies. Twenty-five Remedies Derived from Salted Fish. The Sarda: One Remedy. Eleven Remedies Derived from Cybium.

Stings inflicted by the sea-dragon [See Note above.] or by the sea-scorpion, are cured by an application [Rondelet asserts, B. vi. c. 19, that he himself had cured the sting of the sea-dragon by an application of the liver of that fish.] of the flesh of those animals to the wound; the bites, too, of spiders are healed by the same means. In fine, as an antidote to every kind of poison, whether taken internally or acting through the agency of a sting or bite, there is considered to be nothing in existence more effectual than a decoction of the sea-dragon and sea-scorpion.

There are also certain remedies of this nature derived from preserved fish. Persons, for instance, who have received injuries from serpents, or have been bitten by other venomous animals, are recommended to eat salt fish, and to drink undiluted wine every now and then, so as, through its agency, to bring up the whole of the food again by vomit: this method being particularly good in cases where injuries have been received from the lizard called “chalcis,” [See B. xxix. c. 32.] the cerastes, [See B. viii. c. 35, B. xi. c. 43, and B. xvi. c. 80.] the reptile known as the “seps,” [See B. xxiii. c. 29.] the elops, [Nicander, in his Theriaca, classes the Elops among the innocuous serpents. In B. ix. c. 27, we are informed that one name given to the Acipenser was “Elops.” But see the remark made in c. of this Book.] or the dipsas. [See B. xxiii. c. 80.] For the sting of the scorpion, salted fish should be taken in larger quantities, but not brought up again, the patient submitting to any amount of thirst it may create: salt fish, too, should be applied, by way of plaster, to the wound. For the bite of the crocodile there is no more efficient remedy known. For the sting of the serpent called “prester,” the sarda [From c. of the present Book, we learn that the Sarda was a kind of Pelamis, or young tunny, which was pickled, like our Anchovy.] is particularly good. Salt fish is employed also as a topical application for the bite of the mad dog; and even in cases where the wound has not been cauterized with hot iron, this is found to be sufficiently effectual as a remedy. For injuries, also, inflicted by the sea-dragon, [See Note above.] an application is made of salt fish steeped in vinegar. Cybium, [Tunny cut into slices, and pickled. See B. ix. c. 18.] too, is productive of similar effects. As a cure for the venomous sting inflicted with its stickle by the sea-dragon, the fish itself is applied topically to the wound, or else its brain, extracted whole.

Chap. 18.—The Sea-frog: Six Remedies. The River-frog: Fifty-two Remedies. The Bramble-frog: One Remedy. Thirty-two Observations on These Animals.

The broth prepared from sea-frogs, [See B. ix. cc. 40, 67, 74, 83.] boiled in wine and vinegar, is taken internally as a neutralizer of poisons and of the venom of the bramble-frog, [See B. viii. c. 48, B. xi. cc. 19, 76, 116, B. xxv. c. 76.] as also for injuries inflicted by the salamander. [See B. x. c. 86.] For the cure of injuries caused by the sea-hare and the various serpents above mentioned, it is a good plan to eat the flesh of river-frogs, or to drink the liquor in which they have been boiled: as a neutralizer, too, of the venom of the scorpion, river-frogs are taken in wine. Democritus assures us that if the tongue is extracted from a live frog, with no other part of the body adhering to it, and is then applied—the frog being first replaced in the water—to a woman while asleep, just at the spot where the heart is felt to palpitate, she will be sure to give a truthful answer to any question that may be put to her.

To this the Magi [Under the name “magi,” he is probably speaking here, not of the ordinary magicians, but the Magi of the East, from whom Democritus largely borrowed.] add some other particulars, which, if there is any truth in them, would lead us to believe that frogs ought to be considered much more useful to society than laws. [A piece of wit on the part of our author, in which he seldom indulges.] They say, for instance, that if a man takes a frog and transfixes it with a reed, entering the body at the sexual parts and coming out at the mouth, and then dips the reed in the menstrual discharge of his wife, she will be sure to conceive an aversion for all paramours. That the flesh of frogs, attached to the kype or hook, as the case may be, makes a most excellent bait, for purples more particularly, is a well-known fact. Frogs, they say, have a double [See B. xi. c. 76.] liver; and of this liver, when exposed to the attacks of ants, the part that is most eaten away is thought to be an effectual antidote to every kind of poison.

There are some frogs, again, which live only among brakes and thickets, for which reason they have received the name of “rubetæ,” [From “rubus,” a “bramble.”] or “bramble-frogs,” as already [In B. viii. c. 48. It is not improbable that the “rubetæ” of the ancients were toads.] stated. The Greeks call them “phryni:” they are the largest in size of all the frogs, have two protuberances [Projections of the bones in which the eyes are set, as Dalechamps remarks.] like horns, and are full [“Plenæ veneficiorum.” It was long a matter of doubt whether the toad is really poisonous, but it has been recently ascertained that the pustules on the skin contain a most active poison.] of poison. Authors quite vie with one another in relating marvellous stories about them; such, for instance, as that if they are brought into the midst of a concourse of people, silence will instantly prevail; as also that by throwing into boiling water a small bone that is found in their right side, the vessel will immediately cool, and the water refuse to boil again until it has been removed. This bone, they say, may be found by exposing a dead bramble-frog to ants, and letting them eat away the flesh: after which the bones must be put into the vessel, [“Solium” and “oleum” are the readings here, but we adopt the conjecture of M. Ian, and substitute “ollam.”] one by one.

On the other hand, again, in the left side of this reptile there is another bone, they say, which, thrown into water, has all the appearance of making it boil, and the name given to which is “apocynon.” [“Averting dogs.”] This bone, it is said, has the property of assuaging the fury of dogs, and, if put into the drink, of conciliating love and ending discord and strife. Worn, too, as an amulet, it acts as an aphrodisiac, we are told. The bone, on the contrary, which is taken from the right side, acts powerfully as a refrigerative upon boiling liquids, it is said: attached to the patient in a piece of fresh lamb’s-skin, it has the repute of assuaging quartan and other fevers, and of checking amorous propensities. The spleen of these frogs is used as an antidote to the various poisons that are prepared from them; and for all these purposes the liver is considered still more efficacious.

Chap. 19.—The Enhydris: Six Remedies. The River-crab: Fourteen Remedies. The Sea-crab: Seven Remedies. The River-snail: Seven Remedies. The Coracinus: Four Remedies. The Sea-pig: Two Remedies.

There is also a snake [The Enhydris, probably. See B. xxx. c. 8.] which lives in the water, the fat and gall of which, carried about them by persons when in pursuit of the crocodile, are said to be marvellously efficacious, the beast not venturing, in such case, to make an attack upon them. As such preservative, they are still more effectual if mixed with the herbaceous plant known as potamogiton. [See B. xxvi. c. 33.] River-crabs, [“Cancri fluviatiles.” Our crawfish, the Potamobios of Leach.] taken fresh and beaten up and drunk in water, or the ashes of them, kept for the purpose, are useful in all cases of poisoning, as a counter-poison: taken with asses’ milk they are particularly serviceable as a neutralizer of the venom of the scorpion; goats’ milk or any other kind of milk being substituted where asses’ milk cannot be procured. Wine, too, should also be used in all such cases. River-crabs, beaten up with ocimum, [See B. xix. cc. 31, 36, 44, and B. xx. c. 48.] and applied to scorpions, are fatal to them. They are possessed of similar virtues, also, for the bites of all other kinds of venomous animals, the scytale [It is difficult to say whether he means the shrew-mouse here, the bite of which was supposed to be poisonous, or the serpent called Scytale, mentioned by Lucan, B. ix. l. 717.] in particular, adders, the sea-hare, and the bramble-frog. The ashes of them, preserved, are good for persons who give symptoms of hydrophobia after being bitten by a mad dog, some adding gentian as well, and administering the mixture in wine. In cases, too, where hydrophobia has already appeared, it is recommended that these ashes should be kneaded up into boluses with wine, and swallowed. If ten of these crabs are tied together with a handful of ocimum, [See Note above.] all the scorpions in the neighbourhood, the magicians say, will be attracted to the spot. They recommend, also, that to wounds inflicted by the scorpion, these crabs, or the ashes of them, should be applied, with ocimum. For all these purposes, however, sea-crabs, it should be remembered, are not so useful. Thrasyllus informs us that there is nothing so antagonistic to serpents as crabs; that swine, when stung by a serpent, cure themselves by eating them; and that, while the sun is in the sign of Cancer, [The Crab. This is giving the serpent credit for too much wisdom; an acquaintance, in fact, with the fantastic names which mankind have bestowed upon the signs of the Zodiac.] serpents suffer the greatest tortures.

The flesh, too, of river-snails, eaten either raw or boiled, is an excellent antidote to the venom of the scorpion, some persons keeping them salted for the purpose. These snails are applied, also, topically to the wound.

The coracinus [See B. ix. c. 32.] is a fish peculiar to the river Nilus, it is true, but the particulars we are here relating are for the benefit of all parts of the world: the flesh of it is most excellent as an application for the cure of wounds inflicted by scorpions. In the number of the poisonous fishes we ought to reckon the sea-pig, [The same as the Orbis or Orthagoriscus of Chapters and of this Book, the Mola or sun-fish of the Mediterranean. See B. ix. c. 17.] a fish which causes great suffering to those who have been pierced with the pointed fin upon its back: the proper remedy in such case is the slime taken from the other parts of the body of the fish.

Chap. 20.—The Sea-calf: Ten Remedies. The Muræna: One Remedy. The Hippocampus: Nine Remedies. The Sea-urchin: Eleven Remedies.

In cases of hydrophobia resulting from the bite of the mad dog, the practice is to rub the patient’s face with the fat of the sea-calf; an application rendered still more efficacious by the admixture of hyæna’s marrow, oil of mastich, and wax. Bites inflicted by the muræna are cured by an application of the head of that fish, reduced to ashes. The pastinaca, [Or sting-ray. See B. ix. c. 72.] also, is remedial for its own bite, the ashes of the same fish, or of another of the same genus, being applied to the wound with vinegar. When this fish is intended for food, every portion of the back that is of a saffron colour should be removed, as well as the whole of the head: care, too, should be taken not to wash it over much; an observation equally applicable to all kinds of shell-fish, when intended for food, the flavour being deteriorated [There is considerable truth in this observation.] thereby.

The hippocampus, [The sea-horse, the Syngnathus hippocampus of Linnæus. See B. ix. c. 1.] taken in drink, neutralizes the poison of the sea-hare. As a counter-poison to dorycnium, [See B. xxi. c. 105.] sea-urchins are remarkably useful; as also in cases where persons have taken juice of carpathum [The same, probably, as the “opocarpathon” of B. xxviii. c. 45, a substance which does not appear to have been identified with any degree of certainty. See also c. of the present Book.] internally; more particularly if the urchins are used with the liquor in which they are boiled. Boiled sea-crabs, too, are looked upon as highly efficacious in cases of poisoning by dorycnium; and as a neutralizer of the venom of the sea-hare they are particularly good.

Chap. 21. (6.)—The Various Kinds of Oysters: Fifty-eight Remedies and Observations. Purples: Nine Remedies.

Oysters, too, neutralize the venom of the sea-hare—and now that we are speaking of oysters, it may possibly be thought that I have not treated of this subject at sufficient length in the former part [B. ix. c. 79.] of my work, seeing that for this long time past the palm has been awarded to them at our tables as a most exquisite dish. Oysters love fresh water and spots [Ajasson remarks that these statements are consistent with fact.] where numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea; hence it is that the pelagia [“Deep-sea” oysters.] are of such small size and so few in number. Still, however, we do find them breeding among rocks and in places far remote from the contact of fresh water, as in the neighbourhood of Grynium [In Asia Minor. See B. v. c. 32, where it is called “Grynia.”] and of Myrina, [In Lemnos. See B. iv. c. 23, and B. v. c. 32.] for example. Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of the moon, as already stated by us when [This is an error: the statement is made, not in B. ix., but in B. ii. c. 109.] treating of the aquatic animals: but it is at the beginning of summer, more particularly, and when the rays of the sun penetrate the shallow waters, that they are swollen with an abundance of milk. [See B. ix. c. 74. It is at the spawning season that this milky liquid is found in the oyster; a period at which the meat of the fish is considered unwholesome as food. We have a saying that the oyster should never be eaten in the months without an r; that the same, too, was the opinion in the middle ages is proved by the Leonine line: “Mensibus erratis vos ostrea manducatis.” “In the r’d months you may your oysters eat.”] This, too, would appear to be the reason why they are so small when found out at sea; the opacity of the water tending to arrest their growth, and the moping consequent thereon producing a comparative indisposition for food.

Oysters are of various colours; in Spain they are red, in Illyricum of a tawny hue, and at Circeii [See B. iii. c. 9. Horace speaks of the oysters of Circeii, B. ii. Sat. 4. l. 33.] black, both in meat and shell. But in every country, those oysters are the most highly esteemed that are compact without being slimy from their secretions, and are remarkable more for their thickness than their breadth. They should never be taken in either muddy or sandy spots, but from a firm, hard bottom; the meat [There has been considerable discussion among the commentators as to the meaning of the word “spondylus” here. We are inclined to adopt the opinion of Venette, and to think that it means the so-called “meat” of the oyster. It must be short, and consequently plump and comparatively destitute of beard, and it must not be fleshy, as that would imply a degree of toughness not desirable in an oyster. The words “nec fibris laciniata ac tota in alvo,” only seem to be an amplification of the preceding ones, “spondylo brevi et non carnoso.”] should be compressed, and not of a fleshy consistence; and the oyster should be free from fringed edges, and lying wholly in the cavity of the shell. Persons of experience in these matters add another characteristic; a fine purple thread, they say, should run round the margins of the beard, this being looked upon as a sign of superior quality, and obtaining for them their name of “calliblephara.” [Literally, “Having beautiful eyebrows.”]

Oysters are all the better for travelling and being removed to new waters; thus, for example, the oysters of Brundisium, it is thought, when fed in the waters of Avernus, both retain their own native juices and acquire the flavour of those of Lake Lucrinus. [See B. ix. c. 79.] Thus much with reference to the meat of the oyster; we will now turn to the various countries which produce it, so that no coast may be deprived of the honours which properly belong to it. But in giving this description we will speak in the language of another, using the words of a writer who has evinced more careful discernment in treating of this subject than any of the other authors of our day. These then are the words of Mucianus, in reference to the oyster:—“The oysters of Cyzicus [See B. v. c. 40.] are larger than those of Lake Lucrinus, [See B. iii. c. 9.] fresher [“Dulciora.”] than those of the British coasts, [Those of Rutupæ, the present Richborough in Kent, were highly esteemed by the Romans. See Juvenal, Sat. 4. l. 141.] sweeter [“Suaviora.”] than those of Medulæ, [The district in the vicinity of Bordeaux, now called Medoc. The oysters of Medulæ are mentioned in terms of praise by Ausonius, Epist. vii. and Epist. cxliii.] more tasty [“Acriora.”] than those of Ephesus, more plump than those of Lucus, [See B. iii. c. 4.] less slimy than those of Coryphas, [See B. v. c. 32.] more delicate than those of Istria, [See B. iii. c. 23.] and whiter than those of Circeii.” [See B. iii. c. 9.] For all this, however, it is a fact well ascertained that there are no oysters fresher or more delicate than those of Circeii, last mentioned.

According to the historians of the expedition of Alexander, there were oysters found in the Indian Sea a foot [They probably gave the name of “oyster” to some other shell-fish of large size. In Cook’s Voyages we read of cockles in the Pacific, which two men were unable to carry.] in diameter: among ourselves, too, the nomenclature of some spendthrift and gourmand has found for certain oysters the name of “tridacna,” [From τρὶς, “thrice,” and δάκνω, “to bite.”] wishing it to be understood thereby, that they are so large as to require three bites in eating them. We will take the present opportunity of stating all the medicinal properties that are attributed to oysters. They are singularly refreshing [Ajasson remarks that many persons are unable to digest oysters, in an uncooked state.] to the stomach, and tend to restore the appetite. Luxury, too, has imparted to them an additional coolness by burying them in snow, thus making a medley of the produce of the tops of mountains and the bottom of the sea. Oysters are slightly laxative to the bowels; and boiled in honied wine, they relieve tenesmus, in cases where it is unattended with ulceration. They act detergently also upon ulcerations of the bladder. [Ajasson remarks that calcined oyster-shells formed an ingredient in the famous lithontriptic of Mrs. Stephens, a so-called remedy which obtained for her a considerable reward, voted by the English Parliament in the middle of last century.] Boiled in their shells, unopened just as they come to hand, oysters are marvellously efficacious for rheumatic defluxions. Calcined oyster-shells, mixed with honey, allay affections of the uvula and of the tonsillary glands: they are similarly used for imposthumes of the parotid glands, inflamed tumours, and indurations of the mamillæ. Applied with water, these ashes are good for ulcerations of the head, and impart a plumpness to the skin in females. They are sprinkled, too, upon burns, and are highly esteemed as a dentifrice. Applied with vinegar, they are good for the removal of prurigo and of pituitous eruptions. Beaten up in a raw state, they are curative of scrofula and of chilblains upon the feet.

Purples, too, are useful [A statement purely imaginary, Ajasson thinks; the liquid of this class of shell-fish containing no element whatever to fit it for an antidote.] as a counterpoison.