Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	worst_a	wound_n	wound_v	16	3	7.4687	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13821	The historie of serpents. Or, The second booke of liuing creatures wherein is contained their diuine, naturall, and morall descriptions, with their liuely figures, names, conditions, kindes and natures of all venemous beasts: with their seuerall poysons and antidotes; their deepe hatred to mankind, and the wonderfull worke of God in their creation, and destruction. Necessary and profitable to all sorts of men: collected out of diuine scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: amplified with sundry accidentall histories, hierogliphicks, epigrams, emblems, and ænigmaticall obseruations. By Edvvard Topsell.	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?	1608 (1608)	STC 24124; ESTC S122051	444,728	331

meanes of the violence and ranknesse of the poyson suffer a convulsion The parts seruing to generation are made so impotent and weake as that they are not able to retaine the seede nor yet to containe their vrine which they voyde forth much like in colour to a Spyders-webbe and they feele the like paine as they doe which are stunge vvith Scorpions Of the wounding of the Starre-Spyder feeblenes and weakenes followeth so that one cannot stand vpright the knees buckle sleepe and shaking drousines seaseth vpon the hurt parts and yet the worst of all is the blewish Spyder for this bringeth dimnesse of the eye-sight and vomiting much like vnto Spyders and cobwebs in colour fainting and swounding weakenes of the knees heauy sleepes and death it selfe If a man be wounded of the Tetragnathian-Spyder the place waxeth whitish vvith an intollerable vehement and continuall paine in it and the member it selfe withereth and pyneth away euen to the very ioynts Finally the whole body by receiuing any wholesome sustenaunce is nothing at all relieued thereby yea and after a man hath recouered his health yet is he neuerthelesse disquieted by much watching for a long time after as Aetius writeth Nicander in expresse wordes confesseth that the Ash-coloured Tetragnath doth not by his byting infuse any venome or like hurt If the speckled Phalangie of Apulia which is vsually knowne by the name of Tarantula doe byte any one there will follow diuers and contrary accidents and symptomes according to the various constitution different complexion and disposition of the partie wounded For after they are hurt by the Tarantula you shall see some of them laugh others contrariwise to weepe some will clatter out of measure so that you shall neuer get them to hold their tongues and othersome againe you shall obserue to be as mute as fishes this man sleepeth continuallie and another cannot be brought to any rest at all but runneth vp and downe raging and rauing like a mad man There be some that imagine themselues to be some great Lords or Kings that their authoritie Empire and signory extendeth it selfe farre and wide and for that cause they will seeme to charge others by vertue of their absolute and kingly authoritie and as they tender theyr fauours and will auoyde their displeasure to see this or that busines dispatched and with others againe the contrary conceite so much preuaileth as by a strong imagination they cannot be otherwise diswaded but that they are taken prisoners that they lye in some deepe dungeon or prison with bolts and shackles about their feete so many as their legges can beare or that their necke and feete lye continually in the stocks You shall see some of them to be cheerefull quicke of spirit and liuely with dauncing swinging and shaking themselues With others againe you shall haue nothing but sadnesse and heauinesse of mind browne-studies vnaptnes to doe any thing as if one were astonied so that nothing but numnesse and dulnes of moouing and feeling seemeth to pinch them beeing to see to very sencelesse In conclusion as dronkennesse to sundry persons is not all one but much different according to the diuersitie of complexions naturall constitution of the braine so neyther is the madnes or frenzie-fits of these persons all one that be infected with a Tarantulaes poyson but some of them are fearefull silent euer trembling and quaking and others againe are more foole-hardie rash presumptious clamorous full of noyse dooing nothing else but call and cry out and some fewe seeme to be very graue constant stedfast that will not alter their purposes for a world of wealth But let thē be affected eyther with this or that passion yet this is common to them all as well to one as to another that they are generally delighted with musicall instruments and at their sound or noyse vvill so tryp it on the toes dauncer-like applying both their mindes and bodies to dauncing frisking vp downe that during the time of any musicall harmony they will neuer leaue mouing their members lymbes like a Iack-an-apes that cannot stand still And which is more strange they will vse these motions and gestures when they are ready to depart this life through the lingering stay and vehement crueltie of the poysons operation and yet for all this though they be so neere vnto death yet if they heare any musicke they come againe to themselues newly gathering their spirits and strength and with a greater alacritie promptnes of mind and cheere they foote it as frolickly as euer they did or could haue done And thus dooing and dauncing both day and night without any notorious intermission by their continued sweating the poyson being dispersed into the pores of the skin and euaporated by insensible transpiration or breathing out are arlength by this meanes recouered to their former health state of body And if the Pypers of Fidlers cease playing with their musicke though neuer so little awhile before the matter of the poyson be in some part exhausted then will they make a recidiuation and returning to their former passions and griefes with which they were at first tormented and disquieted But yet this is the most strange deseruing the greatest admiration of all that all those persons vvhich are bytten or wounded by any Tarantula they wil daunce so wel with such good grace measure and sing so sweetly and withall descant it so finely and tunably as though they had spent all their life-time in some dauncing and singing-schoole Neuerthelesse Cardan contrary to all authoritie and experience calleth in doubt and question this poynt and at last concludeth that they cannot be restored to health againe by musicke Wherein he doth maruailously repugne and contrary both Foelix Platerus Theodorus Zuingerus Andreas Matthiolus Bellunensis Ponzettus Paracelsus and manie other famous learned men Trulie a bare contradiction against so great authorities is fatre vnworthy and vnbeseeming a man any thing though neuer so little seene or exercised in Philosophy much more so great a Philosopher and Phisitian as Cardan was Yet surely I am of the opinion that Cardan did not erre in Philosophy through ignoraunce but hauing a desire continually to appeare more learned he did euer bend himselfe to impugne that which he knew the soundest and best part of men did hold and maintaine But this little which I haue heere spoken shall serue sufficiently for the discussing of Cardans opinion And surely if the harmonicall sound and melodie of warlike drummes and trumpets hath cured furious madde and enraged horses and mittigated the paine of their legges and hyppes as Asclepiades hath written I see nothing to the contrarie but that it may helpe those persons that are wounded of any Tarantula The Pope with his poll-shorne generation haue mustered diuers of the Saints together and haue assigned and appointed to each his sundry charge and seuerall office apart for the cure of sundry diseases As for example S. Anthony can heale the burning

the Scorpion to be of a cold nature and his poyson to be cold therfore by reason of the antipathy whereby one dyed by the malice of another it must needes follovv that the Viper is hot and her poyson likewise of the same nature For a Serpent of a cold nature killeth not another of the same nature nor a hot Serpent one of his owne kind but rather it falleth out cleane contrarie that the hot kill those that are colde and the cold Serpents the hoter All the Vipers that liue neere the vvaters are of more mild and meeke poyson then others If there be any such but I rather beleeue there be none but that the same Authour which wrote of the vipers of the water did intend Serpents of the water But concerning the poyson of vipers there is nothing reported more strange then that of Vincentius Belluacensis who writeth that if a man chaunce to tread vpon the reynes of a Viper vnawares it paineth him more then any venome for it spreadeth it selfe ouer all the body incurably Also it is written that if a woman with childe chaunce to passe ouer a viper it causeth her to suffer abortment and the Mushroms or Toade-stooles which grow neere the dennes and lodgings of vipers are also found to be venomous The Scythians also do draw an incurable and vnresistable poyson out of vipers where-withall they annoynt the sharpe ends of their darts and arrowes when they goe to vvarre to the end that if it chaunce to light vppon their aduersary hee may neuer any more doe them harme They make this poyson in this manner They obserued the lyttering places and time of the vipers and then with strength and Art did take the old young ones together which they presently killed and afterward suffered them to lye and rot or soake in some moyst thing for a season then they tooke them and put them into an earthen pot filled with the blood of some one man this potte of mans blood and vipers they stopped very close so as nothing might issue out at the mouth and then buried or couered it all ouer in a dunghill where it rotted and consumed a few dayes after which they vncouered it againe and opening it found at the toppe a kind of watery substance swymming that they take off and mixe it with the rotten matter of the Viper heereof make this deadly poyson Wee haue shewed already that there is outwardly a difference betwixt the byting wound of the Male and the Female viper for after the male hath bitten there appeareth but two holes but after the female hath bytten there appeareth foure and this is also a great deale more deadly then is the byting of the male according to the verses of Nicander where he saith Porrò ex Vipereo quod noris germine peior Foemina quae veluti maiori accenditur ira Sic vehemente magis fert noxia vulner a morsu Et plus glicenti se cauda corpore voluit Vnde citatior hac ict as mors occupat artus Which may be englished thus But of the Vipers broode the female is the worst Which as it were with greater wrath doth burne And therefore when she bytes makes bodies more accurst Inflicting hurtfull wounds to vehemency turnd Rowling her bulke and tayle more oft about Whereby a speedier death doth life rydde out But Auicen is directly contrary to this opinion and saith that as the bytings of male-Dragons are more exitiall and harmefull then are the females so is it betwixt the byting of the male and female Viper This contrarietie is thus reconciled by Mercuriall namely that it is true that the wounds which the female maketh by her byting beeing well considered is more deadly then the wounds which the male giueth yet for the proportion of the poyson which the male venteth into the wound he maketh it is more deadly then is the females so that with respect of quantitie they both say true which affirme eyther the one or the other But which soeuer is the greatest it skilleth not much for both are deadly enough as may appeare by the common symptomes and signes which follow and also death Matthiolus reporteth a history of a Country-man who as hee was mowing of grasse chaunced to cut a Viper cleane asunder about the middle or some-what neerer the head which beeing done hee stoode still and looked vppon the dying disseuered parts a little while at last eyther presuming that it had no power left to hurt or thinking it was dead he tooke that part in his hand where-vpon the head was the angry viper feeling his aduersaries warme hand turned the head about and bitte his finger with all the rage force and venome that it had left so that the blood issued out The man thus bitten for his boldnesse did hastily cast it away began to sucke the wound putting his hand to his mouth which when he had done but a little while he suddenly fell downe dead The like story vnto this is related by Amatus Lusitanas of another which more boldly then wisely did aduenture to take a liue viper into his hand vppon a wager of money but as the other so this payd for his rashnes for the angry Viper did byte him as did the former and hee sucked his wound as did the Country-man and in like maner fell downe dead By both which examples wee may well see the danger of the Vipers poyson so that if once it come into the stomacke and touch the open passage where the vitall parts goe in and out it neuer stayeth long but death followeth Wherefore Aetius saith well that sometimes it killeth within the space of seauen houres and sometimes againe within the space of three dayes and that respite of time seemeth to be the longest if remedie be not had with more effectuall speede The signes or effects of the Vipers byting are briefely these first there issueth foorth a rotten matter some-times bloody and some-times like liquid or molten fatnesse some-times againe with no colour at all but all the flesh about the sore swelleth sometimes hauing a redde and some-time a pale hiew or colour vppon it issuing also foorth a corrupted mattery matter Also it causeth diuers little blysters to arise vppon the flesh as though the body were all scorched ouer with fire and speedily after this followeth putrefaction and death The paine that commeth by this Serpents wounding is so vniuersall that all the body seemeth to be set on fire many pittifull noyses are forced out of the parties throat by sence of that paine turning and crackling of the necke also twinckling and wrying of the eyes wih darknesse and heauinesse of the head imbecility of the loynes some-times thirsting intollerably crying out vpon his dry throate and againe some-times freezing at the fingers ends at least so as hee feeleth such a payne Moreouer the body sweating a sweat more cold then snow it selfe and many times vomiting forth the bilious tumours of

cupping-glasse can be prouided then it is best that the patient doe suppe of mutton veale or goose broth and to prouoke vomiting Yet they that will more effectually and speedily giue help vse to kill a Goate and taking out the entralls with the warme dung therein found forth-with bind it vnto the place The learned Phisition Matthiolus in his comment vppon Dioscorides saith that to auoyd the danger that commeth by sucking out the venom men now a-dayes vse to apply the fundament of some Cocke or Henne or other Birds after the feathers are puld off to the wounded place and the first dying to apply another in the same order and so another and another vntill the whole venomous matter be cleane driuen away whereof one may be certainely assured if the last henne or byrd so applyed doe not die Auicen the Arabian saith that the Phisitians of Egypt in which Country there bee infinite store of venomous beasts doe hasten to burne the part with fire as the safest and surest remedy when any one is this way endangered For fire not onely expelleth poysons but many other grieuances But the way how they vsed to burne with fire was diuers in these cases For some-times they vsed to seare the place with a hot yron and other-whiles with a corde or match beeing fired and sometimes scalding oyle and many other deuises they had with burning medicaments to finish this cure as saith Hieron Mercurialis in his first Booke D● Morb. Venenatis writeth and Iohn Tagault Institut Chirurg lib. 2. saith that the wound must first be seared with a hot yrou if the place can endure it or els some caustick and vehement corroding medicine must be vsed for all such wounds are for the most part deadlie and doe bring present death if speedy remedie be not giuen and therefore according to Hyppocrates counsell to extreame griefes extreame remedies must be applyed so that sometimes the safest way is to take or cut off that member which hath either been bitten or wounded Neither am I ignorant saith Dioscorides what the Egyptians doe in these cases For whē they reape their Co●e in Haruest-time they haue ready at hand prepared a pot with pitch in it and a string or band hanging at it for at that time of the yeere they are most afraid of Serpents which then chiefely doe hide themselues in darke holes and caues of the earth and vnder thick clots turffes for Egypt aboundeth with such venomous poysonfull creatures When as therefore they haue wounded either the foote or any other part they that are present doe put the string into the pot of pitch and binding the place they fall to cutting it with some instrument rounde in compasse as the string is tyed after this is done they powre in of the pitch a sufficient quantitie then vntying and loosing the band they lastly annoynt it with Garlick and Onions A certaine Countriman beeing bytten of a Serpent perceiued by and by his foote to swell and by little little the force of the poyson to swell vp higher neerer to the hart the Castle of life who beeing taught instructed of an old woman to burie his foote vnder the earth and to 〈◊〉 henne into two parts to apply to the wound and to the hen she wished him to lay aliue frogge who continually sucking the blood from the hennes flesh might by this meanes at length attract and draw all the poyson into it selfe So when hee had held his foote a whole night couered and buried vnder the earth finding no abatement but rather an increase of his tormenting paine at length by the aduise and direction of a certaine Noble Matron he dranke a good draught of Theriaca Hony tempred in Ale and so after a few houres fell on a great continuall vomiting by which meanes he was perfectly freed from the paines of the vpper parts of his body his feete notwithstanding continuing in their former swelling which was also taken cleane away onely by drinking the milke of a black Goate so much in quantity at a time as one egge-shell would containe his foote in the meane space beeing held or plunged in a sufficient quantitie of the same milke From which there issued and ranne a foule stinking glutinous snivelly matter and this he was admonished to doe by a certaine Priest But yet afterwards by chaunce washing himselfe in a hot sunnie day in a certaine Riuer and sitting vppon the banke his feete hanging downe into the water and hee falling fast a sleepe hee knew not well how long time hee so continued at length awaking hee plainly perceiued the water that was neere on all sides to bee filthy stained and polluted with much stinking matter and as it were dreggie refuse and ful●ulencie and from that time forwards he remained well and lustie and as sound as a Bell. Another time a Mayde being bitten of a Serpent layd presently vpon the wound some Fresh-cheese made of the milke of a white Goate and powring or sprinkling her foote with the milke of the same Goate as a defensatiue for that part was by this meanes restored to her former health as a certaine learned man testified in his Letters written to Gesner Vegetius affirmeth that if any liuing creature be bytten and wounded of venomous Beasts the place which is hurt must first of all be suffumigated with hens egge-shels burnt which first ought to be infused in Vineger with a little Harts-horne or Galbanum After fomentation the place must be scarified the blood must be let out or else the place must be seared with a hot yron so farre as the venom stretcheth And this care must be had that the Cauterre be neuer applyed and layde either aboue the ioynts or in sinewie parts at any time for the sinewes or ioynts beeing seared and burnt there must of necessitie a continuall weakenes and debilitie follow Therfore great diligence must be vsed that neither a little aboue nor a little beneath the nerues ioynts we lay any Cauterizing medicine yea although necessitie biddeth vs. But it is also requisite that euery one thus wounded doe gently and easily prouoke sweating with warme clothes cast vpon him afterwards to walke vp and downe to take Barley-meale in his meate with some leaues of the Ash-tree and the white Vine added to it And to the wound it is good to apply Attick-Honie or Comin heated and patched and so mixed with olde Wine Some vse to mixe newe Hogs-dung and Attick-honny tempered together with wine and so beeing warmed to apply it as a Cataplasme adding to it some vrine of a man I haue said before that young chickins beeing dissected or cut in peeces when they are warme ought to be layde to the stinged part and some there be that yeelde this reason why they should be good for this purpose because say they there is a naturall antipathy betwixt them and venomous creatures But this reason is reasonlesse and I think

thirst with drinking alwaies gaping like a Bull casteth himselfe downe into the water maketh no spare of the cold liquor but continually sucketh it in till either the belly breake or the poyson driue out the life by ouer-comming the vitall Spirites To conclude beside all the symptomes which follow the biting of Vipers which are cōmō to this scrpent this also followeth thē that the party afflicted can neither make water vomit nor sweat so that they perish by one of these two waies first either they are burned vp by the heat of the poyson if they come not at water to drinke or else if they come by water they are so vnsatiable that their bellies first swell aboue measure and soone breake about their pr●●y partes To conclude all the affections which follow the thicke poyson of this Serpent are excellently described by Lucan in these verses following Signiferum iuuenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum Torta caput retrò Dipsas calcata momordit Vix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit ipsaque leti Frons caret inuidia nec quicquam plaga minatur Ecce subit virus tacitum carpitque medullas Ignis edax calidaque incendit visceratabe Ebibit humorem circum vitalia fusum Pestis in sicco linguam torrere palato Coepit defessos iret qui sudor in artus Non fuit atque occulos lachrymarum venarefugit Non decus imperij non moesti iura Catonis Ardentem tenuere virum quin spargere signa Auderet totisque furens exquireret agris Quas poscebat aquas sitiens in corde venenum Ille vel in Tanaim missus Rhodanumque Padumque Arderet Nilumque bibens per rura vagantem Accessit morti Libyae fatique minorem Famam Dipsas habet terris adiuta perustis Scrutatur venas penitus squallentis arenae Nunc redit ad Syrtes fluct us accipit ore Aequoreusque placet sed non sufficit humor Nec sentit fatique genus mortemque veneni Sed putat esse sitim ferroque apertre tumentes Sustinuit venas atque osimplere cruore Lucanus lib. 9. In English thus Tyrrhenian Aulus the auncient-bearer young Was bit by Dipsas turning head to heele No paine or sence of 's teeth appear'd though poyson strong Death doth not frowne the man no harme did feele But loe slye poyson takes the marrow and eating fire Burning the bowels warme till all consumed Drinking vp the humour about the vitall spire And in dry palate was the tongue vp burned There was no sweat the sinnewes to refresh And teares fled from the veine that feedes the eyes Then Catoes lawes nor Empiers honor fresh This fiery youth could hold but downe the streamer flyes And like a mad man about the fieldes he runs Poysons force in heart did waters craue Though vnto Tanas Rhodanus Padus he comes Or Nilus yet all to little for his heate to haue But dry was death as though the Dipsas force Were not inough but holpe by heate of earth Then doth he search the sands but no remorse To Syrtes floud he hies his mouth of them he filleth Salt water pleaseth but it cannot suffice Nor knew he fate or this kind venoms death But thought it thirst and seeing his veines arise Them cut which bloud stopt mouth and breath The signes of death following the byting of this Serpent are extreame drought and inflamation both of the inward and outward partes so that outwardly the partes are as dry as Parchment or as a skinne set against the fire which commeth to passe by adustion and commutation of the bloud into the nature of the poyson For this cause many of the auncients haue thought it to be incurable and therefore were ignorant of the proper medicines practising onely common medicines prescribed against Vipers but this is generally obserued that if once the belly beginne to breake there can bee no cure but death First therefore they vse scarification and make vstion in the body cutting of the member wounded If it be in the extremity they lay also playsters vnto it as Treacle liquid pitch with oyle Hennes cut asunder aliue and so layde to hote or else the leaues of Purslaine beaten in Vineger Barley-meale Bramble-leaues pounded with Hony also Plantine Isope White-garlicke Leekes Rue Nettles Then must the gouernement of their bodies be no lesse looked vnto first that they be kept from all sharpe and salt meates then that they be made continually to drinke oyle to procure vomit and vvith theyr vomits which they cast out of their stomacke to giue them glysters that so the waters may be drawne to the lower parts Besides some take medicines out of Fishes especially such as are salt and the leaues barke or sprigges of Laurill and to conclude there is nothing better then Treacle compounded of Vipers fleshe And thus much for the Dipsas OF THE DOVBLE-HEAD BEcause the Graecians call this Serpent Amphisbaina and the Latines from thence Amphisbenae because it goeth both waies as if it had two heads no taile and for this purpose it is neuer seene to turne his body as it were to turne about his head When it hath a purpose to auoyde that thing which it feareth or where-withall it is offended hee doth but onely change his course backward as he went forward so that it is as happy a Lyntius whom the Poets faine to be very quick-sighted or as those Monsters which are said to haue eyes in their backs or rather like to Ianus which is sayde to haue two faces one forward and another backward and therefore I haue called it Double-head I trust fitly enough to expresse the Greeke word although compounded of two words together for so is the Greeke word also which the French doe expresse by a like compounded word Double-marcheur that is going two waies It is likewise called Ankesime Alchismus Amphisilenem And thus much may suffice for the name It is said that this Serpent is found in the Iland Lemnus but among the Germans it is vnknowne There is some question whether it may be said to haue two heads or no. Galen affirmeth that it is like a shippe hauing two fore-parts that is one behind another before Pliny also subscribeth here-vnto and maketh it a very pestilent Serpent Geminum habet caput Amphisbena tanquam parum esset vno ore fundi venenum saith hee It hath a double-head as though one mouth were not enough to vtter his poyson according to the saying of the Poet Est grauis in geminum surgitis caput Amphis-benae Serpens qui visu necat et sibilo Which may be englished thus This Serpent Double-head is grieuous to be seene Whose clouen-head doth kill with sight and hissing keene Vnto this also Elianus subscribeth that it is a true Serpent and hath two heads so that whensoeuer it is to goe forward one of them standeth in the place of the tayle but when it is to goe backward then the head becommeth the tayle and the tayle the head So also Mantuan sayth

rumors of perrill vnto guiltie consciences such as all wee mortall men beare are many times as forcible as the sentence of a Iudge to the hart of the condemned prisoner and therefore it vvere happy that either we could not feare except when the causes are certaine or else that wee might neuer perrish but vpon premonition And therefore I conclude with the example of this man that it is not good to holde a superstitious feare least God see it and beeing angry there-with bring vppon vs the euill which wee feare But this is not the end of the story for that fire-drake as by the sequell appeareth prooued as euill to the seruaunts as he did to the Maister These two sonnes of the deuill made thus rich by the death of their Maister foorth-with they sayled towards the Coasts of Fraunce but first of all they broke the Chayre in peeces and wrapped it vppe in one of theyr Nettes making account that it was the best fish that euer was taken in that Net and so they layde it in one end of theyr Barcke or fisher-boate And thus they laboured all that night and the next day till three or foure of the clocke at what time they espied a Port of Brittaine whereof they were exceeding gladde by reason that they were wearie hungry and thirstie with long labour alvvaies rich in their owne conceit by the gold which they had gotten which had so drawne their harts from God as they could not feare any thought of his iudgement And finallie it so blinded theyr eyes and stopped theyr eares that they did not see the vengeance that followed them nor heare the cry of theyr Maisters-blood Wherefore as they were thus reioycing at the sight of Land behold they suddainely espyed a Man-of-Warre comming towards them whereat they were appalled and beganne to thinke with themselues that theyr rich hopes were now at an end and they had laboured for other but yet resolued to die rather then to suffer the bootie to be taken from them And while they thus thought the Man-of-Warre approched and hailed them summoning them to come in and shew what they were they refused making forward as fast to the Land as they could Wherefore the Man-of-warre shot certaine Muskets at them and not preuailing nor they yeelding sent after them his Long-boate vppon the enterance whereof they fought manfully against the assaylants vntill one of them vvas slaine and the other mortallie wounded who seeing his fellow kild himselfe not like lie to liue yet in enuy against his enemy ranne presently to the place where the Chayre lay in the Nette and lyfting the same vp with all his might cast it from him into the Sea instantly falling downe after that fact as one not able through weakenesse to stand any longer wherevppon he was taken and before his life left him hee related the whole storie to them that tooke him earnestly desiring thē to signifie so much into England which they did accordingly and as I haue heard the whole story was printed so this second History of the punishment of murder I haue related in this place by occasion of the fire-drake in the history of the Dragon A second cause why poyson is supposed to be in Dragons is for that they often feede vppon many venomous rootes and therfore theyr poyson sticketh in theyr teeth where-vppon many times the partie bytten by them seemeth to be poysoned but this falleth out accidentally not from the nature of the dragon but from the nature of the meate which the dragon eateth And this is it which Homer knewe and affirmed in his verses when hee described a dragon making his denne neere vnto the place where many venomous rootes and herbes grew and by eating whereof hee greatly annoyeth man-kinde when hee byteth them Os de Drokoon espi Xein oresteros andra menesi Bebrocos kaka pharmaka Which may be thus englished And the dragon which by men remaines Eates euill herbes without deadly paines And therefore Elianus saith well that when the dragon meaneth to doe most harme to men he eateth deadly poysonfull herbes so that if he bite after them many not knowing the cause of the poyson and seeing or feeling venome by it doe attribute that to his nature which doth proceede from his meate Besides his teeth which bite deepe he also killeth with his tayle for bee will so be-girt and pinch in the body that hee doth gripe it to death and also the strokes of it are so strong that either they kill thereby foorth-with or else wound greatly with the same so that the strokes of his tayle are more deadly then the byting of his teeth which caused Nicander to write thus Nec tamen ille graues vt caetera turba doloris Si velit infixo cum forte momorderit ore Suscitat exiguus non noxia vulner a punctus Qui ceu rodentes noctu quaeque obvia muris In fligit modicum tenui dat plaga cruorem Which may be thus englished Nor yet he when with his angry mouth Doth byte such paines and torments bringeth As other Serpents if Auncients tell the truth When with his teeth and speare he stingeth For as the holes which byting-myse doe leaue When in the night they light vpon a prey So small are Dragons-byts which men receiue And harmelesse wound makes blood to runne away Their mouth is small and by reason thereof they cannot open it wide to byte deepe so as their byting maketh no great paine and those kind of dragons which do principallie fight with Eagles are defended more with their tayles then with their teeth but yet there are some other kind of dragons whose teeth are like the teeth of Beares byting deepe and opening theyr mouth wide where-withall they breake bones and make many bruses in the body and the males of this kinde byte deeper then the famales yet there followeth no great paine vpon the wound The cure hereof is like to the cure for the byting of any other beast wherin there is no venome and for this cause there must be nothing applyed there-vnto which cureth venomous bytings but rather such things as are ordinary in the cure of euery Vlcer The seede of grasse commonly called Hay-dust is prescribed against the byting of dragons The Barble beeing rubbed vppon the place where a Scorpion of the earth a Spyder a Sea or Land-dragon byteth doth perfectly cure the same Also the heade of a dogge or dragon which hath bytten any one beeing cutte off and fleyed and applyed to the wound with a little Euphorbium is said to cure the wound speedily And if Albedisimon be the same that is a dragon then according to the opinion of Auicen the cure of it must be very present as in the cure of Vlcers And if Alhatraf Haudem be of the kind of dragons then after theyr byting there followeth great coldnes and stupiditie and the cure thereof must be the same meanes which is obserued in colde poysons For

their meate instantly leape out and so the man that deluded them is ready with a paire of tonges or other instrument to lay hold vpon them and take them by which meanes they take many and of them so taken make oyle of Scorpions And Constantius writeth that if a mans hand be well annointed with iuyce of Radish he may take them without danger in his bare hand In the next place we are to proceede to the venom poyson of Scorpions the instrument or sting whereof lyeth not onely in the tayle but also in the teeth for as Ponzettus writeth Laedit scorpius morsu ictu the Scorpion harmeth both with teeth tayle that is although the greatest harme doe come by the sting in the tayle yet is there also some that cōmeth by their byting This poyson of Scorpions as Pliny out of Apollodorus writeth is white and in the heate of the day is very feruent and plentifull so as at that time they are insatiably and vnquenchably thirsty for not onely the wild or wood Scorpion but also all other are of a hot nature and the symptomes of their bytings are such as follow the effects of hote poysons and therefore saith Rasis all their remedies are of a colde qualitie Yet Galen thinketh otherwise and that the poyson is cold and the effects thereof are also cold For which cause Rondeletus prescribeth oyle of Scorpions to expell the stone and also the cure of the poyson is by strong Garlicke and the best Wine which are hote things And therefore I conclude that although Scorpions be most hote yet is their poyson of a cold nature In the next place I thinke is needfull to expresse the symptomes following the striking or stinging of these venomous Scorpions and they are as Aetius writeth the very same which follow the byting or poyson of that kinde of great Phalanx Spyder called also Teragnatum and that is they are in such case as those persons be which are smitten with the Falling-sicknesse He which is stung by a Scorpion thinketh that he is pressed with the fall of great and cold hayle beeing so cold as if hee were continually in a cold sweat and so in short space the poyson disperseth it selfe vvithin the skinne and runneth all ouer the body neuer ceasing vntill it come to possesse some predominant or principall vitall part and then followeth death For as the skinne is small and thin so the sting pierceth to the bottom thereof and so into the flesh where it woundeth and corrupteth eyther some veyne or arterie or sinew and so the member harmed swelleth immediatly into an exceeding great bulke and quantity and aking with insufferable torment But yet as we haue already said there is a difference of the paine according to the difference of the Scorpion that stingeth If a man be stung in the lower part of his body instantly followeth the extension of his virile member the swelling thereof but if in the vpper part then is the person affected with cold and the place smitten is as if it were burned his countenaunce or face discorted glewish spots about the eyes the teares viscous and slymie hardnes of the articles falling downe of the fundament and a continuall desire to egestion foaming at the mouth coughing conuulsions of the braine and drawing the face backward the hayre standes vpright palenesse goeth ouer all the body and a continuall pricking like the pricking of needels Also Gordomus writeth that if the pricke fall vppon an artery there followeth swouning but if on a nerue there speedily followeth putrefaction and rottennesse And those Scorpions which haue wings make wounds with a compasse like a bow whose succeeding symptomes are both heate and cold and if they hurt about the caniculer dayes their wounds are very sildome recouered The Indian Scorpions cause death three months after their wounds But most wonderfull is that which Strabo relateth of the Albenian Scorpions and Spyders whereof hee saith are two kinds and one kind killeth by laughing the other by weeping And if any Scorpion hurt a vaine in the head it causeth death by madnesse as writeth Paracelsus When an oxe or other beast is strooken with a Scorpion his knees are drawne together and he halteth refusing meate out of his nose floweth a greene humour and when hee is layd he careth not for rising againe These and such like are the symptomes that follow the bytings and stingings of Scorpions for the cure whereof I will remit the Reader to that excellent discourse written by Wolphius wherein are largely and learnedly expressed whatsoeuer Art could collect out of nature And seeing we in our Country are free from Scorpions and therefore shal haue no neede to feare their poyson it shall not I trust offend my Reader if I cut off the relation of Scorpions cures as a thing which cannot benefit either the English-Reader or else much adorne this history and so I will proceede to the medicines drawne out of Scorpions The application or vse of Scorpions in medicine is eyther by powder or by oyle or by applying them brused to their owne wounds wherefore euery one of these are to be handled particularly and first of all for the powder it is made by vstion or burning in this manner They take tenne Scorpions and put them aliue into a new earthen potte whose mouth is to be dammed vp with loame or such like stuffe then must it be sette vpon a fire of Vine-tree-shreddes and therein must the pot stand day and night vntill all within it be consumed to powder and you shall know by their white colour when they be enough otherwise if they be browne or burned they must be continued longer and the vse of this powder is to expell the stone Againe they vse to make this powder another way they take twentie Scorpions and put them in a little earthen pot with a narrow mouth which mouth must be stopped and then the potte put into a Furnace by the space of sixe houres which Furnace must also be kept close within and with a gentle fire then after sixe houres take off the pot and bruse the Scorpions into powder and keepe that powder for the vse afore-said There are other waies also to prepare this powder but in all preparations the attendant and assistant must take heede of the fume or smoake that commeth from it for that is very venomous and contagious But besides there are many things to be obserued heerein as first that the Scorpions be aliue and that they be killed in oyle then that they be put in whole with euery member without mutilation and that the Scorpions appointed for this confection be of the strongest poyson and the time of their collection to be when the Sunne is in Leo and not in Scorpius as some without reason haue imagined The oyle so made is distinguished into two kindes one simple and the other compound The simple is made of a conuenient number of Scorpions as