Strange Medicines

Iusects once formedaelass of mediciues uonsidered vory effective in oortain cases, and time vis when the doctor would order a doso of tbree gnats, or throe drops of lady-bird mük. just as ho might ordor three grams of oalotnel in our day. Wood-lice, ants and beetles used to be prescribed for the cure of tootbache. Tho sacred beetlo is eaten by the women of Kgypt and regarded as an emblctu of fertility. Tho oil-beetle exudes a deep yellow oil from tho joints of the legs, which was esteemed diuretio and usud in rheuuiatic complaints ; it has also been recommended in hydrophobia. In some cases, tbc clteets attributed to these ourious remedies may possibly be produced by them, as, for instanoe, when Turkish women eat, eooked with butter, tho h!ii])s xulacla (a sort of beetle), with a view to the development of fat ; but, when the samo remcdy is represented as an antidote against carache and the sting of tho scorpion, we are loss inclined to believe in its efficiency. In Atwood's "History of Dominica," wc are told that the fat of snakes is esteemed an excellent remedy for rheumatisin and sprains; and by the vulgar in Persia a hard green substance about the si.e of a bean, found in tho body of a certain species of serpent, is reokoned an inl'allible cure for the bites of venomous reptiles. Among the ancients, serpents' nesh was in high repute as a medicament, and was also used for food, like the flesh of a turtle. On the continent of Europe vipers havo still a placo in the popular pharmaeopoeia, and Mr. Simonds asserts that tho Italians to this day ' occasionally regale theinselves with a jolly made of stewed vipors." In Guatemala lizards eaten alive aro supposed to cure cáncer. As late as 1628 lion's fat bolonged to tho materia medica of the British pharmacopoeia. Among tho ancients, Galen prescribcd it as an antidote for poisons. The smell of it was said to drive away serpents, Tho Roman physicians had great faith in remedies dorived from this animal. Pliny enumorates tho following: First, as a cosmetic, tho fat mixed with oil of roses gives delicacy to the complexion ; and, secondly, as an unguent, it cures affections of the joints. Tho gall mixed with water cured weak eyes ; mixed with the fat, and taken internally, it was a remedy for epilepsy, Quartan was cured Ijv giving to the patiënt tho hoart roastcd, but quotidian fevers wero treated with the fat and oil of roseB. Tho natives of the Malay península eat tiger flesh, bolieving it to be i speciíic for all diseases, besides imparting to tho ono who partakes of it the animal'8 courage and sagacity. Discarded from the Bervico of the phytsician, a. few mollusks havo found a rosting place in the popular materia medica. Slugs and snaüs were anciently, and in some parts are to this day, a popular remedy in consumptivp. complaints. They are sometimes made into a mucilaginous broth ; sometimes swallowed raw. Snails are, to this day, kept on sale in London markets for this purpose.