CHAP. 16. (5.)—REMEDIES FOR POISONS, AND FOR NOXIOUS SPELLS. THE DORADE: FOUR REMEDIES. THE SEA-STAR: SEVEN REMEDIES.
We have already109 stated in what country the honey is venomous: the fish known as the dorade110 is an antidote to its effects. Honey, even in a pure state, is sometimes productive of surfeit, and of fits of indigestion, remarkable for their severity; the best remedy in such case, according to Pelops, is to cut off the feet, head, and tail, of a tortoise, and boil and eat the body; in place, however, of the tortoise, Apelles mentions the scincus, an animal which has been described elsewhere.111 We have already mentioned too, on several occasions,112 how highly venomous is the menstruous fluid: the surmullet, as already113 stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish, too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote to the venom114 of the pastinaca, the land and sea scorpion, the dragon,115 and the phalangium.116 The head of this fish, taken fresh and reduced to ashes, is an active neutralizer of all poisons, that of fungi more particularly.
It is asserted also, that if the fish called the sea-star117 is smeared with a fox’s blood, and then nailed to the upper lintel of the door, or to the door itself, with a copper nail, no noxious spells will be able to obtain admittance, or, at all events, to be productive of any ill effects.