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A42668 The history of four-footed beasts and serpents describing at large their true and lively figure, their several names, conditions, kinds, virtues ... countries of their breed, their love and hatred to mankind, and the wonderful work by Edward Topsell ; whereunto is now added, The theater of insects, or, Lesser living creatures ... by T. Muffet ...; Historie of foure-footed beasts Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?; Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625? Historie of serpents.; Gesner, Konrad, 1516-1565. Historia animalium Liber 1. English.; Gesner, Konrad, 1516-1565. Historia animalium Liber 5. English.; Moffett, Thomas, 1553-1604. Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum. English.; Rowland, John, M.D. 1658 (1658) Wing G624; ESTC R6249 1,956,367 1,026

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faltereth and stammereth not being able to sound their words or to pronounce directly their talk is idle they wander and rove up and down in great perplexity their heart being tormented tossed and turmoiled with an extraordinary kind of furious passion The Spider that is found in the pulse called Ervum which is very like to Tares or Vetches produceth by his venom the same evil effects that the former doth and if Horses or other beasts do by chance devour any of them their bodies are so inflamed by means of their unquenchable thirstinesse the poyson causeth that many times they burst asunder in the midst If the Cranocalaptes wound any man as Pliny assureth us it is not long before death it self do succeed And yet Nicander and Aetius hold the contrary and would make us believe that his hurt is soon remedyed without any great ado yet herein they do consent that if any be hurt with any Spider of this kinde there will follow a great pain of the head coldnesse swimming and giddinesse of the brain much disquietnesse of the whole body and pricking pains of the stomach But notwithstanding all this saith Nicander the patient is soon remedied and all these above rehearsed passions quickly appeased and brought to an end The Sclerocephalus as it much resembleth the Cranocalaptes Spider in form and proportion so in his force effect and violence they are much alike causing the same symptomes accidents and passions as the former The wound that the Spider called Ragion inflicteth is very small so that a man can hardly discern it with his eyes but yet if one be hurt therewith the lower part of the eyes and the eye-lids wax very red Besides the patient feeleth a shivering cold or chilnesse in his loins with weaknesse and feeblenesse in the knees yea the whole body is taken with a great quaking cold and the sinews by means of the violence and rancknesse of the poyson suffer a Convulsion The parts serving to generation are made so impotent and weak as that they are not able to retain the seed nor yet to contain their urine which they void forth much like in colour to a Spiders-web and they feel the like pain as they do which are stung with Scorpions Of the the wounding of the Star-spider feeblenesse and weaknesse followeth so that one cannot stand upright the knees buckle sleep and shaking drousinesse seizeth upon the hurt parts and yet the worst of all is the blewish Spider for this bringeth dimnesse of the eye-sight and vomiting much like unto Spiders and cobwebs in colour fainting and swounding weaknesse of the knees heavy sleeps and death it self If a man be wounded of the Tetragnathian Spider the place waxeth whitish with an intolerable vehement and continual pain in it and the member it self withereth and pineth away even to the very joints Finally the whole body by receiving any wholesome sustenance is nothing at all relieved thereby yea and after a man hath recovered his health yet is he neverthelesse disquieted by much watching for a long time after as Actius writeth Nicander in expresse words confesseth that the Ash-coloured Tetragnath doth not by his biting infuse any venom or like hurt If the speckled Phalangie of Apulia which is usually known by the name of Tarantula do bite any one there will follow divers and contrary accidents and symptomes according to the various constitution different complexion and disposition of the party wounded For after they are hurt by the Tarantula you shall see some of them laugh others contrariwise to weep some will clatter out of measure so that you shall never get them to hold their tongues and othersome again you shall observe to be as mute as fishes this man sleepeth continually and another cannot be brought to any rest at all but runneth up and down raging and raving like a mad man There be some that imagine themselves to be some great Lords or Kings and that their authority Empire and signory extendeth it self far and wide and for that cause they will seem to charge others by vertue of their absolute and Kingly authority and as they tender their favours and will avoid their displeasure to see this or that businesse dispatched and with others again the contrary conceit so much prevaileth as by a strong imagination they cannot be otherwise disswaded but that they are taken prisoners that they lie in some deep dungeon or prison with bolts and shakels about their feet so many as their legs can bear or that their neck and feet lie continually in the stocks You shall see some of them to be cheerful quick of spirit and lively with dancing swinging and shaking themselves With others again you shall have nothing but sadnesse and heavinesse of minde brown-studies unaptnesse to do any thing as if one were astonyed so that nothing but numnesse and dulnesse of moving and feeling seemeth to pinch them being to see to very senselesse In conclusion as drunkennesse to sundry persons is not all one but much different according to the diversity of complexions and natural constitution of the brain so neither is the madnesse or frenzy sits of these persons all one that be infected with a Tarantulaes poyson but some of them are fearful silent ever trembling and quaking and others again are more fool-hardy rash presumptuous clamorous full of noise doing nothing else but call and cry out and some few seem to be very grave constant and stedfast that will not alter their purposes for a world of wealth But let them be affected either 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 musical Instruments and at their sound or noise will so trip it on the toes dancer-like applying both their mindes and bodies to dancing and frisking up and down that during the time of any musical harmony they will never leave moving their members and limbs like a Jackanapes that cannot stand still And which is more strange they will use these motions and gestures when they are ready to depart this life through the lingering stay and vehement cruelty of the poysons operation and yet for all this though they be so neer unto death yet if they hear any musick they come again to themselves newly gathering their spirits and strength and with a greater alacrity promptnesse of minde and cheer they foot it as frolickly as ever they did or could have done And thus doing and dancing both day and night without any notorious intermission and by their continued sweating the poyson being dispersed into the pores of the skin and evaporated by insensible transpiration or breathing out are at length by this means recovered to their former health and state of body And if the Pipers and Fidlers cease playing with their musick though never so little a while before the matter of the poyson be in some part exhausted then will they make a recidivation and returning to their
causeth in them a difference of poyson for those that live in the woods and eat Toades are not so vigorous or venemous but those that live in the mountaines and eat the roots of certain herbs are more poysonful and deadly And therefore Cardan relateth a story which he saith was cold him by a Phaenician that a Mountain-Viper chased a man so hardly that he was forced to take a tree unto the which when the Viper was come and could not climbe up to utter her malice upon the man she emptied the same upon the Tree and by and by after the man in the tree dyed by the savour and secret operation of the same But of the Arabian Vipers which haunt the Balsom-trees I have read that if at any time they bite they onely make a wound like the pricks of yron voide of poison because while they suck in the juyce of that tree the acerbity and strength of the venom is abated About the Mountain Helicon in Greece the poison also of Vipers is infirme and not strong so that the cure thereof is also ready and easie But yet for the nature of Vipers poison I can say no more then Wolphius hath said that it is of it self and in it selfe considered hot and his reason is because he saw a combat in a glasse betwixt a Viper and a Scorpion and they both perished one by the others poison Now he saith that it is granted the Scorpion to be of a cold nature and his poison to be cold therefore by reason of the antipathy whereby one died by the malice of another it must needs follow that the Viper is hot and her poison 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 own kind but rather it falleth out clean contrary that the hot kill those that are cold and the cold Serpents the hotter All the Vipers that live neer the waters are of more mild and meek poison then others If there be any such but I rather beleeve there be none but that the same Author which wrote of the Vipers of the water did intend Serpents of the water But coneerning the poison of Vipers there is nothing reported more strange then that of Vincentius Belluacensis who writeth that if a man chance to tread upon the reynes of a Viper unawares it paineth him more then any venome for it spreadeth it self over all the body incurably Also it is written that if a woman with child chance to passe over 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 venemous The Scythians also do draw an incurable and unresistable poison out of Vipers wherewithall they anoint the sharp ends of their darts and arrowes when they goe to warre to the end that if it chance to light upon their adversary he may never any more do them harm They make this poison in this manner They observed the littering places and time of the Vipers and then with strength and Art did take the old and young ones together which they presently killed and afterward suffered them to lie and rot or soake in some moist thing for a season then they took them and put them into an earthen pot filled with the bloud of some one man this pot of mans bloud and Vipers they stopped very close so as nothing might issue out at the mouth and then buried or covered it all over in a dunghil where it rotted and consumed a few daies after which they uncovered it again and opening it found at the top a kind of watery substance swimming that they take off and mixe it with the rotten matter of the Viper and hereof make this deadly poison We have shewed already that there is outwardly a difference betwixt the biting wound of the Male and the Female Viper for after the male hath bitten there appeareth but two holes but after the Female hath bitten there appeareth foure and this is also a great deal more deadly then is the biting of the male according to the verses of Nicander where he saith Porro ex Vipereo quod noris germine pejor Foemina quae veluti majori accenditurira Sic vehemente magis fert noxia vulnera morsu Et plus gliscenti se cauda corpore volvit Vnde citatior haec ictos mors occupat artus Which may be englished thus But of the Vipers brood the female is the worst Which as it were with greater wrath doth burn And therefore when she bites makes bodies more accurst Inflickting hurtful wounds to vehemency turnd Rowling her bulke and taile more oft about Whereby a speedier death doth life rid out But Avicen is directly contrary to this opinion and saith that as the bitings of male Dragons are more exitiall and harmful then are the females so is it betwixt the biting 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 biting being well considered is more deadly then the wounds which the male giveth yet for the proportion of the poison which the male venteth into the wound he maketh it is more deadly then is the females so that with respect of quantity they both say true which affirm either the one or the other But which soever is the greatest it skilleth not much for both are deadly enough as may appear by the common symptoms and signes which follow and also death Mathiolus reporteth a history of a Country-man who as he was mowing of grasse chanced to cut a Viper clean asunder about the middle or some-what nearer the head which being done he stood still and looked upon the dying dissevered parts a little while at last either presuming that it had no power left to hurt or thinking it was dead he took that part in his hand where-upon the head was the angry Viper feeling his adversaries warm hand turned the head about and bit his finger with all the rage force and venom that it had left so that the bloud issued out The man thus bitten for his boldnesse did hastily cast it away and began to suck the wound putting his hand to his mouth which when he had done but a little while he suddenly fell down dead The like story unto this is related by Amatus Lusitanus of another which more boldly then wisely did adventure to take a live Viper into his hand upon a wager of money but as the other so this paid for his rashnes for the angry Viper did bite him as did the former and he sucked his wound as did the Country-man and in like manner fell down dead By both which examples we may well see the danger of the Vipers poison so that if once it come into the stomack and touch the open passage where the vitall parts goe in
thirty six drams crude Oyl of Olives as much commix them with nine ounces of Wax boil the Serpents till the flesh fall from the bones which you must cast away because they are venomous They that will yet be more assured let them anoint their bodies with a thin cerate made of Wax Oyl of Roses a little Galbanum some powder of Harts-horn or else Cummin-seed of Aethiopia c. Aetius If a man carry about him the tooth of a Stag or those small bones which are found in his heart he shall be secured from Serpents If any one do bear about him wilde Bugloss or the root of the wilde Carot he cannot be wounded of any Serpents Grevinus is of the minde that the Jet-stone beside other manifest qualities hath yet this as peculiar to it self that he which carryeth it about with him need neither to fear Serpents nor any other poysons Now for venomous beasts which are found in any houses the best way is to pour scalding water into their dens and lurking holes And if any man constrained by necessity can finde no other place to sleep but such a one as where Salamanders the Spiders called Phalangia or the like Serpents do abound it is good to stop the holes and corners with Garlick beaten with water or some of those herbs which before we have spoken of But yet men now adays hold it the safest course to pour unquenched Lime sprinkled with water into their dens and secret corners As they that are bitten by a mad Dog so all such persons be wounded by venomous creatures are in exceeding great danger unless at the first they receive speedy help and succour The safest way therefore to cure the poyson is by attractives which draw from the more inward parts to the surface and not to make too much post-hast in closing up the wound But if any one hath swallowed down and taken inwar 〈…〉 any poyson the best way is as Dioscorides writeth to vomit often but if any be wounded by biting then it is best to use scarification and to fasten Cupping-glasses upon the place affected to draw out the poyson Some use to suck the venom out and others to cut off and dismember the part And this is to be observed that if any one will undertake to suck out the renom the party that attempteth it must not be fasting and besides he must wash his mouth with some Wine and after that holding a little Oyl in his mouth to suck the part● and to spit it presently forth And before Cupping-glasses be applyed the part must first be fomented with a Spunge then scarified deeply that the venomous matter may the more speedily be drawn out from the more inward parts and yet cutting off the flesh round in a compass doth more good then any scarification But if the place will admit no section or incision then cupping-glasses with deep scarification with much flame must needs be used for by attraction of the bloud and other humors with windiness the poyson it self must of necessity follow And Aetius in his 13. Book and tenth Chapter counselleth that the sick person be kept from sleep and so sit still until he finde some ceasing or releasing from his pain Besides the member which is envenomed ought to be be bound round about that the poyson may not too easily convey it self and penetrate into the more noble and principal parts as the heart liver or brain And in this manner having applyed your Ligature you must by the advice of Fumanellus set on your Cupping-glasses and they being removed apply the herb Calamint upon the place and to give the patient some of the root of Mugwort in powder or the best Treacle and such Cordials as do corroborate the heart and for this intent Bugloss Borage Balm and any of their flowers are much commended A Dove or Pigeon being divided in the midst and applyed hot to the place affected attracteth poyson to it self and healeth And the same effect and vertue have other living creatures as namely Hens and Chickens young Kids Lambs and Pigs if they be set to in the beginning immediately after the Cupping-glasses be removed for being as yet hot and warm they draw out the poyson and mitigate pain But if neither any one for love or money can be found that will or dare suck out the venom and that no Cupping-glass can be provided then it is best that the patient do sup of Mutton Veal or Goose broth and to provoke vomiting Yet they that will more effectually and speedily give help use to kill a Goat and taking out the entrails with the warm dung therein found forthwith binde unto the place The learned Physitian Matthiolus in his Comment upon Dioscorides saith that to avoid the danger that cometh by sucking out the venom men now adays use to apply the fundament of some Cock or Hen 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 until the whole venomous matter be clean driven away whereof one may be certainly assured if the last Hen or Bird so applyed do not die Avicen the Arabian saith that the Physitians of Egypt in which Countreey there be infinite store of venomous Beasts do hasten to burn the part with fire as the safest and surest remedy when any one is this way endangered For fire not only expelleth poysons but many other grievances But the way how they used to burn with fire was divers in these cases For sometimes they used to sear the place with a hot Iron and other whiles with a cord or match being fired and sometimes scalding Oyl and many other devises they had with burning medicaments to finish this cure as saith Hieron Mercurialis in his first book De Morb. Venenatis writeth and John Tagault Institut Chirurg lib. 2. saith that the wound must first be seared with a hot Iron if the place can endure it or else some caustick and vehement corroding medicine must be used for all such wounds are for the most part deadly and do bring present death if speedy remedy be not given and therefore according to Hippocrates counsel to extream griefs extream 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 do in these cases For when they reap their Corn in Harvest time they have ready at hand prepared a pot with pitch in it and a string or band hanging at it for at that time of the year they are most afraid of Serpents which then chiefly do hide themselves in dark holes and caves of the earth and under thick clots and turffs for Egypt aboundeth with such venomous and poysonful creatures When as therefore they have wounded either the foot or any other part they that are present do put the string into the
a mortal wound Alciatus hath an Embleme which he seemeth to have translated out of Greek from Antipater Sidonius of a Falconer which while he was looking up after Birds for meat for his Hawk suddenly a Dipsas came behinde him and stung him to death The title of his Embleme is Qui alta contemplatur cadere he that looketh high may fall and the Embleme it self is this that followeth Dum turdos visco pedica dum fallit alaudas Et jacta altivolam figit arundo gruem Dipsada non prudens auceps pede perculit ultrix Illa mali emissum virus ab ore jacit Sic obit extento qui sidera respicit arcu Securus fati quod jacet ante pedes Which may be thus Englished Whiles Thrush with line and Lark deceived with net And Crane high flying pierced with force of reed By Falconer was behold a Dipsas on the foot did set As if it would revenge his bloudy foul misdeed For poyson out of mouth it cast and bit his 〈◊〉 Whereof he dyed like Birds by him deceived Whiles bending bow alost unto the stars did look Saw not his fate below which him of life bereaved This Dipsas is inferior in quantity unto a Viper but yet killeth by poyson much more speedily according to these verses Exiguae similis spectatur Dipsas echidnae Sed festina magis mors ictus occupat aegros Parva lurida cui circa ultima cauda nigrescit That is to say This Dipsas like unto the Viper small But kills by stroke with greater pain and speed Whose tail at end is soft and black withall That as your death avoid with careful heed It is but a short Serpent and so small as Arnoldus writeth it killeth before it be espyed the length of it not past a cubit the fore-part being very thick except the head which is small and so backward it groweth smaller and smaller the tail being exceeding little the colour of the fore-part somewhat white but set over with black and yellow spots the tail very black Galen writeth that the ancient Marsi which were appointed for hunting Serpents and Vipers about Rome did tell him that there was no means outwardly to distinguish betwixt the Viper and the Dipsas except in the place of their abode for the Dipsas he saith keepeth in the salt places and therefore the nature thereof is more fiery but the Vipers keep in the dryer Countries wherefore there are not many of the Dipsades in Italy because of the moistnesse of that Countrey but in Lybia where there are great store of salt marishes As we have said already a man or beast wounded with this Serpent is afflicted with intolerable thirst insomuch as it is easier for him to break his belly then to quench his thirst with drinking always gaping like a Bull casteth himself down into the water and maketh no spare of the cold liquor but continually sucketh it in till either the belly break or the poyson drive out the life by overcoming the vital spirits To conclude beside all the symptomes which follow the biting of Vipers which are common to this Serpent this also followeth them that the party afflicted can neither make water vomit nor sweat so that they perish by one of these two ways first either they are burned up by the heat of the poyson if they come not at water to drink or else if they come by water they are so unsatiable that their bellies first swell above measure and soon break about their privy parts To conclude all the affections which follow the thick poyson of this Serpent are excellently described by Lucan in these verses following Signiferum juvenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum Torta capu● retrò Dipsas calcata momor dit Vix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit ipsaque leti Frons caret invidia nec quicquam plaga minatur Ecce subit virus tacitum carpitque medullas Ignis edax calidaque incendit viscera tabe Ebibit humorem circum vitalia fusum Pestis in sicco linguam torrere palato Coepit def●ssos iret qui sudor in artus Non fuit atque oculos lachrymarum vena resugit Non decus imperii non moesti jura 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 teriis adjuta perustis Scrutatur venas penitus squallentis arenae Nunc redit ad Syrtes fluctus accipit ore Aequoreusque placet sed non sufficit humor Nec sentit fatique genus mortemque veneni Sed putat esse sitim ferroque aperire tumentes Sustinuit venas atque os implere cruore Lucan lib. 9. In English thus Tyr●henian Aulus the ancient-bearer young Was bit by Dipsas turning head to heel No pain or sense of 's teeth appear'd though poyson strong Death doth not frown the man no harm did feel But loe she poyson takes the marrow and eating fire Burning the bowels ●arm till all consumed Drinking up the humor about the vital spire And in dry palat was the tongue up burned There was no sweat the sinews to refresh And tears fled from the vein that feeds the eyes Then Catoes law nor Empires honor fresh This fiery youth could hold but down the streamer flies And like a mad man about the fields he runs Poysons force in heart did waters crave Though unto Tanais Rhodanus Padus he comes Or Nilus yet all too little for his heat to have But dry was death as though the Dipsas force Were not enough but holp by heat 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 kinde venoms death But thought it thirst and seeing his veins arise Them cut which bloud stopt mouth and breath The signes of death following the biting of this Serpent are extreme drought and inflamation both of the inward and outward parts so that outwardly the parts are as dry as Parchment or as a skin set against the fire which cometh to passe by adustion and commutation of the bloud into the nature of the poyson For this cause many of the ancients have thought it to be incurable and therefore were ignorant of the proper medicines practising only common medicines prescribed against Vipers but this is generally observed that if once the belly begin to break there can be no cure but death First therefore they use scarification and make ustion in the body cutting off the member wounded If it be in the extremity they lay also playsters unto it as Triacle liquid Pitch with Oyl Hens cut asunder alive and so laid to hot or else the leaves of Purslain beaten in Vinegar Barley meal Bramble leaves pounded with Honey
his famous success in hunting and that afterward the Goddess taking pity on him translated him into heaven Others write again that he had his eyes put out by Oenopion and that he came blind into the Island Lemnos where he received a horse of Vulcan upon which he rode to the Sun-rising in which journey he recovered again his eye-sight and so returning he first determined to take revenge upon Oenopion for his former cruelty Wherefore he came into Greet and seeking Oenopion could not finde him because he was hid in the earth by his Citizens but at last coming to him there came a Scorpion and killed him for his malice rescuing Oenopion These and such like fables are there about the death of Orion but all of them joyntly agree in this that Orion was slain by a Scorpion And so saith Anthologius was one Panopaeus a Hunter There is a common adage Cornix Scorpium a Raven to a Scorpion and it is used against them that perish by their own inventions when they set upon others they meet with their matches as a Raven did when it preyed upon a Scorpion thus described by Alciatus under his title Justa ultio just revenge saying as followeth Raptabat volucer captum pede corvus in auras Scorpion audacipraemia parta gulae Ast ille infuso sensim per membra veneno Raptorem in stygias compulit ultor aquas O risu res digna aliis qui fata parabat Ipse periit propriis succubuitque dolis Which may be Englished thus The ravening Crow for prey a Scorpion took Within her foot and therewithall aloft did flie But he impoyson'd her by force and stinging stroke So ravener in the Stygian Lake did die O sportfull game that he which other for bellyes sake did kill By his own decreis should fall into deaths will There be some learned Writers who have compared a Scorpion to an Epigram or rather an Epigram to a Scorpion because as the sting of the Scorpion lyeth in the tayl so the force and vertue of an Epigram is in the conclusion for vel acriter et salse mordeat vel jucunde dulciter delectes that is either let it bite sharply at the end or else delight pleasingly There be many wayes of bringing Scorpions out of their holes and so to destroy and take them as we have already touched in part unto which I may adde these that follow A perfume made of Oxe-dung also Storax and Arsenick And Pliny writeth that ten Water-crabs beaten with Basil is an excellent perfume for this purpose and so is the ashes of Scorpions And in Padua they use this art with small sticks or straw they touch and make a noyse upon the stones and morter wherein they have their nests then they thinking them to be some flies for their meat instantly leap out and so the man that deluded them is ready with a pair of tongs or o●●er instrument to lay hold upon them and take them by which means they take many and of them so taken make Oyl of Scorpions And Constantius writeth that if a mans hand be well anoynted with juice of Radish he may take them without danger in his bare hand In the next place we are to proceed to the venom and poyson of Scorpions the instrument or sting whereof lyeth not only in the tail but also in the teeth for as Ponzettus writeth Laedit scorpius morsu et ictu the Scorpion harmeth both with teeth and tail that is although the greatest harm do come by the sting in the tayl yet is there also some that cometh by their biting This poyson of Scorpions as Pliny out of Apollodorus writeth is white and in the heat of the day is very fervent and plentifull so as at that time they are insatiably and unquenchably thirsty for not only the wilde or wood Scorpion but also all other are of a hot nature and the symptomes of their bitings are such as follow the effects of hot poysons and therefore saith Rasis all their remedies are of a cold quality Yet Galen thinketh otherwise and that the poyson is cold and the effects thereof are also cold For which cause Rondeletus prescribeth Oyl of Scorpions to expell the stone and also the cure of the poyson is by strong Garlick and the best Wine which are hot things And therefore I conclude that although Scorpions be most hot yet is their poyson of a cold nature In the next place I think it is needfull to expresse the symptomes following the striking or stinging of these venemous Scorpions and they are as Aetius writeth the very same which follow the biting or poyson of that kinde of great Phalanx Spider called also Teragnatum and that is they are in such case as those persons be which are smitten with the Falling sicknesse He which is stung by a Scorpion thinketh that he is pressed with the fall of great and cold hayl being so cold as if he were continually in a cold sweat and so in short space the poyson disperseth it self within the skin and runneth all over the body never ceasing untill it come to possesse some predominant or principall vitall part and then followeth death For as the skin is small and thin so the sting pierceth to the bottom thereof and so into the flesh where it woundeth and corrupteth either some vein or arterie or sinew and so the member harmed swelleth immediately into an exceeding great bulk and quantity and aking with insufferable torment But yet as we have already said there is a difference of the pain according to the difference of the Scorpion that stingeth If a man be stung in the lower part of his body instantly followeth the extension of his virile member and the swelling thereof but if in the upper part then is the person affected with cold and the place smitten is as if it were burned his countenance or face distorted glewish spots about the eyes and the tears viscous and slimy hardnesse of the articles falling down of the fundament and a continuall desire to egestion foaming at the mouth coughing convulsions of the brain and drawing the face backward the hair stands upright palenesse goeth over all the body and a continuall pricking like the pricking of needles Also Gordomus writeth that if the prick fall upon an artery there followeth swouning but if on a nerve there speedily followeth putrefaction and rottennesse And those Scorpions which have wings make wounds with a compasse like a bow whose succeeding symptomes are both heat and cold and if they hurt about the canicular dayes their wounds are very seldome recovered The Indian Scorpions cause death three moneths after their wounds But most wonderfull is that which Strabo relateth of the Albenian Scorpions and Spiders whereof he saith are two kindes and one kinde killeth by laughing the other by weeping And if any Scorpion hurt a vein in the head it causeth death by madnesse as writeth Paracelsus When an Oxe or other beast is
and out it never stayeth long but death followeth Wherefore Aetius saith well that sometimes it killeth within the space of seven houres and sometimes again within the space of three daies and that respite of time seemeth to be the longest if remedie be not had with more effectual speed The signes or effects of the Vipers biting are briefly these first there issueth forth a rotten matter sometimes blou dy and sometimes like liquid or molten fatnesse sometimes again with no colour at all but all the flesh about the sore swelleth sometimes having a red and sometime a pale hiew or colour upon it issuing also forth a corrupted mattery matter Also it causeth divers little blisters to arise upon the flesh as though the body were all scorched over with fire and speedily after this followeth putrefaction and death The pain that cometh by this Serpents wounding is so universal that all the body seemeth to be set on fire many pitiful noyses are forced out of the parties throat by sense of that pain turning and crackling of the neck also twinckling and wrying of the eyes with darknesse and heavinesse of the head imbecillity of the loynes sometimes thirsting intolerably crying out upon his dry throate and again sometimes freezing at the fingers ends at least so as he feeleth such a pain Moreover the body sweating a sweat more cold then snow it self and many times vomiting forth the bilious tumors of his owne belly But the colour going and coming is often changed now like pale lead then like black and anon as green as the rust of brasse the gums flow with bloud and the Liver it self falleth to be inflamed sleepinesse and trembling possesseth the body and several parts and difficulty of making urine with Feavers neezing and shortnesse of breath These are related by Aetius Aegineta Grevinus and others which work not alwaies in every body generally but some in one and some in another as the humors and temperament of nature doth lead and guide their operation But I marvail from whence Plato in his Symposium had that opinion that a man bitten and poisoned by a Viper will tel it to none but onely to those that have formerly tasted of that misery for although among other effects of this poison it is said that madness or a distracted mind also followeth yet I think in nature there can be no reason given of Platoes opinion except he mean that the patient will never manifest his grief at all And this howsoever also is confuted by this one story of Grevinus There was as he writeth a certain Apothecary which did keep Vipers and it happened one day as he was medling about them that one of them caught him by his finger and did bite him a little so as the prints of his teeth appeared as the points of needles The Apothecary onely looked on it and being busied either forgot or as he said afterward felt no pain for an hours space but after the hour first his finger smarted and began to burn and afterward his arm and whole body fell to be suddenly distempered therewith so as necessity constrayning him and opportunity offering it self he sent for a Physitian at hand and by his good advise thorow Gods mercy was recovered but with great difficulty for he suffered many of the former passions and symptoms before he was cured Therefore by this story either Plato was in a wrong opinion or else Grevinus telleth a fable which I cannot grant because he wrote of his own experience known then to many in the world who would quickly have contradicted it or else if he had consented to the opinion of Plato no doubt but in the relation of that matter he would have expressed also that circumstance Thus then we have as briefly and plainly as we can delivered the pains and torments which are caused by the poison of Vipers now therefore it followeth that we also briefly declare the vertue of such Medicines as we find to be applied by diligent and careful observations of many learned Physitians against the venom of Vipers First of all they write that the general rule must be observed in the curing of the poison of Vipers which is already declared against other Serpents namely that the force of their poison be kept from spreading and that may be done either by the present extraction of the poison or else by binding the wounded member hard or else by cutting it off if it be in finger hand or foot Galen reporteth that when he was in Alexandria there came to the City a Countryman which had his finger bitten by a Viper but before he came he had bound his finger close to the palm of his hand and then he shewed the same to a Physitian who immediatly cut off his finger and so he was cured And besides he telleth of another country-man who reaping of Corne by chance with his sickle did hurt a Viper who returned and did raze all his finger with her poisonfull teeth The man presently conceiving his own peril cut off his own finger with the same sickle before the poison was spred too far and so was cured without any other Medicine Sometime it hapneth that the bite is in such a part that it cannot be cut off and then they apply a Hen cut in sunder alive and laid to as hot as can be also one must first wash and anoint his mouth with oyl and so suck out the poison Likewise the place must be scarified and party fed and dieted with old Butter and bathed in milk or Seawater and be kept waking and made to walk up and down It were too long and also needlesse to expresse all the medicines which by naturall meanes are prepared against the poison of Vipers whereof seeing no reasonable man will expect that at my hands I will onely touch two or three cures by way of history and for others refer my Reader to Physitians or to the Latine discourse of Caronus In Norcheria the country of that great and famous Gentilis who translated Avicen there is a fountaine into which if any man be put that is stung or bitten by a Serpent he is thereof immediatly cured which Amatus Lusitanus approveth to be very natural because the continual cold water killeth the hot poison The same Author writeth that when a little maid of the age of thirteen yeeres was bitten in the heel by a Viper the legge being first of all bound at the knee very hard then because the maid fell distract first he caused a Surgeon to make two or three deeper holes then the Viper had made that so the poison might be the more easily extracted then he scarified the place and drawed it with cupping-glasses whereby was exhausted all the black blood and then also the whole leg over was scarified and blood drawn out of it as long as it would run of it own accord Then was a plaister made of Garlick and the sharpest Onions rosted which being mixed
Nitre and oyl of Violets and let the patient take this Theriack Take Opopanax Myrrhe Galbanum Castoreum white Pepper of each alike make it up with liquid Storax and Honey The Dose is the quantity of a Jujube the part must be fumed with a piece of a milstone heat and sprinkled with Vinegar Also foment it with water of wilde Lettice The usual Theriack Take the rind of the root of Cappa●is root of Coloquintida Wormwood round Birthwort Hepatica wilde Dandelion dried each alike make a Powder the Dose ●s two drams also sowre Apples must be eaten For pain in the belly Let him drink oyl of Roses with Barley water Citrals Gourds also give sowre Milk For trembling of the heart Let him take juice of Endive or syrup of Vinegar or syrup of Apples with troches of Camphire or sowre Milk the same way If the wound be afflicted with great pain Lay on a Cataplasm of Bole and Vinegar for a defensative and for a sharp remedy lay on Euphorbium or Castoreum Poly root drank with water and a Rams flesh burnt is profitable Theriack called Hascarina first invented in the Province of Hascarum Take leaves of red Roses iv drams Spodium ij drams Citron Sanders ij drams and half Saffron j. dram Licorice ij drams seeds of Citrals Melons Cucumers Gourds Gum tragant Spike e 〈…〉 j. dram Lignum Aloes Cardamon Amylum Camphir each j. dram most white Sugar Manna each iij. drams with the mucilage of Fleawort and Rose-water what may suffice make it up The people of Hascarum was wont to draw bloud from the sick saith holy Abbas almost till they fainted then they gave sweet milk to drink and water distilled from sowre Apples Also they gave sowre Milk in great quantity Thus the Arabians speak of this pestilent kinde of Scorpions that Nicander and all the Greeks were ignorant of and that was too common in the Countrey of Hascarum Now we will speak of Spiders CHAP. XI Of the Name of Spiders and their Differences THE Latine name Araneus or Aranea is in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the slender feet it hath or from its high gate fom the cobwebs it spins Others call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Muscatricem Kiramides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesychius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrews Acabitha Acbar Acabish Semamith in Arabick Sibth and Phihit Aldebahi and Aldebani as it is called by Bellunensis the Germans call it Spinn and Banker the English Attercop Spider Spinner the Brabants Spini and French Araigne Italian Ragno Ragna the Spanish Arana or Taranna the Sclavonians Spawauck the Polonians Paiack the Barbarians Koatan Kersenati Isidore l. 12. c. 12. saith it is called Aranea because it is bred and nourished by the air a twofold error for if they live by the air wherefore are they so careful to weave nets and catch Flies and if they were bred of the air wherefore do they copulate wherefore do they thrust forth little worms and eggs but we will pardon the elegant Etymologer because who makes a custome to play thus with words There are many of these kindes and all of them have three joynts in their legs A little head and body small With slender feet and very tall Belly great and from thence come all The webs it spins Now Spiders are venomous or harmless of harmless some are tame or house-spiders those are the biggest of all others live in the open air and from their greediness are called hunters or wolves the smaller kindes of these do not weave but the greater sort begins his web very sharp and small by the hedges or upon the ground having a little hole to creep into and laying the beginnings of his webs within observing whilest something shakes the web then he runs to catch it The venomous Spiders called Phalangia are so venomous that the place they wound will presently swell These are of two kindes for some are less some greater the less are various violent sharp salacious and going as it were rebounding which as we read are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fleas or Apes others are called Oribates which are found especially on trees in mountains they are called Hypodromi because they live under leaves Gesnerus It is a hairy creature and breeds in the greater trees The belly of it is moderately with incisions that the cutting may seem to be marked by thred Aelianus CHAP. XII Of Spiders that are hurtful or Phalangia Grievous symptomes follow the bitings of Pismire Phalangium for there followes a mighty swelling on the part bitten the knees grow weak the heart trembles the forces fail and oft-times death succeeds Nicander saith that the sick sleep so deeply that they are alwaies asleep at last and are in the same condition as those are that are stung by the Viper Histories relate that Cleopatra set one to her breast that she might escape Augustus without pain nor is the wound deadly unless it be wholly neglected Rhagium makes very small wound and that cannot be seen after it hath bitten the lower parts of the eyes as also of the cheeks wax red then horror and fainting seize on the loyns and weakness on the knees the whole body is very cold hath no heat and the nerves suffer convulsion from the malignity of the venome The parts serving for generation are so debilitated that they can harly retain their seed they make water like to Spiders webs and they feel pain as those do are stung with a Scorpion From the sting of Asterion men seem wholly without strength their knees fail them shivering and sleep invade the patient The blew Spider is worst of all causing darkness and vomitings like Spiders webs then fainting weakness of the knees Coma and death Dysderi or Wasp-like Phalangium causeth the same symptomes with the blew but milder and with a slow venome brings on putrefaction Where the Tetragraphii bite the place is whitish and there is a vehement and continual pain in it the part it self growes small as far as the joynts Lastly the whole body findes no profit by its nourishment and after health recovered men are troubled with immoderate watchings Aetius Nicander denies directly that the ash-coloured Tetragnathon can poyson one by biting him The Cantharis like or pulse Phalangium raiseth wheals which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the minde is troubled the eyes are wrested aside the tongue stammers and fails speaking things improperly the heart is as it were moved with fury and flies up and down The Vetch kinde produceth the same mischiefs and cause Horses that devour them and cattel to be very thirsty and to burst in the middle Cranocalaptes saith Pliny if it bite any one death followes shortly after But Aetius and Nicander affirm the contrary and that the wound thereof is cured without any trouble almost at all Head-ache cold vertigo restlesness tossings and pricking pains of the belly follow but they are all asswaged saith Nicander by fit remedies
they set their Grab-hooks unto them to loose them for the day before they remembred that a Ship was cast away in the same place and therefore they thought that it might be the Nets were hanged upon some of the tacklings thereof and therein they were not much deceived for it happened that finding the place whereupon the Net did stay they pulled and found some difficulty to remove it but at last they pulled it up and found it to be a chair of beaten gold At the sight hereof their spirits were a little revived because they had attained so rich a booty and yet like men burdened with wealth especially the old man conceived new fears and wished he were on land lest some storm should fall and lay both it and them the second time in the bottom of the Sea So great is the impression of fear and the natural presage of evill in men that know but little in things to come that many times they prove true Prophets of their own destruction although they have little reason till the moment of perill come upon them and so it fell out accordingly in this old man for whilest he feared death by storms and tempests on the Sea it came upon him but by another way and means For behold the Devill entred into the hearts of his two servants and they conspired together to kill the old man their Master that so between themselves they might be owners of that great rich chair the value whereof as they conceived might make them Gentlemen and maintain them in some other Countrey all the days of their life For such was the resolution that they conceived upon the present that it would not be safe for them to return home again after the fact committed lest they should be apprehended for murder as they justly deserved their Master being so made away by them The Devill that had put this wicked motion into their mindes gave them likewise present opportunity to put the same in execution depriving them of all grace pity and piety still thrusting them forward to perform the same So that not giving him any warning of his death one of them in most savage and cruel manner dashed out his brains and the other speedily cast him into the Sea And thus the fear of this old man conceived without all reason except superstition for the sight of a Fiery-drake came upon him in a more bloudy manner then he expected but life suspected it self and rumors of peril unto guilty consciences such as all we mortal men bear are many times as forcible as the sentence of a Judge to the heart of the condemned prisoner and therefore it were happy that either we could not fear except when the causes are certain or else that we might never perish but upon premonition And therefore I conclude with the example of this man that it is not good to hold a superstitious fear lest God see it and being angry therewith bring upon us the evill which we fear But this is not the end of the story for that Fire-drake as by the sequel appeareth proved as evill to the servants as he did to the Master These two sons of the Devill made thus rich by the death of their Master forthwith they sailed towards the Coast of France but first of all they broke the Chair in pieces and wrapped it up in one of their Nets making account that it was the best fish that ever was taken in that Net and so they laid it in one end of their Bark or Fisher-boat And thus they laboured all that night and the next day till three or four of the clock at what time they espyed a Port of Britain whereof they were exceeding glad by reason that they were weary hungry and thirsty with long labour always rich in their own conceit by the gold which they had gotten which had so drawn their hearts from God as they could not fear any thought of his judgement And finally it so blinded their eyes and stopped their ears that they did not see the vengeance that followed them nor hear the cry of their Masters bloud Wherefore as they were thus rejoycing at the sight of land behold they suddenly espyed a Man of War coming towards them whereat they were appalled and began to think with themselves that their rich hopes were now at an end and they had laboured for other but yet resolved to die rather then to suffer the booty to be taken away from them And while they thus thought the Man of War approached 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 War shot certain Muskets at them and not prevailing nor they yeelding sent after them his Long-boat upon the entrance thereof they fought manfully against the assaylants until one of them was slain and the other mortally wounded who seeing his fellow kill'd and himself not likely to live yet in envy against his enemy ran presently to the place where the Chair lay in the Net and lifting the same up with all his might cast it from him into the Sea instantly falling down after that fact as one not able through weaknesse to stand any longer whereupon he was taken and before his life left him he related the whole story to them that took him earnestly desiring them to signifie so much into England which they did accordingly and as I have heard the whole story was printed and so this second History of the punishment of murder I have related in this place by occasion of the Fiery-drake in the History of the Dragon A second cause why poyson is supposed to be in Dragons is for that they often feed upon many venomous roots and therefore their poyson sticketh in their teeth whereupon many times the party bitten by them seemeth to be poysoned but this falleth out accidentally not from the nature of the Dragon but from the nature of the meat which the Dragon eateth And this is it which Homer knew and affirmed in his verses when he described a Dragon making his den neer unto the place where many venomous roots and herbs grew and by eating whereof he greatly annoyeth mankinde when he biteth them Os de Drakoon espi Xein oresteros andra menesi Bebrocos kaka pharmaka Which may be thus Englished And the Dragon which by men remains Eats evill herbs without deadly pains And therefore Aelianus saith well that when the Dragon meaneth to do most harm to men he eateth deadly poysonful herbs so that if he bite after them many not knowing the cause of the poyson and seeing or feeling venom by it do attribute that to his nature which doth proceed from his meat Besides his teeth which bite deep he also killeth with his tail for be will so begirt and pinch in the body that he doth gripe it to death and also the strokes of it are so strong that either
they kill thereby forthwith or else wound greatly with the same so that the strokes of his tail are more deadly then the biting of his teeth which caused Nicander to write thus Nec tamen illegraves ut caetera turba dolores Si velit infixo cum forte momorderit ore Suscitat exiguus non noxia vulnera punctus Qui ceu rodentes noctu quaeque obvia muris Infligit modicum tenuis dat plaga cruorem Which may be thus Englished Nor yet he when with his angry mouth Doth bite such pains and torments bringeth As other Serpents if Ancients tell the truth When with his teeth and spear he stingeth For as the holes which biting Mice do leave When in the night they light upon a prey So small are Dragons-bites which men receive And harmlesse wound makes bloud to run away Their mouth is small and by reason thereof they cannot open it wide to bite deep so as their biting maketh no great pain and those kinde of Dragons which do principally fight with Eagles are defended more with their tails then with their teeth but yet there are some other kinde of Dragons whose teeth are like the teeth of Bears biting deep and opening their mouth wide wherewithall they break bones and make many bruises in the body and the males of this kinde bite deeper then the females yet there followeth no great pain upon the wound The cure hereof is like to the cure for the biting of any other Beast wherein there is no venom and for this cause there must be nothing applyed thereunto which cureth venomous bitings but rather such things as are ordinary in the cure of every Ulcer The seed of grasse commonly called Hay-dust is prescribed against the biting of Dragons The Barble being rubbed upon the place where a Scorpion of the earth a Spider a Sea or Land-dragon biteth doth perfectly cure the same Also the head of a Dog or Dragon which hath bitten any one being cut off and flayed and applyed to the wound with a little Euphorbium is said to cure the wound speedily And if Alberdisimon be the same that is a Dragon then according to the opinion of Avicen the cure of it must be very present as in the cure of Ulcers And if Alhatraf and Haudem be of the kinde of Dragons then after their biting there follow great coldnesse and stupidity and the cure thereof must be the same means which is observed in cold poysons For which cause the wound or place bitten must be embrewed or washed with luke-warm Vinegar and emplaistered with the leaves of Bay anointed with the Oyl of herb Mary and the Oyl of Wilde-pellitory or such things as are drawn out of those Oyls wherein is the vertue of Nettles or Sea-onions But those things which are given unto the patient to drink must be the juyce of Bay-leaves in Vinegar or else equall portions of Myrrhe Pepper and Rew in Wine the powder or dust whereof must be the full weight of a golden groat or as we say a French Crown In the next place for the conclusion of the History of the Dragon we will take our farewell of him in the recital of his medicinal vertues which are briefly these that follow First the fat of a Dragon dryed in the Sun is good against creeping Ulcers and the same mingled with Honey and Oyl helpeth the dimnesse of the eyes at the beginning The head of a Dragon keepeth one from looking asquint and if it be set up at the gates and dores it hath been thought in ancient time to be very fortunate to the sincere worshippers of GOD. The eyes being kept till they be stale and afterwards beat into an Oyl with Honey made into Ointment keep any one that useth it from the terrour of night-visions and apparitions The fat of a Hart in the skin of a Roe bound with the nerves of a Hart unto the shoulder was thought to have a vertue to fore-shew the judgement of victories to come The first spindle by bearing of it procureth an easie passage for the pacification of higher powers His teeth bound unto the feet of a Roe with the nerves of a Hart have the same power But of all other there is no folly comparable to the composition which the Magitians draw out of a Dragon to make one invincible and that is this They take the head and tail of a Dragon with the hairs out of the fore-head of a Lyon and the marrow of a Lyon the spume or white mouth of a conquering Horse bound up in a Harts skin together with a claw of a Dog and fastned with the crosse nerves or sinew of a Hart or of a Roe they say that this hath as much power to make one invincible as hath any medicine or remedy whatsoever The fat of Dragons is of such vertue that it driveth away venomous beasts It is also reported that by the tongue or gall of a Dragon sod in Wine men are delivered from the spirits of the night called Incubi and Succubi or else Night-mares But above all other parts the use of their bloud is accounted most notable But whether the Cynnabaris be the same which is made of the bloud of the Dragons and Elephants collected from the earth when the Dragon and Elephant fall down dead together according as Pliny delivereth I will not here dispute seeing it is already done in the story of the Elephant neither will I write any more of this matter in this place but only refer the Reader unto that which he shall finde written thereof in the History of our former Book of Four-footed Beasts And if that satisfie him not let him read Langius in the first book of his Epistles and sixty five Epistle where that learned man doth abundantly satisfie all men concerning this question that are studious of the truth and not prone to contention And to conclude Andreas Balvacensis writeth that the Bloud-stone called the Haematite is made of the Dragons bloud and thus I will conclude the History of the Dragon with this story following out of Porphyrius concerning the good successe which hath been signified unto men and women either by the dreams or sight of Dragons Mammea the Mother of Alexander Severus the Emperor the night before his birth dreamed that she brought forth a little Dragon so also did Olympia the Mother of Alexander the Great and Pomponia the Mother of Scipio Africanus The like prodigy gave Augustus hope that he should be Emperor For when his Mother Aetia came in the night time unto the Temple of Apollo and had set down her bed or couch in the Temple among other Matrons suddenly she fell asleep and in her sleep she dreamed that a Dragon came to her and clasped about her body and so departed without doing her any harm Afterwards the print of a Dragon remained perpetually upon her belly so as she never durst any more be seen in any bath The Emperor Tiberius Caesar had a Dragon