Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXII.<a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS., CHAP. 44.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CARBUNCLES. <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. 44.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CARBUNCLES.

Ulcers of a serpiginous nature, as also the fleshy excrescences which make their appearance in them, are kept in check by applying ashes of calcined heads of mænæ,¹ or else ashes of the silurus.² Carcinomata, too, are treated with heads of salted perch, their efficacy being considerably increased by using some salt along with the ashes, and kneading them up with heads of cunila³ and olive-oil. Ashes of sea-crabs, calcined with lead, arrest the progress of carcinomatous sores: a purpose for which ashes of river-crabs, in combination with honey and fine lint, are equally useful; though there are some authorities which prefer mixing alum and barley with the ashes. Phagedænic ulcers are cured by an application of dried silurus pounded with sandarach;⁴ malignant cancers, corrosive ulcers, and putrid sores, by the agency of stale cybium.⁵

Maggots that breed in sores are removed by applying frogs' gall; and fistulas are opened and dried by introducing a tent made of salt fish, with a dossil of lint. Salt fish, kneaded up and applied in the form of a plaster, will remove all proud flesh in the course of a day, and will arrest the further progress of putrid and serpiginous ulcers. Alex,⁶ applied in lint, acts detergently, also, upon ulcers; the same, too, with the ashes of calcined shells of sea-urchins. Salted slices of the coracinus⁷ disperse carbuncles, an effect equally produced by the ashes of salted surmullets.⁸ Some persons, however, use the head only of the surmullet, in combination with honey or with the flesh of the coracinus. Ashes of the murex, applied with oil, disperse tumours, and the gall of the sea-scorpion makes scars disappear.

1 See B. ix. c. 42.

2 See Note 55 above.

3 "Cunila capitata." See B. xx. c. 65.

4 See B. xxxiv. c. 55.

5 Tunny sliced and salted; see B. ix. c. 18.

6 See B. xxxi. c. 44.

7 See B. ix. cc. 24, 32.

8 See B. ix. c. 30.

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. 44.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CARBUNCLES.

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. 44.—REMEDIES FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, AND CARBUNCLES.

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