Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 415

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M. Scaurus was the first who exhibited this animal at Rome, together with five crocodiles, at the games which he gave in his ædileship, in a piece of water1771 which had been temporarily prepared for the purpose. The hippopotamus has even been our instructor in one of the operations of medicine.1772 When the animal has become too bulky by continued over-feeding, it goes down to the banks of the river, and examines the reeds which have been newly cut; as soon as it has found a stump that is very sharp, it presses its body against it, and so wounds one of the veins in the thigh; and, by the flow of blood thus produced, the body, which would otherwise have fallen into a morbid state, is relieved; after which, it covers up the wound with mud.