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

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,359 or else ashes of the silurus.360 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 cunila361 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;362 malignant cancers, corrosive ulcers, and putrid sores, by the agency of stale cybium.363

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,364 applied in lint, acts detergently, also, upon ulcers; the same, too, with the ashes of calcined shells of sea-urchins. Salted slices of the coracinus365 disperse carbuncles, an effect equally produced by the ashes of salted surmullets.366 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.