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

Chapter 45: CHAP. 43.—METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN BODIES FROM THE FLESH.

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About This Book

An encyclopedic survey that first catalogs marine animals, algae, and shellfish, describing habitats, curious behaviors, reported antipathies, and numerous folk remedies and practical uses attributed to specific species, organized by ailments and applications. The later portion treats metals and their ores—including gold, silver, mercury, copper, and brass—describing modes of occurrence, extraction, alloying, testing, gilding, and decorative and monetary uses, alongside technical observations and medicinal remedies derived from metallic substances, with systematic lists and practical instructions interwoven throughout.

CHAP. 43.—METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN BODIES FROM THE FLESH.

To extract pointed weapons which have pierced the flesh, ashes of calcined shells of the sæpia are used, as also of the purple, the meat of salted fish, bruised river-crabs, or flesh of the silurus 356 (a river-fish that is found in other streams as well as the Nilus 357), applied either fresh or salted. The ashes also of this fish, as well as the fat, have the property of extracting pointed bodies, and the back-bone, in a calcined state, is used as a substitute for spodium.358