cloth and then put thereunto of Sugar one pound of Cinamon two ounces of Conserve of Roses of Barberries of Cherries of each two ounces and mingle them together and give the Horse every day in the morning a quart thereof luke warm untill all be spent and after every time he drinketh let him be walked up and down in the stable or else abroad if the weather be warm and not windy and let him neither eat nor drink in two hours after and let him drink no cold water but luke-warm the space of fifteen days and let him be fed by little and little with such meat as the Horse hath most appetite unto But if the Horse he nesh and tender and so wax lean without any apparent grief or disease then the old Writers would have him to be fed now and then with parched Wheat and also to drink Wine with his water and eat continually Wheat-bran mingled with his provender untill he wax strong and he must be often dressed and trimmed and ly soft without the which things his meat will do him but little good And his meat must be fine and clean and given often and by little at once Russius saith that if a Horse eating his meat with good appetite doth not for all that prosper but is still lean then it is good to give him Sage Savin Bay-berries Earth-nuts and Boares-grease to drink with Wine or to give him the intrails of a Barbel or Tench with white Wine He saith also that sodden Beans mingled with Bran and Salt will make a lean Horse fat in very short space Of grief in the Breast LAurentius Russius writeth of a disease called in Italian Gravezza di petto which hath not been in experience amongst our Farriers that I can learn It comes as Russius saith of the superfluity of bloud or other humors dissolved by some extream heat and resorting down the breast paining the Horse so as he cannot well go The cure whereof according to Russius is thus Let him bloud on both sides of the breast in the accustomed veins and rowel him under the breast and twice a day turn the rowels with your hand to move the humors that they may issue forth and let him go so roweled the space of fifteen days Of the pain in the Heart called Anticor that is to say contrary to the Heart THis proceedeth of abundance of ranck bloud bred with good feeding and over much rest which bloud resorting to the inward parts doth suffocate the heart and many times causeth swellings to appear before the brest which will grow upward to the neck and then it killeth the Horse The signes The Horse will hang down his head in the manger for saking his meat and is not able to lift up his head The cure according to Martin is thus Let him bloud on both sides abundantly in the plat veins and then give him this drink Take a quart of Malmsie and put thereunto half a quartern of Sugar and two ounces of Cinamon and give it him luke-warm then keep him warm in the stable stuffing him well about the stomach that the wind offend him no manner of way and give him warm water with mault always to drink and give him such meat as he will eat And if the swelling do appear then besides letting him bloud strike the swelling in divers places with your fleam that the corruption may go forth and anoint the place with warm Hogs grease and that will either make it to wear away or else to grow to a head if it be covered and kept warm Of tired Horses BEcause we are in hand here with the vital parts and that when the Horses be tired with over-much labour their vital spirits wax feeble I think it best to speak of them even here not with long discoursing as Vegetius useth but briefly to shew you how to refresh the poor Horse having need thereof which is done chiefly by giving him rest warmth and good feeding as with warm mashes and plenty of provender And to quicken his spirits it shall be gâ—od to pour a little Oyl and Vinegar into his nostrils and to give him the drink of Sheeps heads recited before in the Chapter of Consumption of the flesh yea and also to bath his legs with this bath Take of Mallows of Sage of each two or three handfuls and of a Rose-cake boil these things together and being boyled then put unto it a good quantity of Butter or of Sallet-oyl Or else make him this charge Take of Bole Armony and of Wheat-flowre of each half a pound and a little Rozen beaten into powder and a quart of strong Vinegar and mingle them together and cover all his legs therewith and if it be Summer turn him to grass Of the diseased parts under the Midriff and first of the Stomach THe old Authors make mention of many diâ—eases incident to a Horses stomach as loathing of meat spewing up his drink surfeting of provender the hungry evil and such like which few of our Farriers have observed and therefore I will briefly speak of as many as I think necessary to be known and first of the loathing of meat Of the loathing of Meat A Horse may loath his meat through the intemperature of his stomach as for that it is too hot or too cold If his stomach be too hot then most commonly it will either inflame his mouth and make it to break out in blisters yea and perhaps cause some Cancker to breed there The cure of all which things hath been taught before But if he forsake his meat only for very heat which you shall perceive by the hotness of his breath and mouth then cool his stomach by giving him cold water mingled with a little Vinegar and Oyl to drink or else give him this drink Take of Milk and of Wine of each one pinte and put thereunto three ounces of Mel Rosatum and wash all his mouth with Vinegar and Salt If his stomach be too cold then his hair will stare and stand right up which Absyrtus and others were wont to cure by giving the Horse good Wine and Oyl to drink and some would seethe in Wine Rew or Sage some would adde thereunto white Pepper and Myrrhe some would give him Onyons and Rocket-seed to drink with Wine Again there be other some which prescribe the bloud of a young Sow with old Wine Absyrtus would have the Horse to eat the green blades of Wheat if the time of the year will serve for it Columella saith that if a Horse or any other Beast do loath his meat it is good to give him Wine and the seed of Gith or else Wine and stampt Garlick Of casting out his Drink VEgetius saith that the Horse may have such a Palsie proceeding of cold in his stomach as he is not able to keep his drink but many times to cast it out again at his mouth The remedy whereof is to let him bloud in the neck and to
kernels of Walnuts put into Eggeshels for this cure and other take the bloudy water it self and blow it into the beasts Nostrils and herd-men by experience have found that there is no better thing then Herb-Robert to stay the pisling of bloud they must also be kept in a stall within doors and be fed with dry grasse and the best hay If their horns be anointed with wax oil and pitch they feel no pain in their hoofs except in cases where any beast treadeth and presseth anothers hoof in which case take oil and sod wine and then use them in a hot Barly plaister or poultess layed to the wounded place but if the plough-share hurt the Oxes foot then lay thereunto Stone-pitch Grease and Brimstone having first of all seared the wound with a hot Iron bound about with shorn wool Now to return to the taming and instruction of Oxen. It is said that Busiris King of Egypt was the first that ever tamed or yoaked Oxen having his name given him for that purpose Oxen are by nature meek gentle slow and not stubborne because being deprived of his genitals he is more tractable and for this cause it is requisite that they be alwayes used to hand and to be familiar with man that he may take bread at his hand and be tyed up to the rack for by gentleness they are best tamed being thereby more willing and strong for labour then if they were roughly yoaked or suffered to run wilde without the society and sight of men Varro saith that it is best to tame them betwixt five and three year old for before three it is too soon because they are too tender and after five it is too late by reason they are too unweildy and stubborn But if any be taken more wilde and unruly take this direction for their taming First if you have any old tamed Oxen joyne them together a wilde and a tame and if you please you may make a yoak to hold the necks of three Oxen so that if the beast would rage and be disobedient then will the old one both by example and strength draw him on keeping him from starting aside and falling down They must also be accustomed to draw an empty Cart Wain or sled through some Town or Village where there is some concourse of people or a plow in fallowed ground or sand so as the beast may not be discouraged by the weight and strength of the business their keeper must often with his own hand give them meat into their mouth and stroke their Noses that so they may be acquainted with the smell of a man and likewise put his hands to their sides and stroke them under their belly whereby the beast may feel no displeasure by being touched In some Countries they wash them all over with wine for two or three daies together and afterward in a horn give them wine to drink which doth wonderfully tame them although they have never been so wild Other put their necks into engins and tame them by substracting their meat Other affirm that if a wilde Ox be tyed with a halter made of wool he will presently wax tame but to this I leave every man to his particular inclination for this business only let them change their Oxens sides and set them sometime on the right side and sometime on the left side and beware that he avoid the Oxes heel for if once he get the habite of kicking he will very hardly be restrained from it again He hath a good memory and will not forget the man that pricked him whereas he will not stir aâ— at another being like a man in fetters who dissembleth vengeance untill he be released and then payeth the person that hath grieved him Wherefore it is not good to use a young Oxe to a goad but rather to awaken his dulness with a whip These beasts do understand their own names and distinguish betwixt the voice of their keepers and strangers They are also said to remember and understand numbers for the King of Persia had certain Oxen which every day drew water to Susis to water his Gardens their number was an hundred Vessels which through custom they grew to observe and therefore not one of them would halt or loiter in that business till the whole was accomplished but after the number fulfilled there was no goad whip or other means could once make them stir to fetch another draught or burthen They are said to love their fellows with whom they draw in yoak most tenderly whom they seek out with mourning if he be wanting It is likewise observed in the licking of themselves against the hair but as Cicero saith if he bend to the right side and lick that it presageth a storm but if he bend to the left side he foretelleth a calmy fair day In like manner when he lougheth and smelleth to the earth or when he feedeth fuller then ordinary it betokeneth change of weather but in the Autumn if Sheep or Oxen dig the earth with their feet or lie down head to head it is held for an assured token of a tempest They feed by companies and flocks and their nature is to follow any one which strayeth away for if the Neat-herd be not present to restrain them they will all follow to their own danger Being angred and provoked they will fight with strangers very irefully with unappeasable contention for it was seen in Rhaetia betwixt Curia and Velcuria that when the herds of two Villages met in a certain plain together they fought so long that of threescore four and twenty were slain and all of them wounded eight excepted which the inhabitants took for an ill presage or mischief of some ensuing calamity and therefore they would not suffer their bodies to be covered with earth to avoid this contention skilful Neat-herds give their Cattel some strong herbs as garlick and such like that the savour may avert that strife They which come about Oxen Buls and Bugils must not wear any red garments because their nature riseth and is provoked to rage if they see such a colour There is great enmity between Oxen and Wolves for the Wolf being a flesh-eating creature lyeth in wait to destroy them and it is said that there is so great a natural fear in them that if a Wolves tail be hanged in the rack or manger where an Ox feedeth he will abstain from eating This beast is but simple though his aspect seem to be very grave and thereof came the proverb of the Oxen to the yoak which was called Ceroma wherewithal Wrastlers and Prize-players were anointed but when a foolish and heavie man was anointed they said ironically Bos ad ceroma Again the folly of this beast appeareth by another Greek proverb which saith that An Ox raiseth dust which blindeth his own eyes to signifie that foolish and indiscreet men stir up the occasion of their own harmes The manifold Epithets
be then it is not well Secondly sickness is known by alteration of the quality as if it be too hot or too cold too moist or too dry Thirdly when the action of any member is hurt or letted as when the eye-sight is not perfect it is a manifest sign that the eye is evill affected or sick Likewise when there breedeth no good bloud in the body it is an evident token that the Liver is not well Fourthly sickness is known by the excrements that come from the Beast as by dung or stale for if his dung be too strong of sent full of whole Cornâ— or of Wormes too hard or too soft or evill coloured it is a token that he is not well in his body so likewise if his stale be too thick or too thin too white or too red it betokeneth some surfet raw digestion or else some grief in his reins bladder or stones But Vegetius saith that it is best known whether a Horse be sick or not or toward sickness by these signes here following for if he be more slow and heavie in his trotting or gallopping harder of Spur then he was wont to be or spreadeth his litter abroad with his feet often tumbling in the night season fetching his breath short and violently loud snuffling in the Nose and casting out vapors at his Nostrils or lyeth down immediately after his provender or maketh long draughts in his drinking or in the night season is now down and now on foot or if in the next morning he be very hot in his pasterns or betwixt his ears or that his ears hang more then they are wont to do again if his eye sight be dim and his eyes hollow in his head his hairs standing right up and his flanks hollow and empty whensoever two or three of these signes do concur together then it is to be thought saith Vegetius that the Horse is not well and therefore he would have him immediately to be separated from his companions that be whole and to be placed by himself untill his disease be perfectly known and cured and especially if it be any contagious disease I have seen divers Farriars here in England to use that for the trial of a Horses sickness which I never read in any Author that is to feel his stones whether they be hot or cold and tosmell at his nostrils and so by the savour thereof to judge what sickness the Horse hath Truly I think that no evill way if they can discern with their sense of smelling the diversity of savours that cometh out of his Nostrils and then aptly apply the same to the humours whereof such savours be bred and so orderly to seek out the originall cause of his sickness But I fear me that more Farriars smell without judgement then with such judgement and no marvell why sith that few or none be learned or have been brought up with skilful Masters But from henceforth I trust that my travail will cause such Farriars as can read and have some understanding already to be more diligent in seeking after knowledge then they have been heretofore whereby they shall be the better able to serve their Countrey and also to profit themselves with good fame whereas now for lack of knowledge they incur much slander Of the Fever and divers kinds thereof in a Horse I Think it will seem strange unto some to hear that a Horse should have an Ague or Fever but it was not strange unto the men of old time as to Absyrtus Hierocles Xenophon Vegetius and such like old Souldiers throughly experimented in Horses griefs A Fever according to the learned Physitians is an unnatural and immoderate heat which proceeding first from the heart spreadeth it self throughout all the arteries and veins of the body and so letteth the actions thereof Of Fevers there be three general kinds whereof the first is that which breedeth in the spirits being inflamed or heated more then their nature requireth The second breedeth in the humors being also distempered by heat The third in the firm parts of the body being continually hot What spirits and humors be hath been told you before in the keepers Office Of these three general kinds do spring many other special kinds as Quotidians Tertians Quartans Fevers Hectick and very many others whereunto mans body is subject whereof none of my Authors do treat unless Vegetius who speaketh somewhat of a Fever Quotidian of a Fever continual and also of a Fever accidental He speaketh also of Summer Autumn and Winter Fevers without making any great difference betwixt them more then that one is worse then another by reason of the time and season of the year so that in effect all is but one Fever Wherefore according unto Absyrtus opinion I will briefly shew you first the causes whereof it proceeds and then the signes how to know it and finally how to cure the same The Fever chanceth sometime by surfetting of extreme labour or exercise as of too much travelling and especially in hot weather of too swift gallopping and running and sometime by extreme heat of the Sun and also by extreme cold of the aire and sometime it breedeth of crudity or raw digestion which many times happeneth by over greedy eating of sweet green corn or of such provender as was not thoroughly dryed or cleansed for after such greedy eating and specially such meat never followeth perfect digestion The signes to know a Fever be these The Horse doth continually hold down his head and is not able to lift it up his eyes are even blown so as he cannot easily open them yea and many times they be watering the flesh of his lips and of all his body is lush and feeble his stones hang low his body is hot and his breath is very hot and strong he standeth weakly on his legs and in his going draweth them lasiely after him yea he cannot go but very softly and that staggering here and there he will lie down on his side and is not able to turn himself or to wallow he forsaketh his meat both hay and provender and is desirous of nothing but of drink which as Absyrtus saith is an assured token of a Fever he also sleepeth but little The cure and diet Let him bloud in the face and temples and also in the palat of his mouth and the first day give him no meat but only warm drink and that by little and little Afterward give him continually grasse or else very sweet hay wet in water and let him be kept warm and sometime walke him up and down fair and softly in a temperate air and then let him rest and when you see that he begins to amend give him by little and little at once Barley fair sifted and well sodden and also mundified that is to say the huske pulled away like as when you blanch Almonds Of divers sorts of Fevers according to Vegetius and first of that which continueth but one day THe Fever of
one day called by the Greek name Ephemera or else by the Latin name Diaria chanceth many times through the rashness and small discretion of the keeper or some other that letteth not to ride a Horse unmeasurably either before or after watering whereby the Horse afterward in the stable entreth into an extream heat and so falleth into his Fever which you shall know partly by his waterish and bloud-shotten eyes and partly by his short violent and hot breathing and panting Moreover he will forsake his meat and his legs will wax stiffe and feeble The cure Let him have rest all the next day following and be comforted with warm meat then let him be walked up and down fair and softly and so by little and little brought again to his former estate Of the Fever continual THe Fever continual is that which continueth without intermission and is called in Italian by the Latin name Febris continua which springeth of some inflamation or extream heat bred in the principal members or inward parts about the heart which is known in this sort The Horse doth not take his accustomed rest whereby his flesh doth fall away every day more and more and sometime there doth appear hot inflamations in his flanks and above his withers The cure Purge his head by squirting into his Nostrils Mans urine or the Water of an Ox that hath been rested a certain time to the intent such water may be the stronger and then give him the drink written in the next Chapter Of the Fever taken in the Autumn that is to say at the fall of the leaf IF a Horse chance to get a Fever at the fall of the leaf cause him immediately to be let bloud in the neck vein and also in the third furrow of the roof of his mouth and then give him this drink Take of Jermander four ounces of Gum-dragant and of dryed Roses of each one ounce beat them all into fine powder and put them into a quart of Ale adding thereunto of Oil-olive four ounces and of Hony as much and give it the Horse lukewarm Of the Fever in Summer season A Fever taken in Summer season is much worse then in any other time and especially if it be taken in the Dog days for then the accidents be more furious The signes be these his arteries will beat evidently and he will shed his seed when he staleth and his going will be unorderly The cure Let him bloud in a vein that he hath in his hinder hanch about four fingers beneath the fundament or if you cannot finde that vein let him bloud in the neck vein toward the withers and if it be needful you may also give him this drink Take the juyce of a handful of Parslein mingled with Gum-dragant with Ensens and a few Damask roses beaten all into fine powder and then put thereunto a sufficient quantity of Ale made sweet with Hony Of the Fever in Winter FOr the Fever in Winter it shall be good to take the powder of the drugs last mentioned and with a quill or reed to blow it up into his left nostril to make him to neese It shall be good also to let him bloud in the neck vein and in the palat of the mouth and then give him one of these drinks here following Take of Ireos six ounces of round Pepper one ounce of Bay berries and of the seed of Smallage of each one ounce and let him drink them with sodden Wine Or else take a pinte of good Milk and put therein of Oile four ounces of Saffron one scruple of Myrrhe two scruples of the seed of Smallage a spoonful and make him drink that or make him this drink Take of Aristoloch otherwise called round Hartwort one ounce of Gentian of Hysop of Worm-wood of Sothernwood of each one ounce of dry fat figs six ounces of the seed of Smallage three ounces of Rue a handful boil them all in a clean Vessel with River Water untill the third part be consumed and when you see it look black and thick take it from the fire strain it and give the Horse to drink thereof lukewarm As touching his diet let his water be alwayes lukewarm wherein would be put a little Wheat meal and remember to give him no meat so long as his fit continueth And because in all Agues it is good to quicken the natural heat of the Horse by rubbing and fretting his body it shall not be amisse in some fair day to use this Friction called of the ancient writers Apotorapie which is made in this sort Take of Damaske Roses one pound of old Oil a pinte of strong Vinegar a pinte and a half of Mints and Rue beaten into powder of each one ounce and a half together with one old dry Nut beat them and mingle them together then being strained and made lukewarm rub and chafe all the Horses body therewith against the hair untill he beginneth to sweat then set him up in the warmest place of the stable and cover him well Of the Fever which cometh of raw Digestion or of Repletion YOu shall know if the Fever proceedeth of any such cause by these signes here following The Horse will blow at the nose more then he is accustomed to do seemeth to fetch his winde only at his nose and his breath will be short hot and dry you shall see his flanks walk and his back to beat The cure Cause him to be let bloud abundantly in the head and palat of his month and by squirting warm Vinegar in the morning into his nostrils force him to neese and if he be costive let his fundament be raked or else give him a Glyster to ease the pain in his head And as touching his diet give him but litttle provender or hay neither let him drink much nor often but betwixt times But in any wise let him be well rubbed and chafed and that a good while together and if you use the Friction declared in the last Chapter before in such sort as there is said it shall do him very much good Of the Fever accidental coming of some Vlcer in the mouth or throat THe Horse not being well kept and governed after that he hath been let bloud in the upper parts yea and also besides that of his own nature is subject unto the distillation in his throat or parts thereabout the painful swelling or Ulcer whereof causeth the Horse to fall into a grievous Ague Whereof besides the former remedies apt to purge humors it shall be necessary also to let him bloud in the vein of the head and in the palat of his mouth and to be short in all those places where the disease causeth most grief And if the Horse be so sore pained as he cannot swallow down his meat it shall be good to give him lukewarm water mingled with Barley meal or Wheat meal and beside that to make him swallow down seven sops sopped in Wine one after another at one
awry as I have seen divers my self then I think it not good that the Horse be drawn with a hot iron on both sides of the neck but only on the contrary side As for example if he bend his head toward the right side then to draw him as is aforesaid only on the left side and to use the rest of the cure as is abovesaid and if need be you may splent him also with handsome staves meet for the purpose to make his neck stand right Of Wens in the neck A Wen is a certain kirnell like a tumor of swelling the inside whereof is hard like a gristle and spongious like a skin full of wrets Of Wens some be great and some be small Again some be very painful and some not painful at all The Physitians say that they proceed of grosse and vicious humors but Vegetius saith that they chance to a Horse by taking cold or by drinking of waters that be extreme cold The cure according to Martin is thus Take of Mallowes Sage and red Nettles of each one handful boil them in running water and put thereunto a little Butter and Honey and when the Herbs be soft take them out and all to bruise them and put thereunto of oil of Bay two ounces and two ounces of Hogs grease and warm them together over the fire mingling them well together that done plaister it upon a piece of leather so big as the Wen and lay it to so hot as the Horse may endure it renewing it every day in such sort the space of eight days and if you perceive that it will come to no head then lance it from the midst of the Wen downward so deep as the matter in the bottom may be discovered and let out that done heal it up with this Salve Take of Turpentine a quarter and wash it nine times in fair new water then put thereunto the yolk of an Egge and a little English Saffron beaten into powder and make a tent or rowle of Flax and dip it in that ointment and lay it unto the sore renewing the same every day once untill it be whole Of swelling in the neck after blood-letting THis may come of the fleam being rusty and so causing the vein to rankle or else by means of some cold wind striking suddainly into the hole The cure according to Martin is thus First anoint it with oil of Camomile warmed and then lay upon it a little hay wet in cold water and bind it about with a cloth renewing it every day the space of five dayes to see whether it will grow to a head or else vanish away If it grow to a head then give it a slit with a lancer and open it with a Cornet that the matter may come out Then heal it up by tenting it with Flax dipt in Turpentine and Hogs grease molten together dressing it so once a day untill it be whole How to 〈◊〉 bloud IF a Horse be let bloud when the signe is in the neck the 〈◊〉 perhaps will not leave bleeding so soon as a man would have it which if any such thing chauce then Russius saith it is good to binde thereunto a lettle new Horse dung tempered with chalke and strong Vinegar and not to remove it from thence the space of three dayes or else to lay thereunto burnt silk felt or cloth for all such things will staunch bloud Of the falling of the Crest THis cometh for the most part of poverty and specially when a fat Horse falleth away suddainly The cure according to Martin is thus Draw his Crest the deepness a straw on the contrary side with a hot iron the edge of which iron would be half an inch broad and make your beginning and ending somewhat beyond the fall so as the first draught may go all the way hard upon the edge of the mane even underneath the roots of the same bearing your hand right downward into the neckward then answer that with another draught beneath and so far distant from the first as the fall is broad compassing as it were all the fall but still on the contrary side and betwixt those two draughts right in the midst draw a third draught then with a button iron of an◠inch about burn at each end a hole and also in the spaces betwixt the draughts make divers holes distant three fingers broad one from another that done to slake the fire anoint it every day once for the space of nine dayes with a feather dipt in fresh Butter moulten Then take Mallows and Sage of each one a handful boil them well in running water and wash the burning away untill it be raw flesh then dry it up with this powder Take of Hony half a pinte and so much unfleck't lime as will make that Hony thick like paste then hold it in a fire-pan over the fire untill it be baked so hard as it may be made in powder and sprinkle that upon the sore places Of the falling of the Crest THe falling of the Crest is occasioned most commonly through poverty yet sometimes I have seen it chance thorugh the ill proportion of the Crest which being high thick and heavy the neck thin and weak underneath is not able to support or sustain it up however it be there is remedy for both if it proceed of poverty first try by good keeping to get it up again but if it will not rise or that the original of the disease be in the ill fashion of the Crest then let this be the cure First with your hand raise up the Crest as you would have it stand or rather more to that side from which it declineth then take up the skin between your fingers on that side from which the Crest swarveth and with a sharp knife cut away the breadth of very near an inch and the length of four inches which done stitch up the skin together again with three or four stitches and by means of strings weights or other devises keep the Crest perforce on that side applying thereunto a plaister of Deers sewet and Turpentine boiled together till the sore be healed and at the self same instant that by this manner of insition you draw together and straiten the skin on that side you shall in this sort give liberty to the other side whereby the Crest may the easier attain to his place Take a hot iron made in fashion of a knife the edge being a quarter of an inch broad and therewith from the upper part of his Crest unto the neather part of the same extending towards his shoulder draw three lines in this forme and the same anoint dayly with fresh Butter untill such time as it be perfectly whole By this manner of cure you may make any lave-ear'd Horse to be as prick-ear'd and comely as any other Horse whatsoever Of the manginess of the Mane THe manginess proceedeth of rankness of bloud or of poverty of lowsiness or else of rubbing where a
to come of some grosse and tough humor cleaving hard to the hollow places of the Lungs which stoppeth the winde-pipes so as the Horse cannot easily draw his breath and if it continue it will either grow to the Pursick or else break his winde altogether The signs be these He will cough both often drily and also vehemently without voiding at the nose or mouth The cure according to Martin is in this sort Take a close earthen pot and put therein three pintes of strong Vinegar and four Eggs shels and all unbroken and four Garlick heads clean pilled and bruised and set the pot being very close covered in some warm dunghil and there let it stand a whole night and the next morning with your hand take out the Egges which will be so soft as silk and lay them by untill you have strained the Garlick and Vinegar through a fair cloth then put to that liquor a quartern of Hony and half a quartern of Sugarcandy and two ounces of Licoras and two ounces of Anise seeds beaten all into fine powder And then the Horse having fasted all the night before in the morning betwixt seven and eight of the clock open his mouth with a cord and whorle therein one of the Egges so as he may swallow it down and then immediately powre in after a hornefull of the aforesaid drink being first made lukewarm and cast in another Egge with another hornful of drink and so continue to do untill he hath swallowed up all the Egges and drunk up all the drink and then bridle him and cover him with warmer clothes then he had before and bring him into the stable and there let him stand on the bit at the bate rack well littered up to the belly the space of two hours Then unbit him and if it be in Winter offer him a handfull of Wheaten straw if in Summer give him grasse and let him eat no hay unless it be very well dusted and sprinkled with water and give him not much thereof And therefore you shall need to give him the more provender which also must be well cleansed of all filth and dust and give him no water the space of nine dayes And if you perceive that the Cough doth not wear away then if it be in Winter purge him with these pils Take of Lard two pound laid in water two hours then take nothing but the clean fat thereof and stamp it in a morter and thereto put of Licoras of Anise seeds of Fenegreek of each beaten into powder three ounces of Aloes in powder two ounces of Agarick one ounce Knead these together like paste and make thereof six bals as big as an Egge Then the Horse having fasted over night give him the next morning these pils one after another anointed with Hony and Oyl mingled together in a platter and to the intent he may swallow them down whether he will or not when you have opened his mouth catch hold of his tongue and hold it fast while you whirle in one of the pils that done thrust it into his throat with 〈◊〉 rolling-pin and then let his tongue go untill he hath swallowed it down then give him 〈…〉 all the rest of the pils and let him stand on the bit warm clothed and littered the space of three hours at the least and after that give him a little wet hay and warm water with a little ground mault in it to drink and let him drink 〈◊〉 other but warm water the space of a week And now and then in a fair sunny day it shall be good to trot him one hour abroad to breath him Of the Fretized broken and rotten Lungs THis proceedeth as Absyrtus and Theomnestus saith either of an extreme Cough or of vehement running or leaping or of over greedy drinking after great thirst for the Lungs be inclosed in a very thin film or skin and therefore easie to be broken which if it be not cured in time doth grow to Apostumation and to corruption oppressing all the Lungs which of old Authors is called Vomicâ— and Suppuratio But Theomnestus saith that broken Lungs and rotten Lungs be two divers diseases and have divers signes and divers cures The signes of broken Lungs be these the Horse draweth his wind short and by little at once he will turn his head often toward the place grieved and groaneth in his breathing he is afraid to cough and yet cougheth as though he had eaten small bones The same Theomnestus healed a friends Horse of his whose Lungs were st 〈…〉 or rather broken as he saith by continual eating of Salt with this manner of cure here following Let the Horse have quiet and rest and then let him bloud in the hanches where the veins appear most and give him to drink the space of seven dayes Barley or rather Oates sodden in Goats milk oâ— if you can get no milk boil it in water and put therein some thick collops of Lard and of 〈…〉 and let him drink that and let his common drink in Winter season â—e the decoction of Wheat meal and in the Summer time the decoction of Barley and this as he saith will bind his â—â—ngs again together Vegetius utterly disalloweth letting of bloud in any such disease as this is and all manner of sharp medicines for fear of provoking the Cough by means whereof the broken places can never heal perfectly And therefore neither his medicines nor meat would be harsh but smooth gentle and cooling The best medicine that may be given him at all times is this Take of F 〈…〉 k and of Linseed of each half a pound of Gum dragant of Mastick of Myrrhe of Sugar of Fitch flowre of each one ounce Let all these things be beaten into fine powder and then 〈◊〉 oâ—â— whole night in a sufficient quantity of warm water and the next day give him a quart of this luke-warm putting thereunto two or three ounces of Oyl of Roses continuing so to do many dayes together and if the disease be new this will heal him yea and it will ease him very much although the disease be old which is thought uncurable And in Winter season so long as he standeth in the stable let him drink no cold water and let his meat be clean without dust but in Summer season it were best to let him run to grasse for so long as he eateth grasse a man shall scantly perceive this disease Thus much of broken lungs Of putrified and rotten lungs THe signes to know whether a Horses lungs be putrified or rotten according to Theomnestus are these The Horse will eat and drink greedilyeâ— then he was wont to do he shall be oftner vexed with a Cough and in coughing he will cast little lumps of matter out of his mouth The cure whereof according to Theomnestus is thus Give him to drink every morning the space of seven dayes the juyce of Purslain mingled with Oil of Roses and add thereunto a little Tragagantum that
give him Cordial drinks that is to say made of hot and comfortable Spices and also to anoint all his breast and under his shoulders with hot Oyls and to purge his head by blowing up into his nostrils powders that provoke neezing such as have been taught you before Of Surfeting with glut of Provender THe glut of provender or other meat not digested doth cause a Horse to have great pain in his body so as he is not able to stand on his feet but lyeth down and waltereth as though he had the Bots. The cure whereof according to Martins experience is in this sort Let him bloud in the neck then trot him up and down for the space of an hour and if he cannot stale draw out his vard and wash it with a little white Wine luke-warm and thrust into his yard either a bruised clove of Garlick or else a little oyl of Camomile with a wax Candle If he cannot dung then rake his fundament and give him this Glyster Take of Mallows two or three handfuls and boil them in a pottle of fair running water and when the Mallows be sodden then strain it and put thereunto a quart of fresh Butter and half a pinte of Oyl Olive and having received this Glyster lead him up and down untill he hath emptyed his belly then set him up and keep him hungry the space of three or four days and the Hay that he eateth let it be sprinkled with water and let him drink water wherein should be put a little Bran and when he hath drunk give him the Bran to eat and give him little or no provender at all for the space of eight or ten days Of another kinde of Surfeting with meat or drink called of us Foundering in the body THis disease is â—alled of the old Writers in Greek Crithiasis in Latine Hordeatio it cometh as they say by eating of much provender suddenly after labour whilest the Horse is hot and panting whereby his meat not being digested breedeth evill humors which by little and little do spread throughout his members and at length do oppress all his body and do clean take away his strength and make him in such a case as he can neither go nor bow his joynts nor being laid he is not able to rise again neither can he stale but with great pain It may come also as they say of drinking too much in travelling by the way when the Horse is hot but then it is not so dangerous as when it cometh of eating too much But howsoever it cometh they say all that the humors will immediately resort down into the Horses legs and feet and make him to cast his hoofs and therefore I must needs judge it to be no other thing but a plain foundering which word foundering is borrowed as I take it of the French word Fundu that is to say molten For foundering is a melting or dissolution of humors which the Italians call Infusione Martin maketh divers kindes of foundering as the foundering of the body which the French men call most commonly Morâ—undu and foundering in the legs and feet also foundering before and behinde which some Authors do deny as Magister Maurus and Laurentius Russius affirming that there are fewer humors behinde then before and that they cannot easily be dissolved or molten being so far distant from the heart and the other vital parts Whereunto a man might answer that the natural heat of the heart doth not cause dissolution of humors but some unnatural and accidental heat spred throughout all the members which is dayly proved by good experience For we see Horses foundered not only before or behinde but also of all four legs at once which most commonly chanceth either by taking cold suddenly after a great heat as by standing still upon some cold pavement or abroad in the cold winde or else perhaps the Horse travelling by the way and being in a sweat was suffered to stand in some cold water whilest he did drink which was worse then his drinking for in the mean time the cold entering at his feet ascended upward and congealed the humors which the heat before had dissolved and thereby when he cometh once to rest he waxeth stiffe and lame of his legs But leaving to speak of foundering in the legs as well before as behinde untill we come to the griefs in the legs and feet we intend to talk here only of foundering in the body according to Martins experience The signes to know if a Horse be foundered in the body be these His hair will stare and he will be chill and shrug for cold and forsake his meat hanging down his head and quiver after cold water and after two or three days he will begin to cough The cure according to Martin is thus First scour his belly with the Glyster last mentioned and then give him a comfortable drink made in this sort Take of Malmsie a quart of Sugar half a quartern of Honey half a quartern of Cinnamon half an ounce of Licoras and Anise seeds of each two spoonfuls beaten into fine powder which being put into the Malmsie warm them together at the fire so as the Honey may be molten and then give it him luke-warm that done walk him up and down in the warm stable the space of half an hour and then let him stand on the bit two or three hours without meat but let him be warm covered and well littered and give him Hay sprinkled with a little water and clean sifted provender by a little at once and let his water be warmed with a little ground Malt therein And if you see him somewhat cheered then let him bloud in the neck and also perfume him once a day with a little Frankincense and use to walk him abroad when the weather is fair and not windy or else in the house if the weather be foul and by thus using him you shall quickly recover him Of the Hungry Evill THis is a very great desire to eat following some great emptiness or lack of meat and it is called of the old Authors by the Greek name Bulimos which is as much to say as a great hunger proceeding as the Physitians say at the first of some extream outward cold taken by long travelling in cold barren places and especially where Snow aboundeth which outward cold causeth the stomach to be cold and the inward powers to be feeble The cure according to Absyrtus and Hierocles is in the beginning to comfort the Horses stomach by giving him Bread sopt in Wine And if you be in a place of rest to give him Wheat-flowre and Wine to drink or to make him Cakes or Bals of Flowre and Wine kneaded together and to feed him with that or with Wine and Nuts of Pine trees Hierocles saith if any such thing chance by the way whereas no flowre is to be had then it shall be best to give him Wine and earth wrought together either to drink or else
and made liquid or else a quick flie or a grain of Frankincense or a clove of Garlick clean pilled and somewhat bruised and also to pour on his back Oyl Wine Nitre made warm and mingled together But Martins experience is in this sort First wash the yard with warm white Wine and then anoint it with Oyl of Roses and Honey mingled together and put it up into the sheath and make him a Cod-piece of Canvas to keep it still up and dress it thus every day once until it be whole And in any case let his back be kept warm either with a double cloth or else with a charge made of Bole Armony Egges Wheat-flowre Sanguis Draconis Turpentine and Vinegar or else lay on a wet sack which being covered with another dry cloth will keep his back very warm Of the swelling of the Cod and Stones Aâ—syrtus saith that the inflamation and swelling of the cod and stones cometh by means of some wound or by the stinging of some Serpent or by fighting one Horse with another For rememedy whereof he was wont to hathe the cod with water wherein hath been sodden the roots of wilde Cowcumber and Salt and then to anoint it with an Ointment 〈…〉 de of Gerusa Oyl Goats grease and the white of an Egge Some again would have the cod to be bathed in warm Water Nitrum and Vinegar together and also to be anointed with an Ointment made of Chalk or of Potters earth Oxe dung Cumin Water and Vinegar or else to be anointed with the juyce of the herb Solanâ—m called of some Night-shade or with the juyce of Hemlock growing on dunghils yea and also to be let bloud in the flanks But Martin saith that the swelling of the cods cometh for the most part after some sickness or surfeting with cold and then it is a signe of amendment The cure according to his experience is in this sort First let him bloud on both sides the flank veins Then take of Oyl of Roses of Vinegar of each half a pinte and half a quartern of Bole Armony beaten to powder Mingle them together in a cruse and being luke-warm anoint the cods therewith with two or three feathers bound together and the next day ride him into the water so as his cods may be within the water giving him two or three turns therein and so return fair and softly to the stable and when he is dry anoint him again as before continuing thus to do every day once until they be whole The said Martin saith also the cods may be swollen by means of some hurt or evill humors resorting into the cod and then he would have you cover the cods with a charge made of Bole Armony and Vinegar wrought together renewing it every day once untill the swelling go away or that it break of it self and if it break then tent it with Mel Rosatum and make him a breech of Canvas to keep it in renewing the tent every day once untill it be whole Of incording and 〈…〉 g. THis term Incording is borrowed of the 〈…〉 say as Bursten and might 〈…〉 his â—uts falleth down into the 〈…〉 The Italians as I take it did call it 〈◊〉 because the â—ut follows the string of the stone called of them 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 whereof 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 seems to be derived with some reason According to which reason we should call it rather Instringed then Incorded for Corde doth signifie a string or Word Notwithstanding sith that Incording is already received in the stable I for my part am very well content therewith minding not to contend against it But now you have to â—oâ—e that either Man or Beast may be Bursten diversty and according to the names of the pants grieved the Physitians do give it diâ—ers names for you shall understand that next unto the thick outward skin of the belly there is also another inward thin skin covering all the muscles the Caul and the guts of the belly called of the Anatomists Peritoneum which skin cometh from both parts and sides of the back and is fastened to the Midriffe above and also to the bottom of the belly beneath to keep in all the contents of the neather belly And therefore if the skin be broken or over sore strained or stretched then either some part of the caul or guts slippeth down sometime into the cod sometime not so far Iâ— the guts slip down into the cod then it is called of the Physitians by the Greek name 〈◊〉 that is to say Gut-bursten But if the caul falldown into the cod then it is called of the Physitians 〈…〉 le that is to say Caul-bursten But either of the diseases is most properly incident to the male kinde for the female kinde hath no cod Notwithstanding they may be so bursten as either gut or cauâ— may fall down into their natures hanging there like a bag but if it fell not down so â—low but remaineth above nigh unto the privy members or flanks which place is called of the Latins Inguen then of that place the Bursting is called of the Physitians B 〈…〉 câ—le whereunto I know not what English name to give unlesse I should call it flank bursten Moreover the cod or flank may be sometimes swollen by means of some waterish humour gathered together in the same which is called of the Physitians Hydrocele that is to say Water-bursten and sometimes the cod may be swollen by means of some hard peece of fâ—esh cleaving the thin skins or panicles of the stones and then it is called of the Physitians S 〈…〉 that is to say Flesh-bursten But forasmuch as none of mine Authors Marâ—iâ— nor any other Farrier in these dayes that I know have intermedled with any kind of Bursting but only with that wherein the gut falleth down into the cod leaving all the rest apart I will only 〈◊〉 of this and that according to Martins experience which I assure you differeth not much from the precepts of the old writers But first you shall understand that the Gut-bursten and Flank-bursten doth proceed both of one cause that is to say by means that the skin called before Petitoneum is either fore strained or else broken â—ither by some stripe of another Horse or else by some strain in leaping over a hedge ditch or pale or otherwise yea and many times in passing a career through the carelesness of the Rider stopping the Horse suddenly without giving warning whereby the Horse is forced to cast his hinder legs abroad and so straineth or bursteth the skin aforesaid by means whereof the gut falleth down into the cod The signs be these The Horse will forsake his meat and stand shoâ—ing and leaâ—ing alwayes on that side that he is hurt and on that side if you search with your hand betwixt the stone and the thigh upward to the body and somewhat above the stone you shall find the gut it self big and hard in the feeling whereas on the other side you shall
find no such thing The cure according to Martin is thus Bring the Horse into some house or place that hath over head a strong balk or beam going overthwart and strew that place thick with straw then put on four pasternes with four rings on his feet and then fasten the one end of a long root to one of those rings then thread all the other rings with the loose end of the rope and so draw all his four feet together and cast him on the straw That done cast the rope over the baulk and hoise the Horse so as he may lie flat on his back with his â—egs upward without strugling Then bathe his stones well with warm Water and Butter most â—n together and the stones being somewhat warm and well mollified raise them up from the body with both your hands being closed by the fingers fast together and holding the stones in your 〈…〉 in such manner work down the gâ—â— into the body of the Horse by striking it downward continually with your two thumbs one labouring immediately after another untill you perceive that side of the stone to be so small as the other and having so discorded that is to say returned the gâ—t into his right place take a list of two fingers broad throughly anointed with fresh Butter 〈…〉 stones both together with the same so nigh as may be not over hard but so as you may put your finger betwixt That done take the Horse quietly down and lead him fair and softly into the stable where he must stand warm and not be stirred for the space of three weeks But forget â—ot the next day after his discording to unloosen the list and to take it away and as well at that time 〈◊〉 every day once or twice after to cast a dish or two of cold water up into his cods and that will cause him to shrink up his stones and thereby restrain the gâ—t from falling down and at the three weeks end be sure it were not amisse to gold the stone on that side away so shall he never be encorded again on that side But let him not eat much nor drink much and let his drink be alwayes warm Of the bâ—toh in the grains of a Horse IF a Horse be full of humours and then suddenly laboured the humours will resort into the weaâ—est partâ— and there gather together and breed a B 〈…〉 h and especially in the hinder parts betwixt the thighs not far from the cods The signes be chese The hinder legs will be all swollen and especially from the hoofs upward and if you feel with your hand you shall find a great kind of swelling and if it be round and hard it will gather to a head The cure according to Martin is thus First râ—pe it with a plaister take of Wheat-flowre of Turpentine and of Hony of each a like quantity stirring it together to make a stiffe plaister and with a cloth lay it unto the sore renewing it every day once untill it break or wax soft and then lance it as the matter may run downward then â—ent it with Turpentine and Hogs grease molten together renewing it every day once untill it be whole Of the diseases incident to the womb of a Mare and specially of barrenness IT seemeth by some writers that the womb of a Mare is subject to certain diseases though not so many as the womb of a Woman as to ascent descent falling out Convulsion Barrenness aborsement yea Aristotle and others do not let to write that menstrual bloud doth naturally void from the Mare as from the Woman though it be so little in quantity as it cannot be well perceived But sith none of mine Authors have written thereof to any purpose nor any Farrier of this time that I know have had any experience in such matters I will passe them all over with silence saving barrennesse whereof I promised before in his due place to declare unto you the causes and such kind of cure for the same as the old writers have taught A Mare then may be barren through the untemperateness of the womb or matrix as well for that it is too hot and fiery or else too cold and moist or too dry or else too short or too narrow or having the neck thereof turned awry or by means of some obstruction or stopping in the matrix or for that the Marc is too fat or too lean and many times Mares go barren for that they be not well Horsed Wel the cure of barrenness that cometh through the fault of the matrix or womb according to the old writers is thus Take a good handful of Leeks stamp them in a morter with half a glasse full of wine then put thereunto twelve Flies called of the Apothecaries Cantharides of divers colours if they may be gotten then strain all together with a sufficient quantity of water to serve the Marâ— therewith two dayes together by powring the same into her nature with a horn or glyster-pipe made of purpose and at the end of three dayes next following offer the Horse unto her that should cover her and immediately after that she is covered wash her nature twice together with cold water Another receipt for the same purpose TAke of Nitrum of Sparrows dung and Turpentine of each a like quantity well wrought together and made like a Suppository and put that into her nature and it will cause her to desire the Horse and also to conceive Hippocrates saith that it is good also to put a nettle into the Horses mouth that should cover her Of the Itch Scab and Manginess in the tail and falling of the tail IN Spring time Horses many times are troubled with the Troncheons in their fundament and then they will rub their tail and break the hair thereof and yet in his tail perhaps shall be neither Itch Scurffe nor Scab wherefore if you rake the Horse well with your hand anointed with Sope and search for those Troncheons and pull them clean out you shall cause him to leave rubbing and if you see that the hair do fall away it self then it is a sign that it is either eaten with Worms or that there is some Scurffe or Scab fretting the hair and causing such an itch in his tail as the Horse is alwayes rubbing the same As touching the wormes Scurffe or Scab it shall be good to anoint all the tail with Sope and then to wash it clean even to the ground with strong lie and that will kill the Wormes and make the hair to grow again And if much of the tail be worn away in shall be needful to keep the tail continually wet with a spunge dipt in fair water and that will make the hair to grow very fast But if the Horses tail be mangy then heal that like as you do the manginess of the mane before rehearsed Again if there breed any Canker in the tail which will consume both flesh and bone and as Laurentius Russius
the inside suffering him not to bleed from above but all from beneath Of the Foundering in the Fore-legs THe cause of this grief is declared before in the Chapter of foundering in the body whereas I shewed you that if a Horse be foundered in the body the humors will immediately resort down into his legs as Martin saith within the space of 24 hours and then the Horse will go crouching all upon the hinder-legs his fore-legs being so stiffe as he is not able to bow them The cure whereof according to Martin is in this sort Garter each leg immediately one handful above the knee with a list good and hard and then walk him or chafe him and so put him in a heat and being some-what warmed let him bloud in both the breast veins reserving the bloud to make a charge withall in this manner Take of that bloud two quarts and of Wheat-flowre half a peck and six Egges shels and all of Bole Armony half a pound of Sanguis Draconis half a quartern and a quart of strong Vinegar mingle them all together and charge all his shoulders breast back loyns and fore-legs therewith and then walk him upon some hard ground suffering him not to stand still and when the charge is dry refresh it again And having walked him three or four hours together lead him into the stable and give him a little warm water with ground Mault in it and then a little Hay and provender and then walk him again either in the house or else abroad and continue thus the space of four days and when all the charge is spent cover him well with a housing cloth and let him both stand and lie warm and eat but little meat during the four days But if you see that at four days end he mendeth not a whit then it is a sign that the humor lies in the foot for the which you must search with your Butter paring all the soles of the fore-feet so thin as you shall see the water issue through the sole That done with your Butter let him bloud at both the toes and let him bleed well Then stop the vein with a little Hogs grease and then tack on the shooes and Turpentine molten together and laid upon a little Flax and cram the place where you did let him bloud hard with Tow to the intent it may be surely stopt Then fill both his feet with Hogs grease and bran fryed together in a stopping pan so hot as is possible And upon the stopping clap a piece of leather or else two splents to keep the stopping And immediately after this take two Egges beat them in a dish and put thereto Bole Armony and Bean-flowre so much as will thicken the same and mingle them well together and make thereof two plaisters such as may close each foot round about somewhat above the cronet and binde it fast with a list or roller that it may not fall away not be removed for the space of three days but let the sole be cleansed and new stopped every day once and the cronets to be removed every two days continuing so to do untill it be whole Dating which time let him rest walked for fear of loosening his hoofs But if you see that he begin to amend you may walk him fair and softly once a day upon some soft ground to exercise his legs and feet and let him not eat much nor drink cold water But if this fundering break out above the hoof which you shall perceive by the looseness of the coffin above by the cronet then when you pare the sole you must take all the fore-part of the sole clean away leaving the heels whole to the intent the humors may have the freer passage downward and then stop him and dress him about the cronet as is before said Of Foundring OF all other sorances foundering is soonest got and hardlyest cured yet if it may be perceived in twenty four hours and taken in hand by this means hereafter prescribed it shall be cured in other twenty and four hours notwithstanding the same reâ—eit hath cured a Horse that hath been foundered a year and more but then it was longer in bringing it to pass Foundering cometh when a Horse is heated being in his grease and very fat and taketh thereon a sudden cold which striketh down into his legs and taketh away the use and feeling thereof The sign to know it is the Horse cannot go but will stand cripling with all his four legs together if you offer to turn him he will couch his buttocks to the ground and some Horses have I seen sit on their buttocks to feed The cure is thus Let him bloud of his two breast veins of his two shackle veins and of his two veins above the cronets of his hinder hoofs if the veins will bleed take from them three pintes at least if they will not bleed then open his neck vein and take so much from thence Save the blood and let one stand by and stir it as he bleeds lest it grow into lumps when he hath done bleeding take as much Wheat flowre as will thicken the blood the whites of twenty Egges and three or four yolks then take a good quantity of Bolearminack and a pinte of strong Vinegar incorporate all these well together and withal charge his back neck head and ears then take two long rags of cloth and dip in the same charge and withal garter him so strait as may be above both his knees of his forelegs then let his keeper take him out to some stony causie or high-way paved with stone and there one following him with a cudgel let him trot up and down for the space of an hour or two or more that done set him up and give him some meat and for his drink let him have a warm mash some three or four hours after this take off his garters and set him in some pond of water up to the mid-side and so let him stand for two hours then take him out and set him up the next day pull off his shooes and pare his feet very thin and let him blood both of his heels and toes then set on his shooes again and stop them with Hogs grease and bran boiling hot and splint them up and so turn him out to run and he shall be sound Of the splent as well in the inside or outside of the knee as other where in the Legs THis sorance to any mans feeling is a very gristle sometime as big as a Walnut and sometime no more then a Hasel-nut which is called of the Italians Spinella and it cometh as Laurentius Russius saith by travelling the Horse too young or by oppressing him with heavie burthens offending his tender sinews and so causeth him to halt It is easie to know because it is apparent to the eye and if you pinch it with your thumb and finger the Horse will shrink up his leg The cure whereof according to
place as may be and let him bleed well then fire every knot one by one taking the knot in your left hand and pulling it so hard as you can from his body to the intent you may better pierce the knot with a blunt hot Iron of the bigness of a mans fore-finger without doing the body any hurt and let out the matter leaving none unburn'd be it little or much That done anoint every knot so burned with Hogs-grease warmed every day once until the coars be ready to fall away and in the mean time prepare a good quantity of old Urine and when you see the coars ready to fall boil the Urine and put therein a little Copperas and Salt and a few strong Nettles and with that water being warm wash out all the coars and the corruption That done fill every hole immediately with the powder of fleck't lime continuing thus to do every day once until the holes be closed up and if any be more ranker then other fill those with Verdigrease and during this cure let the Horse be thinly dieted that is to say with straw and water only unless it be now and then to give him a loaf of bread for the lower he be kept the sooenr he will be whole And in any wise let his neck be yoked in an old bottomless pail or else with short staves to keep him from licking the sores and the less rest he hath the better Or do thus Take a good great Dock-root clean scraped and cut thereof five little rundles or cakes to be used as followeth First with a knife make a slit right down in the Horses fore-head three inches long then with a Cornet loosen the skin within the flesh so as you may easily put therein five rundles of Dock that is to say two on each side of the slit one above another and put the fift rundle in the very midst betwixt the other four that done fasten to each of the slits two short Shoomakers ends to serve as laces to tie in the foresaid rundles so as they may not fall out and clense the sore every day once for the vertue of the root is such as it will draw all the filthy matter from any part of the body yea though the Farcin be in the hinder-legs which matter is to be wiped away from time to time and new roots be thrust into the slit according as you see it needful Of the Farcion THe Farcion is a vilde disease ingendered of ill bloud flegmatick matter and unkindely feeding it appeareth in a Horse like unto little knots in the flesh as big as a Hasel-nut the knots will encrease daily and inflame Impostume and break and when the knots amount to threescore they will every night after breed so many more till they have over-run the Horses body and with the poyson which is mighty and also strong soon bring him to his death This disease is very infectious and dangerous for some Horses yet if it be taken in any time it is easie to be holpen The cure thereof is in this manner Take a sharp Bodkin and thrust it through the neather part of his nose that he may bleed or if you will to let him bloud in the neck-vein shall not be amiss then feel the knots and as many as are soft lance them and let them run then take strong Lye Lime and Allum and with the same bathe all his sores and it shall in short space cure him There is also another manner of curing this disease and that is thus Take a sharp lance-knife and in the top of the Horses fore-head just between his eyes make a long slit even to the skull then with a blunt instrument for the purpose lose the flesh from the scalp a pretty compass then take Carret-roots cut into little thin round pieces and put them between the skin and the skull as many as you can then close up the wound and once a day anoint it with fresh Butter This is a most sure and approved way to cure the Farcion for look how this wound thus made shall rot waste and grow sound so shall the Farcion break dry up and be healed because all the poyson that feedeth the disease shall be altogether drawn into the fore-head where it shall die and waste away The only fault of this cure is it will be somewhat long and it is a foul eye-sore until it be whole Some use to burn this sorance but that is naught and dangerous as who so proves it shall finde A most approved medicine to cure the Farcion TAke of Aqua-vitae two spoonfuls of the juyce of Herb of grace as much mingle them together then take of Plegants or Bals of Flax or Tow and sleep them therein and stop them hard into the Horses ears then take a needle and a thread and stitch the tips of his two ears together by means whereof he cannot shake out the medicine and use him thus but three several morning and it will kill any Farcion whatsoever for it hath been often approved Another medicine of the same SLit every hard kernel with a sharp knife and fill the hole with an Ointment made of old Lard Sope and gray Salt for that will eat out the coar and cause it to rot and so fall out of the own accord Of the Canker called of the Italian Il Cancro A Canker is a filthy creeping Ulcer fretting and gnawing the flesh in great breadth In the beginning it is knotty much like a Farcine and spreadeth it self into divers places and being exulcerated gathereth together in length into a wound or fore This proceedeth of a melancholy and filthy bloud ingendered in the body which if it be mixt with Salt humors it causeth the more painful and grievous exulceration and sometime it cometh of some filthy wound that is not cleanly kept the corrupt matter whereof cankereth other clean parts of the body It is easie to be known by the description before The cure whereof according to Martin is thus First let him bloud in those veins that be next the fore and take enough of him Then take of Allum half a pound of green Copperas and of white Copperas of each one quartern and a good handful of Salt boil all these things together in fair running water from a pottle to a quart And this water being warm wash the sore with a cloth and then sprinkle thereon the powder of unsleck't lime continuing so to do every day once the space of fifteen days and if you 〈◊〉 that the lime do not mortifie the ranck flesh and keep it from spreading any further then take of black Sope half a pound of Quick-silver half an ounce and beat them together in a pot until the Quick-silver be so well mingled with the Sope as you can perceive none of the Quick-silver as it And with an Iron slice after that you have washed the sore with the Strong-water aforesaid cover the wound with this Ointment
continuing thus to do every day once until the Canker leave spreading abroad And if it leave spreading and that you see the ranck flesh is mortified and that the edges begin to gather a skin then after the washing dress it with the lime as before continuing so to do until it be whole And in the dressing suffer no filth that cometh out of the sore to remain upon any whole place about but wipe it clean away or else wash it away with warm water And let the Horse during this cure be as thinly dieted as may be and throughly exercised Of the Fistula called of the Italians Fistula A Fistula is a deep hollow crooking Ulcer and for the most part springs of malign humors ingendered in some wound sore or canker not throughly healed It is easie to know by the description before The cure according to Martin is thus First search the depth of it with a quill or with some other instrument of Lead that may be bowed every way meet for the purpose For unless you finde the bottom of it it will be very hard to cure And having found the bottom if it be in such a place as you may boldly cut and make the way open with a lancet or rasor then make a slit right against the bottom so as you may thrust in your finger to feel whether there be any bone or gristle perished or spongy or loose flesh which must be gotten out and then tent it with a tent of flax dipt in this Ointment Take of Hony a quartern and of Verdigrease one ounce beaten into powder Boil them together until it look red stirring it continually lest it run over and being luke-warm dress the tent wherewith and bolster the tent with a bolster of flax And if it be in such a place as the tent cannot conveniently be kept in with a band then fasten on each side of the hole two ends of Shoomakers thread right over the bolster to keep in the tent which ends may hang there as two laces to tie and untie at your pleasure renewing the tent every day once until the sore leave mattering And then make the tent every day lesser and lesser until it be whole And close it up in the end by sprinkling thereon a little sleckt lime But if the Fistula be in such a place as a man can neither cut right against the bottom or nigh the same then there is no remedy but to pour in some Strong-water through some quill or such like thing so as it may go to the very bottom and dry up all the filthy matter dressing him so twice a day until the Horse be whole Of an Aubury THis is a great spungy Wart full of bloud called of the Italians Moro or Selfo which may grow in any place of the body and it hath a root like a Cocks stone The cure according to Martin is thus Tie it with a thread so hard as you can pull it the thread will eat by little and little in such sort as within seven or eight days it will fall away by it self And if it be so flat as you can binde nothing about it then take it away with a sharp hot Iron cutting it round about and so deep as you may leave none of the root behinde and dry it with Verdigrease Russius saith that if it grow in a place full of sinews so as it cannot be conveniently cut away with a hot Iron then it is good to eat out the core with the powder of Resalgar and then to stop the hole with flax dipt in the white of an Egge for a day or two and lastly to dry it up with the powder of unsleck't Lime and Hony as before is taught Of Wounds WOunds come by means of some stripe or prick and they are properly called wounds when some whole part is cut or broken For a wound according to the Physitians is defined to be a solution division or parting of the whole for if there be no solution or parting then me thinks it ought rather to be called a bruise then a wound And therefore wounds are most commonly made with sharp or piercing weapons and bruises with blunt weapons Notwithstanding if by such blunt weapons any part of the whole be evidently broken then it ought to be called a wound as well as the other Of wounds some be shallow and some be deep and hollow Again some chance in the fleshy parts and some in the bony and sinewie places And those that chance in the fleshy parts though they be very deep yet they be not so dangerous as the other and therefore we will speak first of the most dangerous If a Horse have a wound newly made either in his head or in any other place that is full of sinews bones or gristles First Martin would have you to wash the wound well with white Wine well warmed That done to search the bottom of the wound with some instrument meet for the purpose suffering it to take as little winde in the mean while as may be Then having found the depth stop the hole close with a clout until your salve be ready Then take of Turpentine of Mel Rosatum of Oyl of Roses of each a quartern and a little unwrought Wax and melt them together and if it be a cut make a handsome roll of clean picked Tow so long and so big as may fill the bottom of the wound which for the most part is not so wide as the mouth of the wound then make another roll greater than that to fill up the rest of the wound even to the hard mouth and let both these rolls be anointed with the ointment aforesaid luke-warm But if the hurt be like a hole made with some prick then make a stiffe tent such a one as may reach the bottom anointed with the aforesaid Ointment and bolster the same with a little Tow And if the mouth be not wide enough so as the matter may easily run forth if it be in such place you may do it without hurting any stnew then give it a pretty slit from the mouth downward that the matter may have the freer passage and in any wise have a special regard that the tent may be continually kept in by one means or other as by binding or staying the seme with the ends of Shoomakers thread as is aforesaid And if the hole be deep and in such place as you may not then make your tent of a Spunge and so long as it may reach to the bottom and the tent being made somewhat full with continual turning and wrying of it you shall easily get it down and then dtess the wound with this twice a day cleansing the wound every time with a little white Wine luke-warm For this Spunge anointed with the Ointment aforesaid will both draw and suck up all the filthy matter and make it so fair within as is possible and as it beginneth to heal so make your tent every day lesser
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
the doors be sealed up and that a verse be spoken thrice nine times The milt of a Sheep being parched and beaten in wine and afterward taken in drink doth resist all the obstructions or stopping of the small guts The same being used in the like manner is very medicinable for the wringing of the guts The dust of the uppermost of a Sheeps thigh doth very commonly heal the looseness of the joints but more effectually if it be mixed with wax The same medicine is made by the dust of Sheeps jawes a Harts horn and wax mollified or asswaged by oil of Roses The upper parts of the thighs of Sheep decocted with Hemp-seed do refresh those which are troubled with the bloudy flux the water whereof being taken to drink For the curing of a Horse waxing hot with weariness and longitude of the way mingle Goats or Sheeps sewet with Coriander and old dill the Coriander being new gathered and diligently pounded in the juice of Barley and so give it throughly strained for three dayes together The huckle-bone of a Sheep being burned and beaten into small dust is very much used for the making of the teeth white and healing all other pains or aches therein The bladder of a Goat or Sheep being burned and given in a potion to drink made of Vinegar and mingled with water doth very much avail and help those which cannot hold their water in their sleep The skins which cometh from the Sheep at the time of their young doth very much help very many enormities in women as we have before rehearsed in the medicines arising from Goats The milk of Sheep being hot is of force against all poysons except in those which shall drink a venemous fly called a Wag-leg and Libbards bane Oatmeal also doth cure a long lingring disease a pinte of it being sodden in three cups of water until all the water be boyled away but afterwards you must put thereunto a pinte of Sheeps milk or Goats and also Hony every day together Some men do command to take one dram of Swallows dung in three cups full of Goats milk or Sheeps milk before the coming of the quartern Ague Goats milk or Sheeps milk being taken when it is newly milked from them and gargarized in the mouth is very effectual against the pains and swellings of the Almonds Take a pinte of Sheeps milk and a handful of sisted Aniseeds and let them seethe together and when it is somewhat cold let it be drunk and it is very good to loosen the belly Medicines being made of Goats milk and Sheeps milk and so being drunk is very good for the shortness of breath A hot burning gravel stone being decocted in Sheeps milk and so given to one that hath the Bloudy flix is very profitable to him Goats milk or Sheeps milk given alone luke-warm or sodden with Butter is very profitable to those that are brought very weak with the passions of the stone and fretting of the guts To wash ones face with Sheeps milk and Goats milk is very good to make it fair and smooth Evenings milk of Sheep that is the last milk that they give that day is very good to loosen the belly and to purge choler The hairs of the head of a Dog burned into ashes or the gut of the privy place sodden in Oyl is a very good and soveraign remedy for the looseness of the flesh about the nails and for swelling of flesh over them being anointed with Butter made of Sheeps milk and Hony An Oyl sodden in Hony and Butter made of Sheeps milk and Hony melted therein is very profitable to cure ulcers Old Cheese made of Sheeps milk is very good to strengthen those which have been troubled and made weak with the Bloudy flix Again old Cheese made of Sheeps milk taken in meat or scraped upon it and being drunk with Wine doth ease the passion of the Stone There was a certain Physitian being skilful in making medicines dwelling in Asia by Hellespont which did use the dung of a Sheep washed and made clean in Vinegar for to take away Warts and knots rising on the flesh like Warts and kernels and hard swellings in the flesh Also he did bring Ulcers to cicatrising with that medicine which were blasted or scalded round about but he did mingle it with an emplaister made of Wax Rosin and Pitch The dung of Sheep also doth cure pushes rising in the night and burnings or scaldings with fire being smeared over with Vinegar without the commixture of any other things The dung of Sheep being mixed with Hony doth take away small bumps rising in the flesh and also doth diminish proud flesh and also it doth cure a disease called an emmot as Rasis and Albertus say The dung that is new come from the Sheep being first worked in thy hands and applyed after the manner of an emplaister doth eat away any great warts growing in any part of thy body The dung of a Sheep being applyed to thy feet doth consume or waste away the hard flesh that groweth thereon Sheeps dung doth also cure all kinde of swellings that are ready to go into Carbuncles It is also good being sodden in Oyl and applyed after the manner of an emplaister for all new wounds made with a sword as Galen saith Aut si conclusum servavit tibia vulnus Stercus ovis placidae junges adipesque vetustos Pandere quae poterant hulcus patuloque mederi The dung of Sheep and Oxen being burned to powder and smeared with Vinegar is very good against the bitings and venemousness of Spiders And again it is very effectual being new come from them and sodden in Wine against the stingings of Serpents Sheeps dung being mixed with Hony and applyed to Horses whose hoofs are broken is very effectual The dung of Oxen and Sheep being burned to powder and intermixed therewith is very effectual against Cankers and also the bones of the Lambs thighes being burned into ashes is very profitable to be applyed to those ulcers which cannot be brought to cicatrise Also Sheeps dung being made hot in a Gally pot and kneaded with thy hands and afterwards applyed doth presently cease the swellings of wounds and doth purge and cure Fistuals and also diseases in the eyes The Oyl of Cypress and Hony is very effectual against Alopecia that is the falling off of the hair An emplaister made of Sheeps dung and the fat of a Goose and a Hen is very effectual against hair rising in the root of the ear as Rasis and Albertus say Sheeps dung being applyed hot is very effectual against the swellings of womens paps or dugs Sheeps dung being put into the decoction of Wood-bine or Hony and water and so drunk is very profitable against the Yellow-jaunders If the Spleen be outwardly anointed with Sheeps dung and Vinegar it doth lessen the rising of it The dung of Oxen and Sheep which is very moist
wash the fat being strained with cold water and to rub it with their hands not much otherwise then women do a sear-cloth for by that means it is made more white and purer There is yet another kinde of way to make Aesypus described by Aetius in these words Take saith he the greasie Wool which groweth in the shoulder pits of Sheep and wash them in hot water being thick and soft and squeeze all the filth forth of the same the washing whereof you shall put in a vessel of a large mouth or brim casting afterwards hot water in the same then take the water in a cup or in some other such like instrument and pour it in and out holding it up very high until there come a froath upon it then sprinkle it over with Sea water if you shall get any if not with some other cold water and suffer it to stand still when it shall wax cold take that which shall flow on the top away with a sadle and cast it into any other vessel afterwards having put a little cold water in it stir it up and down with your hands then having poured out that water put new hot water in it and repeat again the same thing all together which we have now taught until the Aesypus be made white and fat containing no impure or filthy thing in it at all then dry it in the sun being hid for some certain days in an earthen vessel and keep it But all these things are to be done when the Sun is very hot for by that means it will be more effectual and whiter and not hard or sharp There are moreover some which gather it after this manner They put new shorn wool which is very filthy and greasie in a vessel which hath hot water in it and burn the water that it may somewhat wax hot afterwards they cool it and that which swimmeth above in the manner of fat they scum it off with their hands and put it away in a vessel of Tin and so do fill the vessel it self with rain water and put it in the Sun covered with a thin linnen cloth and then we must moisten it again and put up the Aesypus for it hath strength mollifying and releasing with some sharpness but it is counterfeited with wax sewet and Rozen and it is straight ways perceived and forasmuch as the true Aesypus reserveth the scent of the unwashed wool and being rubbed with any ones hands is made like unto Ceruse or white lead Even the filth and sweat of sheep cleaving to their wool hath great and manifold use in the world and above all other that is most commended which is bred upon the Athenian or Grecian Sheep which is made many ways and especially this way First they take off the wool from those places where it groweth with all the sewet or filth there gathered together and so put them in a brazen vessel over a gentle fire where they boyl out the sweat and so take of that which swimmeth at the top and put it into an earthen vessel seething again the first matter which fat is washed together in cold water so dryed in a linnen cloth is scorched in the Sun until it become white and transparent and so it is out in a box of Tin It may be proved by this If it swell like the savour of sweat and being rubbed in a wet hand do not melt but wax white like White lead this is most profitable against all inflamation of the eyes and knots in cheeks or hardness of skin in them Of this Aesypus or unwashed Wool the Grecians make great account and for the variety of dressing or preparing it they call it diversly sometime the call it Oesupon Pharmaicon sometime Oesupon Kerotoeide or Keroten sometime Oesupon Hugron and such like Of it they make Plaisters to asswage the Hypochondrial inflamations and ventosity in the sides Some use Aesopus for Oesypus but ignorantly and without reason it is better to let it alone but in the collection hereof it must be taken from the sound and not from the scabby Sheep But when we cannot come by the true Oesypus then in stead thereof we may take that which the Apothecaries and Ointment-makers do ordain namely Meliloâ—i unc 4. Cardamoni unc 2. Hysopi herb unc 2. with the unwashed Wool taken from the hams or flanks of a Sheep Myrepsus used this Oesypus against all Gowts and aches in the legs or articles and hardness of the spleen Galen calleth it Jus lanae and prescribeth the use of it in this sort Make saith he a Plaister of Oesypus or Jus lanae in this sort Take Wax fresh grease Scammonie old Oyl one ounce of each of Fenny-greek six ounces then seethe or boyl your-oyl with the Jus lanae and Fenny-greek very carefully until it equal the oyl and be well incorporated together and then again set it to the fire with the prescription aforesaid and also he teacheth how to make this Jus lanae for saith he take unwashed Wool and lay it deep in fair water until it be very soft that is by the space of six days and the seventh day take it and the water together that seethe well taking of the fat which ariseth at the top and put it up as is aforesaid these things saith Galen The use of this by reason it is very hot is to display Ulcers and tumors in wounds especially in the secrets and seat being mixed with Melilot and Butter and it hath the same vertue against running sores The same also with Barly meal and rust of iron equally mixed together is profitable against all swelling tumors Carbuncles Tetters Serpigoes and such like it eateth away all proud flesh in the brims of Ulcers reducing the same to a natural habit and equality also filling up the sore and healing it and the same vertue is by Disocorides attributed to Wool burnt also in bruises upon the head when the skin is not broken a Poultess made hereof is said by Galen to have excellent force and vertue The same mingled with Roses and the oar of brasse called Nil cureth the holy fire and being received with Myrrh steeped in two cups of wine it encreaseth or procureth sleep and also is very profitable against the Falling-sickness And being mixed with Corsick Hony it taketh away the spots in the face because it is most sharp and subtile whereunto some add Butter but if they be whealed and filled with matter then prick and open them with a needle and rub them over with a dogs gall or a Calfs gall mingled with the said Oesypus also being instilled into the head with oyl it cureth the Megrim and furthermore it is used against all soreness of the eyes and scabs in their corners or upon the eye-lids being sod in a new shell and the same vertue is attributed to the smoke or soot thereof if the eye-brows or eye-lids be anointed therewith mixed with Myrrh and warmed it
healthy stock of Hornets it hath been known they have gathered three or four trays or baskets full of combes If any Hornets stray from their own home they repair to some tree and there in the top of it make their combes so that one many times may very easily and plainly perceive them and in these they breed one Captain General or great Commander who when he is grown to be great he carryeth away the whole company placing them with him in some convenient lodging Wilde Hornets as Pliny saith do live in the hollow trunks or cavities of trees there keeping themselves close all the Winter long as other Cut-wasts do Their life is but short for they never exceed the age of two years Their combes are wrought with greater cunning more exquisite Art and curious conceit then those either of Wasps or Bees and these excellent devisers do make them one while in the trunks of trees and sometimes again in the earth encreasing them at their pleasure with more floors and buildings according to the encrease of their issue making them smooth and bright decking and trimming them with a certain tough or binding slime or gelly gathered from the gummy leaves of plants Neither do any of the little mouths or entries of their cells look upwards but every one bendeth downwards and the bottom is placed upwards lest either the rain might soke through them in long showers or the head of them being built upwards they might lie open and be the more subject and exposed to the unruly rage and furious blasts of windes and storms If you eye well their nests you shall finde them all for the most part exactly sexangular or six cornered the outward form and fashion whereof is divided with a murry coloured partition and their membranous substance is much like unto the rinde or bark of Birch which in the parching heat of Summer cleaveth and openeth it self into chaps The stinging of Wasps is for the most part accompanyed with a Fever causing withal a carbuncle swelling and intolerable pain I my self being at Duckworth in Huntingtonshire my native soyl I saw on a time a great Wasp or Hornet making after and fiercely pursuing a Sparrow in the open street of the Town who at length being wounded with her sting was presently cast to the ground the Hornet satisfying her self with the sucked bloud of her quelled prey to the exceeding admiration of all the beholders and considerers of this seldom seen combate Aristotle whom I so greatly reverence and at whose name I do even rise and make curtesie knows not of a surety how Hornets do engender nor after what manner they bring forth their young breed But since we are assured of this that they bring forth their young by the sides of their Cells as Wasps and Bees we need not doubt but that they do all other matter after their manner and if they couple together they do it by night as Cats do or else in some secret corner that Argus with his hundred eyes can never espy it Hornets gather meat not from flowers but for the most part they live upon flesh whereby it cometh to passe that you shall often finde them even in the very dunghils or other ordure They also proul after great Flyes and hunt after small Birds which when they have caught into their clutches after the manner of hungry Hawks they first wound them in the head then cutting it asunder or parting it from the shoulders carrying the rest of the body with them they betake themselves to their accustomed flight The greater sort of them die in the hard Winter because they store not themselves sufficiently aforehand with any sustenance as Bees do but make their provision but from hand to mouth as hunger enforceth them as Aristotle enformeth us In like sort Landius hath well observed that Hornets both day and night keep watch and ward besides the hives of Bees and so getting upon the poor Bees backs they use them instead of a Waggon or carriage for when the silly Bee laboureth to be discharged of his cruel Sitter the Hornet when he hath sucked out all his juyce and clean bereft him of all his moisture vigour and strength like an unthankful Guest and the most ingrateful of all winged creatures he spareth not to kill and eat up his fosterate and chief maintainer They feed also upon all sweet delicious and pleasant things and such as are not untoothsome and bitter and the Indian Hornets are so ravenous and of such an insatiate glutt only as Ovidius reporteth that they flie upon Oyl Butter greasie Cooks all sorts of sharp sawce used with meats and all moist and liquid things not sparing the very Napkins and Table clothes and other linnen that is any way soiled which they do filthily contaminate with the excrements of their belly and with their Viscous laying of their egges But as they get their living by robbery and purloining of that which others by the sweat of their brows by their own proper wits and invention and without the aid and help of any do take great pains for so again they want not revenge to punish and a provost Marshal to execute them for their wrongful dealings tearmed of some a Gray Brock or Badger who in the full of the Moon maketh forcible entrance into their holes or lurking places destroying and turning topsie-turvy in a trice their whole stock family and linage with all their houshold stuffe and possessions Neither do they only minister food to this passing profitable and fat beast but they serve in stead of good Almanacks to Countrey people to foretel tempests and change of weather as Hail Rain and Snow for if they flie about in greater numbers and be oftner seen about any place then usually they are wont it is a signe of heat and fair weather the next day But if about twilight they are observed to enter often their nests as though they would hide themselves you must the next day expect rain winde or some stormy troublesome or boysterous season whereupon Avienus hath these verses Sic crabronum rauca agmina si volitare Fine sub Autumni conspexeris aethere longo I am verspertinos primos cum commovet ortus Virgilius pelago dices instare porcellam In English thus So if the buzzing troups of Hornets hoarse to flie In spacious air bout Autumns end you see When Virgil star the evening lamp espie Then from the Sea some stormy tempest sure shall be Furthermore since it is most certain that those remedies which do heal the stingings of Wasps do also help those wounds and griefs which Hornets by their cruel stinging cause yet notwithstanding as Aggregator hath pronounced the Zabor is the Bezoar or proper antidote of his own hurt if he be oftentimes applyed with Vinegar and Water Oyl and Cow-dung tempered together In like sort all manner of soils and earths that are miry and muddy are much commended in this case such
do no good but being done acriter â—xplicate earnestly and throughly bring much content and happinesse But I marvail why they are used in this age or desired by Meat-mongers seeing Apicius in all his Book of Variety of Meats doth not mention them and I therefore will conclude the eating of Tortoises to be dangerous and hateful to Nature it self for unlesse it be taken like a Medicine it doth little good and then also the Sawces and decoctions or compositions that are confected with it are such as do not only qualifie but utterly alter all the nature of them as Stephanus Aquaeus hath well declared in his French discourse of Frogs and Tortoises And therefore to conclude this History of the Tortoise I will but recite one riddle of the strangenesse of this Beast which Tertullian out of Pacuvius maketh mention of and also in Greek by Mascopulus which is thus translated Animal peregrinae naturae sine spiritu spiro geminis oculis retro juxta cerebrum quibus ducibus antrorsum progredior Super ventre coeruleo pergo sub quo venter latet albus apertus clausus Oculi non aperiuntur neque progredior donec venter intus albus vacuus est Hoc sâ—turato oculi apparent insignes pergoaditer Et quanquam mutum varias edo voces That is to say I am a living creature of a strange nature I breath without breath with two eye behinde neer my brains do I go forward I go upon a blew belly under which is also another white open and shut my eyes never open I go forward until my belly be empty when it is full then they appear plain and I go on my journey and although I am mute or dumb yet do I make many voyces The explication of this riddle will shew the whole nature of the Beast and of the Harp called Chelys For some things are related herein of the living creature and some things again of an Instrument of Musick made upon his shell and cover And thus much for the Tortoise in general the Medicines I will reserve unto the end of this History Of the TORTOISE of the Earth whose shell is only figured These are found in the Desarts of Africa as in Lybia and Mauritania in the open fields and likewise in Lydia in the Corn-fields for when the Plough-men come to plough their land their shares turn them out of the earth upon the furrows as big as great Glebes of land And the shels of these the Husbandmen burn on the land and dig them out with Spades and Mattocks even as they do Worms among places full of such vermine The Hill Parthenius and Soron in Arcadia do yeeld many of these land Tortoises The shell of this living Creature is very pleasantly distinguished with divers colours as earthy black blewish and almost like a Salamanders The liver of it is small yet apt to be blown or swell with with winde and in all other parts they differ not from the common and vulgar general prefixed description These live in Corn-fields upon such fruits as they can finde and therefore also they may be kept in Chests or Gardens and fed with Apples Meal or Bread without Leaven They eat also Cockles and Worms of the earth and Three-leaved-grasse They will also eat Vipers but presently after they eat Origan for that herb is an antidote against Viperine poyson for them and unlesse they can instantly finde it they die of the poyson The like use it is said to have of Rue but the Tortoises of the sandy Sea in Africk live upon the fat dew and moistnesse of those Sands They are ingendered like other of their kinde and the males are more venereous then the females because the female must needs be turned upon her back and she cannot rise again without help wherefore many times the male after his lust is satisfied goeth away and leaveth the poor female to be destroyed of Kites or other adversaries their natural wisdom therefore hath taught them to prefer life and safety before lust and pleasure Yet Theocritus writeth of a certain herb that the male Tortoise getteth into his mouth and at the time of lust turneth the same to his female who presently upon the smell thereof is more enraged for copulation then is the male and so giveth up her self to his pleasure without all fear of evil or providence against future danger but this herb neither he nor any other can name They lay Egges in the earth and do not hatch them except they breath on them with their mouth out of which at due time come their young ones All the Winter time they dig themselves into the earth and there live without eating any thing insomuch as a man would think they could never live again but in the Summer and warm weather they dig themselves out again without danger The Tortoises of India in their old and full age change their shells and covers but all other in the World never change or cast them This Tortoise of the earth is an enemy to Vipers and other Serpents and the Eagles again are enemies to this not so much for hatred as desirous thereof for Physick against their sicknesses and diseases of nature and therefore they are called in Greek Chelonophagoi aeloi Tortoise-eating Eagles for although they cannot come by them out of their deep and hard shells yet they take them up into the air and so â—et them fall down upon some hard stone or Rock and thereupon it is broken all to peeces and by this means dyed the famous Poet Aeschylus which kinde of fate was foretold him that such a day he should die wherefore to avoid his end in a fair Sun-shine clear day he sate in the fields and suddenly an Eagle let a Tortoise fall down upon his head which brake his skull and crushed out his brains whereupon the Grecians wrote Aeschulo graphonti epipeptoke Chelone Which may be Englished thus Eschylus writing upon a rock A Tortoise falling his brains out knock The use of this land Tortoise are first for Gardens because they clear the Gardens from Snails and Worms out of the Arcadian Tortoises they make Harps for their shells are very great and this kinde of Harp is called in Latine Testudo the inventer whereof is said to be Mercury for finding a Tortoise after the falling in of the River Nilus whose flesh was dryed up because it was left upon the Rocks he struck the sinews thereof which by the force of his hand made a musical sound and thereupon he framed it into a Harp which caused other to imitate his action and continue that unto this day These Tortoises are better meat then the Sea or Water Tortoises and therefore they are preferred for the belly especially they are given to Horses for by them they are raised in flesh and made much fatter And thus much shall suffice for the Tortoise of the earth Of the TORTOISE of the Sweet-water PLiny maketh four kindes of
bite at it then at Ambrosia the very meat of the Gods Earth-worms do also much good to men serving them to great use in that they do prognosticate and foretell rainy weather by their sodain breaking or issuing forth of the ground and if none appear above ground over-night it is a great signit will be calm and fair weather the next day The ancient people of the world have ever observed this as a general rule that if Worms pierce through the earth violently and in haste by heaps as if they had bored it through with some little Auger or Piercer they took it for an infallible token of Rain shortly after to fall For the Earth being as it were imbrued distained made moist and moved with an imperceptible m 〈…〉 on partly the South winde and partly also a vaporous air it yeeldeth an easie passage for round Worms to winde out of the inward places of the Earth to give unto them moist food and to minister store of fat juyces or fattish jelly wherewith they are altogether delighted Some there be found that will fashion and frame Iron after such a manner as that they will bring it to the hardnesse of any steel after this order following They take of Earth-worms two parts of Raddish roots one part after they are bruised together the water is put into a Limbeck to be distilled or else take of the distilled water of Worms l. iij. of the juyce of Raddish l. i. mix them together for Iron being often quenched in this water will grow exceeding hard Another Take of Earth-worms l. ij distil them in a Limbeck with an easie and gentle fire and temper your Iron in this distilled water Another Take of Goats bloud so much as you please adding to it a little common salt then bury them in the earth in a pot well glased and luted for thirty days together Then distil after this the same bloud in Balneo and to this distilled liquor add so much of the distilled water of Earth-worms Another Take of Earth-worms of the roots of Apple-trees of Rapes of each a like-much distil them apart by by themselves and in equal portions of this water so distilled and afterwards equally mixed quench your Iron in it as is said before Antonynus Gallus It shall not be impertinent to our matter we handle to add a word or two concerning those worms that are found and do breed in the snow which Theophanes in Strabo calleth Oripas but because it may seem very strange and incredible to think that any worms breed and live only in the Snow you shall hear what the Ancients have committed to writing and especially Strabo his opinion concerning this point It is saith he received amongst the greater number of men that in the snow there are certain clots or hard lumps that are very hollow which waxing hard and thick do contain the best water as it were in a certain coat and that in this case or purse there do breed worms Theophan s calleth them Oripas and Apollonides Vermes Aristotle saith that living creatures will breed also even in those things that are not subject to putrefaction as for example in the fire and snow which of all things in the world one would take never to be apt to putrefie and yet in old Snow Worms will be bred Old Snow that hath lyen long will look somewhat dun or of a dullish white colour and therefore the Snow-worms are of the same hiew and likewise rough and hairy But those Snow-worms which are found to breed when the air is somewhat warm are great and white in colour and all these Snow-worms will hardly stir or move from place to place And Pliny is of the same judgement and the Author of that Book which is intituled De Plantis falsely fathered upon Aristotle Yet some there be that denying all these authorities and rejecting whatsoever can be objected for confirmation thereof to the contrary do stoutly maintain by divers reasons that creatures cannot breed in the Snow because that in Snow there is no heat and where no quickning heat is there can be no production of any living thing Again Aristotle writeth that nothing will come of Ice because it is as he saith most cold and hereupon they infer that in all reason nothing likewise can take his beginning from Snow neither is it credible that husbandmen would so often wish for Snow in Winter to destroy and consume Worms and other little Vermine that else would prove so hurtful to their corn and other fruits of the earth And if any Worms be found in the Snow it followeth not straightways that therein they first receive their beginning but rather that they first come out of the earth and are afterwards seen to be wrapped up and lie on heaps in the Snow But by their leaves these reasons are very weak and may readily be answered thus that whereas they maintain that nothing can breed in the Snow because it is void of any heat at all herein they build upon a false ground For if we will adhibit credit to Averrhoes there is nothing compounded and made of the three Elements that is absolutely without heat And Aristotle in his fift Book De Generatione Animalium telleth us precisely that there is no moisture without heat His words are Ouden hugron aneu thermou Now Snow is a compact and fast congealed substance and somewhat moist for although it proceedeth by congelation which is nothing else but a kinde of exsiccation yet notwithstanding the matter whereof it first cometh is a vapour whose nature is moist and with little ado may be turned into water I must needs say that congelation is a kinde of exsiccation but yet not simply for exsiccation is when as humidity goeth away it putteth forth any matter but in Snow there is no humidity that is drawn out but it is rather wrapped in and inclosed more strongly and as it were bounded round Furthermore Aristotle in his first Book of his Meteors saith that Snow is Nubes congelata a clowd congelated or thicked together and that in Snow there is much heat And in his fift Book De Generatione Animalium he further addeth that the whitenesse of the Snow is caused by the air that the air is hot and moist and the Snow is white whereupon we conclude that Snow is not so cold as some would bear us in hand I well hold that nothing will take his Original from Ite in regard of his excessive coldnesse but yet snow is nothing nigh so cold as that So then all the hinderance and let is found to exceed of cold which is nothing so effectual or forcible as in Ite and the cold being proved to be far lesser there can nothing be alleadged to the contrary but that it may putrefie Now in that Snow is such an enemy to Worms and many other small creatures as that for the most part it destroyeth them yet it followeth not that the reason of Aristotle is
do passe from them into the Bees But yet notwithstanding he this shall warily weigh and observe how they give out to every one his several task some to make Combs others to gather Honey dresse up their rooms cleanse their laystals to prop up and repair their ruin'd fences to cover their boxes to draw out the spirit of the Honey to doncoct it to bring it to their cells to serve those that are at work with water to give food at certain set hours to those that are bed-ridden feeble and aged with so great care to defend their King or Master-Bee to drive away Spiders and all other their invaders or annoyers to rid their Hives of their dead lest their work should be marred with stench or perefaction to be able every one to return to his particular cell in a word to seek their living as near home as they may when they have sucked dry the neighbouring herbs or flowers then to send our spies to 〈◊〉 for pasture farther off upon any night design or expedition to lye under the leaves of the trees lest their wings being wet with the dew their speed home the next day should be hindred in â—â—oisterous weather to poise or ballance their light bodies with a little stone taken up into their mouthes and when the wind blowes hard to recover the windy side of the hedge to shelter themselvs and the like surely he will confesse of his own accord that their Common-wealth is wonderful well ordered and that there is very great discretion and understanding in them I had almost let passe that natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or affection that great constance seldome seen in Parents of this Age wherewith they care for their young ones in the Hive where they have laid them they sit upon them as birds do and never go abroad unlesse enforced with extreme hunger and when they do they presently return in again as if they were afraid lest the Spider if they tarried long which many times happen should cover the mouth of the cell with his web or their little ones being benumm'd with cold should be in danger to be starved But yet neither are their children delicate or nicely brought up for at three daies end 〈◊〉 as they have any wings they set them to work and have a strict care that they loyter not or take a 〈◊〉 of Idlenesse So much fore knowledge likewise have they that they can presage rains or cold weather to come And then by instinct of nature they never go far abroad but hover about their stocks or Hives and sit upon them as upon flowers When they go forth to pasture which is not at see times but only when it is fair weather then they labour and toyle so hard and so lade themselves with Honey that oftentimes through wearinesse they fail in their journey being notable to reach home and whereas some of them by reason of roughnesse and hairinesse become â—â—apt for labour then they rub themselves against rugged stones or the like till they be smooth again and so they buckle to their work afresh as hard as they can drive The youth or middle aged Bees are imployed abroad and bring home those things which the King or Master-Bee gives them in charge the elder sort take care of the family at home and doo orders and dispose of the Honey which the middle aged Bees gather and make abroad In the morning they are all still and silent till such time as the Master-Bee gives three hums and miseth them up and then every one makes haste out to his several imployment In the evening when they return home they at the first make a great noyse and 〈◊〉 and within a while afterward by little and little cease till at length the Captain of the watch flies about and makes a buzzing as it were commanding them to their rest after which signal given they are all so husht and still that if you lay your ear to the Hives mouth you cannot perceive the least noise they make so subject are they to their rulers and governors and at their beck and nod are presently quach't CHAP. III. Of the Creation Generation and Propagation of Bees FOrasmuch as Philosophers have given out that Bees for the first sin of mankinde are begotten of putrefaction there are not wanting those that deny they were created in the first week of the world I leave the question wholly to be determined by others although some Divines especially Dubravius and Danaus do abundantly affirm that they were created with the perfect Bodies Of the first Generation of Bees Aristotle hath a long discourse The Philosophers following him have rightly determined in my opinion that their Generation doth proceed from the corruption of some other body as of a Bull Oxe Cow Calf very excellent and profitable beasts the which not only worthy men and without all exception do report but even rustical and common experience doth confirm They say that out of the brains of these beasts are bred the Kings and Nobility and of their flesh the common sort of ordinary Bees There are likewise Kings that are bred out of the marrow of the chine-bone but then those that come of the brains do far excell the other in feature or comlinesse in largenesse in prudence and in strength of body Now the first transformation of this flesh into these Creatures as it were by a kinde of conception you shall then perceive to be when as these little imperfect creatures appear in great numbers about the Oxe Lion c. in a small white hew and as yet without motion but increasing by degrees and their wings by little and little growing out they come to their proper colour flying to and hovering about their King or Master-Bee but yet with short wings and trembling as unaccustomed to flight and by reason of the weaknesse of their limbs Now what countreys do most conduce to the generation of Bees and what are most hurtful to them we shall afterwards handle when we come to treat of Honey But in general there are very few places in the world to be found unlesse it be in a very barren countrey and unwholsome air and where no food fit for them can be had in which Bees cannot breed and very well live But where there is perpetual frost and snow as in Scanzia or where the countrey is barren of herbs and trees as in Thule there they are neither able to breed nor live As also for the poisonous condition of the airs and nature of the soil some sort of Bees do not endure to live there as in the Isle of Myoonos it is reported that if Bees be carried thither if Aelian be to believed they presently dye But whereas Munster saith of Ireland and Solinus of Great Britain that those Countreys are altogether without and that they cannot live there if they had not spoke rather by hearsay then of their own knowledge they would have written
hath been layed before in steep in Goats milk or else in Barley or Oaten milk strained out of the Corn. When the Apostume is broken then a very strong vile and evill â—avour will come out of his Nostrils for remedy whereof it shall be good to give him the space oâ— seven dayes this drink here following Take of the root called Costus two ounces and of Gasia or else of Cinnamon three ounces into fine powder and a few Raisins and give it him to drink with wine But Vegetius would have him to be cured in this sort and with lesse cost I assure you Take of Frankincense and Aristoloch of each two ounces beaten into fine powder and give him that with wine or else take of unburnt Brimstone two ounces and of Aristoloch one ounce and a half beaten into powder and give him that with wine And he would have you also to draw his beast with a hot iron to the intent the humors may issue forth outwardly Of shortness of breath A Horse may have shortness of breath by hasty running after drinking or upon a full stomach or by the descending of humors unto his throat or lungs after some extreme heat dissolving the said humors which so long as there is nothing broken may in the beginning be easily holpen The signes be these The Horse will continually pant and fetch his breath short which will come very hot out at his nose and in his breathing he will â—quise in the nose and his flanks will beat thick yea and some cannot fetch their breath unlesse they hold their necks right out and straight which disease is called of the old writers by the Greek name Orthopnoea The cure Let him bloud in the neck and give him this drink Take of Wine and Oil of each a pinte of Frankincense half an ounce and of the juice of Horehound half a pinte It is good also to powre into his throat Hony Butter and Hogs grease moulten together and made lukewarm Tiberius saith it is good to give him whole Egges shels and all steeped and made soft in Vinegar that is to say the first day three the second day five and the third day seven and to powre Wine and oil into his nostrils I for my part would take nothing but Annis seeds Licoras and Sugarcandy beaten all into fine powder give him that to drink with Wine and Oil mingled together Of the Pursick THis is a shortness of breath and the Horse that is so diseased is called of the Italians Cavallo pulsivo or Bolso which I think is derived of the Latin word Vulsus by changing V. into B. and I think differeth not much from him that hath broken lungs called of Vegetius and other old writers Vulsus for such shortness of breath comes either of the same causes or else much like as aboundance of grosse humors cleaving hard to the hollow places of the Lungs and stopping the windepipes And the winde being kept in doth resort downward as Russius saith into the Horses guts and so causeth his flanks to beat continually without order that is to say more swiftly and higher up to the back then the flanks of any Horse that is sound of winde And if the disease be old it is seldom or never cured and though I finde many medicines prescribed by divers Authors few or none do content me unless it be that of Vegetius recited before in the Chapter of broken Lungs And if that prevaileth not then I think it were not amisse according to Russius to purge him with this drink here following Take of Maiden hair of Ireos of Aâ—h of Licoras of Fenigreek of Raisins of each half an ounce of Cardanum of Pepper of Bitter Almonds of Baurach of each two ounces of Nettle seed and of Aristoloch of each three ounces boil them all together in a sufficient quantity of water and in that decoction dissolve half an ounce of Agarick and two ounces of Coloquintida together with two pound of Hony and give him of this a pinte or a quart at divers times and if it be too thick make it thinner by putting thereunto water wherein Licoras hath been sodden and if need be you may also draw both his flanks crosse-wise with a hot iron to restrain the beating of them and also slit his Nostrils to give him more air And if it be in Summer turn him to grasse if in Winter let him be kept warm and give him now and then a little sodden whâ—at Russius would have it to be given him three dayes together and also new sweet wine to drink oâ—â—lse other good wine mingled with Licoras water Of a Consumption A Consumption is no other thing but an exulceration of the lungs proceeding of some fretting or gnawing humor descending out of the head into the lungs And I take it to be that disease which the old Writers are wont to call the dry Malady which perhaps some would rather interpret to be the mourning of the chine with whom I intend not to strive But thus much I must needs say that every Horse having the mourning of the Chine doth continually cast at the nose but in the dry Malady it is contrary For all the Authors that write thereof affirm that the Horse avoideth nothing at the nose And the signes to know the dry Malady according to their doctrine be these His flesh doth clean consume away his belly is gaunt and the skin thereof so hard stretched or rather shrunk up as if you strike on him with your hand it will sound like a Taber and he will be hollow backt and forsake his meat and though he eateth iâ— as Absyrtus saith yet he doth not digest it nor prospereth not withal he would cough and cannot but hickingly as though he had eaten small bones And this disease is judged of all the Authors to be incurable Notwithstanding they say that it is good to purge his head with such perfumes as have been shewed you before in the Chapter of the Glanders and also to give him always Coleworts chopt small with his provender Some would have him to drink the warm bloud of sucking Pigs new slain and some the juyce of Leeks with Oyl and Wine mingled together Others praise Wine and Frankincense some Oyl and Rue some would have his body to be purged and set to grass Of the Consumption of the Flesh and how to make a lean Horse fat MArtin â—aith that if a Horse take a great cold after a heat it will cause his flesh to wast and his skin to wax hard and dry and to cleave fast to his sides and he shall have no appetite unto his meat and the fillets of his back will fall away and all the flesh of his buttocks and of his shoulders will be consumed The cure whereof is thus Take two Sheeps heads unflead boyl them in three gallons of Ale or fair running water until the flesh be consumed from the bones that done strain it through a fine