Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXII.<a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS., CHAP. 52.—OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTIONS. ADARCA OR CALAMOCHNOS: THREE REMEDIES. REEDS: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE INK OF THE SÆPIA. <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. 52.—OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTIONS. ADARCA OR CALAMOCHNOS: THREE REMEDIES. REEDS: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE INK OF THE SÆPIA.

Among the aquatic productions ought also to be mentioned calamochnos, in Latin known as "adarea,"¹ a substance which collects about small reeds, from a mixture of the foam of fresh and of sea water. It possesses certain caustic properties, and hence it is that it is so useful as an ingredient in "acopa"² and as a remedy for cold shiverings; it is used too, for removing freckles upon the face of females. And now we are speaking of adarca, the reed ought equally to be mentioned. The root of that known as the "phragmites,"³ pounded fresh, is curative of sprains, and, applied topically with vinegar, removes pains in the spine. The calcined bark, too, of the Cyprian⁴ reed, known as the "donax," is curative of alopecy and inveterate ulcers; and its leaves are good for the extraction of foreign bodies adhering to the flesh, and for the cure of erysipelas: should, however, the flower of the panicle happen to enter the ears, deafness⁵ is the consequence.

The ink of the sæpia⁶ is possessed of such remarkable potency, that if it is put into a lamp, Anaxilaüs tells us, the light will become entirely changed,⁷ and all present will look as black as Æthiopians. The bramble-frog, boiled in water, and given to swine with their drink, is curative of the maladies with which they are affected; an effect equally produced by the ashes of any other kind of frog. If wood is rubbed with the pulmo marinus,⁸ it will have all the appearance of being on fire; so much so, indeed, that a walking-stick, thus treated, will light the way like a torch.⁹

1 See B. xv. c. 36, and B. xx. c. 22.

2 "Remedies for lassitude." See B. xxiii. cc. 45, 80; B. xxvii. c.13, and B. xxix. cc. 13, 37.

3 See B. xvi. c. 66, and B. xxiv. c. 50.

4 See B. xvi. c. 66, and B. xxiv. c. 50.

5 See B. xxiv. c. 50.

6 See B. ix. cc. 20, 44, 74, 78.

7 "Ablato priore lumine." Hardouin justly ridicules this assertion. This ink, as Ajasson remarks, is intensely black.

8 See B. ix. c. 71, and Chapter 36 of this Book.

9 This seems to be the meaning of "adeo ut baculum ita præluceat."

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. 52.—OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTIONS. ADARCA OR CALAMOCHNOS: THREE REMEDIES. REEDS: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE INK OF THE SÆPIA.

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. 52.—OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTIONS. ADARCA OR CALAMOCHNOS: THREE REMEDIES. REEDS: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE INK OF THE SÆPIA.

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