We remove the tails and the whole extremities of the body because they are part of the tail and, in my view, because they drag the more foul part of the body and get more of a dragging because they provide the motion of the snake, just as the parts of a fish towards the tail are said to be more nourishing because of the amount of moving they do. Do not be amazed if after cutting off these parts, the rest of the body of the creatures makes the drug stronger when its inherent power to save is mixed in with their very flesh. In the case of other animals we know that many of their body parts heroically treat many conditions. For example many are helped by the heads of mice, for when burnt and anointed with honey they can cure alopecia. And they say that the head of a kite likewise is a treatment for gout if one dries it without its feathers and sprinkles it in three fingers of water. And sometimes even single subdivisions of parts can cure some diseases. For example a camel’s brain dried and drunk with vinegar cures epileptics; likewise that of a weasel. That of a swallow with milk works against cataracts. That of a sheep prepared the same way is a great help against the teething pains of children. The shavings of the horn of a bull, drunk with water, stop haemorrhage, and the burnt thighbones also hold back the blood. The same thing also often stops an upset stomach. The filings of the horn of a deer, when burnt, and ground up with wine, then applied as a plaster, fix loosened teeth; they say the vertebra of an ox can do this too. And drunk with honey it expels roundworm, with vinegar and honey it softens the spleen, and when smeared on to leprosies it softens them, and it is equally aphrodisiac; and the beaver’s testicles drunk in the same way cure spasms. And many animals can help men by their bile, their fat, their marrow, their milk, their skin, their very blood, and in the case of snakes their shed skin. We have even known men helped by their excrement. For example cow dung dried and burnt with three snails helps dropsy; mouse dung mixed with vinegar cures alopecia; and taken in a drink it breaks down bladder stones; goose fat with rose water heals the lungs; and deer marrow is a very soothing drug. Drinking cow’s milk helps those with bad stomachs. Hyena bile with honey helps to induce sharp-sightedness, and when rubbed on cataracts removes them. Hippopotamus skin, burnt and made into a smooth paste with water, dissipates tumours, just as a smooth paste of snakeskin applied to bald patches wonderfully encourages hair growth. An asp’s shed skin rubbed into honey and applied as an ointment gives very sharp sight. There is so much material of this kind that I think now not a good time to write it all down for fear this treatise becomes too long for us, and just as much as I have already written is enough to give you proof of what I say. And you should know this, that the whole bodies of animals are often good for people. For example river crab beaten smooth and applied as a plaster drives out thorns and splinters; similarly shrimp beaten small with bryony root and drunk expels worms. Scorpion roasted and eaten with bread breaks up bladder stones. Again, earth worms drunk in wine do the same thing. And if someone with jaundice beats them up in honey and wine and drinks them he will immediately be purged and relieved of it.