Wart they then set fire on it and so burn it to ashes and by this way and order the Warts are eradicated that they never after grow again Marcellus Empiricus taketh Spiders webs that are found in the Cypresse tree mixing them with other convenient remedies so giving them to a podagrical person for the asswaging of his pain Against the pain of a hollow tooth Galen in his first Book De Compos medicam secundum loca much commendeth by testimony of Archigenes the Egges of Spiders being tempered and mixed with Oleum Nardinum and so a little of it being put into the tooth In like sort Kiramides giveth Spiders egges for the curation of a Tertian Ague Whereupon we conclude with Galen in his Book to Piso that Nature as yet never brought forth any thing so vile mean and contemptible in outward shew but that it hath manifold and most excellent and necessary uses if we would shew a greater diligence and not be so squeamish as to refuse those wholesome medicines which are easie to be had and without great charges and travail acquired I will add therefore this one note before I end this discourse that Apes Marmosets or Monkies the Serpents called Lizards the Stellion which is likewise a venomous Beast like unto a Lizard having spots in his neck like unto stars Wasps and the little beast called Ichneumon Swallows Sparrows the little Titmouse and Hedge-sparrows do often feed full favourly upon Spiders Besides if the Nightingale the Prince of all singing Birds do eat any Spiders she is clean freed and healed of all diseases whatsoever In the days of Alexander the Great there dwelled in the City of Alexandria a certain young maid which from her youth up was fed and nourished only with eating of Spiders and for the same cause the King was premonished not to come neer her lest peradventure he might be infected by her poysonous breath or by the venom evaporated by her sweating Albertus likewise hath recorded in his writings that there was a certain noble young Virgin dwelling at Colen in Germany who from her tender years was fed only with Spiders And thus much we English men have known that there was one Henry Lilgrave living not many years since being Clerk of the Kitchen to the right Noble Ambrose Dudley Earl of Warwick who would search every corner for Spiders and if a man had brought him thirty or forty at one time he would have eaten them all up very greedily such was his desirous longing after them Of the STELLION THey are much deceived that confound the green Lizard or any other vulgar Lizard for because the Stellion hath a ru 〈…〉 colour and yet as Matthiolus writeth seeing Aristotle hath left recorded that there are venomous Stellions in Italy he thinketh that the little white Beast with stars on the back found about the City of Rome in the walls and ruines of old houses and is there called Tarantula is the Stellion of which he speaketh and there it liveth upon Spiders Yet that there is another and more noble kinde of Stellion 〈…〉 iently so called of the learned shall afterward appear in the succeeding discourse This Beast or Serpent is called by the Grecians Colottes Ascalobtes and Galeotes and such a one was that which Aristophanes faigneth from the side of a house eased her belly into the mouth of Socrates as he gaped when in a Moon-shine night he observed the course of the stars and motion of the Moon The reason of this Greek name Ascalabotes is taken from Ascalos a circle because it appeareth on the back full of such circles like stars as writeth Perottus Howbeit that seemeth to be a faigned Etymologie and therefore I rather take it that Ascala signifieth impurity and that by reason of the uncleannesse of this beast it was called Ascalabates or as Suidas deriveth it of Colobates because by the help and dexterity of the fingers it climbeth up the walls even as Rats and Mice or as Kiramides will have it from Calos signifying a piece of wood because it climbeth upon wood and trees And for the same reason it is called Galeotes because it climbeth like a Weasil but at this day it is vulgarly called among the Grecians Liakoni although some are also of opinion that it is also known among them by the words Thamiamithos and Psammamythe Among the vulgar Hebrews it is sometimes called Letaah and sometimes Semmamit as Munster writeth The Arabians call it Sarnabraus and Senabras a Stellion of the Gardens And peradventure Guarill Guasemabras Alurel and Gnases And Sylvaticus also useth Epithets for a Stellion And the general Arabian word for such creeping biting things is Vasga which is also rendered a Dragon of the house In stead of Colotes Albertus hath Arcolus The Germans English and French have no words for this Serpent except the Latine word and therefore I was justly constrained to call it a Stellion in imitation of the Latine word As I have shewed some difference about the name so it now ensueth that I should do the like about the nature and place of their abode First of all therefore I must put a difference betwixt the Italian Stellion or Tarentula and the Thracian or Grecian for the stellion of the Ancients is proper to Grecia For they say this Stellion is full of Lentile spots or speckles making a sharp or shrill shrieking noise and is good to be eaten but the other in Italy are not so Also they say in Sicilia that their Stellions inflict a deadly biting but those in Italy cause no great harm by their teeth They are covered with a skin like a shell or thick bark and about their backs there are many little shining spots like eyes from whence they have their names streaming like stars or drops of bright and clear water according to this verse of Ovid Aptumque colori Nomen habet variis Stellatus corpora guttis Which may be Englished thus And like his spotted hiew so is his name The body starred over like drops of rain It moveth but slowly the back and tail being much broader then is the back and tail of a Lizard but the Italian Tarentulaes are white and in quantity like the smallest Lizards and the other Grecian Lizards called at this day among them Haconi is of bright silver colour and are very harmful and angry whereas the other are not so but so meek and gentle as a man may put his fingers into the mouth of it without danger One reason of their white bright shining colour is because they want bloud and therefore it was an error in Sylvaticus to say that they had bloud The teeth of this Serpent are very small and crooked and whensoever they bite they stick fast in the wound and are not pulled forth again except with violence The tail is not very long and yet when by any chance it is broken bitten or cut off then it groweth again They live in houses and neer unto the dores
reins if it be given in a glyster and likewise the fat of a Dog and a Badger mingled together do loosen contracted sinews The ashes of a Badger is found to help the bleeding of the stomach and the same sod and drunk preventeth danger by the biting of a mad Dog and Brunfelsius affirmeth that if the bloud of a Badger be instilled into the horns of Cattel with salt it keepeth them from the murrain and the same dryed and beat to powder doth wonderfully help the Leprosie The brain sod with oil easeth all aches the liver taken out of water helpeth swellings in the mouth and some affirm that if one wear soles made of Badgers skins in their shooes it giveth great ease unto the Gowt The biting of this beast is venemous because it feedeth upon all venemous meats which creep upon the earth although Arnoldus be of a contrary judgement and of this beast I can report no other thing worth the noting save that the Noble family of the Taxons in Ferraria took their name from this creature Of the BEAR A Bear is called in the Hebrew Dob and plurally Dubim of the Arabians Dubbe of the Chaldeons Duba Aldub and Daboube of the Grecians Arctos of some Dasyllis because of the roughness of his hair of other Beiros and Monios signifying a solitary Bear The Latins call him Vrsur which some conjecture to be tanquam orsus signifying that it is but begun to be framed in the dams belly and perfected after the littering thereof The Italians call it Orso so also the Spaniards the French Ours the Germans Bear and Beer the Bohemians Nedwed the Polonians Vuluver and the attributes of this beast are many among Authors both Greek and Latin as Aemonian Bears armed filthy deformed cruel dreadful fierce greedy Calydonian Erymanthean bloudy heavy night ranging Lybican menacing Numidian Ossean head-long ravening rigid and terrible Bear all which serve to set forth the nature hereof as shall be afterward in particular discoursed First therefore concerning several kinds of Bears it is observed that there is in general two a greater and a lesser and these lesser are more apt to clime trees then the other neither do they ever grow to so great a stature as the other Besides there are Bears which are called Amphibia because they live both on the Land and in the Sea hunting and catching fish like an Otter or Beaver and these are white coloured In the Ocean Islands towards the North there are Bears of a great stature fierce and cruel who with their fore-feet do break up the the hardest congealed Ice on the Sea or other great Waters and draw out of those holes great abundance of fishes and so in other frozen Seas are many such like having black claws living for the most part upon the Seas except tempestuous weather drive them to the Land In the Eastern parts of India there is a beast in proportion of body very like a Bear yet indued with no other quality of that kind being neither so wild nor ravenous nor strong and it is called a Formicarian Bear for God hath so provided that whereas that Countrey is abundantly annoyed with the Emmets or Ants that beast doth so prey and feed upon them that by the strength and vertuous humor of his tongue the silly poor Inhabitans are exceedingly relieved from their grievous and dangerous numbers Bears are bred in many Countreys as in the Helvetian Alpine region where they are so strong and full of courage that they can tear in pieces both Oxen and Horses for which cause the Inhabitants study by all means to take them Likewise there are Bears in Persia which do raven beyond all measure and all other so also the Bears of Numidia which are of a more elegant form and composition then the residue Profuit ergo nihil misero quod cominus ursos Figebat Numidas Albena nudus arena And whereas Pliny affirmeth that there are no Bears in Africk he mistook that Countrey for Creet and so some say that in that Island be no Wolves Vipers or other such venemous creatures whereof the Poets give a vain reason because Jupiter was born there but we know also that there be no Bears bred in England In the Countrey of Arabia from the Promontory Dira to the South are Bears which live upon eating of flesh being of a yellowish colour which do far excel all other Bears both in activity or swiftness and in quantity of body Among the Roxolani and Lituanians are Bears which being tamed are presents for Princes Aristotle in his wonders reporteth that there are white Bears in Misia which being eagerly hunted do send forth such a breath that putrifieth immediately the flesh of the Dogs and whatsoever other beast cometh within the favour thereof it maketh the flesh of them not fit to be eaten but if either men or dogs approach or come nigh them they vomit forth such abundance of phlegm that either the hunters are thereby choked or blinded Thracia also breedeth white Bears and the King of Aethiopia in his Hebrew Epistle which he wrote to the Bishop of Rome affirmeth that there are Bears in his Countrey In Muscovia are Bears both of a Snow white yellow and dusky colour and it hath been seen that the Noble womens Chariots drawn by six Horses have been covered with the skins of white Bears from the pastern to the head and as all other creatures do bring forth some white and some black so also do Bears who in general do breed and bring forth their young in all cold Countreys some of a dusky and some of a brown black colour A Bear is of a most venereous and lustful disposition for night and day the females with most ardent inflamed desires do provoke the males to copulation and for this cause at that time they are most fierce and angry Philippus Cosseus of Constance did most confidently tell me that in the Mountains of Savoy a Bear carryed a young maid into his den by violence where in venereous manner he had the carnal use of her body and while he kept her in his den he daily went forth and brought her home the best Apples and other fruits he could get presenting them unto her for her meat in very amorous sort but always when he went to forrage he rouled a huge great stone upon the mouth of his den that the Virgin should not escape away at length her parents with long search found their little Daughter in the Bears den who delivered her from that savage and beastual captivity The time of their copulation is in the beginning of Winter although sometime in Summer but such young ones seldom live yet most commonly in February or January The manner of their copulation is like to a mans the male moving himself upon the belly of the female which lyeth on the earth flat upon the back and either embraceth
other with their fore-feet they remain very long time in that act inasmuch as if they were very fat at their first entrance they disjoin not themselves again till they be made lean Immediately after they have conceived they betake themselves to their dens where they without meat grow very fat especially the males only by sucking their fore-feet When they enter into their den they convey themselves in backwards that so they may put out their foot-steps from the sight of the hunters The males give great honor to the females great with young during the time of their secresie so that although they lie together in one cave yet do they part it by a division or small ditch in the midst neither of them touching the other The nature of all of them is to avoid cold and therefore in the Winter time do they hide themselves chusing rather to suffer famine then cold lying for the most part three or four months together and never see the light whereby their guts grow so empty that they are almost closed up and stick together When they first enter into their den they betake themselves to quiet and rest sleeping without any awaking for the first fourteen dayes so that it is thought an easie stroke cannot awake them But how long the females go with young is not certain some affirm three months others but thirty dayes which is more probable for wild beasts do not couple themselves being with young except a Hare and a Linx and the Bears being as is already said very lustful to the intent that they may no longer want the company of their males do violently cast their Whelps and so presently after delivery do after the manner of Conies betake themselves to their lust and nourishing their young ones both together and this is certain that they never come out of their caves till their young ones be thirty dayes old at the least and Pliny precisely affirmeth that they litter the thirtyeth day after their conception and for this cause a Bear bringeth forth the least whelp of all other great beasts for their whelps at their first littering are no bigger then rats nor longer then ones finger And whereas it hath been believed and received that the whelps of Bears at their first littering are without all form and fashion and nothing but a little congealed blood like a lump of flesh which afterwards the old one frameth with her tongue to her own likeness as Pliny Solinus Aelianus Orus Oppianus and Ovid have reported yet is the truth most evidently otherwise as by the eye-witness of Joachimus Rhetious and other is disproved only it is littered blind without eyes naked without hair and the hinder legs not perfect the fore-feet folded up like a fist and other members deformed by reason of the immoderate humor or moystness in them which also is one cause why the Womb of the Bear cannot retain the seed to the perfection of her young ones They bring forth sometimes two and never above five which the old Bear daily keepeth close to her brest so warming them with the heat of her body and the breath of her mouth till they be thirty days old at what time they come abroad being in the beginning of May which is the third Month from the Spring The old ones being almost dazled with long darkness coming into light again seem to stagger and reel to and fro and then for the straightness of their guts by reason of their long fasting do eat the hearb Arum commonly called in English Wake-Robbin or Calves-foot being of very sharp and tart taste which enlargeth their guts and so being recovered they remain all the time their young are with them more fierce and cruel then at other times And concerning the same Arum called also Dracunculus and Oryse there is a pleasant vulgar tale whereby some have conceived that Bears eat this herb before their lying secret and by vertue thereof without meat or sense of cold they pass away the whole Winter in sleep There was a certain Cow-herd in the Mountains of Helvetia which coming down a hill with a great Caldron on his back he saw a Bear eating of a root which he had pulled up with his feet the Cow-herd stood still till the Bear was gone and afterward came to the place where the beast had eaten the same and finding more of the same root did likewise eat it he had no sooner tasted thereof but he had such a desire to sleep that he could not contain himself but he must needs lie down in the way and their fell asleep having covered his head with the Caldron to keep himself from the vehemency of the told and their slept all the Winter time without harm and never rose again till the Spring time Which fable if a man will believe then doubtless this hearb may cause the Bears to be sleepers not for fourteen days but for fourscore days together The ordinary food of Bears is fish for the Water-bear and others will eat fruits Apples Grapes Leaves and Pease and will break into Bee-hives sucking out the Hony Likewise Bees Snayls and Emmets and flesh if it be lean or ready to putrifie but if a Bear do chance to kill a Swine or a Bull or Sheep he eateth them presently whereas other Beasts eat not hearbs if they eat flesh likewise they drink water but not like other beasts neither sucking it or lapping it but as it were even biting at it Some affirm that Bears do wax or grow as long as they live that there have been seen some of them five cubits long yea I my self saw a Bears skin of that length and broader then an Oxes skin The head of a Bear is his weakest part as the hand of a Lyon is the strongest for by a small blow on his head he hath often been strucken dead the bones of the head being very thin and tender yea more tender then the beak of a Parrot The mouth of a Bear is like a Hogs mouth but longer being armed with teeth on both sides like a saw and standing deep in his mouth they have very thick lips for which cause he cannot easily or hastily with his teeth break asunder the hunters nets except with his fore-feet His neck is short like a Tygers and a Lyonâ— apt to bend downwards to his meat his belly is very large being uniform and next to it the intrals as in a Wolf It hath also four speans to her Paps The genital of a Bear after his death waxeth as hard as horn his knees and elbows are like to an Apes for which cause they are not swift or nimble his feet are like hands and in them and his loins is his greatest strength by reason whereof he sometimes setteth himself upright upon his hinder legs the pastern of his leg being fleshy like a Cammels which maketh them unfit for travel they have
think it eateth Apples Roots and rindes of trees and peradventures Snail and such reptile creatures but being tamed it eateth all kinde of fruit likewise bread Pâ—e-crust and such things broken small It drinketh also water but above all other Wine mingled with water In the day time it sleepeth and in the night time it waketh by which we gather that being wilde it feareth the light and therefore travelleth in the night time for his meat and living It is a general live creature and begetteth other in his own kind the female bearing the young ones in her belly as long time as a Bear that is thirty days and also it hideth it self four moneths in the Winter time like a Bear but whether for cold or any other cause the Authors do not express In my opinion for cold rather then for any other reason although there be some that affirm it lyeth hid in the Summer time and cometh abroad in the Winter time contrary to the course of all other Beasts and therefore such a Paradox doth want the testimony of some credible Writers which should affirm it upon their own experience or else it were requisite to bring sufficient reasons to lead their Readers to believe it but neither of both is discharged by them and th 〈…〉 it is safer for us to follow Aristotle and Pliny who hold the first opinion then Albertus and A 〈…〉 ola who encline to the later In all other things both of their lying hid of their procreation o 〈…〉 he comming out of their cave and nourishing their young ones they imitate the manners and conditions of Bears Concerning the use of their parts I finde none but only of their quils for with them it is said if men scrape their teeth they will never be loose likewise women were wont in ancient time to use them for parting asunder their hair in the top of their crowns The flesh of this Beast is like a Hedge-hogs neither very natural for meat and nourishment nor yet very medicinable yet it is said to help a weak and over-burthened stomach to procure looseness of the belly and to diminish all Leprosies and scabbed Exulcerations and pustules Being salted it is is good against the Dropsie and also very profitable as Platina writeth to be eaten by them that cannot contain urine in their beds yet the Gracians attribute no such quality unto this but to help the stomach and loosen the belly they attribute to the Sea-hog and against the leprosie scabs and incontinency of urine to the Hedge-hog but peradventure the saying of Pliny Quae de Herinace is dicuntur o 〈…〉 tanto magis valebunt in Histrice leadeth them to attribute these things to the Porcuspine The powder of their quils burnt drunk or eaten in meats or broth doth promote and help conception Thus saith Avicen and herewithall I conclude this short discourse of the Hedg-hog Of the Reyner or Rainger THis Beast is called by the Latines Rangifer by the Germans Rein Reiner Raineger Reinsither by the French Raingier and Ranglier and the later Latines call it Rei 〈…〉 It is a Beast altogether unknown to the ancient Graecians and Latines except the Machlis that Pliny speaketh of be it But we have shewed already in the story of the Elk that Alces and Mhlis are all one This Beast was first of all discovered by Olam Magnus in this Northern part of the world towards the pole Artique as in Norway Swetia Scandinavia at the first sight whereof he called it Raingifer quasi Ramifer because he beareth horns on his head like the boughs of a tree The similitude of this Beast is much like to a Hart but it is much bigger stronger and swifter It beareth three orders or rows of horns on the head as by the direction of Valentinus Grâ—vius and Benedictus Martinus are here expressed This Beast changeth his colour according to the time of the year and also according to the quality of the place wherein he feedeth which appeareth by this because some of them are found to be of the colour of Asses and shortly after to be like Harts Their breast is full of long bristles being rough and rigid through the same The legs hairy and the hoofs hollow cloven and moveable which in his course he spreadeth abroad upon the deepest snows without pressing his foot-steps far into them and by his admirable celerity he avoideth all the wilde Beasts which in the Vallies lie in wait to destroy him He beareth very high and lofty horns which presently from the root branch forth into two stems or pikes I mean both the horns severally into two which again at the top disperse themselves into pikes like the fingers of ones hand In the middle of the horse there is a little branch standeth out like a knob or as a huckle in the hinder-part of a Beasts leg from thence again they ascend upwards a great heighth and do grow abroad at the top where they are divided like the palm of a hand The horns are white distinguished with long apparent veins differing both from the horns of Elks and the horns of Harts from Elks in height and from Harts in breadth and from them both in colour and multitude of branches When he runneth he layeth them on his back for when he stands still the lowest branches coming forth of the roots of the horns do almost cover his face with these lower branches Their Carts which they draw must be made with a sharp edge at the bottom like a boat or ship as we have said already for they are not drawn upon wheels but like drays and sleads upon the earth There was a Lapponian which brought one of these into Germany in December he professeth he never felt so much heat of the Sun in all his life as he did at that time which is our coldest time in the year and therefore how great is the cold which both men and Beasts endure in that Countrey The horns of these Beasts are to be seen both in Berne and at Auspurge in Germany the feet are some-what white being rounder then a Harts feet and more cloven or divided wherefore at some times one part of his hoof may be seen upon a stone while the other part resteth upon the earth and in the upper part of the hoof where it beginneth to be cloven near the leg there is a certain thick skin or membrane by vertue whereof the foot may be stretched in the division without harm or pain to the Beast The King of Swetia had ten of them nourished at Lappa which he caused every day to be driven unto the Mountains into the cold air for they were not able to endure the heat The mouth of this Beast is like the mouth of a Cow they many times come out of Laponia into Swetia where they are wonderfully annoyed with Wolves but they gather themselves together in a ring and so fight against their enemies with their horns They are
in their Liver which is very broad and insatiable and there is nothing that hath a duller sense of smelling then this Beast and therefore it is not offended with any carrion or stinking smell but with sweet and pleasant ointments as we shall shew afterwards Concerning their generation or copulation it is to be noted that a Boar or male Swine will not remain of validity and good for breed past three year old by the opinion of all the antient for such as he engendereth after that age are but weak and not profitable to be kept and nourished At eight moneths old he beginneth to leap the female and it is good to keep him close from other of his kinde for two moneths before and to feed him with Barly raw but the Sow with Barly sodden One Boar is sufficient for ten Sowes if once he hear the voice of his female desiring the Boar he will not eat untill he be admitted and so he will continue pining and indeed he will suffer the female to have all that can be and groweth lean to fatten her for which cause Homer like a wise hushandman prescribeth that the male and female Swine be kept asunder till the time of their copulation They continue long in the act of Copulation and the reason thereof is because his lust is not hot nor yet proceeding from heat yet is his seed very plentiful They in the time of their copulation are angry and outragious fighting with one another very irefully and for that purpose they use to harden their ribs by rubbing them voluntarily upon trees They choose for the most part the morning for copulation but if he be fat and young he can endure it in every part of the year and day but when he is lean and weak or old he is not able to satisfie his females lust for which cause she many times sinketh underneath him and yet he filleth her while she lyeth down on the ground both of them on their buttocks together They engender oftentimes in one year the reason whereof is to be ascribed to their meat or some extraordinary heat which is a familiar thing to all that live familiarly among men and yet the wilde Swine couple and bring forth but once in the year because they are seldom filled with meat endure much pain to get and much cold for Venus in men and beasts is a companion of satiety and therefore they only bring forth in the spring time and warm weather and it is observed that in what night soever a wilde Hog or sow farroweth there will be no storm or rain There be many causes why the tame domestical Hogs bring forth and ingender more often then the wilde first because they are fed with ease secondly because they live together without fear and by society are more often provoked to lust on the other side the wilde Swine come seldom together and are often hungry for which cause they are more dull and lesse venereous yea many times they have but one stone for which cause they are called by Aristotle and the antient Grecians Chlunes and Monorcheis But concerning the Sow she beginneth to suffer the Boar at eight moneths of age although according to the diversity of Regions and air they differ in this time of their copulation for some begin at four moneths and other again tary till they be a year old and this is no marvel for even the male which engendereth before he be a year old begetteth but weak tender and unprofitable Pigs The best time of their admission is from the Calends of February unto the Vernal Equinoctial for so it hapneth that they bring forth the young in the Summer-time for four months she goeth with young and it is good that the Pigs be farrowed before harvest which you purpose to keep all the year for store After that you perceive that the Sows have conceived then separate them from the Boars lest by the raging lust of their provoking they be troubled and endangered to abortment There be some that say a Sow may bear young till she be seven year old but I will not strive about that whereof every poor Swineherd may give full satisfaction At a year old a Sow may do well if she be covered by the Boar in the moneth of February But if they begin not to bear till they be twenty moneths old or two years they will not only bring forth the stronger but also bear the longer time even to the seventh year and at that time it is good to let them go to rivers sens or miery places for even as a Man is delighted in washing or bathing so doth Swine in filthy wallowing in the mire therein is their rest joy and repose Albertus reporteth that in some places of Germany a Sow hath been found to bear young eight years and in other till they were fifteen years old but after fifteen year it was never seen that a Sow brought forth young Pigs If the Sow be fat she is always the lesse prone to conceive with young whether she be young or old When first of all they begin to seek the Boar they leap upon other Swine and in process cast forth a certain purgation called Aprya which is the same in a Sow which Hippomanes is in a Mare then they also leave their herdfellows which kinde of behavior or action the Latins call by a peculiar Verb Subare and that is applyed to Harlots and wanton Women by Horace Jamque subando Tenta cubilia tectaque rumpit We in English call it Boaring because she never resteth to shew her desire till she come to a Boar and therefore when an old Woman lusteth after a man being past lust by all natural possibility she is cald Anus subans And the Beast is so delighted with this pleasure of carnal Copulation that many times she falleth asleep in that action and if the male be young or dull then will the female leap upon him and provoke him yea in her rage she setteth many times upon men and women especially if that they do wear any white Garments or if their Aprya and privy place be wetted and moistned with Vinegar They have their proper voices and cries for this time of their Boaring which the Boar or male understandeth presently They are filled at one Copulation and yet for their better safegard and to preserve them from abortment it is good to suffer the Boar to cover her twice or thrice and moreover if she conceive not at the first then may she safely be permitted three or four times together and it is observed that except her ears hang down flagging and carelessely she is not filled but rejecteth the seed but if her ears fall downward and so hang all the time that the Boar is upon her then is it a most certain token that she is filled and hath conceived with young After four moneths as we have said the Sow farroweth her Pigs that is to say
their drunken god Bacchus Of the BADGER otherwise called a Brocke a Gray or a Bauson THe Badger could never find a Greek name although some through ignorance have foisted into a Greek Dictionary Melis whereas in truth that is his Latin word Mele or Meles and so called because above all other things he loveth hony and some later writers call him Taxus Tassus Taxo and Albertus Magnus Daxus But whereas in the Scripture some translate Tesson Tahas or Tachasch and plurally Techaseim Badgers yet is not the matter so clear for there is no such beauty in a Badgers skin as to cover the Arke or to make Princes shooes thereof therefore some Hebrews say that it signifieth an Oxe of an exceeding hard skin Onkelus translateth it Sasgona that is a beast skin of divers colours Symmachus and Aquila a jacinct colour which cannot be but the Arabians Darasch and the Persians Asthak yet it may be rather said that those skins spoken of Exod. 25. Numb 4. Ezek. 26. be of the Lynx or some such other beast for Tachasch cometh neer Thos signifying a kind of Wolf not hurtful to men being rough and hairy in Winter but smooth in Summer The Italians call a Badger Tasso the Rhetians Tasoh the French Tausson Taixin Tasson Tesson and sometime Grisart for her colour sometime Blareau and at Paris Bedevo The Spaniards Tasugo Texon the Germans Tachs or Daxs the Illyrians Gezwecz Badgers are plentiful in Naples Sicily Lucane and in the Alpino and Helvetian coasts so are they also in England In Lueane there is a certain wilde beast resembling both a Bear and a Hog not in quantity but in form and proportion of body which therefore may fitly be called in Greek Suarctos for a Gray in short legs ears and feet is like a Bear but in fatness like a Swine Therefore it is observed that there be two kinds of this beast one resembling a Dog in his feet which is is cald Canine the other a Hog in his cloven hoof and is cald Swinish also these differ in the fashion of their snowt one resembling the snowt of a Dog the other of a Swine and in their meat the one eating flesh and carrion like a Dog the other roots and fruits like a Hog as both kinds have been found in Normandy and other parts of France and Sicilie This beast diggeth her a den or cave in the earth and there liveth never coming forth but for meat and easement which it maketh out of his den when they dig their den after they have entred a good depth for avoiding the earth out one of them falleth on the back and the other layeth all the earth on his belly and so taking his hinder feet in his mouth draweth the belly-laden Badger out of the cave which disburdeneth her cariage and goeth in for more till all be finished and emptied The wily Fox never makth a Den for himself but finding a Badgers cave in her absence layeth his excrements at the hole of the Den the which when the Gray returneth if she smell as the savour is strong she forbeareth to enter as noisome and so leaveth her elaborate house to the Fox These Badgers are very sleepy especially in the day time and stir not abroad but in the night for which cause they are called Lucifugae that is avoiders of the light They eat hony and wormes and hornets and such like things because they are not very swift of foot to take other creatures They love Orchards Vines and places of fruits also and in the autumn they grow therewith very fat They are in quantity as big as a Fox but of a shorter and thicker body their skin is hard but rough and rugged their hair harsh and stubborn of an intermingled grisard colour sometime white sometime black his back covered with black and his belly with white his head from the top thereof to the ridge of his shoulder is adorned with strakes of white and black being black in the middle and white at each side He hath very sharp teeth and is therefore accounted a deep-biting beast His back is broad his legs as some say longer on the right side then on the left and therefore he runneth best when he getteth to the side of a hill or a cart-road-way His tail is short but hairy and of divers colours having a long face or snowt like the Zibethus his forelegs being a full span long and the hinder legs shorter short ears and little eyes a great bladder of gall a body very fat betwixt the skin and the flesh and about the heart and it is held that this fat increaseth with the Moon and decreaseth with the same being none at all at the change his forelegs have very sharp nails bare and apt to dig withall being five both before and behind but the hinder very short ones and covered with hair His savour is strong and is much troubled with lice about his secrets the length of his body from the nose which hangeth out like a Hogs nose to the tail or rump is some thirty inches and a little more the hair of his back three fingers long his neck is short and like a Dogs both male and female have under their hole another outwardly but not inwardly in the male If she be hunted out of her Den with Hounds she biteth them grievously if she lay hold on them wherefore they avoid her carefully and the Hunters put great broad collars made of a Grayes skin about their Dogs neck to keep them the safer from the Badgers teeth her manner is to fight on her back using thereby both her teeth and her nails and by blowing up her skin above measure after an unknown manner she defendeth her self against the strokes of men and the teeth of Dogs wherefore she is hardly taken but by devises and gins for that purpose invented with their skins they make quivers for arrows and some shepheards in Italy use thereof to make sacks wherein they wrap themselves from the injury of rain In Italy and Germany they eat Grays flesh and boil with it pears which maketh the flesh tast like the flesh of a Porcupine The flesh is best in September if it be fat and of the two kinds the Swinish Badger is better flesh then the other There are sundry vertues confected out of this beast for it is affirmed that if the fat of a Badger mingled with crude hony and anointed upon a bare place of a horse where the former hairs are pulled off it will make new white hairs grow in that place and it is certain although the Grecians make no reckoning of Badgers grease yet it is a very soveraign thing to soften and therefore Serenus prescribeth it to anoint them that have Fevers or Inflamations of the body Nec spernendus adept dederit quem bestia melis And not to be despised for other cures as for example the easing of the pain of the
right but these alter step after step so as the left foot behinde followeth the right before and the hinder foot followeth the left before Those Camels which are conceived by Bores are the strongest and fall not so quickly into the myre as other although his load be twice so heavy They stale from one side to another otherwise then any other beasts do this beast is very hot by nature and therefore want on and full of sport and wrath braying most fearfully when they are angred They engender like Elephants and Tygers that is the female lying or sitting on the ground which the male imbraceth like other males and continue in copulation a whole day together When they are to ingender they go unto the secretest places they can finde herein excelling in modesty the ancient Massagetes who were not ashamed to lie with their wives in the open field and publick view of one another where as brute beasts by instinct of nature make the procreation of their kinde to be a most secret shameful honest action At the time therefore of their lust they are most unruly and fierce yeelding to none no not to their own keepers the best time of their copulation is in September for in Arabia they begin to ingender in the third year of their age and so within ten or eleven moneths after she is delivered of young being never above one at a time for twins come not in her great belly so she goeth a year before she conceive again although her young be separated or weaned before which time they do not commonly Unto their former modesty for their copulation we may adde another divine instinct and most true observation about the same for the male will never cover his mother or his sister wherefore it is sincerely reported that when a certain Camel-keeper desirous to try this secret having the male son to a female which he also kept he so covered the female-mother-Camel in all parts of her body except her secrets that nothing could be seen of her and so brought her lustful son to cover her which according to his present rage he performed As soon as he had done it his master and owner pulled away the mask or disguise from the dam in the presence of the son whereby he instantly perceived his keepers fraud in making him unnaturally to have copulation with his own mother In revenge whereof he ran upon him and taking him in his mouth lift him up into the air presently letting him fall with noise and cry underneath his murdering and man-quelling feet where with unappeaseable wrath and blood-desiring livor he pressed and trod to pieces the incest marriage-causer twixt him and his dearest mother and yet not herewith satisfied like some reasonable creature deprived of heavenly grace and carryed with deadly revenge against such uncleanness being perswaded that the guilt of such an offence could never receive sufficient expiation by the death of the first deviser except the beguiled party suffered also some smart of penalty adjudged himself to death and no longer worthy to live by natures benefit which had so violated the womb that first conceived him and therefore running to and fro as it were to finde out a hang-man for himself at last found a steepy rock from whence he leaped down to end his life and although he could not prevent his offence yet he thought it best to cleanse away his mothers adultery with the sacrifice of that blood which was first conceived in that wombe which he had defiled These Camels are kept in herds and are as swift as Horses according to the measure of their strength not only because of their nimbleness but also because their strides and reach doth gather in more ground for which cause they are used by the Indians for race when they go to fetch the gold which is said to be kept by the Formicae Lyons which are not much bigger then Foxes yet many times do these Lyons overtake the Camels in course and tear the riders in pieces They have been also used for battel or war by the Arabians in the Persian war but their fear is so great of an Horse that as Xenophon saith in the institution of Cyrus when the Armies came to joyn neither the Camel would approach to the Horse or the Horse to the Camel whereupon it is accounted a base and unprofitable thing for a man to nourish Camels for fight yet the Persians for the fight of Cyrus in Lydia ever nourished Camels and Horses together to take away their fear one from another Therefore they are used for carriage which they will perform with great facility being taught by their keepers to kneel and lye down to take up their burthens which by reason of their height a man cannot lay on them always provided that he will never go beyond his ordinary lodging and baiting place or endure more then his usual burthen and it hath been seen that one of these Bactrian Camels hath carryed above ten Minars of corn and above that a bed with five men therein They will travel in a day above forty ordinary miles for as Pliny saith that there was from Thomna to Gaza sixty and two lodging places for Camels which was in length one thousand five hundred thirty and seven miles They are also used for the plow in Numidia and for this cause are yoaked sometimes with Horses but Heliogabalus like as the Tartarians yoaked them together not only for private spectacles and plays but also for drawing of Waggons and Chariots When they desire to have them free and strong for any labour in the field or war they use to geld both the male and the female the manner whereof is in this sort The male by taking away his stones and the female by fearing her privy parts within the brim and laps thereof with a hot iron which being so taken away they can never more join in copulation and these are more patient in labour and thirst and likewise better endure the extremity of sand in those parts having this skill that if the mists of rain or sand do never so much obscure the way from the rider yet doth she remember the same without all staggering The urine of this beast is excellent for the use of Fullers of the hair called Buber or Camels Wool is cloth made for Apparel called Camelotta or Camels hair and the hair of the Caspian Camels is so soft that it may be therein compared with the softest Milesian Wool whereof their Princes and Priests make their garments and it is very probable that the garments of Saint John Baptist was of this kinde In the City of Calacia under the great Cham and in the province of Egrigaia is cloth made of the hair of Camels and white wool called Zambilotti shewing most gloriously but the best of this kinde are in the land of Gog and Magog It is forbidden in holy Scripture to
being about fourteen or twenty dayes old and some have devised a cruel delicate meat which is to cut the young ones out of the dams belly and so to dresse and eat them but I trust there is no man among Christians so inhumanely gluttonous as once to devise or approve the sweetness of so foul a dish but the tame ones are not so good for in Spain they will not eat of a tame Cony because every creature doth partake in tast of the air wherein he liveth and therefore tame Conies which are kept in a close and unsweet air by reason of their own excrements cannot tast so well or be so wholesome as those which run wilde in the mountains and fields free from all infection of evill air They love above all places the rocks and make Dens in the earth and whereas it is said Psal 104 that the stony rocks are for the Cony it is not to be understood as if the feet of the Cony could pierce into the rock as into the earth and that she diggeth her hole therein as in looser ground but that finding among the rocks holes already framed to her hand or else some light earth mingled therewith she more willingly entreth thereinto as being more free from rain and floods then in lower and softer ground for this cause they love also the hils and lower grounds and woods where are no rocks as in England which is not a rocky Countrey but wheresoever she is forced to live there she diggeth her holes wherein for the day time she abideth but morning and evening cometh out from thence and sitteth at the mouth thereof In their copulation they engender like Elephants Tygres and Linxes that is the male leapeth on the back of the female their privie parts being so sramed to meet one another behind because the females do render their urine backward their secrets and the seed of the male are very smal They begin to breed in some Countries being but six moneths old but in England at a year old and so continue bearing every moneth at the least seven times in one year if they litter in March but in the Winter they do not engender at all and therefore the Authors say of these and Hares that they abound in procreation by reason whereof a little store will serve to encrease a great borough Their young being littered are blind and see not till they be nine dayes old and their dam hath no suck for them till she hath been six or seven hours with the male at the least for six hours after she cannot suckle them greatly desiring to go to the Buck and if she be not permitted presently she is so far displeased that she will not be so inclined again for 14 daies after I have been also credibly informed by one that kept tame Conies that he had Does which littered three at a time and within fourteen daies after they littered four more Their ordinary number in one litter is five and sometimes nine but never above and I have seen that when a Doe hath had nine in her belly two or three of them have perished and been oppressed in the womb by suffocation The males will kill the young ones if they come at them like as the Bore cats and therefore the female doth also avoid it carefully covering the nest or litter with gravell or earth that so they may not be discovered there are also some of their females very unnatural not caring for their yong ones but suffer them to perish both because they never provide a warm litter or nest for them as also because they forsake them being littered or else devour them For the remedy of this evill he that loveth to keep them for his profit must take them before they be delivered and pull off the hair or flesh underneath their belly and so put it upon their nest that when the young one cometh forth it may not perish for cold and so the dam will be taught by experience of pain to do the like her self Thus far Thomas Gypâ—on an English Poysician For Conies you may give them Vine-leaves Fruits Herbs Grasse Bran Oatmel Mallows the parings of Apples likewise Cabbages Apples themselves and Lettuce and I my self gave to a Cony blew Wolfe-bane which she did presently eat without hurt but Gallingale and blind Nettle they will not eat In the Winter they will eat Hay Oats and Chaffe being given to them thrice a day when they eat Greenes they must not drink at all for if they do it is hazzard but they will incur the Dropsie and at other times they must for the same cause drink but little and that little must be alway fresh It is also dangerous to handle their young ones in the absence of the dam for her jealousie will easily perceive it which causeth her so to disdain them that either she biteth forsaketh or killeth them Foxes will of their own accord hunt both Hares and Conies to kill and eat them Touching their medicinall properties it is to be observed that the brain of Conies hath been eaten for a good Antidote against poison so also the Hart which is hard to be digested hath the same operation that is in treacle There is also an approved medicine for the Squinancy or Quinsie take a live Cony and burn her in an earthen pot to powder then take a spoonful of that powder in a draught of wine and drink the most part thereof and rub your throat with the residue and it shall cure with speed and ease as Marcellus saith The fat is good against the stopping of the bladder and difficulty of urine being anointed at a fire upon the hairy place of the secrets as Alex. Benedictus affirms Other things I omit concerning this beast because as it is vulgar the benefits thereof are commonly known Of the Indian little PIG-CONY I Received the picture of this beast from a certain Noble-man my loving friend in Paris whose parts it is not needfull to describe seeing the image it self is perspicuous and easie to be observed The quantity of this beast doth not exceed the quantity of a vulgar Cony but rather the body is shorter yet fuller as also I observed by those two which that noble and learned Physician Joh. Munzingerus sent me It hath two little low ears round and almost pild without hair having also short legs five claws upon one foot behind and six before teeth like a mouse but no tail and the colour variable I have seen of them all white and all yellow and also different from both those their voice is much like the voice of a Pig and they eat all kinds of Herbs Fruits Oats and Bread and some give them water to drink but I have nourished some divers moneths together and never given them any water but yet I gave them moist food as Herbs Apples Rapes and such like or else they would incur the Dropsie Their
there have been divers brought over from beyond the Seas for greediness of gain and to make money for gazing and gaping staring and standing to see them being a strange beast rare and seldom seen in England But to return to our Shepherds Dog This Dog either at the hearing of his Masters voice or at the wagging and whistling in his fist or at his shrill and hoarse hissing bringeth the wandering weathers and straying Sheep into the self same place where his Masters will and wish is to have them whereby the Shepherd reapeth this benefit namely that with little labour and no toilor moving of his feet he may rule and guide his flock according to his own desire either to have them go forward or to stand still or to draw backward or to turn this way or take that way For it is not in England as it is in France as it is in Flanders as it is in Syria as it is in Tartaria where the Sheep follow the Shepherd for here in our Countrey the Shepherd followeth the Sheep And sometimes the straying Sheep when no Dog runneth before them nor goeth about and beside them gather themselves together in a flock when they hear the Shepherd whistle in his fist for fear of the Dog as I imagine remembring this if unreasonable creatures may be reported to have memory that the Dog commonly runneth out at his Masters warrant which is his whistle This have we oftentimes diligently marked in taking our journey from Town to Town when we have heard a Shepherd whistle we have rained in our horse and stood still a space to see the proof and tryall of this matter Furthermore with this Dog doth the Shepherd take Sheep for the slaughter and to be healed if they be sick no hurt or harm in the world done to the simple creature Of the MASTIVE or BANDOG called in Latin Villaticus or Catenarius THis kind of Dog called a Mastive or Bandog is vast huge stubborn ugly and eager of a heavie and bourthenous body and therefore but of little swiftness terrible and frightful to behold and more fierce and fell then any Arcadian cur notwithstanding they are said to have their generation of the violent Lion They are called Villatici because they are appointed to watch and keep farm-places and Countrey Cotages sequestred from common recourse and not abutting upon other houses by reason of distance when there is any fear conceived of Theeves Robbers Spoilers and Night-wanderers They are serviceable against the Fox and Badger to drive wilde and tame Swine out of Medowes Pastures Glebelands and places planted with fruit to bait and take the Bull by the ear when occasion so requireth One Dog or two at the utmost is sufficient for that purpose be the Bull never so monstrous never so fierce never so furious never so stern never so untamable For it is a kind of Dog capeable of courage violent and valiant striking cold fear into the hearts of men but standing in fear of no man in so much that no weapons will make him shrink nor abridge his boldness Our Englishmen to the intent that their Dogs might be more fell and fierce assist nature with art use and custom for they teach their Dogs to bait the Bear to bait the Bull and other such like cruell and bloudy Beasts appointing an over-seer of the game without any Collar to defend their throats and oftentimes they train them up in fighting and wrestling with any man having for the safegard of his life either a Pikestaffe a Club or a sword and by using them to such exercises as these their Dogs become more sturdy and strong The force which is in them surmounteth all belief the fast hold which they take with their teeth exceedeth all credit three of them against a Bear four against a Lion are sufficient both to trie masteries with them and utterly to overmatch them Which thing Henry the seventh of that name King of England a Prince both politick and warlike perceiving on a certain time as the report runneth commanded all such Dogs how many so ever were in number should be hanged being deeply displeased and conceiving great disdain that an ill favoured rascal Cut should with such violent villany assault the valiant Lion King of all beasts An example for all subjects worthy remembrance to admonish them that it is no advantage to them to rebell against the regiment of their Ruler but to keep them within the limits of loyalty I read an History answerable to this of the self same Henry who having a notable and an excellent fair Falcon it fortuned that the Kings Falconers in the presence and hearing of his grace higgly commended his Majesties Faulcon saying that it feared not to intermeddle with an Eagle it was so venturous a Bird and so mighty which when the King heard he charged that the Falcon should be killed without delay for the self same reason as it may seem which was rehearsed in the conclusion of the former history concerning the same king This Dog is called in like manner Catenarius a Catena of the chain wherewith he is tyed at the gates in the day time lest being loose he should do much mischief and yet might give occasion of fear and terror by his big barking And albeit Cicero in his Oration had pro S. Ross be of this opinion that sueh Dogs as bark in the broad day light should have their legs broken yet our Countrymen on this side the Seas for their carelesness of life setting all at cinque and sice are of a contrary judgement For Theeves rogue up and down in every corner no place is free from them no not the Princes palace nor the Countrymans cotage In the day time they practise pilfering picking open robbing and privie stealing and what legerdemain lack they not fearing the shameful and horrible death of hanging The cause of which inconvenience doth not only issue from nipping need and wringing want for all that steal are not pinched with poverty some steal to maintain their excessive and prodigal expences in apparel their lewdness of life their haughtiness of heart their wantonness of manners their wilful idleness their ambitious bravery and the pride of the sawcy Salacones me galorrounton vain glorious and arrogant in behaviour whose delight dependeth wholly to mount nimbly on horse-back to make them leap lustily spring and prance gallop and amble to run a race to winde in compass and so forth living altogether upon the fatness of the spoil Other some there be which steal being thereto provoked by penury and need like masterless men applying themselves to no honest trade but ranging up and down impudently begging and complaining of bodily weakness where is no want of ability But valiant Valentine the Emperor by wholesome lawes provided that such as having no corporal sickness sold themselves to begging pleaded poverty with pretended infirmity and cloaked their idle and slothful life with colourable shifts and cloudy cozening should
overthrow of them that persecute him The Moors say that he hath two hearts one wherewithal he is incensed and another whereby he is pacified But the truth is as Aristotle in the dissection of the heart observed there is a double ventricle and bone in the heart of an Elephant He hath a Liver without any apparent gall but that side of the Liver being cut whereon the gall should lie a certain humour cometh forth like a gall Wherefore Aelianus saith he hath his gall in his maw-gut which is so full of sinews that one would think he had four bellies in this receiveth he his meat having no other receptacle for it His intrails are like unto a Swines but much greater His Liver four times so great as an Oxes and so all the residue except the Milt He hath two pappes a little beside his brest under his shoulders and not between his hinder legs or loins they are very small and cannot be seen on the side The reasons hereof are given first that he hath but two pappes because he bringeth forth but one at a time and they stand under his shoulders like an Apes because he hath no hoofs but distinct feet like a mans and also because from the breast floweth more aboundance of milke The genital part is like a Horses but lesser then the proportion of his body affordeth the stones are not outwardly seen because they cleave to his reins But the female hath her genital betwixt her thighes the forelegs are much longer then the hinder legs and the feet be greater His legs are of equall quantity both above and beneath the knees and it hath ancle bones very low The articles do not ascend so high as in other creatures but kept low neer the earth He bendeth his hinder legs like a mans when he sitteth but by reason of his great weight he is not able to bend on both sides together but either leaneth to the right hand or to the left and so sleepeth It is false that they have no joints or articles in their legs for when they please they can use bend and move them but after they grow old they use not to lie down or strain them by reason of their great weight but take their rest leaning to a tree and if they did not bend their legs they could never go any ordinary and stayed pace Their feet are round like a Horses but so as they reach from the middle every way two spans length and are as broad as a bushel having five distinct toes upon each foot the which toes are very little cloven to the intent that the foot may be stronger and yet parted that when he treadeth upon soft ground the weight of his body presse not down the leg too deep He hath no nails upon his toes his tail is like an Oxes tail having a little hair at the end and the residue thereof peeled and without hair He hath not any bristly hairs to cover his back And thus much for their several parts and their uses There is not any creature so capable of understanding as an Elephant and therefore it is requisite to tarry somewhat the longer in expressing the several properties and natural qualities thereof which sundry and variable inclinations cannot choose but bring great delight to the Reader They have a wonderful love to their own Countrey so as although they be never so well delighted with divers meats and joyes in other places yet in memory thereof they send forth tears and they love also the waters rivers and marishes so as they are not unfitly called Riparii such as live by the rivers sides although they cannot swim by reason of their great and heavie bodies untill they be taught Also they never live solitary but in great flocks except they be sick or watch their young ones and for either of these they remain adventurous unto death the eldest leadeth the herd and the second driveth them forward if they meet any man they give him way and go out of his sight Their voice is called by the word Barrire that is to bray and thereupon the Elephants themselves are called Barri for his voice cometh out of his mouth and nostrils together like as when a man speaketh breathing wherefore Aristotle calleth it Raucity or hoarsness like the low sound of a Trumpet this sound is very terrible in battails as shall be afterward declared They live upon the fruits of Plants and roots and with their truncks and heads overthrow the tops of trees and eat the boughs and bodies of them and many times upon the leaves of trees he devoureth Chamaeleons whereby he is poisoned and dyeth if he eat not immediately a wilde Olive They eat earth often without harm but if they eat it seldom it is hurtful and procureth pain in their bellies so also they eat stones They are so loving to their fellows that they will not eat their meat alone but having found a prey they go and invite the residue to their feasts and chear more like to reasonable civil men then unreasonable brute beast There are certain noble Melons in Ethiopia which the Elephants being sharp smelling beasts do winde a great way off and by the conduct of their noses come to those Gardens of Melons and there eat and devour them When they are tamed they will eat Barlie either whole or ground of whole at one time is given them nine Macedonian Bushels but of Meal six and of drink either wine or water thirty Macedonian pints at at a time that is fourteen gallons but this is observed that they drink not wine except in war when they are to fight but water at all times whereof they will not tast except it be muddy and not clear for they avoid clear water loathing to see their own shadow therein and therefore when the Indians are to passe the water with their Elephants they chuse dark and cloudy nights wherein the Moon affordeth no light If they perceive but a Mouse run over their meat they will not eat thereof for there is in them a great hatred of this creature Also they will eat dryed Figs Grapes Onions Bulrushes Palmes and Ivy leaves There is a Region in India called Phalacâ—us which signifieth Balde because of an herb growing therein which causeth every living thing that eateth thereof to lose both horn and hair and therefore no man can be more industrious or wary to avoid those places then is an Elephant and to forbear every green thing growing in that place when he passeth thorough it It will forbear drink eight dayes together and drink wine to drunkenness like an Ape It is delighted above measure with sweet savours ointments and smelling flowers for which cause their keepers will in the Summer time lead them into the medowes of flowers where they of themselves will by the quickness of their smelling chuse out and gather the sweetest flowers and put them
have wearyed him and broken his untameable nature Then doth the rider leap upon the wearyed and tyred Elephant and with a sharp pointed Sickle doth govern him after the tame one and so in short space he groweth gentle And some of them when the rider alighteth from their backs grow wilde and fierce again for which cause they binde their forelegs with strong bands and by this means they take both great and small old and young ones but as the old ones are more wilde and obstinate and so difficult to be taken so the younger keep so much with the elder that a like impossibility or difficulty interposeth itself from apprehending them In the Caspian lake there are certain fishes called Oxyrineh out of whom is made such a firme glew that it will not be dissolved in ten dayes after it hath taken hold for which cause they use it in the taking of Elephants There are in the Island Zeira many Elephants whom they take on this manner In the Mountains they make certain doysters in the earth having two great trees standing at the mouth of the cloysters and in those trees they hangup a great parcul 〈…〉 gate within that cloyster they place a tame female Elephant at the time of their usual copulation the wilde Elephants do speedily wind her and make to her and so at the last having found the way betwixt the two trees enter into her sometime twenty and sometime thirty at a time then are there two men in the said trees which cut the rope whereby the gate hangeth so it falleth down and includeth the Elephants where they suffer them alone for six or seven dayes without meat whereby they are so infeebled and famished that they are not able to stand upon their legs Then two or three strong men enter in among them and with great slaves and clubs belabour and â—udgel them till by that means they grow tame and gentle and although an Elephant be a monstrous great beast and very subtil yet by these and such like means do the inhabitants of India and Ethiopia take many of them with a very small labour to their great advantage Against these sleights of men may be oposed the subtil and cautelous evasions of the beast avoiding all the footsteps of men if they smell them upon any herb or leaf and for their fight with the Hunters they observe this order First of all they set them foremost which have the least teeth that so they may not be afraid of combate and when they are weary by breaking down of trees they escape and flie away But for their hunting they know that they are not hunted in India for no other cause then for their teeth and therefore to discourage the Hunters they set them which have the worst teeth before and reserve the strongest for the second encounter for their wisdom or natural discretion is herein to be admired that they will so dispose themselves in all their battails when they are in chase that ever they fight by course and inclose the youngest from perill so that lying under the belly of their Dams they can scarce be seen and when one of them flyeth they all flie away to their usual resting places striving which of them shall go foremost And if at any time they come to a wide and deep Ditch which they cannot passe over without a bridge then one of them descendeth and goeth down into the Ditch and standeth transverse or crosse the same by his great body filling up the empty parts and the residue passe over upon his back as upon a bridge Afterward when they are all over they tarry and help their fellow out of the Ditch or Trench again by this sleight or devise one of them putteth down to him his leg and the other in the Ditch windeth his trunck about the same the residue standers by cast in bundles of sprigs with their mouthes which the Elephant warily and speedily putteth under his feet and so raiseth himself out of the Trench again and departeth with his fellowes But if they fall in and cannot finde any help or means to come forth they lay aside their natural wilde disposition and are contented to take meat and drink at the hands of men whose presence before they abhorred and being delivered they think no more upon their former condition but in forgetfulness thereof remain obedient to their deliverers Being thus taken as it hath been said it is also expedient to express by what art and means they are cicurattd and tamed First of all therefore when they are taken they are fastened to some Tree or Pillar in the earth so as they can neither kick backward nor leap forward and there hunger thirst and famine like two most strong and forcible Riders abate their natural wildeness strength fear and hatred of men Afterward when their keepers perceive by their dejection of minde that they begin to be mollified and altered then they give unto them meat out of their hands upon whom the beast doth cast a far more favorable and cheerful eye considering their own bondage and so at the last necessity frameth them unto a contented and tractable course and inclination But the Indians by great labour and industry take their young Calves at their watering places and so lead them away inticing them by many allurements of meat to love and obey them so as they grow to understand the Indian language but the elder Indian Elephants do very hardly and seldom grow tame because of their remembrance of their former liberty by any bands and oppression nevertheless by instrumental musick joyned with some of their Countrey songs and ditties they abate their fierceness and bring down their high untractable stomachs so as without all bands they remain quiet peaceable and obedient taking their meat which is layed before them Pliny and Solinus prescribe the juyce of Barly to be given to them for their mitification whereunto also agreeth Dioscorides calling that kind of drink Zythus and the reason hereof is because of the tart sharpness in Barly water if it stand a little while and therefore also they prescribe Vinegar and ashes to rub the beasts mouth for it hath power in it to pierce stones all sharp things penetrate deep into his flesh and alter his nature the invention whereof is attributed to Democritus Being thus tamed they grow into civill and familiar uses for Caesar ascended into the Capitol betwixt four hundred Elephants carrying at either side burning Torches and Heliogabalus brought four Waggons drawn with Elephants in Vaticanum and men commonly ride upon them for Apâ—llonius saw neer the River Indus a Boy of thirteen year old riding alone upon an Elephant spurring and pricking him as freely as any man will do a lean horse They are taught to bend one of their hinder legs to take up the Rider who also must receive help from some other present standers by or else it is
smelt sweetly and somewhat like to a Musk-cat and from Lyons in France they are brought into Germany three or four of them being sold for a Noble It is very probable that it is a little kinde of Panther or Leopard for there is a little Panther which hath such spots and besides of such a stature and harmless disposition whose skin in old time was pretiously used for garments and the favour thereof was very pleasant and therefore I supersede any further discourse hereof till we come to the declaration of the greater beast Of the GOAT Male and Female THe male or great Goat-Buck is called in Hebrew Atud and the lesser Seir and Zeir The Chalde translateth it Gen. 13. Teias-jaii and Numb 15 Ize the Arabians Teus and Maez the Persians Asteban and Busan the Grecians Tragos or devouring or ravening in meat according to the Verse Tragus ab Edendo quod grana fracta pane Also Chimaron and Enarchan the Latins Hircus and sometime Caper which word properly signifieth a Gelded Goat as Martial useth in this Verse Dum jugulas hircum factus es ipse Caper The Italians Beccho the Germans Bock and for distinction sake Geissbock and Reechbock and Booerk the Spaniards Cabron the French Bouc the Illyrians Kozel The reason of the Latin word Hircus is derived of Hirtus signifying rough by reason of the roughness of their bodies And it is further to be understood that the general kind of Goats which the Latins distinguish by Hircus Capra and Hoedus that is by their sex or by their age the Hebrews call them singularly Ez and plurally Izim Numb 15. for a Goat of a year old you shall read Izbethsch-neth The Chalde useth also the general word Oza the Arabian Schaah the Persian Buz and whereas Levit. 16. Seir is put for Caper a gelded Goat there the Chalde reudereth it Zephirah the Arabians Atud and the Persian Buzgalaie And in the same Chapter you shall read Azazel which David Kimhi rendereth for the name of a mountain neer Sinai where Goats use to feed and lodge and the Septuagints translate it Apopompaion signifying emission or sending away and for this cause I suppose that when the Scape-goat was by the Priest sent out of the Temple he went to that mountain and therefore the word Azazel seemeth to be compounded of Ez a Goat and Azal Iuit that is he went for the Scape Goat went and carryed away the evill The Grecians call the female Goat Aix which seemeth to be derived of Ez the Hebrew word The Arabians Dakh and Metaham as I find in Avicen the Saracens Anse the Italians Peccho changing B from the male into P and the Spaniards Capron the French Cheuer or Chieuere the Germans Geiss the Illyrians Koza and the Tuscanes at this day call a female Goat Zebei And this may suffice for the names of both male and female Their nature is to be declared severally except in those things wherein they agree without difference and first of all the male is rightly termed Dux maritus Caprarum the guide and husband of the females and therefore Virgil saith of him not improperly Vir gregis ipse Caper The He-goat is the husband of the flock and except in his genitals and horns he differeth not in any proportion or substance from the female His horns are longer and stronger then are the females and therefore upon provocation he striketh through an ordinary piece of Armor or Shield at one blow his force and the sharpness of his horns are so pregnable He hath many attributes among the learned as left-sided aged greedy bearded swift long-legged horn-bearer captain of the flock heavy rough hoarse-voiced rugged unarmed unclean strong-smelling lecherous bristler wanderer vile wanton sharp stinking two-horned and such like whereof his nature and qualities are so deciphered as it needeth no long treatise of explication There is no beast that is more prone and 〈…〉 st then is a Goat for he joyneth in copulation before all other beasts Seven dayes after it is yeaâ—ed and kiddened it beginneth and yeeldeth seed although without proof At seven moneths did it engend 〈…〉 this cause that it beginneth so soon it endeth at five years and after that time is 〈◊〉 â—nâ—ble to accomplish that work of nature When the Egyptians will describe fecundity or ability of generation they do it by picturing of a male Goat That which is most strange and horrible among other beasts is ordinary and common among these for in them starce the Brother joyneth with the Sister and a Camel can never be brought to cover his Dam but among these the young ones being males cover their Mother even while they suck their milk If they be fat they are lesse venereous then being macilent or lean Herodotus declareth that in his time a Goat of Mendesia in Egypt had carnal copulation with a woman in the open sight of men and afterward was led about to be seen When they desire copulation they have a proper voice wherewithal as it seemeth they provoke the female to love This is called it in Italy Biccari and Biccarie which the Venetians apply to all lecherous companions as commonly as a proverb and this they never use but at that time By reason of his lust his eyes sink deep into the corners of their holes called Hirqui and Apuleius with other Grammarians do derive the word Hircus whereby this beast is called from that disposition By drinking salt water they are made desirous and apt to procreation At that time they fight mutually one with another for their females and it is a term among the late writers to call those men Hirci Goats which are contented to permit other men to lie with their wives in publick before their own faces for gain because they imagine that such is the property of Goats But I know not with what reason they are moved hereunto for there is a memorable story to the contrary In Sibaris there was a young man called Crathis which being not able to retain lust but forsaken of God and given over to a reprobate sense committed buggery with a female Goat the which thing the master Goat beheld and looked upon and dissembled concealing his mind and jealousie for the pollution of his female Afterward finding the said young man asleep for he was a Shepherd he made all his force upon him and with his horns dashed out the buggerers brains The man being found dead on this manner and the Goat which he had ravished delivered of a monster having a Mans face and a Goats legs they call it Silvanus and place it in the rank of idoll Gods but the wretched man himself was bnried with more honour then beseemed for they gave him a noble funeral and finding a River in Achaia which mingled water with another they called it Crathis after the name of that unnatural and beastly monster whereupon also came the Italian Crathis which Strabo
another but betwixt every squirting give him liberty to hold down his head and to blow out the filthy matter for otherwise perhaps you may choke him And after this it shall be good also without holding up his head any more to wash and rub his nostrils with a fine clowt bound to a white sticks end and wet in the water aforesaid and serve him thus once a day untill he be whole Of bleeding at the Nose I Have seen Horses my self that have bled at the nose which have had neither sore nor ulcer in their nose and therefore I cannot choose but say with the Physitians that it cometh by means that the vein which endeth in that place is either opened broken or fettered It is opened many times by means that bloud aboundeth too much or for that it is too fine or too subtil and so pierceth through the vein Again it may be broken by some violent strain cut or blow And finally it may be fretted or gnawn through by the sharpness of some bloud or else of some other humor contained therein As touching the cure Martin saith it is good to take a pinte of red Wine and to put therein a quartern of Bole Armony beaten into fine powder and being made luke-warm to pour the one half thereof the first day into his nostril that bleedeth causing his head to be holden up so as the liquor may not fall out and the next day to give him the other half But if this prevaileth not then I for my part would cause him to be let bloud in the breast vein on the same side that he bleedeth at several times then take of Frankincense one ounce of Aloes half an ounce and beat them into powder and mingle them throughly with the whites of Egges untill it be so thick as Honey and with soâ—t Hares hair thrust it up into his nostril filling the hole so full as it cannot fall out or else fill his nostrils full of Asses dung or Hogs dung for either of them is excellent good to restrain any flux of bloud Of the bleeding at the Nose or to stanch Flux of bloud in any sort I Have known many Horses in great danger by bleeding and I have tryed divers remedies for the same yet have I not found any more certain then this take a spoonful or two of his bloud and put it in a Sawcer and set it upon a chafing dish of coals and let it boyl till it be all dryed up into powder then take that powder and if he bleed at the nose with a Cane or Quill blow the same up into his nostrils if his bleeding come of any wound or other accident then into the wound put the same powder which is a present remedy New Horse-dung or earth is a present remedy applyed to the bleeding place and so are Sage leaves bruised and put into the wound Of the diseases in the Mouth and first of the bloudy Rifts or Chops in the Palat of the Mouth THis disease is called of the Italians Palatina which as Laurentius Russius saith cometh by eating hay or provender that is full of pricking seeds which by continual pricking and fretting the furrows of the mouth do cause them to ranckle and to bleed corrupt and stinking matter which you shall quickly remedy as Martin saith by washing first the sore places with Vinegar and Salt and then by anointing the same with Honey Of the Bladders in a Horses mouth which our old Farriers were wont to call the Gigs The Italians call them Froncelle THese be little soft swellings or rather pustules with black heads growing in the inside of his lips next unto the great jaw-teeth which are so painful unto the Horse as they make him to let his meat fall out of his mouth or at the least to keep it in his mouth unchawed whereby the Horse prospereth not Russius saith that they come either by eating too much cold grass or else pricking dusty and filthy provender The cure whereof according to Martin is in this sort Slit them with a lancet and thrust out all the corruption and then wash the sore places with a little Vinegar and Salt or else with Allum water Of the Bladders in a Horses mouth SOme Horses will have bladders like paps growing in the inside of their lips next to their great teeth which are much painful the cure whereof is thus Take a sharp pair of shears and clip them away close to the gum and then wash the sore place with running water Allum and Honey boiled together till it be whole Of the Lampass THe Lampass called of the Italians Lampasous proceedeth of the abundance of bloud resorting to the first furrow of the mouth I mean that which is next unto the upper fore-teeth causing the said furrow to swell so high as the Horses teeth so as he cannot chew his meat but is forced to let it fall out of his mouth The remdy is to cut all the superfluous flesh away with a crooked hot iron made of purpose which every Smith can do Another of the Lampass THe Lampass is a thick spongy flesh growing over a Horses upper teeth hindering the conjunction of his chaps in such sort that he can hardly eat the cure is as follloweth Cut all that naughty flesh away with a hot iron and then rub the sore well with Salt which the most ignorant Smith can do sufficiently Of the Canker in the mouth THis disease as Martin saith is a rawness of the mouth and tongue which is full of blisters so as be cannot eat his meat Which proceeds of some unnatural heat coming from the stomach For the cure whereof take of Allum half a pound of Honey a quarter of a pinte of Columbinâ— leaves of Sage leaves of each a handful boyl all these together in three pintes of water untill a pinte be consumed and wash the sore places therewith so as it may bleed continuing so to do every day once untill it be whole Another of the Canker in the mouth THis disease proceedeth of divers causes as of unnatural heat of the stomach of foul feeding or of the rust or venome of some â—it oâ— snaâ—â—el undiscr 〈…〉 lookt unto The cure is thus Wash the sore place with warm Vinegar made thick with the powder of Allum two or three dayes together every time until it bleed which will kill the poison and vigor of the exulcerated matter then make this water Take of running water a quart of Allum four ounces of Hony four or five spoonfuls of Woodhine leaves of Sage leaves and of Columbine leaves of each half a handful boil all these together till one half he consumed then take it off and every day with the water warmed wash the sore until it be whole Of the heat in the mouth and lips SOmetime the heat that cometh out of the stomach breedeth no Canker but maketh the mouth hot and causeth the Horse to forsake
Martin is in this sort Wash it well in warm water and shave off the hair and lightly scarifie all the sore places with the point of a rasor so as the blood may issue forth Then take of Cantharides half a spoonful and of Euforbium as much beaten into fine powder and mingle them together with a spoonful of Oyl-de-bay and then melt them in a little pan stirring them well together so as that they may not boil over and being so boiled hot take two or three feathers and anoint all the sore place therewith That done let not the Horse stir from the place where you so dresse him for one hour after to the intent he shake not off the ointment Then carry him fair and softly into the stable and tie him as he may not reach with his head beneath the manger for otherwise he will covet to bite away the smarting and pricking medicine which if it should touch his lips would quickly fetch off the skin And also let him stand without litter all that day and night The next day anoint the sore place with fresh butter continuing so to do every day once for the space of nine dayes for this shall allay the heat of the medicine and cause both that and the crust to fall away of it self and therewith either clean take away the splent or at least remove it out of the knee into the leg and so much diminish it as the Horse shall go right up and halt no more through occasion thereof Laurentius Russius would have the splent to be cured by firing it longst wise and overthwart I have seen the splent to be clean taken away thus first having clipt away the hair growing upon the hard place you must beat it with a good big stick of Hasel almost a foot long in which stick somewhat distant from the one end thereof would be set fast a sharp prick of a little bit of steel to prick the sore place therewith once or twice to make the bloud issue out never leaving to beat it first softly and then harder and harder until it waxeth soft in every place to the feeling and to thrust out the blood partly with the stick leaning on it with both your hands and partly with your thumbs that done wind about the sore place with a piece of double red woollen cloth holding it so as it may lie close thereunto then sear it upon the cloth with the flat side of your searing iron made hot and not red-hot but so as it may not burn through the cloth that done take away the cloth and lay upon the sore a piece of Shoomakers wax made like a little cake so broad as is the sore place and then sear that into his Legs with your searing iron until the wax be throughly moulten dryed and sunken into the sore that done sear another piece of wax in like manner into the sore until it be dryed up and then you may travel your Horse immediately upon it if you will for he will not halt no more Of the Splent A Splent is a sorance of the least moment unlesse it be on the knee or else a through Splent both which cannot be cured A Splent is a spungy hard gristle or bone growing â—ast on the inside of the shin-bone of a Horse where a little making stark the sinews compels a Horse somewhat to stumble The cures are divers and thus they be If the Splent be young tender and but new in breeding then cast the Horse and take a spoonful of that Oyl called Petrolium and with that Oyl rub the Splent till you make it soft then take a fleam such as you let a Horse bloud withal and strike the Splent in two or three places then with your two thumbs thrust it hard and you shall see crush't matter and bloud come out which is the very Splent then set him up and let him rest or run at grasse for a week or more Others for a young Splent do thus Take a Hasell stick and cut it square and therewithal beat the Splent till it be soft then take a blew cloth and lay upon the Splent and take a Taylors pressing Iron made hot and rub it up and down upon the cloth over the Splent and it shall take it clean away But if the Splent be old and great and grown to the perfection of hardness then you must cast the Horse and with a sharp knife slit down the Splent then take Cantharides and Euforbium of each like quantity and boyl them in Oyl-de-bay and with that fill up the slit and renew it for three dayes together then take it away and anoint the place with Oyl-de-bay Oyl of Roses or Tar until it be whole Of a Malander A Malander is a kinde of Scab growing in the forme of lines or strokes overthwart the bent of the knee and hath long hairs with stubborn roots like the bristles of a Bore which corrupteth and cankereth the flesh like the roots of a childes scabbed head and if it be great it will make the Horse to go stiffe at the setting forth and also to halt This disease proceedeth some-time of corrupt bloud but most commonly for lack of clean keeping and good rubbing The cure according to Martin is thus First wash it well with warm water then shave both hair and scab clean away leaving nothing but the bare flesh whereunto lay this Plaister Take a spoonful of Sope and as much of Lime mingle them together that it may be like paste and spread as much on a clout as will cover the sore and binde it fast on with a list renewing it every day once the space of two or three dayes and at the three dayes end take away the Plaister and anoint the sore with Oyl of Roses made luke-warm and that shall fetch away the crust-scurfe bred by means of the Plaister which being taken away wash the sore place well every day once with his own stale or else with mans urine and then immediately strow upon it the powder of burnt Oystershels continuing thus to do every day once until it be whole Another of the Malander A Malander is a peevish sorance and cometh of ill keeping it is on the fore-legs just on the inside at the bending of the knee it will make a Horse go stark and stumble much The cure is in this sort Cast the Horse and with some instrument pluck off the dry scab that will stick thereon and rub it till it bleed then take and bind it thereto for three days in which space you shall see a white asker on the sore then take that off and anoint it with Oyl of Roses or fresh Butter until it be throughly cured Of an upper Attains or over-reach upon the back sinew of the shanke somewhat above the joynt THe Italians call this sorance Attincto which is a painful swelling of the master sinew by means that the Horse doth sometimes over reach and strike that sinew with
tacking on the shooes again stop the hoofs with Bran and Hogs grease boyled together and let both his feet having this geer in it be wrapped up in a cloth even to his pasterns and there tie the clout fast Let his diet be thin and let him drink no cold water and give him in Winter wet hay and in Summer grasse Of the dry Spaven THe dry Spaven called of the Italians Spavano or Sparavagno is a great hard knob as big as a Walnut growing in the inside of the hough hard under the joynt nigh unto the master vein and causeth the Horse to halt which sorance cometh by kinde because the Horses Parents perhaps had the like disease at the time of his generation and sometime by extreme labor and heat dissolving humors which do descend through the master vein continually feeding that place with evil nutriment and causeth that place to swell Which swelling in continuance of time becometh so hard as a bone and therefore is called of some the Bone Spaven It needeth no signes or tokens to know it because it is very much apparent to the eye and therefore most Farriers do take it to be incurable Notwithstanding Martin saith that it may be made lesse with these remedies here following Wash it with warm water and shave off the hair so far as the swelling extendeth and scarifie the place so as it may bleed then take of Cantharides one dozen of Euforbium half a spoonful break them into powder and boyl them together with a little Oyl-de-bay and with two or three feathers bound together put it boyling hot upon the sore and let his tail be tyed up for wiping away the medicine and then within half an hour after set him up in the stable and tie him so as he may not lie down all the night for fear of rubbing off the medicine and the next day anoint it with fresh butter continuing thus to do every day once the space of five or six days and when the hair is grown again draw the sore place with a hot Iron then take another hot sharp Iron like a Bodkin somewhat bowing at the point and thrust it in at the neather end of the middle line and so upward betwixt the skin and the flesh to the compasse of an inch and a half And then tent it with a little Turpentine and Hogs grease moulten together and made warm renewing it every day once the space of nine dayes But remember first immediately after his burning to take up the master vein suffering him to bleed a little from above and tie up the upper end of the vein and leave the neather end open to the intent that he may bleed from beneath until it cease it self and that shall diminish the Spaven or else nothing will do it Of the Spaven both bone and bloud DOubtless a Spaven is an evill sorance and causeth a Horse to halt principally in the beginning of his grief it appeareth on the hinder-legs within and against the joynt and it will be a little swoln and some Horses have a thorough Spaven which appeareth both within and without Of the Spaven there are two kindes the one hard and the other soft that is a Bone-Spaven and a Bloud-Spaven for the Bone-Spaven I hold it hard to cure and therefore the lesse necessary to be dealt withal except very great occasion urge and thus it may be holpen Cast the Horse and with a hot Iron slit the flesh that covereth the Spaven and then lay upon the Spaven Cantharides and Euforbium boyled together in Oyl-de-bay and anoint his legs round about either with the Oyl of Roses and with Vnguentum album camphiratum Dresse him thus for three dayes together then afterward take it away and for three dayes more lay unto it only upon flax and unsleck't Lime then afterward dresse it with Tar until it be whole The Cantharides and Euforbium will eat and kill the spungy bone the Lime will bring it clean away and the Tar will suck out the poison and heal all up sound but this cure is dangerous for if the incision be done by an unskilful man and he either by ignorance or by the swarving of his hand burn in twain the great vein that runs crosse the Spaven then the Horse is spoiled Now for the bloud Spaven that is easily helpt for I have known divers which have been but newly beginning helpt only by taking up the Spaven vein and letting it bleed well beneath and then stop the wound with Sage and Salt but if it be a great bloud Spaven then with a sharp knife cut it as you burnt the bone Spaven and take the Spaven away then heal it up with Hogs grease and Turpentine only Of the wet Spaven or through Spaven THis is a soft swelling growing on both sides of the hough and seems to go clean through the hough and therefore may be called a through Spaven But for the most part the swelling is on the inside because it is continually fed of the master vein and is greater then the swelling on the outside The Italians call this sorance Lâ—ierda or Gierdone which seemeth to come of a more fluxible humour and not so viscous or slimy as the other Spaven doth and therefore this waxeth not so hard nor groweth to the nature of a bone as the other doth and this is more curable then the other It needs no signes because it is apparent to the eye and easie to know by the description thereof before made The cure according to Martin is thus First wash shave and scarifie the place as before then take of Cantharides half an ounce of Euforbium an ounce broken to powder and Oyl-de-bay one ounce mingle them well together cold without boyling them and dresse the sore therewith two dayes together and every day after until the hair be grown again anoint it with fresh Butter Then fire him both without and within as before without tenting him and immediately take up the master vein as before and then for the space of nine dayes anoint him every day once with Butter until the fired place begin to scale and then wash it with this bath Take of Mallowes three handfuls of Sage one handful and as much of red Nettles boyl them in water until they be soft and put thereunto a little fresh Butter and bathe the place every day once for the space of three or four dayes and until the burning be whole let the Horse come in no wet Of the Selander THis is a kinde of Scab breeding in the ham which is the bent of the hough and is like in all points to the Malander proceeding of like causes and requireth like cure and therefore resort to the Malander Of the hough bony or hard knob THis is a round swelling bony like a Paris ball growing upon the tip or elbow of the hough and therefore I thought good to call it the hough-bony This sorance cometh of some stripe or bruise and
again upon that continuing so to do every day once until it be hardned and let not the Horse come in any wet until he be whole Of Accloyd or Prickt ACcloyd is a hurt that cometh of shooing when a Smith driveth a nail in the quick which will make him to halt And the cure is to take off the shooe and to cut the hoof away to lay the sore bare then lay to it Wax Turpentine and Deer-sewet which will heal it Of the Fig. IF a Horse having received any hurt as before is said by nail bone splent or stone or otherwise in the sole of his foot and not be well dressed and perfectly cured there will grow in that place a certain superfluous piece of flesh like a Fig and it will have little grains in it like a fig and therefore is rightly called of the Italians Vnfico that is to say a fig. The cure whereof according to Martin is thus Cut it clean away with a hot Iron and keep the flesh down with Turpentine Hogs-greese and a little Wax laid on with Tow or Flax and stop the hole hard that the flesh rise not renewing it once a day until it be whole Of a Retreat THis is the pricking of a nail not well driven in the shooing and therefore pulled out again by the Smith and is called of the Italians Tratta messa The cause of the pricking may be partly the rash driving of the Smith and partly the weakness of the nail or the hollowness of the nail in the shank For if it be too weak the point many times bendeth awry into the quick when it should go right forth It flatteth and shivereth in the driving into two parts whereof one part raleth the quick in pulling out or else perhaps breaketh clean asunder and so remaineth still behinde and this kinde of pricking is worse than the cloying because it will ranckle worse by reason of the flaw of Iron remaining in the flesh The signes be these If the Smith that driveth such a nail be so lewd as he will not look unto it before the Horse depart then there is no way to know it but by the halting of the Horse and searching the hoof first with a hammer by knocking upon every clinging For when you knock upon that nail where the grief is the Horse will shrink up his foot And if that will not serve then pinch or gripe the hoof with a pair of pinsons round about until you have found the place grieved The cure according to Martin is thus First pull off the shooe and then open the place grieved with a Butter or Drawer so as you may perceive by feeling or seeing whether there be any piece of nail or not if there be to pull it out and to stop the hole with Turpentine Wax and Sheeps-sewet molten together and so poured hot into the hole and then lay a little Tow upon it and clap on the shooe again renewing it thus every day until it be whole during which time let not the Horse come in any wet and it must be so stopped though it be but prickt without any piece of nail remaining And if for lack of looking to it in time this retreat cause the hoof to break above then cure it with the Plaister restrictive in such order as is mentioned in the last place saving one before this Of Cloying CLoying is the pricking of a whole nail called of the Italians Inchiodatura passing through the quick and remaining still in the same and is clenched as other nails be and so causeth the Horse to halt The grieved place is known by searching with the hammer and pinsons as is before said If the Horse halt immediately then pull off his shooe and open the hole until it begin to bleed and stop it with the Ointment aforesaid in the same page of the Retreat and clap on the shooe again and the hoof may be so good and the harm so little as you may travel him immediately upon it but if he be ranckled then renew the stopping every day once let him come in no wet until it be whole Of loosening the Hoof. THis is a parting of the hoof from the cronet called of the Italians Dissolatura del unghia which if it be round about it cometh by means of foundering if in part then by the anguish caused by the pricking of the canel nail piercing the sole of the foot or by some Quitter-bone Retreat Gravelling or Cloying or such like thing The signes be these When it is loosened by foundering then it will break first in the fore-part of the Cronet right against the toes because the humor doth covet always to descend towards the toe Again when the pricking of a canel nail or such like cankered thing is the cause then the hoof will loosen round about equally even at the first But when it proceedeth of any of the other hurts last mentioned then the hoof will break right above the place that is offended and most commonly will proceed no further The cure according to Martin is thus First of which soever of these causes it proceeds be sure to open the hoof in the sole of the foot so as the humor may have free passage downward and then restrain it above with the Plaister restrictive before mentioned and in such order as is there written and also heal up the wound as is before taught in the Chapter of a prick in the sole of the foot Of casting the Hoof. THis is when the coffin falleth clean away from the foot which cometh by such causes as were last rehearsed and is so apparent to the eye as it needeth no signes to know it The cure according to Martin is thus Take of Turpentine one pound of Tar half a pinte of unwrought Wax half a pinte Boil all these things together and stir them continually until they be throughly mingled and compact together Then make a Boot of Leather with a good strong sole meet for the Horses feet to be laced or buckled about the pastern and dress his foot with the Salve aforesaid laid upon the Flax or Tow and bolster or stuffe his foot with soft Flax so as the Boot may grieve him no manner of way renewing it every day once until it be whole and then put him to grass Of the Hoof-bound THis is a shrinking of all the whole hoof It cometh by drought for the hoofs perhaps are kept too dry when the Horse standeth in the stable and sometime by means of heat or of over-straight shooing The Italians call the Horse thus grieved Incastellado The signes be these The Horse will halt and the hoofs will be hot and if you knock on them with a hammer they will sound hollow like an empty bottle and if both the feet be not hoof-bound the sore foot will be lesser than the other indeed and appear so to the eye The cure according to Martin is thus Pull off the shooes and shooe him
Gordianus And the reason of this name is not improbably derived from Belba a City of Egypt Pincianus a learned man calleth it Grabâ—hier because it hunteth the Scpulchres of the dead Albertus in stead of Hyaena calleth it Iona. The Arabians call it Kabo and Zabo or Ziba and Azaro I take it also to be the same Beast which is called Lacta and Ana and Zilio because that which is reported of these is true in the Hyaena they frequent graves having sharp teeth and long nails being very fierce living together in herds and flocks and loving their own kinde most tenderly but most pernicious and hateful to all other being very crafty to set upon a fit prey defending it self from the rage of stronger Beasts by their teeth and nails or else by flight or running away Wherefore we having thus expressed the name we will handle the kinds which I finde to be three the first Hyaena the second Papio or Dabuâ— the third Crocuta and Leucrocuta whereunto by conjecture we may add a fourth called Mantichora The Figure of the first HYAENA THis first and vulgar kinde of Hyaena is bred in Africk and Arabia being in quantity of body like a Wolfe but much rougher haired for it hath bristles like a Horses mane all along his back and in the middle of his back it is a little crooked or dented the colour yellowish but bespeckled on the sides with blew spots which make him look more terrible as if it had so many eyes The eyes change their colour at the pleasure of the beast a thousand times a day for which cause many ignorant writers have affirmed the same of the whole body yet can he not see one quarter so perfectly in the day as in the night and therefore he is called Lupus vespertinus a Wolf of the night The skilful Lapidarists of Germany affirm that this beast hath a stone in his eyes or rather in his head called Hyaena or Hyaenâ—us but the Ancients say that the apple or puple of the eye is turned into such a stone and that it is indued with this admirable quality that if a man lay it under his tongue he shall be able to foretel and prophesie of things to come the truth hereof I leave to the reporters Their back-bone stretcheth it self out to the head so as the neck cannot bend except the whole body be turned about and therefore whensoever he hath occasion to wry his neck he must supply that quality by removing of his whole body This Beast hath a very great heart as all other Beasts have which are hurtful by reason of their fear The genital member is like a Dogs or Wolfs and I marvail upon what occasion the writers have been so possessed with opinion that they change sexes and are some-time male and another female that is to say male one year and female another according to these Verses Si tamen est aliquid mirae novitatis in istis Alternate vices quae modo foemina tergo Passa marem est nunc esse marem miremur Hyaenam Both kindes have under their tails a double note or passage in the male there is a scissure like the secrets of a female and in the female a bunch like the stones of the male but neither one nor other inward but only outward and except this hath given cause of this opinion I cannot learn the ground thereof only Orus writeth that there is a Fish of this name which turneth sex and peradventure some men hearing so much of the Fish might mistake it more easily for the four footed Beast and apply it thereunto These engender not only among themselves but also with Dogs Lions Tygers and Wolves for the Ethiopian Lion being covered with an Hyaena beareth the Crocuta The Thoes of whom we shall speak more afterward are generated betwixt this Beast and a Wolf and indeed it is not without reason that God himself in holy Scripture calleth it by the name of a Vesperti 〈…〉 Wolfe seeing it resembleth a Wolf in the quantity colour in voracity and gluttoning in of flesh in subtilty to overcome Dogs and Men even as a Wolf doth silly Sheep Their teeth are in both Beasts like sawes their genitals alike and both of them being hungry range and prey in the night season This is accounted a most subtill and crafty beast according to the allusive saying of Mantuan Est in â—iâ— Pietas Crocodili asturia Hyaenâ— And the female is far more subtill then the male and therefore more seldom taken for they are afraid of their own company It was constantly affirmed that among eleven Hyaenaes there was found but one female it hath been believed in ancient time that there is in this beast a Magical or enchanting power for they write that about what creature so ever he goeth round three times it shall stand stone-still and not be able to move out of the place and if Dogs do but come within the compasse of their shadow and touch it they presently lose their voice and that this she doth most naturally in the full moon for although the swiftness or other opportunity of the Dogs helpeth them to flie away from her yet if she can but cast her shadow upon them she easily obtaineth her prey She can also counterfeit a mans voice vomit cough and whistle by which means in the night time she cometh to Houses or folds where Dogs are lodged and so making as though she vomited or else whistling draweth the Dogs out of doors to her and devoureth them Likewise her nature is if she finde a Man or a Dog on sleep she considereth whether she or he have the greater body if she then she falleth on him and either with her weight or some secret work of nature by stretching her body upon him killeth him or maketh him senselesse whereby without resistance she eateth off his hands but if she finde her body to be shorter and lesser then his then she taketh her heels and flyeth away If a Man meet with this Beast he must not set upon it on the right hand but on the left for it hath been often seen that when in haste it did run by the Hunter on the right hand he presently fell off from his Horse senseless and therefore they that secure themselves from this beast must be careful to receive him on the left side that so he may with more facility be taken especially saith Pliny if the cords wherein he is to be ensnared be fastened with seven knots Aelianus reporteth of them that one of these coming to a Man asleep in a Sheep-cot by laying her left hand or fore-foot to his mouth made or cast him into a deed-sleep and afterward digged about him such a hole like a grave as she covered all his body over with earth except his throat and head whereupon she sat untill she suffocated and stifled him yet Philes
parts like a fish and his fore-part like a Goat according to these verses Tum gelidum valido de pectore frigus anhelans Corpore semifero magno capricornus in or be Wherefore by the signes Cancer and Capricornus the Ancients were wâ—nt to understand the descending and ascending of the soul that is to say by the Cancer or Crab which goeth backward the souls descent by Capricorst because the Goat climbeth the souls ascent and therefore they place it in the Zoduck where the Sun after the short days beginneth to ascend for no other cause then for that which I have rehearsed The Epithers that are given unto this Capricorn do also belong unto the Ibex such as are these moist cold swift horn-beaâ—er watery snowy wool-bearer tough bristly cared horrible fierce tropick frowning showring threatning black and such like To return therefore unto the Ibex although I do not dislike the opinion of them which take it to be a wilde Goat yet I have reserved it into this place because of many eminent differences as may appear by the story First these are bred in the Alpes and are of an admirable celerity although their heads be loaded with such horns as no other Beasts of their stature beareth For I do read in Eusiathius that their horns are sixteen palms long of five spans and one palm and sometimes â—eaven spans such was the horn consecrated at Delos being two cubits and a span long and six and twenty pounds in weight This Beast saith Polybius in his neck and hair is like a Buck-goat bearing a beard under his chin of a span long as thick as a Colts tail and in other parts of his body resembleth a Hart. These Beasts inhabit and keep their abode in the tops of those Mountains where the ice never thaweth or dissolveth for it loveth cold by nature otherwise it would be blinde for cold is agreeable to the eye sight and beauty It is a noble Beast and very fat In the small head and lean legs it resembleth a Hart the eyes are very fair and bright the colour yellowish his hoof cloven and sharp like wilde Goats It far excelleth a wilde Goat in leaping for no man will believe how far off or what long space it will leap except he saw it For there is no place so steep or cragged that if it afford him but so much space as his foot may stand on but he will pass over it with a very few jumps or leaps The Hunters drive them to the smooth and high Rocks and there they by enclosing them take them in ropes or toils if they cannot come near them with shot or swords When the Beast seeth his hunter which descendeth to him by some Rock he observeth very diligently and watcheth if he can see any distance or space betwixt him and the Rock yea but so much as his eye-sight can pierce through and if he can then he leapeth up and getteth betwixt the Hunter and the Rock and so casteth him down head-long and if he can espy no distance at all then doth he keep his standing until he be killed in that place The hunting of this Beast were very pleasant but that it is encumbred with much labour and many perils and therefore in these days they kill them with guns The Inhabitants of Valuis neer the River Sedunus take them in their infancy when they are young and tame them and until they be old they are contented to go and come with the tame Goats to pastune but in their older and 〈◊〉 age they return to their former wilde nature Aristotle affirmeth that they couple or engender together not by leaping upon each other but standing upright upon their hinder legs whereunto I cannot consent because the joynts and nerves of their hinder-legs will not be stretched to such a copulation and it may be that he or his relator had seen them playing together as Goats do standing upright and so took that gesture in their pastime for carnal copulation The female hath lost 〈◊〉 then the male but a greater body and her 〈◊〉 are very like to a wilde Goats When this Beast feeleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of her death and perceived in that her end by some wound or course of nature approacheth and is at hand it is reported by the Hunters that the ascendeth to the top of some Mountain or high Rock and there fasteneth one of her horns in the same sleep place going round continually and never standing still until she have worn that horn asunder whereby she stayeth her self and so at length at the instant or point of death breaking her horn falleth down and perisheth And because they the among the Rocks it falleth out seldom that their bodies are found but many times when the Snow falleth from the Mountains in great and huge masses it meeteth wish a living 〈◊〉 and other wilde Beasts and to oppressing them 〈…〉 veth them down to the foot of the Hils or Mountains as it doth trees and small houses which are built upon the sides of them In Creet they make bows of the horns of these Beasts And concerning their taking it is not to be forgotten how the Hunter which persueth her from one rock to another is forced many times for the safegard of his own life to forsake his standing and to observe the Beast when it maketh force at him and to rid himself from danger of death by leaping upon his back and taking fast hold on his horns whereby he escapeth In the house of Pompey where the memorable Forrest of Gordianus was painted there were among other Beasts two hundred Ibices which Pompey gave unto the people at the day of his triumph for to make spoil thereof at their own pleasure The M 〈…〉 es of the Ibex Some do commend the bloud of the Ibex to be a very good remedy against the stone of the bladder being used in this manner First they divide it in parte and put one part of the bloud and about some six parts of Wine Apiat and Hony mixed together and do 〈…〉 them both together luke-warm and afterwards they reserve it in a clean vessel and the third day in the morning they give it unto the party to drink who is grieved and then they put him into a Bath about noon time and in the evening and this order is to be obse 〈…〉 for three days together for it will come to pass that in that space the Stone will be dissolved and turned into sand gravel and so by that means will have vent together with the urine There is also by the dung of the aforesaid Beast an excellent remedy against the Sciatica or Hip-gout by which that most excellent Physitian Ausonius himself was healed and many other lying desperate of remedy which is this to gather the dung of this Beast in the seventeenth day of the Moon neither is it any great matter whether you gather it in some part
he came to it he found it a sleep so that with no perill he might have killed her with his Musket before she saw him but he like a fool-hardy fellow thought it as little honour to kill a Lyon sleeping as a stout Champion doth to strike his enemy behind the back Therefore with his Musket top he smote the Lion to awake it whereat the beast suddenly mounted up and without any thankes or warning set his forefeet on this Squires brest and with the force of her body overthrew the Champion and so stood upon him keeping him down holding her grim face and bloudy teeth over his face and eyes a sight no doubt that made him wish himself a thousand miles from her because to all likelihood they should be the grinders of his flesh and bones and his first executioner to send his cursed soul to the Devill for denying Jesus Christ his Saviour Yet it fell out otherwise for the Lion having been lately filled with some liberal prey did not presently fall to eat him but stood upon him for her own safegard and meant so to stand till she was an hungry during which time the poor wretch had liberty to gather his wits together and so at the last seeing he could have no benefit by his Musket Sword or Dagger and perceiving nothing before him but unavoidable death thought for the saving of his credit that he might not die in foolish infamy to do some exploit upon the Lion whatsoever did betide him and thereupon seeing the Lion did bestride him standing over his upper parts his hands being at some liberty drew out his long Barbarian knife and thrust the same twice or thrice into the Lions flank which the Lion endured never hurting the man but supposing the wounds came some other way and would not forsake her booty to look about for the means whereby she was harmed At last finding her self sick her bowels being cut asunder within her for in all hot bodies wounds work presently she departed away from the man above some two yards distance and there lay down and dyed The wretch being thus delivered from the jawes of death you must think made no small brags thereof in the Court notwithstanding he was more beholding to the good nature of the Lion which doth not kill to eat except he be hungry then to his own wit strength or valour The Male Lion doth not feed with the female but either of them apart by themselves They eat raw flesh for which cause the Grecians call them Omesteres Omoboroi and Omophagoi the young ones themselves cannot long be fed with milke because they are hot and dry being at liberty they never want meat and yet they eat nothing but that which they take in hunting and they hunt not but once a day at the most and eat every second day whatsoever they leave of their meat they return not to it again to eat it afterwards whereof some assigned the cause to be in the meat because they can endure nothng which is unsweet stale or stinking but in my opinion they do it through the pride of their natures resembling in all things a Princely majesty and therefore scorn to have one dish twice presented to their own table But tame Lions being constrained through hunger will eat dead bodies and also cakes made of meal and hony as may appear by that tame Lion which came to Apollonius and was said to have the soul in it of Amasis King of Egypt which story is related by Philostratus in this manner There was saith he a certain man which in a leam led up and down a tame Lion like a Dog whithersoever he would and the Lion was not only gentle to his leader but to all other persors that met him by which means the man got much gains and therefore visited many Regions and Cities not sparing to enter into the temples at the time of sacrificing because he had never shed bloud but was clear from slaughter neither licked up the bloud of the Beasts nor once touched the flesh cut in pieces for the holy Altar but did eat upon Cakes made with meal and hony also bread Gourds and sod flesh and now and then at customary times did drink wine As Apollonius sat in a Temple he came unto him in more humble manner lying down at his feet and looking up into his face then ever he did to any as if he had some special supplication unto him and the people thought he did it for hope of some reward at the command and for the gain of his Master At last Apollonius looked upon the Lion and told the people that the Lion did entreat him to signifie unto them what he was and wherewithal he was possessed namely that he had in him the soul of a man that is to say of Amasis King of Egypt who raigned in the Province of Sai At which words the Lion sighed deeply and mourned forth a lamentable roaring gnashing his teeth together and crying with abundance of tears whereat Apollonius stroked the Beast and made much of him telling the people that his opinion was forasmuch as the soul of a King had entred into such a kingly Beast he judged it altogether unfit that the Beast should go about and beg his living and therefore they should do well to send him to Leontopolis there to be nourished in the Temple The Egyptians agreed thereunto and made sacrifice to Amasis adorning the Beast with Chains Bracelets and branches so sending him to the inner Egypt the Priests singing before him all the way their idolatrous Hymnes and Anthems but of the transfiguration of men into Lions we shall say more afterward only this story I rehearsed in this place to shew the food of tame and enclosed Lions The substance of such transfigurations I hold to be either Poetical or else Diabolical The food therefore of Lions is most commonly of meek and gentle Beasts for they will not eat Wolves or Bears or such Beasts as live upon ravening because they beget in them melancholy they eat their meat very greedily and devour many things whole without chewing but then they fast afterwards two or three days together never eating untill the former be digested but when they fast that day they drink and the next day they eat for they seldom eat and drink both in one day and if any stick in his stomach which he cannot digest because it is overcharged then doth he thrust down his nails into his throat and by straining his stomach pulleth it out again the self same thing he doth when he is hunted upon a full belly And also it must not be forgotten that although he come not twice to one carcasse yet having eaten his belly full at his departure by a wilful breathing upon the residue he so corrupteth it that never after any beast will taste thereof for so great is the poison of his breath that it putrifieth the flesh and also in
Persia a female Mouse being slit asunder alive all the young females within her belly are also found pregnant conceived with young It is very certain that for the time they go with young and for the number they bring forth they exceed all other beasts conceiving every fourteen or sixteen days so that it hath been found by good experience that a female Mouse having free liberty to litter in a vessel of millet-seed within less compass then half a year she hath brought forth one hundred and twenty young ones They live very long if they be not prevented of their natural course and dying naturally they perish not all at once but by little and little first one member and then another Pliny saith Evolucirbus hirundines sunt indociles 〈…〉 terrestribus Mures among the Fowls of the air the Swallows are undocible and among the creatures of the earth a Mouse Athertus writeth that he saw in upper Germany a Mouse hold a burning Candle in her feet at the commandment of her Master all the time his guests were at Supper Now the only cause why they grow not tame is their natural fear such as is in Conies Hares and Deer For how can any man or beast love or hearken unto him who they are perswaded lyeth in wait for their life and such is the perswasion of all them that fear which perswasion being once removed by continual familiarity there is no cause in nature but that a Mouse may be docible as well as a Hare or Cony which we have shewed heretofore in their stories It is also very certain that Mice which live in a House if they perceive by the age of it it be ready to fall down or subject to any other ruin they foreknow it and depart out of it as may appear by this notable story which happened in a Town called Helice in Greece wherein the Inhabitants committed this abominable act against their neighbours the Greeks For they slew them and sacrificed them upon their Altars Whereupon followed the ruine of the City which was premonstrated by this prodigious event For five days before the destruction thereof all the Mice Weesils and Serpents and other reptile creatures went out of the same in the presence of the Inhabitants every one assembling to his own rank and company whereat the people wondered much for they could not conceive any true cause of their departure and no marvail For God which had appointed to to take vengeance on them for their wickedness did not give them so much knowledge nor make them so wise as the beasts to avoid his judgement and their own destruction and therefore mark what followed For these beasts were no sooner out of the City but suddenly in the night time came such a lamentable Earth-quake and strong tempest that all the houses did not only fall down and not one of them stood upright to the slaughter of men women and children contained in them but lest any of them should escape the strokes of the timber and house tops God sent also such a great floud of waters by reason of the tempestuous winde which drove the waters out of the Sea upon the Town that swept them all away leaving no more behinde then naked and bare significations of former buildings And not only the City and Citizens perished but also there was ten ships of the Lacedemonians in their port all drowned at that instant The wisdom of the Mouse appeareth in the preparation of her house for considering she hath many enemies and therefore many means to be hunted from place to place she committeth not her self to one lodging alone but provideth many holes so that when she is hunted in one place she may more safely repose her self in another Which thing Plautus expresseth in these words Sed tamen cogitato Mus pusillus quam sapiens sit bestia aetatem qui uni cubili nunquam committit suam cum unum obsidetur aliunde perfugium quaerit that is to say it is good to consider the little Mouse how wise a beast she is for she will not commit her life to one lodging but provideth many harbors that being molested in one place she may have another refuge to flie unto And as their wisdom is admirable in this provision so also is their love to be commended one to another for falling into a vessel of water or other deep thing out of which they cannot ascend again of themselves they help one another by letting down their tails and if their tails be too short then they lengthen them by this means they take one anothers tail in their mouth and so hang two or three in length until the Mouse which was fallen down take hold on the neathermost which being performed they all of them draw her out Even so Wolves holding one another by their tails do swim over great Rivers and thus hath nature granted that to them which is denyed to many men namely to love and to be wise together But concerning their manners they are evil apt to steal insidious and deceitful and men also which are of the same disposition with these beasts fearing to do any thing publickly and yet privately enterprise many deceits are justly reproved in imitation of such beasts For this cause was it forbidden in Gods Law unto the Jews not only to eat but to touch Mice and the Prophet Esai ch 66. saith Comedentes carnem suillam abominationem atque murem simul consumentur inquit Dominus that is they which eat Swines flesh abomination and the Mouse shall be destroyed together saith the Lord wherein the Prophet threatneth a curse unto the people that broke the first Law of God in eating flesh forbidden and the Physitians also say that the eating of the flesh of Mice engendereth forgetfulness abomination and corruption in the stomach The eating of bread or other meat which is bitten by Mice doth encrease in men and children a certain disease in their face and in the flesh at the roots of the nails of their fingers certain hard bunches called by the Venetians Spelli and by the Germans Leidspyssen and by the Latines Dentes Muris yet it is affirmed that the flesh of Mice is good for Hawks to by given them every day or every each other day together with the skin for it helpeth their intrails purgeth fleam and choler restraineth the fluxions of the belly driveth out stones and gravel stayeth the distillation of the head to the eyes and finally corroborateth the stomach Yet we have heard that in the Kingdom of Calecut they do eat Mice and Fishes roasted in the Sun And it is said by some Physitians and Magicians that the flesh is good against melancholy and the pain of the teeth but the medicinal vertues we reserve it to its proper place Pliny affirmeth a strange wonder worthy to be remembred and recorded that when Hannibal besieged Casselinum there was a
translated yet herein I refer it to the learned Reader It is certain that it is of the kinde of wilde Goats by the description of it differing in nothing but this that the hair groweth averse not like other Beasts falling backward to his hinder parts but forward toward his head and so also it is affirmed of the Aethiopian Bull which some say is the Rhinocerot They are bred both in Lybia and Egypt and either of both Countries yeeldeth testimony of their rare and proper qualities In quantity it resembleth a Roe having a beard under his chin His colour white or pale like milk his mouth black and some spots upon his cheeks his back-bone reaching to his head being double broad and fat his horns standing upright black and so sharp that they cannot be blunted against brass or iron but pierce through it readily Aristotle and Pliny were of opinion that this Beast was Bisulcus and Vnicornis that is cloven-footed and with one horn The original of their opinion came from the wilde-one-horned-goat whereof Schnebergerus a late Writer writeth thus Certum est minineque dubium in Carpathomonte versus Russian Transylvaniamque reperiri feras similes omnino rupicapris excepto quod unicum cornu ex 〈◊〉 fronte enascitur nigrum dorso inflexum simile omnino rupicaprarum cornibus that is to say It is without all controversie that there are wilde Beasts in the Mountain Carpathus towards Russia and Tranâ—ylvania very like to wilde Goats except that they have but one horn growing out of the middle of their heads which is black and bending backward like the horns of wilde Goats But the true Oryx is described before out of Oppianus and it differeth from that of Pliny both in stature and horns Aelianus saith that the Oryx hath four horns but he speaketh of the Indian Oryx whereof there are some yearly presented to their King and it may be both there and elsewhere diversity of regions do breed diversity of stature colour hair and horns Simeon Sethi affirmeth of the Musk-cat that it hath one horn and it is not unlikely that he hath seen such an one and that the Oryx may be of that kinde But concerning their horns it is related by Herodotus Pollux and Laur. Valla that there were made instruments of musick out of them such as are Citherns or Lutes upon whose bellies the Musitians played their Musick by striking them with their hands and that those Beasts were as great as Oxen and all this may be true notwithstanding we have shewed already that they are as big as Roes for Pliny speaking that by relation or by sight it is likely that he had seen a young one There be also Sea-beasts called Oryges and Orcae and there is in Egypt an Oryx which at the rising of Ganis Syrius or the little Dog is perpetually sorrowful and this cause the Lybians to mock the Egyptians for that they fable the same day that the little Dog-star riseth their Oryx speaketh But on the contrary themselves acknowledge that as often as the said Star ariseth with the Sun all their Goats turn to the East and look upon it and this observation of the Goats is as certain as any rule of the Astronomers The Lybians affirm more that that they do presage great store of rain and change of weather The Egyptians also say that when the Moon cometh near to the East they look very intentively upon her as upon their soveraign Goddess and make a great noise and yet they say they do it not for her love but for her hate which appeareth by knocking their legs against the ground and fastening their eyes upon the earth like them which are angry at the Moons appearance And the self same thing they do at the rising of the Sun For which cause the ancient Kings had an observer or one to tell them the time of the day sitting upon one of these Beasts whereby very accurately they perceived the Sun rising and this they did by turning their tail against it and emptying their bellies for which cause by an Oryx the Egyptians discipher an impure or godless wretch for seeing that all creatures are nourished by the Sun and Moon and therefore ought to rejoyce at their appearing only this filthy wretch disdaineth and scorneth them The reason why they rejoyce at the little Dog-star is because their bodies do perceive an evident alteration of the time of the year that cold weather and rain are over-passed and that the vapors of the warm Sun are now descending upon the earth to clothe it with all manner of green and pleasant herbs and flowers There is another kinde of Oryx which according to Columella was wont to be impaled among Deer and Harts the flesh whereof was eaten and used for the commodity of his Master This was impatient of cold It grew till it was four years old and afterwards through age decreased and lost all natural vigor But to return to the Oryx intended from which we have digressed their horns whereof we late spake are not only strong and sharp like the horn of the Unicorn and the Rhinocerot but also solid and not hollow like the horns of Harts The courage and inward disposition of this Beast is both fearful cruel and valiant I mean fearful to Men and Beasts but fearless in it self For saith my Author Neque enim Canis latratum timel neque apri effervescentem seritatem neque tauri mugitum refugii neque Pantherarum tristem vocem neque ipsius Leonis vehementem rugitum horret neque item hominuni robore movetur ac saepe robustum venatorem occidit That is to say He feareth not the barking of the Dog nor the foaming wrath of the wilde Boar he flyeth not the terrible voyce of the Bull nor yet the mournful cry of the Panthers no nor the vehement roaring of the Lion himself and to conclude he is not moved for all the strength of man but many times killeth the valiantest hunter that pursueth him When he seeth a Boar a Lion or a Bear presently he bendeth his horns down to the earth whereby he conformeth and establisheth his head to receive the brunt standing in that manner until the assault be made at which time he easily killeth his adversary for by bending down his head and setting his horns to receive the Beast he behaveth himself as skilfully as the Hunter that receiveth a Lion upon his spear For his horns do easily run into the breasts of any wilde Beast and so piercing them causeth the bloud to issue whereat the Beast being moved forgetteth his combate and falleth to licking up his own bloud and so he is easily overthrown When the fight is once begun there is none of both that may run away but standeth it out until one or both of them be slain to the ground and so their dead bodies are found by wilde and savage men They fight with all and kill one another also they are annoyed with Linces I
Cheese and we have shewed already that in some places as in the Island Erythrea the milk of Sheep yeeldeth no whay and that they can make no Cheese thereof but by mingling abundance of water with it they make abundance of Cheese in the Aâ—ennine hils and in Lyguria the Cheese of Siellia is made of Goats and Sheeps milk and generally Cheese made of Sheeps milk is the better the more new it is The nature of a Sheep is to give milk eight moneths together and in Italy they make Butter also of the milk of Sheep all the Summer time unto the feast of St. Michael they milk them twice a day but after that untill they cupple with their Rams they milk them but once a day the faults of Cheeses made of their milk is either because they are over dry or hollow and full of eyes and hoâ—â—s or else clammy like birdlime the last proceedeth from the want of pressing the second through overmuch â—alâ— and the third by overmuch drying in the Sun And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of those things in Sheep which are fit to be eaten In the next place we come to discourse of their Wool and of the shearing or clipping of Sheep for although their flesh be pretious yet it is not comparable in value to their fleeces for that when they are once dead they yeeld no more profit but while they live they are shorn once or twice a year for in Egypt they are shorn twice a year and also in some parts of Spain And it appeareth that in antient times there were great feasts at their Sheep shearings as is apparent in the holy Scripture in many places and especially by the history of Abâ—alon who after he had once conceived malice against his Brother Amnon he found no opportunity to execute the same untill his Sheep-shearing feast at which time in the presence of all his brethren the Kings sons even at dinner when no man suspected harm then did Absalon give a sign to his wicked servants to take away his life which they performed according to their Masters malice It appeareth by the words of Pliny who writeth thus Oves non ubique tondentur durat quibusdam in locis vellendi mos qui etiam nunc vellunt ante triduo jejunas habent quo languidae minus radices lanae retinent that is Sheep are not every where shorn for yet unto this time in many places they do commonly observe the old custom of pulling the wool off from the Sheeps back and they which do now pull the wool and not shear it do alwayes cause their Sheep to fast three days before that so being made weak the roots of the wool may not stick so fast but come off more easily And indeed I am confirmed in this opinion by the Latine word Vellus which signifleth a fleece which can be derived from no other Radix or Theam nor admit any other manner or kinde of notation then a vellendo that is from pulling Cato also in his Book of Originals writeth thus Palatini collis Romae altera pars Velleia-appellata fuit a vellenda lana ante Hetruscam tonsuram incolis monstratam that is to say There was one part of the hill Palatine at Rome which was called Velleia from the pulling of wool for it was their custom there to pull their wool before the inhabitants learned the Hetyâ—â—ian manner of shearing Sheep by which testimony we see evidently the great torment that the poor Sheep were put unto when they lost their fleeces before the invention of shearing for it is certain by the antient pictures and statues of Men that there was no use of shearing either hair or wool from Men or Sheep But the hair of Men grew rude and in length like Womens and Sheep never lost their fleeces but by pulling off and therefore Varro writeth that four hundred and fifty years after the building of Rome there was no Barber or Sheep-shearer in all Italy and that Publius Ticinius Menas was the first that ever brought in that custom among the Romans for which there was a monument erected in writing in the publick place at Ardea which untill his time was there sincerely preserved Now concerning the times and seasons of the year for the shearing of Sheep it is not only hard but also an impossible thing to set down any general rule to hold in all places The best that ever I read is that of Didymus nec frigido adhuc nec jam aestivo tempore sed medio vere Oves tondendae sunt That is Sheep must neither be shorn in extreme cold weather nor yet in the extreme heat of Summer but in the middle of the Spring In some hot Countries they shear their Sheep in April in temperate Countries they shear them in May but in the cold Countries in June and July and generally the best time is betwixt the Vernal Equinoctium and the Summers solstice that is before the longest day and after the days and nights be of equall length there be some that shear their Sheep twice in a year not for any necessity to disburden the beast of the fleece but for opinion that the often shearing causeth the finer wool to arise even as the often mowing of the grasse maketh it the sweeter In the hot Countries the same day that they shear their Sheep they also anoint them over with Oyl the lees of old wine and the water wherein Hops are fod and if they be near the Sea side three days after they drench them over head and ears in water but if they be not near the Sea side then they wash them with rain water sod with Salt and hereby there cometh a double profit to the Sheep First for that it will kill in them all the cause of scabs for that year so as they shall live safe from that infection and secondly the Sheep do thereby grow to bear the longer and the softer wool Some do shear them within doors and some in the open sun abroad and then they chuse the hottest and the calmest days and these are the things or the necessary observations which I can learn out of the writings of the antients about the shearing of Sheep Now concerning the manner of our English Nation and the customs observed by us about this businesse although it be needlesse for me to expresse yet I cannot contain my self from relating the same considering that we differ from other Nations First therefore the common time whereat we shear Sheep is in June and Lambs in July and first of all we wash our Sheep clean in running sweet waters afterward letting them dry for a day or two for by such washing all the wool is made the better and cleaner then after two days we shear them taking heed to their flesh that it be no manner of way clipped with the sheares but if it be then doth the shearer put upon it liquid pitch commonly called Tar whereby
Egypt there was a Lamb that spake with a mans voice upon the Crown of his head was a regal Serpent having Wings which was four cubits long and this Lamb spake of divers future events The like is said of another Lamb that spake with a mans voice at what time Romulus and R 〈…〉 were born and from these miraculous events came that common proverb and so for this story I will conclude with the verse of Valerius Aspera nunc pavidos contra ruit agna leones There is in M 〈…〉 neer Volga a certain Beast of the quantity and form of a little Lamb the people call it Bâ—ranz and it is reported by Sigismumdus in his description of Moscovia that it is generated out of the earth like a reptile creature without seed with dam without copulation thus liveth a little while and never stirreth far from the place it is bred in I mean it is not able to move it self but eateth up all the grasse and green things that it can reach and when it can finde no more then it dyeth Of the MUSMON I Have thought good to reserve this Beast to this place for that it is a kinde of Sheep and therefore of natural right and linage to this story for it is not unlike a Sheep except in the wool which may rather seem to be the hair of a Goat and this is the same which the antients did call Vmbricae oves Vmbrian Sheep for that howsoever it differeth from Sheep yet in simplicity and other inward gifts it cometh nearer to the Sheep Strabo calleth it Musmo yet the Latins call it Mussimon This beast by Cato is called an Asse and sometimes a Ram and sometimes a Musmon The picture which here we have expressed is taken from the sight of the Beast at Caen in Normandy and was afterwards figured by Theodorus Beza Munster in his description of Sardinia remembreth this beast but he saith that it is speckled whereat I do not much wonder seeing that he confesseth that he hath all that he wrote thereof by the Narration of others Some say it is a Horse or a Mule of which race there are two kinds in Spain called by the Latins Asturcones for they are very small but I do not wonder thereat seeing that those little Horses or Mules are called Musimones because they are brought out of those Countries where the true Musmones which we may interpret wilde Sheep or wilde Goats are bred and nourished There are of these Musmons in Sardinia Spain and Corsica and they are said to be gotten betwixt a Ram and a Goat as the Cinirus betwixt a Buck-goat and an Ewe The form of this Beast is much like a Ram saving that his brest is more rough and hairy his horns do grow from his head like vulgar Rams but bend backward only to his ears they are exceeding swift of foot so as in their celerity they are comparable to the swiftest Beast The people of those Countries wherein they are bred do use their skins for breastplates Pliny maketh mention of a Beast which he called Ophion and he saith he found the remembrance of it in the Grecian books but he thinketh that in his time there was none of them to be found in the world herein he speaketh like a man that did not know GOD for it is not to be thought that he which created so many kinds of beasts at the beginning and conserved of every kinde two male and female at the generall deluge would not afterward permit them to be destroyed till the worlds end nor then neither for seeing it is apparent by holy Scriptures that after the world ended all creatures and beasts shall remain upon the earth as the monuments of the first six days works of Almighty God for the farther manifestation of his glory wisdom and goodness it is an unreasonable thing to imagine that any of them shall perish in general in this world The Taâ—dinians call these beasts Muffla and Erim Mufflo which may easily be derived from Ophion therefore I cannot but consent unto them that the antient Ophion is the Musmon being in quantity betwixt a Hart and a Sheep or Goat in hair resembling a Hart and this Beast at this day is not found but in Sardinia It frequenteth the steepest mountains and therefore liveth on green grasse and such other hearbs The flesh thereof is very good for meat and for that cause the inhabitants seek after it to take it Hector Boethius in his description of the Hebridian Islands saith that there is a Beast not much unlike to Sheep but his hair betwixt a Goats and a Sheeps being very wilde and never found or taken but by hunting and diligent inquisition The name of the Islands is Hiethae and the reason of that name is from his breed of Sheep called Hierth in the Vulgar tongue yet those Sheep agree with the Musmon in all things but their tails for he saith that they have long tails reaching down to the ground and this name cometh from the German word Herd a flock and thereof â—irt cometh for all Sheep in general Now followeth the conclusion of their story with their medicinal virtues The medicines of the Sheep in general The bodies of such as are beaten and have upon them the appearance of the stripes being put into the warm skins of Sheep when they are newly puld off from their backs eateth away the outward pain and appearance if it continue on a day and a night If you seethe together a good season the skin of the feet and of the snowt of an Ox or a Sheep till they be made like glew and then taken forth of the pot and dryed in the windy air is by Silvius commended against the burstness of the belly The bloud of Sheep drunk is profitable against the falling sickness Also Hippocrates prescribeth this medicine following for a remedy or purgation to the belly first make a perfume of Barly steeped in oyl upon some coles and then seethe some Mutton or Sheeps flesh very much and with decoction of Barley set it abroad all day and night and afterward seethe it again and eat or sup it up warm and then the next day with Hony Frankincense and Parsely all beaten and mingled together make a Suppository and with wool put it up under the party and it shall ease the distress The same flesh burned and mixed in water by washing cureth all the maladies or diseases arising in the secrets and the broth of Mutton Goose or Veal will help against the poison by biting if it be not drawn out by cupping glasse nor by horse-leach The sewet of a Sheep melted at the fire and with a linnen cloth anointed upon a burned place doth greatly ease the pain thereof The Liver with the sewet and Nitro causeth the scars of the flesh to become of the same colour that it was before the wound it being mixed with toasted Salt scattereth the bunches in the flesh and with
severall meats and whole Beasts as Lambs Birds Capons and such like to serve the appetites of the most strange belly-gods and Architects of gluttony and therefore Cincius in his oration wherein he perswaded the Senators and people to the law Fannia reproveth this immoderate riot in banquets In apponendo mensis porcum Trojanum and indeed it wanted not effect for they forbad both Porcum Trojanum and Callum Aprugnum There was another Raven-monster-dish called Pinax wherein were included many Beasts Fowles Egges and other things which were distributed whole to the guests and no marvell for this Beast was as great as a Hog and yet gilded over with silver And Hippolocus in his Epistle to Lynceus speaking of the banquet of Caramis saith thus Allatus est nobis etiam porcus dimidia parte diligenter assus sive tostus dimidia altera parte tanquam ex aqua molliter elixus mira etiam coqui industria ita paratus ut qua parte jugulatus esset quomodo variis deliciis refertus ejus vener non appareat There was brought to us a Hog whereof the one half was well roasted and the other half or side well sod and this was so industriously prepared by the Cook that it did not appear where the Hog was slain or received his deadly wound nor yet how his belly came to be stuffed with divers and sundry excellent and delicate things The Romans had a fashion to divide and distribute a Hog which appeareth in these Verses of Martial Iste tibi faciet bona Saturnalia porcus Inter spumantes ilice pastus apros And of the eating of a sucking Pig Martial also writeth in this manner Lacte mero pastum pigrae mihi matris alumnum Ponat Aetolo de sue dives edat I might add many other things concerning the eating and dressing of Swines flesh both young and old but I will passe it over leaving that learning to every Cook and Kitchin-boy Concerning Bacon that which is cald by the Latins Perna I might add many things neither improper nor impertinent and I cannot tell whether it should be a fault to omit it in this place The word Perna after Varro seemeth to be derived from Pede but in my opinion it is more consonant to reason that it is derived from the Greek word Pterna which is the ribs and hips of the Hog hanged up and salted called by Martial Petaso and by Plautus Ophthalmia Horaeum Scombrum and Laridunn Quanta pecus pestis veniet quanta labes larido The time of the making of Bacon is in the Winter season and all the cold weather and of this Martial writeth very much in one place Musteus est propera charos ne differ amicos Nam mihi cum vetulo sit petasone nihil And again Et pulpam dubio de petasone voras Cretana mihi fiet vel massa licebit De menapis lauti de petasone vorant Strabo in his time commended the Bacon of the Gaules or of France affirming that it was not inferiour to the Asian or Lycian an old City of Spain called Pompelon neer Aquitania was also famous for Bacon They first of all killed their hogs and then burned or scalded off all their hair and after a little season did slit them assunder in the middle laying them upon salt in some tub or deep trough and there covering them all over with salt with the skin uppermost and so heap flitch upon flitch till all be salted and then againe they often turned the same that every part and side might receive his season that is after five daies laying them undermost which were uppermost and those uppermost which were undermost Then after twelve days salting they took all out of the tub or trough rubbing off from it all the salt and so hanged it up two days in the winde and the third day they all to anoint it with oyl and did hang it up two days more in the smoak and afterward take it down again and hang it or lay it up in the larder where all the meat is preserved still looking warily unto it to preserve it from Mice and Wormes And thus much shall suffice at this time for the flesh of Hogs both Pork and Bacon The milk of a Sow is fat and thick very apt to congeal and needeth not any runnet to turn it it breedeth little whay and therefore it is not fit for the stomach except to procure vomiting and because it hath been often proved that they which drink or eat Sow milk fall into scurfs and Leprosies which diseases the Asians hate above all other therefore the Egyptians added this to all the residue of their reasons to condemn a Sow for an unclean and filthy beast And this was peculiarly the saying of Manethon With the skins of Swine which the Grecians did call Phorine they made shoo-leather but now a days by reason of the tenderness and looseness thereof they use it not but leave it to the Sadlers and to them that cover Books for which cause it is much better then either Sheep or Goats skins for it hath a deeper grain and doth not so easily fall off Out of the parings of their skins they make a kinde of glew which is preferred before Taurocollum and which for similitude they call Choerocollum The fat of Swine is very pretious to liquor shooes and boots therewithal The Amber that is in common use groweth rough rude impolished and without clearness but after that it is sod in the grease of a Sow that giveth suck it getteth that nitour and shining beauty which we finde to be in it Some mix the bloud of Hogs with those medicines that they cast into Waters to take fishes and the Hunters in some Countries when they would take Wolves and Foxes do make a train with a Hogs liver sod cut in pieces and anointed over with hony and so anointing their shoos with Swines grease draw after them a dead Cat which will cause the beast to follow after very speedily The hairs of Swine are used by Cobblers and Shoomakers and also with them every Boy knoweth how to make their Nose bleed The dung is very sharp and yet it is justly condemned by Columella for no use no not to fatten the earth and Vines also are burned therewithal except they be diligently watered or rest five years without stirring In Plinies time they studied to enlarge and make their Lettice grow broad and not close together which they did by slitting a little the stalk and thrusting gently into it some Hogs dung But for trees there is more especial use of it for it is used to ripen fruit and make the trees more plentiful The Pomegranats and Almonds are sweetned hereby and the Nuts easily caused to fall out of the shell Likewise if Fennel be unsavory by laying to the root thereof either Hogs dung or Pigeons dung it may be cured and when any Apple tree is affected and razed with Worms
and yet the same Beast appear meek and gentle unto them there they should take their wives When they came into the land of the Cleonians they met with a Wolf carrying a Lamb in his mouth whereupon they conceived that the meaning of Apollo was that when they met with a Wolf in that Countrey they might very happily and successively take them wives and so they did for they married with the daughters of Thesander Cleonymus a very honest man of that Countrey It is reported of Milo Crotoniata that valiant strong man how upon a season rending a tree in sunder in the woods one of his arms was taken in the closing of the tree and he had not strength enough to loose it again but remained there inclosed in most horrible torments until a Wolf came and devoured him The like story unto this is that which Aelianus reporteth of Gelon the Syracusan a Scholar unto whom there came a Wolf as he sat in the School writing on his Tables and took the writing tables out of his hand The Schoolmaster being inraged herewith and knowing himself to be a valiant man took hold of the same tables in the Wolfs mouth and the Wolf drew the Master and Scholars in hope of recovery of the tables out of the School into a plain field where suddenly he destroyed the Schoolmaster and a hundred Scholars sparing none but Gelon whose tables were a bait for that prey for he was not only not slain but preserved by the Wolf to the singular admiration of all the world whereby it was collected that that accident did not happen naturally but by the over-ruling hand of God Now for these occasions as also because that the wooll and skin of beasts killed by Wolves are good for nothing although the flesh of Sheep is more sweeter are unprofitable and good for nothing Men have been forced to invent and finde out many devises for the destroying of Wolfs for necessity hath taught men much learning and it had been a shameful misery to indure the tyranny of such spoiling beasts without labouring for resistance and revenge for this cause they propounded also a reward to such as killed VVolfs for by the law of Draco he that killed a young VVolf received a talent and that killed an old VVolf received two talents Solon prescribed that he that brought a VVolf alive should receive five pieces of money and he that brought one dead should receive two Apollo himself was called Lycoctonos a VVolf-killer because he taught the people how to put away VVolfs Horner calleth Apollo Lycegenes for that it is said immediately after he was born of his mother Latona he was changed into the shape of a VVolf and so nourished and for this cause there was the Image of a VVolf set up at Delphos before him Others say that the reason of that Image was because that when the Temple of Delphos was robbed and the treasure thereof hid in the ground while diligent inquisition was made after the theeves there came a VVolf and brought them to the place where the golden vessels were covered in the earth which she pulled out with her feet And some say that a VVolf did kill the sacrileger as he lay asleep on the Mountain Parnassus having all the treasure about him and that every day she came down to the gates of Delphos howling until some of the Citizens followed her into the Mountain where she shewed them the theef and the treasure both together But I list not to follow or stand upon these fables The true cause why Apollo was called a VVolf-killer was for that he was feigned to be a Shepheard or Herdsman and therefore in love of his Cattle to whom VVolfs were enemies he did not only kill them while he was alive but also they were offered unto him in sacrifice for VVolfs were sacred to Apollo Jupiter and Mars and therefore we read of Apollo Lycius or Lyceus to whom there were many Temples builded and of Jupiter Lyceus the sacrifices instituted unto him called Lycaea and games by the same name There were other holy-days call'd Lupercalia wherein barren women did chastise themselves naked because they bare no children hoping thereby to gain the fruitfulness of the womb whereof Ovid speaketh thus Excipe foecundae patienter verbera dextrae Jam socer optatum nomen habebit avi Propertius and some other writers seem to be of the minde that those were first instituted by Fabius Lupercus as appeareth by these verses Verbera pellitus seto samovebat arator Vnde licens Fabius sacra Lupercus habet And Juvenal thus Nec prodest agili palmas praebere Luperco Now concerning the manner of taking of VVolfs the Ancients have invented many devises and gins and first of all an Iron toil which they still fasten in the earth with Iron pins upon which pins they feave a ring being in compass about the bigness of a VVolfs head in the midst whereof they lay a piece of flesh and cover the Toil so that nothing is seen but the flesh when the Wolf cometh and taketh hold of the flesh feeling it stick pulling hard he pulleth up the ring which bringeth the whole Toil on his neck and sharp pins This is the first manner that Crescentiensis repeateth of taking VVolfs and he saith there are other devises to ensnare their feet which the Reader cannot understand except he saw them with his eyes The Italians call the nets wherein VVolfs are taken Tagliola Harpago Lo Rampino and Lycino the French Hauspied and Blondus affirmeth that the shepheards of Italy make a certain gin with a net wherein that part of the VVolf is taken which is first put into it Now the manner of taking VVolfs in ditches and pits is divers first of all they dig a deep ditch so as the VVolf being taken may not go out of it upon this pit they lay a hurdle and within upon the pillar they set a live Goose or Lamb when the VVolf windeth his prey or booty he cometh upon the trench and seeing it at a little hole which is left open on purpose to cast the VVolf into the deep ditch and some use to lay upon it a weak hurdle such as will not bear up either a man or a beast that so when the VVolf cometh upon it it may break and he fall down but the best devise in my opinion that ever was invented in this kinde is that the perch and hurdle may be so made and the bait so set that when one VVolf is fallen down it may rise again of it owne accord and stand as it did before to entrap another and great care must be had that these kinde of ditches may be made in solid and strong earth or if the place afford not that opportunity then must the inside be lined with boards to the intent that the beast by scraping and digging with his feet make no evasion The Rhatians use to raise up to a Tree a certain
alive they put them into some tub or great mortar and there kill them by bruising them to pieces afterwards they make a fire of coals in the Mountains where the VVolfs haunt putting into the same some of these fishes mixed with bloud and pieces of Mutton and so leaving it to have the savour thereof carryed every way with the winde they go and hide themselves whilest that in the mean time the VVolfs enraged with the savour of this fire seek to and fro to finde it because of the smell the fire before they come is quenched or goeth out naturally and the VVolfs by the smoak thereof especially by tasting of the flesh bloud and fish which there they finde do fall into a drowsie dead sleep which when the Hunters do perceive they come upon them and cut their throats The Armenians do poyson them with black fishes and some do take a cat pulling off her skin taking out the bowels they put into her belly the powder of Frogs this Cat is boyled a little upon coals and by a man drawn up and down in the Mountains where VVolfs do haunt now if the VVolfs do chance to meet with the train of this Cat they instantly follow after him inraged without all fear of man to attain it therefore he which draweth the Cat is accompanyed with another Hunter armed with a Gun Pistol or Cross-bow that at the appearance of the VVolf and before his approach to the train he may destroy and kill him I will not discourse of VVolf bane commonly called Aconitum in Latine wherewithall both men and beasts are intoxicated and especially VVolfs but referring the Reader to the long discourse of Conradus Gesner in his History of the VVolf I will only remember in this place an Epigram of Ausonius wherein he pleasantly relateth a story of an adulterated woman desiring to make away her jealous husband and that with speed and vehemency gave him a drink of VVolf-bane and Quick-silver mingled together either of both single are poyson but compounded are a purgation the Epigram is this that followeth Toxica zelotypo dedit uxor moecha marito Nec satis ad mortem credidit esse datum Miscuit argenti letalia pondera vivi Cogeret ut celerem vis geminata necem Dividat haec si quis faciunt discreta venenum Antidotum sumet qui sociata bibet Ergo inter sese dum noxia pocula certant Cessit letalis noxa salutiferae Protinus vacuos alvi petiere recessus Lubrica dejectis qua vita nota cibis Concerning the enemies of Wolfs there is no doubt but that such a ravening beast hath few friends for except in the time of copulation wherein they mingle sometime with Dogs and some-time with Leopards and sometime with other beasts all beasts both great and small do avoid their society and fellowship for it cannot be safe for strangers to live with them in any league or amity seeing in their extremity they devour one another for this cause in some of the inferiour beasts their hatred lasteth after death as many Authors have observed for if a Sheep skin be hanged up with a Wolfs skin the wool falleth off from it and if an instrument be stringed with strings made of both these beasts the one will give no sound in the presence of the other but of this matter we have spoken in the story of the sheep shewing the opinion of the best learned concerning the truth hereof The Ravens are in perpetual enmity with Wolfs and the antipathy of their natures is so violent that it is reported by Philes and Aelianus that if a Raven eat of the carcase of a beast which the Wolf hath killed or formerly tasted of she presently dyeth There are certain wilde Onions called Scillae and some say the Sea-Onion because the root hath the similitude of an Onion of all other things this is hateful to a Wolf and therefore the Arabians say that by treading on it his leg falleth into a cramp whereby his whole body many times endureth insufferable torments for the Cramp increaseth into Convulsions for which cause it is worthy to be observed how unspeakable the Lord is in all his works for whereas the VVolf is an enemy to the Fox and the Turtle he hath given secret instinct and knowledge both to this Beast and Fowl of the vertuous operation of this herb against the ravening VVolf for in their absence from their nests they leave this Onion in the mouth thereof as a sure gard to keep their young ones from the VVolf There are certain Eagles in Tartaria which are tamed who do of their own accord being set on by men adventure upon VVolves and so vex them with their talons that a man with no labour or difficulty may kill the beast and for this cause the VVolves greatly fear them and avoid them and thereupon came the common proverb Lupus fugit aquilam And thus much shall suffice to have spoken in general concerning their taking Now we will proceed to the other parts of their History and first of all of their carnal copulation They engender in the same manner as Dogs and Sea-calves do and therefore in the middle of their copulation they cleave together against their will It is observed that they begin to engender immediately after Christmass and this rage of their lust lasteth but twelve days whereupon there was wont to go a fabulous tale or reason that the cause why all of them conceived in the twelve days after Christmass was for that Latona so many days together wandered in the shape of a she VVolf in the Mountains Hyperborei for fear of Juno in which likeness she was brought to Delus but this fable is confuted by Plutarch rehearsing the words of Antipater in his Book of Beasts for he saith when the Oaks that bear Acorns do begin to cast their flowers or blossomes then the VVolves by eating thereof do open their wombs for where there is no plenty of Acorns there the young ones dye in the dams belly and therefore such Countries where there is no store of Oaks are freed from VVolves and this he saith is the true cause why they conceive but once a year and that only in the twelve days of Christmass for those Oaks flower but once a year namely in the Spring time at which season the VVolves bring forth their young ones For the time that they go with young and the number of whelps they agree with Dogs that is they bear their young nine weeks and bring forth many blinde whelps at a time according to the manner of those that have many claws on their feet Their legs are without Articles and therefore they are not able to go at the time of their littering and there is a vulgar opinion that a she VVolf doth never in all her life bring forth above nine at a time whereof the last which she bringeth forth in her old age is a Dog through weakness and
earth for it is certain that it liveth in both elements namely earth and water and for the time that it abideth in the water it also taketh air and not the humor or moistnesse of the water yet can they not want either humor of the water or respiration of the air and for the day time it abideth on the land and in the night in the water because in the day the earth is hotter then the water and in the night the water warmer then the earth and while it liveth on the land it is so delighted with the Sun-shine and lyeth therein so immoveable that a man would take it to be stark dead The eyes of a Crocodile as we have said are dull and blinde in the water yet they appear bright to others for this cause when the Egyptians will signifie the Sun-rising they picture a Crocodile looking upward to the earth and when they will signifie the West they picture a Crocodile diving in the water and so for the most part the Crocodile lyeth upon the banks that he may either dive into the water with speed or ascend to the earth to take his prey By reason of the shortnesse of his feet his pace is very slow and therefore it is not only easie to escape from him by flight but also if a man do but turn aside and winde out of the direct way his body is so unable to bend it self that he can neither winde nor turn after it When they go under the earth into their caves like to all fore-footed and egge-breeding Serpents as namely Lizards Stellions and Tortoises they have all their legs joyned to their sides which are so retorted as they may bend to either side for the necessity of covering their egges but when they are abroad and go bearing up all their bodies then they bend only outward making their thighs more visible It is somewhat questionable whether they lye hid within their caves four months or sixty days for some Authors affirm one thing and some another but the reason of the difference is taken from the condition of the cold weather for which cause they lye hid in the Winter time Now forasmuch as the Winter in Egypt is not usually above four months therefore it is taken that they lie but four months but if it be by accident of cold weather prolonged longer then for the same cause the Crocodile is longer time in the earth During the time they lie hid they eat nothing but sleep as it is thought immoveably and when they come out again they do not cast their skins as other Serpents do The tail of a Crocodile is his strongest part and they never kill any beast or man but first of all they strike him down and astonish him with their tails and for this cause the Egyptians by a Crocodiles tail do signifie death and darknesse They devour both men and beasts if they finde them in their way or neer the bankes of Nilus wherein they abide taking sometimes a calf from the Cow his Dam and carrying it whole into the waters And it appeareth by the pourtraiture of Neacles that a Crocodile drew in an Asse into Nilus as he was drinking and therefore the Dogs of Egypt by a kinde of natural instinct do not drink but as they run for fear of the Crocodiles where-upon came the proverb Vt Canis è Nilo bibit fugit as a Dog at one time drinketh and runneth by Nilus When they desire fishes they put their heads out of the water as it were to sleep and then suddenly when they espy a booty they leap into the waters upon them and take them After that they have eaten and are satisfied then they turn to the land again and as they lie gaping upon the earth the little bird Trochilus maketh clean their teeth and is satisfied by the remainders of the flesh sticking upon them It is also affirmed by Arnoldus that it is fed with mud but the holy Crocodile in the Provinte of Arsinoe is fed with bread flesh wine sweet and hard sod flesh and cakes and such like things as the poor people bring unto it when they come to see it When the Egyptians will write a man eating or at dinner they paint a Crocodile gaping They are exceeding fruitful and prolifical and therefore also in Hieroglyphicks they are made to signifie fruitfulnesse They bring forth every year and lay their egges in the earth or dry land For during the space of theescore days they lay every day an Egge and in the like space they are hatched into young ones by sitting or lying upon them by course the male one while and the female another The time of their hatching is in a moderate and temperate time otherwise they perish and come to nothing for extremity of heat spoyleth the egge as the buds of some trees are burned and scorched off by the like occasion The egge is not much greater then the egge of a Goose and the young one out of the shell is of the same proportion And so from such a small beginning doth this huge and monstrous Serpent grow to his great stature the reason whereof saith Aristotle is because it groweth all his life long even to the length of ten or more cubits When it hath laid the egges it carryeth them to the place where it shall be hatched for by a natural providence and forelight it avoideth the waters of Nilus and therefore ever layeth her egges beyond the compasse of her floods by observation whereof the people of Egypt know every year the inundation of Nilus before it happen And in the measure of this place it is apparent that this Beast is not indued only with a spirit of reason but also with a fatidical or prophetical geographical delineation for so she placeth her egges in the brim or bank of the flood before the flood cometh that the water may cover the nest but not her self that sitteth upon the egges And the like to this is the building of the Beaver as we have showed in due place before in the History of four-footed Beasts So soon as the young ones are hatched they instantly fall into the depth of the water but if they meet with Frog Snail or any other such thing fit for their meat they do presently tear it in pieces the dam biteth it with her mouth as it were punishing the pusillanimity thereof but if it hunt greater things and be greedy ravening industrious and bloudy that she maketh much of and killing the other nourisheth and tendereth this above measure after the example of the wisest men who love their children in judgement fore-seeing their industrious inclination and not in affection without regard of worth vertue or merit It is said by Philes that after the egge is laid by the Crocodile many times there is a cruel stinging Scorpion which cometh out thereof and woundeth the Crocodile that laid it To conclude they never
wherein they say is the picture of a Toad with her legs spread before and behinde And it is further affirmed that if both these stones be held in ones hand in the presence of poyson it will burn him The probation of this stone is by laying of it to a live Toad and if she lift up her head against it it is good but if she run away from it it is a counterfeit Geor. Agricola calleth the greater kinde of these stones Brontia and the lesser and smoother sort of stones Ceraunie although some contrary this opinion saying that these stones Brantia and Ceraunia are bred on the earth by thundering and lightning Whereas it is said before that the generation of this stone in the Toad proceedeth of cold that is utterly unpossible for it is described to be so solid and firm as nothing can be more hard and therefore I cannot assent unto that opinion for unto hard and solid things is required abundance of heat and again it is unlikely that whatsoever this Toad-stone be that there should be any store of them in the world as are every where visible if they were to be taken out of the Toads alive and therefore I rather agree with Salveldensis a Spaniard who thinketh that it is begotten by a certain viscous spume breathed out upon the head of some Toad by her fellows in the Spring time This stone is that which in ancient time was called Batrachites and they attribute unto it a vertue besides the former namely for the breaking of the stone in the Bladder and against the Falling-sicknesse And they further write that it is a discoverer of present poyson for in the presence of poyson it will change the colour And this is the substance of that which is written about this stone Now for my part I dare not conclude either with it or against it for Hermolaus Massarius Albertus Sylvaticus and others are directly for this stone ingendered in the brain or head of the Toad on the other side Cardan and Cesner confesse such a stone by name and nature but they make doubt of the generation of it as others have delivered and therefore they being in sundry opinions the hearing whereof might confound the Reader I will refer him for his satisfaction unto a Toad which he may easily every day kill For although when the Toad is dead the vertue thereof be lost which consisted in the eye or blew spot in the middle yet the substance remaineth and if the stone be found there in substance then is the question at an end but if it be not then must the generation of it be sought for in some other place Thus leaving the stone of the Toad we must proceed to the other parts of the story and first of all their place of habitation which for them of the water is neer the water-side and for them of the earth in bushes hedges rocks and holes of the earth never coming abroad while the Sun shineth for they hate the Sun-shine and their nature cannot endure it for which cause they keep close in their holes in the day time and in the night they come abroad Yet sometimes in rainy weather and in solitary places they come abroad in the day time All the Winter time they live under the earth feeding upon earth herbs and worms and it is said they eat earth by measure for they eat so much every day as they can gripe in their fore-foot as it were sizing themselves lest the whole earth should not serve them till the Spring Resembling herein great rich covetous men who ever spare to spend for fear they shall want before they die And for this cause in ancient time the wise Painters of Germany did picture a woman sitting upon a Toad to signifie covetousnesse They also love to eat Sage and yet the root of Sage is to them deadly poyson They destroy Bees without all danger to themselves for they will creep to the holes of their Hives and there blow in upon the Bees by which breath they draw them out of the Hive and so destroy them as they come out for this cause also at the Water-side they lie in wait to catch them When they come to drink in the day time they see little or nothing but in the night time they see perfectly and therefore they come then abroad About their generation there are many worthy observations in nature sometimes they are bred out of the putrefaction and corruption of the earth it hath also been seen that out of the ashes of a Toad burnt not only one but many Toads have been regenerated the year following In the New-world there is a Province called Dariene the air whereof is wonderful unwholesome because all the Countrey standeth upon rotten marishes It is there observed that when the slaves or servants water the pavements of the dores from the drops of water which fall on the right hand are instantly many Toads ingendered as in other places such drops of water are turned into Gnats It hath also been seen that women conceiving with childe have likewise conceived at the same time a Frog or a Toad or a Lizard and therefore Platearius saith that those things which are medicines to provoke the menstruous course of women do also bring forth the Secondines And some have called Bufonem fratrem Salernitanorum lacertam fratrem Lombardorum that is a Toad the Brother of the Salernitâ—ns and the Lizard the Brother of the Lombards for it hath been seen that a woman of Salernum hath at one time brought forth a Boy and a Toad and therefore he calleth the Toad his Brother so likewise a woman of Lombardy a Lizard and therefove he calleth the Lizard the Lombards Brother And for this cause the women of those Countries at such time as their childe beginneth to quicken in their womb do drink the juyce of Parsley and Leeks to kill such conceptions if any be There was a woman newly marryed and when in the opinion of all she was with childe in stead of a childe she brought forth four little living creatures like Frogs yet she remained in good health but a little while after she felt some pain about the rim of her belly which afterward was eased by applying a few remedies Also there was another woman which together with a Man-childe in her Secondines did bring forth such another Beast and after that a Merchants wife did the like in Aneonitum But what should be the reason of these so strange and unnatural conceptions I will not take upon me to decide in nature lest the Omnipotent hand of God should be wronged and his most secret and just counsel presumptuously judged and called into question This we know that it was prophesied in the Revelation that Frogs and Locusts should come out of the Whore of Babylon and the bottomlesse pit and therefore seeing the seat of the Whore of Babylon is in Italy it may be that God would have manifested
that in Italy in his dayes there was a man that had a Scorpion bred in his brain by continuall smelling to this herb Basill and Gesner by relation of an Apothecary in France writeth likewise a story of a young maid who by smelling to Basill fell into an exceeding head-ache whereof she dyed without cure and after her death being opened there were found little Scorpions in her brain Aristotle remembreth an herb which he calleth Sissimbria out of which putrefied Scorpions are engendred as he writeth And we have shewed already in the history of the Crocodile that out of the Crocodiles egges do many times come Scorpions which at their first egression do kill their Dam that hatched them which caused Archelaus which wrote Epigrams of wonders unto Ptolemaeus to sing of Scorpions in this manner In vos dissolvit morte redigit Crocâ—dilum Natura extinctum Scorpii omnipotens Which may be Englished thus To you by Scorpions death the omnipotent Ruines the Crocodil in natures life extinct And thus much for the generation of Scorpions out of putrefaction Now we will proceed to the second manner of their generation which is by propagation of seed for although Ponzettus make some question about their copulation yet he himself inclineth to that opinion as neerer unto truth which attributeth carnall copulation unto them and therefore he alledgeth the example of flies which admit copulation although they engender not thereby Wherefore we will take it for granted that Scorpions lay egges after copulation which hapneth both in the Spring and Autumne And these are for the most part in number eleven upon which they sit and hatch their young ones and when once they are perfected within those egges which are in sight like the little worms out of which Spyders are engendred then do they break their egges and drive the young out For as Isidorus writeth otherwise the old should be destroyed of the young even as are the Crocodiles Some again say that the old Scorpions do devour their young ones Being thus produced by generation they live upon the earth and those which are bred of the Sea-crab do feed upon the foam of the Sea-water and a continuall white mould or chalk neer the Sea But the Scorpions of Aethiopia do eat all kinde of worms flyes and small Serpents Yea those Serpents whose very dung being troden upon by man bringeth exulcerations And a tryall that Scorpions eat flies was made by Wolphius at Montpelier for having a young one in a boxe for one whole moneth together it lived upon flies and grew by the devouring of them bigger being put into the Glasse unto him They live among tiles and bricks very willingly and for this cause they abound in Rome in the hill called Testaceus They are also in Bononia found in the walls of old houses betwixt the stones and the morter They love also clean clothes as we have said already and yet they abhorre all places whereon the Sun shineth And it seemeth that the Sun is utterly against their nature for the same Scorpion which Wolphius had at Montpeller lived in the Glasse untill one day he set it in the Sun and then presently after it dyed To conclude they love hollow places of the earth neer gutters and sometimes they creep into mens beds where unawares they do much harm and for this cause the Lybians who among other Nations are most of all troubled with Scorpions do use to set their beds far from any wall and very high also from the floor to keep the Scorpions from ascending up into them And yet fearing all devises should be too little to secure them against this evil they also set the feet of their beds â—n vessels of water that so the Scorpion may not attempt so much as to climbe up unto them for fear of drowning And also for their further safeguard they were socks and hose in their beds so thick as the Scorpion cannot easily sting through them And if the bed be so placed that they cannot get any hold thereof beneath then they climbe up to the sieling or cover of the house and if there they finde any hold for their pinching legs to apprehend and fasten upon then in their hatred to man-kinde they use this policy to come unto him First one of them as I have said taketh hold upon that place in the house or sieling over the bed wherein they finde the man asleep and so hangeth thereby putting out and stretching his sting to hurt him but finding it too short and not being able to reach him he suffereth another of his fellowes to come and hang as fast by him as he doth upon his hold and so that second giveth the wound and if that second be not able likewise because of the distance to come at the man then they both admit a third to hang upon them and so a fourth upon the third and a fifth upon the fourth untill they have made themselves like a chain to descend from the top to the bed wherein the man sleepeth and the last striketh him after which stroke he first of all runneth away by the back of his fellow and every one again in order till all of them have withdrawn themselves By this may be collected the crafty disposition of this Scorpion and the great subtilty and malice that it is endued withall in nature and seeing they can thus accord together in harming a man it argueth their great mutuall love and concord one with another wherefore I cannot but marvell at them who have written that the old ones destroy the young all but one which they set upon their own buttocks that so the Dam may be secured from the sting and bitings of her son For seeing they can thus hang upon one another without harm favouring their own kinde I see no cause but that nature hath grafted much more love betwixt the old and the young ones so as neither the old do first destroy the young nor afterward that young one preserved in revenge of his fellowes quarrell killeth his Parents It is reported by Aristotle that there is a hill in Caria wherein the Scorpions do never sting any strangers that lodge there but only the naturall born people of that Countrey And hereunto Pliny and Aelianus seem to subscribe when they write that Scorpiones extraneos leniter mordere that is Scorpions bite strangers but gently And hereby it may be collected that they are also by nature very sagacious and can discern betwixt nature and nature yea the particular differences in one and the same nature To conclude Scorpions have no power to hurt where there is no bloud The naturall amity and enmity they observe with other creatures commeth now to be handled and I finde that it wanteth not adversaries nor it again hath no defect of poyson or malice to make resistance and opposition and to take vengeance on such as it meeteth withall The principall of all other subjects
his famous success in hunting and that afterward the Goddess taking pity on him translated him into heaven Others write again that he had his eyes put out by Oenopion and that he came blind into the Island Lemnos where he received a horse of Vulcan upon which he rode to the Sun-rising in which journey he recovered again his eye-sight and so returning he first determined to take revenge upon Oenopion for his former cruelty Wherefore he came into Greet and seeking Oenopion could not finde him because he was hid in the earth by his Citizens but at last coming to him there came a Scorpion and killed him for his malice rescuing Oenopion These and such like fables are there about the death of Orion but all of them joyntly agree in this that Orion was slain by a Scorpion And so saith Anthologius was one Panopaeus a Hunter There is a common adage Cornix Scorpium a Raven to a Scorpion and it is used against them that perish by their own inventions when they set upon others they meet with their matches as a Raven did when it preyed upon a Scorpion thus described by Alciatus under his title Justa ultio just revenge saying as followeth Raptabat volucer captum pede corvus in auras Scorpion audacipraemia parta gulae Ast ille infuso sensim per membra veneno Raptorem in stygias compulit ultor aquas O risu res digna aliis qui fata parabat Ipse periit propriis succubuitque dolis Which may be Englished thus The ravening Crow for prey a Scorpion took Within her foot and therewithall aloft did flie But he impoyson'd her by force and stinging stroke So ravener in the Stygian Lake did die O sportfull game that he which other for bellyes sake did kill By his own decreis should fall into deaths will There be some learned Writers who have compared a Scorpion to an Epigram or rather an Epigram to a Scorpion because as the sting of the Scorpion lyeth in the tayl so the force and vertue of an Epigram is in the conclusion for vel acriter et salse mordeat vel jucunde dulciter delectes that is either let it bite sharply at the end or else delight pleasingly There be many wayes of bringing Scorpions out of their holes and so to destroy and take them as we have already touched in part unto which I may adde these that follow A perfume made of Oxe-dung also Storax and Arsenick And Pliny writeth that ten Water-crabs beaten with Basil is an excellent perfume for this purpose and so is the ashes of Scorpions And in Padua they use this art with small sticks or straw they touch and make a noyse upon the stones and morter wherein they have their nests then they thinking them to be some flies for their meat instantly leap out and so the man that deluded them is ready with a pair of tongs or oâ—â—er instrument to lay hold upon them and take them by which means they take many and of them so taken make Oyl of Scorpions And Constantius writeth that if a mans hand be well anoynted with juice of Radish he may take them without danger in his bare hand In the next place we are to proceed to the venom and poyson of Scorpions the instrument or sting whereof lyeth not only in the tail but also in the teeth for as Ponzettus writeth Laedit scorpius morsu et ictu the Scorpion harmeth both with teeth and tail that is although the greatest harm do come by the sting in the tayl yet is there also some that cometh by their biting This poyson of Scorpions as Pliny out of Apollodorus writeth is white and in the heat of the day is very fervent and plentifull so as at that time they are insatiably and unquenchably thirsty for not only the wilde or wood Scorpion but also all other are of a hot nature and the symptomes of their bitings are such as follow the effects of hot poysons and therefore saith Rasis all their remedies are of a cold quality Yet Galen thinketh otherwise and that the poyson is cold and the effects thereof are also cold For which cause Rondeletus prescribeth Oyl of Scorpions to expell the stone and also the cure of the poyson is by strong Garlick and the best Wine which are hot things And therefore I conclude that although Scorpions be most hot yet is their poyson of a cold nature In the next place I think it is needfull to expresse the symptomes following the striking or stinging of these venemous Scorpions and they are as Aetius writeth the very same which follow the biting or poyson of that kinde of great Phalanx Spider called also Teragnatum and that is they are in such case as those persons be which are smitten with the Falling sicknesse He which is stung by a Scorpion thinketh that he is pressed with the fall of great and cold hayl being so cold as if he were continually in a cold sweat and so in short space the poyson disperseth it self within the skin and runneth all over the body never ceasing untill it come to possesse some predominant or principall vitall part and then followeth death For as the skin is small and thin so the sting pierceth to the bottom thereof and so into the flesh where it woundeth and corrupteth either some vein or arterie or sinew and so the member harmed swelleth immediately into an exceeding great bulk and quantity and aking with insufferable torment But yet as we have already said there is a difference of the pain according to the difference of the Scorpion that stingeth If a man be stung in the lower part of his body instantly followeth the extension of his virile member and the swelling thereof but if in the upper part then is the person affected with cold and the place smitten is as if it were burned his countenance or face distorted glewish spots about the eyes and the tears viscous and slimy hardnesse of the articles falling down of the fundament and a continuall desire to egestion foaming at the mouth coughing convulsions of the brain and drawing the face backward the hair stands upright palenesse goeth over all the body and a continuall pricking like the pricking of needles Also Gordomus writeth that if the prick fall upon an artery there followeth swouning but if on a nerve there speedily followeth putrefaction and rottennesse And those Scorpions which have wings make wounds with a compasse like a bow whose succeeding symptomes are both heat and cold and if they hurt about the canicular dayes their wounds are very seldome recovered The Indian Scorpions cause death three moneths after their wounds But most wonderfull is that which Strabo relateth of the Albenian Scorpions and Spiders whereof he saith are two kindes and one kinde killeth by laughing the other by weeping And if any Scorpion hurt a vein in the head it causeth death by madnesse as writeth Paracelsus When an Oxe or other beast is
joyning all their forces and coming together in troops and swarms had agreed as being sent by God to break the pride of the Aegyptians They fly in the air aloft in manner of an Obelisk or Pyramide especially in the evening they play up and down by hedge sides when it is hot and fair weather they fly in the sun-shine against rain in the shade It may be they are the same with those we call Midges and doth not much differ from that which Albertus cals Schaggen the Italians Zenzalis the Heathen Cinifes There is a kinde of Gnat which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Herculei in sloth and malice like to Drones and never wound or hurt any but those of their own name and alliance for as soon as they perceive other Gnats full of bloud and moisture after they have fought with them they take them for their prey and eat them whereas they live idly and do nothing else but seek for their food gotten by the labours of others Our Ancestors have observed a kinde of Gnat to be bred in the sowre Lees of Wine Which because they are not heard to sing or make any noise I had rather think them to be those which Scaliger cals Vinulae Musciliones Wine-flies Nor do I passe for the opinion of Niphus in regard they desire sowre things and refuse sweet when as he himself saith elsewhere that they are fed chiefly with the juice of Oxe dung than which nothing can be moâ—e sweet The English Gnats are not so stinging as others nor do they raise so great pimples but the lesser sort of them is the more cruel and yet they leave nothing behinde them but a little itching spot like a flea-biting The Gnats in America especially those they call Yetin do so slash and cut that they will pierce through very thick cloathing So that it is excellent sport to behold how ridiculously the barbarous people when they are bitten will frig and frisk and slap with their hands their thighs buttocks shoulders arms sides even as a carter doth his horses The Gnats about Terra incognita or New-found-Land and Port Nicholas as also in divers other Northern parts are to be seen in great numbers and of an extraordinary bignesse as the Sea-men and Olaus magnus affirm The cause of their multitude Cardanus attributes to the unintermitted heat and the length of the day The cause of their bignesse to that watery and and unctuous moisture which was gotten together by reason of the long cold But forasmuch as in the hotter parts of the Indies as Oviedus and experience tellifieth there are altogether as great and many more sorts greater and store Cardanus may well satisfie himself though he cannot do me Of the Generation of Gnats Natures secretaries do diversly dispute Albertus saith their material is watery vapours Aristotle denies that Gnats should be generated of Gnats unless by means of a little worm as Flies are But since that they do not use copulation I do not perceive how that can be Pierius was the first that taught how that Gnats do come of certain worms breeding in wood when as yet every man knowes that Gnats are produced of worms in the Navew Privet Mastick Turpentine wilde Fig-tree and other like Trees as if seed were sown and that not by way of putrefaction but animation 〈◊〉 did chance to finde saith Bruerus in a dirty filthy ditch an Insect with very long feet which for the likenesse of the form you would say was one of the larger sort of Gnats coming forth of a soft leathern purse I did imagine that it might be bred of some worm like unto the canker shut up therein for the shell within was such as those the cankers transform themselves into Whether it should be called Culex a greater Gnat or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is doubted by the Author To these as to all other the like hurtfull Insects the merciful Creator hath granted but a very short life insomuch that they which are bred in Summer never live till Winter and they that are bred in Winter never see a Summer Yet notwithstanding God hath created them for divers uses whether we respect God himself or other creatures or our selves For not only Mynutii Mynsii Astabarani Arrhotenses Guavicani were by the just judgement of God driven our of their cities into deserts and solitudes as Pausanias Leo Afer Aelian and the Indian Histories relate but even the Aegyptian Tyrant of all that ever the earth bred the most cruel as the sacred Scriptures that are more ancient then all the Heathenish Jupiters or other gods do testifie was vanquished with an Army of these The least of those the Pope could not rid out of his throat but was with one of them miserably choaked With what a fiercenesse did they charge the Army of Julian the Apostate how did they make him turn his back and fall down dead Let Apostates from the faith consider and weigh the matter well let them think more seriously of the strength power and majesty of the Creator when as they see such cruel stings and more sharp than any poynard whatsoever to be in such an abâ—ect contemptible creature as this is Neither doth God make use of them to punish wicked and ungodly men but also for the preservation and safety of mankinde For about Meroe and Astaboras as Strabo reports so great is the plenty and fierceness of the Lions that unless they were chased away by a great kinde of Gnat that troops up and down all that Region they were not able to live in safety not in the most fenced Cities from their invasion The same is wont to happen in some parts of Mesopotamia as Ammianus Marcellinus writeth where the Lions being stung with the Gnats and defrauded of any remedy against them throw themselves headlong into rivers and are drowned in the deep To the Aegyptians also although sometime they were deadly enemies yet are they now auxiliary to them as Herodotus writeth in that they wound and sting to death the young Axillae before they get feathers being noxious to them Moreover were it not for them the whole species of Bats water Frogs and bank Swallowes which prey upon the Gnats and feed only upon them would perish But whereas Gaza saith that the Bird called Cnipologus a kinde of Wood-picker with an ash-coloured back doth eat Gnats doth not agree with their nature For that kinde of Bird feeds on a little worm that breedeth in the rotten wood called Cossus the which he picketh out with his bill He was deceived it seemeth by the Amphibology of the word which signifieth both those worms and Gnats also for so are they called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if there were such a Bird I should affirm without all doubt that it is the Nycter which by Hesychius and Varinus is called Konopothera The Gnats called Psenes do cause Figs to ripen by taking away their milky
Grashoppers were of old time men born of the earth but by the favour of the Muses turned into that Musical sort of creatures the Grashoppers Even at this day sustaining their lives with no other food than dew and feeding themselves by continual â—inging they live For this cause the Athenians were called Tettigophori because they wore golden Grashoppers for ornament in their hair and for a token of their nobility and antiquity as Thucidides 1. Syngraph and Heraclides Ponticus de priscis Atheniensibus testifie Erytheus makes a proof of this custome being born of the earth as they say who first governed the Common-wealth of the Athenians and they too in the judgement of Plato the Natives were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. born of the earth Afterwards it came to be a custome that none but an Athenian or one born in the place might wear a Grashopper in his hair of this opinion is Aristoph as also his Scholiast Iâ—idore saith that the Cuckow-spittle doth generate Grashoppers which is not true but that it produceth small Locusts is manifest Lucretius in his 4 Book saith that the Grashopper in the Summer doth shift his skin according to this verse Cum veteres ponunt tunicas aestate Cicada And for that reason he is called by Hesychius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the naked Grashoppers or without a skin whom I should not have believed unless I had the picture of the skin so cast off by me Before Copulation the Males are of the more delicate taste afterwards the females for that they have in them white eggs very pleasant to the palat The Parthians as Pliny writeth and the rest of the eastern Nations feed upon them not only for nutrition sake but to open their veins and to stir up their languishing appetite as Atheneus in his 4. Book and Natalis Comes expresly affirm Hence Aristophanes in his Anagyrus out of Theocritus writes that the gods did feed upon Grashoppers at what time they had lost their appetite through choler or passion I have seen saith Aelian l. 12. c. 6. those that sold them tyed in bundles together for men to eat to wit the most voracious of all living creatures did sell the most jejune lest any thing should be lacking to their exquisite dainties Dioscorides gave rosted Grashoppers to eat and saith they are very good against the diseases of the bladder Some saith Galen use dryed Grashoppers for the Colick they give according to the number 3 5 or 7 grains of Pepper as well when it goes off as when it comes on Trallianus bids to give them for the Stone dried and beaten the wings and feet first of all taken away and this to be done in a bath with sweet Wine and Hippocrass Aegineta useth them dryed for the Stone in the reins and for the diseases of the reins he invented the composition called Diatettigon Such another like Antidote doth Myrepsus prescribe but all heads and feet as supervacaneous members being cast away Luminaris hath transcribed an Electuary out of Nicolaus of this sort Take Grashoppers their heads and legs cast away two ounces Grommel seed Saxifrage seed each 1 ounce Pepper Galanga Cinnamon of each 2 drams Lignum Aloes half a dram honey what is sufficient Nicolaus useth Grashoppers burned and powdered mingled with honey and gives them about the bigness of a bean in a quantity of wine Aetius gives three Grashoppers beat in Wine Some in stead of Cantharides use Grashoppers to provoke urine and in my judgement not without very good reason for they are taken with lesse danger and do work sooner as well in this disease as in the weakness of venery Nonus the Physician prescribes an Antidote of Grashoppers and Xenophyllum against the Stone in the kidneys Aretaeus for the remedies of the bladder speaks thus of Grashoppers The best remedy for the bladder is a Grashopper given in its time to eat Males before copulation but afterwards Females as we finde in Aristotle but out of their time dried and powdered boyl them with water and a little spike also let the patient sit in the same for a bath to ease the pains of the bladder Some of our later practitioners put Grashoppers in oyl and set them in the Sun and mingle them with oyl of Scorpions and anoint the privities of men and women the testicles and parts about with it for pains of the bladder Arnoldus Breviar l. 1. c. 20. 32. commends the powder of Grashoppers for the Colick and Iliack passion and also to drive forth the Stone if half a Grashopper in powder be drank with Goats bloud or Diuretick wine Lauframus highly esteems the ashes of Grashoppers to break the Stone taken with Radish water or the decoction of chich Pease Also they cause idle and lazy boyes to hunt after them Theocritus speaks thus of it in his first Idyllium Hee with thin ears of corn bound to a cane did make A whip for Grashoppers to hunt and take Neither are they only excellent meat and very usefull in Physick to men but they feed Birds also and insnare them For the youth of Crete as Bellonius witnesseth hide a hook in the body of a Grashopper and when they have fastned it to a line they cast it up into the air which the Merops seeing catch it and swalloweth which when the boyes perceive they draw it to them and so do exercise their air-fowling not without profit and pleasure The Grashoppers abounding in the end of the Spring do foretel a sickly year to come not that they are the cause of putrefaction in themselves but only shew plenty of putrid matter to be when there is such store of them appear Oftentimes their coming and singing doth pottend the happy state of things so Theocritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niphus saith that what year but few of them are to be seen they presage dearness of victuals and scarcity of all things else But whereas Jo. Langius a Philosopher of great reading and learning and a famous Physician saith lib. 2. epist that Grashoppers did eat the corn in Germany as the Locusts do Stumsius that it was done in Helvetia Lycosthenes lib. prodig and the Greek Epigram doth affirm that they eat the fruits and crop the herbs truly unless they mean a Locust in stead of a Grashopper they declare a strange thing and saving the credit of so famous men I will not believe for they have neither teeth nor excrement as hath been said but only feed and swell with the dew Besides although I have gone over all Helvetia Germany and England and have searcht for a Grashopper as for a needle yet could I fâ—nde none And therefore I suppose that both they themselves as also Guill de Conchy and Albert. Vincentius to have mistaken the Locust or Bruchus for the Grashopper being deceived by the common error who take the one for the other They that desire more of their nature and use may consult the Authors
read in Laertius l. 〈◊〉 Solinus calleth it Carystia l. de mund Mirab. Jul. Scaliger Ignigena Gaza Fur 〈…〉 and Bestiâ—la Fornacum out of Aristotle which he maketh bigger than the greater flies and winged Pliny affirmeth the same l. 11. c. 36. Antigonus l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith from Aristotle that these Fire-flies are bigger than Mice not Flies only where it is evident he foully mistook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mice for Flies which Xylander his Translator took no notice of In shape it is somewhat like a very big Gnat of a bright fire-red colour glittering with a kinde of fiery raies it leaps goes flies and lives in the flame as Aristotle reporteth l. 5. hist c. 19. For I can scarce give credit to Aelian l. 2. Hist c. 2. when he saith that the Fire-fly as soon as it hath gone out of the place where it was bred and flown into the air for food dieth presently for I cannot believe that any thing bred in the fire goeth out of its element to seek for food nor is it likely that Nature that most loving parent of all things should prescribe any creature such a way of getting its food by which it should presently lose its life Neither is it as it seems to me so hard to finde out the reason of this their sudden dying in the air which Aelian leaves to be searched out by others for being bred in the extremity of heat how should they live in a temperate place For it is evident by daily experience that some Fishes dye as soon as ever they are taken up oâ—t of the water into the air much less can those creatures that are bred in the fire endure the air since it differeth so much from the air and indeed more than the a 〈…〉 from the water These Flies are bred in the Brass Furnaces of the Isle Cyprus where the Chalcitis or Brassstone is burnt for many daies together perhaps the sooty vapours which go up with the flame while the stone is continually burnt are the matter and cause of their generation Strabo speaking in his 12 Book of Worms bred in the snow addeth this which followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They conjecture that the generation of these creatures is like that of Gnats of the flame from metals and plates of brass where any man may see the error of the Interpreter for he renders it thus Horum animalium generationem talem putant ut culicum ex flammâ bracteâ metallorum For they are bred in the flame as Scaliger saith not in massa that is as I interpret it in the fire which is condensed together nor doth any thing forbid but that the most dry animals may be generated in the most dry element for there is miâ—tion there also as the moistest are in the moistest for we have no pure fire with us But what hinders but that living creatures may be generated of matter ready for them or what natural reason contradicteth it They answer that fire destroyeth all things corrupteth all things But they which have had but any taste of the secrets of Philosophy do evince that to be false by clear demonstration and experience For so far is our fire from destroying or corrupting all things that it even perfecteth some It doth not corrupt nor consume gold nor some sorts of metals not ashes not the stone Amiantus which is very like Sicil Allum nor some other things which I will not now stand to reckon up for those froward mens sakes What then should hinder fire from having the power of generating so it be in a fit and convenient matter its very dâ—iness cannot hinder the generation from coming to effect because it proceedeth from the form but fire is the matter and the forms instrument for some operations Besides our fire hath alwaies some moisture joyned with it for it would not take flame nor burn if it were not cherished with a fat moisture for certainly those things are neither without earth nor water which are generated in our terrestrial fire G. Agricola But if this were not so because fire putrefies not yet there is no reason we should doubt but that generation may be effected by the fire as by the form in its proper matteâ— For unless there were moisture in metals they would not melt what therefore should hinder nature but that it may give this a form Aristotle maketh the question Whether in the sphere of the fire which is next to the Moon there be generated any living creatures and he seemeth to be in doubt and putteth off the question until another time but when he affirmeth that the Fire-fly is generated in this fire of ours I see no reason why any should doubt of it yet there are some very learned men and eminent writers of our time who seem nevertheless to excel rather in wit reading and language than in the solid knowledge of things natural who condemn and reject not only the generation of these little creatures in the fire but this whole history as frivolous false and unworthy of a Philosopher My readers expect now that I answere these mens arguments They object that Aristotle doth in plain terms affirm that the fire produceth no living creature The Philosopher doth there compare the heat of seed with the heat of fire affirming that there is not a fiery heat in seed for saith he if there were it would produce nothing But this hinders not but that a living creature may be generated in the fire without seed but of some other fit and convenient matter as we shall see anon Besides the Philosopher seems here as likewise elsewhere to speak of that fire only which is under the sphere of the Moon that that produceth no living creature not of ours where there is both mixtion and no pure fire But they yet urge Our fire is Substantia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a substance of most subtil parts and seizeth upon all things that are in its way devouring them and turning them into its own substance This was answered before when we instanced in some things which are rather perfected in the fire and which fire is by no means able to consume or turn into its substance Ic. Langius a man of much reading and a most learned Philosopher and from him Cardane grants that some Animals may live in the fire but not that they can be bred there for in this they yeeld to the Philosopher But who seeth not how absurd this yeelding is for I cannot see how things generated in a temperate place should be able to live in that extreme For that which they say of the Salamander is as good as nothing The Salamander as Diosc hath observed doth not live long in the fire for as soon as that moisture which runneth down on every side from its yellow spots as I conceive while it staies in the fire is consumed which is quickly done it is presently brought to ashes
Sclerocephalus is like to this in form and forces and effects the same things as also the Scolecium We said that the downy Phalangium drives away barrenness if it be carried about one but whether it be violently venomous I know no man that hath determined it The spotted or Phalangium of Apulia doth produce divers and contrary symptomes according to the complexion of him that is wounded and his present disposition For some laugh some cry some speak faulteringly others are wholly silent this man sleeps the other runs up and down alwaies waking this man rejoyceth is merry and moves up and down that is sad slothful dull some think themselves to be Kings and command all some are sad and think they are in captivity and fettered lastly as men drunk are not of one quality so are these that are mad some are fearful silent trembling some are bold clamoâ—ous constant This is common to them all to delight in musical instruments and to apply their mindes and bodies to dancing and leaping at the sound of them Lastly when by continuance of the disease and the vehemency of it they seem next unto death yet when they hear musick they recollect their spirits and they dance with greater chearfulness every day These dancings being continued night and day at length the spirits being agitated and the venome driven forth by insensible transpiration they grow well But if the Musicians upon any cause do but leave off playing before the fuel of this mischief be spent the sick fall into the same disease that they were first oppressed with We must admire this most above other things that all those that are stung with the the Tarantula dance so well as if they were taught to dance and sing as well as if they were musically bred In Italy it was first invented and custome hath taken it up to call such as are bitten Tarantati or Tarantulati Cardanus against faith and experience denieth that musick can restore any that are bitten yet we heard the same thing fell out at Basil from Felix Platerus Theodore Zuingerus our most famous and dear Masters and we read the same in Matthiolus Bellunensis Ponzettus and Paracelsus And if the sweet musick of pipes could help mad horses and pains of the hips as Asclepiades writes why may it not help those are stung with a Tarantula Some there are that assign to this disease some I know not what small deity as superintendent over it they call him St. Vitus that had formerly great skill in singing he being called upon and pacified with musick as he is the patron of musick cures them so that men superstitiously impute that to him which they should do to musick and dancing Bellonius reports that the Cretian Phalangium induceth the like mischiefs and the pain and wound of it is also cured by musick It is no wonder the Ancients described not these two kindes of Phalangia because they knew them not nor did the shew the waies how to cure their stingings Dioscorides writes thus of the common bitings of the Phalangia The symptomes that follow their bitings are commonly these The place stung looketh red but neither swels nor waxeth hot but it is something moist when it growes cold the whole body quakes the hams and groins are stretched out there is a collection made in the loins they are often urged to make water and they sweat with very great pain and labour to go to the stool and cold sweat runs down every where and tears trickle down from their darkned eyes Aetius adds further They are kept waking they have frequent erection of the yard their head pricks sometimes their eyes and their legs grow hollow Their belly is unequally stretched out with winds and their whole body swels chiefly their face their gums their tongues and tonsils they bring forth their words foolishly and gaping sometimes they are troubled with difficulty to make water they are pained in their secrets they make urine like water and full of cobwebs The part affected is pricked and swels which Dioscorides denied before and it is moderately red So saith Aetius from whom Paulus Actuarius Ardoynus differ but little Gal. 3. de loc affec c. 7. hath it thus The bitings saith he of the Phalangia are scarce to be seen it first affects only the skin and from the superficies of it it is carried by the continuity of the fibres to the brain and into the whole body for the skin comes from the membranes and they from the nerves and the brain this is clear because by presently binding of it on the farther parts they are preserved from the venome that is near to them In Zacinthus they that are bit by the Phalangia are otherwise affected and more grievously in other parts their body is astonished weakned trembles and is very cold vomiting and convulsion followes and inflation of the yard their ears are afflicted with most cruel pains and the soles of their feet They use bathing for a remedy if the party recovered go willingly into bathes afterwards or were by chance or by craft brought into them by the hot water the contagion passeth over the whole body and he perceives the same mischief in the whole body Dioscorides writes the same things in the chapter concerning Trifoly that smels like Asphaltum The decoction of the whole plant easeth all the pain by fomentation where Serpents have stung men what man soever that hath ulcers and washeth himself in the same bath is so affected as he that was bit by a Serpent Galen saith he thinks it is done by a miracle Lib. de Theriaca ad Pisonom if Galen did write that Book But Aelian speaks more miraculously where he affirms that may happen to those that are sound making no mention of ulcers And thus much for symptomes Now for the cure The cure is particular or general Physitians speak of but a few particular cures because the general is commonly effectual But Pliny sets down a remedy against the biting of the Phalangium called Formicarium that hath a red head to shew another of the same kinde to him that is wounded and they are kept dead for this purpose Also a young Weasil is very good whose belly is stuft with Coriander kept long and drank in Wine A Wasp that is called Ichneumon bruised and applied drives back the venome of the Phalangium Vesparium saith Bellonius not otherwise than as one living kils another that is alive For Ichneumon saith Aristotle is a small creature that is an enemy to the Phalangia it often goes into their holes and goes forth again losing its labour For it is a matter of great labour for so small a creature to draw forth its enemy greater than it self by force but if he light upon his enemy preying abroad he drags the Phalangium as easily with him as a Pismire doth a corn and the more stifly he drawes himself back the Wasp draws him on the more fiercely and sparing
I thought good to write these histories out of Pennius A woman thirty six years old had great pain of an Apostume in her reins and she consumed at length she cast forth little Worms a fingers breadth long which I first saw in the bottome of her urine Anno 1582. Randulph a London Physician very learned and pious when he looked on at the dissection of the body of one that was dead of the Stone in the kidneys he sound in one of the kidneys that was corrupted it was wrinkled and putrefied a Worm of a full length Timothy Bright a very skilful Physician and to whom we are much indebted for the Epitomie of the Ecclesiastical History saw a Scholar at Cambridge when he lived there that pissed out a Worm an inch and half long but it was not without feet as Worms are but it had many feet and was very nimble Aloysius Mundella Medicina Dialog 4. Argenterius cap. de vesic morb Rondeletius lib. de dign morb c. 17. Scholiastes Hollerii lib. de morb in t cap. de vesic affec to say nothing of Levinus Cardan and my own experience do sufficiently testifie that such Creatures breed also in the bladder That Worms come forth of the matrix like to Ascarides I did not only see at Frankfurt in a German woman at eighty years of her age but Aloysius confirms the same in his Epistle to Gesner and Hippocrates 2. de m. mulier and Avenzoar lib. 1. tract 2. have said the like Kiranides writes that there is a Worm to be found in the matrix of a Mule which tied to a woman will make her barren In India and the Countreys above Egypt there are some living Creatures like to Worms in form they are commonly called Dragons they are in the Arms Legs Shanks and other brawny parts also in young children they breed in secret places under their skin and more apparently When they have stayed there for some long time at some end of this Dragon the place comes to supputation and the skin being opened out comes this Dragons head Paulus lib. 4. c. 59. Soranus granteth this but he questions whether they be living creatures Moreover in the bloud it self some living creatures breed like to Worms that feed on the body as Pliny writes Hist 26. c. 13. Plutarch 8. Sympos who writes that a young man of Athens voided Worms with his seed Aegineta saw them come forth at the groins and buttocks as he saith lib. 4. to whom Benevennius subscribes c. 100. Also they breed under Sheeps clawes saith Columella and such I have seen under the nails of those that were troubled with a Whit-flaw And thus farre concerning Worms in the bodies of living Creatures But such as breed in dead and corrupt bodies whether it be from the disease or the Chirurgeons fault want a Latin name but the Greeks call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appears by Hippocrates The English call them Maggots Coelius would also have them called Eulas in Latin borrowing the word from the Greeks We will speak of these in order And first concerning Worms of the guts the descriptions whereof the causes signs symptomes and cure wil bring much light to the History of the rest CHAP. XXXI Of the Description of Worms in the Intestines VVEE shewed before that there are three sorts of Worms that are bred in the guts It will be worth our labour to describe what each of them is The round Worms are the first difference and that manifest to all men because these are the most common and are so called because they are indeed round and smooth not unlike to those worms that breed in dunghils and gardens which we said before are called by the Greeks the bowels of the earth These as all other Worms are blinde without any eyes and they are a hand length or something more yet Benivennius c. 〈◊〉 affirms that a Smith did vomit up a Worm with grosse flegm almost a foot and half long very plain with a red head that was smooth and about the bigness of a pease but the body of it was downy and the tail crooked like the half-moon Also at Rome anno 1543. one that was now upon his youthful years when as for many daies as Gabucinns tels the story he had been in great torments of his belly at last he voided by stool a great black Worm with black hair five feet long as big as a cane He saw one also that did not exceed the hands length like to the round Worms but that the back of it was hairy and set as it were with red hairs but this being cast forth by using good remedies he grew very well One Antonianus a Canon as Hieronymus Montuus tels the story voided a green Worm but he died shortly after he had voided that But for the most part they are smooth and not hairy a hand long and not a foot at both ends pointed as it were with a nib And they differ so far from Earth-worms that they wear no collar nor girdle what concerns their colours I have seen some red yellow black and partly white or gold colour Green ones are seldom seen yet Montuus saw some Gourd-worms are those quick Worms that are like unto Gourd-seeds concerning which the question is so great between Gabucinus and Mercurialis for when he treats of a broad VVorm that is made of an infinite number of Gourd-seeds shut up in a skin he saith thus I saith he think a broad Worm to be nothing else but according to Hippocrates as it were a white shaving of the guts that comprehends all the intestines between which some living creatures are bred like unto Gourd-seeds which may then be seen to be voided when all that shaving is voided yet oft-times it is voided by parts which if they break when they are voiding then you may behold these Worms like to Cucumer-seeds voided by themselves sometimes many of them being folded together sometimes but a few But if any man shall see all that portion let him know that that scraping off like a Worm doth not live but the creatures that are in it like Cucumer-seeds I once saw this Worm called a Broad Worm that pants to have been of a wonderful length and it crawled a woman in a Quotidian Feaver voided it by siege and when I did with admiration much view it and sought to finde the cause of its motion that other man who said he voided a portion of a broad Worm some daies before which he would shew unto me for a wonder did shew it me with incredible des I had to see it for this portion did move it self whence I was more desirous to know the cause of that At last searching diligently I observed through the whole hollow part of it a rank of living creatures like to Cucumer-seeds which crept forth of it as out of some bed some-times one sometimes two folded together oft-times four or more and that part of the shaving of the