CHAP. 48.—REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF INFANTS.

Dentition in infants is promoted, and the gums greatly relieved, by rubbing them with ashes of a dolphin's teeth, mixed with honey, or else by touching the gums with the tooth itself of that fish. One of these teeth, worn as an amulet, is a preventive of sudden frights;[1] the tooth of the dog-fish[2] being also possessed of a similar property. As to ulcers which make their appearance in the ears, or in any other parts of the body, they may be cured by applying the liquor of river-crabs,[3] with barley-meal. These crabs, too, bruised in oil and employed as a friction, are very useful for other kinds of maladies. A sponge moistened with cold water from time to time,[4] or a frog applied, the back part to the head, is a most efficacious cure for siriasis[5] in infants. When the frog is removed, it will be found quite dry, they say.

1. In the case of infants, probably.

2. "Canicula." See B. ix. cc. 11, 70.

3. Or "crawfish,"

4. "Crebro humefacto" seems a preferable reading to "cerebro humefacto," though supported by the Bamberg MS.

5. See B. xxii. c. 29, and B. xxx. c. 47.