Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 38): A native of the Nile resembling the crocodile but smaller even than the ichneumon is the skink, which is an outstanding antidote against poisons, and also an aphrodisiac for males. - [Rackham translation]

Gaius Julius Solinus [3rd century CE] (De mirabilibus mundi / Polyhistor, Chapter 32.29): Skinks are also very frequent around the Nile. Indeed, they are similar to crocodiles, but smaller and narrower in shape. They are an indispensable aid to health: physicians infuse drinks with them, thereby destroying the power of poison. - [Arwen Apps translation, 2011]

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Marine monsters 6.47): [Thomas classified the skink as a marine monster, probably because of the comparison to the crocodile.] Also, as Isidore says, the skinks are very numerous around the Nile; they resemble crocodiles, but in a much smaller and narrower form. Drink infused with the flesh of these extinguishes the power of the poison. [At this point Thomas mistakenly included the account of the squirrel from Pliny the Elder (Book 8, 58), based on a confusion of the name scinnocis, skink with sciuri, squirrel.] But they see the wild storms, and when the door of the cave is stopped, they open the doors from the other side. And they have a hairy tail for a cover. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]