from their furious malice The vertue of Mallowes and of Althea called Marsh-mallowe is notable against the prickings of Waspes For the softest and most emollient herbe is applyed as a contrary to a watlike and hurtfull creature whose iuyce beeing annoynted with oyle eyther abateth the rage of vvaspes or so blunteth and dulleth theyr sting that the paine is not very sharpe or byting Pliny lib 21. capit 171. And of the same mind is Auicen Waspes saith he will not come neere any man if he be annoynted with oyle and the iuyce of Mallowes For as a soft aunswere doth frangere iram and as the Graecians haue a saying Edus Megiston estin orges pharmakon logos So also in naturall Philosophy we see that hard thinges are quailed and their edge euen taken off with soft and suppling as yron with a fine small and soft feather the Adamant stone with blood and the stinge of vvaspes Hornets and Bees with oyle and Mallowes What is softer then a Caterpiller and yet if Aetius credite be of sufficience the same beeing beaten with oyle and annoynted vppon any part preserueth the same from the woundes and stinges of vvaspes And of the same vertue is the herbe called Balme being stamped and mixed with oyle The same symptomes or accidents doe follow the stinging of Waspes as of Bees but farre more painefull and of longer continuance to vvit rednesse intollerable paine Apostumes And if any be strooken of the Orenge or yellow coloured vvaspes especially in a sinowie or some sensible part there will followe a convulsion weakenes of the kees swounding yea sometimes death as before I haue touched Against the stingings of vvaspes diuers medicines are prescribed by Phisitions but I will speake of such onely as I haue made proofe of and such as are confirmed by long experience Gilbert the Englishman saith that vvaspes beeing bruised and applyed to the place affected doe cure their owne wounds very strangely The same vertue peraduenture not onely the Scorpion but the greater part of Insects haue if any one would make any dilligent tryall thereof If a man be stinged of any venomous vvaspes which is easily knowne by the blewnes of the place madnes rauing and fainting of the partie and coldnesse of the hands and feete after you haue giuen him inwardly some Alexipharmacall medicine the place agrieued must be launched or rather opened with a Cauterie so beeing thus enlarged and opened the venome must be well sucked out and the paring or shauing of that earth wherein the waspes build their nests must be wrought kneaded with Vineger and so applyed like a Cataplasme A plaister also made of VVillow-leaues Mallowes and the combe of waspes is verie medicinable for the same as by the counsell of Haly Abbas I haue experimented The English-Northerne-men doe prepare most excellent emplaister woorth gold against all stinges of waspes onely of that earth whereof their Ouens are made hauing vineger and the heads of Flyes commixed therewith Let the place be very well rubbed with the iuyce of Citrulls withall let the partie that is pained drinke of the seed of Margerom beaten to powder the quantity of two drammes or thus Take of the iuyce of Margerom two ounces of Bole Armony two drammes with the iuyce of vnripe Grapes so much as is sufficient make an emplaister Another Annoynt the place with the iuyce of Purcelane Beetes or sweet Wine and Oyle of Roses or with Cowes bloud or with the seedes of the Spirting or wilde Cucumber called Nolime tangere beaten with some VVine Thus farre Galen Barly Meale wrought vp with Vineger and the Milke or iuyce of a Fig-tree brine or Sea water are excellent for these griefes as Dioscorides lib. 8. Cap. 20. writeth if the wound be often fomented bathed or soked with any of them To drinke giue two drammes of the young and tender leaues of Bayes with harsh wine and if the part affected bee onely annointed with any of these they are much auaileable In like sort the decoction of Marsh-mallowes drunke with Vineger and water are much commended and outwardly salt with Calues fat Oyle of Bayes draweth out the poyson of VVaspes The leaues of Marsh-mallow as Aetius saith beeing bruised and applyed doe performe the same The iuyce of Rue or Balme about the quantity of two or three ounces drunke with wine and the leaues being chewed and laid on with Hony and Salt or with Vineger and Pitch do help much VVater-cresses Rosemarie with Barly meale and water with vineger sod together the iuyce of Iuy leaues Marigolds the bloud of an Owle all these are very affectuall against the stinging of waspes as Pliny lib. 31. Cap. 9. telleth vs. The buds of the wilde Palme-tree Endiue with the root and wilde Timbe being applyed playsterwise doe helpe the stinging of VVaspes After the vemine is drawne out by sucking the place effected must bee put into hot water the space of an houre and then suddenly they must be thrust into Vineger and brine and forthwith the paine will bee asswaged the tumour cease and the malice of the venemous humor cleane extinguished Rhazes saith that the leaues of Night-shade or of Sengreene do very much good in this case And in like sort Bole Armony with vineger and Champhire and nuts beaten with a little vineger and Castoreum Also take the Combe with Honny applying to the place and hold the grieued place neere the fire immediatly and laying vnder them a few ashes binde them hard forth-with the paine will bee swaged Serapio saith that Sauorie or Cresses applyed and the seed thereof taken in drinke and the iuyce of the lesser Centory mixt with wine are very meete to bee vsed in these griefes he also commendeth for the same purpose the leaues of Basill the Herb called Mercury and Mandrakes with Vineger Ardoynus is of opinion that if you take a little round ball of Snow and put it into the fundament the paine will cease especially that which proceedeth by waspes Let the place be annoynted with Vineger and Champhire or often fomented and bathed with Snow-water Take of Opium of the seed of Henbane and Champhire of each alike much and incorporate them with Rose water or the iuyce of VVillowes and laie it vppon the wounded place applying on the top of it a linnē cloth first throughly wetted in wine Iohannes Mesue who of some is called Euangelist a medicoram prescribeth this receipt of the iuyce of Sisimbrium two drammes and a halfe and with the iuyce of Tartcitrons make a potion The iuyce also of Spina Arabica and of Margerom are nothing inferiour to these forementioned Aaron would in this griefe haue water Lintells called by some Duckes meat to be stamped with vineger and after to be applyed Constantine assureth vs that Alcama tempered with Barley meale and vineger and so bound to the place as also Nuts leaues of vvall-nuts and Bleetes are very profitable in this passion Item
neere Liuonia there are great store of great serpents also so that the Heard-men are at continuall war and contention with them for defence of their flock Likewise in the Mountaines of Heluetia and Auergne whereof there are many wonders reported in the world which I will not stand vpon to relate in this place We reade also that some places haue beene disinhabited dispeopled by serpents such were the people of Scythia called Neuri who before the war of Darius were constrained to forsake theyr soyle because they were annoyed not onely with home-bred serpents but also with many other which came from other parts and so the Country remaineth desolate to this present day the ancient Inhabitants beeing all remooued to dwell among the Buditani The Cittie Amyclae in Italy as M Varro writeth was destroyed also by serpents And there be certains places of the world which haue receiued their denomination from serpents besides the Ophiusae neere Creete The Iland Tenos was called Hydrussa and Ophiussa so were Cremiuscos Aepolium and the Mountaines Macrocremnij Rhodus the long Ilands Ophiades in the Arabian coast which after it had remained a long time desart was purged and cleered from serpents by the Kings of Egypt Nicaenetus also calleth Cyprus Ophiodia And in Pausanias we read of a place name Opheos Kephale the Serpents head The like might be saide of Riuers as of Orontes called also Ophites and Ophis in Pontus which deuideth a sunder Colchis and the Country Thiamica Ebusus nourisheth no serpents and the earth thereof hath in it a secret vertue to driue away serpents wherefore it is much desired of all men to carry about them for that it hath beene often prooued that neuer any venomous beast durst aduenture vpon any man possessed thereof The like is said of Ireland as our owne Chronicles doe plentifully declare and therefore I will spare to enter into any narration thereof To come therfore to the more particular abode of Serpents especially of such as are knowne to vs we must leaue of the talke and nominaton of Kingdoms and descend to dennes holes caues dunghils sheep-coats valleys rocks hollow-walls and trees woods greene pastures hedges and such like places wherein they make their most abode And now and then in these Northerne parts of the world yet sildome they diue downe into the bottome or rootes of trees especially such as are greene all the Winter-time For they finde in them a greater heate or warmth then in other whose leaues fall off and decay in the cold weather except in the rootes of Birch And by reason of their multitude gathered together at the roote of this tree it falleth out that their breath heateth the same and so preserueth the leaues of it from falling off Wherefore in auncient time the ignorant multitude seeing a Birch-tree with greene leaues in the Winter did call it our Ladies Tree or a Holy tree attributing that greenenesse to miracle not knowing the former reason or secrete of Nature Solinus reporteth of such a like wood in a part of Affrica wherein all the Winter time the leaues of all the Trees abide greene the cause is as before recited for that the Serpents liuing at the rootes of the trees in the earth doe heate thē with their breath Neither ought any man to wonder that they should so friendly liue together especially in the winter cold time seeing that by experience in England we know that for warmth they will creepe into bed-straw about the legges of men in their sleepe as may appeare by this succeeding discourse of a true history done in England in the house of a worshipfull Gentleman vpon a seruant of his whom I could name if it were needfull He had a seruaunt that grew very lame and feeble in his legges thinking that he could neuer be warme in his bed did multiply his clothes and couered himselfe more more but all in vaine till at length he was not able to goe about neither could any skill of Phisitian or Surgeon find out the cause It hapned on a day as his Maister leaned at his Parlour window he saw a great Snake to slide along the house side and to creepe into the chamber of this lame man then lying in his bedde as I remember for hee lay in a lowe chamber directly against the Parlour window afore-said The Gentleman desirous to see the issue and what the snake would doe in the chamber followed and looked into the chamber by the window where hee espied the snake to slide vppe into the bed-straw by some way open in the bottome of the bedde which was of old bordes Straightway his hart rising therat he called two or three of his seruaunts and told them what he had seene bidding them goe take their Rapiers kill the said snake The seruing-men came first and remoued the lame man as I remember and then the one of them turned vp the bed and the other two the straw their maister standing without at the hole whereinto the said snake had entered into the chamber The bedde was no sooner turned vp and the Rapier thrust into the straw but there issued forth fiue or six great snakes that were lodged therein Then the seruing-men bestirring themselues soone dispatched them cast them out of doores dead Afterward the lame mans legges recouered and became as strong as euer they were whereby did euidentlie appeare the coldnes of these snakes or Serpents which came close to his legges euerie night did so benumme them as he could not goe And thus for heate they pierce into the holes of chimneyes yea into the toppes of hills and houses much more into the bottomes and rootes of Trees When they perceiue that winter approcheth they find out their resting places wherin they lye halfe dead foure moneths together vntill the Spring-sunne againe communicating her heate to all Creatures reuiueth and as it were raiseth them vp from death to life During which time of cold and vvinter as Seneca writeth Tuto tractari pestifera serpens potest non desunt tunc illi venena sed torpent They may bee safely handled without feare of harme not because they want poyson at that time but because they are drouzie and deadly astonished But there is a question whether when they be in this secrecie or drouzines they awake not to eate or else their sleepe be vnto them in stead of foode Olaus Magnus affirmeth of the Northerne serpents that they eate not at all but are nourished with sleep Cardan saith that they take some little foode as appeareth by those which are carried vp and downe in boxes to be seene and are fedde with branne or cheasill But this may be aunswered that serpents in boxes are not so colde as those in woods and desarts and therefore seeing cold keepeth them from eating the externall heate of the box-house or humane body which beareth them about may be a cause that inclosed serpents feede in
the Serpents life is cold and dry and the humane life hote moyst wherfore either of both abhorreth one the other and the serpent leapeth as farre from a mans spittle as it would doe out of a vessell of scalding water Agatharcides writeth that there was a King in Affrick called Psyllus whose Sepulchre was preserued in the greater Syrtes From this King there were certaine people named Psyllians in whose bodies there was a certaine inbred and naturall power to kill or at the least to astonish Serpents Spiders Toades and such like and lay them for dead euen by the sauour or smell of them And the manner of these men to try the chastitie of theyr wiues was to take their children newly borne and to cast them vnto direfull Serpents for if they were of the right line lawfully begotten then did the serpents die before them but if they were adulterous and the children of strangers the serpents would eate and deuoure them Pliny affirmeth that euen in his dayes there were some of those people aliue among the Nasomons who destroyed many of them did possesse their places yet some running from death escaped Generally such people were called Marsi and Psilli for the Marsi were a people of Italy descended of Circes as is said in whom there was a vertue to cure all the stinging of serpents by touching the wounded places Such saith Crates Pergamenus are in Hellespont about the Riuer Parius And some are of opinion that at the beginning they were Ophiogenes borne or bred of Serpents or that some great Noble man father of that country was of a serpent made a man And Varro saith that in his time there were some few men aliue in whose spettle was found that vertue to resist cure the poyson of venomous beasts But hauing named Ophiogenes or Anguigenae that is men bred of serpents or snakes I see no cause why it should be iudged that those which cure serpents poyson should be so misiudged for to cure poyson is not the worke of poyson but of an Antidote or contrary power to poyson and therefore curers resisters of poyson are without all learning called Ophiogenes that is serpents broode but rather that terme belongeth more iustlie to those people whose nature is sociable with serpents and serpents agree with them as they would doe with their own kind Such an one was Exagon the Embassadour at Rome who at the commandement of the Consuls for their experience was cast naked into a vessell or tunne of snakes who did him no harme but licked him with their tongues and so with great miracle he was let foorth againe vntouched and yet there is no more reason to say that this man was borne of the linage of serpents because those Men-enemies did not hurt him then it was to say that Daniell was borne of Lyons because that the Lyons did not harme him Or that Romulus and Remus were borne of the kindred of Wolfes because a shee Wolfe did nourish theÌ„ VVe do read of many people in the world which were surnamed of Serpents all which may as well be deemed to be discended of such creatures because of their name as well as the other who were by GOD for their innocencie preserued from death Ebusus was called Colubâ—â—xia and the people thereof Ophiussae and in Arabia we reade of the Ophiades both which are deriued from Serpents called in Greeke Opheis Eustathius also relateth a story of a man called Ophis I omit to speake of the Ophitae and others yet thus much I must needs say that commonly such names haue been giuen to Serpents for some cause or accident either fainedly or truly deriued from Serpents So wee read of Ophion a companion of Cadmus and a builder of Thebes who was said to be made by Pallas of a Dragons tooth Likewise the Spartanes were called Ophiodeiroi by Pythius because in a famine they were constrained to eate Serpents S. Augustine maketh mention of certaine blasphemous Haereticks who were called Ophitae because they worshipped a Serpent said that the serpent which deceiued our first Parents Adam and Euah was Christ Wherefore they kept a Serpent in a Caue whom they did nourish and worshippe which at the charme of the Priest would come out of his Caue and licke the oblations which they set vppon his denne rowling and folding himselfe round about them and then would goe in againe then did these abhominable Haereticks breake these oblations into the Eucharist and receiue them as sanctified by the serpent And such also is the storie of Caelius Rhod where hee termeth the great deuill Ophioneus whom both holy Scripture and auncient Heathen say that hee fell out of Heauen But all these things are but by the way vpon occasion of that vnnaturall conceit of those men called Ophiogenes that is descended or begotten by Serpents Therefore I will returne where I left namely to the hatred of Men to Serpents and of Serpents to Men againe In testimonie whereof there haue beene mutuall slaughters namely men which haue killed monstrous serpents and serpents which haue killed men againe Hercules beeing but an Infant as Poets faine killed thóse two serpents which Iuno sent to his cradle to destroy him for Iuno is saide to be much offended at his birth because hee was begotten by Iupiter vppon Alâ—mena and therefore there was reserued the Image of Hercules at Athens strangling a serpent But Pierius maketh of this fiction a good morall or Hieroglyphick when he saith that by Hercules strangling of the serpents in his cradle is vnderstood how those men which are borne for any great enterprises should kill their pleasures while they be young I neede not to stand long vpon this poynt for it is euident that to this day there are many Hyades both men and women which are not afraid to kill the Serpents broode But such as haue perrished by serpents I meane men of any note are also expressed whereof Ouid writeth of Aâ—lacos the sonne of Priamus and Alixothoes who following the Nymph Hesperia with whom hee was in loue was suddainly killed by a snake biting his foote So were Apaesantus Munitus Eurydice Laocoon Opheltes the sonne of Lycurgus King of Nemea Orestes Idmon and Mopsus were slaine by serpents vvherof Opheltes by the negligence of his Nurse Hypsiphiles leauing him vngarded in his cradle It is recorded by Aelianus and Pliny that when a serpent hath killed a man he can neuer more couer himselfe in the earth but in punishment of so vile an offence wandereth to and fro subiect to infinite miseries and calamities beeing not acknowledged by his female if he be a male nor yet by the male if it be a female and is forsaken of all his crew or societie The earth it selfe not dayning to entertaine a man-murtherer into her bowels but constraining him to liue Winter and Sommer abroad vppon the open earth And thus hath the Diuine prouidence dispensed his iustice that hee suffereth not
round and with her head erected Hyssing out threats rough scales vpsetteth that were deiected To fright her fo but all in vaine for she with beake doth striue And beate the ayre with wings of force till Dragon cease to liue There is in the seauenth Booke of Aelianus historie of liuing Creatures a notable and elegant story of an Eagle which was almost ouercome by a Serpent and yet preserued made Conquerour by a man There was saith hee sixteene men which were threshing of corne in the heate of the sunne by reason whereof they became very thirstie then they agreed to send one of their company to a Fountaine not farre off to fetch some water for them all to drinke and so the messenger comming to the Fountaine found an Eagle almost killed by a Serpent for whiles froÌ„ an high she beheld the serpent beeing more greedie of the pray for to feede her young then vvarie to auoyde danger fell downe vpon her bootie which was too strong for her for the serpent receiued her aduersary with fell force power and preparation to stifle her and so indeede she had accomplished had not by chance this thresher come vnto them for the serpent had so ensnared and wrapped vp the Eagle with her long body that she was neerer ad pereundum quam ad perdendum that is to be killed then to kill or get a pray The man beholding the sight with his sickle cut asunder the serpent and so deliuered the Eagle but how the Eagle required the man shall be shewed in the history of the Eagle In the Mountaines of Morfilium there are great store of great Serpents which are very dangerous but there are also great vvhite Eagles which doe eate and destroy them Some say that the Vulture doth also destroy serpents but heerein I cannot be satisfied for all Eagles doe not hunt after this game but onely the lesser sort of them Eagles wheÌ„ they build their nest to breed in they seeke out a certaine stone called Aëtites the vertue wherof keepeth serpents from their young and also make their egges fruitfull so as it is a verie rare thing for Eagles to haue a rotten egge All kindes of great Hawkes Bussards Kites are also enemies to serpents snakes Adders and the Kites will eate them if they find theÌ„ aliue or dead as I my selfe haue often seene by experience The Storkes also doe hunt after serpents wherefore in Thessalie it is as vnlawfull to kill a Storke as to kill a man for they haue many deuises to catch Serpents and all venomous beasts and thereof to eate without harming themselues and not onely eate themselues but giue thereof to their young ones as Iuuenall witnesseth Serpente ciconia pullos nutrit Et inuenta per deuiarura lacerta In English thus The Storke her young ones according to kind In Serpents and Lizzards doe their meate find Sometime they fight together irefully the serpent strangleth the storke by twyning about her necke againe the storke killeth the serpent by pecking vppon her head and so sometimes they are both found dead together As the Eagle hath the stone Aëtites so hath the storke Lychnites to defend herselfe and her young ones from the rage of serpents There is as Oppianus writeth in his Ixâ—nticis this vulgar story in Italy There was a certaine serpent which came two yeeres together to the nestes of diuers storkes destroyed theyr young ones neither could all the storkes make sufficient force against her with all their might to saue their broode The third yeere the serpent came againe to attempt the like slaughter but there among the storkes shee found a certaine strange Bird neuer seene before being shorter then the storkes and yet had a great long sharpe bill as sharpe as the poynt of any sword This bird as it seemeth was brought thether by the storkes to guard their young ones when the Parents were gone abroade to forrage for them Then as soone as the young ones were hatcht out commeth the Serpent from his hole and beginneth to assaile the nests of the storkes but the guardian bird according to the trust committed to her resisted the serpent and pecked at her mortally with her sharpe beake The serpent to end his aduersary nimblie aduaunced himselfe vpright endeuoured to reach the bird but the warie bird soared so high aboue his reach that the langrell serpent could not catch him so they continued in fight till at last the bird killed the serpent after that the serpent had once onely fastened his venomed teeth vpon the bird which afterward so wrought vpon this bird that all her feathers did flie off from her backe But of all other Fowles enemies to serpents there is none greater or more deadlie then the bird called Ibis which the Egyptians doe wonderfully honour for when swarmes of serpents come into Egypt out of the Arabian gulfes and fennes these birds meete and destroy them and there is such an admirable feate in serpents of these birdes that they doe not onely tremble and fall sencelesse at their sight but also at the sight of their feathers they do harme to no other liuing thing except Locusts and Caterpillers wherefore they are worthily nourished and called Inimicae et populatores serpentum enemies and destroyers of serpents All kind of Pullen as Cocks and Hennes are likewise enemies to the broode of serpents And a good couragious cock as Columella saith is able to kill and resist a serpent For as Rondoletius saith he hath found in the croppe or craw of pullen young serpents deuoured by them But from whence Albertus had his relation that a Henne cannot be hurt that day by a serpent wherein she layeth an egge I cannot tell and therefore leaue it to the Reader to beleeue or refuse And it is also said that the flesh of hennes applyed to the bitings of serpents doth cure them or els cause a hen to sitte vpon the wounded place but if the beast which is wounded be a cow with calfe or any such other femall with young how soeuer it fareth with the old one surely the young ones shall perrish There is also another bird which for his combatting with serpents is termed Ophiomachus a fighter with serpents Although Gesner be of opinion that Ophiomachus neuer signifieth a Bird. Of this Bird the Septuagints make mention Leuit. 11. but many of the better learned doe interpret it for a Lizard or a Locust or an Ichneumon The Peacocke also is a terrour to serpents so as they will not abide within the hearing of his voyce for it is at perpetuall fewde with all venomous beastes And the Vulture as wee said before is a terrour vnto them insomuch as one of their feathers burned will by the sauour of the smoake driue away the serpent And to conclude the Swallowes also are at variance with the serpents broode for the snake will creepe vp to the swallowes nest therein suddenly
head applyed doth cure for where the wound The helpe is also made as in Telephus sence Harmd by Larissus speare by it was cured found And Guil. Varignana saith deuide or cut a serpent and lay it vpon the place and it will mittigate the anguish and paine The seede of Thraspi and of Tithimal which is a kind of spurge is greatlie vsed for this Aut Tithimallus atrox vulnus quae tuta pervngat Some besides these doe put the roote of black Hellebor into the wound because it draweth out the poyson as I by mine owne experience can testifie saith Matthiolus There be also sundry Antidotes and preseruatiues which are taken inwardly that are very effectuall against the bytings of serpents and venomous beasts as namely that which is called Theriaca Andromachi or Methridate the like compositious Galen in his booke De Theriaca ad Pisonem preferreth Theriaca Andromachi before all other medicines either simple or compound for virulent wounds because it performeth that effect for which it is ministred For it was neuer as yet heard that euer any one perrished of any venomous hurt or byting who without any delay foorth-with dranke this medicine and if any man had taken it before he receiued any such dangerous hurt if he were set vppon and assailed by any poysonous creature it hath not lightlie been heard that hee hath dyed of the same There be many Antidotes described by the Ancients which they set downe to be admirable for these passions As for example that which Auicenna termeth Theriaca mirabilis whose composition is as followeth Take of Opium and of Myrrhe of eyther of them a dramme Pepper one dramme and a halfe the roote of Aristolechia longa and Rotunda of each of them three drammes Wine two drammes make them vp with Hony Rocket water so much as is sufficient for an Electuarie the quantitie to giue is foure scruples relented in some fit and conuenient decoction King Antiochus surnamed Magnus had a kinde of Theriaoa which hee vsed against all poysons which is described of Pliny in his 20 booke and last chapter in this wise Take of Wild-time Opopanax and the herbe called Gromell of each a like much two drammes Trifolie one dramme of the seedes of Dill Fennell Smallage Anise and Ameos of euery one alike sixe drammes of the meale of Orebus twelue drammes all these beeing powned and finely searsed must with wine a sufficient quantitie be made into Trochisces whereof euery one must weigh one dramme giue thereof one dram at a time in a draught of wine There is another Antidote and preseruatiue against any poyson described by Paulus Aegineta much like vnto this which is thus Take of Bryonie Opopanax of the roote of Iris Illirica and of the roote of Rosemarie and of Ginger of each of these three drammes of Aristolochia fiue drammes of the best Turpentine of wilde Rue of each three drams of the meale of Orobus two drammes make them into Torchisches with Wine euerie one weighing one scruple and a halfe or two scruples to be giuen also in wine Galen in his second booke De antidotis chapter 49. discourseth of a certaine Theriacall medicament called Zopyria antidotus so taking the name of one Zopyrus which was notable against all poysons bytings of venomous creeping creatures This Zopyrus in his Letters written vnto Mithridates sollicited him very much that he would make some experiment of his Antidote which as he put him in mind he might easily doe by causing any one that was alreadie condemned to die to drinke downe some poyson afore-hand then to take the Antidote or els first to receiue the Antidote after that to drinke some poyson And put him in remembrance to try it also in those that were wounded any maner of way by Serpents or those that were hurt by arrowes or Darts annoynted or poysoned by any destroying venime So all things being dispatched according to his praemonition the man notwithstanding the strength of the poyson was preserued safe sound by this alexipharmaticall medicine of Zopyrus Matthiolus in his Praeface vpon the sixth booke of Dioscorides entreating of Antidotes and preseruatiues from poyson saith that at length after long studie and trauaile he had found out an Antidote whose vertue was wonderfull and worthy admiration and it is a certaine quintessence extracted from many simples which hee setteth downe in the same place He saith it is of such force and efficacie that the quantitie of foure drammes being taken either by it selfe or with the like quantitie of some sweet-senting Wine or els with some distilled water which hath some naturall propertie to strengthen the hart if that anie person hath either been wounded or strooken of any venomous liuing thing that the patients life be therewith in danger so that he hath lost the vse of his tongue seeing for the most part all his other sences yet for all that by taking this his Quintessence it will recouer and raise him as it were out of a dead sleepe from sicknes to health to the great astonishment and admiration of the standers by They that desire to know the composition of this rare preseruatiue let them read it in the Author himselfe for it is too long and tedious to describe it at this time There be besides these compounds many simple Medicines which beeing taken inwardly doe performe the same effect as namelie the Thistle where-vppon Serenus hath these verses following Carduus et nondum doctis fullonibus aptus Ex illo radix tepido potatur in amni That is to say The roote of Teasill young for Fullers yet vnfit Drunke in warme-water venome out doth spit That Thistle which Qu. Serenus heere vnderstandeth is properly that plant which of the Greekes is called Scolymos Yet it is taken somtimes for other prickly plants of the same kind as for both the Chamaeleons Dipsacos or Labram veneris Spina alba Eryngium and some other But Dioscorides attributeth the chiefest vertue against poysons to the Thistles called Chamaeleon albus and to the Sea-thistle called Eryngium marinum which some call Sea-hull or Huluer for in his third booke and ninth chapter entreating of Chamaeleon albus hee saith thus The roote of it taken with Wine inwardly is as good as Treacle against any venime and in the 21 chapter of the same booke Eryngium is saith he taken to good purpose with some wine against the byting of venomous creatures or any poyson inwatdly taken And the same Serenus adscribeth the same vertue to the Harts curd or rennet as followeth Cervino ex foetu commixta coagula vino Sumantur quae res membris agit atra venena In English thus Wine mixt with rennet taken from a Hart So drunk doth venom from the members part He meaneth a young Hart beeing killed in the Dammes belly as Pliny affirmeth also the same in his 8. booke and 30 chapter in these words The chiefest remedie against the byting of Serpents is made of the
entreate not spending any time to confute those who haue wrote that it is incurable on the contrary it shall be manifest that both by Chirurgery and Medicines compound and simple this both hath beene may happily be effected First it is necessary when a man is stunge or bitten by a Serpent that the wounded part be cut off by the hand of some skilfull Chirurgeon or else the flesh round about the wound with the wound it selfe to bee circumcised and cut with a sharpe Rasor then let the hottest burning thinges be applyed euen the searing yron to the very bone For so the occasion beeing taken away from the poyson to spread any further it must needes die without any further damage Then also the holes in the meane time before the eiection must be drawne eyther with cupping-glasse or with a Reede or with the naked rumpe of a Ringdoue or Cocke I meane the very hole set vppon the bitten place And because the place is very narrowe and small it must be opened and made wider the blood be drawne forth by scarifications and then must such medicinall herbes be applyed as are most opposite to poyson as Rew and such like And because the poyson of Aspes doth congeale the blood in the veynes therfore against the same must all hote thinges made thinne be applyed as Mithridatum Triacle dissolued in Aqua vitae the same also dissolued into the wound then must the patient be vsed to bathings fricasing or rubbing and walking with such like exercises But when once the wound beginneth to be purple greene or blacke it is a signe both of the extinguishment of the venome also of the suffocating of naturall heate then is nothing more safe then to cut off the member if the partie be able to beare it After Cupping-glasses and scarifications there is nothing that can be more profitably applyed then Centory Myrre and Oppium or Sorrell after the manner of a plaister But the body must be kept in dailie motion and agitation the wounds themselues often searched and pressed and Sea-vvater vsed for fomentation Butter likewise the leaues of Yew are very good to be applyed to the bytings of Aspes And in the Northerne Regions as witnesseth ' Olaus Magnus they vse nothing but branne like a playster and theyr cattell they annoynt with Triacle salt all ouer the bunch or swelling And thus much for the Chirurgicall cure of the biting of Aspes In the next place wee may also relate the medicinall cure especially of such thinges as are compound and receiued inwardly First after the wound it is good to make the party vomit then afterward make him drinke iuyce of Yew and Triacle or in the default thereof wine as much of the iuyce as a groate waight or rather more But for the tryall of the parties recouery giue him the powder of Centory in wine to drinke and if he keepe the medicine he will liue but if he vomit or cast it vp he will die thereof But for the better auoydance purging out of the digested venome distributed into euery part of his body giue the party Garlicke beaten with Zythum vntill he vomit or els Opponax in wine allayed with water also Origan dry and greene After the vomit the former antidoticall medicines may be vsed And the northerne people vse no other Triacle then Venetian Whereas there are aboundance of all manner of Serpents in the Spantsh Islands yet neuer are any found there to vse Triacle neither doe they account of it as of a thing any whit vertuous but in stead thereof they vse the bearded Thapsia Gilliflowers and red Violets and the herbe Auance boyled in wine Vinegar the sharpest that may be gotten a sound mans vrine wherwithall they bathe the wounded part although much time after the hurt receiued But saith Amb Paraeus it is much better for the patient to drinke thereof fasting before meate two howres three ounces at a time And by the help of this notable experiment the Inhabitants of those Ilands are nothing afraid to offer theyr bodyes to be bitten by the most angry Aspes And thus much for compound medicines in generall It is saide that the first and chiefest easie remedy for such as are bitten by Aspes is to drinke so much of the sharpest Vineger as he can sensibly perceiue and feele the same vpon the right side of his midreffe because that poyson first of all depriueth the liuer of sence For Pliny saith that hee knew a man carrying a bottle of Vineger to be bitten by an Aspe whiles by chaunce he trode therevpon but as long as he bore the Vineger and did not set it downe he felt no paine thereby but as often as to ease himselfe hee set the bottell out of his hand he felt torment by the poyson which being related to the Phisitians they knew thereby that Vineger drunke into the stomacke was a soueraigne antidote against poyson Yet some say that the first knowledge of this vertue in vineger grew from the necessitie which a little boy bytten by an Aspe had of drinking and finding no other liquour but a bottle of vineger dranke thereof a full draught and so was eased of his paine For the reason is that it hath both a refrigeratiue and also a dissipating vertue as may appeare when it is poured on the earth because it yeeldeth a froth and therefore when it commeth into the stomacke it disperseth all the infected humours The Northerne Shepheards doe drinke Garlicke and stale Ale against the bytings of Aspes And some hold opinion that Anniseede is an antidote for this sore Other vse Hart-wort Apium seed and wine Aron being burned hath the vertue to driue away serpents and therefore beeing drunke with oyle of Bayes in blacke wine it is accounted very soueraigne against the bytings of Aspes The fruite of Balsame with a little powder of Gentian in vvine or the iuyce of Mynts keepeth the stomacke from the Crampe after a man is bytten by an Aspe Other giue Castoreum with Lignum Cassiae and some the skinne of a Storkes stomacke or mawe There be certaine little filthy and corrupt wormes bred in rotten wood or paper called Cimices these are very profitable against poyson of Aspes or any other venomous byting beast and therefore it is said that Hennes other pullen do earnestly seeke after these wormes and that the flesh of such fowle as haue eaten thereof is also profitable for the same purpose Athaeneus also writeth how certaine thieues were condemned to be cast to serpents to be destroyed now the morning before they came forth they had giuen them to eate Cytrons when they were brought to the place of execution there were Aspes put forth vnto them who byt them and yet did not harme them The next day it beeing suspected the Prince commaunded to giue one of them a Citron and the other none so when they were
This sayth Hippocrates in his booke De superfoetat Diâ—scorides in his first booke and 90. chapter giueth in drinke those common Catter-pillers that liue in companies together against the disease called the Squinsie But vnlesse by some hidde and secret property they doe good in this griefe beeing receiued inwardly it were needfull in regard of their manifest venomous nature that they were vtterly reiected contemned Nicander vseth them to prouoke sleepe for thus he writeth Ei de súge tripsas oligo en bammati kampen Kepeien drosoeastan epi chloreida noto c. Which Hieremias Martius hath thus translated Quod si rodentes olus et frendentia vermes Lueva quibus virides depingunt terga colores In medio sacra de Palladis arbore succo Triveris hincque tuum colleveris vndique corpus Tuta dabis dulci securus membra quieti Which may be englished thus With herbe-eating or greene-leafe-gnawing wormes Whose backs imprinted are with colours liuely greene All bruised mixed with iuyce from Pallas tree that rumes Annoynted body brought to sound sleepe is often seene There are to be seene in diuers thornie pricklie sharpe and rough herbes as for example in Nettle sundry hairie or lanuginous Catterpillers which beeing tyed or hanged about some part of the body do by and by as the report goeth heale those infants which haue any stopping of the meates passage when they cannot swallow A Catterpiller bree-ding in pot-herbes beeing first bruised and then annoynted vpon any venomous bytings of Serpents is of great efficacie and if you rubbe a naughtie or a rotten tooth with the Colewort-catterpillers and that often within a few dayes following the tooth will fall out of his owne accord Auicenna Catterpillers mixt with oyle doe driue away Serpents Dioscorides If a man annoynt his hands or any other part with oyle it will cause that hee shall receiue no hurt by the stinging of Bees VVaspes or Hornets as Aetius sayth Pliny cyteth many fond and superstitious fained matters and lying tales deuised by those who in his time were called Magi Soothsayers or Diuiners concerning the admirable vertues of Catterpillers All which because I see them hissed out of the Schoole of Diuinitie and that in hart secretly I haue condemned them I will at this time let them passe without any further mention They are also a very good meate to diuers byrdes and fowles which are so needful for the vse benefit and foode of man-kinde as to Starlings Peacocks Hennes Thrushes Dawes or Choughes and to sundry fishes likewise as to the Tench Pike or Pikerell to a certaine Sea-fish called a Scorpion also to the Troute and some others who are easily deceiued with a Catterpillerd hooke VVhich kind of fishing fraude if you would better be instructed in I must referre you to Tarentinus in his Geoponicks and to a little booke dedicated to Robert Dudley late Earle of Leicester written by Ma Samuell Vicar of Godmanchester in Huntingtonshiere It is not to be passed ouer in silence how that not many yeres since there came infinite swarmes of Catterpillers out of Thrucia into Polonia Hungaria and beyond the lymits of Germany which did not onely deuoute the fruites of trees but whatsoeuer was greene either in the medowes tilled fields besides the Vines which was taken for an euident prognosticke and signe as many diuined of some great Turkish Armie to come swarming into those parts neither herein did this their gessing and mistrust deceiue them for the next yeere following was the siedge of Vienna in Austria the wasting spoyling and ouer-running of Hungaria and the deadly English-Sweating could not containe it selfe in an Iland but must spread it selfe among them of the Continent wherevppon ensued the destruction of many thousands of people before any remedy could be found out In the yeere of grace 1573. there rushed infinite swarmes of Catterpillers into Italy where they spoyled and made hauock of all greene buds grasse growing vpon the face of the earth so that with theyr vnquenchable and insatiate voracity they left nothing but the bare rootes of trees and plants and this hapned chiefely about Mantua and Brixia And vpon the necke of this followed a terrible fearefull pestilence of which there dyed aboue 50. thousand persons Also in the yeere of our Lord GOD 1570. there vvere two great and suddaine swarmes of Catterpillers that came rushing into Italy in the space of one Sommer which put the Romans into an exceeding great feare for there was nothing left greene in all their fieldes that could be preserued from their rauine and from their gluttonous and pilling maw And although the fertilitie of the yeere immediately following did almost blot and race out the memory of this their heauy punishment that many seemed as it were to repent them of theyr repentance yet are we not to doubt but that many were truly penitent and seriously were drawne to amendement of life by a due consideration heereof God grant that we may be warned by other mens punishments least that poore creature which we imagin to be the silliest least able to do vs harme we find the most heauie ⧠OF THE BOAS. IT was well knowne among all the Romans that when Regulus was Gouernour or Generall in the Punick warres there was a Serpent neere the Riuer Bagrade killed with slings stones euen as a Towne or little Cittie is ouer-come which Serpent was an hundred and twenty foote in length whose skinne and cheeke bones were reserued in a Temple at Rome vntill the Numantine warre And this History is more easie to be beleeued because of the Boas Serpent bred in Italy at this day for we read in Solinus that when Claudius was Emperour there was one of them slaine in the Vatican at Rome in whose belly was found an Infant swallowed whole and not a bone thereof broken The Germaines call this Serpent Vncke and besides theÌ„ I doe not reade of any other Name Some haue ignorantly confounded it with Chersydrus an Adder of the earth but vpon what reason I doe not know onely Solinus discoursing of Calabria might giue some colour to this opinion when he saith Calabria Chersydris est frequentissima boam gignit quem Anguem ad immensam moleÌ„ ferunt coalescere that is to say Calabria is full of Earth-Adders and it breedeth the Boas vvhich Snake some affirme will grow into a monstrous stature Out of which words there is no wise man can collect that the Boas and the Adder of the earth are all one thing The Latines call it Boa and Boua of Bos because by sucking Cowes milke it so encreaseth that in the end it destroyeth all manner of hedres Cattell and Regions And our domesticall Snakes and Adders will also sucke milke from Kine as in all the Nations of the world is most manifest to them that will obserue the same The Italians doe vsually call them Serpeda de Aqua a Serpent of the water and therefore all the Learned expound
which cause the wound or place bitten must be embrewed or washed with luke-warme Vineger and emplaistered with the leaues of Bay annoynted with the oyle of herbe Mary and the oyle of Wilde-pellitory or such things as are drawne out of those oyles wherein is the vertue of Nettles or Sea-Onyons But those thinges which are giuen vnto the patient to drinke must be the iuyce of Bay-leaues in Vineger or else equall portions of Myrrhe Pepper and Rewe in Wine the powder or dust whereof must be the full vveight of a golden-groat or as we say a French-Crovvne In the next place for the conclusion of the history of the dragon we will take our farewell of him in the recitall of his medicinall vertues which are briefely these that follow First the fatte of a Dragon dryed in the sunne is good against creeping Vlcers and the same mingled with Hony and Oyle helpeth the dimnesse of the eyes at the beginning The head of a dragon keepeth one from looking a squint and if it be sette vp at the gates and dores it hath beene thought in auncient time to be very fortunate to the sincere worshippers of GOD. The eyes beeing kept till they be stale and afterwards beate into an Oyle with Hony and made into an oyntment keepe any one that vseth it from the terrour of night-visions and apparisions The fatte of a Hart in the skinne of a Roe bound with the nerues of a Hart vnto the shoulder was thought to haue a vertue to fore-shew the iudgement of victories to come The first spindle by bearing of it procureth an easie passage for the pacification of higher powers His teeth bound vnto the feete of a Roe with the nerues of a Hart haue the same power But of all other there is no folly comparable to the composition which the Magitians draw out of a dragon to make one invincible and that is this They take the head and tayle of a dragon with the hayres out of the fore-head of a Lyon and the marrow of a Lyon the spume or white mouth of a conquering horse bound vppe in a Harts-skinne together with a clawe of a dogge and fastned with the crosse nerues or sinew of a Hart or of a Roe they say that this hath as much power to make one invincible as hath anie medicine or remedy whatsoeuer The fatte of dragons is of such vertue that it driueth away venomous beastes It is also reported that by the tongue or gall of a dragon sodde in wine men are deliuered from the spirits of the night called Incubi and Succubi or else Night-mares But aboue all other parts the vse of theyr blood is accounted most notable But whether the Cynnabaris be the same which is made of the blood of the dragons and Elephants collected from the earth when the dragon and the Elephant fall downe dead together accordings as Pliny deliuereth I will not heere dispute seeing it is already done in the story of the Elephant neither will I write any more of this matter in this place but onely referre the Reader vnto that which hee shall finde written thereof in the history of our former booke of Foure-footed-beastes And if that satisfie him not let him read Langius in the first booke of his Epistles and sixtie-fiue Epistle where that learned man doth abundantly satisfie all men concerning this question that are studious of the truth and not prone to contention And to conclude Andreas Baluacensis writeth that the Blood-stone called the Haematite is made of the dragons blood and thus I will conclude the history of the dragon with this storie following out of Porphyrius concerning the good successe which hath beene signified vnto men and women eyther by the dreames or sight of dragons Mammea the Mother of Alexander Seuerus the Emperour the night before his birth dreamed that she brought forth a little dragon so also did Olympia the Mother of Alexander the great and Pomponya the Mother of Scipio Affricanus The like prodigie gaue Augustus hope that he should be Emperor For when his mother Actia came in the night time vnto the Temple of Apollo and had sette downe her bedde or couch in the Temple among other Matrons suddainely shee fell asleepe and in her sleepe shee dreamed that a dragon came to her and clasped about her bodie and so departed without dooing her any harme Afterwards the print of a dragon remained perpetually vppon her belly so as shee neuer durst any more be seene in any bath The Emperour Tyberius Caesar had a dragon which hee daily fedde with his owne handes and nourished like good fortune at the last it happened that this dragon was defaced with the byting of Emmets and the former beautie of his body much obscured Wherefore the Emperour grewe greatly amazed thereat demaunding a reason thereof of the Wisemen hee was by them admonished to beware the insurrection of the common people And thus with these stories representing good and euill by the dragon I will take my leaue of this good and euill Serpent OF THE DRYINE THere be some that confound this Serpent with the water-snake and say it is none other then that which of auncient time vvas called Hidrus for so long as they liue in the water they are called Hidri that is Snakes of the water but when once they come to the land they are called Chelidri and Chersydri but it is certaine that the Chelidrus is different from the Chersydrus by the strong smell and sauour which it carrieth with it wheresoeuer it goeth according to these verses made of Vmbo the Priest in Virgill Viperio generi et grauiter spirantibus Hydris Spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat Which may be englished thus Who could by song and hand bring into deadly sleepe All kind of Vipers with Snakes smelling strong and deepe Which beeing compared with that instruction which hee giueth to Shepheards teaching them how to driue away the strong-smelling-serpents from the foldes hee calleth them Chelydri when he writeth in this manner Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere Cedrum Galbanioque agitare graues nidore Chelydros That is to say in English thus Learne how to driue away strong smelling Cheliders From folds by Galbanum and sauourie Cedars So that it is cleere that these Dryines are the same which are called Chelydri vvho doe stincke on the face of the earth whereby they are oftentimes disclosed although they be not seene howbeit some thinke that this filthy sauour doth not proceede from any fume or smoake comming out of their bodies but rather from their motion according to the opinion of Macer in these following verses Seu terga ex pirant spumantia Virus Seu terra fumat quateter labitur Anguis Which may be englished in this manner Whether their foming backs that smell Doe send abroade such poyson pestilent Or whether th' earth whereon this Snake full fell Doth slyde yeeldes that vnwholsome scent It is sayd that these Dryines doe
Catterpillers gnattes and small creeping things it imitateth the Camaelion for it putteth out the tongue and licketh in his meate by the space of three fingers in the toppe whereof there is a soft place hauing in it viscous humour which causeth all thinges to cleaue fast vnto it which it toucheth by vertue whereof it deuoureth great flyes And therefore the said tongue is said to haue two little bones growing at the roote thereof which by the wonderfull worke of Nature doth guide fortifie strengthen it And thus much may serue as a sufficient relation vnto the Reader 〈◊〉 â—…uersitie of Toades Nowe wee will proceede to the common description of both kindes together This Toade is in all outward parts like vnto a Frogge the fore-feete beeing short and the hinder feete long but the bodie more heauy and swelling the colour of a blackish colour the skinne rough viscous and very hard so as it is not easie to be broken with the blowe of a staffe It hath many deformed spottes vppon it especially blacke on the sides the bellâ— exceeding all other parts of the body standing out in such manner that beeing smitten vvith a staffe it yeeldeth a sound as it were from a vault or hollow place The head is broade and thicke and the colour thereof on the nether part about the necke is white that is some-what pale the backe plaine without bunches and it is saide that there is a little bone growing in theyr sides that hath a vertue to driue away doggeâ— from him that beareth it about him and is therefore called Apocynon The whole aspect of this Toade is vglie and vnpleasant Some Authours affirme that it carrieth the hart in the necke and therefore it cannot easily be killed except the throate thereof be cutte in the middle Theyr liuer is very vitious and causeth the whole body to be of ill temperament And some say they haue two liuers Theyr melt is very small and as for theyr copulation and egges they differ nothing from Frogges There be many late Writers which doe affirme that there is a precious stone in the head of a Toade whose opinions because they attribute 〈◊〉 the veâ—… of this stone it is good to examine in this place that so the Reader may be satisfied whether to hold it as a fable or as a true matter exemplâ—fying the powerfull working of Almightie God in nature for there be many that weâ—re these stones in Ringes beeing verily 〈◊〉 aded that they keepe them from all manner of grypings and paines of the belly and the small guttes But the Art as they terme it is in taking of it out for they sayâ— must be taken out of the head aliue before the Toade be dead with a peece of cloth of the colour of redde Skarlet where-withall they aro much delighted so that while they stretch out theÌ„selues is it were in sport vpon that cloth they cast out the stone of their head but instantly they sâ—p it vp againe vnlesse it be taken from them through some secrete hole in the said cloth whereby it falleth into a cesterne or vessell of water into the which the Toade lateth not enter by reason of the coldnes of the water These things writeth â—assarius Brasauolus saith that he found such a thing in the head of a Toade but he rather tooke it to be a bone then a stone the colour wherof was browne inclyning to blacknes Some say it is double namely outwardly a hollow bone and inwardly a stone contained 〈◊〉 in the vertue whereof is said to breake preuent or cure the stone in the bladder now how this stone should be there ingendered there are diuers opinions also they say that stones are ingendered in liuing creatures two manner of wayes either through heate or extreame cold as in the Snaile Pearch Crabbe Indian Tortizes and Toades so that by extremitie of cold this stone should be gotten Against this opinion the colour of the stone is obiected which is some-times white sometimes browne or blackish hauing a cittrine or blew spot in the middle sometimes all greene wher-vpon is naturally engrauen the figure of a Toade and this stone is somtimes called Borax sometimes Crapodinae and sometimes Nisae or Nusae and Chelonites Others doe make two kindes of these stones one resembling a great deale of Milke mixed with a little blood so that the white exceedeth the Redde and yet both are apparant and visible the other all blacke wherein they say is the picture of a Toade with her legges spredde before and behind And it is further affirmed that if both these stones be held in ones hand in the presence of poyson it will burne him The probation of this stone is by laying of it to a liue Toade and if she lift vp her head against it it is good but if shee run away from it it is a counterfeyte Geor Agricola calleth the greater kind of these stones Brontia and the lesser smoother sort of stones Cerauniae although some coÌ„trary this opinion saying that these stones Brantia Cerauniae are bred on the earth by thundering and lightning Whereas it is said before that the generation of this stone in the Toade proceedeth of colde that is vtterly vnpossible for it is described to be so solide and firme as nothing can be more hard and therefore I cannot assent vnto that opinion for vnto hard and solide things is required abundance of heate and againe it is vnlikely that whatsoeuer this Toade-stone be that there should be any store of them in the world as are euery where visible if they were to be taken out of the Toades aliue and therefore I rather agree with Salueldensis a Spaniard who thinketh that it is begotten by a certaine viscous spume breathed out vppon the head of some Toade by her fellowes in the Spring-time This stone is that which in auncient time was called Batrachites and they attribute vnto it a vertue besides the former namely for the breaking of the stone in the bladder and against the Falling-sicknes And they further write that it is a discouerer of present poyson for in the presence of poyson it will change the colour And this is the substaunce of that which is written about this stone Now for my part I dare not conclude either with it or against it for Hermolaus Massarius Albertus Syluaticus and others are directlie for this stone ingendered in the braine or head of the Toade on the other side Cardan and Gesner confesse such a stone by name and nature but they make doubt of the generation of it as others haue deliuered and therefore they beeing in sundry opinions the hearing were of might confound the Reader I will referre him for his satisfaction vnto a Toade which hee may easily euery day kill For although when the Toade is dead the vertue thereof be lost which consisted in the eye or blew spot in the middle yet the substaunce remaineth and if the stone be found there in substance
is to bee giuen is one dramme Another Take of the rootes of Capers the rootes of long Aristolochie or Hartwort Bay-berries rootes of Gentian of each a like quantity to bee taken in Wine or let him drinke Diassa with svveete strong Wine Comin and the seedes of Agnus Castus Another Take of the seedes of Nigella tenne drammes of Daucus and Comin-seedes of each alike fiue drammes seedes of wilde Rue and Cypres Nuttes of eyther three Drammes Spiknard Bay-berries round Astrologe Carpobalsamum Cynaomn the root of Gentian seeds of Trifolium Bituminosum and of Smallage-seede of either two drammes make a confection with Hony so much as is sufficient Giue the quantity of a Nut with old Wine Rhazes Out of Pliny Celsus and Scaliger IT is good to giue fiue Pismires to them that are bitten of any Phalangium or the seedes of Nigella Romana one dram or Mulberries with Hypocistis and Hony There is a secret vertue and hidden quality in the root of Parsely and of wilde Rue peculiarly against those hurts that Spiders infect by their venome The bloud of a Land-Tortoyce the iuyce of Origanum the roote of Behen Album Veruaine Cinquefoile all the sortes of Sengreene Cipres-roots the Iuie of Iuy roots being taken with some sweet Wine or water and Vineger mixed and boyled together are very speciall in this griefe Likewise two drams of Castoreum to prouoke vomiting being relented in some mulse Apollodorus one of the disciples of Democrates saith there is an herb called Crocides which if any Phalangium or other poisonous Spider do but touch presently they fal down dead and their poyson is so dulled and weakened as it can doe no hurt The leaues of the Bull-rush or Mat-rush which are next to the root being eaten are found to giue much help Pliny Take of Myrrhe of Vna Taminea which is the berry of the herb called Ampelos Agria being a kind of Bryony which windeth it selfe about trees and hedges like a vine of some called our Ladies seale of either alike and drink them in 3. quarters of a pinte of sod wine Item the rootes of Radish or of Darnell taken in Wine is very effectuall Celsus But the excellentest Antidote of all other is that which Scaliger describeth whom for his singular learning and deep conceit I may tearme Nostris orbis seculi ornamentum The forme whereof in this place I will prescribe you Take of the true and round Aristolochia of the best Mithredate of either one ounce Terra Sigillata halfe an ounce of those Flyes which are found to liue in the flower of the Herb called Napellus in number 18. iuyce of Citrons so much as is sufficient mixe them altogether For against this mischiefe of Spyders oragainst any other shrewd turnes grieuances or bytings of any Serpents whatsoeuer Are as yet neuer found out so effectuall a remedy or so notable an alexipharmacall Thus far Scaliger The iuyce of Apples being drunke and Endiue are the propper Bezoar against the venom of a Phalangie Petrus de Albano Thus much of inward now wil I proceed to generall outward medicaments and applications Fiue Spiders putrified in common Oyle applyed outwardly to the affected place are very good Ashes made of the dung of draught beasts tempered with vineger and vsed as an ointment or instead of vineger water and vineger boyled together and applyed as before are proued to be singuler Take of vineger 3. pints and a halfe Sulphur viuum two ounces mix them and foment bath or soke the wounded part with a Spunge dipped in the liquor or if the paine be a little asswaged with the fomentation then wash the place with a good quantity of Sea-water Some hold opinion that Achates which is a precious stone vvherein are represented diuers forms whereof some haue the nine masts some of Venus c. will heale all bitings of Phalangies and for this cause being brought out of India it is held at a very deere rate in this Country Pliny Ashes made of fig-tree-leaues adding to them some Salt and wine The roots of the wilde Panax being beaten to powder Aristolochie Barly Meale kneaded together and vvrought vp with vineger Water with hony and salt applyed outwardly for a fomentation The decoction of the herb Balme or the leaues of it being brought to the forme of a Pultes and applyed but we must not forget to vse warme bathes and sometimes to the place agrieued Pliny Cut the vaines that appeare vnder the tongue rubbing and chafing the swelled places with Salt and good store of Vineger then cause the patient to sweat carefully warily for feare of cold Vigetius Theophrastus saith that practitiones do highly commend the root of Panax Chironia Moysten the wound with Oile Garlike bruised Knot-grasse or Barly-meale and Bay-leaues with wine or with the dregs or Lees of wine or wilde Rue applyed in manner of a Cataplasme to the wounded place Nonus Take of Sulphur Vivum Galbanum of each alike 4. drams and a halfe of Euforbium halfe a dram Hasell-nuts excorticated two drams dissolue them and with wine make towardes the curation Flyes beaten to powder and applyed vpon the place affected The fish called a Barble cureth the bitings of any venomous Spider if being raw it be slit asunder in the middest and so applyed as Galen saith Annoint the whole body with a liquid Cerote and foment the place affected with Oyle wherein Trifolium Bituminosum hath beene infused or bath it often with Spongies soked in warme Vineger then prepare make ready cataplasmes of these Ingredients following that is of Knot-grasse Scala Caeli called Salomons-seale Leekes Cheesill or Branne decocted in Vineger Barley-Meale and Bay-berries and the leaues boyled in Wine and Hony Some doe also make Cataplasmes of Rue or herb-grace Goats dung tempered with wine Cypres Margerom and wilde Rue with Vineger An emplaster of Asclepiades Take of the seedes of wilde Rue and Rocket-seeds Stauesackre Rosemary-seedes Agnus-Castus Apples and Nuts or in stead of these two of the leaues of the Cipres-tree of each alike beate and temper them altogether with vineger hony Aetius Apply the decoction of Lupines vpon the affected place the eschar being first remoued then annoint it in the warme Sun-shine or against the fire with the fat of a Goose tempered with wilde Rue and Oyle or else of the pap of Barly and the broth of Lupines make a cataplasme Oribasius The Filberd-Nut that groweth in India healeth the bytings of the Phalangies Auicenna Goates dung dissolued with other conuenient Cataplasmes and Oyle of Worme-wood and the iuyce of Figs helpeth much Kiranides Apply oftentimes a cold peece of iron to the place Petrus de Albano Foment the place very often with the iuyce of the Herbe Plantine Hildegardis The artificiall Oyle of Balme is singular Euonimus A fomentation made of the leaues and stalkes of Imperatoria called Master-wort and continued a good space or else Veruaine bruised and stamped the iuyce being taken in wine and
skill of Embroiderie and spynning grew therein so excellent and tooke such a pride in the same for you must remember she was a woman that shee stiâ—ly denied facing it out in brauing-wise that Minerua was neuer the Instructer and so arrogant presumpteous shee was as that she feared not to challenge her Mistresse-Goddesse to worke with her if shee durst for her eares enter the lyst in all manner of Embroidery Tapestry-workes and the like At which Mistres Minerua beeing netled and taking the matter in dudgeon thus to be prouoked and withall reprehending the mayde very sharply for her saucines in a pelting chafe she brake all to peeces the wenches imagery worke that was so curiously wouen so full of varietie with her shittle The Mayde heereat beeing sore greeued halfe in despayre not knowing what to doe yeelding to passion would needes hang herselfe But Minerua taking compassion vppon her would not haue her die forth-with but transformed her into a Spyder hanging by a fine small thred or line Atque ita viue quidem pende tamen improba dixit Lexque eadem paenae ne sis secura futuri Dicta tuo generi serisque nepotibus esto In English thus So liue indeede yet hang thou woman vile She said and let the selfe-same law of punishment Be vnto thee and all thy of spring while All kindred lasts shall not futures thee content If any be desirous to know more of this fable let him read the famous Poet Ouid who hath excellently written thereof in the sixth booke of his Metamorphosis although some what differing from this of Pliny The Graecians besides doe write as Coelius Rodoginus in his 7. booke Lectionum Antiq chap. 16. affirmeth how that there was in the Country of Attica a certaine man called Phalanx who had also a Sister named Arachne when Phalanx had perfectly learned of Minerua the Military-Science and all other warlike exercises and offices that belong to a Souldiour and that shee had like wise instructed his Sister Arachne in weauing spynning and needle-worke they concluded a match betweene themselues but the Goddesse beeing much displeased with such a shamefull and incestious marriage marring their fashion shee disfigured them both into the number oc creeping creatures laying t' his as a iust punishment vpon them to be destroyed of their owne young ones But it is at euery ma ns choyse to interprete these to be eyther fables and Canterburie-tales or true historicall narrations yet most are of this mind that Arachne first inuented spynning of lynnen weauing and working with the needle which this mayde of Lydia first learned from the Spyders taking her first samplers and patterns from them for imitation which no man ought to thinke to be strange sith the craft of playstering or working things in earth and the Art of curing the eyes was first taken from the Swallowes The Eagles haue taught vs Architecture and men first receiued the light of Phlebotomie or letting of blood from the Hippopotamus which is a Beast liuing in the Riuer of Nilus hauing feete like an oxe and his backe and mane like a horse with a winding tayle and tusked like a Bore The byrd of Egypt called Ibis first gaue knowledge to Phisitians how to vse the Glister yea dogges Goates Harts Storkes Swallowes and Weasells haue taught men many medicines for many diseases To beginne therfore to make an enumeration of their prayses I will declare vnto you the rich vertues and externall goods of the body fortune and mind And first to beginne with the good gyfts of their bodies If you will weigh and consider the matter and substance of a Spyders body you shall find it to be light pertaking much of fire and ayre being two of the most noble and effectall elements in operation and hauing but little earthy draggines and drossie refuse If you behold their figure they haue eyther a Sphaericall and heauenly or at least-wise an Ouall forme which is next to the Sphaericall as beeing the perfectest of all other Besides theyr substance is thinne fine glystering and subtile yea although they seeme now and then to be fatted vp with plenty of meate that they grow as bigge in bulke as a Wallnut and if the learned Cardan may be credited they growe other whiles as great as a Sparrow yet for all that if you cast your eye on them against the light hanging in their webbe she glittereth and shineth on all parts like vnto the Chrisolite which is a kind of precious stone shining with a golden colour quite thorow causing a pleasant reflexion to the eyes and piercing them with singuler delight The colour of a Spyder is some-what pale such as Ouid ascibeth to Louers and when shee hangeth aloft in her webbe with her legges wide and large spread abroade â—hâ—e perfectly and liuely expresseth the shape and proportion of a painted starre as if Nature had intended to giue and bestow on her not onely the resemblance counterfeit similitude of heauen but also the very luster of the starres themselues The skinne of a Spyder is so soft smooth exquisite pure cleane and neate that it farre surpasseth by many degrees the polished skinnes of those mayds that haue the Greene-sicknes or those young whores that are so carefull in sparing no cost to preserue their beauties And it is of such creerenes and perspicuitie that it will easilie represent the visage and phisnomie of any beholder of it much like vnto a fine glasse Further it hath fingers for all the world such as faire virgins desire to haue that is to say long round and slender beeing also endued with the most exquisite sence of touching that possibly can be imagined insomuch that it farre surmounteth any mortall man liuing and all other creatures in the world besides according to that old and common verse Nos aper auditupraecellit Araneatactu Vultur odorata Lynx visu Simiagustu Which may be englished thus To heare the Bore to touch the Spyder vs excells The Linx to see the Ape to tast the Vulture for the smells It hath also feete but yet not such a multitude as Scolopendraes haue nor yet none at all as the meanest ranke and sort of creatures nor yet sixe onely as the common sort of insects but it hath eyght a number which the meanest Sophister in Cambridge can resolue is next to the perfectest of all numbers and these feete consisting of a sesquitertiall proportion which of all Mathematicians is esteemed to be wonderfull and admirable so that although the hinder be shorter then the fore-legges yet notwithstanding they retaine a mutuall harmonie equalitie and semblable concordance Many Phylosophers haue not dared to affirme that they are blind but they themselues in this poynt are most blind For if they be depriued of their eyes and eye-sight I would faine be resolued hovv they could make choyce of such apt and conuenient places for theyr hunting trade and vvith what guide Captaine or Director they doe knit fasten and tye one
swelling of the Spleene He writeth also further that if a man catch a Spyder as she is glyding and descending downe-wards by her thred and so being crushed in the hand then applied to the nauell that the belly will be prouoked to the stoole but beeing taken as shee is ascending and applyed after the same former manner that any loosenes or fluxe is stayed and restrayned thereby The same Pliny also writeth that if a man take a Spyder and lay it vppon a fellon prouided that the sick patient may not know so much that within the space onely of three dayes that terrible and painefull griefe will be cleane taken away And besides he affirmeth that if the head and feete of a spyder be cast away and the rest of the body rubbed and bruised that it will thoroughly remedie the swelling in the fundament proceeding of inflamation If any be vexed with store of lyce and doe vse a suffumigation made onely with Spyders it will cause them all to fall and come away neither will there afterwards any moe breede in that place The fat of a Goose tempered and mixed with a Spyder and oyle of Roses together beeing vsed as an oyntment vpon the breasts preserueth them safelie as that no milke will coagulate or curdle in them after any birth Anonymus Yea that same knotty scourge of rich men the scorne of Phisitians I meane the Gowte which as some learned men hold can by no meanes be remedied yet feeleth mitigation and diminution of paine and curation also onely by the presence of a Spyder if it be taken aliue and her hinder legges cut off and afterward inclosed in a purse made of the hyde of a Stag. Moreouer we see which all other medicines can neuer doe that all they are freed for the most part both from the Gowte in the legges and hands where the spyders are most found where they are most busie in working framing their ingenious deuised webs Doubtlesse this is a rare miracle of nature a wonderfull vertue that is in this contemptible little creature or rather esteemed to be so vile abiect and of no estimation Rich men were happy indeede if they knew how to make vse of their owne good Antonius Pius was wont to say that the sharpe words wittie sayings quirkes subtilties of Sophisters were like vnto Spyders webbes that containe in them much cunning Art and artificiall conceit but had little other good besides If any one be newly dangerously wounded and that the miserable partie feareth a bleeding to death what is a more noble medicine or more ready at hand then a thicke Spyders webbe to bynde hard vpon the wound to stay the inordinate effusion of blood Questionlesse if we were as diligent and greedy to search out the true properties and vertues of our owne domesticall remedies which we would buy of others so deerely we would not enforce our selues with such eager pursute after those of forraine Countries as though things fetcht farre off were better then our owne neere at hand or as though nothing were good wholesome vnlesse it came frō Egypt Arabia or India Surely vnlesse there were some wild worme in our brames or that we were bewitched and possessed with some Furie we would not so farre be in loue with forraine wares or be so much besotted as to seeke for greedy new phisicke and phisicall meanes considering that one poore Spyders webbe will doe more good for the stanching of blood the curation of vlcers the hindering of sanies slyme or slough to grow in any sore to abate and quench inflamations to conglutinate and consolidate wounds more then a cart-loade of Bole fetcht out of Armenia Sorcocolla Sandaracha or that earth vvhich is so much nobilitated by the impresse of a seale and therefore called Terra Sigillata the clay of Samos the durt of Germany or the loame of Lemnos For a cobwebbe adstringeth refrigerateth soldereth ioyneth and closeth vppe wounds not suffering any rotten or filthy matter to remaine long in them And in regard of these excellent vertues and qualities it quickly cureth bleedings at the nose the Haemorrhoides and other bloodie-fluxes whether of the opening of the mouthes of the veines their opertions breakings or any other bloody euacuation that too much aboundeth beeing either giuen by it selfe alone in some Wine eyther inwardlie or outwardly or commixed with the Blood-stone Crocus Martis and other the like remedies fit for the same intentions The cobwebbe is also an ingredient into an vnguent which is made by Phisitians against the disease called Serpego and beeing bound to the swellings of the fundament if there be inflamation ioyned withall it consumeth them without any paine as Marcellus Empiricus testifieth It likewise cureth the watering or dropping of the eyes as Pliny reporteth and beeing applyed with oyle it consolidateth the wounds of the ioynts and some for the same intent vse the ashes of cobwebbes with fine Meale and White-vvine mixed together Some Surgeons there be that cure Warts in this manner They take a Spyders-web roling the same vppe on a round heape like a ball and laying it vppon the wart they then set fire on it and so burne it to ashes and by this way and order the vvarts are eradicated that they neuer after grow againe Marcellus Empiricus taketh Spyders webbes that are found in the Cypresse-tree mixing them with other conuenient remedies so giuing them to a podagricall person for the asswaging of his paine Against the paine of a hollovv tooth Gallen in his first booke De Compos medicum secundum loca much commendeth by the testimony of Archigenes the egges of Spyders beeing tempered and mixed with Oleum Nardinum and so a little of it beeing put into the tooth In like sort Kiramides giueth Spyders egges for the curation of a Tertian-Ague Where-vpon we conclude with Gallen in his booke to Piso that Nature as yet neuer brought foorth any thing so vile meane and contemptible in outward shew but that it hath manifold and most excellent necessary vses if we would shew a greater diligence and not be so squeamish as to refuse those wholesome medicines which are easie to be had and without great charges and trauaile acquired I will adde therefore this one note before I end this discourse that Apes Marmosets or Monkies the Serpents called Lizards the Stellion which is likewise a venomous beast like vnto a Lizard hauing spots in his necke like vnto starres Waspes and the little beast called Ichneumon Swallowes Sparrowes the little Titmouse and Hedge-sparrowes doe often feede full sauourlie vppon Spyders Besides if the Nightingale the Prince of all singing-byrds doe eate any Spyders shee is cleane freed and healed of all diseases vvhatsoeuer In the dayes of Alexander the Great there dwelled in the Cittie of Alexandria a certaine young mayde which from her youth vp was fed and nourished onely with eating of Spyders and for the same cause the King was premonished not to come neere
King of India sent many great Vipers for a gyft vnto Augustus it is profitable to expresse the meanes whereby Vipers are safely taken without dooing any harme Wherefore Aristotle writeth that they are very much desirous of Wine and for that cause the Country-people set little vessels of vvine in the hedges and haunts of Vipers where-vnto the vipers comming easily drinke thēselues tame and so the Hunters come and kill them or else so take them as they are without danger of harme Pliny reporteth that in auncient time the Marsians in Lybia did hunt vipers and neuer receiued harme of them for by a secrete innate vertue all vipers serpents are afraid of their bodies as we haue already shewed in other places Yet Gallen in his discourse to Piso writeth that the Marsians in his time had no such vertue in them as hee had often tryed saue onely that they vsed a deceit or slight to beguile the people which vvas in this manner following Long after the vsuall time of hunting Vipers they vse to goe abroade to take them when there is no courage nor scant any venome left in them for the Vipers are then easily taken if they can be found and them so taken they accustome to their owne bodies by giuing them such meates as doth euacuate all their poyson or at the least-wise doth so stop vp their teeth as it maketh the harme very small and so the simple people beeing ignorant of this fraude and seeing them apparantly carrying vipers about them did ignorantly attribute a vertue to their natures which in truth did not belong vnto them In like manner there were as hath already in another place beene said certaine Iuglers in Italy which did boast themselues to be of the linage of Saint Paule who did so deceitfully carrie themselues that in the presence and sight of many people they suffered Vipers to bite them without any manner of harme Others againe when they had taken a Viper did drowne her head in mans spettle by vertue whereof the viper beganne to grow tame and meeke Besides this they made a certaine oyntment which they set foorth to sale affirming it to haue a vertue against the byting of Vipers and all other Serpents which oyntment was made in this manner Out of the oyle of the seede of Wild-radish of the rootes of Dragons the iuyce of Daffadill the braine of a Hare leaues of Sage sprigges of Bay and a few such other things whereby they deceiued the people and got much money and therefore to conclude I cannot find any more excellent way for the taking and destroying of vipers then that which is already expressed in the generall discourse of Serpents Wee doe reade that in Egypt they eate Vipers diuers other Serpents with no more difficultie then they would doe Eeles so doe many people both in the Easterne and weasterne parts of the New-found-Lands And the very selfe-same thing is reported of the Inhabitants of the Mountaine Athos the which meate they prepare and dresse on this manner First they cut off their heads and also their tayles then they bowell them and salt them after which they seeth them or bake them as a man would seeth or bake Eecles but some-times they hang them vppe and dry them and then when they take them downe againe they eate them with Oyle Salt Annyseedes Leckes and vvater with some such other obseruations Whose dyet of eating vipers I doe much pittie if the want of other foode constraine them there-vnto but if it arise from the insatiable and greedy intemperancie of their owne appetites I iudge them eager of dainties which aduenture for it at such a market of poyson Now it followeth that wee proceede to the handling of that part of the Vipers storie which concerneth the venome or poyson that is in it which must beginne at the consideration of themperament of this Serpent It is some question among the learned vvhether a viper be hot or cold and for aunswere heereof it is said that it is of cold constitution because it lyeth hid and almost dead in the Winter-time wherein a man may carry them in his hands without all hurt or danger vnto this opinion for this selfe same reason agreeth Gallen Mercuriall maketh a treble diuersitie of constitution among Serpents whereof the first sort are those which with their wound doe infuse a mortall poyson that killeth instantly and without delay a second sort are those that kill but more leysurelie without any such speede and the third are those whose poison is more slow in operation then is the second among which he assigneth the Viper But although by this slownes of operation hee would inforce the coldnes of the poyson yet it is alwaies to be considered that the difference of vipers and of their venome ariseth from the place and Region in which they are bredde and also from the time of the yeere wherein they byte wound so that except they fortune to hurt any one during the time of the Caniculer dayes in which season their poyson is hotest and themselues most full of spyrit the same it but weake and full of deadnes And againe it is to be considered whether the viper harme in her moode and furie for anger doth thrust it foorth more fully and causeth the same to worke more deadly Likewise the Region wherein they liue begetteth a more liuely working spirit in the Serpent and therefore before all other the Vipers of Numidia are preferred because of the heate of that Country Also their meate causeth in them a difference of poyson for those that liue in the woods and eate Toades are not so vigorous or venomous but those that liue in the mountaines and eate the rootes of certaine herbes are more poysonfull and deadly And therefore Cardan relateth a story which he saith was told him by a Phaenecian that a Mountaine-Viper chased a man so hardly that he was forced to take a tree vnto the which when the Viper was come and could not climbe vppe to vtter her malice vppon the man she emptied the same vppon the Tree and by and by after the man in the tree dyed by the sauour and secret operation of the same But of the Arabian Vipers which haunt the Baulsom-trees I haue read that if at any time they byte they onely make a wound like the pricks of yron voyde of poyson because while they sucke in the iuyce of that tree the acerbitie and strength of the venom is abated About the Mountaine Helycon in Greece the poyson also of Vipers is infirme and not strong so that the cure thereof is also ready and easie But yet for the nature of Vipers poyson I can say no more thē Wolphius hath said that it is of it selfe and in it selfe considered hot and his reason is because hee saw a combat in a glasse betwixt a Viper and a Scorpion and they both perished one by the others poyson Now he saith that it is granted
bodie If you take the dryed skinne and lay it vppon the tooth on the inner side it will mittigate the paine thereof specially if it proceede from any hote cause In like sort the same skinne washed with spettle and with a little peece of the taile laid vppon any Impostume or Noli me tangere it will tame and master the paine causing it to putrefie more easilie and gentlie and scarcely leauing behind any cicatrise or skarre And if a woman beeing in extremitie of paine in child-birth do but tye or bind a peece of it on her belly it will cause the birth immediatly to come away So the skinne beeing boyled and eaten performeth the same effects that the Serpent doth The blood of a Serpent is more precious then Balsamum and if you annoynt your lips with a little of it they will looke passing redde and if the face be annoynted there-with it will receiue no spot or fleck but causeth it to haue an orient and beautifull hue It represseth all scabbinesse of the body stinking in the teeth and gummes if they be there-with annointed The fat of a serpent speedily helpeth all rednes spots other infirmities of the eyes and beeing annoynted vpon the eye-liddes it cleereth the eyes exceedingly Item put them into a glassed spot and fill the same with Butter in the Month of May then lute it well with paste that is Meale well kneaded so that nothing may euaporate then sette the pot on the fire and let it boyle wel-nigh halfe a day after this is done straine the Butter through a cloth and the remainder beate in a morter and straine it againe and mixe them together then put them into water to coole so reserue it in siluer or golden boxes that which is not cuaporated for the older the better it is and so much the better it will be if you can keepe it fortie yeeres Let the sicke patient who is troubled eyther with the Goute or the Palfie but annoynt himselfe often against the fire with this vnguent and without doubt he shall be freed especially if it be the Goute All these prescriptions and directions were taken from the writings of a certaine namelesse Author Hippocrates saith that a Hart or Stagge hauing eaten any Serpents the wormes in their guttes are thereby expelled And Absyrtus hath the same words that Harts by eating of a Serpent doc kill and expell wormes from their guttes Hierocles to a certaine medicine which he prepared for the Strangulion in a horse mingled the dung of a Lyzard Stèar herpetou that is as I interpret it the fat of a serpent the blood of a Doue c. Laurence Rusius saith that it is good to giue the flesh and decoction of Serpents to madde beating and striking horses And that the fatte of a Serpent c. doth cure the puffing or swellings that arise in horses backs which come by meanes of any compression or close sitting and thrusting downe Item the vnguent that droppeth from a Serpent whilst he is rosted on a spit is highlie commended for Fistuloes that are in horses hoofes Galen and Rasius doc counsell vs to cut in peeces a snake or serpent and to lay the fat there of vpon a sticke and to annoint the outward parts of the hoofe of any horse Horseleaches liue Mise the greene Lyzard being burned if they be giuen to a Hawke in her meate they do cause a speedie mutation of her feathers or wings and the same effect haue little Riuer-fishes finely beaten or stamped if they be cast vpon any meate Item the Serpent that is speckled and of diuers and sundry colours of all others hath the least poyson and in the German tongue it is called Huf peraduenture it is that which we call a snake if I say you take this serpent and boyle it with Wheate and giue the same Wheate to a Henne to feede vpon beeing mingled amongst her meate and drinke with the venim of a Serpent a Hawke beeing fedde with the flesh of such a Henne forth-with casteth her sicke feathers and is freed from any other disease if she haue any at all as Albertus saith The old skinne of an Adder or Snake that he casts off in the Spring-time if it be rubbed vpon the eyes cleereth the sight as Pliny saith And Galen biddeth vs if any be troubled with blood-shotten eyes to take the old cast-skinne of serpents being beaten with Sea-water ' to annoynt them there-withall And Cardan saith that the cast-skin of a snake if the eyes be rubbed there-with euery morning that they will neuer be very dim of sight nor yet euer haue any pinne or webbe in them Amongst compositions that are made for the eyes they vse to mixe the cast-skinne of snakes as Diocles affirmeth adding further that the old age or cast-skinne of a snake beeing boyled in vvine is an excellent helpe for paine in the eares if a little thereof be dropped into them Boyle the cast skinne of a snake with toppes of Poppy and droppe a little thereof into the cares if any be troubled vvith paine thereof and this is an excellent remedy as Galen in his third Booke De Composit medicam sec loca hath taught vs hauing himselfe learned the same from Archigenes The cast-skinne of serpents being burned in a pot or on a hot burning tyle-shard if it be mingled with oyle of Roses and so dropt into the eares is prooued to be very effectuall against all sores and sicknesses of the eares but especially against the stinking sauour of them or if they be puralent or full of matter then to be mixt with vineger Some vse to mingle Bulls gall there-with and the iuyce of the flesh of Torteises beeing boyled Marcellus saith that if you take the gall of a Calfe with a like quantitie of Vineger and mixe them with the cast-skinne of a serpent if then you dippe a little vvooll into this medicine and put it into the eare that it helpeth very much especially if with a spunge being soked in warme-water you first foment the eare Dioscorides and Galen doe affirme that the cast-skinne of a serpent if it be boyled in Wine doth cure the tooth-ach if the pained place be washed there-with But yet in intollerable paines of the teeth this is prooued more singuler Take the cast-skinne of a Serpent and burne it then temper it with oyle till it come to the thicknes or consistence of hard Hony and couer the tooth being first scoured and clensed there-with annoynting all the neere places to the same and put some of it into the hollownes of the tooth And as Archigenes saith if you lay the cast-skinne of a snake vnto the teeth not beeing burnt they will all fall out It cureth likewise the lowsie euill called Phthiriasis And Galen prescribeth this cast-skin of snakes or serpents for a remedie against the Cholick if it be put into a brasse pot with some oyle and so burnt to powder if then it be dissolued in oyle and the
place there-with annoynted it is of great vertue And if it bee boyled in a Tinne vessell with some oyle of Roses it remedieth the the Bloody-flixe and such as be troubled with Tenesmas which is a great desire in going to stoole and yet can doe nothing Arnoldus de villa noua in his Breuiarie saith that if you take the cast-skin of a serpent Opopanax Myrrhe Galbanum Castoreum yellow Sulphur Madder Pidgeons or Hawkes doung and incorporate them with the gall of a Cow they beeing first puluerised and the fume thereof receiued through a tunnell at the lower parts it bringeth foorth either the dead or liuing birth Cardan lib. de Subtil saith that the cast-skin of a serpent burned in the full of the Moone entring into the first degree of Aries if the ashes thereof be sprinkled on the head that thereby terrible and fearefull dreames will follow And if the face be annointed or washed there-with being first layd in water that it will cause one to looke very fearefully and horribly and if it be held vnder the tongue it will make one very wise and eloquent and if it be kept vnder the soles of the feete it maketh one very gratious among Princes Magistrates and great men And another saith that this cast-off-skin beeing puluerised when the Moone is in her increase and in the first degree of Aries if the powder thereof be set on the Table in a woodden or metalline dish if any poyson be therin it will be dispersed and doe no hurt and yet the powder will remaine safe and whole and if giuen to a Leaprous-person his disease will spreade no further And if you put a little of this powder into any wound it will cure it within three dayes I haue seene fayth Galen Goates that haue eaten of the boughes and leaues of Tamariske and I haue found them without a spleene also I haue seene other Goates that haue lickt vppe serpents after they had cast their skinne and I haue prooued that after that they haue growne verie white and to haue kept their young yeeres a great while so that it was long before they waxed old Of the way to driue away Serpents Of their poison and bytings A certaine and sure way to cure those who either haue beene poysoned envenomed or bitten by them TO expell and driue farre away any venomous Creatures wee vse to make fumigations of the roote of Lyllies Harts-horne and the hornes and hoofes of such beasts as be clouen-footed likewise of Bay-leaues and berries Calamint Water-cresses and the ashes of the Pine-tree The leaues of Vitex Bitumen Castorium Melanthium Goates-hornes CardamomuÌ„ Galbanum Propolis which may be called Bee-glew the herbe called Horstrange Panax Opopanax Fleabane the shauings or scrapings of the Cipres or Ceder tree beeing steeped in oyle the Iet-stone Sagapinum the herbe called Poley Ferne and all other things that haue a strong or vehement ill sauour beeing cast on the coales for a fumigation doe with theyr vapour chase away venomous beastes For whereas all venomous creatures haue the passages or pores of theyr bodies wery straight and narrow they are very easily filled and stuffed and are quickly stopped and suffocated by such like sents and smells Aetius in his 13. Booke setteth downe an excellent fume after this manner Take of Galbanum of Sandaracha Butter and of Goates-fat of euery one a like much make them into Pills and vse them for a Fumigation Nicander in Theriacis setteth downe some for the same intentions in these verses Ceruinique graui cornu nidore fugabis Et sic cum accendens Gagatae quandoque lapillum Quem consumentis non exedit impetus ignis Multifidam filicem crepitantibus inijce flammis Aut imas viridis libanotidos accipe fibras Tantundemque acris nasturci his junge duobus Aequali capreâ— iam jactum pondere cornu Aut exicâ—ant em nares cerebrumque nigellam Interdum Sulphur faedum quandoque Bitumen Vt-suâ—pta aequali pendantur singula parte Praeterea graveolens candentibus indit a prauis Galbana et ignitum faciens vetica dolorem Dentatisque cedrum maxillis sectile lignum Omnibus invisum serpentibus effâ—at odorem In English thus By Hart-horne-fuâ—â— doe serpents slide away When stone Gagates burning's put thereto Which heate of fire doth not cleane destroy Then in t ' those flames cast many-leaued Ferne also Of greene hogs-â—…ll take the lowest by aâ—ches Of Nosewort sharpe so much 〈◊〉 to them ioyne A like proportion of Roes horne in â—aight kantches Or els Nigella drying nose and braine Or Brimstone called filâ—â—y Sulphure So all be equall in waight and parts to cure Besides Galbanum ranck layde on burning coales Or Nettles which doe cause a fierie paine And Cedar cut all burn'd d'bout serpents holes Them ouer-come and make them flie amaine The breath or vapour that issueth from Serpents is so pestilent that it killeth all young chickins as Columella saith for preuenting of this mischiefe it is good to burne Harts-horne Womens baire or Galbanum Vis et mirificos cautus perdiscere odores Accensis quibus arcetur teterrima serpens Aut Styracem vras aut atri vulturis alam Vel nepetam aut frondem rigidae stirpemque myricae In English thus If thou wouldst learne what odours for thy skill Were best to scarre the serpent fierce away Burne Styrax or blacke Vultures winged quill Or Neppe greene leaues or stock of Tamariske assay And Pliny and Sextus agreeing with him doe say that if you burne the feathers of a Vultar all Serpents will quickly avoyde the strong sent thereof There is a certaine Riuer in the countries of Media Paeonia as Aristotle testifieth wherin there is a stone found with whose fume serpents are chased away whose propertie is such that if any man cast water on it it will burne and burning if with any Fan you goe about to make it to flame it is straight-way quenched and thus beeing extinguished it sendeth forth a sauour stronger then any Brimstone And to this subscribeth Niâ—ander in these words Vel tu Threicium flamma succende lapillum Qui licet irriguis mersus tamen ardet in vndis Expressaque statim restinguitur vnctus oliua Hanc quem fluçtisoni mittant de littore Ponti Qui rude vulgus ibi vescentes carne magistri Pascendi pecoris suapost armenta sequntur In English thus Or take the Thracian stone which set on fire Will burne in water yet quenched is with oyle This cast from Pontus shore Heard-men desire The better to feede their flocks serpents foyle The povvder of a Cedar tree putteth to flight venomous Serpents as Virgil in the third of his Georgicks witnesseth Disce et odoratum stabulis accendere Cedrum Galbaneoque agitare graues nidore chelydros Which may be englished thus Learne how of Cedar fire in thy foldes to make And with Galbanums sauour put to flight the snak Things that are strewed or layd vnder vs both in our houses and in