The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 5 (of 6)

Chapter 551: CHAP. 24.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM BIRDS FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY SERPENTS. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE VULTURE.

By the Elder Pliny

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About This Book

This volume catalogs remedies derived from forest trees and wild plants, presenting systematic entries for dozens of species with prescribed treatments and applications. It enumerates specific uses for resins, barks, leaves, berries, and sap, and gives instructions on preparation, dosage, and testing of potency. The text also records variations among species, regional observations on growth and harvesting, and anecdotes on how certain plants were discovered or associated with animals and human practices. Overall it functions as a practical herbal compendium combining botanical description with medicinal recipes and empirical notes.

CHAP. 24.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM BIRDS FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY SERPENTS. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE VULTURE.

Among the birds that afford us remedies against serpents, it is the vulture that occupies the highest rank; the black vulture, it has been remarked, being less efficacious than the others. The smell of their feathers, burnt, will repel serpents, they say; and it has been asserted that persons who carry the heart of this bird about them will be safe, not only from serpents, but from wild beasts as well, and will have nothing to fear from the attacks of robbers or from the wrath of kings.