head The breast is by the French-men called peculiarly Hampan his blood is not like other Beasts for it hath no Fibres or small veins in it and therefore it is hardly congealed His heart is very great as it so falleth out in all fearful Beasts having in it a bone like a Cross as shall be afterward manifested His belly is not of one fashion as it falleth out in all other which chew the cud He hath no gall which is one cause of the length of his life and therefore also are his bowels so bitter that the Dogs will not touch them except they be very fat The Achaian Harts are said to have their gall in their tails and others say that Harts have a gall in their ears The Harts of Briletum and Iharne have their reins quadrupled or four-fold The genital part is all nervy the tail small and the Hinde hath udders betwixt her thighs with four speans like a Cow Both male and female are wonderfully swift and subtile as shall be shewed in the discourse of their hunting They are also apt and cunning to swim although in their swimming they see no land yet do they wind it by their noses They chew the cud like other Beasts It is reported that when a Hart is stung by a Serpent that by eating Elaphoscum that is as some call it Harts-eye other Hart-thorn or grace of God others Wilde Ditany it presently cureth the wound and expelleth the poyson the same vertue they attribute to Polypodie against the wound of a Dart. Having thus entred into mention of their food it is to be farther observed that the males of this kinde will eat Dwall or Night-shade which is also called Deaths herb and they also love above all other food wilde Elder so as in the Summer time they keep for the most part in those places where these plants grow eating the leaves only and not the boughes or sprigs but the Hinde will eat neither of both except when she beareth a male in her belly and then also by secret instinct of nature she feedeth like a male They will also eat Serpents but whether for hatred to them or for medicine they receive by them it is questionable A Hart by his nose draweth a Serpent out of her hole and therefore the Grammarians derived Elaphos a Hart from Elaunein tous opheis that is of driving away Serpents I cannot assent to the opinion of Aelianus that affirmeth the Serpents follow the breath of a Hart like some Philtre or amorous cup for seeing that all Authors hold an hostility in natures betwixt them it is not probable that the Serpent loveth the breath of a Beast unto whose whole body he is an enemy with a perpetual antipathy And if any reply that the warm breath of a Hart is acceptable to the cold Serpent and that therefore she followeth it as a Dog creepeth to the fire or as other beasts to the beams of the Sun I will not greatly gain-say it seeing by that means it is most clear that the breath doth not by any secret force or vertue extract and draw her out of the den but rather the concomitant quality of heat which is not from the secret fire in the bones of the Harts throat as Pliny hath taught but rather from her ordinary expiration inspiration and respiration For it cannot be that seeing all the parts of a Serpent are opposite to a Hart that there should be any love to that which killeth her For my opinion I think that the manner of the Harts drawing the Serpent out of her Den is not as Aelianus and Pliny affirmeth by sending into the Cave a warm breath which burneth and scorcheth the Beast out of her Den but rather when the Hart hath found the Serpents nest she draweth the air by secret and violent attraction out from the Serpent who to save her life followeth the air out of her den as when a Vessel is broached or vented the Wine followeth the flying air and as a Cupping-glass draweth blood out of a scarified place of the body so the Serpent is drawn unwillingly to follow her destroyer and not willingly as Aelianus affirmeth Unto this opinion both Oribasius in his Commentaries upon the Aphorisms of Hippocrates and Guniterius his restorer do joyntly agree but the Serpent being thus drawn forth addeth greater force to her poyson whereupon the proverbial admonition did arise Cave ne incideris in serpentem cum extracta a latebris anhelitu cervi effugerit tum enim propter iracundiam vehementius ei venenum est that is Beware thou meet not with a Serpent drawn out of her hole by the breath of a Hart for at that time by reason of her wrath her poyson is more vehement After this self same manner do the Sea-Rams draw the Sea-Calfs hid in the Subterranean Rocks for by smelling they prevent the Air that should come unto them for refrigeration There is many times strange conflicts betwixt the Hart and the Serpent thus drawn forth for the Serpent seeing her adversary lifteth her neck above the ground and gnasheth at the Hart with her teeth breathing out very bitter hissings on the contrary the Hart deriding the vain endevour of his weak adversary readier to fight then powerful to harm hi suffereth him to embrace both his neck and legs with his long and thin body but at an instant teareth it into an hundred pieces But the most strange combates are betwixt the Harts and Serpents of Lybia where the hatred is deeper and the Serpents watch the Hart when he lyeth a sleep on the ground and being a multitude of them set upon him together fastening their poysonful teeth in every part of his skin some on his neck and breast some on his sides and back some on his legs and some hang upon his privy parts biting him with mortal rage to overthrow their foe The poor Hart being thus oppressed with a multitude and pricked with venemous pains assayeth to run away but all in vain their cold earthy bodies and winding tails both over-charge his strength and hinder his pace he then in a rage with his teeth feet and horns assaileth his enemies whose spears are already entred into his body tearing some of them in pieces and beating other asunder they never the less like men knowing that now they must dye rather then give over and yeeld to their pitiless enemy cleave fast and keep the hold of their teeth upon his body although their other parts be mortally wounded and nothing left but their heads and therefore will dye together with their foe seeing if they were asunder no compassion can delay or mitigate their natural unappeaseable hatred The Hart thus having eased himself by the slaughter of some like an Elephant at the sight of their blood bestirreth himself more busily in the eager battail and therefore treadeth some under foot in the blood of their fellows other he persueth with tooth and
after great floods or earthquakes and sometime by means of some evill distillation or influence of the Planets corrupting sometime the plants and fruits of the earth and sometime divers kind of Cattle and sometime both Men Women and Children as we dayly see by experience It seemeth that this evill or mischief in times past came suddenly without giving any warning for none of mine Authors doth declare any signes how to know whether a Horse hath this disease or not but only affirm that if one Horse do die of it all his fellows that bear him company will follow after if they be not remedied in time so that as far as I can learn the sudden death of one or two first must be the only mean to know that this disease doth reign And the remedy that they give is this First separate the whole from the sick yea and have them 〈◊〉 out of the air of those that be dead the bodies whereof as Vegetius saith if they be not 〈◊〉 buryed will infect all the rest And let them bloud as well in the neck as in the mouth and then give them this drink Take of Gentian of Aristoloch of Bay 〈…〉 es of 〈…〉 of the scraping of Ivory of each like quantity beat them into fine powder and give as 〈◊〉 to the sick as to the whole whom you would preserve from this coâ—tagion every day a spoonful 〈◊〉 two of this powder in a pinte of good Wine so long as you shall see it needful This 〈◊〉 before rehearsed is called of the ancient writers Diapente that is to say a composition 〈…〉 simples and is praised to be a soveraign medicine and preservative against all inward diseases and therefore they would have such as travell by the way to carry of this powder alwayes 〈◊〉 them There be many other medicines which I leave to write because if I should rehearse every 〈◊〉 medicine my book would be infinite I for my part would use no other then that before expressed or else Wine and Treacle only Of the Diseases in the Head THe head is subject to divers diseases according to the divers parts thereof for in the panicles or little fine skins cleaving to the bones and covering the brain do most properly breed head-ach and Migram Again in the substance of the brain which in a Horse is as much in quantity as is almost the brain of a mean Hog do breed the Frensie madness sleeping evill the Palsie and forgetfulness Finally in the ventricles or cels of the brain and in those conducts through which the spirits animal do give feeling and moving to the body do breed the Turnsick or staggers the Falling-evill the Night-mare the Apoplexy the Palsie and the Convulsion or Cramp the Catar or Rhume which in a Horse is called the Glaunders but first of Head-ach Of Head-ach THe Head-ach either cometh of some inward causes as of some cholerick humor bred in the the panicles of the brain or else of some outward cause as of extream heat or cold of some blow or of some violent savour Eumelus saith that it cometh of raw digestion but Martin saith most commonly of cold the signes be these the Horse will hang down his head and also hang down his ears his sight will be dim his eyes swollen and waterish and he will forsake his meat The cure Let him bloud in the palat of his mouth also purge his head with this perfume Take of Garlike stalks a handful all to broken in short pieces and a good quantity of Frankincense and being put into a chafing-dish of fresh coals hold the chafing-dish under the Horses nostrils so as the fume may ascend up into his head and in using him thus once or twice it will make him to cast at the nose and so purge his head of all filth Pelagonius saith that it is good to pour into his nostrils Wine wherein hath been sodden Euforbium Centaury and Frankincense Of the Frenzy and Madness of a Horse THe learned Physitians do make divers kindes as well of Frensie as of Madness which are not needful to be recited sith I could never read in any Author nor learn of any Farriar that a Horse were subject to the one half of them Absyrtus Hierocles Eumelus Pelagonius and Hippocrates do write simply de furore rabie that is to say of the madness of a Horse But indeed Vegetius in his second Book of Horse-leach-craft seemeth to make four mad passions belonging to a Horse intituling his Chapters in this sort de Appioso de Frenetico de Cardiacis de Rabioso the effects thereof though I fear me it will be to no great purpose yet to content such as perhaps have read the Author as well as I my self I will here briefly rehearse the same When some naughty bloud saith he doth strike the film or pannicle of the brain in one part only and maketh the same grievously to ake then the beast becometh Appiosum that is to say as it seemeth by his own words next following both dull of minde and of sight This word Appiosum is a strange word and not to be found again in any other Author and because in this passion the one side of the head is only grieved the Horse turneth round as though he went in a Mill. But when the poyson of such corrupt bloud doth infect the mid brain then the Horse becometh Frantick and will leap and fling and will run against the wals And if such bloud filleth the veins of the stomach or breast then it infecteth as well the heart as the brain and causeth alienation of minde and the body to sweat and this disease is called of Vegetius Passocardiaca which if Equus Appiosus chance to have then he becometh Rabiosus that is to say stark-mad For saith he by overmuch heat of the liver and bloud the veins and arteries of the heart are choaked up for grief and pain whereof the Horse biteth himself and gnaweth his own flesh Of two sorts of mad Horses I believe I have seen my self here in this Realm For I saw once a black Sweatbland Horse as I took him to be in my Lord of Hunsdons stable at Hunsdon coming thither by chance with my Lord Morley which Horse would stand all day long biting of the manger and eat little meat or none suffering no man to approach unto him by which his doings and partly by his colour and complexion I judged him to be vexed with a melancholy madness called of the Physitians Mania or rather Melancholia which cometh of a corrupt Melancholy and filthy bloud or humor sometime spread throughout all the veins of the body and sometimes perhaps remaining only in the head or else in the spleen or places next adjoyning The other mad Horse was a Roan of Master Ashlies Master of the Jewel house which with his teeth crushed his Masters right fore-finger in pieces whilest he offered him a little Hay to eat whereby he lost in a manner
cloth and then put thereunto of Sugar one pound of Cinamon two ounces of Conserve of Roses of Barberries of Cherries of each two ounces and mingle them together and give the Horse every day in the morning a quart thereof luke warm untill all be spent and after every time he drinketh let him be walked up and down in the stable or else abroad if the weather be warm and not windy and let him neither eat nor drink in two hours after and let him drink no cold water but luke-warm the space of fifteen days and let him be fed by little and little with such meat as the Horse hath most appetite unto But if the Horse he nesh and tender and so wax lean without any apparent grief or disease then the old Writers would have him to be fed now and then with parched Wheat and also to drink Wine with his water and eat continually Wheat-bran mingled with his provender untill he wax strong and he must be often dressed and trimmed and ly soft without the which things his meat will do him but little good And his meat must be fine and clean and given often and by little at once Russius saith that if a Horse eating his meat with good appetite doth not for all that prosper but is still lean then it is good to give him Sage Savin Bay-berries Earth-nuts and Boares-grease to drink with Wine or to give him the intrails of a Barbel or Tench with white Wine He saith also that sodden Beans mingled with Bran and Salt will make a lean Horse fat in very short space Of grief in the Breast LAurentius Russius writeth of a disease called in Italian Gravezza di petto which hath not been in experience amongst our Farriers that I can learn It comes as Russius saith of the superfluity of bloud or other humors dissolved by some extream heat and resorting down the breast paining the Horse so as he cannot well go The cure whereof according to Russius is thus Let him bloud on both sides of the breast in the accustomed veins and rowel him under the breast and twice a day turn the rowels with your hand to move the humors that they may issue forth and let him go so roweled the space of fifteen days Of the pain in the Heart called Anticor that is to say contrary to the Heart THis proceedeth of abundance of ranck bloud bred with good feeding and over much rest which bloud resorting to the inward parts doth suffocate the heart and many times causeth swellings to appear before the brest which will grow upward to the neck and then it killeth the Horse The signes The Horse will hang down his head in the manger for saking his meat and is not able to lift up his head The cure according to Martin is thus Let him bloud on both sides abundantly in the plat veins and then give him this drink Take a quart of Malmsie and put thereunto half a quartern of Sugar and two ounces of Cinamon and give it him luke-warm then keep him warm in the stable stuffing him well about the stomach that the wind offend him no manner of way and give him warm water with mault always to drink and give him such meat as he will eat And if the swelling do appear then besides letting him bloud strike the swelling in divers places with your fleam that the corruption may go forth and anoint the place with warm Hogs grease and that will either make it to wear away or else to grow to a head if it be covered and kept warm Of tired Horses BEcause we are in hand here with the vital parts and that when the Horses be tired with over-much labour their vital spirits wax feeble I think it best to speak of them even here not with long discoursing as Vegetius useth but briefly to shew you how to refresh the poor Horse having need thereof which is done chiefly by giving him rest warmth and good feeding as with warm mashes and plenty of provender And to quicken his spirits it shall be gâ—od to pour a little Oyl and Vinegar into his nostrils and to give him the drink of Sheeps heads recited before in the Chapter of Consumption of the flesh yea and also to bath his legs with this bath Take of Mallows of Sage of each two or three handfuls and of a Rose-cake boil these things together and being boyled then put unto it a good quantity of Butter or of Sallet-oyl Or else make him this charge Take of Bole Armony and of Wheat-flowre of each half a pound and a little Rozen beaten into powder and a quart of strong Vinegar and mingle them together and cover all his legs therewith and if it be Summer turn him to grass Of the diseased parts under the Midriff and first of the Stomach THe old Authors make mention of many diâ—eases incident to a Horses stomach as loathing of meat spewing up his drink surfeting of provender the hungry evil and such like which few of our Farriers have observed and therefore I will briefly speak of as many as I think necessary to be known and first of the loathing of meat Of the loathing of Meat A Horse may loath his meat through the intemperature of his stomach as for that it is too hot or too cold If his stomach be too hot then most commonly it will either inflame his mouth and make it to break out in blisters yea and perhaps cause some Cancker to breed there The cure of all which things hath been taught before But if he forsake his meat only for very heat which you shall perceive by the hotness of his breath and mouth then cool his stomach by giving him cold water mingled with a little Vinegar and Oyl to drink or else give him this drink Take of Milk and of Wine of each one pinte and put thereunto three ounces of Mel Rosatum and wash all his mouth with Vinegar and Salt If his stomach be too cold then his hair will stare and stand right up which Absyrtus and others were wont to cure by giving the Horse good Wine and Oyl to drink and some would seethe in Wine Rew or Sage some would adde thereunto white Pepper and Myrrhe some would give him Onyons and Rocket-seed to drink with Wine Again there be other some which prescribe the bloud of a young Sow with old Wine Absyrtus would have the Horse to eat the green blades of Wheat if the time of the year will serve for it Columella saith that if a Horse or any other Beast do loath his meat it is good to give him Wine and the seed of Gith or else Wine and stampt Garlick Of casting out his Drink VEgetius saith that the Horse may have such a Palsie proceeding of cold in his stomach as he is not able to keep his drink but many times to cast it out again at his mouth The remedy whereof is to let him bloud in the neck and to
is so hard and thick that of it the Scythians make breast-plates which no dart can pierce through His colour for the most part like an Asses but when he is hunted or feared he changeth his hew into whatsoever thing he seeth as among trees he is like them among green boughs he seemeth green amongst rocks of stone he it transmuted into their colour also as it is generally by most Writers affirmed as Pliny and Sclinus among the Ancient Stephanus and Eustathius among the later Writers This indeed is the thing that seemeth most incredible but there are two reasons which draw me to subscribe hereunto first because we see that the face of men and beasts through fear joy anger and other passions do quickly change from ruddy to white from black to pale and from pale to ruddy again Now as this beast hath the head of a Hart so also hath it the fear of a Hart but in a higher degree and therefore by secret operation it may easily alter the colour of their hair as a passion in a reasonable man may alter the colour of his face The same things are reported by Pliny of a beast in India called Lycaon as shall be afterward declared and besides these two there is no other among creatures covered with hair that changeth colour Another reason forcing me to yeeld hereunto is that in the Sea a Polypus-fish and in the earth among creeping things a Chamaeleon do also change their colour in like sort and fashion whereunto it may be replyed that the Chamaeleon and Polypus-fish are pilled or bare without hair and therefore may more easily be verse-coloured but it is a thing impossible in nature for the hair to receive any tincture from the passions but I answer that the same nature can multiply and diminish her power in lesser and smaller Beasts according to her pleasure and reserveth an operation for the nails and feathers of birds and fins and scales of fishes making one sort of divers colour from the other and therefore may and doth as forcibly work in the hairs of a Buffe as in the skin of a Chamaeleon adding so much more force to transmute them by how much farther off they stand from the blood like as an Archer which setteth his arm and bow higher to shoot farther and therefore it is worthy observation that as this beast hath the best desence by her skin above all other so she hath a weakest and most timerous heart above all other These Buffes are bred in Scythia and are therefore called Tarandi Scythici they are also among the Sarmatians and called Budini and neer Gelonis and in a part of Poland in the Duchy of Mazavia betwixt Oszezke and Garvolyin And if the Polonian Thuro before mentioned have a name whereof I am ignorant then will I also take that beast for a kinde of Bison In Phrygia there is a territory called Tarandros and peradventure this beast had his name from that Countrey wherein it may be he was first discovered and made known The quantity of this beast exceedeth not the quantity of a wilde Ox whereunto in all the parts of his body he is most like except in his head face and horns his legs and hoofs are also like an Oxes The goodness of his hide is memorable and desired in all the cold Countries in the world wherein only these beasts and all other of strong thick hides are found for the thinnest and most unprofitable skins of beasts are in the hot and warmer parts of the world and God hath provided thick warm most commodious and precious covers for those beasts that live farthest from the Sun Whereupon many take the hides of other beasts for Buffe for being tawed and wrought artificially they make garments of them as it is daily to be seen in Germany Of the Vulgar BUGIL ABugil is called in Latine Bubalus and Buffalus in French Beufle in Spanish Bufano in German Buffel and in the Illyrian tongue Bouwol The Hebrews have no proper word for it but comprehend it under To which signifieth any kind of wilde Oxen for neither can it be expressed by Meriah which signifieth fatted Oxen or Bekarmi which signifieth Oxen properly or Jachmur which the Persians call Kutzcohi or Buzcohi and is usually translated a Wilde-Asse For which beast the Hebrews have many words neither have the Graecians any proper word for a vulgar Bugil for Boubatos and Boubatis are amongst them taken for a kinde of Roe-buck So that this Bubalus was first of all some modern or barbarous term in Africk taken up by the Italians and attributed to this beast and many other for whom they knew no proper names For in the time of Pliny they used to call strange beasts like Oxen or Bulls Vri as now a days led with the same error or rather ignorance they call such Bubali or Buffali The true effigies of the vulgar Bugil was sent unto me by Cornelius Sittardus a famous Physitian in Norimberg and it is pictured by a tame and familiar Bugil such as liveth among men for labour as it seemeth to me For there is difference among these beasts as Aristotle hath affirmed both in colour mouth horn and strength This vulgar Bugil is of a kinde of wilde Oxen greater and taller then the ordinary Oxen their body being thicker and stronger and their limbs better compact together their skin most hard their other parts very lean their hair short small and black but little or none at all upon the tail which is also short and small The head hangeth downward to the earth and is but little being compared with the residue of his body and his aspect or face betokeneth a tameable and simple disposition His fore-head is broad and curled with hair his horns more flat then round very long bending together at the top as a Goats do backward insomuch as in Crete they make bows of them and they are not for defence of the beast but for distinction of kinde and ornament His neck is thick and long and his rump or neather part of his back is lower then the residue descending to the tail His legs are very great broad and strong but shorter then the quantity of his body would seem to permit They are very fierce being tamed but that is corrected by putting an Iron ring through his Nostrils whereinto is also put a cord by which he is led and ruled as a Horse by a bridle for which cause in Germany they call a simple man over-ruled by the advise of another to his own hurt a Bugle led with a ring in his nose His feet are cloven and with the formost he will dig the earth and with the hindmost fight like a Horse setting on his blows with great force and redoubling them again if his object remove not His voyce is like the voyce of an Oxe when he is chased he runneth forth right seldom winding or turning and when he is angred he
flesh is sweet for meat of a yellowish colour like the Larde of Swine and therefore not so white as is our vulgar Cony they do not dig like other Conies and for the farther description of their nature I will express it in the words of Munzingerus aforesaid for thus he writeth One of the males is sufficient in procreation for seven or nine of the females and by that means they are made more fruitful but if you put them one male to one female then will the venereous salacity of the male procure abortment It is affirmed that they go threescore daies with young before they litter and I saw of late one of them bear eight at one time in her womb but three of them were stifled They bring forth in the winter and their whelpes are not blinde as are the Conies They are no way so harmful as other are either to bite or dig but more tractable in hand howbeit untamable If two males be put to one female they fight fiercely but they will not hurt the Rabbets As the male is most libidinous so doth he follow the female with a little murmuring noise bewraying his appetite for generation without wrath and these are also called Spanish Conies by Peter Martyr whose nature except in their abundant superfoetation cometh nearer to Hogs then Conies Of the Fallow Deer commonly called a BVCK and a DOE THere are some beasts saith Pliny which nature hath framed to have horns grow out of their head like fingers out of the hand and for that cause they are called Platicerotae such is this vulgar Fallow Deer being therefore called Cervus Palmatus that is a palmed Hart by reason of the similitude the horn hath with the hand and fingers The Germans call this beast Dam and Damlin and Damhiriz The Italians Daio and Danio the French Dain and Daim The Spaniards Garno and Corâ—za the Cretians vulgarly at this day Agrimi and Platogna and Aristotle Prox the Latins Dama and Damula because de manu that is it quickly flyeth from the hand of man having no other defence but her heels and the female 〈…〉 roca and the Polonians Lanii It is a common beast in most Countries being as corpulent as a Hart but in quantity resembleth more a Roe except in colour The males have horns which they lose yearly but the females none at all their colour divers but most commonly branded or sandie on the back like the furrow of a new plowed field having a black strake down all along the back a tail almost as long as a Calves their bellies and sides spotted with white which spots they lose in their old age and the females do especially vary in colour being sometimes all white and therefore like unto Goats except in their hair which is shorter The horns of this beast are carryed about every where to be seen and therefore this is also likely to be the same beast which Aristotle calleth Hippelaphus as some would have it yet I rather think that Hippelaphus was like to that rare seen horse which Francis the first of that name King of France had presented unto him for a gift which was engendred of a Horse and a Hart and therefore can have no other name then Hippelaphus signifying a Horse-hart In the bloud of these kind of Deer are not strings or Fibres wherefore it doth not congeal as other doth and this is assigned to be one cause of their fearful nature they are also said to have no gall in their horns they differ not much from a Harts except in quantity and for their other parts they much resemble a Roe-buck their flesh is good for nourishment but their bloud doth increase above measure melancholy which caused Hiera to write thus of it after his discourse of the Roe Damula adusta magis si matris ab ubere rapta est Huie prior in nostro forte erit orbe locus For the preparation or dressing of a Buck we shall say more when we come to the description of a Hart. Albertus translateth the word Algazel a Fallow Deer and sayeth that the flesh thereof is very hurtful being cold and dry and bringeth the Hemorhoides if it be not well seasoned with Pepper Cinnamon Mustard seed and Hony or else Garlick which caused Juvenal to cry out upon the excess of rich men for their feasts and delicate fare being compared with the Ancients which lived upon fruits in these words following as they are left in his eleventh Satyre Olim ex quavis arbore mensa fiebat At nunc divitibus coenandi nulla voluptas Nil Rhombus nil dama sapit putere videntur Vnguentum atque rosae The dung or fime of this beast mingled with oil of Myrtles increaseth hair and amendeth those which are corrupt If the tongue hereof be perfumed under a leech or tick that sticketh in the throat of man or beast it causeth the leech to fall off presently and the powder of such a tongue helpeth in a Fistula some of the late writers do prescribe the fat of a Moul of a Deer and of a Bear mingled together to rub the head withall for increase of memory Of the second kind of Deer the ROE-BVCKE The representation both of male female Delicium parvo donabis dorcada nato Jactatis solet hanc mittere turba togis The Persians call this beast Ahu The Arabians Thabiu a which cometh neer to the Chalde word the Germans Reeh or Rech and the male Rech-bocke and the female Rech-giese the Illyrians Serna or Sarna the French Chireau and Chevreulsauuage The Spaniard Zorito or Cabronzillo-montes the Italians Capriolo and Cauriolo for the male and Capriola and Cauriola for the female The Grecians Dorcas as the Septuagint do every where translate which Strabo termeth corruptly Zorces also Dorx Kemas Nebrous and vulgarly as at this day Zarkadi and Dorcalis Dorcadion for a little Roe The Latins do also use the word Dorcas in common with the Grecians and beside Caprea and Capreolus for a little Goat for I do not think that any learned man can find any difference betwixt Caprea and Caprealus except in age and quantity The reason of these two latter names is because of the likeness it hath with a Goat for Goats as we shall shew in their description have many kindes distinguished from one another in resemblance but in the horns a Roe doth rather resemble a Hart for the female have no horns at all These beasts are most plentiful in Africk beyond the Sea of Carthage but they are of another kinde then those which Aristotle denyed to be in Africa there are also in Egypt and in Germany and in the Helvetian Alpes Likewise in Catadupa beyond Nilus in Arabia in Spain and in Lycia and it is to be observed that the Lycian Roes do never go over the Syrian Mountains Aelianus doth deliver these things of the Lybian Roes which for the colour and parts of their body may
weak and apt to be broken with any small stroke and for this cause he often stayeth to ease himself There is a kinde of thorn called Cactus where withall if a young one be pricked in his legs his bones will never make Pipes Besides these Beasts are annoyed with Scabs and Itches in their head and skin tearmed by the French by a peculiar name Froyer I will not stand upon the idle conceit of Albertus that Waspes and Emmets breed in the heads of Harts for he mistaketh them for the worm before mentioned The skins of this Beast are used for garments in some Countries and in most places for the bottom of Cushions and therefore they chuse such as are killed in the Summer time when they are fat and most spotted and the same having their hair pulled from them are used for Breeches Buskins and Gloves Likewise Pliny and Sextus affirmed that if a man sleep on the ground having upon him a Harts skin Serpents never anoy him whereof Serenus made this Verse Aut tu cervina per noctem in pelle quicscis And the bons of young ones are applyed for making of Pipes It is reported that the bloud of Harts burned together with herb-dragon orchanes orgament and mastick have the same power to draw Serpents out of their holes which the Harts have being alive and if there be put unto it wilde Pellitory it will also distract and dissipate them again The marrow of a Hart hath the same power against Serpents by ointment or perfumed upon coles and Nicander prescribeth a certain ointment to be made of the flesh of Serpents of the marrow of a Hart and Oils of Roses against the bitings of Serpents The fat of a Hart hath the like effects that the marrow hath Achilles that Noble Souldier was said never to have tasted of milk but to be nourished with the marrow of Harts by Chiro as is affirmed by Varinus and Etymologus The like operation hath the tooth as Serenus saith Aut genere ex ipso dentem portabis amicum If the seed of a young Hinde Calf be drunk with Vinegar it suffereth no poison of Serpents to enter into the body that day The perfume of the horn driveth away Serpents and noisome flies especially from the young Calves or from Horses if womens hair be added thereto with the hoof of the Hart. And if men drink in pots wherein are wrought Harts horns it will weaken all force of venom The Magicians have also devised that if the fat of a Dragons heart be bound up in the skin of a Roe with the nerves of a Hart it promiseth victory to him that beareth it on his Shoulder and that if the teeth be so bound in a Roes skin it maketh ones Master Lord or all superior powers exorable and appeased toward their servants and suitors Orpheus in his book of stones commandeth a husband to carry about him a Harts horn if he will live in amity and concord with his wife to conclude they also add another figment to make men invincible The head and tail of a Dragon with the hairs of a Lion taken from between the browes and his marrow the froath or white-mouth of a victorious Horse the nails of a Dog and the nerves of a Hart and a Roe bound up all together in a Harts skin and this is as true as the wagging of a Dogs tail doth signifie a tempest To leave these trifles scarce worthy to be rehearsed but only to shew the vanity of men given over to lying devises let us come to the other natural and medicinal properties not as yet touched The flesh of these Beasts in their running time smelleth strongly like a Goats the which thing is by Blondus attributed also to the flesh of the females with young I know not how truly but I am sure that I have known certain Noble women which every morning did eat this flesh and during the time they did so they never were troubled with Ague and this virtue they hold the stronger if the beast in dying have received but one wound The flesh is tender especially if the beast were libbed before his horns grew yet is not the juice of that flesh very wholesome and therefore Galen adviseth men to abstain as much from Harts flesh os from Asses for it engendereth melancholy yet is it better in Summer then in Winter Simeon Sethi speaking of the hot Countries forbiddeth to eat them in Summer because then they eat Serpents and so are venemous which falleth not out in colder Nations and therefore assigneth them rather to be eaten in Winter time because the concoctive powers are more stronger through plenty of inward heat but withal admonisheth that no man use to eat much of them for it will breed Palsies and trembling in mans body begetting grosse humors which stop the Milt and Liver and Avicen proveth that by eating thereof men in our the quartane Ague wherefore it is good to powder them with salt before the dressing and then seasoned with Peper and other things known to every ordinary Cook and woman they make of them Pasties in most Nations The heart and brain of a Hare or Cony have the power of Triacle for expelling of evill humors but the Liver is intolerable in food the horns being young are meat for Princes especially because they avoid poison It was a cruell thing of King Ferdinand that caused the young ones to be cut out of the Dams belly and baked in Pasties for his liquorous Epicureal appetite The whole nature and disposition of every part of this beast is against poison and venemous things as before recited His bloud stayeth the looseness of the belly and all fluxes especially fryed with Oil and the inferior parts anointed therewith and being drunk in Wine it is good against poisoned wounds and all intoxications The marrow of this beast is most approveable above other and is used for sweet odour against the Gowt and heat of men in Consuptions and all outward pains and weakness as Serenus comprised in one sentence saying Et cervina potest mulcere medulla rigorem Frigoris Likewise the fat and marrow mollifieth or disperseth all bunches in the flesh and old swellings all Ulcers except in the shins and legs and with Venus-navil the Fistula mattery Ulcers in the ears with Rozen Pitch Goose-greace and Goat-sewet the cleaving of the lips and with Calves sewet the heat and pain in the mouth and jawes It hath also vertue being drunk in warm water to aswage the pain in the bowels and small guts or Bloudy flux The gall of a Bull Oil of bayes Butter and this marrow by anointing cureth pain in the knees and loins and other evils in the seat of man in the hips and in the belly when it is costive It procureth flowers of Women cureth the Gowt Pimples in ones face and Ringwormes Absyrtus prescribeth it to be given in sweet wine with wax unto a Horse
for an old Cough proceeding of cold after purging and heating by holding the Horses tongue in ones hand while the medicine is thrust down his throat The same in Sheeps milk with Rubrick and soft Pitch drunk every day or eaten to your meat helpeth the Ptisick and Obstructions Anatolius approved Bean meal sifted and sod with Harts marrow to be given to a Horse which stalleth bloud for three daies together Also mingled with the powder of Oyster shels it cureth Kibes and Chilblanes A woman perfumed with the hairs of this beast is preserved from abortements and the same perfume helpeth the difficulty of urine and little pieces cut off from the hide with a Pummise put in wine and rubbing the body helpeth the holy-fire The powder of the bones burned is an antidote against the falling evill and the dispersing of the milt and the bones beaten to powder stayeth the Flux of the belly It were endless to describe all the virtues ascribed to the horn and therefore I will content my self with the recital of few Pliny and Solinus prefer the right horn Aristotle the left and the spires or tops are more medicinable then the hard and solide stem but the horns found in the Woods lost by the beasts and grown light are good for nothing The other have their uses both raw and burned which may be these which follow Take the horn and cut it into small pieces then put it into an earthen pot anointed within with durt and so set it in a furnace untill it become white then wash it like a mineral and it will help the runnings and ulcers in the eyes and the same also keepeth the teeth white and the gums sound The young horns while they be soft being eaten are an antidote against Henbane and other poisonful herbs The right horn hid by the Hart in the earth is good against the poison of Toades The Harts horn hath power to dry up all humors and therefore it is used in eye salves and Orpheus promiseth to a bald man hair on his head again if he anoint it with oil and powder of this horn likewise the same with the seed of black mirtle Butter and Oil restraineth the falling away of the hair being anointed upon the head after it is newly shaven with Vinegar it killeth Ringwormes The same burned in the Sun and afterward the face being rubbed and washed therewith thrice together taketh away pimple-spots out of the face the powder drunk in wine or anointed on the head killeth lice and nits the same with Vinegar Wine or Oil of Roses anointed upon the forehead easeth the head-ach if it proceed of cold A perfume made of this horn with Castoreum and Lime or Brimstone causeth a dead childe strangled in his mothers womb to come forth if the horn be taken raw and rubbed upon the gums keepeth the cheeks from all annoyance of the tooth-ach and fasteneth the loose teeth as Serenus said Quod vero assumpsit nomen de dente fricando Cervino ex cornu cinis est Galen prescribeth the powder of this horn for the Jaundise and for him that spitteth bloudy matter and to stay vomit being taken in a reere Egge It comforteth also a rheumatick stomach and it is tryed to cure the Kings evill it pacifieth the milt dryeth the Spleen driveth all kind of Wormes out of the belly being drunk with hony and easeth the Colick expelleth away mothers helpeth the Strangury and the pain in the bladder stayeth Fluxes in women both white and red being mingled with Barly meal water and twigs of Cedar beside many other such properties The tears of this beast after she hath been hunted with a Serpent are turned into a stone called Belzahard or Bezahar of which we have spoken before and being thus transubstantiated do cure all manner of venom as Avenzoar and Cardinal Ponzetti affirme after many trials and Sernus also expresseth in this Distichon Seminecis cervi lachrymam miscere liquori Convenit atque artus illinc miscere calentes The liver of this beast helpeth all sores in the feet being worn in the shooes the same dryed to powder with the throat or wind-pipe of the beast and mingled with Hony and so eaten helpeth the Cough Ptisick sighing and short breathing Pliny and Sextus affirme that when a Hinde perceiveth herself to be with young she devoureth or eateth up a certain stone which is afterward found either in her excrements or ventricle and is profitable for all Women with childe and in travell for by that only fact the Hinde is most speedily delivered without great pain and seldome or never suffering abortment and there is also a little bone found in the heart of every one of these beasts which performeth the same qualities in stead whereof they have such a thing to sell at Venice holding it at great price but Brasavola affirmeth that he opened the hearts of two Harts and found in them a little gristle not much unlike to a crosse whereof the one being of a Beast new killed was very soft but the other was much harder because the beast was slain about six dayes before This bone is in the left side of the heart upon which the Spleen moveth and sendeth forth her excrements by vapors which by reason of their driness are there turned into a bone and being first of all of the substance of the Harts bloud and it is good against the trembling of the heart and the Hemorrhoides but this bone cannot be found in any except he be killed betwixt the middle of August and the twelfth of September The skinny seed of the Hind-Calf is above all other commended against poison and the bitings of Serpents and of mad Dogs likewise it stayeth all Fluxes of bloud and spitting of bloud and egestion of bloud and it being eaten with Beets and Lentils is profitable against the pain of the belly The genital part and stones are wholesome being taken in wine against all bitings of Vipers Adders and Snakes and the same virtue hath the natural seed supped up in a rere Egge The genital hath also a virtue to encrease lust in every creature it being either dryed and drunk or else bound fast to their privie parts Likewise being warmed in water and afterward dryed to powder and so drunk helpeth the Colick and the difficulty of making water if you put it into a little Triacle The dung of Harts cureth the Dropsie especially of a Subulon or young Hart the urine easeth the pain in the Spleen the wind in the ventricles and bowels and infused into the ears healeth their ulcers In the tip of the tail lyeth poison which being drunk causeth extasie and death if it be not helpt by a vomit made of Butter Annise and oil of Sesamine or as Cardinal Ponzetius saith that the Harts eye is an Antidote to this evill It may be known by a yellowish-green colour and therefore it is called the gall for nature
overthrow of them that persecute him The Moors say that he hath two hearts one wherewithal he is incensed and another whereby he is pacified But the truth is as Aristotle in the dissection of the heart observed there is a double ventricle and bone in the heart of an Elephant He hath a Liver without any apparent gall but that side of the Liver being cut whereon the gall should lie a certain humour cometh forth like a gall Wherefore Aelianus saith he hath his gall in his maw-gut which is so full of sinews that one would think he had four bellies in this receiveth he his meat having no other receptacle for it His intrails are like unto a Swines but much greater His Liver four times so great as an Oxes and so all the residue except the Milt He hath two pappes a little beside his brest under his shoulders and not between his hinder legs or loins they are very small and cannot be seen on the side The reasons hereof are given first that he hath but two pappes because he bringeth forth but one at a time and they stand under his shoulders like an Apes because he hath no hoofs but distinct feet like a mans and also because from the breast floweth more aboundance of milke The genital part is like a Horses but lesser then the proportion of his body affordeth the stones are not outwardly seen because they cleave to his reins But the female hath her genital betwixt her thighes the forelegs are much longer then the hinder legs and the feet be greater His legs are of equall quantity both above and beneath the knees and it hath ancle bones very low The articles do not ascend so high as in other creatures but kept low neer the earth He bendeth his hinder legs like a mans when he sitteth but by reason of his great weight he is not able to bend on both sides together but either leaneth to the right hand or to the left and so sleepeth It is false that they have no joints or articles in their legs for when they please they can use bend and move them but after they grow old they use not to lie down or strain them by reason of their great weight but take their rest leaning to a tree and if they did not bend their legs they could never go any ordinary and stayed pace Their feet are round like a Horses but so as they reach from the middle every way two spans length and are as broad as a bushel having five distinct toes upon each foot the which toes are very little cloven to the intent that the foot may be stronger and yet parted that when he treadeth upon soft ground the weight of his body presse not down the leg too deep He hath no nails upon his toes his tail is like an Oxes tail having a little hair at the end and the residue thereof peeled and without hair He hath not any bristly hairs to cover his back And thus much for their several parts and their uses There is not any creature so capable of understanding as an Elephant and therefore it is requisite to tarry somewhat the longer in expressing the several properties and natural qualities thereof which sundry and variable inclinations cannot choose but bring great delight to the Reader They have a wonderful love to their own Countrey so as although they be never so well delighted with divers meats and joyes in other places yet in memory thereof they send forth tears and they love also the waters rivers and marishes so as they are not unfitly called Riparii such as live by the rivers sides although they cannot swim by reason of their great and heavie bodies untill they be taught Also they never live solitary but in great flocks except they be sick or watch their young ones and for either of these they remain adventurous unto death the eldest leadeth the herd and the second driveth them forward if they meet any man they give him way and go out of his sight Their voice is called by the word Barrire that is to bray and thereupon the Elephants themselves are called Barri for his voice cometh out of his mouth and nostrils together like as when a man speaketh breathing wherefore Aristotle calleth it Raucity or hoarsness like the low sound of a Trumpet this sound is very terrible in battails as shall be afterward declared They live upon the fruits of Plants and roots and with their truncks and heads overthrow the tops of trees and eat the boughs and bodies of them and many times upon the leaves of trees he devoureth Chamaeleons whereby he is poisoned and dyeth if he eat not immediately a wilde Olive They eat earth often without harm but if they eat it seldom it is hurtful and procureth pain in their bellies so also they eat stones They are so loving to their fellows that they will not eat their meat alone but having found a prey they go and invite the residue to their feasts and chear more like to reasonable civil men then unreasonable brute beast There are certain noble Melons in Ethiopia which the Elephants being sharp smelling beasts do winde a great way off and by the conduct of their noses come to those Gardens of Melons and there eat and devour them When they are tamed they will eat Barlie either whole or ground of whole at one time is given them nine Macedonian Bushels but of Meal six and of drink either wine or water thirty Macedonian pints at at a time that is fourteen gallons but this is observed that they drink not wine except in war when they are to fight but water at all times whereof they will not tast except it be muddy and not clear for they avoid clear water loathing to see their own shadow therein and therefore when the Indians are to passe the water with their Elephants they chuse dark and cloudy nights wherein the Moon affordeth no light If they perceive but a Mouse run over their meat they will not eat thereof for there is in them a great hatred of this creature Also they will eat dryed Figs Grapes Onions Bulrushes Palmes and Ivy leaves There is a Region in India called Phalacâ—us which signifieth Balde because of an herb growing therein which causeth every living thing that eateth thereof to lose both horn and hair and therefore no man can be more industrious or wary to avoid those places then is an Elephant and to forbear every green thing growing in that place when he passeth thorough it It will forbear drink eight dayes together and drink wine to drunkenness like an Ape It is delighted above measure with sweet savours ointments and smelling flowers for which cause their keepers will in the Summer time lead them into the medowes of flowers where they of themselves will by the quickness of their smelling chuse out and gather the sweetest flowers and put them
in the palat of his mouth that he may suck up the same then give him this drink Take of strong Ale a quart of the green or dure of Geese strained three or four spoonfuls of the juyce of Celandine as much of Saffron half an ounce mix these together and being warm give it the Horse to drink Of the evill habit of the Body and of the Dropsie AS touching the driness and Consumption of the flesh without any apparent cause why called of the Physitians as I said before Atrophia I know not what to say more then I have already before in the Chapter of Consumption of the flesh and therefore resort thither And as for the evill habit of the body which is to be evill coloured heavy dull and of no force strength nor liveliness cometh not for lack of nutriment but for lack of good nutriment for that the bloud is corrupted with flegm choler or melancholy proceeding either from the Spleen or else through weakness of the stomach or liver causing evill digestion or it may come by foul feeding yea and also for lack of moderate exercise The Evill habit of the body is next cousen to the Dropsie whereof though our Farriers have had no experience yet because mine old Authors writing of Horse-leech-craft do speak much thereof I think it good here briefly to shew you their experience therein that is to say how to know it and also how to cure it But sith none of them do shew the cause whereof it proceeds I think it meet first therefore to declare unto you the causes thereof according to the doctrine of the learned Physitians which in mans body do make three kindes of Dropsies calling the first Anasarca the second Ascites and the third Timpanias Anasarca is an universal swelling of the body through the abundance of the water sying betwixt the skin and the flesh and differeth not from the disease last mentioned called Cachexia that is to say Evill habit of the bloud saving that the body is more swoln in this then in Cachexia albeit they proceed both of like causes as of coldness and weakness of the liver or by means that the heart spleen stomach and other members serving to digestion be grieved or diseased Ascites is a swelling in the covering of the belly called of the Physitians Abdomen comprehending both the skin the fat eight muscles and the film or panicle called Peritoneum through the abundance of some whayish humor entred into the same which besides the causes before alleadged proceedeth most chiefly by means that some of the vessels within be broken or rather cracked out of the which though the bloud being somewhat gross cannot issue forth yet the whayish humor being subtil may run out into the belly like water distilling through a cracked pot Timpanias called of us commonly the Timpany is a swelling of the aforesaid covering of the belly through the abundance of winde entred into the same which winde is inge 〈…〉 ered of crudity and evill digestion and whilest it aboundeth in the stomach or other intrails finding no issue out it breaketh in violently through the small conduits among the panicles of the aforesaid covering not without great pain to the patient and so by tossing to and fro windeth at length into the space of the covering it self But surely such winde cannot be altogether void of moisture Notwithstanding the body swelleth not so much with this kinde of Dropsie as with the other kinde called Ascites The signes of the Dropsie is shortness of breath swelling of the body evill colour lothing of meat and great desire to drink especially in the Dropsie called Ascites in which also the belly will sound like a bottle half full of water but in the Timpany it will sound like a Taber But now though mine Authors make not so many kindes of Dropsies yet they say all generally that a Horse is much subject to the Dropsie The signes according to Absyrtus and Hierocles be these His belly legs and stones will be swoln but his back buttocks and flancks will be dryed and shrunk up to the very bones Moreover the veins of his face and temples and also the veins under his tongue will be so hidden as you cannot see them and if you thrust your finger hard against his body you shall leave the print thereof behinde for the flesh lacking natural heat will not return again to his place and when the Horse lyeth down he spreadeth himself abroad not being able to lie round together on his belly and the hair of his back by rubbing will fall away Pelagonius in shewing the signes of the Dropsie not much differing from the Physitians first recited seemeth to make two kindes thereof calling the one the Timpany which for difference sake may be called in English the Winde Dropsie and the other the Water Dropsie Notwithstanding both have one cure so far as I can perceive which is in this sort Let him be warm covered and walked a good while together in the Sun to provoke sweat and let all his body be well and often rubbed alongst the hair and let him feed upon Coleworts Smallage and Elming boughs and on all other things that may loosen the belly or provoke urine and let his common meat be grass if it may be gotten if not then Hay sprinkled with Water and Nitrum It is good also to give him a kinde of Pulse called Cich steeped a day and a night in water and then taken out and laid so as the water may drop away from it Pelagonius would have him to drink Parsly stampt with Wine or the root of the herb called in Latine Panax with Wine But if the swelling of the belly will not decrease for all this then slit a little hole under his belly a handful behinde the navil and put into that hole a hollow reed or some other pipe that the water or winde may go out not all at once but by little and little at divers times and beware that you make not the hole over wide lest the kall of the belly fall down thereunto and when all the water is clean run out then heal up the wound as you do all other wounds and let the Horse drink as little as is possible Of the Evil habit of the Stomach IF your Horse either by inward sickness or by present surfeit grow to a loath of his meat or by weakness of his stomach cast up his meat and drink this shall be the cure for the same First in all the drink he drinks let him have the powder of hot Spices as namely of Ginger Anise seeds Licoras Cinamon and Pepper then blow up into his nostrils the powder of Tobacco to occasion him to neese instantly after he hath eaten any meat for an hour together after let one stand by him and hold at his nose a piece of sowre leaven steept in Vinegar then anoint all his breast over with the Oyl of Ginnuper and Pepper mixt
a week and it shall be whole Of the Serew A Serew is a foul sorance it is like a Splent but it is a little longer and is most commonly on the outside of the fore-leg as the Splent is on the inside The cure is thus Take two spoonfuls of strong Wine Vinegar and one spoonful of good Sallet Oyl mingle them together and every morning bestow one hour in rubbing the sorance with it altogether downward till it be gone which will not be long in going The medicines arising out of Horses THe Grecians have written nothing at all concerning wilde Horses because in their Countrey there was none of them usually bred or gotten yet notwithstanding the same we ought to think that all medicines or any other things which do proceed from them are more strong in operation and have in them greater force and power then any common Horses have as it falleth out in all sorts of other beasts The bloud of a Horse as Pliny affirmeth doth gnaw into dead flesh with a putrifactive force the same vertue hath the blood of Mares which have been covered by Horses Also the bloud of a Horse but especially of one which is a breeder doth very much make and help against impostumes and small bunches which do arise in the flesh Moreover it is said that the bloud of a young Asse is very good against the Jaundies and the over-flowing of the gall as also the same force and effect is in the bloud of a young Horse The Horse-leaches do use the bloud of Horses for divers diseases which are incident unto them both by anointing or rubbing the outward parts as also within their bodies Furthermore if one do cut the veins of the palat of a Horses mouth and let it run down into his belly it will presently destroy and consume the maw or belly-worms which are within him When a Horse is sick of the Pestilence they draw bloud out of the veins in his spurring place and mingling the same upon a stone with Salt make him to lick it up The bloud of a Horse is also mingled with other medicines and being anointed upon the armes and shoulders of men or beasts which are broken or out of joynt doth very much help them But a Horse which is weary or tyred you must cure after this manner First draw some bloud out of his matrix or womb and mingle it with Oyl and Wine and then put it on the fire till it be luke-warm and then rub the Horse all over against the hairs If the sinews of Horses do wax stiffe or shrink in together it is very necessary that the sick parts should be anointed with the hot bloud which doth proceed from him for Horses also which are fed in the field use their flesh and dung against the biting and stinging of Serpents We do also finde that the flesh of Horses being well boiled is very medicinable for divers diseases Moreover it is very usuall and common with the women of Occitania to take the fat or grease of Horses to anoint their heads to make the hair of their heads multiply and increase and certain later Physitians do mingle the marrow of a Horse with other Ointments for a remedy against the Cramp The marrow of a Horse is also very good to loosen the sinews which are knit and sastned together but first let it be boyled in Wine and afterwards made cold and then anointed warmly either by the fire or Sun If a Horse do labor in that kinde of impostume which they vulgarly call the Worm either any where as well as in the nose they do open the skin with a searing iron and do sprinkle Verdigrease within the Horses mouth being brent and being added thereunto sometimes the seed of Henbane The teeth of a male Horse not gelded or by any labour made feeble being put under the head or over the head of him that is troubled or starteth in his dream doth withstand and resist all unquietness which in the time of his rest might happen unto him Pliny also doth assent that flowre doth heal the soreness of a Horses teeth and gums and the clefts and chinks of a Horses feet The teeth also of a Horse is very profitable for the curing of the Chilblanes which are rotten and full of corruption when they are swollen full ripe Marcellus saith that the tooth of a Horse being beaten and crushed into very small powder and being sprinkled upon a Mans genital doth much profit and very effectually help him but the teeth which were first ingendred in a Horse have this virtue in them that if they should touch the teeth of Man or Woman who are molested and grieved with the tooth-ach they shall presently find a final end of their pain if in the like manner a childe do kisse the nose or snowt of a Horse he shall never feel pain in his teeth neither at any time shall the childe be bitten by the Horse The teeth which do first of all fall from Horses being bound or fastned upon children in their infancy do very easily procure the breeding of the teeth but with more speed and more effectually if they have never touched the ground wherefore the Poet doth very well apply these Verses saying Collo igitur molli dentes nectentur equini Qui prima suerint pullo crescente caduâ—i It is also said that if the hair of a Horse be fastned unto the House of a mans enemy it will be a means that neither little flies or small gnats shall flie by his dwelling place or aboad The tongue of a Horse being never accustomed unto wine is a most present and expedient medicine to allay or cure the milt of a Man or Woman as Caecillus Bion reporteth unto us that he learned it of the Barbarians But Marcellus saith that the Horse tongue ought to be dryed and beaten into small powder and put into any drink except wine only and forthwith it will shew the commodity which riseth thereupon by easing either Man or Woman of the pain of the Spleen or Milt divers also do think that a Horses tongue used after this manner is a good means or preservative against the biting of Serpents or any other venemous creatures But for the curing of any sores or griefs in the inward parts the genital of a Horse is most of all commended for as Pliny supposeth this genital of a Horse is very medicinable for the loosing of the belly as also the bloud marrow or liver of a Goat but these things do rather dry up and close the belly as before we have taught concerning the Goat In the heart of Horses there is found a bone most like unto a Dogs tooth it is said that this doth drive away all grief or sorrow from a mans heart and that a tooth being pulled from the cheeks or jaw bones of a dead Horse doth shew the full and right number of the sorrowes
therefore he cannot look backward The greatness and roughness of his Neck betokeneth a magnanimous and liberal minde Nature hath given a short Neck unto the Lion as unto Bears and Tygers because they have no need to put it down to the earth to feed like an Ox but to lift it up to catch their prey His shoulders and breasts are very strong as also the forepart of his body but the members of the hinder part do degenerate For as Pliny saith Leoni vis suâ—â—na in pectore the chiefest force of a Lion is in his breast The part above his throat-hole is loose and soft and his Metaphrenoâ— or part of his back against his heart so called betwixt his shoulder-blades is very broad The back bone and ribs are very strong his ventricle narrow and not much larger then his maw He is most subject to wounds in his flanck because that part is weakest in all other parts of his body he can endure many blowes About his loyns and hip-bone he hath but little flesh The lionesse hath two udders in the midest of her belly not because she bringeth forth but two at a time for sometimes she bringeth more but because she aboundeth in milk and her meat which she getteh seldom and is for the most part flesh turneth all into milk The tail of a Lion is very long which they shake oftentimes and by beating their sides therewith they provoke themselves to fight The Grecians call it Alâ—â—a and Alciatus maketh this excellent emblem thereof upon wrath Alc 〈…〉 vâ—teres caudam dixere Leonis Qud stimulante iras concipit ille graves Lutea quum surgit bilis crudescit atro Felle dolor furias excitat indomitaâ— The neather part of his tail is full of hairs and gristles and some are of opinion that there is therein a little sting wherewithal the Lion pricketh it self but of this more afterwards The bones of Lions have no marrow in them or else it is so small that it seemeth nothing therefore they are the more strong solid and greater then any other beast of their stature and the males have ever more harder bones then the female for by striking them together you may beget fire as by the percussion of Flints and the like may be said of other beasts that live upon flesh yet are some of the bones hollow The legs of a Lion are very strong and full of Nerves and in stead of an ankle-bone it hath a crooked thing in his pastern such as children use to make for sport and so also hath the Lynx His forefeet have five distinct toes or clawes on each foot and the hinder feet but four His clawes are crooked and exceeding hard and this seemeth a little miracle in nature that Leopards Tygers Panthers and Lions do hide their clawes within their skin when they go or run that so they might not be dulled and never pull them forth except when they are to take or devour their prey also when they are hunted with their tails they cover their footsteps with earth that so they may not be bewrayed The Epithets of this beast are many whereby the authors have expressed their several natures such are these the curst kind of Lions full of stomach sharp bold greedy blunket flesh-eater Caspian Cleonean the Lord and King of the beasts and woods fierce wilde hairy yellow strong fretting teeth-gnashing Ne 〈…〉 ean thundering raging Getulian rough lowring or wry-faced impatient quick untamed free and mad according to this saying of the Poet Fertur Prâ—metheâ—â— insani Lâ—onis Vim stomacho opposuissâ—â—ostro For as the Eagle is faigned to feed upon the heart of Promâ—theus so also is the Lion the ruler of the heart of man according to the Astrologians And from hence it cometh that a man is said to bear a stomach when he is angry and that he should be more subject to anger when he is hungry then when he is full of meat These also are the Epithets of Lions wrathful maned Lybian deadly stout great Masâ—li 〈…〉 Mauritanian Partâ—ian Phrygian Molorchaean Carthaginian preying ravening stubborn snatching wrinkled cruell bloudy terrible swelling vast violent Marmarican These also are the Epithets of the Lionesse African â—old stony-hearted vengible cave-lodging fierce yellow Getulâ—an Hyrcanian ungentle Lybian cruell frowning and terrible By all which the nature of this Beast and several properties thereof are compendiously expressed in one word The voice of the Lion is called Rugitus that is roaâ—ing or â—ellowing according to this Verse of the Poet Tigrides indomita rancanâ— rugiuntque Leâ—nâ—â— And therefore cometh Rugitus Leonis the roaring of the Lion It is called also Gemitus and Fremitus as Virgil Fremit leo ore cruento And again Hinc exaudiri gemitus iraeque leonum Vincla recusantum sera sub nocte rudentum And when the young Lions have gotten a prey in token thereof they roar like the bleating of a Calf thereby calling their elders to participate with them The places of their aboad are in the mountains according to this saying Leo cacumina montium amat Their sight and their smelling are most excellent for they sleep with their eyes open and because of the brightness of their eyes they cannot endure the light of fire for fire and fire cannot agree also their smelling for which cause they are called Odorati is very eminent for if the Lionesse have committed adultery with the Leopard the male discovereth it by the sense of his Nose and for this cause also they are tamed in Tartaria and are used for hunting Boars Bears Hares Roe-bucks wilde Asses as also for wilde and outlandish Oxen and they were wont to be carryed to hunting two Lions in a Cart together and either of them had a little Dog following them There is no beast more vehement then a she or female Lion for which cause Semiramis the Babylonian tyranness esteemed not the slaughter of a male Lion or a Libbard but having gotten a Lionesse above all other she rejoyced therein A Lion when he eateth is most fierce and also when he is hungry but when he is satisfied and filled he layeth aside that savage quality and sheweth himself of a more meek and gentle nature so that it is lesse danger to meet with him filled then hungry for he never devoureth any till famine constraineth him I have heard a story of an Englishman in Barbary which turned Moor and lived in the Kings Court on a day it was said in his presence that there was a Lion within a little space of the Court and the place was named where it lodged The Englishman being more then half drunk offered to go and kill the Lion hand to hand and therewithal armed himself with a Musket Sword and Dagger and other complements and he had also about him a long Knife so forth went this regenerate English Moor more like a mad man then an advised Champion to kill this Lion and when
the best of all other for food In Bavaria they are lean but in Burgundy or the neather Germany they are fierce strong and very fat Those which are carried into Hispaniola are said to grow to the stature of Mules Now concerning the several parts of Swine it is most certain that inwardly they do more resemble a mans body then an Ape for as all writers do affirm that outwardly the proportion of Apes come nearest to men according to the Poets verse Simia quam sintilis turpissima bestia nobis So on the other side a Swines Anatomy doth more lively express the inward members and seat of life and therefore our predecessors did first of all dissect a Swine and then a Man for the Swine was an example or Introduction to the other and in Swine they chuse a lean Hog because that all the vessels and instrumental parts do better and more clearly appear to the sight then in a fat Hog There is not according to Aristotle much marrow in their bones and their skin is all over rough and hairy and yet the hair not so thick as an Oxes yet much longer and stiffer standing up upon the ridge of the back the colour of Swine is uncertain and varieth not only after the diversity of the Countrey but in every Countrey it is divers in it self some are white some branded some sanded some red some black some pyed some none of these and some all of these yet in Germany for the most part red and in France and Italy black Betwixt the skin and the flesh there lyeth a fat called Lordo barde and Arâ—â—na Their brain is very fat and in the wane of the Moon it is less then any other beasts Their eyes are hollow and stand very deep in their heads and therefore cannot by Art of man he taken out without danger of death and if one of them be at any time perished it is a hazzard but the Swine dyeth Their eye-brows move more downward toward their noses and are again drawn up toward their temples and their fore-head is very narrow by which in ancient time they judged or deemed a fool or foolish unwise disposition as by standing up of the lips about the canine teeth betokeneth a contumelious and clamorous rayler and thick lips and a round mouth standing forth the disposition of a Hog The snowt is long and strong and yet broad to cast up the earth for food having on the tip a rising gristle round and more piked at the top betwixt the nostrils wherewithal it first entereth the earth by digging Upon their under chap there are teeth which grow out of their head and the Boars have some which the females have not For even as the Elephant hath two teeth growing downward so hath the Boar two growing upward The male as we have said hath more then the female and neither of both do lose or change them by any course of nature As the Horse hath his mane so hath a Swine certain bristles on his neck called therefore by the Grecians Lophia this neck is broad and thick and in it lyeth the strength of the beast and therefore it is observed by the Physiognomers that a man with such a neck is an angry fool The collop next to the neck called vulgarly Callasum ought to be broad and stiffe It is said of sore Harts that they have their gall in their ears and indeed in the ears of Swine there is found a certain humor not much unlike to a gall yet less liquid and therefore by reason of the density or thickness thereof comparable to the humor of the Spleen The ventricle is large to receive much meat and to concoct it perfectly we call it vulgarly the Buck and there are in it but few smooth ribs or crests and in the liver parts which are very great there is a certain hard thing white like a stone The females have twelve udders or dâ—gs under the belly but never less then ten if they want of twelve and the Boars have their stones on their seat behinde them joyned together which being taken off are called by the Latines Polimenta But in the female there is a great miracle of nature for the place of conception is only open to the udders or downward but when her lust cometh on her by often tickling and striving she turneth it about to meet with the Boars instrument in generation And this bag is called Apria which hangeth in the female inward as the stones of the Boar do outwardly In some places there are Swine which are not cloven-footed but whole hoofed like a Horse yet this is very seldom or accidental for the most part all are cloven-footed Aristotle affirmeth that there are Swine whole hoofed in Illyria Paeonia and Macedonia and Albertus saith that he hath been informed of some such seen in England and also in Flanders The Anckles are doubtful as it were in proportion betwixt the Anckle of a whole and of a cloven hoof Now by this that hath been said and shall be added we must make up the description of a perfect Swine for the better knowledge of the Reader which may be this of a straight and small head The best form is to have large members eâ—â—ept the head and feet and of one uniform colour not parted or variable not old but of a good race or breed There be some that for the choice of their Swine do make this observation they chuse them by their face by the race and by the Region by the face when the Boar and Sow are of good and beautiful aspects by the race if they bring forth many and safely not casting Pigs by the Region when they are not bred where they be of a small slender or vile statute and especially this is observed in the male because that in all beasts they are oftentimes more like the fire then the dam therefore it is better in Swine to have a thick round and well set Hog then a long sided one howbeit some approve-Hogs with long legs The buttocks ought to be fleshy the belly large and prominent and the snowts short and turning upward yet the Sow is best that hath the largest sides if all the other members be correspondent Likewise in cold Countries they must chuse their Swine with rough and thick hair but in warther and more more temperate Climats any hair be it never so small will serve the 〈◊〉 especially if it be black And thus much shall serve in this place for their several parts and members Now 〈◊〉 will proceed on to their nourishment and copulation It is most certain that Swine are of a hot temperament and for that cause it cometh to pass that they do not loose their Winter hair for by reason of the fat neer to their skin there is abundance of heat which keepeth fast the roots of the hair Their food therefore and nourishment is easily digested in every part for that
he may first approve the same in Swines bloud but if it shew not the same it may in a manner shew the like action For although it be somewhat inferiour unto mans bloud yet at the least it is like unto it by knowledge whereof we hope we shall bring by the use thereof more full and ample profit unto men For although it do not fully answer to our expectation notwithstanding there is no such great need that we should prove mens bloud For the encouraging of a feeble and diminished Horse Eumelius reporteth the flesh of Swine being hot mingled in wine and given in drink to be exceeding good and profitable There also ariseth by Swine another excellent medicine against divers perillous diseases which is this to kill a young gelded Boar Pig having red hairs and being of a very good strength receiving the fresh bloud in a pot and to stir it up and down a great while together with a stick made of red Juniper casting out the clots of the bloud being gathered while it is stirring Then to cast the scrapings of the same Juniper and stir the berries of the Juniper in the same to the quantity of seven and twenty but in the stirring of the same let the clots be still cast out Afterwards mingle with the same these hearbs following Agrimony Rue Phu Scabious Betony Pimpernel Succory Parsly of each a handfull But if the measure of the bloud exceed three pints put unto it two ounces of Treacle but if it shall be bigger for the quantity of the bloud you shall diminish the measure of the Treacle But all things ought to be so prepared that they may be put to the bloud coming hot from the Boar. These being mixed all together you must draw forth a dropping liquor which you must dry in the sun being diligently kept in a glasse-vessell for eight dayes together which you must do once every year for it will last twenty years This medicine is manifestly known to be a great preservative against these diseases following namely the Plague impostumes in the head sides or ribs as also all diseases whatsoever in the Lungs the inflammation of the Milt corrupt or putrified bloud the Ague swellings in the body shaking of the heart the Dropsie heat in the body above nature evill humors but the principallest and chiefest vertue thereof is in curing all poysons and such as are troubled with a noysome or pestilent Fever Let him therefore who is troubled with any of the aforesaid diseases drink every morning a spoonful or four or five drops of the same liquor and sweat upon the same and it will in very short time perfectly cure him of his pain Some also do use Almonds pounded or beaten in the bloud against the Plague the liquor being extracted forth by the force of fire A young Pig being killed with a knife having his bloud put upon that part of the body of any one which is troubled with warts being as yet hot come from him will presently dry them and being after washed will quite expell them away The bloud of a Sow which hath once pigged being anointed upon women cureth many diseases in them The brains of a Boar or Sow being anointed upon the sores or Carbuncles of the privy members doth very effectually cure them the same effect also hath the bloud of a Hog The dugs of a woman anointed round about with the bloud of a Sow will decrease lesse and lesse A young Pig being cut in pieces and the bloud thereof anointed upon a Womans dugs will make them that they shall not encrease Concerning the grease of Swine it is termed diversly of all the Authors for the Grecians call it Stear Choirion and Oxungion for the imitation of the Latin word Axungia but Marcellus also applyeth Axungia to the fat of other creatures which among the ancient Authors I do not finde for in our time those which in Latin do call that fat Axungia which encreaseth more solid between the skin and the flesh in a Hog a Man a Brock or Badger a Dor-mouse a Mountain-mouse and such like The fat of Swine they commonly call Lard which groweth betwixt the skin and the flesh in expressing the vertues of this we will first of all shew how it is to be applyed to cures outwardly and then how it is to be received inwardly next unto Butter it hath the chiefest commendations among the antients and therefore they invented to keep it long which they did by casting some salt among it neither is the reason of the force of it obscure or uncertain for as it feedeth upon many wholesome herbs which are medicinable so doth it yeeld from them many vertuous operations and besides the physick of it it was a custom for new marryed wives when they first of all entred into their husbands house to anoint the posts thereof with Swines grease in token of their fruitfulness while they were alive and remainder of their good works when they should be dead The Apothecaries for preparation of certain Oyntments do geld a male sucking Pig especially such a one as is red and take from his reins or belly certain fat which the Germans call Schmaer and the French Oing that is Vnguentum the husbandmen use Swines grease to anoint the axle trees of their Carts and carriages and for want thereof they take putrified Butter and in some Countries the gum that runneth out of Pine trees and Fir trees with the scum of Butter mingled together and this composition taketh away scabs and tetters in Men but it is to be remembred that this grease must be fresh and not salted for of salt grease there is no use but to skowre those things that are exulcerated The antients deemed that this is the best Grease which was taken from the reins of the Hog washed in rain water the veins being pulled out of it and afterwards boyled in a new earthen pot and so preserved The fat of Swine is not so hot and dry as the fat of other beasts the chief use of it is to moisten to fasten to purge and to scatter and herein it is most excellent when it hath been washed in Wine for the stale salt grease so mixed with Wine is profitable to anoint those that have the Plurifie and mingled with ashes and Pitch easeth inflammations fistulaes and tumors and the same virtue is ascribed to the fat of Foxes except that their fat is hotter then the Swines and lesse moist likewise ashes of Vines mingled with stale grease of Hogs cureth the wounds of Scorpions and Dogs and with the spume of Nitre it hath the same vertue against the bitings of Dogs It is used also against the French disease called the French pox for they say if the knees of a Man be anointed therewith and he stand gaping over it it will draw a filthy matter out of his stomach and make him vomit By Serenus it is prescribed to be anointed upon the knees
The people of Scythia likewise say that the Buff doth change his colors neither is there any other beast covered with hair except the Lycaon among the Indians as Pliny also writeth and besides this there is no mention made of the Lycaon among all the ancient writers Lycaons are called Dogs in the story of the diversities of Dogs The lesser kinde of Thoes are the best for some make two kinde of Thoes and some three and these like birds and other four-footed beasts change their color both in Winter and Summer so that sometime they appear bare and again at other times rough all over that is bare in the Summer and rough in the Winter but it doth plainly seem that there is no more kinde of Thoes but one which the things that come after doth prove and make manifest Nearchus saith that those Tigers are not true Tigers which are commonly called Tigers but changeable Thoes as if that every Thoes were not changeable and greater then the other Thoes They have no reason which take the Lupus cervarius for a Thoes which we have already shewed to be a Lynx for the Rhaetians which speak Italian the Savoyans do to this day call him Cervario and for the Armenian Wolf the Cicatus and the Lupus Canarius we have already shewed that it is a Panther and therefore it is needless to stand any longer upon those names in this place We will therefore take it for confessed that the Thoes is a beast engendered betwixt a Wolf and a Fox whereof some are greater and some are smaller and these are found about the Mountain Pangeus Cittus Olympus Mysius Pindus and Nisa beyond Syria resembling for the most part a Hyaena having a longer body and a straighter tail then a Wolf and although it be not so high of stature yet it is as nimble and as strong as is the Wolf and it seemeth that the very name Thoes is taken from the celerity and swiftness in running and leaping for it getteth his living by the quickness of his feet In the outward face it much resembleth a Wolf his Father but in spots and length of his body it resembleth a Panther his Mother they couple in generation like Dogs bringing forth two or four at a time like Wolves which are blinde and their feet cloven into many toes They are enemies to Lions and therefore they do not live in the same place where Lions are not only because they live upon the same victuals and food but also because they are a more pitiful creature then they especially to man for if they see the face of a man at any time they run unto him and do him all such reverence as their brutish nature can demonstrate And further Philes and Selius write that if they see a man oppressed by any other beast they run and fight for him although it be with the Lion not sparing to offer their own lives and to spend their dearest bloud in the defence of him who by secret instinct of nature they understand to be ordained of God the King and chiefest of all worldly creatures therefore Gratius called this kinde semiferam Thoem de sanguine prolem and of their taming and fighting with Lions he speaketh Thoes commisses Leoues Et subiere actu parvis domuere lacertis They live for the most part upon Harts whom they take in the swiftness of their course these they bite and suck their bloud then suffering them to run away to some Mountains thither they follow them and take them the second time not destroying them all at once but by distance of time whereby the Harts bloud groweth sweeter unto them and they have the better appetite thereunto to destroy them The Lyco panthers and also the beast Pathyon whereof Albertus speaketh I do take to be two several distinct beasts from the Thoes although the quantity and stature agree and I see no cause if there be any such beast in the world but that we may truly say they are a lesser kinde of Panthers And this shall suffice to have said of these beasts which are deemed to be of the kinde of Wolves wherein we have endevored to say so much of the general and special as we could collect out of any good Authors and thus we will shut up the story of the Wolf with a short remembrance of his medicinal vertues The Medicines of a Wolf A Wolf being sodden alive until the bones do only remain is very much commended for the pains of the Gout or a live Wolf steeped in Oyl and covered with Wax is also good for the same disease The skin of a Wolf being tasted of those which are bit of a mad or ravenous Dog doth preserve them from the fear or hazard of falling into water The skin of a Wolf is very profitable for those which are troubled with the winde colick if it be bound fast about the belly and also if the person so affected doth sit upon the said skin it will much avail him If any labouring or travelling man doth wear the skin of a Wolf about his feet his shooes shall never pain or trouble him The skin of a Wolf being new plucked off from him and especially when it hath the natural heat in it and rowled about the member where the cramp is is very effectual against it The bloud of a Wolf being mixed with Oyl is very profitable against the deafness of the ears The dung and bloud of a Wolf is much commended for those that are troubled with the Colick and Stone The bloud of a Buck Fox or Wolf being warm and so taken in drink is of much force against the disease of the stone He which doth eat the skin of a Wolf well tempered and sodden will keep him from all evill dreams and cause him to take his rest quietly The flesh of a Wolf being sodden and taken in meat doth help those that are Lunatick The flesh of a Wolf being eaten is good for procreation of children You may read more things in the chapter going before concerning remedies of the flesh of a Wolf taken in meat The fat of a Wolf is no less efficable then the flesh The fat of a Wolf doth very much profit being anointed upon those whose joynts are broken Some of the later writers were wont to mingle the fat of the Wolf with other Ointments for the disease of the Gout Some also do mingle it with other Ointments for the Palsie It doth soften also the Uvula being anointed thereon The same also being rubbed upon the eyes is very profitable for the bleardness or bloud-shot of the eyes The head also of a Wolf is very good for those that are weak to fleep upon being laid under their pillow The head of a Wolf being burned into ashes is a special remedy for the loosness of teeth The right eye of a Wolf being salted and bound to the body doth drive away all Agues and Feavers The eye of a Wolf
turning black into green and green into blew like a Player which putteth off one person to put on another according to these verses of Ovid Id quoque quod ventis animal nutritur aura Protinus assimilat tetigit quoscunque colores In English thus The Beast that liveth by winde and weather Of each thing touched taketh colour The reasons of this change or colour are the same which are given of the Busse and P 〈…〉 Fish namely extremity of fear the thinnesse smoothnesse and baldnesse of the skin Whereupon Tertullian writeth thus Hoc soli Chamaeleonti datum quod vulgo dictum est de suo corio ludere That is to say This is the only gift of nature to a Chamaeleon that according to the common Proverb it deceiveth with his skin meaning that a Chamaeleon at his own pleasure can change the colour of his skin Whereupon Erasmus applyeth the proverb de alieno corio ludere to such as secure themselves with other mens peril From hence also cometh another proverb Chamaileontos rumei ab 〈…〉 s more mutable then a Chamaeleon for a crafty cunning inconstant fellow changing himself into every mans disposition such a one was Alciblades who was said to be in Athens and of such a man resembling this beast did Alciatus make this emblem against flatterers Semper hiat sâ—mper tenuem qua vescitur aurum Reciprocat Chamaleon Et mutat faciem varios sumâ—tque colores Praeter rubrum vel candidum Sic adulator populari vescitur aura Hiansque cuncta devorat Et solum mores imitutur principâ—s atros Albi pudici nescius That is to say It alway gapes turning in and out that breath Whereon it feeds and often changeth hew Now black and green and pale and other colors hath But red and white Chamaeleons do eschew So Clawbacks seed on vulgar breath as 〈◊〉 With open mouth devouring same and right Princes black-vices praise but vertues â—read Designed in nature by colours red and white A Chamaeleon of all Egge-breeding Beasts is the thinnest because it lacketh bloud and the reason here of is by Aristotle referred to the disposition of the soul For he saith through overmuch fear it taketh upon it many colours and fear through the want of bloud and heat is a refrigeration of this Beast Plutarch also calleth this Beast a meticulous and fearful beast and in this cause concludeth the change of his colour not as some say to avoid and deceive the beholders and to work out his own happinesse but for meer dread and terrour Johannes Vrsinus assigneth the cause of the change of Chamaeleons colour not to fear but to the meat and to the air as appeareth by these verses Non timor imâ— cibus nimirum limpidus 〈◊〉 Ambo simul vario membra colore novanâ— Which may be thus Englished Not fear but meat which is the air thin New colours on his body doth begin But I for my part do assign the true cause to be in the thinnesse of their skin and therefore may easily take impression of any colour like to a thin fleak of a horn which being laid over black seemeth black and so over other colours and besides there being no hinderance of bloud in this Beast nor Intrails except the lights the other humors may have the more predominant mutation and so I will conclude the discourse of the parts and colour of a Chamaeleon with the opinion of Kiranides not that I approve it but to let the Reader know all that is written of this Subject his words are these Chamaelem singulis horis diei mutat colorem A Chamaeleon changeth his colour every hour of a day This Beast hath the face like a Lyon the feet and tail of a Crocodile having a variable color as you have heard and one strange continued nerve from the head to the tail being altogether without flesh except in the head cheeks and uppermost part of the tail which is joyned to the body neither hath it any bloud but in the heart eys and in a place above the heart and in certain veins derived from that place and in them also but a very little bloud There be many membranes all over their bodies and those stronger then in any other Beasts From the middle of the head backward there ariseth a three square bone and the fore part is hollow and round like a pipe certain bony brims sharp and indented standing upon either side Their brain is so little above their eyes that it almost toucheth them and the upper skin being pulled off from their eyes there appeareth a certain round thing like a bright ring of Brasse which Niphus calleth Paila which signifieth that part of a Ring wherein is set a pretious stone The eyes in the hollow within are very great and much greater then the proportion of the body round and covered over with such a skin as the whole body is except the apple which is bare and that part is never covered This apple stands immoveable not turned but when the whole eye is turned at the pleasure of the Beast The snout is like to the snout of a Hog-ape always gaping and never shutting his mouth and serving him for no other use but to bear his tongue and his teeth his gums are adorned with teeth as we have said before the upper lip being shorter and more turned in then the other Their throat and artery are placed as in a Lizard their lights are exceeding great and they have nothing else within their body Whereupon Theophrastus as Plutarch witnesseth conceiveth that they fill the whole body within and for this cause it is more apt to live on the air and also to change the colour It hath no Spleen or Milt the tail is very long at the end and turning up like a Vipers tail winded together in many circles The feet are double cloven and for proportion resemble the thumb and hand of a man yet so as if one of the fingers were set neer the side of the thumb having three without and two within behinde and three within and two without before the palm betwixt the fingers is somewhat great from within the hinder-legs there seem to grow certain spurs Their legs are straight and longer then a Lizards yet is their bending alike and their nails are crooked and very sharp One of these being dissected and cut asunder yet breatheth a long time after they goe into the caves and holes of the earth like Lizards wherein they lie all the Winter time and come forth again in the Spring their pace is very slow and themselves very gentle never exasperated but when they are about wilde Fig-trees They have for their enemies the Serpent the Crow and the Hawk When the hungry Serpent doth assault them they defend themselves in this manner as Alexander Mindius writeth they take in their mouths a broad and strong stalk under protection whereof as under a buckler they defend themselves against
men and therefore speaking to the Frogs he citeth these verses Vos quoque signa videtis aquai dulcis alumnae Cum clamore paratis inanes fundere voces Absurdoque sono fontes stagna cietis In English thus And you O Water-birds which dwell in streams so sweet Do see the signes whereby the weather is foretold Your crying voyces wherewith the waters are repleat Vain sounds absurdly moving ools and Fountains cold And thus much for the natural use of Frogs Now followeth the Magical It is said that if a man take the tongue of a Water-frog and lay it upon the head of one that is asleep he shall speak in his sleep and reveal the secrets of his heart but if he will know the secrets of a woman then must he cut it out of the Frog alive and turn the Frog away again making certain characters upon the Frogs tongue and so lay the same upon the panting of a womans heart and let him ask her what questions he will she shall answer unto him all the truth and reveal all the secret faults that ever she hath committed Now if this magical foolery were true we had more need of Frogs then of Jâ—stices of Peace or Magistrates in the Common-wealth But to proceed a little further and to detect the vanity of these men they also say that the staffe wherewithal a Frog is struck out of a Snakes mouth laid upon a woman in travail shall cause an easie deliverance and if a Man cut off a foot of a Frog as he swims in the water and binde the same to one that hath the Gout it will cure him And this is as true as a shoulder of Mutton worn in ones Hat healeth the Tooth-ach Some again do write that if a woman take a Frog and spit three times in her mouth she shall not conceive with childe that year Also if Dogs eat the pottage wherein a Frog hath been sod it maketh him dum and cannot bark And if a Man cast a sod Frog at a Dog which is ready to assault him it will make him run away I think as fast as an old hungry Horse from a bottle of Hay These and such like vanities have the ancient Heathens ignorant of GOD firmly believed till either experience disapproved their inventions or the sincere knowledge of Religion inlightning their darknesse made them to forsake their former vain errors which I would to GOD had come sooner unto them that so they might never have sinned or else being now come unto us their children I pray GOD that it may never be removed lest by trusting in lying vanities we forsake our own mercy And so an end of the Magical Uses Now we proceed to the Medicinal in the biting of every venomous creature Frogs sod or roasted are profitable especially the broth if it be given to the sick person without his knowledge mixed with Oyl and Salt as we have said already The flesh of Water frogs is good against the biting of the Sea-hare the Scorpion and all kinde of Serpents against Leprosie and scabs and rubbed upon the body it doth cure the same The broath taken into the body with roots of Sea-holm expelleth the Salamander so also the Egges of the Frog and the Egges of the Tortoise hath the same operation being sod with Calaminth The little Frogs are an antidote against the Toads and great Frogs Albertus also among other remedies prescribeth a Frog to be given to sick Faulkons or Hawks It is also good for cricks in the neck or the Cramp The same sod with Oyl easeth the pains and hardnesse of the joynts and sinews they are likewise given against an old Cough and with old Wine and sod Corn drunk out of the Vessel wherein they are sod they are profitable against the Dropsie but with the sharpest Vinegar Oyl and spume of Niter sod together by rubbing and anointing cureth all scabs in Horses and pestilent tumors There is an Oyl likewise made out of Frogs which is made in this manner they take a pound of Frogs and put them into a vessel or glasse and upon them they pour a pinte of Oyl so stopping the mouth of the glasse they seethe it as they do the Oyl of Serpents with this they cure the shrinking of the sinews and the hot Gout they provoke sleep and heal the inflammations in Fevers by anointing the Temples The effect of this Oyl is thus described by Serâ—nus Saepe ita per vadit vis frigoris ac tenet artus Vt vix quasito medicamine pulsa recedat Si renam ex â—leo decoxeris abjice carnâ—m Membra fove That is to say Often are the sinews held by force invading cold Which scarse can be repelled back by medicines tried might Then scethe a Frog in purest Oyl as Ancients us have told So bathe the members sick therein Frogs flesh cast out of sight And again in another place he speaking of the cure of the Fever writeth thus Sed prius est oleo partus fervescere Ranae In triviis illâ—que artus perducere succo In English thus But first let Oyl make hot young Frogs new found In ways therewith bring sinews weak to weal full sound To conclude it were infinite and needlesse to expresse all that the Physitians have observed about the Medicines rising out of the bloud fat flesh eyes heart liver gall intrails legs and sperm of Frogs besides powders and distillations therefore I will not weary the Reader nor give occasion to ignorant men to be more bold upon my writing of Physick then is reason lest that be said against me which proverbially is said of unnecessary things Ranis vinum ministras you give Wine to Frogs which have neither need nor nature to drink it for they delight more in water And so I conclude the History of this vulgar Frog Of the GREEN FROG THis Frog is called Calamites and Dryophytes and Manâ—is and Rana virens In Arabia bâ—eâ—haricon and Cucunoines and Cucumones Irici Ranulae Brexantes of Brexâ—ein to rain and thereof cometh the faigned word of Aristophanes Brekekekex Koax but I think that as our English word Frog is derived from the German word Frosch so the Germans Frosch from the Greek word Brex It is called also Zamia that is Damnum losse hurt or damage because they live in trees and many times harm Men and Cattle underneath the trees and therefore called Zamiae of the Greek word Zen 〈…〉 The Italians call it Racula Ranocchia Lo Ronovoto Ra 〈…〉 onchia de rubetto The French Croissetz and some-times Graisset Verdier in Savöy Renogle In Germany Louâ—srosch In Poland Zaba Tâ—awna Some of the Latines for difference sake call it Rana Rubeta because it liveth in trees and bushes and for the same cause it is called Calamites because it liveth among reeds and Dryopetes because it selleth some-times out of trees It is a venomous Beast for sometimes Cattle as they brouse upon trees do swallow down one of these upon the
and following when they went forward so that it acknowledged the soveraignty of man appealing unto him as the chief Justice against all his enemies and oppressors It is reported by the Italians that many times while men fall asleep in the fields Serpents come creeping unto them and finding their mouths open do slide down into their stomachs Wherefore when the Lizard seeth a Serpent coming toward a man so sleeping she waketh him by gently scratching his hands and face whereby he escapeth death and deadly poyson The use of these green Lizards is by their skin and gall to keep apples from rotting and also to drive away Caterpillers by hanging up the skin on the tops of trees and by touching the apples with the said gall also when the head feet or intrails are taken away the flesh of the green Lizard is given in meat to one that hath the Sciatica and thus much for the natural uses of the green Lizard The remedies arising out of this Lizard are briefly these First it is used to be given to Hawks and to be eaten in small pieces provided so as it be not touched with their talons for it will hurt their feet and draw their claws together also they seethe it in water then beat it in a mortar Lastly when they have poured warm water upon it they let the Hawk wash her feet in it and so it causeth her to cast her old feathers and coat and bringeth a new in the room thereof This Lizard eaten with sauces to take away the loathing thereof is good for the Falling-evil and being sod in three pintes of Wine until it be but one cup full and thereof taken every day a spoonful is good for them that have a disease in the lungs It is also profitable for them that have pain in the loins And there are many ways to prepare it for the eyes which I will not stand to relate in this place because they are superstitious and therefore likely to do more harm then good to the English Reader There is an Oyl made of Lizards which is very precious and therefore I will describe it as I finde it in Brasavolus Take seven green Lizards and strangle them in two pound of common Oyl therein let them soke three days and then take them out and afterwards use this Oyl to anoint your face every day but one little drop at once and it shall wonderfully amend the same The reason hereof seemeth to be taken from the operation of the dung or excrements because that hath vertue to make the face white and to take away the spots If the upper part in the pastern of a Horse be broken put thereinto this Oyl with a little Vinegar then rub the hoof about therewith so shall it increase and grow again and all the pain thereof shall passe away The making of the medicine is this Take a new earthen pot put thereinto three pintes of Oyl wherein you must drown your Lizards and so seethe them till they are burned away then take out the bones and put in soft Lime half a-pound liquid Pitch a pinte of Swines grease two pound then let them be all â—od together again afterwards preserved and used upon the hoof as need shall require for it shall fasten and harden the Horses hoof and there is nothing better for this purpose then this Oyl The ashes of a green Lizard do reduce skars in the body to their own colour The bones of a green Lizard are good against the Falling-evil if they be prepared in this manner following Put your green Lizard alive into a vessel full of Salt and there shut it in safe so in few days it will consume all the flesh and intrails from the bones and so the bones may be taken and used in this case like the hoof an Elk which are very precious for this sicknesse and no lesse precious are these bones The bloud doth cure the beating bruizings and thick skins in the feet of men and beasts being applyed in flocks of Wooll The eye is superstitiously given to be bound to ones arm on a quartane Ague and the eyes pressed out alive and so included in golden buttons or bullets and carryed about do also help the pain of the eyes and in default hereof the bloud taken out of the eyes in a piece of Purple wooll hath the same operation The heart of a Lizard is also very good against the exulcerations of the Kings-evil if it be but carryed about in the bosome in some small silver vessel The gall taketh away the hairs upon the eye-lids that are unseemly if it be dryed in the same to the thicknesse of Honey especially in the Dog-days and mixed with White-wine then being anointed upon the place it never suffereth the hairs to grow again And thus much for the History of the green Lizard Of the MILLET or CENCHRINE THis Serpent called by the Grecians Cenchros Cenchrines Cenchridion and Cenchrites is by the Latines called Cenchria Cenchrus and Milliaris because it cometh abroad at the time that Millet-seed floureth and is ready to ripe or else because it hath certain little spots upon it like Millet-seed and is also of the same colour It is likewise barbarously called Famusus Aracis and Falivisus The Germans of all others have a name for it for they call it Punter-schlang and Berg-schlang Other Nations not knowing it cannot have any name for it and therefore I cannot faign any thereof except I should lie grosly in the beginning of the History This Serpent is only bred in Lemnus and Samethracia and it is there called a Lyon either because it is of very great quantity and bignesse or else because the scales thereof are spotted and speckled like the Lybian Lyons or because when it fighteth the tail is turned upward like a Lyons tail and as a Lyon doth But it is agreed at all hands that it is called Milliaris a Millet because in the spots of his skin and colour it resembleth a Millet-seed which caused the Poet to write on this manner Pluribus ille notis variatam tingitur alvum Quà m parvis tinctus maculis Thebanus Ophites In English thus With many notes and spots his belly is bedyed Like Thebaneher Ophites sighily tryed But not only his belly for his back and whole skin is of the same fashion and colour The length of this Serpent is about two cubits and the thick body is attenuated toward the end being sharp at the tail The colour is dusky and dark like the Millet and it is then most ireful and full of wrath or courage when this herb or seed is at the higohst The pace of this Serpent is not winding or travailing but straight and directed without bending to and fro and therefore saith Lucan Et semper rectolapsurus limite Cenchris that is And the Millet alway standing in a straight and right line and for this cause when a man flyeth away from it he must not run directly
or hip his verses be these Meriones d' apiontos iei chalkere oiston Kai r'ebale gloucon kata dexion autar oistos Antikron kata kustin up ' osteon exeperesen Ezomenos de cat ' authi philon en chersin etairon Thumon apopneion oste scolex epi gaia Keito tacheis ecd ' aima melan ree deue de gaian Id est Meriones autem in abeuntem misit aeream sagittam Et vulneravit coxam ad dextram ac sagitta E regione per vesicam sub os penetravit Residens autem illic charorum inter manus sociorum Animam efflans tanquam vermis super terram Jacebat extensus sanguisque effluebat â—ingebat autem terram That is to say But as he went away behold Meriones With brazen dart did his right hip-bone wound Which neer the bladder did the bone through pierce In friends deer hands he dyed upon the ground So stretcht upon the earth as Worm he lyed Black bloud out flowing the same bedyed Mark well the slendernesse of this comparison whereby he would give us to understand the base estate and faint heart of Harpalion For in other places having to write of noble valiant and magnanimous persons when they were ready to give up the ghost he useth the words Sphadazein Bruchein and the like to these secretly insinuating to us that they fell not down dead like impotent Cowards or timorous abjects but that they raged like Lions with grinding and gnashing their teeth together that they were blasted benummed or suddenly deprived of all their lives and senses c. But here this pusillanimous and sordidous minded man Harpalion seemed to be disgraced by his resembling to a poor Worm being peradventure a man of so small estimation and vile condition as that no greater comparison seemed to fit him It seemeth he was a man but of a faint courage and very weak withall because striking and thrusting with his Spear or Javellin at the Shield or Target of Atrides he was not able to strike it through But although this famous Poet doth so much seem to extenuate and debase a weak Worm yet others have left us in their writings such commendations of their singular use and necessity for the recovery of mans health then which no earthly thing is more pretious and have so nobilitated the worth of these poor contemptible Creatures as I think nature as yet hath scarse given any other simple Medicine or experience found out by tract of time nor knowledge of plants by long study hath revealed nor Paracelsus by the Distillations of his Limbeck hath made known to the world any secret endued with so many vertues and excellent properties against so many diseases and for proof hereof it shall not be beside the purpose to examine and describe the rarest and most probable that are recorded amongst the learned Earth-worms do mollifie conglutinate appease pain and by their terrestrial and withall water ish humidity they do contemper any affected part orderly and measurably moderating any excesse whatsoever The powder of Worms is thus prepared They use to take the greatest Earth-worm that can be found and to wrap them in Mosse suffering them there to remain for a certain time thereby the better to purge and clense them from that clammy and filthy slimynesse which outwardly cleaveth to their bodies When all this is done they presse hard the hinder-part of their bodies neer to the tail squeesing out thereby their excrements that no impurity so neer as is possible may be retained in them Thirdly they use to put them into a pot or some fit vessel with some white Wine and a little salt and straining them gently between the fingers they first of all cast away that Wine and then do they pour more Wine to them and after the washing of the Worms they must also take away some of the Wine for it must not all be poured away as some would have it and this must so often be done and renewed until the Wine be passing clear without any filth or drossinesse for by this way their slimy jelly and glutinous evil quality is clear lost and spent Being thus prepared they are to be dryed by little and little in an Oven so long till they may be brought to powder which being beaten and searsed it is to be kept in a Glasse vessel far from the fire by it self A dram of this powder being commixed with the juyce of Marigolds cureth the Epilepsie with some sweet Wine as Muscadel Bastard or the Metheglin of the Welchmen It helpeth the Dropsie With white Wine and Myrrhe the Jaundise with new Wine or Hydromel the Stone Ulcers of the Reins and Bladder It stayeth also the loosnesse of the belly helpeth barrennesse and expelleth the Secondine it asswageth the pain of the hanch or hipâ— by some the Sciatica it openeth obstructions of the Liver driveth away Tertian Agues and expelleth all Worms that are bred in the Guts being given and taken with the decoction or distilled Water of Germander Worm-wood Southern-wood Garlick Scordum Centory and such like The decoction of Worms made with the juyce of Knot-grasse or Comfery Salomons Seal or Sarasius compound cureth the disease tearmed by Physitians Diabetes when one cannot hold his water but that it runneth from him without stay or as fast as he drinketh A Glyster likewise made of the decoction of Earth-worms and also taken accordingly doth marvellously asswage and appease the pain of the Hemorrhoids There be some that give the decoction of Earth-worms to those persons that have any congealed or clotted bloud in their bodies and that with happy successe The vertue of Earth-worms is exceedingly set forth both by the Grecians and Arabians to encrease Milk in womens breasts Hieronymus Mercurialis a learned Physitian of Italy adviseth Nurses to use this confection following in case they want milk always provided that there be not a Fever joyned withall Take of the Kernels of the fruit of the Pine-tree sweet Almonds of each alike one ounce seeds of Fennel Parsley and Rapes of either alike one dram of the powder of Earth-worms washed in Wine two drams with Sugar so much as is sufficient to be given the quantity of a dram or two in the morning and after it drink some small Wine or Capon-broth boyled with Rape-seeds and Leeks Against the Tooth-ach the same powder of Earth-worms is proved singular being decocted in Oyl and dropped a little at once into the ear on the same side the pain is as Pliny witnesseth or a little of it put into the contrary ear will perform the same effect as Dioscorides testifieth And thus far of Earth-worms taken into the body and of their manifold vertues according to the evidence and testimony of Dioscorides Galen Aetius Paulus Aegineta Myrepsus Pliny and daily experience which goeth beyond the precepts of all skilful Masters for this is the Schoolmistris of all Arts as Manilius in his second Book hath written Per varios usus artem experientia fecit
Ulcers and all symptomes of Ulcers and diseases of the head also being burnt and powdered with their weight of dry Dill they cure Cankers Marcellus But Aetius addes three Worms bred of wood to an Oyntment against the Elephantiasis which he learned of a certain Physitian that took his oath of secrecy The rottennesse that is made by their biting dries without pain and is profitable for many things Galen Eupor 3 c. 7. commends this kinde of powder against knobs clifts and sores of the Fundament Take Orpiment in pieces three ounces rotten wood of an Oke four ounces make a fine powder then foment the place affected first with the warm urine of a young boy and afterwards strew on this powder But the Cossi are not only food for the Inhabitants of Pontus and Phrygia and they delight much in them as Worms in Cheese are to the Germans but they also cure Ulcers increase milk and as Pliny saith when they are burnt to ashes they cure creeping sores The Worm in Fullers Teazil put into a hollow tooth will give wonderfull ease Pliny And if it be hanged in a bladder about the neck and arms it will cure Quartane Agues Dioscorides One Samuel Quickelbergius a learned young man in an Epistle he writ to D. Gesner hath these words Saith he as I was gathering of Simples a certain old man came unto me whilst I sought for a little Worm in the head of the Fulleâ—s Teazill and he said unto me O thou happy young man if thou didst but certainly know the secret vertues of that little Worm which are many and great And when I intreated him that he would acquaint me with them he held his peace and by no intreaty could I obtain it of him Pliny asserts that the Colewort Catterpillars being but touched with it will fall and die The Worms of Galedracon which plant some men confound with Fullers Teazil being put into a box and bound with bread to the arm on that side the tooth akes will wonderfully remove the pain saith Xenocrates The Worms of the Eglantine will cause sleep and therefore some Germans call them Schlafoirs They are applyed alive to a Felon but alwayes their number must be odde and they do certainly cure it saith Quickelbergius A little Worm found in the herb Carduus bound up in a piece of Skarlet and hang'd about the neck will cure the tooth-ache Marcellus The Worms that are found in the root of Pimpernel make a most incomparable purple colour Gesner that I wonder the Ancients said nothing of them All little Worms found in prickly herbs if any meat stick in the narrow passage of the throat of children will presently help them Pliny Rub a faulty tooth with the Worms in Coleworts and it will in a few dayes fall forth it self Meal-worms are good and seem to be bred to catch black-heads and Nightingales and to feed them nor is there in winter wholesomer meat for them for they purge heat and nourish also those Birds that have but a thin nutriment to preserve them I spake before of the profitablenesse of the Cochineel Worms Brassavolus affirms the same of Vine-worms but how rightly let others judge but they are not only good for dying but necessary in Physick for they both binde and dry and scowr without biting and incarnate also they cure rheumatick eyes mingled with Pigeons bloud they help suffusions of the eyes they cure Dysenteries they help hard labour in Childe-birth and debility they cure Melancholy fear Epilepsies they provoke urine and the terms they heat the Matrix they dissolve water and choler they abate the panting of the heart and upon that score they are put into Confection of Alkermes and are the Basis thereof Dioscor Avicen Kiranides I say nothing how greedily Sparrows Wood-peckers Hens Wood-cocks Snipes the Pardus a Black-bird Larks Gnat-snappers Reed-sparrows and many other birds that are good physick or else meat for us do feed on the Worms of trees and herbs Now since God hath mingled conveniences and inconveniences together both to rouse up our providentiall prudence and to punish us with punishments due to our sins how both of these may be prevented I shall shew briefly Jonas being cherished under the shadow of the Gourd he thought it safe and happy to be so when the heat was so vehement But God sent a worm and took that from him both to try his patience and demonstrate his frailty There was an Arch-bishop of Yorke whose surname was Grey as our Histories relate when he had abundance of all Corn in the time of great scarcity yet he refused to let the poor have victoals either for money or intreaty A little after this his barns that were full of Corn were so exhausted with Weevils that they left not one whole grain of Wheat or Barley Even as Solomon said He that hoards up his Corn the people shall curse him but blessing shall be on the head of him that selleth it So God that he may call forth a sluggish father of a family sends the Moths and Worms into his Orchardâ— and fields both to make him laborious by this means and also to teach him to make use of such helps and means that God offers to him Our Ancestors have delivered by tradition many of these But because Cato Vitruvius Pliny Palladius Theophrastus Columella Varro Virgil and many of those that were Princes in husbandry have abundantly set down these things we shall only give you a smack of them here because others have given a full draught That trees may not be eaten with worms plant them in the new of the Moon and cut them down between the new and old Moon in the conjunction Also anoynt them with Tarre and often wet them with the lees of Oyl Also keep them under Covert every where that they may not stand exposed either to great heat of the 〈◊〉 or tempests of weather Also that trees may not grow worm-eaten anoynt their roots before the first planting of them and then afterwards moysten their roots with mans urine and a third part of the strongest vinegar Some steep a long while Squills with Lupins and they sprinkle the places that are worm-eaten or presse out their liquor with a Sponge or they besmear the stock of the tree till it be very wet and they powr into the holes Bitumen mingled with Oyl Others sprinkle on quick-lime others Oyl-lees and old pisse others Hogs or Dogs dung steept in Asses pisse the roots being first uncovered Democritus taught men to bruise Terra Lemnia with water it may be he meant Carpenters red and to smear them with that Some pick out the Worm with a brasse pin and put Cow-dung over the hole Red hairy Worms search to the inward pith if you can draw these forth and not break them and burn them hard by it is reported that all the rest will dy with it It is good also to powr often upon the roots Bulls gall and lees of Oyl To plant
do not believe that the Arabian Harmene were any other Serpent then a Cockatrice the very same reason that Ardoynus giveth of the fellowship of these two Serpents together because of the similitude of their natures may very well prove that no divers kindes can live so well together in safety without harming one another as do one and the same kinde together And therefore there is more agreement in nature betwixt a Cockatrice and a Cockatrice then a Cockatrice and Harmene and it is more likely that a Cockatrice doth not kill a Cockatrice then that a Cockatrice doth not kill an Harmene And again Cockatrices are engendered by Egges according to the holy Scripture and therefore one of them killeth not another by touching hiffing or seeing because one of them hatcheth another But it is a question whether the Cockatrice dye by the sight of himself some have affirmed so much but I dare not subscribe thereunto because in reason it is unpossible that any thing should hurt it self that hurteth not another of his own kinde yet if in the secret of nature GOD have ordained such a thing I will not strive against them that can shew it And therefore I cannot without laughing remember the old Wives tales of the Vulgar Cockatrices that have been in England for I have oftentimes heard it related confidently that once our Nation was full of Cockatrices and that a certain man did destroy them by going up and down in Glasse whereby their own shapes were reflected upon their own faces and so they dyed But this fable is not worth refuting for it is more likely that the man should first have dyed by the corruption of the air from the Cockatrices then the Cockatrices to die by the reflection of his own similitude from the glasse except it can be shewed that the poysoned air could not enter into the glasse wherein the man did breath Among all living creatures there is none that perisheth sooner then doth a man by the poyson of a Cockatrice for with his sight he killeth him because the beams of the Cockatrices eyes do corrupt the visible spirit of a man which visible spirit corrupted all the other spirits coming from the brain and life of the heart are thereby corrupted and so the man dyeth even as women in their monthly courses do vitiate their looking-glasses or as a Wolf suddenly meeting a Man taketh from him his voyce or at the least-wise maketh him hoarse To conclude this poyson infecteth the air and the air so infected killeth all living things and likewise all green things fruits and plants of the earth it burneth up the grasse whereupon it goeth or creepeth and the fowls of the air fall down dead when they come near his den or lodging Sometimes he biteth a Man or a Beast and by that wound the bloud turneth into choler and so the whole body becometh yellow as gold presently killing all that touch it or come near it The symptomes are thus described by Nicander with whose words I will conclude this History of the Cockatrice writing as followeth Quod ferit hic multo corpus succenditur igne A membris resoluta suis caro defluit fit Lurida obscuro nigrescit opaca colore Nullae etiam volucres quae foeda cadavera pascunt Sic occisum hominem tangunt ut vultur omnes Huic similes alia pluviae quoque nuncius aurae Corvus nec quaecunque fera per devia lusira Degunt è tali capiunt sibi tabula carne Tum teter vacuas odor hinc exhalat in auras Atque propinquantes penetrant non segniter artus Sin cogente fame veniens approximet ales Tristia fata refert certamque ex aëre mortem Which may be Englished thus When he doth strike the body hurt is set on fire And from the members falleth off the flesh withall It ratten is and in the colour black as any mire Refus'd of carrion-feeding-birds both great and small Are all men so destroy'd No Vulture or Biter fierce Or Weather telling-crow or Desarts wildest beast Which live in dens sustaining greatest famines force But at their tables do this flesh detest Then is the air repleat with 's lothsome smell Piercing vital parts of them approaching neer And if a bird it tast to fill his hunger fell It dies assured death none need it fear Of the CORDIL ALthough I finde some difference about the nature of this living creature and namely whether it be a Serpent or a Fish yet because the greater and better part make it a Serpent I will also bring it in his due order in this place for a venomous Beast Gesner is of opinion that it is no other but a Lizard of the Water but this cannot agree with the description of Aristotle and Bellonius who affirm the Cordil to have Gills like a Fish and these are not found in any Lizard The Grecians call this Serpent Kordule and Kordulos whereof the Latines derive or rather borrow their Cordulus and Cordyla Numenius maketh this a kinde of Salamander which the Apothecaries do in many Countries falsely sell for the Scincus or Crocodile of the earth and yet it exceedeth the quantity of a Salamander being much lesse then the Crocodile of the earth having gills and wanting fins on the sides also a long tail and according to the proportion of the body like a Squirrels although nothing so big without scabs the back being bald and somewhat black and horrible rough through some bunches growing thereupon which being pressed do yeeld a certain humor like milk which being laid to the Nosthrils doth smell like poyson even as it is in a Salamander The beak or snout is very blunt or dull yet armed with very sharp teeth The claws of his fore-legs are divided into four and on his hinder-legs into five there is also a certain fleshy fin growing all along from the crown of his head unto his tail upon the back which when he swimmeth he erecteth and by it is his body sustained in the water from sinking for his body is moved with crooked winding even as an Eel or a Lamprey The inward parts of this Serpent are also thus described The tongue is soft and spungy like as is the tongue of a Water-frog wherewith as it were with glew he draweth to his mouth both Leeches and Worms of the earth whereupon it feedeth At the root of his tongue there is a certain bunch of flesh which as I think supplyeth the place of the lights for when it breatheth that part is especially moved and it panteth to and fro so that thereby I gather either it hath the lights in that place or else in some other place near the jaws It wanteth ribs as doth the Salamander and it hath certain bones in the back but not like the ordinary back-bone of other such Serpents The heart is also all spungy and cleaveth to the right side not to the left the left ear whereof supplyeth the place of the
Pericardium The liver is very black and somewhat cloven at the bending or sloap side the milt somewhat red cleaving to the very bottom of the ventricle The reins are also very spungy joyned almost to the legs in which parts it is most fleshy but in other places especially in the belly and breast it is all skin and bone It also beareth egges in her place of conception which is forked or double which are there disposed in order as in other living griftly creatures Those Egges are nourished with a kinde of red fat out of which in due time come the young ones alive in as great plenty and number as the Salamanders And these things are reported by Bellonius besides whom I finde nothing more said that is worthy to be related of this Serpent and therefore I will here conclude the History whereof Of the CROCODILE In the same place of Leviticus the word Zab is interpreted a kinde of Crocodile wherewithall David Kimhi confoundeth Greschint and Rabbi Solomon Faget The Chaldees translate it Zaba the Persians An Rasu the Septuagints a Crocodile of the earth but it is better to follow Saint Hierom in the same because the Text addeth according to his kinde wherefore it is superfluous to adde the distinction of the Crocodile of the earth except it were lawful to eat the Crocodiles of the water In Exod. 8. there is a fish called Zephardea which cometh out of the waters and eateth men this cannot agree to any fish in Nilus save only the Crocodile and therefore this word is by the Arabians rendered Al Timasch Some do hereby understand Pagulera Grenelera and Batra 〈…〉 that to great Frogs Aluka by the most of the Jews understand a Horsleach Prov. 30. but David Kimhi taketh and useth it for a Crocodile For he saith it is a great Worm abiding nâ—â—r the Rivers sides and upon a sudden setteth upon men or cattel as they passe beside him Tisma and Alinsa are by Avicen expounded for a Crocodile and Tenchea for that Crocodile that never moveth his neather or under chap. Strabo saith that in the Province of Arsinoe in Egypt there is a holy Crocodile worshipped by the Inhabitants and kept tame by the Priests in a certain Lake this sacred Crocodile is called Suchus and this word cometh neer to Scincus which as we have said signifieth any Crocodile of the earth from which the Arabian Tinsa semeth also to be derived as the Egyptian Thampsai doth come neer to the Arabian Tremisa Horodotus calleth them Champsai and this was the old Ionian word for a Vulgar Crocodile in hedges Upon occasion whereof Scaliger saith he asked a Turk by what name they call a Crocodile at this day in Turky and he answered Kimpsai which is most evidently corrupted from Champsai The Egyptians vulgarly call the Crocodile of Nilus Câ—catriâ— the Grecians Neilokrokodeilos generally Krocodeilos and sometimes Dendrites The Latines Crocodilus and Albertus Crocodillus and the same word is retained in all languages of Europe About the Etymology of this word I finde two opinions not unprofitable to be rehearsed the first that Crocodilus cometh of Crocus Saffron because this Beast especially the Crocodile of the earth is afraid of Saffron and therefore the Countrey people to defend their Hives of Bees and Honey from them strow upon the places Saffron But this is too far fetched to name a Beast from that which it feareth and being a secret in nature it is not likely that it was discovered at the first and therefore the name must have some other investigation Isidorus saith that the name Crocodilus cometh of Croceus color the colour of Saffron because such is the colour of the Crocodile and this seemeth to be more reasonable For I have seen a Crocodile in England brought out of Egypt dead and killed with a Musket the colour whereof was like to Saffron growing upon stalks in fields Yet it is more likely that the derivation of Varinus and Eustathius was the original for they say that the shores of sands on the Rivers were called Crocae and Crocula and because the Crocodiles haunt and live in those shores it might give the name to the Beasts because the water Crocodiles live and delight in those sands but the land or earth Crocodiles abhor and fear them It is reported that the famous Grammarian Artemidorus seeing a Crocodile lying upon the lands he was so much touched and moved therewith that he fell into an opinion that his left leg and hand were eaten off by that Serpent and that thereby he lost the remembrance of all his great learning and knowledge of Arts. And thus much for the name of this Serpent In the next place we are to consider the Countries wherein Crocodiles are bred and keep their habitation and those are especially Egypt for that only hath Crocodiles of both kindes that is of the water and of the land for the Crocodiles of Nilus are Amphibil and live in both elements they are not only in the River Nilus but also in all the pools near adjoyning The River Bambotus neer to Atlas in Africa doth also bring forth Crocodiles and Pliny saith that in Darat a River of Mauritania there are Crocodiles ingendered Likewise Apollonius reporteth that when he passed by the River Indus he met with many Sea-horses and Crocodiles such as are found in the River Nilus and besides these Countries I do not remember any other wherein are ingendered Crocodiles of the water which are the greatest and most famous Crocodiles of all other The Crocodiles of the earth which are of lesser note and quantity are more plentiful for they are found in Lybia and in Bythinia where they are called Azaritia and in the Mountain Syagrus in Arabia and in the Woods of India as is well observed by Arianus Dioscorides and Hermolaus and therefore I will not prosecute this matter any further The kindes being already declared it follows that we should proceed to their quantity and several parts And it appeareth that the water Crocodile is much greater and more noble then the Crocodiles of the earth for they are not not above two cubits long or sometimes eight at the most but the others are sixteen and sometimes more And besides these Crocodiles if they lay their egs in the water saith Dellunensis then their young ones are much greater but if on the land then they are lesser and like the Crocodiles of the earth In the River Ganges there are two kindes of Crocodiles one of them is harmlesse and doth no hurt to any creature but the other is a devouring unfatiable Beast killing all that he layeth his mouth on without all mercy or exorable quality in the top of whose snowt there groweth a bunch like a horn Now a Crocodile is like a Lizard in all points excepting the tail and the quantity of a Lizard yet it layeth an Egge no greater then a Gooses Egge and from so small a beginning a beginning ariseth this