Job 41:8,9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Lay thine hand upon him, &c.— Be sure thou strikest home; mind thy blow; rely not on a second stroke, Job 41:9. See, he is deceived in his expectation: will he also faint away at the sight of them? Heath. But Houbigant translates it according to his own reading, thus: Whoever shall lay his hand upon him, shall not hereafter be nourished from his flesh: Job 41:9. Behold, his hope is made vain; shall he therefore take away his gall? He observes, that the flesh of the crocodile was esteemed excellent food, and that his gall was much used in medicine. Hasselquist says, that the gall of the crocodile is good for the eyes: The Egyptians make use of it as a certain remedy for barrenness in women, taking about six grains internally; and outwardly they apply a pessus, made of cotton, with the gall of a crocodile. They use the fat against the rheumatism, and a stiffness of the tendons; esteeming it a powerful remedy, outwardly applied; there is a folliculus of the bigness of a hazle-nut, under the shoulders of the old crocodile, containing a thick matter which smells like musk. The Egyptians are very anxious to get it when they kill a crocodile, it being a perfume much esteemed by the grandees.