Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXII.<a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS., CHAP. 12. —THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. THE HATREDS MANIFESTED BY CERTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTINACA: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE GALEOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES. THE SUR-MULLET: FIFTEEN REMEDIES. <a href="#note-link1">1</a> It is in the last six Books of Pliny, and those only, we regret to say, that we are enabled to avail ourselves of the new readings of the Bamberg MS., which has been so admirably collated by M. Ian. In a vast number of passages previously looked upon as hopelessly corrupt, or else not at all suspected of being in a mutilated state, this MS. supplies words and clauses, the existence of which in the original was hitherto unknown; indeed by its aid the indefatigable Sillig has been enabled, if we may be allowed the term, almost to rewrite the last six Books of Pliny. From a perusal of these new readings, as Dr. Smith has justly remarked, we have reason to infer "that the text of the earlier Books is still in a very defective state, and that much of the obscurity of Pliny may be traced to this cause."</p>

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CHAP. 12. —THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. THE HATREDS MANIFESTED BY CERTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTINACA: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE GALEOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES. THE SUR-MULLET: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

In reference to that repugnance which exists between certain things, known to the Greeks as "antipathia," there is nothing more venomous¹ than the pastinaca, a sea-fish which kills trees even with its sting, as already² stated. And yet, poisonous as it is, the galeos³ pursues it; a fish which, though it attacks other marine animals as well, manifests an enmity to the pastinaca in particular, just as on dry land the weasel does to serpents; with such avidity does it go in pursuit of what is poisonous even! Persons stung by the pastinaca find a remedy in the flesh of the galeos, as also in that of the sur-mullet and the vegetable production known as laser.⁴

1 In reality, the Pastinaca or Sting-ray is not venomous; but the wounds inflicted by the sting in its tail are highly dangerous, from their tendency to gangrene

2 In B. ix. c. 72. As Ajasson remarks, it is quite possible that the sting of the Pastinaca might penetrate to the heart of a young tree, and so kill it; but that is no proof of its being poisonous. See also B. ix. cc. 40, 67.

3 Or Mustela, the sea-weasel, mentioned in B. ix. c. 29, and in c. 37 of the present Book. See also Note 12 to B. ix. c. 29. Ajasson is of opinion that under the names of "Galeos" and "Mustela," the ancients confounded the Squalus galeus and the Squalus mustelus of Linnæus.

4 See B. xix. c. 15, and B. xxii. c. 49.

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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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 12. —THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. THE HATREDS MANIFESTED BY CERTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTINACA: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE GALEOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES. THE SUR-MULLET: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 12. —THE ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. THE HATREDS MANIFESTED BY CERTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. THE PASTINACA: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE GALEOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES. THE SUR-MULLET: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.