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CHAP. 45.—REMEDIES FOR POISONS.

In case where persons have swallowed quicksilver,1 bacon is the proper remedy to be employed. Poisons are neutralized by taking asses' milk; henbane more particularly, mistletoe, hemlock, the flesh of the sea-hare, opocarpathon,2 pharicon,3 and dorycnium:4 the same, too, where coagulated milk5 has been productive of bad effects, for the biestings,6 or first curdled milk, should be reckoned as nothing short of a poison.7 We shall have to mention many other uses to which asses' milk is applied; but it should be remembered that in all cases it must be used fresh, or, if not, as new as possible, and warmed, for there is nothing that more speedily loses its virtue. The bones, too, of the ass are pounded and boiled, as an antidote to the poison of the sea-hare. The wild ass8 is possessed of similar properties in every respect, but in a much higher degree.

Of the wild horse9 the Greek writers have made no mention, it not being a native of their country; we have every reason to believe, however, that it has the same properties as the animal in a tame state, but much more fully developed. Mares' milk effectually neutralizes the venom of the sea-hare and all narcotic poisons. Nor had the Greeks any knowledge from experience of the urns10 and the bison,11 although in India the forests are filled with herds of wild oxen: it is only reasonable, however, to conclude that all their medicinal properties must be much more highly developed than in the animal as found among us. It is asserted also, that cows' milk is a general counter-poison, in the cases above-mentioned, more particularly, as also where the poison of ephemeron12 has settled internally, or cantharides have been administered; it acting upon the poison by vomit. Broth, too, made from goats' flesh, neutral- izes the effects of cantharides, in a similar manner, it is said. To counteract the corrosive poisons which destroy by ulceration, veal or beef-suet is resorted to; and in cases where a leech has been swallowed, butter is the usual remedy, with vinegar heated with a red-hot iron. Indeed, butter employed by itself is a good remedy for poisons, for where oil is not to be procured, it is an excellent substitute for it. Used with honey, butter heals injuries inflicted by millepedes. The broth of boiled tripe, it is thought, is an effectual repellent of the above-mentioned poisons, aconite and hemlock more particularly; veal-suet also has a similar repute.

Fresh goats' milk cheese is given to persons who have taken mistletoe, and goats' milk itself is a remedy for cantharides. Taken with Taminian13 grapes, goats' milk is an antidote to the effects of ephemeron. Goats' blood, boiled down with the marrow, is used as a remedy for the narcotic14 poisons, and kids' blood for the other poisons. Kid's rennet is administered where per- sons have taken mistletoe, the juice of the white chamæleon,15 or bull's blood: for which last, hare's rennet in vinegar is also used by way of antidote. For injuries inflicted by the pastinaca,16 and the stings or bites of all kinds of marine animals, hare's rennet, kid's rennet, or lamb's rennet is taken, in doses of one drachma, in wine. Hare's rennet, too, generally forms an ingredient in the antidotes for poisons.

The moth that is seen fluttering about the flame of a lamp is generally reckoned in the number of the noxious substances: its bad effects are neutralized by the agency of goat's liver. Goat's gall, too, is looked upon as an antidote to venomous preparations from the field weazel.17 But we will now return to the other remedies, classified according to the various diseases.

1 It is no longer reckoned among the poisons.

2 Juice of carpathum, a substance which does not appear to have been identified; but supposed by Bruce to have been a gum called sassa , with which aloes are adulterated in Abyssinia, a thing that Galen tells us was done with the carpathum of the ancients. The sea-hare is the Aplysia depilans of Gmelin. It is not poisonous. See B. ix. c. 72, and B. xxxii. c. 3.

3 A composite poison, probably, the ingredients of which are now un- known.

4 See Chap. 21 of this Book,

5 See B. xx. c. 53.

6 See B. xi. c. 96.

7 On the contrary, cows' biestings are highly thought of in some parts of England; and a very delicate dish is made of them, baked.

8 "Onager."

9 See B. viii. c. 16, and B. xvi. c. 9.

10 See B. viii. c. 1.5.

11 See B. viii. c. 1.5.

12 See B. xxv. c. 107, and B. xxvi. c. 75.

13 See B. xxiii. cc. 13, 14.

14 "Toxica"—properly, those poisons in which the barbarous nations dipped their arrows.

15 See B. xxii. c. 21.

16 Or, sting-ray.

17 See B. xxix. c. 16.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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