Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 127, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1904 — ANCIENT FISH CURES [ARTICLE]

ANCIENT FISH CURES

MEDICINAL VIRTUES THAT USED TO DECK THE FINNY TRIBE.

I*ercl» Wu Vaivel la Germany For l*» Curative Properties, and Carp Waa Held In High K.teeui In Old Kaglaat-The Physician of Fishes, Fishing literature prior to the days and writings of Izaak Walton opens up points of interest which are unique. Not the least interesting are the constant references of the early writers to the medicinal virtues of fish. Of course many of the salt andjfresb water fishes mentioned by the old writers are not recognized in the waters of today, but the fresh water perch, earp r tench and eel are yet recognized, and it Is in connection with these fish that some of the quaintest ideas as to their medicinal virtues have prevailed. The Germans have a comparative proverb which says, “More wholesome than a perch of the Rhine;” and it is certain that from the earliest times this familiar fish has been esteemed as one of the best gastronomic productions of fresh waiter. It has also been ascribed medicinal virtues. Gesner says that physicians value the perch so much that they recommend it to be freely eaten by wounded men, women in childbed and those suffering from dangerous fevers. Aldrovandus praises it and mentions that the two otooliths (“round bones”) found in the head of the perch are marvelously good for stone in the bladder.

That the carp was esteemed in olden times in England is certain. Dame Berners, writing in her quaint “Treatysee of Eysshynge Wyth an Angle,” published in 1490, says, “The carpe be a deyntous fish, but there ben few in Englonge.” Being “deyntous”—!. e., “dainty”—it must have been a good fish at that time to eat. It has certainly lost its character since then. In the art of healing the carp plays a respectable part. One old writer speaks of the fat of the carp as being of miraculous power for the alleviation of “hot rheumatism.” The manner of its application was by frequent rubbing on the painful part, and the effect was ssfld to be eminently mollifying and salutary. The triangular bones in the throat of the carp on being ground to powder and applied to a wound or bleeding nose were said to act as styptic. The gall was also said to have been used for sore eyes, and “above the eyes,” says an old iEsculapius, “two little bones exist, semicircular in shape, which are diligently preserved by noble females against the lunatical disease.”

In the,“Haven of Health” carp are also comprised in “the ten sortes of flsche which are reckoned as principal in the preservation of health,” and, adds the quaint old writer, “this fish Is of great wholesomeness and great value, and Its tongue is very pleasant to carping ladles.” - A kind of first cousin of the carp is what is known as the barbel. Such ancients as Juvenal, Albertus and others of that ilk evidence that it was known and esteemed by the Roman gourmet. Plutarch mentions a curious fact in its natural history. Dr. Badham iu his “Prose Haleutles” translates this passage as follows: “The roe of the barbel is very poisonous. Antonio Gazlus took two boluses and thus describes his sensations: ‘At first I felt no inconvenience, but some hours having elapsed I began to be disagreeably affected, and as my stomach swelled and could not be brought down by anise and carminatives I was soon In a stated great depression and distress.’ ” It appears that his countenance was pallid, like a man In a swoon. Deadly coldness ensued, and violent cholera and vomiting came on. The barbel (Barbus vulgaris) of today has survived such poisonous qualities. Its flesh has the taste of stewed white blotting paper, and its roe is as innocuous as bread pills. All the same, good Julyana Berners shared the bad opinion of the earlier writers. She says: “The barbyll is a swete fish, but it Is quashy mete and perylous for mannys bodye. For cornynly be yuyth an introduction to ye febrls (fever), and if ye be eten rawe he may cause of mannys dethe wliych hath often beene seene.”

The tench which has been introduced into some parts of this country Is an olive greenish carp which has been for long time termed in England the “physician of fishes.” According to a score or more of authorities, ancient and modern, the thick slime with which it is covered exerts healing effect on all wounds or diseases In which it can come In contact on or In other Whence this belief jqrlgtoilted la not known, but servation is r % e ll worthy of credence. Mr. Wrjgftt in bis book on “Fishes and Ftah|*g” tells how a minnow acdden„joly’hooked in the water of an aquarium in which It was swimming, on breaking loose, immediately descended three parts of the way down the water and swiftly approached Its nose to the side of the tench which was Its companion In the aquarium. It rubbed Its nose for a few seconds against the tench and then again swam about aa lively as before. To this testimony Mr. Wright adds: “W# (my friend and I who were watching the performance) were both of the opinion that it is really no fable as to the tench being the ACsculaplus of fishes, for here was an example before onr eyes of a fish being wounded and Immediately Instinct directing It to seek a remedy.” One piscatorial truth Is known to all who fish for pike or pickerel. The pike (eeoxludua) will ravenously seize as his prey the fry of almost every fish, Including his own species, and all the bait minnows are also caviare to him, but he will not touch the tench.— Brooklyn Eagle.