in our Latine story that they had hornes I take them to be meer fables and no better Certes in nothing more hath Nature taken her pleasure than in this as if she had meant to delight and sport her selfe in these armes and weapons of beasts For in some she hath made them knagged and branched as in Deere both red and fallow in others plain and vniforme without tines as in the Spitters a kind of Stag which thereupon be called Subulones in Latin for that their horns be like a shoomakers * Nall blade There be againe which haue broad hornes and plaited like a mans hand with fingers standing out of them whereupon the beasts that beare them be called Platycerotes i. broad horned Roe bucks haue by nature branched heads but they are small and these do not mew and cast them yearely as the stag and bucke All the sort of rams be armed with crooked horns turning and winding with certain revolutions as if they were gantlets or whorlebats giuen them by nature to thumpe and jurre withall Buls hornes be strait and vpright ready alwaies to do a mischiefe The females of this kind to wit Cowes are horned as wel as Buls whereas in many others the males only be in that wise armed The wild Goats called Roch-goats haue their hornes turning backeward whereas in fallow Deere they bend rather forward There is a kind of Roe-buck called in Africke Addace which the Greeks haue named Strepsiceros and they haue vpright hornes but they are furrowed and wreathed round about as if they were ribbed like the backe of a lute or rather chamfered like the ridge of a land and alwaies sharp pointed with a tip Ye shall haue droues and herds of beasts namely Kine and Oxen in Phrygia which wil stir and wag their horns like eares and those in the kingdome of the Troglodites cary their hornes pendant directly to the ground which is the cause that as they eat they are forced to beare their necks awry and looke atone side Some haue but one horne apiece and that either in the midst of the forehead as the Oryx or else in the nose and muffle as the Rhinoceros wherof we haue written before In sum there be that haue strong and hard horns to butt with others to strike and gore withall some crooking forward others bending backward In some they are good only to tosse and fling and that in diuers manners For there be of them that giue back others turn one against another and some euen ioyne and meet together but all run vp sharp pointed in the end A kind of beasts there is that vse their horns in stead of hands to scratch their body when it itches and others serue the turn to sound the way before them as certain shel-Snails and Winkles And these horns giuen for this purpose are some of them of a fleshy substance as those of the serpents called Cerastâ—… and otherwhiles one alone without a fellow As for the Periwinckles and Snailes a foresaid they are neuer without twain apiece and at this passe they haue them to put out and draw in as they list In Buffles horns the barbarous people of the North parts vse to drinke and ye shall haue the hornes of one Buffles head to hold full two measures called Vrnae which is about 8 gallons In some countries men head their speares and jauelins with horne With vs in Italy they be cut into thin plates and serue for lanterns and surely they are so transparent and cleare that they make the candle within inclosed to cast the greater light and farther off Nay they are good for many other toies of delight and pleasure insomuch as some paint and die them with sundry colours others vernish and anneile them and ye shal haue men to make thereof their fine inlaid works in Marquetrie of diuers colours called thereupon Cerostrata All horns in manner be hollow saue that as they grow toward the pointed tip they be solid and massie onely Deers both red and fallow are sound and entire throughout and euery yere they fal off Husbandmen in the countrey when they see their Oxe hoofes surbatted and worne too neere the quick with ouermuch trauell anoint their hornes with sweet grease that is the way to make them grow again And in very truth the hornes of these beasts are of so pliable a substance and easie to be wrought that as they grow vpon their heads euen whiles the beasts are liuing they may with boiling wax be bended and turned euery way as a man will yea and if they be cut when they break new forth out of the skin they may be easily writhed to grow seueraly in sundry parts so as euery head may seem to haue foure hornes For the most part the hornes of Cowes are more tender and thinner than the other like as we see it is in the females of smaller beasts Ewes haue none at all ne yet Hinds and Does no more than the beasts that haue feet clouen diuided into many toes or those that be whole hoofed except the Indian asse who is armed with one horne and no more Beasts clouen footed in twaine haue likewise two hornes but none at all haue they which are toothed in the vpper mandible They that make this reason because the matter of their teeth runs al into the horn and so contrariwise are deceiued and soon conuinced by this That Hinds Does are toothed no more than Stags and Bucks and yet are not horned In other beasts the hornes grow to the very bone of the head in Deere only they come out of the skin and are graffed no deeper Fishes of all liuing creatures haue the biggest heads for the proportion of their bodies haply because they might the better diue vnder water and sink to the bottom No kind of Oisters haue any head at all no more than Spunges or any other in manner which want al their sences but only feeling Some haue heads indeed but within their body and not diuided apart from it as Crabs and Creifishes Mankind of all liuing creatures hath most haire on the head euen men as much as women as we may see in those countries where they neuer cut their haire but let it grow And namely in Sauoy Dauphine and Languedoc about the Alps where men and women both weare long haire and thereupon that part of France is called Comata And yet this is not so general but that the nature of some land and soile may make some alteration and varietie For the Myconians naturally haue no haire at all like as the Caunians be all subiect to the disease of hard and swelling spleens euen from their mothers womb Some reasonlesse creatures likewise are by nature bald as Ostriches and certain water Rauens which of the Greeks are named thereupon Phalacro-coraces Seldom do women shed their haire clean and become bald but neuer was any guelded man knowne to be bald nor any others that be pure
virgins and haue not sacrificed vnto Venus The haire growing beneath the ventricles of the brain vnder the crown of the head like as also about the temples and eares falls not off quite Man alone of all creatures groweth to be bald I speake not of those that are so by nature Men women and horses wax gray haired Men and women both begin at the forepart of their heads to be grislie and afterwards behind Men and women alone be double crowned Some creatures haue the bones of their skull flat plain thin and without marrow and the same vnited or ioined together by certain sutures or seams indented toothed on either side which run one into another The ruptures and cracks of the brain pan cannot be consolidated and saundred perfectly again but if the spels and pieces be gently taken out and but smal there is no danger of death for in their place there will grow a certain callous cicatrice or fleshie substance that will supply in some sort that defect Bears of all others haue the tendrest suls and Parrats the hardest as we haue said before in place conuenient Moreouer all liuing creatures that haue bloud haue likewise brains yea those in the sea which we call Soft-fishes although they haue no bloud at all as namely the Pour-cuttles or Polypes But man for his bignes and proportion hath most braine of all other and the same is the moistest coldest part he hath within his body Infolded it is within two tunicles or kels both aboue and beneath whereof if the one be pierced and wounded to wit Piamater there is no way but present death Also men commonly haue more braines than women And both of them haue neither bloud nor veines therein as for that which is in other creatures it wanteth all kind of fat The learned Anatomists who haue searched diligently into the nature of things do teach vs a difference between the brain marrow of bones for brains in the boyling and seething wax hard In the midst of the braine of all creatures there be certaine little bones Man alone in his infancie hath his brain to pant and beat and fully settled it is not nor confirmed before that he begins to speak Of all parts necessary for life it is placed highest and next vnto the cope of head and heauen both without flesh without bloud without filth ordure And in truth it is the fort and castle of all the sences vnto it all the veines from the heart do tend in it they all do likewise end It is the very highest keep watch-tower and sentinell of the mind it is the helme and rudder of intelligence and vnderstanding Moreouer in all creatures it lieth forward in the front of the head and good reason because all our sences bend that way just before our faces From our braine comes sleepe from thence proceedeth our nappes our nods our reeling and staggering And looke what creature soeuer wanteth braine the same sleepeth not Stags by report haue within their heads twentie little wormes to wit in the concauity vnder their tongue and about that joincture where the head is graffed to the chin bone Man alone hath not the power to shake his eares Of flaggie long and hanging eares came the syrnames first of the Flacci families houses in Rome There is no one part of the bodie costeth our dames more than this by reason of their precious stones and pendant pearls thereat In the East countries men also as wel as women think it a great grace and brauery to weare earings of gold As touching their proportion some creatures naturally haue bigger or lesser than others Deere only the fallow as well as the red haue them slit and as it were diuided In Rats and mice they be hairy To conclude no creature hath ears but those that bring forth their yong aliue and none of them are without saue onely Seales Dolphins Vipers and such fishes as were called Cartilagineous and gristly And these all in stead of ears haue certaine holes oâ—… conduits except the foresaid gristly fishes the Dolphins and yet manifest it is that they do heare wel enough For delighted they be with musick and vpon some great noise and sudden crack they are astonished and then easily taken But maruel it is how they should heare as they do neither can I comprehend the reason and means thereof no more than I am able to shew how they do smell for no Organs and Instruments haue they thereof to be seene yet there is not an hound vpon the land sents better nor hath a finer nose than they Of all fouls the Like-owle and the Otus alone haue feathers like eares the rest haue only holes to heare by And after the same manner skaled fishes and serpents In Horses Mules and Asses and all such as serue either pack or saddle the ears are tokens of their courage more or lesse and will shew what stomack is within them If they be tired and weary they hang down flaggie be they afraid you shall perceiue them to wag too and fro in heat of fury they stand pricking vp in sicknes they lie downe Man only of all creatures hath a Face and Visage the rest haue either muzles and snouts or else bils and beakes Other creatures haue Foreheads also as well as men but in mans alone we may see reade sorrow heauinesse mirth and joy clemencie and mildnesse cruelty and seuerity and in one word guesse by it whether one be of a good nature or no In the ascent or rising of the forehead man hath Eie-brows set like to the eaues of an house which he can moue as he list either both at once or one after another and in them is shewed part of the mind within By them we denie by them wee grant These shew most of all others pride and arrogancie Wel may it be that pride doth appeare and settle in some other part yet here is the seat place of residence True it is that in the heart it beginnes but hither it mounteth and ascendeth here it resteth and remaineth No part can it find in the whole body more eminent and hauty and withall more steepe than the browes wherein it might rule and raigne alone without controlment Next vnder the browes is the Eie the most precious member of the whole body which by the vse of light makes difference between life and death Yet hath not Nature giuen eies to all creatures Oisters haue none and for some other shel-fishes it is hard to say whether they haue any or none As for Scallops if a man stir his fingers against them as they lie gaping open they wil shut as if they saw And the shel-fishes called Solenes giue backe if any edge-toole come neere vnto them Of foure-footed creatures Moldwarpes see not at all a certaine shew and forme they haue of eies to be seen if a man take off the
midst of the palm of that hand which gaue the stroke the party immediatly that was smitten shall be eased from pain and take no harm thereby And verily we find this to be so by experiments oftentimes made vpon the bodies of fourfooted beasts for let them be swaied in the back or hipped by some stripe giuen them with stone or cudgel do no more then but spit into that hand which did the deed streightwaies they will goe vpright again vpon all foure Contrariwise some there be who before they either strike or discharge any thing from them against another after the same manner first spit into the bal of their hands and so they make account to do a greater displeasure to hurt more dangerously But this we may assure our selues that there is not a better thing in the world for to kil tettars ringworms the foule leprie than to rub and wet them continually with our owne fasting spittle likewise to annoint therewith euery morning our eies keepeth them from being bleared also cankerous sores are cured with the root of Sowbread which we call the earth-apple if the same be wrought into a salue with our fasting spittle Moreouer if a man haue a cricke and ach in the nape of his neck let him take the spittle of a man that is fasting some in his right hand and there with anoint the ham of his right leg and the rest with his left and do the like to the left leg and thereupon hee shall find ease If an earwig or such like vermin be gotten into the eare make no more ado but spit into the same and it will come forth anon Among countercharms preseruatiues against sorcerie these be reckoned namely that a man spit vpon his own vrine as soon as he hath deliuered it out of his body likewise to spit into the shooe that serueth his right foot before he put it on in a morning also whensoeuer he goeth ouer or passe by a place where sometime he was in danger to remember that he spit vpon it Marcion of Smyrna who wrote a Treatise of the vertues and effects of simples reporteth that the Scolopendres of the sea will burst in sunder if one spit vpon them and so will hedge toads and other venomous frogs Ophilius writeth that spittle wil do the like by serpents if one spit into their mouths as they gape As for the learned Salpe shee saith that if one perceiue any member or part of the body be asleep and benummed there is not a better thing to recouer the sence thereof than to spit into the bosome or to touch the vpper eielids with fasting spittle Now if we beleeue these things to be true we may as well giue credit to all that which followeth Wee see it is an ordinary thing that if a stranger come in place where a babe lieth in the cradle or look vpon the said infant whiles it is asleep the nource vseth to spit thrice although I am not ignorant that there is a religious opinion of this sillable Mu that it is able to defend such yong sucklings as also of the foolish puppet Fascinus both which are of power to put back any witchcraft from them and returne the mischiefe vpon the eie-biting witch And since I am light vpon this name I must let you vnderstand that this Fascinus is holden to be a god forsooth the gardian keeper not of infants only but of great captains and braue generals of the field who hath diuine seruice done to him at Rome among other gods and that by the vestall Nuns for the manner was to hang this ridiculous puppet vnder the chariots of noble victorers riding in triumph not onely to defend them by a medicinable power against the venome of enuious and spightfull tongues but also to returne all enuie vpon them bid as it were to take it among them the like vertue is in the tongue beseeching fortune to bee propitious and fauorable vnto them Fortune I say who ordinarily commeth after to whip and punish them as the scourge and tormentresse of glory and honour Ouer and besides the tooth of a man especially when he is mad is reckoned to be as dangerous and pernicious a biting as any other The excrement found in mans ears called ear wax is thought in this case to be soueraigne and let no man maruell thereof considering how it will heale the sting of Scorpions and serpents also if it be applied to the place presently but it is the better and more effectuall if it be taken out of the Patients own ears who is thus wounded and in that sort it healeth also the whitflaws and impostumations that breed about the naile roots Moreouer take a mans or womans tooth and stamp it into pouder it is thought good for the sting of a serpent The haire of yong boy-children which is first clipped off is held to be a singular remedy for to assuage the painful fits of the gout if the same be tied fast about the foot that is grieued generally their haire so long as they be vnder 14 yeres of age easeth the said anguish if it be applied vnto the place Likewise the hair of a mans head cureth the biting of a mad dog if it be laid to the place with vineger it healeth also the wounds in the head applied with oile or wine But if it were plucked from his head whiles he hangeth vpon the gallows then is it soueraign for the quartan ague but we may chuse whether we will beleeue it or no. Certainly the haire of the head burnt to ashes is known to be very good for a cancerous vlcer If a woman take the first tooth that a yong child cast set it in a bracelet and so weare it continually about her wrest it will preserue her from the pains grieuances of her matrice and naturall parts Tie the great Toe and that which is next vnto it together you shall see how it will allay any risings tumors in the share Bind gently the two middle fingers of the right hand with a linnen thred marke of what force this remedy is to represse the rheum falling into the eies and how it wil keep them from being bleared If all be true that is commonly said the stone that one hath voided thrust out of the body easeth all others that be pained with the stone if the same be kept fast tied to the share also it doth mitigat the griefe of the liuer and procureth speedy deliuerance to women in trauel with child Granius affirmed moreouer that in all these cases it would do the better if one were cut for it that it were taken forth of the bladder by way of incision If a woman be neere her time and looks euery day to fal to labour cry out let the man come by whom she is with child and after he hath vngirt himselfe gird her about the middle with his own girdle and vnloose the
eie and darkneth the sight thereof They will make vs beleeue that the Hyaenes teeth are good for the tooth-ach if the pained teeth be but touched therwith or if the said teeth be arranged in order and so applied fast vnto the patients teeth as they may fit euery tooth in his head The shoulders also of the Hyaene are proper to ease the paines that lie in our shoulders and arms both so they be set likewise orderly and hanged close to the grieued parts The teeth of the said Hyaene plucked out of the left side of the chaw and bound vp sure within a piece of a sheep or goats skin is right soueraigne to be worn in manner of ascutcheon or stomacher for to ease the intollerable paines of the stomacke A dish of meat made of their lungs and eaten is soueraigne for the flux proceeding from a feeble stomack But if the same be burnt and reduced into ashes and so brought into the form of a liniment with oile and applied accordingly it comforteth the stomack mightily The pith or marrow taken out of the backe-bone along and incorporat with old oile and gall is passing good for the nerues The liuer of the Hyaene driueth away Quartan agues in case the patient take three bits thereof one after another before the accesse Take the ashes of the Hyaenes ridge bone the tongue and right foot of a Seale put thereto a Buls gall seeth them all together and make a cataplasme thereof spreading the same vpon a piece of a Hyaenes skin and apply it accordingly you shall see how it will ease the pain of the gout The very gal likewise of this beast mixed with the pouder of the stone Asius is commended by them for to cure the said malady They that are subiect to trembling and to the cramp such also as be giuen to leap out of their beds or are troubled with the beating and panting of the heart ought to take and boile the heart of the Hyaene and eat one part therof and with the other being burnt to ashes and with the brains of the said Hyaene together reduced into a liniment to annoint the grieued part This composition likewise serueth to take away the hairs of any place if it be annointed either with it alone or els with the gall in case one would not haue them euer to come vp againe they ought to be plucked vp before and then the place to be annointed Thus they vse to rid away the haires of the eie-lids that be troublesome In like manner for the pains of the loins the flesh about the Hyaenes loines is prescribed to be eaten and therwith oile together and the place also is to be rubbed well and besmeared They say moreouer that if a woman which is barren eat the eie of a Hyaene with Liquorice and Dill she shall proue fruitful and so neare they go as to promise she shal conceiue within three daies after And by their report whosoeuer are haunted with sprites in the night season and be affrighted with such bugbears let them but take one of the master teeth of the Hyaene weare it about them tied by a linnen thred they shall be freed from all such fantastical illusions these Magitians also giue direction to those that be out of their wits and gon besides themselues to haue a persume made with the smoke of those teeth and to weare one of them hanging before the brest with the fat growing about the kidnies or els with the liuer or the skin If a woman be with child and would gladly go out her full time let her take a peece of the white flesh of this beast and 7 haires neither more nor lesse together with a stags pizzle bind them all fast within the skin of a Buck or Doe and so weare them hanging about her necke just against her breast she shall not slip an vntimely fruit Furthermore they promise in the behalfe of this beast that if a man or woman do eat the genitall member of a Hyaene according to their sex they shall be prouoked to fleshly lust how cold soeuer the man were before and could not abide to imbrace a woman Ouer and besides if the said pizzle and shap of this beast be kept in any house together with a joint of the ridge bone skin al as it groweth too the whole family shal agree together well and liue peaceably now this ioint or knot abouesaid they call Atlantion and it is the very first spondyle of them all The same also they make no small reckoning of but hold it for a speciall remedy for the falling sicknesse Fry the grease or fat of an Hyaene the fume therof by report wil chase away serpents a piece of the chawbone beaten smal to pouder eaten together with anise seed doth mitigat the quiuering quaking in a cold ague fit A suffumigation made therwith draweth down womens sicknesse if we may beleeue magitians who are grown to this passe in their vanity that they auouch for certain that if an archer do bind vnto his arm a tooth of an Hyaene growing on the right side of the vpper chaw hee shall shoot point blanke and neuer misse his mark Take the palat or roufe of the mouth of this beast dried and made hot together with Aegyptian Alumne put the same into the mouth and change it three times for new stil they promise it shal correct a stinking breath and heale any vlcers or cankers in the mouth And as for those that weare vnder the soles of their feet within the shoo a Hyaens tongue there is not a dog will be so hardy as to bay or bark at them The brain of the Hyaene lying in the left side of the head easeth any deadly diseases of man or beast if the nosthrils be annointed therewith The skin of the forehead serueth as a countercharm against all witch-craft and inchauntments The flesh growing to the nape of the necke being dry and made into pouder appeaseth the pain in the loins of the backe either eaten or drunk it skils not whether For the griefe of sinews they giue order to make a suffumigation with the nerues of Hyaena which run along the shoulders and back And the haris growing about the muzzle of this beast haue an amatorious vertue with them to make a woman loue a man in case her lips be but touched therewith The liuer of the Hyaena giuen in drink cureth the cholique and stone As for the heart be it taken in meat or drink it easeth all the pains of the body the milt cureth the spleen the kell with the fat about it helpeth any inflammation of vlcers if it be applied with oile the marrow within the bones appeaseth the griefe of the backbone and sinews and finally doth recouer and refresh the wearinesse of the reins and kidnies The sinews of this beast drunk in wine with frankincense restore women to the fruitfulnesse of the wombe especially when by indirect
any golden rings in vse and request about the time of the Trojane war for sure I am that the Poet Homer maketh no mention of them at all who otherwise speaketh of the brauery and rich attire of those times And when he talketh of writing tablets sent ordinarily in stead of letters missiue when he writeth of cloths and apparels bestowed in chists and coffers when he telleth vs of vessels as well gold as siluer plate he saith they were all bound and trussed fast with some sure knot and not sealed vp with any mark of a ring as the order is in these daies Moreouer when he reporteth of any challenge made by the enemy to single fight and sheweth how the captains fel to cast their seuerall lots for the choise of them which should performe the combat this was neuer done by the signet of rings but by some other especiall marks that euery one made Also when he taketh occasion to speak of the workmanship of the gods he rehearseth buckles clasps and buttons of gold other jewels and ornaments also belonging to the attire of women as eare-rings and such like of their making which at the beginning were commonly made but he speaketh not one word of golden rings And verily in my conceit whosoeuer began first to weare these rings did it couertly by little and little putting them vpon the fingers of the left hand the better to hide them as if they were ashamed to haue them openly seene whereas if they might haue auowed the honouring of their fingers by that ornament they should haue shewed them at the first vpon the right hand Now if any man object and say that the wearing them on the right hand might be some impeachment to a soldier for vsing his offensiue weapon which he beareth in that hand I alledge again that the hinderance was more in the left hand which serueth to hold and manage the targuet or buckler defensiue I reade in the same Poet Homer aforesaid that men vsed to plait bind vp the tresses of their haire with gold and therefore I wot not well whether men or women first began the manner of such braiding the locks of the haire As touching gold laid vp for treasure little was there of it at Rome for a long time for surely when the city was taken sacked by the Gauls and that the Romans were to buy redeem their peace for a sum of mony there could not be made in all Rome aboue one thousand pound weight of gold Neither am I ignorant that in the third Consulship of Cn. Pompeius there was embezeled and stolne 2000 pound weight of gold out of the throne or shrine of Iupiter within the Capitoll which had bin there bestowed and laid vp by Camillus whereupon many men haue thought that there was 2000 pound weight of gold gathered for the ransome of the city But surely looke what ouerplus and surcrease there was aboue the foresaid weight of one thousand pound it was of the very booty and pillage of the French and taken out of the temples and chappels in that part of the city whereof they were masters Moreouer that the Gaules themselues were wont to goe to the wars brauely set out and inriched with gold it appeareth by this one example of Torquatus who slew a Gaule in combat and tooke from him a massie collar of gold Apparant it is therefore that all the gold as well that of the Gaules as that which came from the temples abouesaid amounted to the said sum and no higher to the light and knowledge whereof we come by meanes of reuelation from Augurie which gaue vs to vnderstand that Iupiter Capitolinus had rendered againe the foresaid sum in duple proportions And here by the way there commeth to my remembrance another thing not impertinent to this place considering I am to treat againe of rings when the sexton or keeper of this cell was apprehended and the question demanded What was become of the treasure aforesaid of 2000 pound which Iupiter had in custody and which now was out of the way and gone Hee tooke the stone that was in the collar of his ring which he ware crackt it between his teeth and presently dyed therupon wherby the truth was not bewraied and reuealed as touching the theefe that robbed the said treasure Wel reckon the most that can be surely there was not aboue 2000 pound weight of gold to be had in Rome when the city was lost which was in the 364 yere after the first foundation therof at what time as appeareth by the rols of the Subsidie booke there were in Rome to the number of 152580 free citizens And what was 2000 pound in proportion to such a multitude of people Three hundred and seuen yeres after when the temple of the Capitoll was on fire all the gold to be found therein as also in al the other chappels and shrines arose to thirteen thousand pound weight which C. Marius the yonger seized vpon and conueied away to the city Praeneste And all the same was recouered againe and brought backe againe by Sylla his enemy who vnder that title carried it in triumph besides seuen thousand pound weight of siluer which he raised out of the spoile of Marius And yet neuerthelesse the day before hee had caused to be carried in a pompe of triumph fifteene thousand pound weight of gold and one hundred and fifteene thousand pound of siluer which came of the rest of the pillage gotten by that victorie of his But to returne againe vnto our discourse of gold rings I doe not read that they were ordinarily vsed before the daies of Cn. Flavius the sonne of Annius This Flavius beeing otherwise a man of mean and base parentage as whose grandsire by the fathers side had bin no better than a slaue infranchised howbeit hauing a pregnant wit of his own brought vp daily vnder a good schoolmaster Appius Claudius sirnamed the Blind whom he serued as his Scribe Clerke or Secretarie he grew into inward credit and fauor with his master that for his better aduancement he opened vnto him the whole course of dayes pleadable and not pleadable exhorting and persuading him withal to publish that secret and mysterie to the view knowledge of the whole city which the said Flavius after much conference and consultation had with Appius did and effected accordingly wherupon he became so gratious with the whole body of the people who were alwaies before wont to hang euery day vpon the lips of some few of the chief principal Senators for to haue the information and knowledge of the said daies that in the end a bil promulged by him passed by generall assent of them all for to be created Aedile Curule together Q. Annicius of Praeneste who not many years before had bin a professed enemy and born armes against the Romanes without any regard had in this election either of C. Petilius or Domitius who were nobly born had
Spythamaei are reported to be called they are so for that they are but a cubit or three shaftments or spannes high that is to say three times nine inches The clime wherein they dwel is very wholsome the aire healthy and euer like to the temperature of the Spring by reason that the mountains are on the North side of them beare off all cold blasts And these prety people Homer also hath reported to be much troubled anoied by cranes The speech goeth that in the Spring time they set out all of them in battell aray mounted vpon the backe of rammes and goats armed with bowes and arrowes and so downe to the sea side they march where they make foule worke among the egges yong cranelings newly hatched which they destroy without all pitty Thus for three months this their journy and expedition continueth and then they make an end of their valiant seruice for otherwise if they should continue any longer they were neuer able to withstand the new flights of this foule grown to some strength and bignesse As for their houses and cottages made they are of clay or mud fouls feathers and birds egge shels Howbeit Aristotle writes That these Pygmaeans liue in hollow caues holes vnder the ground For all other matters he reports the same that all the rest Isogonus saith that certain Indians named Cyrni liue a hundred and fortie yeares The like he thinketh of the Aethyopian Macrobij and the Seres as also of them that dwell on the mount A thos and of these last rehearsed the reason verily is rendred to be thus because they feed of vipers flesh therefore is it that neither lice breed in their heads nor other vermine in their cloths for to hurt annoy their bodies Onesicritus affirmeth That in those parts of India where there are no shadowes to be seene the men are fiue cubits of stature and two hand breadths ouer that they liue 130 yeares and neuerage for all that and seem old but die then as if they were in their middle and settled age Crates of Pergamus nameth those Indians who liue aboue an hundred yeare Gymnetes but others there be and those not a few that call them Macrobij Ctesias saith there is a race or kinred of the Indians named Pandore inhabiting certaine vallies who liue two hundred years in their youthfull time the haire of their head is white but as they grow to age waxeth black Contrariwise others there be neer neighbours to the Macrobij who exceed not fortie years and their women beare but once in their life time And this also is auouched by Agatharcides who affirmeth moreouer that all their feeding is vpon locusts and that they are very quicke and swift of foot Clitarchus and Megasthenes both name them Mandri and thinke they haue 300 villages in their countrey Moreouer that the women bring forth children at seuen yeares of age and wax old at forty Artemidorus affirmes that in the Island Taprobana the people liue exceeding long without any malady or infirmitie of the body Duris maketh report That certaine Indians ingender with beasts of which generation are bred certaine monstrous mungrels halfe beasts and halfe men Also that the Calingian women of India conceiue with childe at fiue yeares of age and liue not aboue eight In another tract of that countrey there be certaine men with long shagged tailes most swift and light of foot and some againe that with their eares couer their whole body The Orites are neighbours to the Indians diuided onely from them by the riuer Arbis who are acquainted with no other meate but fish which they split and slice into pieces with their nailes and rost them against the Sun and then make bread thereof as Clitarchus reporteth Crates of Pergamus saith likewise that the Troglodites aboue Ethyopia be swifter than horses and that some Aethiopians are aboue eight cubites high and these are a kinde of Ethiopian Nomades called Syrbotae as he saith dwelling along the riuer Astapus toward the North pole As for the nation called Menismini they dwel from the Ocean sea twenty dayes iourney who liue of the milke of certain beasts that we cal Cynocephales hauing heads and snouts like dogs And whole heards and flocks of the females they keepe and feed killing the male of them all saue onely to serue for maintenance of the breed In the desarts of Africke ye shall meet oftentimes with Fairies appearing in the shape of men and women but they vanish soone away like fantasticall delusions See how Nature is disposed for the nones to deuise full wittily in this and such like pastimes to play with mankinde thereby not only to make her self merry but to set vs a wondring at such strange miracles And I assure you thus dayly and hourely in a manner playeth she her part that to recount euery one of her sports by themselues no man is able with all his wit and memory Let it suffice therfore to testifie and declare her power that we haue set downe those prodigious and strange workes of hers shewed in whole nations and then go forward to discourse of some particulars approued and knowne in man CHAP. III. ¶ Of prodigious and monstrous births THat women may bring forth three at one birth appeares euidently by the example of the three twins Horatij and Curiatij But to go aboue that number is reputed and commonly spoken to be monstrous and to portend some mishap but only in Egypt where women are more than ordinary fruitfull by drinking of Nilus water which is supposed to help generation Of late yeres and no longer since than in the later end of the reigne of Aug. Caesar at Ostia there was a woman a Commoners wife deliuered at one birth of two boies as many girles but this was a most prodigious token and portended no doubt the famine that ensued soone after In Peloponnesus there is sound one woman that brought forth at foure births 20 Children and the greater part of them all did well and liued Tregus saith that in Egypt it is an ordinarie thing for a woman to haue seuen at a birth It falleth out moreouer that there come into the world children of both sexes whom wee call Hermophrodites In old time they were knowne by the name of Androgyni and reputed then for prodigious wonders how soeuer now men take delight and pleasure in them Pompey the great in his Theatre which hee adorned and beautified with singular ornaments and rare deuices of antique worke as wel for the admirable subiect and argument thereof as the most curious and exquisit hand of cunning and skilfull artificers among other images and pourtracts there set vp represented one Eutiche a Woman of Tralleis who after she had in her life time borne thirty births her corps was caried out by twenty of her children to the funerall fire to be burnt according to the maner of that countrey As for Alcippe she was deliuered of an Elephant
marie that was a monstrous and prodigious token and foreshewed some heauy fortune that followed after Also in the beginning of the Marsians war there was a bondwoman brought forth a Serpent In sum there be many mis-shapen monsters come that way into the world of diuers and sundry formes Claudius Caesar writeth That in Thessalie there was borne a monster called an Hippocentaure that is halfe a man and halfe a horse but it died the very same day And verily after he came to weare the diadem we our selues saw the like monster sent vnto him out of Egypt embalmed and preserued in honey Among many strange examples appearing vpon record in Chronicles we reade of a childe in Sagunt the same yeare that it was forced and rased by Anabal which so soone as it was come forth of the mothers wombe presently returned into it againe CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of the change of one Sex to another and of Twins borne IT is no lie nor fable that females may turne to be males for we haue found it recorded that in the yearely Chronicles called Annals in the yere when Publius Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus were Consuls there was in Cassinum a maid childe vnder the very hand and tuition of her parents without suspition of being a changeling became a boy and by an Ordinance of the Soothsayers called Aruspices was confined to a certain desart Island and thither conueyed Licinius Mutianus reporteth that he himselfe saw at Argos one named Arescon who before time had to name Arescusa and a married wife but afterwards in processe of time came to haue a beard and the generall parts testifying a man and thereupon wedded a wife Likewise as he saith he saw at Smyrna a boy changed into a girle I my selfe am an eye witnesse That in Africke one L. Cossicius a citisen of Tisdrita turned from a woman to be a man vpon the very mariage day who liued at the time I wrot this booke Moreouer it is obserued that if women bring twins it is great good hap if they all liue but either the mother dieth in childbed or one of the babes if not both But if it fortune that the twinnes be of both sexes the one male the other female it is ten to one if they both escape Moreouer this is well knowne that as women age sooner than men and seeme old so they grow to their maturitie more timely than men and are apt from procreation before them Last of all when a woman goeth with childe if it bee a man childe it stirreth oftner in the wombe and lieth commonly more to the right side wheras the female moueth more seldom and beareth to the left CHAP. V. ¶ The Generation of Man the time of childe-birth from seuen moneths to eleuen testified by many notable examples out of historie ALiother creatures haue a set time limited by Nature both of going with their yong and also of bringing it forth each one according to their kinde Man only is borne all times of the yeare and there is no certaine time of his abode in the wombe after conception for one commeth into the world at the seuen moneths end another at the eighth and so to the beginning of the ninth and tenth But before the seuenth moneth there is no infant euer borne that liueth And none are borne at seuen moneths end vnlesse they were conceiued either in the very change of the moone or within a day of it vnder or ouer An ordinary thing it is in Egypt for women to go with yong eight moneths and then to be deliuered And euen in Italy also now adaies children so borne liue and do well but this is against the common receiued opinion of all old writers But there is no certainty to ground vpon in all these cases for they alter diuers waies Dame Vestilia the widow of C. Herditius wife afterward to Pomponius and last of all maried to Orfitus all right worshipful citisens and of most noble houses had 4 children by her three husbands to wit Sempronius whom she bare at the seuenth moneth Suillius Rufus at the eleuenth and seuen moneths also she went with Corbulo yet they liued all and these two Iast came both to be Consuls After all these sons she bare a daughter namely Caesonia wife to the Emperor Caius Caligula at the eighth moneths end They that are borne thus in this moueth haue much ado to liue and are in great danger for forty dayes space yea and their mothers are very sickly and subiect to fall into vntimely trauell all the fourth moneth and the eighth and if they fall in labor and come before their time they die Massurius writeth that L. Papyrius the Pretor or Lord chief Iustice when a second heire in remainder made claim and put in plea for his inheritance of the goods made an award and gaue iudgement against him in the behalfe of an Infant the right heire borne after the decease of his father vpon this That the mother came in and testified how she was deliuered of that childe within thirteene moneths after the death of the Testator the reason was because there is no definite time certaine for women to go with childe CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Conceptions and signes distinguishing the sex in great bellied women before they are deliuered IF ten dayes after a woman hath had the company of a man shee feele an extraordinary ache in the head and perceiue giddinesse in the brain as if all things went round finde a dazling and mistinesse in the eies abhorring and loathing meat and withall a turning and wambling in the stomacke it is a signe that she is conceiued and beginneth to breed if she goe with a boy better coloured will she be all the time and deliuered with more ease and by the 40 day she shall feele a kinde of motion and stirring in her wombe But contrarie it falleth out in the breeding of a girle she goeth more heauily with it and findeth the burthen heauier her legs and thighes about the share will swell a little And ninetie dayes it will be before she absolutely perceiueth any mouing of the infant But be it male or female shee breeds they put her to much paine and grieuance when their haire beginneth to bud forth and euer at the full of the Moone and euen the very infants after they are borne are most amisse and farthest out of frame about that time And verily great care must be had of a woman with child all the time she goeth therewith both in her gate and in euery thing else that can be named for if women feed vpon ouer-salt and poudered meat they wil bring forth a child without nailes and if they hold not their wind in their labor longer it will be ere they be deliuered and with more difficultie Much yawning in the time of trauell is a deadly signe like as to sneese presently vpon conception threatneth abortion or a slip CHAP. VII ¶ Of the conception and generation of
maruellous bashfull they are for if one of them be ouermatched vanquished in fight he wil neuer after abide the voice braying of the conqueror but in token of submission giueth him a turfe of earth with veruaine or grasse vpon it Vpon a kind of shamefaced modesty they neuer are seen to ingender together but perform that act in some couert secret corner They go to rut the male at 5 yeres of age the femal not before she is 10 yeres old And this they do euery third yere and they continue therein fiue daies in the yeare as they say and not aboue for vpon the sixt day they all to wash themselues ouer in the running riuer before they be thus purified return not to the heard After they haue taken one to another once they neuer change neither fall they out and fight about their femalls as other creatures do most deadly and mortally And this is not for want of loue and hot affection that way for reported it is of one Elephant that he cast a fancy and was enamoured vpon a wench in Aegypt that sold nosegaies garlands of floures And lest any man should thinke that hee had no reason thereto it was no ordinary maiden but so amiable as that Aristophanes the excellent Grammarian was wonderfully in loue with her Another there was so kind and full of loue that he fansied a youth in the army of Ptolomaeus that scarce had neuer an haire vpon his face and so entirely he loued him that what day soeuer he saw him not he would forbeare his meat and eat nothing K. Iuba likewise reporteth also of an Elephant that made court to another woman who made and sold sweet ointments and perfumes All these testified their loue and kindnes by these tokens joy they would at the sight of them and looke pleasantly vpon them make toward them they would after their rude and homely manner by all means of flatterie and especially in this that they would saue whatsoeuer people cast to them for to eat and lay the same ful kindly in their laps and bosomes But no maruel it is that they should loue who are so good of memorie For the same Iuba saith That an Elephant tooke knowledge and acquaintance of one man in his old age and after many a yere who in his youth had bin his ruler and gouernor He affirmeth also that they haue by a secret diuine instinct a certain sence of justice and righteous dealing For when K. Bacchus meant to be reuenged of 30 Elephants that he had caused to be bound vnto stakes and set other 30 to run vpon them appointing also certain men among to pricke and prouoke them thereto yet for all that could not one of them be brought for to execute this butcherie nor be ministers of anothers crueltie CHAP. VI. ¶ When Elephants were first seen in Italy THe first time that Elephants were seen in Italy was during the war of K. Pyrrhus they called them by the name of Lucae boues i. Lucane oxen because they had the first sight of them in the Lucans countrie and it was in the 472 yere after the cities foundation But in Rome it was seuen yeres after ere they were seen and then they were shewed in a triumph But in the yere 502 a number of them were seen at Rome by occasion of the victorie of L. Metellus Pâ—…ntifex ouer the Carthaginians which Elephants were taken in Sicilie For 142 of them were conueied ouer vpon planks and flat bottomes which were laied vpon ranks of great tuns and pipes set thicke one by another Verrius saith that they were caused to fight in the great cirque or shew place and were killed there with shot of darts and iauelins for want of better counsel and because they knew not well what to do with them for neither were they willing to haue them kept and nourished ne yet to be bestowed vpon any kings L. Piso saith they were brought out only into the shew place or cirque aforesaid and for to make them more contemptible were chased round about it by certaine fellowes hired thereto hauing for that purpose certain staues and perches not pointed with iron but headed with bals like foiles But what became of them afterward those Authours make no mention who were of opinion that they were not killed CHAP. VII ¶ Their fights and combats MVch renowned is the fight of one Roman with an Elephant at what time as Annibal forced those captiues whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the vtterance For the only Roman that remained vnslaine at that vn naturall conflict he would needs match with an Elephant and see the combate himseife assuring him vpon his word that if he could kil the beast he should be dismissed and sent home with life liberty So this prisoner entred into single fight with the Elephant to the great hearts griefe of the Carthaginians slew him out-right Anniball then sent him away indeed according to promise and couenant but considering better the consequence of this matter and namely that if this combat were once by him bruted abroad the beasts would be lesse regarded and their seruice in the wars not esteemed made after him certaine light horsemen to ouertake him vpon the way to cut his throat so making him sure for telling tales Their long snout or trunke which the Latins call Proboscis may be easily cut off as it appeared by experience in the wars against K. Pyrrhus Fenestella writeth That the first fight of them in Rome was exhibited in the grand Cirque during the time that Claudius Pulcher was Aedile Curule when M. Antonius and A. Posthumius were Consuls in the 650 yere after the citie of Rome was built In like maner 20 yeres after when the Luculli were Aediles Curule there was represented a combat between bulls and Elephants Also in the second Consulship of C. Pompeius at the dedication of the temple to Venus Victoresse 20 of them or as some write 17 fought in the great Cirque In which solemnitie the Gaetulians were set to launce darts and jauelins against them But among all the rest one Elephant did wonders for when his legs and feet were shot and stucke full of darts he crept vpon his knees and neuer staied til he was gotten among the companies of the said Gaetulians where he caught from them their targets and bucklers perforce flung them aloft into the aire which as they fell turned round as if they had bin trundled by art not hurled thrown with violence by the beasts in their furious anger and this made a goodly sight and did great pleasure to the beholders And as strange a thing as that was seen in another of them whose fortune was to be killed out of hand with one shot for the dart was so driuen that it entered vnder the eie and pierced as far as to the vitall parts of the head euen the ventricles of the
pearles And yet they as orient as they be waxe yellow with age become riueled and looke dead without any liuely vigor so as that commendable orient lustre so much sought for of our great lords and costly dames continueth but in their youth and decaieth with yeares When they be old they will proue thicke and grosse in the very shels and sticke fast vnto their sides so as they cannot be parted from them vnlesse they be filed asunder These haue no more but one faire face and on that side are round for the backe part is flat and plaine and hereupon such are called Tympania as one would say Bell bearles We see daily of these shells which serue as boxes to carrie sweet perfumes and precious ointments and most commendable they are for this gift that in them there be pearls of this sort naturally growing together like twins The pearle is soft and tender so long as it is in the water take it forth once and preseutly it hardeneth As touching the shell that is the mother of Pearle assoon as it perceiueth and feeleth a mans hand within it by and by she shutteth and b that means hideth and couereth her riches within for well woteth she that therefore she is sought for But let the fisher looke well to his fingers for if she catch his hand between off it goeth so trenchant and sharp an edge she carrieth that is able to cut it quite a two And verily this is a just punishment for the theefe and none more albeit she be furnished and armed with other means of reuenge For they keep for the most part about craggie rocks and are there found and if they be in the deepe accompanied lightly they are with curst Sea-dogs And yet all this will not serue to skar men away from fishing after rhem for why our dames and gentlewomen must haue their eares behanged with them there is no remedie Some say that these mother-pearles haue their kings and captaines as Bees haue that as they haue their swarmes led by a master Bee so euery troup and companie of these haue one speciall great and old one to conduct it and such commonly haue a singular dexteritie and wonderfull gift to preuent and auoid all daungers These they be that the dyvers after pearles are most carefull to come by for if they be once caught the rest scatter asunder and be soone taken vp within the nets When they be thus gotten it is said that they be put vp into earthen pots and well couered with salt and when the salt hath eaten and consumed all the flesh wiihin then certaine kernels that were within their bodies and those be the very pearles fall down and settle to the bottome of those pots There is no doubt but with much vse they will weare yea and change colour thorough negligence if they be not well looked vnto Their chief reputation consisteth in these fiue properties namely if they be orient white great round smooth and weightie Qualities I may tell you not easily to be found all in one insomuch as it is impossible to find out two perfitly sorted together in all these points And hereupon it is that our dainties and delicates here at Rome haue deuised this name for them and call them Vnions as a man would say Singular and by themselues alone For surely the Greeks haue no such tearmes for them neither know they how to cal them nor yet the Barbarians who found them first out otherwise than Margaritâ—… In the very whitenesse it selfe there is a great difference among them That which is found in the red sea is the clearer and more orient As for the Indian pearle it resembleth the skales and plates of the stone called Specularis howsoeuer otherwise it passeth all others in greatnesse The most commendation that they haue is in their colour namely if they may be truly called Exaluminati i orient and cleare as Alume They that be goodly great ones are commendable in their degree As for those that are long and pointed vpward growing downeward broader and broader like a peare or after the manner of Alabaster boxes full and round in the bottome they be called Elenchi Our dames take a great pride in a brauerie to haue these not only hang dangling at their fingers but also two or three of them together pendant at their eares And names they haue forsooth newly deuised for them when they serue their turne in this their wanton excesse and superfluitie of roiot for when they knocke one against another as they hang at their eares or fingers they call them Crotalia i. Cymbals as if they tooke delight to heare the sound of their pearles ratling together Now adayes also it is growne to this passe that meane women and poore mens wiues affect to weare them because they would be thought rich and a by-word it is amongst them That a faire pearle at a womans eare is as good in the street where she goeth as an huisher to make way for that euery one will giue such the place Nay our gentlewomen are come now to weare them vpon their feet and not at their shoo latchets only but also vpon their startops and fine buskins which they garnish all ouer with pearle For it wil not suffice nor serue their turne to carie pearles about them but they must tread vpon pearles goe among pearles and walke as it were on a pauement of pearles Pearles were wont to be found in our seas of Italie but they were small ruddie in certain little shell fishes which they call Myae but more plenty of such were taken vp in the streights of Bosphorus neere Constantinople Howbeit in Acarnania there is a little Cochle called Pinna i. a Nacre which engendreth such Whereby it may appeare that there be more than one sort of Mother-pearles For king Iuba likewise hath left in writing that in Arabia there is a kind of shell fish like vnto a Scallop saue that it is not chamfered but thick and rough like a sea Vrcheon which beares Pearles within the very flesh of the fish like vnto haile stones But now adaies there be no such mother-pearles come to our coasts Neither be there found in Acarnania any of value and reputation For why they are all in manner without proportion neither round nor weighty and of a marble colour They rather about the cape of Actium are better and yet they be but little ones like as they also which are taken in the coasts of Mauritania Alexander Polyhistor and Sudines are of opinion that they will age and in the end lose their colour That they bee sollid and not hollow within is euident by this that with no fall they will breake But they be not alwaies found in the middest of the flesh within the mother-pearles but here there somtime in one place and somtime in another Verily I haue seene of them about the brim and edges of the shell as if they were readie to goe forth
are incident vnto it for to annoy the same This ball and point of the sight is compassed also round about with other circles of sundry colors black blewish tawny russet and red to the end that by this medley and temperate mixture of colors enuironed with the white besides the light might be let in represented to the Optick-sinew and also by a temperat reuerberation and beating backe from those other colours it should not dazle or offend the apple with the exceeding brightnesse thereof In sum this mirror or glasse-window is so perfect and so artificially contriued that as little as the ball of the sight is a man may see himselfe ful and whole in it And this is the cause that many fouls from a mans fist are ready to peck at the eies aboue all other parts for that they would gladly sort and draw vnto their owne representation and image which they see in the eies as vnto that which they naturally affect Certain sumpter-horses and mules such like beasts of carriage only are troubled with sore eies and diseased that way at euery change and increase of the Moon But man alone in the catarrhact suffusion of the eie by voiding from it a certain humor which troubled the sight doth recouer and see again There haue bin many known blind 20 yeares and more yet afterwards inioied the benefit of their eies Some haue bin borne blinde without any fault or defect of their eies Diuers men likewise haue suddenly lost their sight by some secret accident and no outward offence knowne to giue occasion thereof Many right skilfull masters in Chirurgerie and the best learned Anatomists are of opinion That the veines of the eies reach to the braine For mine owne part I would rather thinke that they passe into the stomacke This is certain I neuer knew a mans eie pluckt out of his head but he fell to vomiting vpon it the stomack cast vp all within it We that be citizens of Rome haue a sacred and solemne manner and vse among vs To close vp their eies that lie a dying and are giuing vp the Ghost and when they be brought to the Funerall fire to open them againe The reason of this ceremonious custom is grounded hereupon That as it is not meet for men aliue to haue the last view of a mans Eie in his death so it is as great an offence to hide them from heauen vnto which this honor is due the body now presented Man alone is subiect to the distortion depraued motion of his eies Hereof are come the syrnames of certain families in Rome Strabones Poeti for that the first of those houses were squint-eied and had rolling eies Those that were borne blink but with one eie our countrymen called Coclites as also them that were pinke-eied and had very small eies they termed Ocellae As for such as came by those infirmities by some iniurie or mischance they were surnamed Lucini Moreouer we see that those creatures which ordinarily do see by night as Cats do haue such ardent and fierie eies that a man cannot indure to look full vpon them The eies also of the Roe-bucke and the Wolfe are so bright that they shine again and cast a light from them The sea-calues or Seales and the Hyenes alter eftsoones their eies into a thousand colours Ouer and besides the eies of many fishes do glitter in the night when they be drie like as the putrified and rotten wood of some old trunke of an oke or other wood Wee haue said before that those winke not nor shut their eie-lids who cannot roll their eies atone-side but are faine to turne their whole head withall when they would see a thing that is not iust before them The Chamaeleons by report rol their eies all whole euery way as they list vp and downe too and fro Crabs looke awrie And yet such fishes as are inclosed within a brittle and tender shell haue their eies inflexible stiffe Lobsters and Shrimpes for the most part haue their eies standing out very hard albeit they be couered with the like shells Those that haue hard eies are not so well sighted as those that haue moist It is commonly said that if a man pluck the eies out of the heads of yong serpents or yong Swallows they wil haue new again in their place All Insects and other creatures that lie within hard shels stir their eies as four-sooted beasts do their ears but in those that haue tender shels their eies be hard And all such as also fishes Insects haue no lids to their eies and therfore couer them not But there be none without a thin membrane or pellicle ouer them which is cleare and transparent like glasse Men and women haue haire growing on the brims of both Eie-lids but women do colour them euery day with an ordinarie painting that they haue so curious are our dames and would so fain be faire beautiful that for sooth they must die their eies also Nature ywis gaue them these hairy-eie-lids for another end namely for a palaisade as it were rampier of defence for the sight yea and to stand out like a bulwark for to keep off and put by all little creatures that might come against the eies or what things soeuer els should chance to fall into them Some write That the haire of the eie-lids will shed and fal away but not without some great injury and namely in such persons as be ouermuch giuen to lecherie No other liuing creatures haue these haires but such as otherwise be clad all ouer their bodies with haire or feathers But as four-footed beasts haue them in the vpper lid only so Fouls haue none but in the nether like as those serpents which are tender skinned and four-footed as Lizards The Ostrich is the only foule which hath haire on the vpper eie-lidde The Ape hath on them both as well as man Moreouer all fouls haue not eie-lids and therefore such do not winke namely those that bring forth liuing creatures The greater and heauier foules when they would close their eies doe it with drawing vp the nether lid The same also twinkle by means of a pellicle or skin comming from the corners of their eies Doues and such like birds wink with both eie-lids but four-footed beasts that lay egs as Tortoises and Crocodiles vse the nether lid only without any twinkling at all because their eies be very hard The vtmost compasse or edge of haire in the vpper lid the Latines called in old time Cilium and thereof came the name of the brows to be Supercilium in Latine This brim of the eie-lid if it be diuided by any wound cannot be drawne together againe like as some few parts besides of mans body Vnder the eies are the balls of the Cheeks which men and women only haue which in old time they called Genae in Latine And by the law of the twelue Tables women were expressely
drie as that which will not thicken at all Also which is the grossest bloud and heauiest which the lightest and thinnest and last of all what creatures liuing haue no bloud at all THose that haue much bloud and the same fat and grosse are angrie and chollericke The bloud of males is commonly blacker than that of females yea and more in youth than in old age and the same in the bottome and lower part setleth fatter and grosser than aboue In bloud consists a great portion and treasure of life When it is let out it caries with it much vitall spirit howbeit sencelesse it is and hath no feeling The strongest creatures bee they which haue the thickest bloud but the wisest those that haue thinnest the more fearefull that haue least but dull and blockish altogether which haue none at all Buls bloud of all other soonest congealeth and waxeth hard and therefore poison it is to be drunke especially The bloud of Bores red and fallow Deere Roe-buckes and all Buffles will not thicken Asses bloud is most fatty and grosse and contrarily mans bloud is thinnest finest Those beasts which haue more than 4 feet are bloudlesse Those that be fat haue small store of bloud because it is spent in fatnesse Man only bleeds at the nose some at one nosthrill alone others at both and some againe void bloud downward by the Hemorrhoids Many there be that cast vp bloud at certaine times ordinarie by the mouth as not long since Macrinus Viscus late pretor of Rome and vsually euerie yeare Volusius Saturninus Prouost of the citie who notwithstanding liued vntill hee was aboue fourescore and ten yeres old Bloud is the only thing in the body that increases presently For so we see that beasts killed for sacrifice wil bleed most freshly in greater abundance if they dranke a little before Those creatures that lie hidden in the earth at certaine times as we haue said before haue no bloud in all that while vnlesse it be some few and those very smal drops gathered about their hearts A wonderfull worke of Nature that it should be so as also that in a man it should alter and change euer and anon so as it doth vpon euery small occasion and the force and strength thereof varie not only for defect and want of matter to disperse abroad but also for euery little motion and passion of the minde as shame anger and feare For one while it sheweth pale another whiles red more or lesse in much varietie of degrees In case of anger it wil shew one color of shame and bashfulnesse appearing in another In feare doubtlesse it retires and flies backe in such sort as a man knowes not what is become of it so as many in that fit haue ben stabbed and run thorough and yet bleed not at all one drop but this suddaine change of colour happens to men only For in other creatures which as we haue said do alter their hue it is an outward colour that they take from the reflection of certain places neer vnto them man alone hath this change from within himselfe To conclude all maladies and death especially consume the bloud CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Whether in Bloud resteth the soueraignetie or no Also of the nature of Skin of Haires and the Paps SOmâ—… measure not the finenesse of spirit and wit by the puritie of bloud but suppose that creatures are brutish more or lesse according as their Skin is thicker or thinner and as the other couertures of their bodie be either grosse and hard or thin and tender as we see for example in Oisters and Tortoises They affirme moreouer that the thick hide in Kine Oxen and the hard bristles in Swine impeach the entrance of subtile aire and fine spirit into their bodies in such wise that nothing can pierce and passe through which is pure and fine as it should be And hereto they bring men also as a proofe who are thicke skinned and more brawnie for to be more grosse of sence and vnderstanding as who would say that Crocodiles were not very wittie and industrious yet their skin is hard enough And as for the Riuer-horse his hide is so thicke that thereof jauelines and speares are turned and yet so industrious is that beast that in some case he is his owne Physician and he hath taught vs to open a veine and let bloud The Elephants skin is so tough and hard that therof be made targuets and shields of so good proofe that is is impossible to pierce them thorough and yet they are thought to be of all four-footed beasts most ingenious and wittie Wherefore conclude we may that the skin it selfe is sencelesse and hath no fellowship at all with the vnderstanding and especially that of the head and whersoeuer it is of it selfe naked and without flesh be sure if it be wounded impossible it is to consolidate the wound and namely in the eie lids and bals of the cheekes All creatures that bring forth their young quicke are hairie those that lay egs haue either feathers as birds skales as fishes or else be couered with shels as Tortoises or last of all haue a plaine skin and no more as Serpents The quils of all feathers be hollow Cut them they will grow no more plucke them they will come againe Insects flie with thin and brittle pellicles or membranes The sea Swallowes haue them euermore moist and drenched in the sea As for the Bat he is afraid to wet them and therfore flies about housen his wings besides are diuided into joints The haires that grow forth of a thick skin are commonly hard grosse but euermore thinner and finer in the females In horses and mares they grow at length vpon their mains Lions also haue them long about their shoulders and foreparts Connies haue long haires about their checkes yea and within-forth as also in the soles of their feet and so hath the Hares according to the opinion of Trogus who thereby collecteth that hairy men likewise are more letcherous than other The hairiest creature of all other is the Hare In mankind only there grows haire about the priuy parts and whosoeuer wants it man or woman is holden for barren not apt for generation Haires in men and women are not all of one sort for some they bring with them into the world others come vp and grow afterwards Those they haue from their mothers womb do not lightly fall and shed and least of all in women Yet shal ye haue some women to shed the haire of the head by occasion of sicklinesse as also other women to haue a kinde of down vpon their face namely when their monethly fleurs do stay vpon them In some men the later kind of haires to wit of the beard c. wil not come of their own accord without the help of Art Four-footed beasts shed their haire yerely and haue it grow again Mens haire of their heads groweth most and next to it that
may be excused for sowing it as they doe and making saile-cloath thereof in regard of the necessarie traffique they haue into Arabia and India for to fetch in the commodities of those countries what need or reason I pray you hath France so to do Can the Gauls be sorted in the same range with the Egyptians Whether would they go Is it not sufficient that they see the mightie mountaines standing iust between them and the Miditerranean sea Will not this serue to keepe them from Nauigation that on the huge Ocean side they can discouer nothing but the vast Elements of Water and Aire together Howbeit for all this restraint the Cadurci Caletes Rutene and Bituriges the Morini also who are supposed to be the farthest people inhabiting our Continent yea and thoroughout all parts of Fraunce they weaue Line and make Sailes thereof And now adayes also the Flemmings and Hollanders dwelling beyond the Rhene I meane those antient Enemies to the State of our Empire doe the like insomuch as the women there cannot deuise to go more rich and costly in their apparell than to weare fine Linnen The obseruation whereof putteth me in mind of a thing that M. Varro doth report of the whole Race and Familie of the Serrani in which House this Order was precisely kept That there was not a woman amongst them knowne to weare any Linnen about her no not so much as in a smocke next her bare skinne Now in Germanie the spinners and weauers of Linnen doe all their worke in shrouds caues and vaults buried as it were vnder the ground so do they also in Italy and that part of Lombardie that lieth between the Poand Ticinus to wit in the Countrey Aliana where after the Setabines in Castile which is the best there is very fine workemanship of Linnen cloath and may deserue the third place for goodnesse thoroughout all Europe For the Retovines bordering hard vpon the foresaid Allianes and the Faventines who inhabit the broad port-way Aemilia are to be ranged in a second degree and next to the Setabines for the fine Linnen which they make And in very truth this Fauentine cloth is alwaies far whiter than the Allian which is ordinarily brown when it is new wouen and before it be bleached Like as the Retovine is exceeding fine thick wouen withall and besides not inferior in whitenesse to the Fauentine howbeit no nap or down it carieth a thing which as there be some who do greatly praise and like so there be others again discommend and dislike as much As touching the thred it selfe that they make of their Flax it is more euen if euener may be than that which the Spider spinneth so neruous also and strong withall that if a man list to make triall thereof with his teeth it will giue a twang and ring again like a Lute-string and therefore it carrieth a double price to other As touching the Spanish Flax and namely that which Aragon and Cartalogna doth yeeld it is passing faire and white by reason of a certain brook or running water passing vnder Tarracon wherein it is watered the nature whereof is to giue it a singular brightnesse aboue the rest Wonderous fine it is and runneth into a dainty small thred for there first was deuised the fine Cypres or Lawne and the curtains thereof It is not long ago since out of the same parts of high Spaine there was brought into Italy the flax of Zoela most commodious meet for hunters to make great nets and toile A maritime city this Zoela is in Gallitia scituat neere the ocean There is excellent good Line also to be found at Cumes in Campaine within Italy which serueth very well for snares and small nets to take fishes and to catch birds with The same also yeeldeth matter and stuffe for the great cord-nets abouesaid for wote wel this that Flax fitteth our turns as well to snare and intrap all other beasts as it doth to indanger our own selues vpon the sea But of all others the toile made of Cumes flaxen cords are so strong that the wild bore falling into it wil be caught and no maruell for these kind of nets will checke the very edge of a sword or such like weapon I my selfe haue seene so fine and small a thred that a whole net knit thereof together with the cords and strings called Courants running along the edges to draw it in and let it out would passe all through the ring of a mans finger I haue known one man also carry so many of them easily as would go about compasse a whole forest But this is not the greatest wonder of them for more than so euery one of these threds that went to the making of the mashes was twisted 150 double and euen of late daies Iulius Lupus who died Lord Deputy or Gouernor of Egypt had such This may well seem a maruell incredible to those who neither knew nor saw the net-worke Habergeon or Curet of Amasis a king somtime of Egypt which was shewed of late daies within the temple of Minerua in the Isle of the Rhodians euery thred whereof carried a twist 365 double Certes Mutianus a man of good credit as who had bin thrice confull of Rome hath related so much at Rome vpon his owne knowledge for wheras there remained yet certaine small reliques and little pieces therof it was his hap of late to meet with some of them and by his owne triall to find that true which hac bin reported by others And verily great pittie it is that such an excellent rich and rare peece of work as it was should thus come to nothing by mens iniurious handling of it raueling out the threds as they haue don for to see the proose of the thing But to returne againe to our flax of Italy That which groweth in the Pelignians countrey is at this day in great account and request how beit none vse it but the Fullers There is not a whiter flax to be found indeed resembling wool nearer than this flax Like as for quilts ticks and mattrasses the flax of the Cadurei in France had no fellow for surely the inuention therof as also of flox to stuffe them with came out of France As for vs here in Italy euen as our maner was in old time te lie and sleep vpon straw-beds chaffy couches so at this day wee vse to call our pailers still by the name of Stramenta The Line or flax of Egypt is nothing strong howbeit the people there do raise exceeding great gaine and profit thereof And foure distinct kinds thereof are knowne according to the names of the sundry countries where they grow to wit Taniticum Pelusiacum Buticum and Tentyriticum Moreouer in the higher parts of Egypt which bend toward Arabia there groweth a certaine shrub or bush carrying cotton which some call Gossypium others Xylon and the linnen therof made they therefore cal Xylina This plant is
saith that it delighteth principally to grow vnder the Yuie tree which if it be taken to the weight of 3 oboli in a sextar of water helpeth those that haue their heads bodies drawn far back and such as be troubled with the contraction and shrinking of sinues As touching Acanthus or Brankursine an herb it is cherished much is gardens proper for vinets and story-workes bearing vpright and long leaues wherewith beds-sides and borders of quarters in gardens are decked and beautified Two kinds there be of it one with pricky leaues in maner of thistles and the same jagged which is the lesse lower of the twain but the greater which some in Greek call Paederos others Melamphyllon is smooth leaued The leaues of this Brankursine being applied are wondrous good for burns and dislocations Also being sodden with meat and especially with Ptisane or husked barly it is singular for those who are bursten troubled with the crampe and subiect to the consumption of the lungs Also if they be stamped and reduced into the form of a liniment and laid too hot they cure the gouts proceeding from an hot cause The herb Bupleuron is reckoned by the Greeke writers in the number of worts that grow of themselues a stem it hath of a cubit in height many leaues and those growing long in a spoke-tuft or rundle in the head in maner of Dill highly commended by Hippocrates for good meat but Glycon and Nicander praise it as much for the vse thereof in Physick and in very truth the seed is powerfull against serpents The leaues also or the very juice incorporate with wine into the form of a liniment they imploy for to bring down the afterbirth of women newly deliuered as also the leaues with salt and Wine are vsed by way of cataplasme for to dissolue the swellings called the Kings euill As for the root it is vsually giuen in wine against venomous serpents and to prouoke vrine * Buprestis is an herb about which the Greek writers haue shewed themselues namely how inconstant and light of credit they be in that they haue so highly praised it to be a speciall wholsom meat yea and a singular remedie against poisons For the very name sheweth euidently that it is a poison it selfe of kine and oxen at lestwise And they themselues do confesse that if such cattel tast of Buprestis it wil make them inraged and fall a gadding vntil they burst in sunder And therefore I will not speak any more of this herb for there is no reason that may induce me to describe these venimous weeds among those that serue for the green garlands aforesaid made of grasse vnlesse haply it be this That some one or other would seek after this herbe to weare it in a chaplet for lust-sake which indeed they say it wil prouoke no lesse that way than if it were taken in drinke Elaphoboscon is an herb growing vp with a main stem after the maner of Fenel-geant the same is full of knots and joints as thick as a mans finger The seed is made after the fashion of berries hanging downe in maner of Sili or Siler-mountaine howbeit nothing bitter they are and the leaues resemble those of Alisanders This herb is taken for a commendable meat and in truth is kept also and preserued a long time confected and condite for a singular remedie to procure vrin to allay the pain of the sides in the pleurisie to heale ruptures to cure convulsions and cramps to discusse ventosities to asswage the dolorous torment of the collicke yea and as a very countre-poyson against the sting of serpents and all other creatures armed with stings for the report goeth That stags and hindes by feeding thereupon withstand the venom of Serpents The root also reduced into a liniment with Sal-nitrum put thereto and incorporate together cureth old sores called fistulaes But the said root ought to be dried first for those purposes to the end that it should not be full of the own juice and moisture and yet this humour dulleth not the vertue thereof nor maketh it lesse effectuall against the sting of serpents Touching the herb * Scandix the Greeks haue ranged it also among the wild worts or pot-herbs good for to be eaten according to Opion and Erasistratus The same being sodden knitteth the belly and stoppeth a laske The seed taken with vinegre presently stayeth the yox or hicquet it prouoketh vrin and serueth well in a liniment to heale vp burns The juice of it being boiled to a juleb is good for the stomack liuer kidnies and bladder This is the herb which Aristophanes the Comaedian twitted the Tragicall Poet Euripides by obiecting vnto him merily by way of a scoffe that his mother who was a gardener vsed to sit in the market and sel neuer a good wort or pot-herb indeed but made her markets only of Scandix And verily I would say that * Anthriscus were the same herb if it had smaller tenderer and sweeter leaues This peculiar praise and commendable propertie it hath that if the body be ouerlayed and wearied with the vse of women it restoreth the spirits and refresheth them again Yea such as be wel stept in yeares and begin to droup it maketh lusty and able to perform the act of generation youthfully It stayeth the flux of the whites in women Moreouer * Iasione is counted also a wilde wort comming vp of it selfe and good to be eaten This herb creepeth by the ground full of milk it is and beareth a white floure which some call Concilium The like name and commendation there goeth of this herbe for stirring vnto letcherie Being taken raw with meat in a vinegre sauce it breedeth plenty of milke in women A singular restoratiue it is for them that feele themselues wearing decaying by a consumption A liniment made therwith and applied to the head of yong infants causeth hair to come vp thicke and by shutting the pores of the skin more close it is a means to retain the hair still that it shed not easily As for * Caucalis an herb like to Fenel but that it hath a short stalke and a white floure it is good also to be eaten and is besides counted a cordial A drink likewise is made of the juice thereof passing comfortable to the stomack of power to prouoke vrin to expel grauel stone and to stay the itching within the bladder it doth subtiliat the grosse and tough flegm which causeth obstructions in the spleen liuer and kidnies The seed being taken inwardly helps forward the monthly sicknesse of women when it stayeth vpon them and drieth vp the cholericke humors which flow after child-birth or the after burden It is giuen also to men for the spilling of natural seed or the running of the reins Chrysippus is of opinion that it is singular good to help women for to conceiue if they be desirous of children But the maner is to
haue recourse to this hearb and eat thereof The juice drawne out of this herb after it is sodden in wine bindeth the belly The same is singular good to rectifie couch and lay euen the disorderly hairs of the eye-lids as effectually as the best gum in the world Dorotheus the Poet hath deliuered in his verses that it is good for the stomack and helpeth digestion Some hold opinion That it is naught for women hurtful to the eies also that it is contrarie to the feed of man and doth hinder generation Among all those things which are earen with danger I take that Mushromes may iustly be ranged in the first and principal place true it is that they haue a most pleasant and delicat tast but discredited much they are and brought into an ill name by occasion of the poyson which Agrippina the Empresse conueighed vnto her husband Tiberius Claudius the Emperour by their means a daungerous president giuen for the like practise afterwards And verily by that fact of hers she set on foot another poison to the mischiefe of the whole world and her owne bane especially euen her own sonne Nero the Emperor that wicked monster The venomous qualitie of some of these Mushromes may be soone known by their weak rednesse their mouldy hew so vnpleasant to see to their leaden and wan colour within-forth their chamfered streakes full of chinks and chaps and finally their edges round about pale and yellow For others there be that haue none of all these markes but are drie and carie certain white spots like to drops or grains of Sal-nitre putting foorth in the top out of their tunicles And in truth before that the Mushrome is formed the earth bringeth forth a certain pellicle or coat first called in Latin Volua for this purpose that the Mushrome should lie in it and then afterwards shee engendreth it enclosed within much like as the yolke of an egge câ—…uched within the while And so long as the Mushrome is young and not come forth but â—…eth as a â—…abe within the said core or tunicle is as good meat as the Mushrom it selfe but so soon as the Mushrom is formed this membran breaketh and incontinently the body or substance therof is spent in the stele or foot that beareth it vp and seldom shall you see 2 Mushromes vpon one of these steles or feet Moreouer these mushroms take their first originall and beginning of a slim mud and the humor of the earth that is in the way of corruption or els of some root of a tree such for the most part as beare Mast. It seemeth at the first as if it were a kind of glutinous some or froth then it growes to the substance of a pellicle or skin and soone after sheweth the Mushrom indeed bred formed and consummat within as is aforesaid And verily al such are pernicious and vtterly to be rejected neer to which when they come new out of the ground there lay either a grieue-stud or leg harneisnaile or some rustie yron or so much as an old rotten cloutâ—… for looke what naughtiuesse soeuer was in any of them the same they draw and conuert into venome and poyson But none are able to discern these hurtful Mushromes from others how curious and circumspect soeuer they be saue only the peasants of the country where they grow and such as haue the gathering of them And here is not al the mischiefe that lieth in them For dangerous they be otherwise and meet with more meanes to make them deadly namely if a serpents hole or nest be neare by or if at their first discouerie and comming forth a serpent chance to breath and blow vpon them for so prepared they be and disposed as a fit subject to enter that presently they will catch and entertain any poison And therfore on any hand we must not be bold and lusty with them before the time that serpents be retired into the ground there taken vp their harbor Which is an easy matter to know by the tokens of so many herbs trees shrubs which from the time that they first came abroad aboue ground vntill they haue taken vp their winrer lodging again looke alwaies fresh and greene and principally by the leaues of the Ash alone if there were no more trees for Ashes neither bud and spring forth but after that serpents come abroad nor shed and fall away before they be gone into the ground again In summe this would be noted That Mushromes be vp and down come and gon alwaies in a seuen-night space Thus much of the Mushromes named in Latine Boleti CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of other Mushromes or Tad-stoles called Fungi Of Silphium and Laser AS touching those excrescenses in manner of Mushromes which be named Fungi they are by nature more dull and slow And albeit there bee many kinds of them yet they all take their beginning of nothing els but the slimy humor of trees The safest and least daungerous be those which haue a red callositie or outward skin and the same not of so weak a red as that of the Mushromes called Boleti Next to them in goodnesse are the white and such as hauing a white foot also bear a head much resembling the Flamins turbant or mitre with a tuffet or crest in the crown As for the third sort that be called Suilli as one would say Swine-Mushroms or Puffs they are of al others most perilous and haue the best warrant to poison folk It is not long since that in one place there died thereof all that were of one houshold and in another as many as met at a feast and did eat thereof at the same bourd Thus Anneus Serenus captaine of the Emperour Nero his guard came by his death with diuers coronels and centurions at one dinner And I wonder much what pleasure men should take thus to venture vpon so doubtfull and daungerous a meat Some haue put a difference of these mushroms according to the seuerall Trees from which they seeme to spring and haue made choise of those that come from the Fig-tree the Birch and such as beare gum For mine own part as I haue said before I hold those good that the Beech Oke and Cypresse trees doe yeeld But what assurance can a man haue hereof from their mouths who sit in the market to sell them for all the sort of those Puffes and Toadstooles look with a leaden hew and wan color Howbeit the nearer that a Mushrome or Toadstoole commeth to the color of a fig hanging vpon the tree the lesse presump tion there is that it is venomous Touching the remedies for to help those who suspect they haue eaten these dangerous mushroms I haue said somwhat alreadie and wil say more herafter Mean while this would be noted that as perilous as they be yet some goodnesse there is in them and diuers medicines they doe yeeld First and foremost Glaucias thinketh and affirmeth That the Mushromes Boleti be good
soone loseth the heart and force if it be not kept in a place well enclosed by the said burning it commeth to be much more stronger in operation Sodden with figgs it yeeldeth an excellent decoction to reâ—â—â—s tettars shingles and such like wildfires to scoure away also scurfe and dandruffe in that soft either applied as a cataplasme or fomentation it cureth the leprie and running skals of the head Being taken in drinke especially raw it is a soueraign countrepoison for such as haue eaten venomous mushromes Boiled and washed it is mingled with collyries which serue for the eyes A liniment thereof cureth the accidents that befall to the cods and genetoirs Taken in wine it helpeth the strangury and giueth them ease who otherwise could not pisse but by drop-meale Les of wine after it hath lost the caustick operation and life that it had wil serue very wel for a good lie or water to clense the skin of our bodies and to wash or scoure clothes and then verily it hath the astrictiue power of Acacia and serueth for the same vse The dregs of vinegre must of necessitie be much more sharpe biting and vlceratiue than wine lees in regard of the matter whereof it commeth it driueth backe impostumes or biles and keepeth them from suppuration A liniment of it helpeth the stomack belly and entrails it staieth the flux of those parts and the ouerflow of womens months it discusseth pushes and small biles and squinances if they be taken betimes before they fester and impostumat and a cerot made with it and wax together is good against S. Anthonies fire The same drieth vp the milke in womens breast who would not be nources or bee troubled with ouermuch milke It taketh away with ease the ilfauoured rugged nails and giueth roum for new to come vp in their place Applied with grosse barley meale or groats it is singular and most effectuall against the venome of the horned serpents called in Greeke Cerastae and with Gith or Nigella Romana it is vsed for the biting both of crocodile and mad dog The burning also of these dregs quickeneth fortifieth the strength therof being thus burnt and incorporat with the oile of Lentiske it coloureth the haires of the head in one night red if they bee annointed withall The same lapped in a fine linnen cloth and put vp in forme of a pessarie cleanseth and mundifieth the secret parts of women To conclude with the grounds or lees of the cuit Sapa vinegre dregs are knowne to be very good for to heale burnes and the cure proceedeth better in case they be mixed with the furry cotton or downe of reeds the same being sodden and the decoction thereof taken as drinke cureth inueterat coughs Sast of all they vse to seeth or stew it betweene two platters with salt and grease wherwith they make a liniment or ointment to take down the swelling of the chaws and the nape of the necke CHAP. III. ¶ Of Oliuetrees of the leaues of Oliues their floures and their ashes Of the white and blacke Oliue berries and of the mother or lees of Oile-oliue NExt after the Vine there is not a tree bearing fruit of so great authority and account as the Oliue The oliue leaues are exceeding restringent good to cleanse good also to restraine or stop any flux being chewed and applied to vlcers they heale them and reduced with oile into a liniment they assuage the pain of the head A decoction of their leaues together with honey is singular to bath and foment the parts cauterized by the Chirurgian according to the direction of the learned Physician the same vsed by way of a collution cureth the inflammation of the gumbs whitflaws and excrescenses of ranke flesh in filthy vlcers with honey also it stauncheth the flux of bloud proceeding from any neruous parts The juice of oliue leaues is singular for the little vlcers in manner of carbuncles with a crust or roufe vpon them rising about the eies and all other small wheals or blisters as also in case the bal or apple of the eye be readie to start forth and therefore it is vsed in collyries or eye-salues for it healeth weeping eies that haue run with water a long time and the excoriations or frettings of the eie-lids Now this juice is drawn out of the leaues first stamped and then well sprinckled and wet with wine rain water so pressed forth which being afterwards dried is reduced into trochiskes The same rolled in wooll or bombast to the forme of a pessarie and so put vp into the naturall parts of women staies the immoderat flux of their fleurs Good it is also for those who rid corrupt bloud by the inferiour parts Moreouer it easeth the swelling piles or bigs sticking out in the fundament killeth the cholerique exulcerations called S. Anthonies fire healeth corrosiue and eating sores and allaieth the paine of night-foes or childblanes called by the Greeks Epinyctides The same effects haue their floures The tendrons or young twigs of Oliues being in floure if they be burnt yeeld a kind of ashes that may serue as a succedan in stead of Spodium but the same must be burnt a second time after they haue beene well drenched and soked with wine These ashes applied as a liniment or the very leaues only stamped and tempred with honey are good for impostumes growne to suppuration and for the pushes or biles named Pani but if they be mixed with grosse barly meal or groats they are in a liniment comfortable to the eyes Take the green branches of an Oliue and burne them there will destill and drop from the wood a certaine juice or liquor which healeth ringwormes tettars and shingles scoureth away the skales of the skin and dandruffe and cureth the running skalls of the head Touching the gum that issueth from the oliue tree it self and namely that wild oliue which is called Aethiopica I cannot wonder enough at some who giue counsell therwith to annoint the teeth which ake considering that they themselues giue out That it is a poison and to be found as wel in wild oliues as others The rind or bark pared from the root of a most tender and yong oliue reduced into an electuary and often licked and let downe by leisure into the throat after the manner of a lohoch cureth those who reach vp bloud and cough out filthy and rotten matter The ashes of the very oliue it self mixed with swines grease cure all tumors draw forth corruption of fistulous vlcers and when they are thus mundified heale them vp cleane White oliues agree very well with the stomack but they are not so good for the belly A singular commoditie they yeeld before they be put vp in their compost or pickle for to be eaten greene by themselues as meat for they scoure away grauel with vrine good they are for the teeth whether they be worne rotten worme eaten or loose in the head Contrariwise
rind thereof incorporat with wax and rosin healeth all maner of scales within â—…o daies The same boiled and applied accordingly cureth the accidents befalling to the cods and genetoirs The very perfume thereof coloreth the haire of the head black and the suffumigation fetcheth downe the dead infant out of the mothers belly It is giuen inwardly in drinke for the infirmitie of the kidnies bladder precordial parts how beit an enemy it is vnto the head and sinews A decoction or bathe thereof if a woman sit in it staieth the immoderat fluxe both of Matrice and belly Likewise the ashes taken in white wine are singular for the pains and torments of the collick as also a collution therewith is as effectuall to cure the fal of the Vvula and other defects incident to that part CHAP. VI. ¶ The medicin able vertues considered in the floures leaues fruit boughes branches bark wood iuice root and ashes of many trees of seuerall kinds IT remaineth now to decipher the manifold medicines which apples such like fruits tender skinned do affoord according to the variety of trees which bring them forth Of which thus much in generall is to be noted That all fruits which ripen in the Spring while they be soure and harsh be enemies to the stomack they trouble the belly disquiet the guts and bladder and withall be offen siue to the sinews but if they be ful ripe or sodden they are the better But to grow vnto particulars Quinces if they be boiled baked or rosted are sweeter and more pleasant to the tast than raw Yet being throughly ripe vpon the tree although they be eaten raw they are good for those that spit and reach bloud and are diseased with the bloudy flix such also as vpon the violent motion of vnbridled cholerick humors void vpward and downward as also for them who be subiect to continual loosnesse of the belly occasioned by the feeblenes of the stomack Being once boiled or baked they are not of the same operation for they lose therby that astringent vertue which their iuice had In hot and sharp feuers they serue for to be applied to the brest And yet if they be sodden in rain water they will do well in those cases aboue recited but for the pain of the stomack it matters not whether they be raw sodden or baked so they be reduced into the form of a cerot laid too Their down or mossinesse which they beare if it be boiled in wine and reduced into a liniment with wax healeth carbuncles And the same maketh the haire to grow again in bald places occasioned by some disease Raw Quinces condited and preserued in hony do stir the belly moue to siege They impart vnto the hony a pleasant tast whereby it is more familiar and agreeable to the stomack But such as being parboiled before are then kept and confited in honey be thought good for the stomacke in the opinion of some who ordaine and prescribe to stamp them first and then to take them in manner of a meat or consâ—…ue beeing incorporaâ—… with Rose leaues boyled for the infirmities of the Stomacke The juice of raw Quinces is a soueraigne remedy for the swoln spleen the dropsie and difficulty of taking breath when the patient cannot draw his wind but vpright The same is good for the accidents of the breasts or paps for the piles and swelling veines The floure or blossom of the Quince as well green and fresh gathered as drie is held to be good for the inflammation of the eies the reaching and spitting of bloud and the immoderat flux of womens monthly terms There is a mild juice drawn also from these floures stamped with sweet wine which is singular for the flux proceeding from the stomack and for the infirmities of the liuer Moreouer the decoction of them is excellent to soment either the matrice when it beareth down out of the body or the gut Longaon in case it hang forth Of Quinces also there is made a soueraigne oile which is commonly called Melinum but such Quinces must not grow in any moist tract but come from a sound and dry ground which is the reason that the best Quinces for this purpose be those that are brought out of Sicily The smaller Pear Quinces called Struthia are not so good although they be of the race of Pome Quinces The root of the Quince tree tied fast vnto the Scrophules or Kings-euill cureth the said disease but this ceremony must be first obserued That in the taking vp of the said root there be a circle made round about it vpon the earth with the left hand and the party who gathereth it is to say What root he is about to gather and to name the Patient for whom he gathereth it and then as I said it doth the deed surely The Pome-Paradise or hony Apples called Melimela and other fruits of like sweetnesse do open the stomacke and loosen the belly they set the body in a heat and cause thirstinesse but offensiue they be not to the sinews The round Apples bind the belly stay vomits and prouoke vrine Wildings or Crabs are like in operation to the fruits that be eaten soure in the Spring and they procure costiuenesse And verily for this purpose serue all fruits that be vnripe As touching Citrons either their substance or their graines and seed within taken in wine are a counterpoison A collution made either with the water of their decoction or their juice pressed from them is singular to wash the mouth for a sweet breath Physitians giue counsell to women with child for to eat the seed of Citrons namely when their stomackes stand to coles chalk and such like stuffe but for the infirmity of the stomack they prescribe to take Citrons in substance howbeit hardly are they to be chewed but with vineger As for Pomgranats needlesse altogether it were now to iterate and rehearse the nine kinds thereof Sweet Pomgranats all the sort of them which by another name we called Apyrena are counted hurtfull to the stomack they ingender ventosities and be offensiue to the teeth and gums But such as in pleasant tast are next vnto them which we called Vinosa hauing smal kernels within are taken and found by experience to be somwhat more wholsom they do stay the belly comfort and fortifie the stomack so they be eaten moderatly and neuer to satisfie the appetite to the full yet some there be who forbid sick persons once to tast of these last named yea and in no hand wil allow any Pomgranats at all to be eaten in a feuer forasmuch as neither their juice and liquor nor the carnous pulp of their grains is good for the patient In like maner they giue a charge and caueat not to vse them in vomits nor in the rising of choler Certes Nature hath shewed her admirable worke in this fruit for at the very first opening of the rind she presently maketh shew of
The leaues boiled in rain water together with the barke of the blacke fig-tree and the vine do make a lauature or water to colour the haire blacke The iuice of mulberries doth work speedily and prouoke to the siege and the very fruit or mulberry it selfe for the present is comfortable to the stomacke it cooleth for the time but bringeth thirst with it If a man eat them alone or last and lay no other meat vpon them they swell in the stomack and be very flatuous The juice drawn out of vnripe mulberries are of vertue to bind the belly In sum there be strange and wonderfull properties worthy to be obserued in this tree which seemeth to haue some sense and vnderstanding as if it were a liuing and sensible creature whereof I haue already written more at large in the description of it and the nature thereof There is a notable composition made of mulberries respectiue to the mouth and throat called thereupon Panchrestos Stomatice and by another name Arteriace the receit and making whereof is in this manner Recipe of the juice drawne out of Mulberries three sextars seeth it ouer a gentle and soft fire or rather let it stew in balneo Mariae vntil it be reduced to the consistence of hony afterwards put thereto of veriuice made of dried grapes the weight of two deniers or drams of myrrhe the poise of one denier of saffron likewise one dram or denier Let these ingredients I say be first beaten to pouder such I mean as need pulverising and so mingle them together with the foresaid decoction and put it vp for your vse A better and more pleasant medicine there is not for the mouth the windpipe the uvula and the stomack There is another way of making it in this sort Take of the juice aforesaid the quantity of two measures called sextars of Atticke hony one sextar seeth them together as before Many maruels besides are reported of this tree of which I will giue you a little tast Spie where the little mulberries that shall be are newly knit to wit when the tree first buddeth and before the leaues be fully out gather their yong knots of the fruit toward which the Greeks call Ricinos but in any case with the left hand take heed also that they touch not the ground how soeuer you do and if when you haue obserued these circumstances you weare them about your wrests hang them about your necke or otherwise tie them about you be sure they will stanch bloud whether it gush downe from your nosthrils flow out of a wound run out of the mouth or issue by the haemorrhoid veins And in truth folke vse to keepe these little buds or knots very carefully for this purpose The same vertue and operation the branches haue as they say but then they must be broken from the tree at the full of the moon when they begin to knit giue some hope of fruit if the same touch not the ground then they haue a speciall property respectiue vnto women for to restrain the immoderat flux of their monthly terms being tied or fastened to their arms And it is thought that they work this effect if the woman her selfe do gather them at any time whensoeuer prouided alwaies that the branch in any wise touch not the ground and that shee weare it fast about her in manner aforesaid The leaues of the mulberry tree stamped greene or beeing dry and boiled serue in a cataplasme to be applied vnto those places which are stung by serpents the same good they do also if they be taken in drink The juice of the bark which grew to the root if it be drunk either in wine or oxycrat i. vineger and water together is singular against the pricke of scorpions But here I must set downe the compositions that our antients deuised and made of mulberries first and formost they tooke a quantity of the juice pressed out of mulberries as well ripe as vnripe which they sod in a brasse pan vnto the consistence or thicknesse of honey Some vsed to put thereunto myrrh and Cypresse setting all to frie and take their fermentation in the sun vntil it grew to hardnesse in the foresaid vessell stirring it thrice a day with a spatule This was the stomaticall medicine of the antients which they vsed also in healing skinning vp wounds And yet there was another kind made after this sort they pressed forth the juice of the vnripe mulberries but first they let the said fruit to be very wel dried this serued them in lieu of sauce which gaue an excellent tast to their other meats In physick also they imploied it much namely about corrosiue and eating vlcers and for to euacuat tough fleame out of the brest they vsed it also as need required as an astrictiue to corroborat the noble and principall parts within the body It stood them also in good stead for collutions to wash the teeth withall Moreouer a third kind of juice they had which they drew from the leaues and roots after they were wel boiled and with this juice oile together they were woont to annoint any burnt or scalded place of the body for which purpose the leaues also they applied alone without more ado As touching the root of the Mulberry tree it yeeldeth in haruest time by way of incision an excellent juice for the tooth-ach for biles and impostumes especially such as are growne to suppuration and be at hand to break the same purgeth the belly The leaues of the Mulberry tree infused soked in vrine fetch off the haire from those skins which are to be courried and dressed Cherries loosen the belly and be hurtfull to the stomack yet if they be hanged vp and dried they do bind the belly and prouoke vrine I find a notable experiment in some authors That if a man eat Chery-stones and all in a morning new gathered from the tree with the dew vpon them they will purge so effectually that he shall find himselfe cleane rid from the gout of the feet if he were diseased that way Medlars all of them except those great ones called Setania which indeed are more like to Apples do close vp the stomack and bind the belly In like manner Sorueises if they be dried for being fresh and new gathered they be good to scoure and send excrements speedily out of the stomacke and belly both CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of Pine-nuts or Pine-apples of Almonds Filberds and Hazell-nuts of Wal-nuts Fisticks Chestnuts Carobs and Cornoils Of the fruit of the Arbut or Strawberry tree and the Bay THe Pine apples or nuts which haue rosin in them if they be lightly bruised and then sodden to the half in water with this proportion to wit one sextar of water to euery such apple do yeeld a decoction singular good for such as reach and spit vp bloud so that the patient drink two cyaths thereof at one time The decoction likewise
of Roses or with Nard it is good to be infused or dropped into ears that run with matter the very persume alone or smell thereof is good to raise them who are taken with the epilepsie or falling sicknesse also to recouer women lying as it were in a trance or dead vpon a fit of the mother to bring them again who are gon in a swoune If a woman fall to trauell before her time it is good to fetch out that vntimely fruit of hers if it be loth to come away either by way of cataplasme or suffumigation The same effect it hath if the branches or small roots of Ellel oâ—…e be well annointed therewith and so put vp as a pessary The smoke of it frying in the fire as I said before driueth serpents away and more than so serpents will not come neere to them that are besmeared with Galbanum And say that one be strucken with a scorpion a plaster of Galbanum will heale the wound If a woman haue bin long in labor of childbirth and cannot be deliuered let her drinke in one cyath of wine as much Galbanum as the quantity of a Bean she shal fall to her busines and be deliuered anon The same is a good medicine to reduce the mother into the right place if it be vnsetled or turned If Galbanum be taken in wine with Myrrhe it sendeth out the dead infant in the mothers womb Also with Myrrh and wine it is good against all poisons and especially those which be called Toxica Incorporat Galbanum with oile and Spondylium together it will kill any serpents if they be but touched therewith Howbeit there is an opinion of Galbanum that in difficulty of vrine it is not good to be vsed CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Gum Ammoniack of Storax Spondylium Spagnos Terebinth Chamaepitys of Pituysa of Rosius of the Pitch tree and the Lentiske SInce we are fallen into the mention of Gums it will not be amisse to treat of Ammoniack being as it is so like in nature as I haue said to Galbanum for it hath vertue to mollifie to heat discusse and dissolue Vsed in collyries it is a proper medicine to clarifie the eiesight and serueth wel to take away the itch the spots or cicatrices the pin and web also of the eies It allaieth the tooth-ach but more effectually if it be set a burning the sume receiued into the mouth Taken in drink it helpeth those who hardly fetch and deliuer their winde It cureth the pleurisie Peripnewmony or inflammation of the lungs the infirmities of the bladder pissing of bloud the swelled spleen and the Sciatica And in that manner it easeth the belly and maketh it soluble Boiled with the like weight of pitch or wax and oile rosat together and so reduced into an ointment it is good for all gouts and especially that which lieth in the feet It ripeneth the biles called Pani if it be applied to them with honey and fetcheth away any corns by the roots In which sort it doth soften any hardnesse Incorporat with vineger and Cyprian wax or els with oile osat it maketh an excellent plaster for to mollifie the hard spleen Moreouer if it be reduced into an ointment with vineger oile a little sal-nitre it is singular to annoint those that haue a lassitude or wearinesse vpon them Touching Storax and the nature thereof I haue said enough in my Treatise of strange and forrame trees But ouer and aboue the qualities or properties before required I take that for the best Storax which is fattest pure and cleane and whereof the pieces or fragments do break white This drug cureth the cough the sorenesse of the throat and the accidents of the brest it openeth the obstructions of the matrice mollifieth the hardnes therof Whether it be taken inwardly in drinke or outwardly applied it prouoketh womens fleurs moueth to the siege I reade in some authors that if one drink Storax Calamita in small quantity it will procure gladnesse and mirth of heart but if it be taken in greater quantity it breedeth heauinesse of the mind Instilled or poured into the eares it riddeth away all the singing therin and in a liniment it resolueth the wens called the Kings euill and the nodosities of the sinews Soueraign it is against those poisons which burt by meanes of their coldnesse and therefore it is good for them that haue drunk the juice of Hemlock Likewise of Spondylium a kind of wild Parsnep or Madnep I haue spoken thereof heretofore together with Storax An embrochotion made of it to be infused vpon the head is excellent for such as be in a frensie or lethargy also to cure the inueterat pains of the head Taken in drink with old oile it helpeth the infirmities of the liuer the jaundise the falling sicknesse the straitnesse of breath whereby one cannot take his winde but sitting vpright and the rising or suffocation of the mother in which cases a suffumigation thereof is good This Spondylium is effectual to mollifie the belly and make the body soluble Reduced into a liniment with rue it serueth fitly to be applied vnto vlcers that spread and eat as they go The juice of the floures is of great effect if it be poured into the ears that run with filthy matter but when this juice is a pressing or drawing forth it had need to be kept well couered for feare of flies and such like which are very greedy thereof and loue a-life to settle vpon it The root of Spondylium or a piece therof scraped if it be put in maner of a tent into a fistula eateth away all the hardnes and callositie thereof Being dropped into the ears together with the juice it is exceeding good for them The root giuen alone in substance cureth the jaundise the infirmities of the liuer matrice If the head be all ouer annointed therewith the haire will curle and frizle Concerning the sweet Mosse called of the Greeks Sphagnos Sphacos or Bryon growing as I haue shewed before in France it is good for the naturall parts of women to sit ouer the decoction of it in manner of a bath likewise if it be mingled with cresses and so stamped together in salt water it serueth well to be applied as a cataplasme to the knees and thighs for any tumors or swellings in those parts Taken in wine with dry per-rosin it causeth one most speedily to make water Stamped with Iuniper and drunk with wine it doth euacuat the aquosities in the dropsie The leaues and the root of the Terebinth tree applied in form of a cataplasme are good for the collection of humors to an impostumation A decoction made with them doth comfort and fortifie the stomack In case of head-ache of stopping and difficultie of vrine it is passing good to drink the seed or grains of the Terebinth tree in wine The same gently easeth and softeneth the belly it prouoketh also carnal lust The leaues of the
of the lims and for those that be plucked with the cramp in case the grieued parts be wel rubbed therewith in the sun which they know well enough who buy slaues and sell them for gain after they haue trimmed and set them out for sale for they especially are very curious to annoint their bodies al ouer with this Terpentine for to loosen the skin when they be hide-bound lank and carrion lean to giue more liberty and space for euery part to receiue nutriment and so to make their bodies seeme fat and faire liking Next vnto the right Terpentine is the rosin of the Lentiske Tree this hath an astringent or binding qualitie but of all others it prouoketh vrine most all the rest doe mollifie the belly and make it soluble concoct and digest all crudities stent the inueterate cough and draw downe all the superfluous burdens of the matrice for which purpose last named their fume receiued by a suffumigation is very effectuall They are more particularly as good as a counterpoison against the venomous gum Ixia growing vpon the plant Chamaeleon Incorporat with buls tallow and hony they cure the biles called Pani and such risings in the flesh The Lentisk rosin is singular good for to lay euen and streight the haires of the eie-lids when they grow into the eies In fractures and broken bones it is most necessary as also for the ears running with filthy matter likewise to kil the itch in the priuy members Finally the per-rosin of the Pine tree is a most soueraigne medicin to cure all the wounds of the head CHAP. VII ¶ Of Stone-pitch of Tarre of Pitch twice boiled of Pissasphalt or Mummie of Zopissa of Torch-wood and the Lentiske FRom what tree Pitch commeth and the sundry waies of making it I haue declared heretofore also that there be two principall kinds thereof to wit the thick or fast Pitch and the thin or liquid of the former sort the best for vse in Physick is the Brutian Pitch for that being of all others fattiest fullest of gum it yeeldeth a twofold commodity both for medicines and also to trim and rosin wine-vessels for which purposes that which inclineth to a reddish yellow is counted the chiefe But whereas some do say moreouer that the better Pitch commeth from the male tree I cannot conceiue what they should mean thereby neither doe I think it possible to discerne any such difference True it is that Pitch by nature is hot a good incarnatiue a speciall and particular property it hath against the venom inflicted by the sting or tooth of the horned serpent Cerastes if it be made into a cataplasme with fried barly groats and being applied with honey it healeth the squinancy cureth catarrhs and restraineth sneezing with oile of roses it serueth well to be poured into running ears out of which there doth oose filthy matter or being applied in manner of a liniment with wax it is passing good it healeth the il-fauored tettars called Lichenes and it looseneth the belly licked or let downe leisurely in maner of a loch it is a good means to void and reach vp from the brest tough fleame and to annoint the tonsils or almonds in the mouth with it and hony together is a proper medicine being in that manner prepared and vsed it clenseth vlcers and if it be incorporat with raisins and swines grease it doth incarnat and fill them vp again with new flesh carbuncles also it doth mundifie so doth it sores that begin to putrifie gather corruption but if they be such as spread be corrosiue withal then there would be an addition of the Pine tree bark or brimstone Some haue prescribed for the consumption of the lungs and a cough of long continuance to drinke the quantity of one cyath in Pitch The fissures and chaps as wel about the seat as in the feet it cureth for the flat biles named Pani it is very good as also to take away the rough nails that be so troublesome The very odor or perfume thereof helpeth the hardnesse of the matrice and setleth it again being either faln down or turned out of the due place likewise it helpeth such as be surprised with the lethargy Moreouer if it be boiled in the vrine of a yong boy vnder 14 yeares of age with barly meale it is a good maturatiue and bringeth the wennes called the Kings euill to suppuration As for dry pitch or stone pitch it helpeth much to make the haire grow again where it is shed by some disease The Pitch called Brutia or of Calabria boiled in wine to a waulm or two with the fine floure of the bearded wheat Far and so applied in a cataplasm as hot as may be suffered is singular good for womens paps Concerning liquid Pitch or Tar as also the oile which they cal Pisselaeon and how it is made I haue already written at large Some boile it a second time and then they name it Palimpissa With this liquid Pitch it is good to annoint the squinzy that groweth inwardly as also the uvula within the mouth the same is singular for the pain in the ears to clarifie the sight to clense the mouth furred as it were so as it hath no tast of meat likewise for those who are short winded for women who are diseased in their matrice to ripen rid away old coughs and to ease them that can doe nothing but spit reach out of the chest for spasmes cramps shaking and trembling moreoouer it helpeth them whose heads or bodies are drawn backward it cureth palsies and any pains or griefs of the sinews There is not a better thing to kill either the mange in dogs or the scab and farcines in horses asses and such like trauelling beasts Moreouer as touching Pissasphalt which is of a mixt nature as if pitch and Bitumen were mingled together it groweth naturally so in the territory of the Apolloniats yet some there be who make an artificial pissasphalt and meddle the one with the other and hold it for a remedy to cure the farcins and scabs of cattell as also when the young sucklings doe hurt the teats of their dams Of this kind that is best which is of it selfe and come to maturity and perfection the same in boiling swimmeth aloft Zopissa is that Pitch which as I said heretofore is scraped from ships and is confected of wax well soked in the salt water of the sea the best is that which commeth from ships that haue bin at sea and made some voiages it goeth into emollitiue plasters for to resolue the gathering of impostumes As for Taeda or Torch-wood if it bee sodden in vineger it maketh a singular collution for to wash the teeth withall when they ake Let vs come now to the Lentisk tree the wood the seed or fruit the bark and gum therof do prouoke vrine and bind the belly a fomentation made with their decoction is excellent good for eating and corrosiue vlcers it
the face and to scoure away other spots and pimples arising vpon the skin Gentian and Nymphaea called Heraclea the root also of Cyclamin riddeth all such cutanean specks and blemishes The graines of wild Carawaies called Cacalia incorporate in wax melted and made liquid lay the skin of the face plain and euen and smooth all wrinkles The root of Acorum serueth likewise to purifie the skin from all outward deformities Herb Willow giueth the hair of the head a yellow colour Hypericon which also is named Corion dieth it black likewise doth Ophrys an herbe growing with two leaues and no more like vnto jagged Beets or Colewoorts Also Polemonia setteth a black colour vpon haire if it be boiled in oile As for depilatorie medicines which are to take away the haire from any part the proper place to treat of them is indeed among those that pertain especially to women but now adaies men also are come to it and vse such deuises as well as women The most effectuall of all others be they accepted that are made of the herbe Archezostis The juice of Tithymall is likewise very good to fetch off haires and yet there be some who pluck them out first with pinsers and then with the said iuice incorporat with oile rub the place often in the hot sun Finally Hyssop tempered with oile into a liniment is excellent to heale the mange or scab in four-footed beasts and Sideritis hath a peculiar vertue for to cure swine of their squinsies or strangles Now is it time to pursue all other kindes of hearbes which remaine behind THE TVVENTY SEVENTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme CHAP. I. CErtes the farther that I proceed in this discourse history of mine the more am I forced to admire our forefathers and men of old time for considering as I do what a number of simples there yet remain behind to be written of I cannot sufficiently adore either their carefull industry in searching and finding them out or their liberal bounty in imparting them so friendly to posterity And verily if this knowledge of Herbes had proceeded from mans inuention doubtlesse I must needs haue thought that the munificence of those our ancestors had surpassed the goodnesse of Nature her selfe But now apparent and well knowne it is That the gods were authors of that skil and cunning or at leastwise there was some diuinitie and heauenly instinct therein euen when it seemed to come from the braine and head of man and to say a truth confesse we must That Nature the mother and nource of all things both in bringing forth those simples and also in reuealing them with their vertues to mankind hath shewed her admirable power as much as in any other work of hers whatsoeuer The herbe Scythica is brought hither at this day out of the great fens meers of Moeotis where it groweth Euphorbia commeth from the mountain Atlas far beyond Hercules pillars the straits of Gibralter and those are the very vtmost bounds of the earth from another coast also the herbe Britannica we haue transported vnto vs out of Britaine and the Islands lying without the continent and diuided from the rest of the world like as Aethiopis out as far as Aethyopia a climat directly vnder the Sun and burnt with continuall heat thereof besides other plants and drugs necessary for the life and health of man for which merchants passe from all parts too and fro and by reciprocall commerce impart them to the whole world and all by the meanes of that happy peace which through the infinite maiesty of the Roman Empire the earth inioieth in such sort as not only people of sundry lands and nations haue recourse onevnto another in their traffick mutual trade but high mountains also the cliffes surpassing the very clouds meet as it were together haue means to communicat the commodities euen the very herbs which they yeeld one to the benefit of another long may this blessing hold I pray the gods yea and continue world without end for surely it is their heauenly gifts that the Romans as a second Sun should giue light and shine to the whole world CHAP. II. ¶ Of the poison Aconite and the Panther which is killed thereby AConite alone if there were nothing els is sufficient to induce any man to an endlesse admiration and reuerence of that infinit care and diligence which our antients imployed in searching out the secrets of Nature considering how by their means we know there is no poison in the world so quicke in operation as it insomuch as if the shap or nature of any liuing creature of female sex be but touched therewith it will not liue after it one day to an end This was that poison wherewith Calphurnius Bestia killed two of his wiues lying asleep by his side as appeareth by that challenge and declaration which M. Caecilius his accuser framed against him And hereupon it was that in the end of his accusatory inuectiue he concluded with this bitter speech That his wiues died vpon his finger The Poets haue feined a tale That this herb should be ingendered first of the fome that the dog Cerberus let fall vpon the ground frothing so as he did at the mouth for anger when Hercules pluckt him out of hell and therefore it is forsooth that about Heraclea in Pontus wher is to be seen that hole which leadeth into hel there groweth Aconit in great plenty howbeit as deadly a bane as it is our forefathers haue deuised means to vse it for good and euen to saue the life of man found they haue by experience that being giuen in hot wine it is a counterpoison against the sting of scorpions for of this nature it is that if it meet not with some poison or other in mens bodies for to kill it presently sets vpon them and soon brings them to their end but if it incounter any such it wrestleth with it alone as hauing found within a fit match to deale with neither entreth it into this fight vnlesse it find this enemy possessed already of some noble and principall part of the body and then beginneth the combat a wonderfull thing to obserue that two poisons both of them deadly of themselues and their own nature should die one vpon another within the body and the man by that mean only escape with life Our ancestors in times past staied not thus but found out and deliuered vnto vs proper remedies also for wilde beasts and not so contented haue shewed meanes how those creatures should be healed which are venomous to other for who knoweth not that scorpions if they be but touched with Aconite presently become pale benummed astonied and bound confessing as it were themselues to be vanquished and prisoners contrariwise let them but touch the white Ellebore they are vnbound and at liberty again they recouer I say their former vigor and vertue whereby we may see that the
blew vnder the eies with hony it reduceth the place to the natiue colour againe The vapour or fume of the decoction of wormwood receiued into the eares assuageth their paine or if they run with corrupt matter it is good to apply the same reduced into pouder and incorporat in hony Take three or foure sprigs of wormwood one root of Nardus Gallicus boile them in six cyaths of water it is a soueraigne medicine to drinke for to prouoke vrine and bring downe the desired sicknesse of women or beeing taken simply alone with hony and withall put vp in a pessarie made with a locke of wooll it is of speciall operation to procure their monthly terms with honey and sal-nitre it is singular for the Squinancie it healeth chill-blanes if they be bathed with the decoction thereof in water applied vnto fresh or green wounds in a cataplasme before any cold water come vnto them it healeth them and besides in that manner it cureth the scals in the head being incorporat with Cyprian wax or figges and so applied to the flankes or hypochondrial parts it hath a particular vertue by it selfe to helpe their griefes Moreouer it killeth any itch Howbeit this would be noted that wormewood in no case must be giuen to those that haue an ague Let a man or woman vse to drinke wormewood they shall not be sea-sicke nor giuen to heauing as commonly they be that are at sea If wormewood be worne in a trusse to the bottome of the bellie it allayeth the swelling in the share The smell of wormewood procureth sleepe or if it be laid vnder the pillow or bolster prouided alwaies that the patient be not ware of it Either basted within cloaths or strewed vpon them it keepeth away the moth If one rub his body therewith and oile together it driueth gnats away so doth the smoke therof also when it burneth If writing inke be tempered with the infusion of wormewood it preserueth letters and bookes written therewith from being gnawne by mice The ashes of wormewood burnt and incorporate with oile Rosat to an ointment coloureth the haire of the head black There is yet another kinde of Sea-wormewood which some call Seriphium and excellent good is that which groweth about the city Taphositis in Aegypt Of this wormewood it is that the priests of Isis in their solemne marches and processions vse to beare branches before them The leaues be somewhat narrower than those of the former and the bitternesse not altogether so much An enemy it is to the stomacke howbeit the belly it loosneth and chaseth worms out of the guts for which purpose it is good to drink it with oile and salt or else the infusion therof in a supping or grewell made with the floure of the three moneth corne To make the decoction of wormwood well there would be taken a good handfull of wormwood and sodden in a sextar of water to the consumption of the one halfe CHAP. VIII ¶ Of stinking Horehound of Mille-graine or Oke of Ierusalem of Brabyla Bryon Bupleuros Catanance of Calla Circaea and Cersium of Crataeogonon and Thelygonum of Crocodilium and Cynosorchis of Chrysolachanon Cucubalon and Conserua STinking Horehound which some Greeks call Ballote others Melamprasion i. Black Horehound is an herbe tufted full of branches the stems be black and cornered the leaues wherwith they be clad and garnished are somewhat hairy resembling those of sweet or white Horehound but that they be bigger blacker and of a stinking sauor but the leaues stamped and applied with salt be very effectuall against the biting of a mad dog also if they be wrapped in a Colewort or Beet leafe and so rosted vnder the embers they are commended for the swelling piles in the fundament This Horehound made into a salue with honey clenseth filthie vlcers Botrys is an herb ful of branches and those of a yellowish colour and beset round with seed the leaues resemble Cichorie Found it is commonly growing about the banks of brookes and riuerets Good it is for them that be streight winded and cannot draw their breath but sitting vpright The Cappadocians call it Ambrosia others Artemisia As for Brabyla they be astringent in manner of Quinces More than so I find not any Author to write thereof Bryon no doubt is a Sea-herbe like in leaues to Lettuce but that they be riuelled and wrinkled as if they were drawne together in a purse no stem it hath and the leaues come forth at the bottom from the root it groweth ordinarily vpon rockes bearing out of the sea and ye shall find it also sticking to the shels of certaine fishes especially such as haue gathered any mud or earth about them The herbe is exceeding astringent and desiccatiue by vertue whereof it is a singular repercussiue in all impostumes and inflammations of the gout especially such as require to be repressed or cooled Touching Bupleuros I read that the seed thereof is giuen against the sting of serpents and that the wounds inflicted by them are to bee washed or somented with the decoction of the herb putting thereto the leaues of the Mulberrie tree or Origan Catanance is a meere Thessalian herb and growing no where els but in Thessalie and forasmuch as it is vsed only in amatorious matters and for to spice loue drinks withall I meane not to busie my selfe in the description therof howbeit thus much it would not be amisse to note for to detect and lay open the folly and vanities of Magitians namely that they went by this conjecture onely that it should be of power to win the loue of women because forsooth when it is withered it draweth it selfe inward like a dead Kites foot For the same reason also I will hold my tongue and say neuer a word of the herb Cemos Cala is of two sorts the one like to Aron which loueth to grow in toiled and ploughed grounds the time to gather this herb is before it begin to wither the same operation it hath that Aron and is vsed to the like purposes the root thereof is commended to be giuen in drink for a purgation of the belly and to prouoke the monethly termes of women the stalkes boyled leafe and all together with some pulse or other into a pottage and so taken cure the inordinate prouocations to the stoole and streinings therupon without doing any thing The second kind some call Anchusa others Rhinochisia the leaues resemble Lettuce but that they be longer ful of plume or down the root red which being applied with the floure of barly groats healeth shingles or any other kind of S. Anthonies fire but drunke in white wine cureth the infirmities of the liuer Circaeum is an herb like to winter Cherry or Alkakengi but for the flours which are black the seed small as the graine of Millet and the same groweth in huskes or bladders resembling little hornes the root is halfe a foot long forked for
is of force to put by many scrupules and religious doubts it is very euident You shall see some men to take the spittle out of their mouths and conuey it with their fingers end behind the ear for to reioice the heart driue away all pensiuenesse and melancholick fansies that trouble the mind And to bend or bow down the thumbs when we giue assent vnto a thing or do fauor any person is so vsuall that it is growne into a prouerbiall speech to bid a man put down his thumb in token of approbation In adoring the gods and doing reuerence to their images wee vse to kisse our right hand and turne about with our whole body in which gesture the French obserue to turne toward the left hand and they beleeue that they shew more deuotion in so doing As touching the maner of worshipping and adoring flashes of lightening all nations with one accord and conformity do it with a kind of whistling or chirping with the lips If there be mention made of scarefires at the table as we sit at meat we hold it ominous but we turn away the perillous presage thereof by spilling and casting water vnder the bourd When one riseth from his meat and is ready to depart if they of the house go in hand presently for to sweep the floore and make all cleane as also to take away dishes trenchers c. vpon the bourd or to remoue the cupbourd of plate liuery table whiles one of the guests is a drinking are thought to be most vnfortunat tokens and to presage much harm Servius Sulpitius a principal person of our city hath written a treatise of this argument wherein he giueth a reason why we should not leaue or shift our trenchers at euery course or change of dishes for in those daies there were no more allowed than there sat guests at the tables and those were serued but once for all If one chance to sneeze after repast the order is to call for a dish of meat and a trencher againe to be set vpon the bourd and in case he taste not of somwhat afterward it is thought a most fearefull and cursed presage on this behalf like as to sit at the table and eat nothing at all See how ceremonious those men were and what precise ordinances they instituted who were of beleef that in all our affaires and actions and at al times the diuine power of God was present and that by these means they left them pacified for all our sins and vices Neither is there an end here for ouer and besides it hath been marked that many times all the table is husht and there is not a word heard from one end to the other but this is noted neuer to happen but when the guests make a just euen number But what doth this silence presage Surely euery one of them shall be in danger to lose or impaire his credit good name and reputation Moreouer if a peece of meat chanced to fall out of the hand down to the floore it was taken vp and deliuered vpon the boord again where it passed from one to another and went through the table but in any wise they were forbidden to blow therupon for to clense it from the dust or filth that it caught Furthermore they haue proceeded thus far as to gather presages from such things as happen just at the time whiles one either speaketh or thinketh of the same But of all others this was counted a most execrable token in case it chanced that the Pontifie or high Priest sitting at the table proforma and for order sake at any solemne feast or sacrifice let fall a morcel oâ—… meat but if the same were laid vpon the boord again and afterwards burnt and sacrificed to the familiar gods of the house Lares it was thought a sufficient expiatory satisfaction Semblably men are of opinion That if any medicines purgatiue or others fortune to be set vpon a table before they bee giuen to the patient for to drink they wil do no good at all but lose their operation Also there is a superstitious ceremony in paring the nailes of the fingers during the market daies held at Rome with this charge that the party hold his tongue and be silent all the while bigin at the fore-finger and this forsooth concernes the mony of many a man Likewise as great a matter as that lieth in stroking or handling the haire of the head either on the 17 day after the change of the Moon or the 29 for a special means this is to keep the haire on which is giuen to fal as also to ease the head-ach Moreouer the peasants in the country obserue this custome in many mannors and farmes of Italy to forbid their wiues and women to spin as they walke vp and downe abroad in the street or any common way of passage or to carry their rockes and distaues vndizened or bare for this opinion they haue that in so doing they preiudice the hope of al fruits and the corne especially growing in the field for that yeare Not long since M. Seruilius Nonianus who in his time was a principal citizen of Rome to preuent the blearednesse of his eies which he feared before that either any man else foretold him of that disease or himselfe once named it took a little piece of paper and wrote therein these two capital Greek letters P and A which he lapped round fast tied with a linnen thred and so wore it hanging at a lace about his neck vnder his throat Mutianus who had bin thrice Consull of Rome obserued the same effect by wearing a flie aliue within a little rag of white fine linnen cloth and both of them did highly commend these medicines of theirs reporting that by those meanes they were free from bleared eies Finally we read of certain charms and spels against storms of hail against sundry sorts of diseases and namely for any part that is burnt or scalded and verily some of them haue been proued by experience to be effectuall But for mine own part abashed I am and ashamed to put them downe in writing considering how diuersly men are affected in minde And therefore to conclude this matter I leaue euery man to himselfe to giue credit or otherwise vnto them at his owne pleasure and discretion CHAP. III. ¶ Remedies proceeding from man for the cure of diseases IN my former Treatise as touching strange and wonderfull nations I spake of certaine races of men which were of a monstrous nature and carried a venomous regard and looke in their very eies besides many other properties of beasts which here to repeat were needlesse Howbeit in this place I think it not amisse to note that so me people there be whose bodies be from top to toe all medicinable and wholsome to others As for example the men of those families which do terrifie serpents and driue them away with their very presence who also are
of this nature that they be able to cure and ease such as are stung already either by touching only or else by a medicinable sucking of the place of which kind are the Psylli and Marsi those also in the Island Cyprus whom they call Ophugenes and of this race and house there came an Embassador out of the said Island whose name was Exagon who by the commandement of the Consuls was put into a great tun or pipe wherein were many serpents for to make an experiment and trial of the truth and in very deed the said serpents licked his body in all parts gently with their tongues as if they had bin little dogs to the great wonder of them who beheld the manner of it A man shall know those of this family if any of them remain at this day by this signe that they breath a strong and stinking sent from them especially in the Spring season Now these people beforenamed had not only a gift to cure folk with their spittle but their very sweat also had a medicinable vertue against the sting of serpents For as touching those men who are born and bred in Tentyrus an Island lying within the riuer Nilus so terrible they be vnto the Crocodiles that they wil not abide so much as their voice but flie from them so soon as they heare it Moreouer it is knowne for certaine that all the sort of these people who haue their bodies thus priuiledged by that secret antipathie in nature between them serpents are able to ease those who are stung if they do but come in place where they be like as a wound will be more angry and sore if they come neare who at any time before haue been hurt by sting of serpent or tooth of mad dog such also carry about with them in their bodies so venomous a quality that their onely presence is enough to marre the egs that a brood-hen sits vpon and make them all addle yea and to driue ewes and other cattell to cast their yong before the time such a virulent property remaineth still behind in their bodies who haue bin once stung and bitten that notwithstanding they be cured thereof yet venomous they are now and hurtfull to others who beforetime were poisoned themselues But the only way to remedy this inconuenience is to cause them to wash their hands before they enter into the roome where the patients lie and with the same water to besprinckle and wash them who are to be cured Againe this is to be obserued that whosoeuer at any time haue bin pricked with a scorpion shal neuer afterwards be stung by hornets waspes or bees A strange thing this is no doubt howbeit no great wonder vnto them who know that a garment or cloth which had bin vsed at funerals wil neuer be afterwards moth eaten and how that serpents hardly can be plucked out of their holes vnlesse it be by the left hand CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of certaine Sorceries and the properties of a mans spittle Also against Magitians THe inuentions of Pithagoras as touching numbers beare a great stroke in these matters and lightly misse not but principally in this That the said Philosopher would giue judgment by the vowels contained in the proper name of any person concerning their fortunes for in case the vowels were in number odde he pronounced that if the party euer proued lame of a lim lost an eie or met with any such like accidents the same should happen vpon the right side of the body but contrariwise if the number of vowels were euen then these infirmities should befall the left side Furthermore it is commonly said that if one take a stone dart or instrument of shot wherewith a man hath killed these three liuing creatures a man a wilde Bore and a Bear one after another that with one single stroke to euery one of them and fling the same clean ouer an house where there is a woman in hard trauell of child-birth so as it light on the other side without touching any part thereof the woman shal presently be deliueed More reason there is that a light jauelin or Pertuisan should do this feat which had bin drawn forth of a mans body so as it neuer touched the ground after for do but bring this murdering jauelin into the place where a woman is in labor it wil forthwith procure her deliuerance Orpheus and Archelaus do write much after the same maner of arrows pulled out of men bodies namely that if care be had that they touch not the earth then be laid vnder the bed where man or woman lieth they wil cause the parties to be enamored vpon them that bestowed the said arrows there and these authors report moreouer that the venison of any wild beast killed with the same weapon which was the death of a man before is singular to cure the falling sicknesse As some men there be whose bodies all throughout be medicinable so there be others who haue certain parts onely of the same vertue according as I haue written already concerning the thumbe of king Pyrrhus In the citie Elis also the inhabitants were wont to shew as a wonderfull monument the rib of Pelops which they auouched to be all of Iuory And euen at this day many there are who make great scruple to shaue or clip the haire growing in any molle or wert vpon the face As touching the fasting spittle specially of man or woman I haue shewed already how it is a soueraigne preseruatiue against the poison of serpents But that is not all for in many other cases it is found by daily experience to be of great operation and to worke effectually For first and formost if we see any surprised with the falling sicknesse we spit vpon them and by that means we are persuaded that we our selues auoid the contagion of the said disease Item an ordinary thing it is with vs to put by the danger of witch-craft by spitting in the eies of a witch so do we also when we meet with one that limpeth and is lame of the right leg Likewise when we craue pardon of the gods for some audacious and presumptuous praiers that wee make we vse to spit euen into our bosoms Semblably for to fortifie the operation of any medicines the manner is to pronounce withal a charm or exorcisme three times ouer and to spit vpon the ground as often and so we doubt not but it will do the cure and not faile Also when we perceiue a fellon or such like vncom sore a breeding the first thing that we doe is to marke it three times with our fasting spittle I will tell you of a strange effect and whereof it is no hard matter yw is to make the triall If one man hath hurt another either by reaching him a blow neare at hand or by letting flie somwhat at him farther off repent him when he hath so done let him presently spit just in the
same againe saying withall this charme I tied the knot and I will vndo it againe therewith go his waies she shall soone after fall to her businesse and haue more speedy deliuerance Orpheus and Archelaus both do affirme That if the squinancy be anointed with man or womans bloud it skilleth not out of what vein or part of the body it issued it is an excellent remedy for that disease The like effect it hath if their mouthes be rubbed with the said bloud who being ouertaken with the epilepsie are falne down for immediatly thereupon they will rise and stand vpon their feet Some write That if the great toes be pricked vntill they bleed again the drops that come forth worke the like effect in the falling sickenesse so that the face of the Patient be sprinkled or besmeared therewith or if a maiden touch the parties face that lieth in a fit of the said disease with her bare thumbe or great toe he shall come againe to himselfe and recouer By which experiment Physitians going by coniecture are of opinion That such persons subject to that disease should feed of the flesh of such beasts as neuer were with yong Aeschines a Physitian of Athens was wont to cure squinsies the inflammations of the amygdals the infirmities of the uvula and all cancerous sores with the ashes of a man or womans body burnt and this medicine he called Botryon Many maladies there bee that goe away the first time that either a man hath carnall knowledge of a woman or that a maid seeth her monthly sicknesse but if they end not at such a time commonly they proue chronicke diseases and continue a long time and especially the falling sicknesse It is said moreouer That the company of a woman easeth them very much who are stung with a scorpion but women in the same case catch harme by that means Some say also that if the eies be dipped three times in that water wherein a man or woman hath washed their feet they shall be troubled neither with blearednesse nor any other infirmity And others there be who affirm that the wens called the Kings euil the swelling kernels also behind the ears and the squinancy are cured with touching the hands of them that haue died a violent vntimely death Some stand not so much vpon that point but say That the backe of the hand of any one that is dead it skills not how nor by what means if it touch the grieued part wil work the like effect so that the dead party the Patient be both of one sex As for the tooth-ach it is a common speech That if one bite off a peece of some tree that hath been blasted or smitten with lightning prouided alwaies that he hold his hands behind him at his back in so doing the said morsell or peece of wood will take away the toothach if it be laid vnto the tooth Some there be who giue direction to take the perfume of a mans tooth burning in the fire for to ease the too h ach of a man and semblably of a womans tooth to help woâ—…en in the same case Others you shall haue that prescribe to draw one of the eie-teeth called in Latine Canini out of the head of man or woman lying dead and not yet enterred and to wear the same against the tooth-ach It is a common speech That the earth found in or about a man or womans scull is a singular depilatory and fetcheth away the haire of the eiebrows As for the grasse or weed that grows therein if any such may be found it causeth the teeth to fall out of the head with chewing only As also that no vlcer wil spread farther but keep at a stay if there be a circle drawne about it with the bone of a man or womans body As touching the cure of a tertian ague some there be who lade vp water out of 3 pits as much out of one as another and mingle all together which done they put the said water into a new earthen pot that neuer was occupied before begin to the Patient out of it giuing the rest vnto him or her for to drink when the fit commeth But for the quartan ague they get me a broken fragment of a wooden pin which held the sides crosse peece of a paire of gallows together wrap it within a lock of wool and so hang it about the Patient or els they take a peece of the halter or rope from the gallows and vse it in like maner for the foresaid purpose but wot ye what when the patient is by this meanes rid of the feuer the said parcel of wood or cord they vse to bury or bestow close in some hole within the ground where the Sun may neuer shine on it then the accesse wil neuer return more See the toies vanities of these Magitians and yet these be not all for they run on stil and say that if one take a whetstone which hath serued a long time to whet kniues other edge tooles on and lay the same vnder the boulster or pillow where one lieth that is ready to faint and giue vp the ghost vpon some indirect means by sorcery witchcraft or poisoning but this must be done without the knowledge of the said party you shal from the very mouth of the patient hear what poison was giuen in what place at what time but who it was that gaue it he or she shal not be able to name Moreouer this is known for a truth that if one be strucken speechlesse with lightning and then the body be bent and turned toward the wounded place the party shal recouer presently and speak again Some there be who to driue back and keep down the biles and botches that rise in the share take the thred or yearn out of the weauers loome which serue for the selvedge or list making seuen or nine knots and in the knitting of euery one of them name some widow or other and then tie it fast about the grieued place Also for to assuage the paine of any wound they giue order that the wounded party take a naile or some other thing that one hath troden vnder foot and to weare the same tied about the neck arme or other part of the body For to be rid of warts some chuse a time to pluck them vp by the roots when the Moone is twenty daies old at least and then lay themselues along vpon their backs in some ordinary high way looking fully vpon the Moone and stretching their armes backeward as farre as they can beyond their heads and looke what they can catch hold of with their hands therewith they rub the place If one cut and pare an agnell or corn in any part of the body obseruing a time when a star seemeth to shoot or fall they say it wil quickly weare away and be healed for euer They would beare vs in hand That if a man poure vineger vpon the
If it look red the bloud be sure is predominant and distempered The vrin is not to be liked but presageth danger wherin there appeare certain contents like brans blackish clouds also a white thin and waterish vrine is neuer good but in case it be thick and of a stinking smell withall it is a deadly signe and there is no way but one with the Patient As for children if their water be thin and waterish it is but ordinary and naturall The Magitians expressely forbid in making water to lay bare the nakednesse of that part against Sun and Moon or to pisse vpon the shadow of any person And therefore Hesiodus giueth a precept to make water against a wall or something standing full before vs for feare least our nakednesse being discouered might offend some god or Angell To conclude Hosthaues doth vpon his warrant assure vs That whosoeuer droppeth some of his owne vrine euerie morning vpon his feet he shal be secured against all charms sorceries and deadly poisons whatsoeuer CHAP. VII ¶ The remedies that womens bodies do minister THe medicines which are said to proceed from the bodies of women be such and the operations so miraculous that they come nearer to the nature of monstrous wonders than true reports of natural works to say nothing of much mischiefe and many wicked parts committed by the means of their vntimely births and infants stil born which haue bin dismembred and cut in pieces for some abhominable practises to let passe the strange expiations wrought by their monthly terms and a thousand more deuises which haue bin deliuered and set abroad not only by midwiues but also by secret harlots that haue slipt their conceptions and bin deliuered in corners But to speak of the foresaid remedies which are in vre and commonly known The perfume that the hairs of a womans head make whiles they burn chaseth away Serpents The smell thereof also raiseth and reuiueth women who in a fit of the mother lie speechlesse and breathlesse The ashes verily of the said hairs burnt in some earthen pan or fish-shell being applied alone or with litharge of siluer is a singular medicine for the asperity of the eies the itch Item It taketh warts away and cureth the red gum and sores that infants be subiect vnto if it be vsed with hony The same ashes mingled with Hony and Frankincense healeth wounds in the head and doth incarnat or fil vp with good flesh hollow vlcers whatsoeuer they be And incorporat with swines lard it is good for the broad biles called Pani for the gout and S. Anthonies fire it staieth also any bleeding presently and stoppeth the running of ring-wormes and such like Touching womens milke it is holden by a generall accord of all other to be sweetest most delicat whereupon it is prescribed by Physitians vnto those that haue lien of a long languishing feuer as also to such as be troubled with a fluxe occasioned by a feeble stomacke but in these cases that milk is reputed most wholsom which a nurce giueth that hath newly weaned her child besides when the appetite of women is giuen to an inordinate longing after strange things in agues also in gnawings and frettings of the stomacke it is found by experience to be most effectuall Likewise being incorporat with Frankincense it is singular good for the impostumes breeding in womens brests If the eies be bloudshotten vpon any stripe if they be in pain or troubled with a violent rheum falling into them let a nource milk it in them they shall find very much ease thereby howbeit for the accidents abouenamed it is held to be more soueraign in case it be applied to the place together with hony the juice of the daffodil or els with the pouder of frank incense where by the way this would be obserued that for what vse soeuer milk is imploied that is ordinarily of more force which a woman giueth that bare a man child but if she was brought to bed of two twins both boies then it is best and most effectuall prouided alwaies that the mother her selfe do forbeare drinking of wine eat no meat or sauces that be sharp Moreouer this is knowne for certaine that if womans milk be incorporat with the liquid white of an egge and so applied to the forehead with wooll wet in the said liquor it staieth the flux of humors into the eies Moreouer a soueraign remedy is milk against the venomous slime or spittle of roads in case they pisse or spurt into our eies Also if they haue bitten one there is not a better thing either to be drunk or dropped vpon the sore than brest milk It is a common saying That whosoeuer can meet at one time together with the milk of mother and daughter both shall neuer need to feare all their life long any infirmities of the eies so they be annointed or bathed therewith Semblably womens milk is singular for to cure the accidents befalling to the eares if it be dropped in with a little Opium put thereto but if so be the eares are pained by reason of some stripe that they haue receiued the said milke would haue some Goose grease mixed with it and so be instilled warme And say that they haue a strong and stinking smell with them as commonly it falleth out in all long diseases there is nothing better than to put wooll into them which is soked in brest milk and hony together If it happen that the eies look still yellow after the jaundise it is good to drop milk into them with the juice of the wild Cucumber This peculiar vertue it hath ouer and besides those abouenamed if it be taken in drink to help those that haue bin poisoned with the sea-Hare the worme Buprestis and as Arâ—…stotle saith with the deadly Dwale called Dorycnion In this maner also it cureth those whose brains be troubled and intoxicat with drinking Henbane Physitians likewise haue prescribed to make a liniment with milk and Hemlock for to be applied vnto the gout And some there be who vse it in that case together with Oesype i the sweat or fattinesse of vnwashed wooll and Goose-grease in which manner it serueth in a pessary to be put vp in the naturall parts of women to assuage the pain of the matrice To drink brest milk is a good meane to stop a laske as Rabirius writeth yet the same doth prouoke the monthly course of womens fleurs what is to be sayd now or a womans milk who hath born a maid child surely it is better than the other in these cases only to wit in scouring the skin of the face and taking away the pimples spots and freckles which be therein But I must not forget that any breast-milke whatsoeuer cureth the maladies incident to the lights and if there be tempered therewith the vrine of a yong lad not ful fourteen yeares old and Attick honey so there be of each one spoonfull I find it
to be an excellent remedy for to rid away the ringing end thumping within the ears And to conclude it is a generall speech That if dogs do lap and tast the milke of a woman which hath borne a maid child they will neuer run mad As touching the fasting spittle of a woman it is judged to be a proper medicine for bloud-shotten eies also for the rheum that hath taken a course thither if so be the corners of the eyes be euer and anone bathed and wet therewith when they be hot and inflamed but more effectually will this remedy work in case the woman forbeare all meat and wine the day before I read moreouer in some Authors That if the head be bound vp with a womans haire-lace or fillet it easeth the pain thereof And thus much in some good sort as touching the medicines proceeding from women As for the rest that are written and reported they exceed all reason and there is no end of them For first and formost it is said that if a woman whiles her monthly sicknesse is vpon her bee set into the wind abroad with her belly naked she will scar away hailestorms whirlewindes and lightenings yea and aâ—…ert any violence of the weather whatsoeuer And at sea verily any woman standing openly against the weather bare although she haue not her fleurs is enough to secure the sailers and passengers from all tempests As for the very monthly flux itself of women a thing in other respects and at all times as I haue shewed before of a monstrous nature there be writers who tell and presage wonders thereof such as be horrible abhominable and indeed not to be spoken and yet some of these things I hold it no shame to deliuer in writing namely If it fall out just in the eclipse of Sun or Moon that a woman hath her sicknesse come down the same is a pestilent quality and apt to breed diseases incureable Likewise if haply the time of the change when the Moon is in coniunction with the Sun and those things concurre together the man who medleth with her during that time shall not auoid his bane but it will bring vpon him some pestilent malaâ—…y remedilesse Moreouer the venome thereof is so strong at that time especially more than at any other that the presence or breath only of a woman then will infect and staine any purple cloth And yet bad enough it is at all times for whensoeuer they are in their fleurs it skills not in what quarter of the Moone if they goe about any field of corn with their nakednesse vncouered yee shall see the canker wormes caterpillers beetles and all such wormes and hurtfull vermine to fall from the corn as they passe along This inuention by the saying of Scepsius and Metrodorus came from the Cappadocians who being infested with a number of those green flies called Cantharides deuised this means to be rid of them for they caused their women at the time of their monthly terms sauing the reuerence of womanhood be it spoken to go through the standing corne with their cloths tuckt vp round about their wast and all bare beneath In other countries yet they are more mannerly and in a better respect to the honor of women put them only to go barefoot for this purpose with their haire hanging loose about their eares vngirt vnlaced and vnbraced Howbeit great heed must be taken that they walke not thus at the Sunne-rising for then surelv all the crop vpon the ground will wither and dry away to nothing Also if a woman during her natural courses doe but touch any yong vines it is enough to marre them for euer As for Rue and Iuie Plants otherwise of themselues most medicinable and indued with singular vertues against poison they will presently die with their touch Much I haue already said of this strong and pestiferous venome and yet I haue not written all For ouer and besides certaine it is that if a menstruous woman doe no more but touch a Bee-hiue all the Bees will be gone and neuer come to it againe Also if at such a time she handle any skains or slips of linnen yearn and set them ouer the fire to seeth they will in the boiling turn black Let her but take a barbers rasor in her hand the edge wil turn and become blunt nay if she do no more but touch any brasen vessel it is wonderfull what a strong sauor it wil cast and how it wil rust and canker therupon and the rather if this fall out to be in the decrease or wane of the moon Doth a woman at such a time touch a mare that is in fole it is enough to make her cast the same before due time And not onely so but the very sight of women in that case although they be a great way off is able to do much harm but principally the first time that they haue the said fleurs after the losse of their maidenhead or otherwise during their virginity when they first come down by course of nature of the owne accord The malignitie of this venomous humor is so great that the slime ingendred within the lake of Sodome in Iury as viscous as it is otherwise will forgoe all that tenacity and diuide in sunder by nothing els but a thred infected with the said menstrual bloud according as I haue declared heretofore So forcible it is besides that the very fire which is of power to ouercome all things and change their nature is not able to conquer and alter this for burne or calcine it to ashes and strew neuer so little thereof vpon any cloths that are to be washed or scoured in the Fullers mill it wil change their color though they were of purple and cause any die whatsoeuer to lose the fresh lustre And more than that so pernicious is the quality of this venome that as naturall otherwise as it is to women it is no better than a poison to those of their own sex for in case one woman with child be annointed about her naturall parts with the foresaid bloud of another or do but step ouer the place where it is she will immediatly fall to labour and slip an abortiue birth As for the famous curtizans Lais and Elephantis who haue written so contrary one to the other of this argument and namely as touching abortions and of what efficacy the cole of Colewort Myrtle or Tamariske root is after it hath bin quenched in the said bloud as also how she Asses will not conceiue for so many yeres as they chance to eat Barly corns infected therewith besides other strange deuises that they haue set abroach I think them incredible I would not haue any credit at all giuen vnto their writings considering the monstruosities contrarieties which they haue put down whiles the one prescribeth medicines for to make fruitful the other ordaineth the very same to hinder conception and cause them to be barren Moreouer Bythus of
other skin about them But with brimstone it cureth the raggednesse of the nails it staieth likewise the haire of the head which is giuen to shed also if it be mixed with a fourth part of gall-nuts it healeth the vlcers in a womans head but if it be well smoked it helpeth to preserue the haires of the eie-lids An ounce weight thereof boiled in one hemine of old wine vntill there be three ounces and no more of the whole remaining is giuen an ounce at once to those who are in a phthysick Some appoint a little hony to be put thereto The same together with Quick-lime reduced into a liniment is singular for the biles and impostumes called Pani as also for felons and the hard tumors of womens paps it serueth besides to cure inward ruptures and convulsions spasmes crampes and dislocations Being applied with white Ellebore it healeth corns agnels fissures chaps and callosities But incorporat with the pouder of a saltars pot-shard it heales the swelling impostumes behind the ears as also the wens called the Kings euil being ordered in like manner If the body be well rubbed and annointed therwith in the baine or hot-house it taketh away all itch red pimples wheals rising in the skin Moreouer prepared after another sort to wit with old oile together with the stone called by the Greekes Sarcophagus beaten to pouder adding thereto the herb Cinquefoile stamped in wine either with Quicklime or with ashes and so reduced into a liniment it is very good for those that be troubled with the gout Thereof also is made a singular plaster against inflammations in this wise Take of the said grease the weight of fourscore and fiue pound of white litharge of siluer one hundred pound weight mix them both together As for Bores grease if there be a liniment made of it and rosin it is thought to be excellent good for to anoint therwith vlcers that be corrosiue and giuen to spread farther In old time men vsed it most about the axletrees of their carts and wagons anointing them therwith that the wheels might turn about more easily whereupon it took the name Axungia And being emploied in this maner it serueth for a medicin to cure the vlcers of the seat priuy members seruing to generation by reason that it is mixed and coloured with the rust of the yron incorporat into it The antient Physitians made most account alwaies of the said hogs grease by it selfe which was plucked from the kidnies for after it was clensed from the strings veins and skins they washed it often and rubbed it well in rain water which done they sod it in new earthen pots shifting it out of one into another many times and beeing thus tried and clarified they kept it for their vse Howbeit all are agreed that when it hath taken salt it is a greater emollitiue it heateth also discusseth and resolueth more yea being washed in wine it is much better than otherwise As touching the fat or grease of a Wolfe Massurius writeth that in old time it was esteemed before any other had the price aboue all And he saith that new wedded wiues were wont vpon their mariage day to anoint the side posts of their husbands houses therwith at their first entrance to the end that no charms witchcrafts and sorceries might haue power to enter in thus much of grease Look what vertue grease hath the same be sure is the suet and tallow endued with which commeth from those beasts that chew cud and although it may be handled dressed otherwise yet in force it is nothing inferior But what talow soeuer it be the best way of pre paring it is after the skins or veins be rid away to wash it first either in sea water or salt brine and then within a while to stamp it in a mortar eftsoons sprinkling it with sea-water after which it ought to be sodden in many waters vntill it haue lost all the sauor rank tast that it had and then at last by setting it in the Sun continually it wil be reduced to a perfect whitenesse moreouer this is to be noted that the best suet is that which groweth about the kidnies But say that old tallow is called for and to be vsed in any cure it ought first to be melted and then anon to be well and often washed in fresh cold waters which done it must be liquified a second time casting and pouring thereupon eftsoons the best odorifeorous wine that may be gotten after which maner they vse to seeth it again and again and neuer giue ouer vntill the rank smell and sent thereof be clean gone and verily many are of opinion that particularly the fat of Buls Lions Panthers and Cammels ought thus to be ordered and prepared As for the vses properties of these Pomonades I will treat thereof in conuenient place Concerning marrow it is a thing common to all creatures like as the fat abouesaid All the kinds thereof are emollitiue and incarnatiue they dry also heat the body The best marrow simply is that of Deere as well red as fallow next to it in goodnesse is calues marrow and then in a third rank follow kids and goats marrow Prepared they ought to be and dressed before Autumne when they be new and fresh washed and dried in the shadow But afterwards they must be melted again and run through a finer sercer or pressed through linnen strainers which done they should be put vp in earthen pots and set in a cold place But of all those things which are generally to be found in euery liuing creature the gall is that which is of greatest efficacy in operation for power it hath naturally to heat bite cut draw discusse and resolue The gall of smaller beasts is taken to be more subtill and penetratiue than that of the greater and therfore supposed to be the better for to go into eie-salues Buls gall is thought to haue a speciall faculty aboue all others principally in setting a golden colour vpon skins brasse What gall soeuer it be in the preparation therof for any vse regard must be had that it be taken fresh and new and then the orifice of the burse or bag wherein it is contained ought to be tied fast with a good round pack thred thus being bound vp close it must be cast into boiling water and there remain halfe an hour within a while after so soon as it is dried out of the Sun it ought to be preserued and kept in hony The gal of horses only is vtterly condemned reputed as a very poison which is the cause that the arch-Flamin or principall sacrificer is forbidden by law expressely to touch an horse notwithstanding that in Rome it is an ordinary thing to sacrifice euen horses publickly and not their gall alone but also their bloud is corrosiue by nature and putrifactiue The bloud of Mares milke likewise vnlesse they be such as were neuer couered nor bare soles
white Ellebore for the pin and web others againe with wine against cicatrices pearles obscurity of sight filmes and spots But for the eie-lids after the haire which pricked and offended the eie is pulled out they applie it with the iuice of Beets suffering the said liniment to dry vpon the eie-lids If any tunicles of the eie be broken they take womans milk to apply vnto it In sum for al infirmities of the eies whatsoeuer they hold a goats gall which is old and hath bin long kept to be more soueraigne and effectuall in operation than any other Neither doe they reiect the dung of this beast but repute a liniment made of it and honey to be as good for waterie eyes as the marrow for the paine thereof likewise the lungs of an hare And verily the gall of an hare as it is commonly reported incorporat with câ—…it or honey and so applied helpeth those that be dim-sighted Furthermore they ordaine to rub and annoint the eies against their inflammation and bleerednesse either with woolues greace or else with swines marrow And no maruell for they say That whosoeuer vse to carry about them in a bracelet a foxes tongue shall neuer be troubled with sore eies For the pain infirmities incident to the ears there is not a better nor more excellent thing than the vrin of a wild bore saued and kept in a glasse the gall likewise of a wild bore or sow as also of a boeufe mixt with Cicinie oile and oile Rosat in equall quantity is a singular remedy but especially buls gall dropped into the ears warm with the iuice of Porret or els with hony in case they be impostumat within and run with water The same alone by it selfe warmed in the rind of a pomegranate is excellent to take away the ranke and strong sauour of the eares and if any part within be broken the said gall instilled with womans milke healeth it effectually Some there be who ordaine the eares to be well washed with it so prepared for to remedy the difficulty and hardnesse of hearing others vse to put into the eares wooll washed before in hot water and inclose therewith a peece of a serpents slough with vineger but if the deafenesse be the greater they infuse the said gall into the eares tempered with Myrrhe and Rue and so made hot all together in the pill of a Pomegranate Fat lard also is good for this purpose and the greene dung of an Asse instilled with oile Rosat prouided alwaies that all these medicines be warme when they be dropped into the eares But the fome that a horse doth froth is better than all these or the ashes of horse dung fresh made and burned mixed with oile of Roses In this case likewise are commended boeufe suet goose grease and fresh butter The vrine of a Goat or bull yea and stale chamber-lie which fullers vse made hot and the vapour thereof receiued into the eare at the narrow mouth or necke of a bottle cureth the deafenesse thereof Some put thereto a third part of vineger and a quantitie of the pisse of a calfe which is yet a suckling and neuer tasted grasse yea and others there be which put thereto the dung mixed with the gall of the said calfe The skin or slough also which snakes cast off is very good to be applied vnto the ears but they ought to be well chaufed and set into an heat before Now are these medicines to be inclosed within wooll and so applied Moreouer calues tallow with Goose grease and the juice of Basill is good for the hearing also calues marrow incorporat together with the pouder of cumin and so powred into the ears The slimy sperme of a bore which passeth from the shap of a sow after she is brimmed if it may be gotten before it touch the ground is singular for the pain of the ears If the ears be crackt and hang flagging down there is nothing better than glue made of calues pizzles if the same be dissolued in water For other impediments of the ears the fat of foxes is very good In like manner Goats gall with oile of Roses warme or the juice of leeks or if there be any rupture within the ears the said gall must be applied with brest-milke For those who be hard of hearing or haue their eares running and suppurate within it is not amisse to drop into them a beasts gall with the vrine of a shee-goat or of the male it makes no matter But these medicines howsoeuer they are to be vsed are thought to be more effectual by far in case they were put into a goats horne and so hung in the smoke for the space of 20 dayes together Also there is great commendation of the rennet of an hare if there be one third part of a Roman denarius thereof and halfe a denare weight of gum Sagapene concorporat in Aminean wine As for the swelling impostumes behind the ears bears grease represseth and keepeth them downe if there be a cerot made thereof together with the equall weight of wax and bulls tallow some there be who put Hypoquist is thereto and butter alone is good to annoint them with so that they were fomented before with the decoction of Fenigreeke Howbeit of much better opperation it would be in case Nightshade were added thereto The stones of a fox buls bloud also dried and reduced to powder be commended in this case Moreouer the vrin of a she goat made warm and so dropped into the ears the dung likewise brought into a liniment with hogs grease is very good To come now to the infirmities of the teeth if they be loose and shake in their sockets the ashes of harts horn will settle them firme and fast again if they ake the same ashes are verie good to ease the paine whether the teeth be rubbed or washed therewith But some are of opinion that the pouder of the said horne not burnt at all is far better than the ashes in these cases howbeit there be dentifrices made both of the powder and also of the ashes Moreouer the ashes of a wolues head is thought to be a soueraigne remedy for the pains incident to the teeth Now it is well knowne that among the excrements of a wolfe there be many times bones found which if they be hanged about the necke arme or other parts of the body haue the same effect Likewise the crudled rendles of an hare infused into the eare are singular for the tooth-ache the ashes also which come of the head burnt is a pretty dentifrice for to rub the teeth withall but if you put Nard thereto it doth correct and palliat a stinking breath But some there be who chuse rather to mingle therewith the ashes of mice and rats heads There is found in the side of a hares head a certaine sharpe bone like vnto a needle herewith Physitians giue counsel to scarrifie the teeth and let the gums bloud for the tooth-ache Take the
carbuncles take the brains of a tame sow rost the same and apply it vnto the sores it is a soueraigne remedy Touching the scabs that men be subject vnto there is not the like medicine for killing the same to the marow of an asse a liniment made with the vrin of the said beast together with the earth vpon which he hath staled Butâ—…r likewise is very good in that case as also for the farcins sullanders and mallanders in horses if it be applied therto with rosin made hot so is strong buls gluedissolued in vineger with quick lime put thereto also goats gall tempered with the ashes of alume calcined For the red blisters and meazils likewise there is not a better medicine than the dung of a cow or oxe and therupon they tooke the name of Boae The mange in dogs is healed with beasts bloud so they be bathed therewith whiles it is fresh and warm and after the same is dried vpon the body to follow it a second time the same day the morrow after to wash them throughly with lie made of strong ashes If thorns spills bones and such like things haue gotten into the flesh and there sticke cars durg is very good to draw the same forth likewise the treddles of a goat with wine Any rendles also but especially that which is found in an hares maw serue in that case reduced into a salue with the pouder of frankincense and oile or else with the like quantity of birdlime or the cereous matter in the Bee-hiue called Propolis Furthermore the grease of an asse is singular to reduce any swe rt sploches and black skars to a fresh and natiue colour which if they ouergrow the skin about them are brought downe and made more euen and subtill by an inunction of calues gall but the Physitians prepare the sayd gall with an addition of myrrh hony and safron and then put it vp in a brasen box for their vse yet some there be who mingle with the rest verdegris or the rust of brasse CHAP. XIX ¶ Receits appropriat to the maladies of women and the diseases of sucking babes also remedies for them that are vnable to performe the act of generation TO begin with the naturall course of womens purgation the gall of a bul or oxe applied to their secâ—…et parts in vnwashed greasie wooll is very effectuall to bring the same down The skilfull midwife of Thebes Olympias vsed to put thereto hyssope and sal-nitre For this purpose harts horne burnt to ashes is very good to be taken in drinke But if the matrice be out of order and vnsetled it is not amisse to apply the same ashes vnto the naturall parts yea and buls gall together with Opium to the weigh of two oboli or else perfume their secret parts with a suffumigation of deers hair Moreouer it is said that the hinds when they perceiuethemselues to be in calf swallow down a little stone which is singular good for women with child to carry about them that they may go out their full time and therefore much seeking there is after this stone which is commonly found among their excrements at such a time or else in their womb if haply they be killed with calfe for then it is to be had there also Moreouer there are found certain little bones in the heart and matrice of an hinde and those bee passing good for great bellied women and such as be in â—…auel of child-birth As for that stony substance resembling a pumish which in like manner is found in the wombe of kine I haue spoken already in my discourse or Kine and their nature If the matrice of a woman be growne hard and haue a scirrhe in it the fat of a wolfe will mollifie it if it be grieued with paine the liuer of a wolfe assuageth the same When women be neare their time and ready to cry out it is good for them to eat wolues flesh or if when they fall first to trauell there be but one by them who hath eaten therof this is such an effectuall thing that if they were forespoken or indirectly dealt withall by sorcery witchcraft this is thought to ease them of paine and procure them speedy deliuerance But in case such a one as hath eaten wolues flesh chance to come into the chamber when a woman is in the mids of their trauell she shall surely haue a hard bargaine and die of it Moreouer great vse there is of the hare in all womens infirmities for the lungs of an hare dried made into pouder and taken in drinke is comfortable to the matrice and helpeth it in many accidents thereof the liuer drunk with Samian earth in water staieth the excessiue flux of their fleurs the rennet of their maw fetcheth away the after-birth when it staieth behind but then in any wise the woman must not bathe or sweat in bain theday before the same rennet appliedas a cataplasme vpon a quilt of wooll with Safron the juice of porret forceth the dead infant within the mothers wombe to come forth Many are of opinion that if a woman eat with her meat the matrice of an hare she shall thereupon conceiue a man child if she company with her husband And some say that the genetoirs of the male hare yea the rendles are good for that purpose And it is thought that if a woman who hath giuen ouer bearing children doe eat the young leueret taken forth of the dams belly when she is newly bagd she wil find the way again to conceiue breed freshly as before but the magitians do prescribe the husband also to drink the bloud of an hare for so say they he shall sooner get his wife with child And they affirme moreouer that if a maiden be desirous her brests or paps should not grow any more but stand alwaies at one stay knit vp round and small she is to drink 9 treddles or grains of hares dung and for the same intent they aduise a virgin to rub her bosom with a hares rennet hony together also to anoint the place with hares bloud where the haire is plucked off if they be desirous that it should not grow again As touching the ventosities and inflation of the matrice it is good to vse thereto a liniment made of bores or swines dung incorporat with oile but in this disease it were better for to represse the said windines flatuosity to spice a cup with the pouder of the same dung dried giue it to the woman to drink for whether she be vexed with wrings whiles she is with child or pained with afterthrows in childbed she shall find much ease by that potion Furthermore it is said that sows milk giuen with honied wine to a woman that is in labour helps her to speedy deliuerance Let a woman newly brought to bed drink the same milk alone she will proue a good milch nource and haue her brests strut with milke but let her
breasts be annointed al ouer with the bloud of a sow they will grow the lesse by that means If the paps do ake and put the woman to paine a draught of asses milke assuageth that griefe put thereto a quantitie of hony it will bring down the desired purgation of a woman The greace of the same beast which hath beene tried and long kept healeth the exulceration of the matrice and being applied to the natural parts with a lock of wool in forme of a pessarie or otherwise it mollifieth the hardnes of that place The same fresh or long kept it makes no matter whether is depilatorie for look what part is annointed with it water together the haire wil come no more there The milt of an asse kept vntil it be dry and tempered with water into a liniment for the breasts causeth them to grow and bringeth store of milke into them and if the matrice be vnsetled and turned aside any way out of order it reduceth it into the place again If a woman set ouer a suffumigation of an asses houfe and receiue the fume vp into her body she shall haue quick speed of childbirth for so strong it is that it wil cause abortion and put her to a slip before the time and therefore it is not to be vsed vnlesse a woman haue gone her full time or that the child be dead in her wombe for surely it is able to kill the child within her body without great heed and careful regard Also it is said that the dung of this beast if it be applied fresh green is of wonderfull operation to stop the extraordinarie flux of bloud in women so is the ashes of the same dung which being laid vnto their naturall parts is a soueraigne remedy for the accidents therto belonging Moreouer take the some or froth of an horse mouth and let the place be annointed therewith for twenty daies together either before the haire do come or when it beginneth to spurt it will keepe them for euer being vndergrown of the same operation is the decoction of a harts horne but it will do the feat the better in case the said horne be new and green If the matrice be syringed and washed with mares milke it will find much comfort and ease thereby If a woman perceiue the infant to be dead in her body let her take the powder of the rugged werts vpon a horse leg call Lichenes in fresh water it will exclude the said dead fruit of the wombe the perfume also of the houfe will do as much or the dung dried If the matrice be falne or slipt out of the body an injection of butter by the metrenchyte staieth the same and keepeth it vp If there be any hardnes grown in that part whereby it is stopped a beasts gall mingled with oyle of roses turpentine and so applied outwardly in a lock of wool openeth the said obstruction It is said also that a suffumigation made of ox dung staieth the matrice vp when it is readie to fail yea and helpeth a woman in labour to speady childbirth but if she vse to drink cows milk she shal be the better disposed prepared to conceiue with child Moreouer this is a thing for certain known that there is nothing bringeth a woman sooner to barrennes than hard trauaile in childbearing But to preuent this inconuenience Olympias the expert midwife of Thebes affir meth that there is nothing better than to annoint the naturall parts of a woman with ox gall incorporat in the fat of serpents verdegrece and hony mixed therwith before that she medleth with a man in the act of generation Likewise if a woman which is giuen to haue those naturall parts ouer-moist and slippery by reason of humours purging immoderately that way do apply vnto the neck of the matrice a calues gall a little before she mind to admit the carnal company of a man she will be the more apt to conceiue and in very truth the inunction therewith doth mollifie the hardnesse of the bellie represseth outragious fluxions if the nauell be annointed therwith and in one word is good euery way for the matrice Howbeit in the vse of this gal they ordain a proportion to wit that to euery denier weight of the same there be put a third part of persly seed with as much of the oile of almonds as is thought sufficient to incorporat them into a liniment and this they put vp with wooll in manner of a pessarie The gall of an ox calfe tempered with halfe as much hony is a medicine ordinarily kept in readines for the diseases of the matrice Some make great account of veale and doe promise that if women about the time that they conceiue doe eat it with the root of Aristolochia i. Birthwort they shall bring forth boies As for the marow of a calfe sodden in wine water together with the suet so conveied vp in a pessary healeth the exulceration of the matrice So doth fox greace the dung of cats but this ought to be applied with rosin and oile rosat It is thought that there is not so good a thing for the matrice as to sit ouer a suffumigation made of goats horn The bloud of the wild goat or shamois tempered with the sea-ball serueth to take away haires but the gall of other goats that be tame mollifieth the callositie in the matrice if a pessarie be strewed withall and causeth a woman to be meet for conception if shee vse it presently vpon the purgation of her monethly terms Also the same hath a depilatory vertue if a liniment be made therewith and vsed to the place where the haire is plucked forth already and kept thereto three daies together Furthermore our midwiues do warrant that if a woman drink goats vrine it will stop all fluxes of bloud be they neuer so immoderat so shee apply also outwardly the dung of the said beast The pellicle or glean wherein a kid was infolded within the dams wombe kept vntill it be drie and drunk in wine putteth forth the after-birth in women And they are of this opinion that a suffumigation of kids haire is very good to cause the matrice to return when it was falne down also that to drink their rennet or to apply outwardly henbane seed is singular for to stay any issue of bloud Osthanes saith that if the loins or small of a womans backe be annointed with the bloud of a tike taken from a blacke Bull or Cow that is of a wilde kinde it will put her out of al fansies of venereous sports He affirmeth moreouer that if she drink the vrin of a male goat with some spikenard among to take away the loth some tast thereof she will forget all loue that she bare to any man before To come now vnto little infants there is not a more proper thing for them than butyr either alone by it selfe or with hony and to speak more particularly it
otherwhiles to their patients most strait diet and again when they are ready many times to faint die vnder their hands for want of sustenance how they be forced to cram them as it were and giue them meat vpon meat oftentimes in one day before they haue digested the former viands Moreouer how they do and vndo altering the manner and course of their proceedings a thousand waies misliking and bethinking themselues after they haue done a thing making a mish mash and mingle mangle in the kitchin of those victuals which they ordain for their poore patients besides a deal of mixtures and sophisticat compositions of drugs and ointments For there is no superfluity tending vnto vain pleasures and wanton delights that hath ouerpassed their hands And since I light vpon the mention of these drugs and spices for mine owne part I am verily persuaded that our ancestors and forefathers were nothing well pleased with the bringing in of such forrain wares which beare so high prices and are extream deare and that Cato neuer thought of these drugs and mixtureâ—… â—…or foresaw these corruptions by them occasioned when he blamed so much and condemned this art of Physick Yet see what account there is made of a composition called Theriace deuised onely for excesse and superfluity composed it is of diuers ingredients far fetcht and deare bought whereas Nature hath bestowed vpon vs and presented to oureies so many wholesome simples and euery one of them by it selfe medicinable and sufficient Moreouer another antidote and confection there is consisting of no fewer than 54 sundrie sorts of drugs and ingredients all of diuers weights and some of them are prescribed to carrie the poyse precisely of the sixtieth part of one denarius or dram Now would I gladly know what god he was for surely it passeth the wit of man thus to dispense the ingredients and calculat their vertues to a single scruple that taught first this subtil and intricat composition By which it appeares manifestly that this geere bewraieth onely a vaine ostentation and all to giue a glorious and wonderful lustre to the art for to make it better accepted and more vendible And yet the very Artists themselues are not ywis so skilfull as to know that whereof they make profession For I my selfe haue seene these that goe for Physitians put commonly into their medicines and receits quid pro quo and namely in stead of the Lidian Cinnabaris Minium which is no better than a very poyson as I will proue and shew hereafter in my Treatise of Painters colours which errour proceedeth only from this that they are not wel seen in Grammar nor in the proper signification of words But these and such like errours touch and concerne the health of euery one in particular As for those abuses in the art of Physick which Cato feared foresaw and would haue preuented they be such as are nothing so hurtfull and dangerous as the rest and indeed small matters in the opinion of man and such as the principall Professors and Masters of this Art do auow and confesse among themselues Howbeit euen those deuises as harmlesse as they seem to be haue been the ouerthrow of all vertue and good manners in our Romane State I mean those things which we doe and suffer in our health our exercise of wrestling our greasing and annointing with oile for that purpose brought in forsooth and ordayned by these Physitians for to preserue our health And what should I speak of their drie stouves hot houses and ardent bayns which they would beare men in hand tobe so good for digestion of meat in their stomackes Yet could I neuer see any when hecame forth of them vpon his own feet but he was more heauy found himselfe feebler than before he went in and as for those who haue bin more obseruant of their rules than the rest and wholly gouerned by them I haue known many such caried out for dead or else extream sicke To say nothing moreouer of the potions and drinks ordained by them to be taken in a morning fasting for to vomit and scoure the stomack therby and all to make way for to quaffe and carouse again vpon it more lustily I forbeare also to write of their rosins and pitch-plaisters deuised by them for to pluck away and fetch off the haire where Nature hath ordained it to grow wherby they would seem to effeminat our men I bash also to speak how euen our women haue prostituted their nakednes and priuities vnto them by occasion of these their wanton deuises In sum conclude we may that considering these enormities and corruptions which haue crept into our life by nothing more than by the meanes of Physick Cato was a true prophet indeed and his oracle is verified fulfilled euery day when he said That it was sufficient to look cursorily into the writings and witty deuises of the Greeks without farther studying therupon and learning them throughly Thus much I thought good to speak in iustification of that Senat and people of Rome who not without great reason continued 600 yeres without the entertainment of Physicians and against that Art which of all others is most dangerous and fullest of deceit in regard wherof it hath bleered the eies of good men and they be those who haue giuen credit authority thereto And withall thus much may suffice to meet with the fond opinion and foolish persuasion of those who are rauished and caried away with a conceit esteeming nothing good for the health of man but that which is costly and pretious For certes I doubt not but some there be who will loath these receits taken from diuers beasts wherof I shall haue occasion to speak hereafter But I comfort my selfe again herein That Virgil disdained not to name the very pismires and the weevils blind beetles also delighting in darknesse and their nests wherein they keep of which he wrote notwithstanding he was not vrged theretovpon necessitie Neither did Homer think it improper to mingle the description of a shrewd and vnhappie flie euen with the heroicke battailes of the gods ne yet dame Nature who hath brought forth and made man thought it any disparagement to her majestie for to engender also these sillie and small creatures And therefore let euery man consider their vertues properties and effects and not regard so much themselues To come then to those things that are most common and known begin I will at sheeps wooll and birds egs to the end that by that means due honour may be yeelded to the chiefe and principall of all others as it doth appertain Howbeit I must of necessitie speak of some other things by the way as occasion shall be offered notwithstanding the place be not so proper fit for them Neither wanted I means sufficient to furnish this worke of mine with many gallant matters and pleasant discourses if my delight and mind had been to looke after any thing else
shels and all into a plaister or liniment but especially such as be found sticking to the roots of shrubs and bushes The ashes of the serpent Aspis calcined are likewise very good for this disease if they be incorporat with buls tallow so applied Some vse snakes grease and oil together also a liniment made with the ashes of snakes burnt tempered either with oil or wax Moreouer it is thought that the middle part of a snake after the head and taile both be cut away is very wholsome meat for those who haue the kings euill or to drink their ashes being in the same manner prepared and burnt in a new earthen pot neuer occupied mary if the said snakes chanced to be killed between two cart-tracts where the wheeles went the medicine will look much more effectually Some giue counsell to apply vnto the affected place Crickets digged out of the earth with the mould and al that commeth vp Also to apply Pigeons dung only without any thing els or at the most to temper it with Barley meale or Oatmeale in vinegre Likewise to make a liniment of a Moldwarps ashes incorporat with hony Some there be who take the liuer of a Moule crush and bruise it between their hands working it into a liniment and lay the same to the sore and there let it drie on the place and wash it not off in three daies And they affirme That the right foot af a Moule is a singular remedie for this disease Others catch some of them cut off their heads stampe them with the mould that they haue wrought and cast vp aboue ground reduce them into certain trochisks which they keep in a box or pot of tinne and vse them by way of application to all tumors and impostumes which the Greeks call Apostemata and especially those that rise in the necke but then they forbid the patient to eat porke or any swines flesh during the cure Moreouer there is a kind of earth-beetles called tauri i. Buls which name they took of the little hornes that they carry for otherwise in colour they resemble tickes some tearme them Pedunculos terrae earth lice These also worke vnder the ground like wants and cast vp mould which serueth in a liniment for the Kings euil such like swelling as also for the gout in the feet but it must not be washed off in three daies space Howbeit this is to be noted that this medicine must be renued euery year for the said mould wil continue no longer in vertue than one year In sum there be attributed to these beetles all those medicinable properties which I haue assigned vnto the crickets called Grylli Moreouer some there be who vse in manner and cases aforesaid the mould which ants do cast vp Others for the Kings euil take iust as many mads or earthworms in number as there be wens gathered and knotted together and bind the same fast vnto them letting them to drie vpon the place and they are persuaded that the said wens will drie away and consume together with them There be again who get a Viper about the rising of the Dog star cut off the head and taile as I said before of snakes and the middle part betweene they burne the ashes that come thereof they giue afterwards to be drunke for three weeks together euery day as much as may be comprehended and taken vp at three fingers ends and thus they cure and heale the kings euill Moreouer there be some that hang a Viper by a linnen thread fast tied somewhat vnder the head so long till she be strangled and dead and with that thread bind the soresaid wens or Kings euill promising vnto their patients assured remedie by this meanes They vse also the Sowes called Multipedae and incorporat the same with a fourth part in proportion to them of true Turpentine and they be of opinion That this ointment or salue is sufficient to cure any impostumes whatsoeuer As touching the paines that lie in the shoulders there is a proper medicine made in forme a liniment with the ashes of a Weazill tempered with wax which easeth the same To keepe young boies from hauing any haire growing on their face that they may seem alwaies young it is good to annoint their cheekes and chin with Ants egges Also the marchants or hucksters that buy yong slaues to sell them againe for gaine vse to hinder the growth of hair as well of the visage as in the armeholes and vpon the share that they may be taken for young youths still by annointing those parts with the bloud that commeth from lambs when they be libbed which ointment doth good also to the armpits for to take away the ranke and rammish smell thereof but first the haire there growing ought to be pulled vp by the roots Now that I am come to speake of the precordiall region of the body know this That by this one word Praecordia I meane the inwards or entrailes in man or woman called in Latine Exta whensoeuer then there shall be pain felt in these parts or any of them apply thereto a yong sucking whelpe and keepe it hard huggled to the place doubtlesse the said griefe will passe away from the part to the puppie it selfe as men say and this hath been found true by experience in one of those whelpes ripped and opened aliue and the said bowels taken forth for looke what part in man or woman was grieued the very same was seene infected thereupon in the puppie And such whelpes thus vsed for the curing and taking vpon them our maladies were wont to be enterred with great reuerence and ceremoniall deuotion As touching the pretty little dogs that our daintie dames make so much of called Melitaei in Latine if they be euer and anon kept close vnto the stomacke they ease the paine therof And in very truth a man shall perceiue such little ones to be sicke yea and many times to die thereupon whereby it is euident that our maladies passe from vs to them CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the diseases incident to the lights and liuer Of those that vse to cast and reach vp bloud at the mouth MIce are very good for the infirmities of the lungs especially those of Barbarie if they be first flaied then sodden in oile and salt and so giuen to the patient for to eat Thus prepared and vsed they cure them that either spit purulent and filthy matter or else reach vp shere bloud But a dish of meat made of snailes with shels is most excellent for the stomacke But for the better ordering and dressing of them first they ought to siver ouer the fire and take a few waulmes till they be parboiled without touching or medling one jot with their body afterwards they must be broiled vpon the coales without putting any thing in the world vnto them and then to be serued vp in wine and fish pickle or brine called Garum and so eaten But the best for
hare or leueret it is wonderfull to see how effectually they will worke Snakes bones incorporat with the rennet of any foure-footed beast whatsoeuer within lesse than 3 daies shew the same effect and draw forth any thing that sticketh within the body Finally the flies called Cantharides are much commended for this operation if they be stamped and incorporat with barly meale CHAP. XIIII ¶ Proper remedies for the cure of womens maladies and to help them for to goe out their full time and bring forth the fruit of their wombfully ripe and accomplished THe skin or secundine which an Ewe gleaneth after she hath yeaned and which inlapped the lambe within her belly prepared ordered and vsed as I said before as touching goats it is very good for the infirmities that properly bee incident vnto women and occasioned by their naturall parts The dung likewise of sheep be they rammes ewes or weathers hath the same operation But to come vnto particulars the infirmity which otherwhiles putteth them to passe their vrine with difficulty and by dropmeale is cured principally by sitting ouer a perfume or suffumigation of Locusts If a woman after that she is conceiued with child vse eft-soons to eat a dish of meat made of cock-stones the infant that she goeth with shall proue a man child as it is commonly thought and spoken When a woman is with childe the meanes to preserue her from any shift and slip that she may tarry out her full terme is to drink the ashes of Porkepines calcined also the drinking of a bitches milk maketh the infant within the womb to come on forward to grow to perfection before it seek to come forth vntimely also if the child stick in the birth or otherwise make no haste to come forth of the mothers body when the time is come the skin wherein the bitch bare her whelps within her body and which commeth away from her after she hath puppied hasteneth the birth if so be it were taken away from her before it touch the ground If women in labour drinke milke it will comfort their loins or smal of the back Mice dung delaied and dissolued in rain water is very good to annoint the brests of a woman new laied to break their kernel and to allay their ouermuch strutting presently after childbirth The ashes of hedgehogs preserueth women from abortion or vntimely births if they be annointed with a liniment made of them and oile incorporat together The better speed and more ease shall those women haue of deliuerance which in the time of their trauell drinke a draught of Goose dung in two cyaths of water or else the water that issueth out of their owne body by the natural parts a little before the child should be borne and that out of a weazils bladder A liniment made of earth-wormes if the nouch or chine of the necke and the shoulder blades be annointed therewith preserueth a woman from the pain of the sinews which commonly followeth vpon child-bearing and the same send away the after-birth if when they bee newly brought to bed they drink the same in wine cuit A cataplasme made of them simply alone without any other thing and applied to womens sore brests which are impostumat bring the same to maturation breake them when they are ripe draw them after that they runne and in the end heale them vp cleane and skin all again The said earthwormes also if they be drunk in honied wine bring down milk into their brests There be certain little wormes found breeding in the common Coich-grasse called Gramen which if a woman weare about her neck serue very effectually to cause her for to keep her infant within the wombe the ordinary terme but she must leaue them off when she drawes neere to the time when she should cry out for otherwise if they be not taken from her they would hinder her deliuerance Great heed also there must be taken that these wormes bee not laid vpon the ground in any hand Moreouer there be Physitians who giue women to drink 5 or 7 of them at a time for to help them to conceiue If women vse to eat snailes dressed as meat they shall be deliuered with more speed if they were in hard labour let them be applied to the region of the matrice or naturall parts with Saffron they hasten conception If the same be reduced into a liniment with Amylum and gum Tragacanth and laid too accordingly they do stay the immoderat flux of reds or whites Being eaten in meat they are soueraigne for their monthly purgations And with the marrow of a red Deere they reduce the matrice againe into the right place if it were turned a to-side but this regard must be had that to euery snaile there be put a dram weight of Cyperus also If the matrice be giuen to ventosities let the same snails be taken forth of their shels stamped and laid too with oile of Roses they discusse the windinesse thereof And for these purposes before named the snailes of Astypalaea be chosen for the best Also for to resolue the inflation of this part there is another medicine made with snailes especially those of Barbarie namely to take two of them and to stampe them with as much Fenigreeke seed as may be comprehended with three fingers adding thereto the quantity of four spoonfuls of hony and when they be reduced all into a liniment to apply the same to the region of the womb after the same hath been well and throughly annointed all ouer with the iuice of Ireos i. Floure-de-lis There be moreouer certaine white snailes that be small and long withall and these be commonly wandering here and there in euery place These beeing dried in the Sun vpon tiles and reduced into pouder they vse to blend with bean floure of each a like quantity And this is thought to be an excellent mixture for to beautifie their body and make the skin white and smooth Also if the itch be offensiue so as a woman be found euer and anone to scratch and rub those parts there is not a better thing therefore than the little flat snails if they be brought into a liniment with fried Barly groats If a woman with child chance to step ouer a Viper shee shall be deliuered before her time of an vnperfect birth The like accident wil befal vnto her in case she go ouer the serpent Amphisbaena if the same were dead before And yet if a woman haue about her in a box one of them aliue shee shall not need to feare the going ouer them though they were dead And one of these Amphisbaenes dead as it is and preserued or condite in salt procureth safe and easie deliuerance to a woman that hath it about her A wonderfull thing that it should be so dangerous for a woman with childe to passe ouer one of them which hath not bin kept in salt and that the same should be harmelesse and do no hurt at all if
immediatly after it hath bin so kept she stept ouer it A perfume made with a snake long kept and dried procureth the desired sicknesse of women The old slough of a snake which she hath cast applied vnto the loines of a woman that is in labour helpeth her to better speed but it must be remoued presently after that she is deliuered Many vse to giue it vnto women with child for to be drunk in wine with frank incense for being taken otherwise it causeth abortion The rod or wand whereby one hath parted or taken off a frog or toad from a snake helpeth women that be in trauell of childbirth And a liniment made with the ashes of the vnwinged Locusts called Tryxalides hony tempered together helpeth forward their monthly purgations The spider likewise that commeth downe spinning from aloft hanging by her fine thred which she draweth in a length if she be caught with the hollow of the hand bruised applied accordingly worketh the same effect but take the same spider winding vp her yearne and returning back to her nest vpward it wil worke contrariwise stay the fleurs of women The Aegle stone called A tites because it is found in an Aegles nest preserueth holdeth the infant still in the mothers womb to the ful time against any indirect practise of sorcery or otherwise to the contrary If a woman be in hard labor of childbirth put a Vultures quill vnder her feet it will helpe her to a more speedy deliuerance Great bellied women as it is well knowne found by proofe ought to be very chairy and to beware of rauens egs for if they chance to goe ouer one of them they shall fall to labour presently and slip an vntimely birth with great danger of their life It seemeth to many that the meuting of an Hawke drunke in honied wine maketh women which were barren before to be fruitfull Certes the grease of a goose or swan doth mollifie any hard tumors schirrhs and impostumations of the matrice and secret parts Goose grease mixt with the oile of roses and Ireos preserueth womens brests after they be newly brought to bed In Phrygia and Lycaonia it is found by experience that the fat of the Bistard or Horn owle is verie good for greene women lately deliuered if they be troubled with the pricking or shooting paines of their brests but for women that are in danger to be suffocated with the rising of the mother they haue a liniment also made with the beetils or worms called Blattae The ashes of Partridge egs calcined mixed with brasse ore called Cadmia and wax and so reduced into a cerot preserueth womens brests plumpe and round that they shall not be riueled or flaggie and it is thought that if a woman make three imaginary circles round about them with a partridge egg they shall continue knit vp and well trussed and not hang downward ilfauoredly let a woman vse to sup them off she shall be both a fruitfull mother of many children and also a good milch nurse for to reare them vp Also it is a generall receiued opinion that if womens paps be anointed all ouer with goose grease it will allay the griefe and paine thereof likewise there is not a better thing for to dissolue and scatter Moon-calues and such like false conceptions in the wombe or to mitigate the scurfe or manginesse incident to that member than to apply to those parts a liniment made of punaises bruised or stamped to the purpose Bats bloud hath a depilatorie facultie to fetch off haire and lett the growing thereof howbeit sufficient it is not alone to worke that feat in boies cheeks and chins whom we would keep smooth and beardlesse except the place be rubbed afterward with the seed of rocket or hemlock and in this manner if they be dressed either no haire at all will come vp there or els it wil neuer be but soft down it is thought that their brains also wil work the same effect Now these brains be of two sorts to wit red and white howbeit some giue counsell to mingle with the said brains both the bloud and the liuer Others there be who seethe in 3 hemines of oile a viper vntill her flesh be throughly sodden and as tender as may be hauing before rid her from all her bones and it they vse for a depilatorie but first they plucke vp all those haires by the roots which they would not haue to grow any more The gall of an vrchin is a depilatorie especially if it be mixed with the brains of a Bat and goats milke Item the ashes thereof simply mingled with the milk of a bitch of her first litter so that the haires which we would not haue to come againe be plucked vp or if those places be anointed therewith where neuer yet grew any none shall spring there afterwards The same effect by report hath the bloud of a tick that was taken from a dog and finally the bloud or gall of a swallow CHAP. XV. ¶ Many Receits handled together disorderly one with another for sundry maladies IT is said that Ants eggs stamped incorporat with flies likewise punned together wil giue a louely black colour to the hairs of the eie-browes also if a woman be desirous that her infant should be born with black eies let her eat a rat while she goes with childe To preserue the haire from being gray and grisle anoint them with the ashes of earth-worms and oile oliue mixt together If sucking babes be wrung or gnawne in the belly by reason of some cruddled milk which they draw from their nurses or doth corrupt so in their stomack it is good to giue them in water the rennet of a yong lambe to drink but in case this accident commeth by cailling of the milk they vse to giue vnto them the said rennet in vineger for to discusse the same For the paine that they abide in toothing the brains of an hare is soueraigne to anoint their gumbs withall It falleth out that yong infants many times be tormented with an vnnaturall heat and burning of their head called Siriasis for to ease and cure them thereof they vse to take the bones that are found in dogs dung and to hang them about their necks or arms Yong infants are subiect to ruptures and descents of the guts in which case it is good some say to apply a greene lizard vnto their bodies whiles they lie asleepe and to cause it to bite the place but then afterward the said lizard must be tied fast to a reed and hung vp in the smoke for look how it decaieth and dieth by little and little so shall the rupture knit and heale again The foamie moisture that shel-snails yeeld if childrens eies be anointed therewith doth not onely rectifie and lay streight the hairs of the eie-lids which grow crooked into the eies but also nourisheth causeth them to grow The ashes of burnt shell-snailes reduced into
a liniment with kincense and the white of an egg doth in the space of 30 daies cure those that are bursten bellied In the little horns of shell-snails there is found a certaine hard substance resembling grit or sand which if it be hanged about a youg infant is a means that it shall breed teeth with ease The ashes of snail shels when the snails are gon incorporat in wax and applied to the seat of the fundament putteth backe the end of the tiwill that is fallen down and ready to hang out of the body but you must not forget to mingle with the said ashes the bloudy substance that is let out of a vipers brains when her head is pricked The braines of a viper if they be put in a little fine skin worn by a yong child helpeth it to breed teeth without any great pain for the same purpose serue also the teeth of serpents so they be chosen the biggest that are in their heads rauens dung wrapped in wool and hung to any part of yong infants cureth the chin-cough Some things there remain as touching this argument which hardly methinks I should not handle seriously deliuer in good earnest howbeit since there be diuers writers who haue put them down in writing I must not passe them ouer in silence They are of opinion and doe giue order to cure the rupture and descent of the guts in little children with a lizard but how first it ought to be of the male kind which is taken for this purpose and that may soone be knowne if vnder the taile it haue one hole and no more then there must be vsed all means possible that the said lizard do bite the tumor of the rupture through a piece of cloth of gold cloth of siluer or purple which done the said lizard must be tied fast within a new cup or goblet that neuer was occupied so set in some smoky place where it may die If little infants pisse their beds a readie way to make them containe their water is to giue them sodden mice to eat If there be any suspition of sorcerie witchcraft or inchantment practised for to hurt young babes the great horns of beetles such specially as be knagged as it were with smal teeth are as good as a countercharm and preseruatiue if they be hanged about their necks There is as they say a little stone within the head of an ox or cow which they vse to discharge and spit out when they be in danger of death the same if it be taken out of one of their heads which is suddenly stricken off before the beast be ware therof hanged about an infants necke or other part of the body is wonderful good for breeding of teeth Semblably they prescribe their brains to be caried about them in like maner for the same purpose also the little bone or stone found in a naked snails back Moreouer the anointing of childrens gumbs with the brains of a yong sheepe is singular good and effectual to cause them to breed their teeth with facilitie like as goose grease instilled with the juice of basil into their ears cureth the infirmities therof There be in many prickly herbs certain rough hairy worms which if they be hung about the necks of yong infants do presently cure them if haply there were any thing in their meat that stucke and lay hard in their stomack for they wil cause them to puke it vp To prouoke sleep there is not a better thing than the tried grease of vnwashed wool with some myrrh be it neuer so little infused dissolued in two cyaths of wine or els incorporat with goose grease and wine of myrtles for which intent they vse to take the bird called a Cuckow and within a hares skin tie it to the patient or els to bind the bil of a yong heron to the forehead within a piece of an asse skin and they are of opinion that the same bill alone is as effectuall so it be well washed in wine contrariwise the head of a bat dried and hanged about the neck keeps one from sleep altogether A lizard drowned to death in the vrin of a man disableth him from the vse of venery who drank the liquour whereof that vrine came and no maruel for why the magitians repose a great thing in a lizard in loue matters The excrements of snailes which resemble dung as also the dung of pigeons tempered in a cup of wine and giuen to drink coole fleshly lust The right lobe or side of a vultures lungs prouoke men to Venus sports if they cary it about them enwrapped within a cranes skin In like maner the yelks of fiue pigeons egs incorporat with swines grease to the weight of one denier Roman and so supped off work the same effect Some eat sparrowes vsually for this purpose or sup their egs Also there be who carry about them the right stone of a cock inclosed fast within a piece of leather made of a rams skin and to good effect if all be true that magitians say who affirm also that those women who are anointed with a liniment made of the ashes of the bird Ibis incorporat with goose grease and the oile Ireos shal if they be conceiued with child go out their full time and they say that whosoeuer be anointed with a liniment made of the stones of a fighting cocke and goose-grease shall haue but little mind to performe the act of generation or if the same be tied vnto any part of them within a piece of leather made of a rams skinne In like manner it is said that the stones of any other dunghill cock are of the same effect if together with the bloud of the said cock they be but laid vnder ones bed If one pluck the haires out of a mules taile while the stallion couereth her and bind the same together in a wreath or knot apply them to the legs or loins during the act of generation they will cause women to conceiue whether they will or no. Whosoeuer maketh water vpon the very place where a dog hath lift vp his leg and pissed so as both vrines be mingled together folke say he shall find himselfe therby more vnlustie to the worke of Venus A wonderfull thing it is if it be true which they report likewise of the ashes of a star-lizard or Stellion that if the same be enwrapped within some lint or linnen rag held in the left hand it stirreth vp the heat of lust but shift the same into the right hand it wil coole one as much Moreouer that if one put vnder the pillow where a woman laies her head a few flockes or locke of wooll soked well in batts bloud it wil set her on to desire the company of a man or if she do take a goose tongue either in meat or drink The old skin or slough that snakes do cast off in the Spring whosoeuer drinketh in his ordinary drink
meanes saue only by cleauing and sticking fast to a vessell in such sort as this one small and poore fish is sufficient to resist and withstand so great power both of sea and nauie yea and to stop the passage of a ship doe they all what they can possible to the contrary What should our fleets armadoes at sea make such terrets in their decks and fore-castles what should they fortifie their ships in warlike maner to fight from them vpon the sea as it were from mure and rampier on firme land See the vanity of man alas how foolish are we to make all this adoe when one little fish not aboue halfe a foot long is able to arrest and stay perforce yea and hold as prisoners our goodly tall and proud ships so well armed in the beake-head with yron pikes and brasen tines so offensiue and dangerous to bouge and pierce any enemie ship which they do encounter Certes it is reported that in the nauall battell before Actium wherein Antonius and Cleopater the queene were defeated by Augustus one of these fishes staied the admirall ship wherein M. Antonius was at what time as he made all the hast means he could deuise with help of ores to encourage his people from ship to ship and could not prevaile till he was forced to abandon the said admirall and go into another galley Meane-while the armada of Augustus Caesar seeing this disorder charged with great violence and foone inuested the fleet of Antony Of late daies also and within our remembrance the like happened to the roial ship of the Emperour Caius Caligula at what time as he rowed back and made saile from Astura to Antium when and where this little fish detained his ship and as it fell out afterward presaged an vnfortunat euent thereby for this was the last time that euer this Emperor made his returne to Rome and no sooner was he arriued but his owne souldiers in a mutinie fell vpon him and stabbed him to death And yet it was not long ere the cause of this wonderful stay of his ship was knowne for so soon as euer the vessell and a galliace it was furnished with fiue banks of ores to a side was perceiued alone in the fleet to stand still presently a number of tall fellows leapt out of their ships into the sea to search about the said galley what the reason might be that it stirred not and sound one of these fishes sticken fast to the very helme which being reported vnto Caius Caligula he fumed and fared as an Emperour taking great indignation that so small a thing as it should hold him back perforce and checke the strength of all his mariners notwithstanding there were no fewer than foure hundred lusty men in his galley that laboured at the ore all that euer they could to the contrary But this prince as it is for certaine known was most astonied at this namely That the fish sticking onely to the ship should hold it fast and the same being brought into the ship and there laid not worke the like effect They who at that time and afterward saw the fish say it resembled for all the world a snaile of the greatest making but as touching the forme and sundry kindes thereof many haue written diuersly whose opinions I haue set downe in my treatise of liuing creatures belonging to the waters and namely in the particular discourse of this fish Neither do I doubt but all the sort of fishes are able to doe as much for this wee are to beleeue that Pourcellans also be of the same vertue since it was well knowne by a notorious example that one of them did the like by a ship sent from Periander to the cape of Gnidos in regard whereof the inhabitants of Gnidos doe honour and consecrate the said Porcellane within their temple of Venus Some of our Latine writers do call the said fish that thus staieth a ship by the name of Remora As touching the medicinable properties of the said stay-ship Echeneis or Remora call it whether you will a wondrous matter it is to seâ—… the varietie of Greek writers for some of them as I haue shewed before do hold that if a woman haue it fastened either about her neck arme or otherwise she shal go out her full time if she were with child also that it will reduce her matrice into the right place if it were too loose and ready to hang out of her body Others againe report the contrary namely That if it be kept in salt and bound to any part of a woman great with child and in paine of hard trauell it will cause her to haue present deliuerance for which vertue they call it by another name Odinolion Well howeuer it be considering that mighty puissance which this fish is wel known to haue in staying ships who wil euer make doubt hereafter of any power in Nature her selfe or of the effectuall operation in Physicke which she hath giuen to many things that come vp by themselues But say we had no such euidence by the example of this Echeneis the Cramp-fish Torpedo found and taken likewise in the same sea were sufficient alone to proue the might of Nature in her workes if there were nothing else to shew the same for able she is to benum and mortifie the arms of the lustiest strongest fishers that be yea and to bind their legs as it were how swift and nimble soeuer they are otherwise in running and how euen by touching only the end of a pole or any part of an angle rod which they hold in their hands although they stand aloft and a great way from her Now if we cannot will nor chuse but must needs confesse by the euident instance of this one fish that there is some thing in nature so penetrent and powerfull that the very smell only or breath and aire proceeding from it is able thus to affect or infect rather the principall lims and members of our bodie what is it that we are not to hope for and expect from the vertue of all other creatures that Nature through her bounty hath endued with medicinable power for the remedy of diseases And in very truth no lesse admirable be the properties which are respected of the sea-Hare for to some a very poyson it is taken inwardly either in meat or drinke to others againe the onely aspect and sight thereof is as venomous For if a woman great with child chance but to see the female only of this kind she shal sensibly therupon feele a sicke wambling in her stomacke she shall presently fall to vomiting and anon to vntimely labour and the deliuerie of an abortiue fruit But what is the remedy Let her weare about her arme in bracelets any part of the male which ordinarily for this purpose is kept dry and hardened in salt shee shall passe these dangerous accidents The same fish is hurtfull also in the sea if it be touched only Neither
they vse with a paire of sizzers to clip them at the very mouth as they be sucking and then shall you see the bloud spring out as it were at the cocke of a conduit and so by little and little as they die they will gather in their heads and the same will fall off and not tarrie behind to do hurt These horsleeches naturally are enemies to Punaises in so much as their perfume killeth them Furthermore the ashes of Beuers skins burnt and calcined together with tar stancheth bloud gushing out of the nose if the same be tempered mingled wel with the juice of porret The shels of cuttles applied to the body with water draw forth arrow heads pricks or spils that sticke deepe within the flesh so doth any saltfish if the fleshie side be laid therto yea and fresh-water creifishes haue the same effect likewise the flesh of the fresh water Silurus for this fish breedeth in other riuers besides Nilus applied to the place either fresh or salted it makes no matter worke with the same successe The ashes of the same fish and the fat be of the same operation and very attractiue As for the ashes of their ridge-bone and prickie finnes they are taken to bee as good as Spodium and are vsed in stead thereof As touching those vlcers which be corrosiue as also the excrescence of proud flesh growing in such sores there is not a better thing to represse and keepe them downe than the ashes of Cackerels or the fish Silurus aforesaid The heads of salted Perches be singular good for cancerous vlcers and the more effectually they will work in case there be salt mingled with their ashes and together with knopped Majoram or Sauorie and oile be incorporat into a liniment The ashes of the Sea-crab burnt and calcined with lead represse cancerous sores and for this purpose sufficient it were to take the ashes only of the riuer creifish medled with hony and lint but some chuse rather to mingle alume and hony with the said ashes As for the eating sores called in Greeke Phagedaenae they may be healed well with the fish Silurus kept vntill it be dried and so together with red orpiment reduced into a pouder Likewise morimals and other consuming cankers and those sores which be filthy and growing to putrefaction are commonly healed with the old squares of the Tunie fish Now if there chance to be wormes and vermine breed in the said vlcers the only means to cleanse them is with the gall of frogs But the hollow sores commonly knowne by the name of Fistuloes are enlarged kept open yea and brought to drines with tents made of saltfish conueied into them within fine linnen rags and within a day or two at most they will rid away all the callositie together with the dead and putrified flesh within the sores yea and represse the eating and corrosiue humor in them if they be wrought into the forme of a salue or emplaster and so applied To mundifie vlcers there is not a fitter thing than stockfish made into a tent with fine lint of rags and so put into the sore Of the same effect are the ashes of the sea-vrchins skin The pieces of the fish Coracinus salted discusse and resolue the hotapostems named carbuncles if they be applied so doe the ashes of the Barble salted and calcined Some vse the ashes of the head of the said fish onely with hony or els the very flesh of Coracinus The ashes of murrets tempered with oile delay take down any swelling The gall likewise of the Sea-scorpion taketh off the roufe of sores and bringeth skars that ouergrow the flesh vnto the leuell of the other skin The liuer of the fish Glanus causeth werts to fall off if they be rubbed withall Also the ashes of Cackerell heads do the like if they be tempered with garlick but for the thyme werts particularly they vse them raw the gall likewise of the reddish sea scorpion and the small sea fish Smarides punned and brought into a liniment do the like The grosse pickle sauce called Alex if it be made through hot cures the raggednesse of nails the ashes also which come of Cackerell heads do extenuat and make them fine The fish Glauciscus eaten in the own broth causeth women to haue store of milke so doe the small fishes called Smarides taken with ptisan or barley gruell or els boiled with fennell and in case they haue sore brests the ashes of Burrets or Purple shells incorporat with honey doe heale effectually A liniment made of Sea crabs or fresh-water Creifishes takes away the offensiue haires that grow about womens nipples or breast heads the fleshie substance also of the Burrets applied to them work the same effect A liniment made of the fish called a Skate will not suffer womens paps to grow big A candle-weike or match made of lint and greased al ouer with the oile or fat of a dolphin and so set a burning yeeldeth a smoake which will raise women againe lying as it were in a trance and dead vpon a fit of the mother the same do Macquerels putrified in vinegre The ashes either of Pearch or Cackerel heads tempered and incorporat with salt sauerie and oile serue for all the accidents of the matrice and more particularly in a perfume bring down the after-birth Semblably the fat of a Seale or Sea-calfe conueighed by meanes of fire in a perfume vp into the nosthrils of a woman lying halfe dead vpon the rising and suffocation of the matrice bringeth her to her selfe againe so doth it also if with the rennet of the same Seale it be put vp in wooll after the manner of a pessarie into the priuie parts The ashes of the Sea-fish called Pulmo applied conueniently to the region of the matrice and kept fast thereto purgeth women passing well of their monethly fleurs of the same operation are Sea-vrchins stamped aliue and drunk in some sweet wine but the riuer Creifishes likewise punned and taken in wine do contrariwise stay the immoderat flux thereof Likewise it is said that a sussumigation of the fish Silurus especially that which breedeth in Africa causeth women to haue more speedie and easie deliuerance in childbirth as also that Crabfishes drinke in water doe stop the excessiue ouerflowing of their monethly terms whereas with hyssop they set them a going and purge them away Say that the infant sticke in the birth and by reason of painfull labour be in danger of suffocation let the mother drinke the same in like manner there will present help ensue Women with child vse also either to eat them fresh or drink them dried that they may go out their full time and not slip an abortiue fruit Hippocrates vseth the same and prescribeth vnto women for the bringing down of their sicknesse and likewise to thrust out the infant dead in their wombs to drinke them in honied wine with fiue dock roots stamped together with â—…e and soot and in very truth sodden
two Coss. to their fathers who notwithstanding stood for the said dignitie and honorable place Nay more This Flavius had a speciall grace besides granted To be at the same time one of the Tribunes also or Prouosts of the Comminaltie At which indignitie the Senat took such disdaine and chafed so for despight and anger that as we reade in the antient Annals and Chronicles of our city there was not one Senator of them all but laid away his golden rings and gaue vp his place Many are of opinion although they be farre deceiued that the knights and men of arms also did the semblable and left off their rings the same time And this likewise goeth currant and is generally receiued That they cast aside the caparisons and trappings of their bard horses for these be the two badges or markes which cause them to be called Equites as one would say knights men of arms or horsmen True it is besides that in some annals we find it recorded that it was the nobility only of Rome that gaue ouer their gold rings and not generally the whole body of the Senat. Wel how soeuer it was this hapned when P. Sempronius Longus and L. Sulpitius were Consuls But Flavius abouesaid seeing what trouble and discontentment was risen hereupon throughout the city vowed to erect and build a temple in the honor of Concord if he could reconcile the estate of the Senat and the order of the gentlemen again to the common people And seeing that he could not be furnished with mony out of the common treasure of the city for defraying of charges requisit to this piece of work he made means to haue certaine extreme vsurers condemned to pay good round sums of mony with these fines a little chappell he caused to be made all of brasse and reared it in the place appointed for Embassadors out of strange countries to wait and giue attendance in called Graecostasis the which was at the head of the publique grand place or hal of assemblies called Comitium where in a table of brasse he tooke order there should be cut and engrauen the veritie of the dedication of the said temple which was 104 yeres after the temple in the Capitol was dedicated and in the 448 yere from the foundation of the city This is the first and most antient euidence that may be collected out of all the antiquities of Rome now extant as touching the vsage and wearing of Rings Another testimonie we haue thereof in the second Punicke War which implieth that rings in those daies were vsed more ordinarily as wel by commons as gentlemen and Nobles for otherwise if they had not bin so vsually worn as wel by one as another Annibal could neuer haue sent to Carthage those three Modij of rings which were pluckt from the fingers of those Romans who were slain in the battell of Cannae Moreouer the Chronicles beare witnesse that the great quarrell betweene Caepio and Drusus from which arose the sociall war of the Marsians and the ruin of the state grew by occasion of a ring sold in portsale which both of them would haue had the one as well as the other Neither at that time verily did all Senators weare gold rings for known it hath bin within the remembrance of our grandfathers that many of them and such as beare the Pretorship in their old age and to their very dying day neuer wore any other rings but of iron The same doth Fenestella report of Calphurnius and of Manilius also who was Lieutenant vnder Caius Marius in the war against King Tugurtha And many other historians affirme the like of L. Fusidius him I meane vnto whome Scaurus dedicated that Booke which he compiled of his Life There is a whole house or family at Rome of Quintij wherein by antient custome and order there was neuer any known so much as the very women to weare any gold about them And euen at this day the greater part of those nations and people who liue vnder the empire of Rome know not what these rings mean All the countries of the East throughout and Egypt generally at this time content themselues with simple writings and bare scripts without any seale or signe manuel set vnto them But so far off are we in these daies from keeping vs to the plain hoop rings of our ancestors that as in all things els so in them also we loue to change and alter euery day so giuen we are to excesse and superfluitie for now many must haue curiously set in their rings pretions stones of excellent beautie and most exquisit brightnesse and vnlesse their fingers be charged and loden again with the riches and reuenues of a good lordship they are not adorned and decked to their mind But I purpose more fully to speake hereof in my treatise of gems and pretious stones Others again wil haue in their rings and stones sundry figures and portraitures as they list themselues engrauen that as there be some rings costly for the matter so others again should be as pretious for the workmanship Yee shall haue many of these wantons and delicate persons make conscience forsooth to cut and engraue some of their pretious stones for hurting them and to shew that their rings serue for somewhat else than to seale and signe withall doe set the said stones whole and entire as they be And diuers there are who will not enclose the stone with gold on the inside of the colet which is hidden with the finger to the end forsooth that it may touch the naked skin and be seene through And such an opinion they haue of these stones that gold is worth nothing in comparison of many thousands of them now in vse and request Contrariwise many there are who will haue no stone at all in their rings but make them all of massiue gold and therewith do seale a deuise that came vp in the time of Claudius Caesar the Emperor Furthermore in these our daies some slaues set iron within a collet of gold in stead of a stone and others again hauing their rings of iron yet they adorn and set them out with the most pure and fine gold that may be had This licence no doubt and libertie of wearing rings in this order began first in Samothrace as may appeare by the name of such rings which therefore are called Samothracia Now to come again to our golden rings The manner was in old time to weare rings but vpon one finger onely and namely that which is the fourth or next to the little finger as we may see in the statues of Numa and Servius Tullius Kings of Rome but afterward they began to honour the fore-finger which is next vnto the thumbe with a ring according to the manner which we see in the images of the gods and in processe of time they took pleasure to weare them vpon the least finger of all and it is said that in France and Brittaine they vsed them vpon the
be yet some other points besides to be considered therein which cause distinction in diuers conditions of men for our ancestours willing at all times to honour those souldiers who had borne themselues valiantly in wars were wont to bestow chains of gold vpon strangers and auxiliaries such I meane as came to ayd and succour the Romans but vnto their owne naturall citizens they gaue none other but of siluer and true it is that Roman citizens had bracelets giuen them ouer and aboue which forreiners had not They were wont also a thing to be maruelled at to giue vnto citizens coronets of gold but who he was whom they honored first with this reward I could neuer find in any Chronicle and yet L. Piso hath set downe in his Annals the first giuer thereof for A. Posthumius L. Dictator quoth he vpon the winning of the fortified campe of the Latines neare the Lake Regillus was the first that bestowed vpon that souldier by whose valorous seruice principally the said hold was forced a coronet of gold which he caused to be made of the pillage taken from the enemie L. Lentulus in like manner being Consull gaue a crowne of gold vnto Sergius Cornelius Merenda at the winning of a certaine towne within the Samnites countrey Semblably Piso syrnamed Frugi bestowed vpon his owne sonne a Coronet of gold weighing fiue pound which hee caused to bee made of his owne priuate money and yet amongst other Legacies in his last Will and Testament the said Coronet hee bequeathed to the State and Common-wealth of Rome CHAP. III. ¶ Other vses besides of gold as well in men as women Of Gold in money When Brasse Silver and Gold were first stamped and coined Before Brasse was conuerted into stamped money how they vsed it in old time At what rate and proportion of money were assessed the best houses of Rome at the first leuying of Subsidies And at what time gold came into credit and request ALl the gold imploied in sacrifices to the honor of gods was in guilding the horns of such beasts as were to be killed and those onely of the greater sort But in warfare among souldiers the vse of gold grew so excessiue that the field and campe shone againe withall insomuch as at the voiage of Macedony where the Marshals of the field and colonels bare Armour set out with rich buckles and clasps of gold M. Brutus was offended and stormed mightily at it as appeareth by his letters found in the plaines about Philippi Well done of thee O M. Brutus to find fault with such wastfull superfluitie but why saidst thou nothing of the gold that the Roman dames in thy time wore in their shoos And verily this enormity and abuse I must needs impute vnto him whosoeuer he was that first deuised rings and by that means caused gold to be esteemed a mettall of much worth which euill precedent brought in another mischiefe as bad as it which hath continued a long time namely that men also should weare about their arms bracelets of gold next to their bare skin which deuise and ornament of the arm is called Dardanium because the inuention came from the Dardanians like as the fine golden carkanets Viriae we tearme Celticae and the necke-laces of gold Viriolae Celtibericae Oh the monstrous disordes that are crept into the world But say that women may be allowed to weare as much gold as they will in bracelets in rings on euery finger and joynt in carkanets about their necks in earings pendant at their ears in staies wreaths chinbands let them haue their chains of gold as large as they list vnder their arms or crosse ouer their sides scarfe-wise be gentlewomen and mistresses at their collars of gold beset thicke and garnished with massie pearls pendant from their necke beneath their wast that in their beds also when they should sleepe they may remember what a weight of gold they carried about them must they therfore weare gold vpon their feet as it were to establish a third estate of women answerable to the order of knights betweene the matrons or dames of honour in their side robes and the wiues of meane commoners Yet me thinkes we men haue more reason and regard of decencie thus to adorne with brooches and tablets of gold our youths and yong boies and a fairer sight it is to see great men attended vpon to the baines by beautifull pages thus richly decked and set out that all mens eies may turne to behold them But what meane I thus bitterly to inueigh against poore women are not men also growne to such outragious excesse in this kind that they begin to weare vpon their fingers either Harpocrates or other images of the Aegyptian gods engrauen vpon some fine stone But in the daies of the Emperor Claudius there was another difference and respect had That none might carrie the pourtraiture of that prince engrauen in his signet of gold without expresse licence giuen them by those gratious enfranchised slaues who were in place to admit vnto their lord the Emperor whom it pleased them which was the occasion and means of bringing many a man into danger by criminall imputations But all these enormities were happily cut off as soon as the Emperour Vespasian to the comfort and joy of vs all came once to the crowne for by an expresse edict he ordained That it might be lawfull for any person whatsoeuer to haue the image of the Emperour in ring brooch or otherwise without respect Thus much may suffice concerning rings of gold and their vsage To come now to the next mischiefe that is crept into the world I hold that it proceedeth from him who first caused a denier of gold to be stamped although to say a truth I know not certainly who he was that deuised this coine As for the people of Rome sure I am that before king Pyrrhus of Epirus was by them vanquished they had not so much as siluer mony stamped and currant Well I wot also that in old time the manner was to weigh our brasse by the Asse which was a pound weight and thereupon called As Libralis and yet at this day Libella like as the weight in brasse of two pound they named Dipondius As. And hereupon came the custome of adjudging any fine or penaltie vnder the tearme of Aeris grauis that is to say of brasse Bullion or in Masse From hence it is also that still in reckonings and accounts whatsoeuer hath bin laid out or deliuered goeth vnder the name of Expensa id est Expences as a man would say weighed forth because in times past all paiments passed by weight The Latines likewise vse the nowne Impendia for cost bestowed or the charges of interest in vsurie aboue the principall euen as the verbe Dependere betokeneth to pay because paiments ordinarily were performed by poise Moreouer the vnder treasurers of war or paimasters in the camp were in ancient time named Libripendes for weighing out
purple colour the first course or ground is azur and straitwaies they come vpon it with roset and the white of an egg abouesaid After this rich and liuely rosat or purple red Indico is a colour most esteemed out of India it comes wherupon it took the name and it is nothing els but a slimy mud cleaning to the fome that gathereth about canes and reeds while it is punned or ground it looketh black but being dissolued it yeelds a wonderfull louely mixture of purple and azur There is a second sort of it found swimming vpon the coppers or vats in purple Diers worke-houses and in truth nothing els but the very fome or scum that the purple casts vp as it boileth in maner of a florey Some there be that do counterfeit and sophisticat Indico selling in stead therof pigeons dung Selinusian earth and Tripoli died and deeply coloured with the true Indico but the proofe thereof is by fire for cast the right Indico vpon liue coles it yeeldeth a flame of most excellent purple and while it smoketh the fume senteth of the sea which is the reason that some do imagine it is gathered out of the rockes standing in the sea Indico is valued at 20 denarij the pound In physicke there is vse of this Indico for it doth asswage swellings that doe stretch the skin it represseth violent rheums and inflammations and drieth vlcers The land of Armenia doth furnish vs with the colour verd d'azur and of that country it is named Armenicus a stone it is that is likewise died before it can die in manner of Borras or verd d'terre the best is the greenest yet withall it doth participat the colour of azur in which regard it may properly be called Verd d'azur In times past a pound of it was held at 300 Sesterces but since there was found in Spain a kind of sand that would take the like tincture and do as well the price hath bin well abated and is come downe to six deniers All the difference between this colour and azur is this for that it stands more vpon the white which causeth this colour to be lighter and weaker The only vse that it hath in physick is to nourish hairs especially those of the eie lids Ouer and besides all these colours aboue named there be two more newly come vp and those beare but a very low price to wit the green called Appianum oft times it is taken for Borras or Verd d'terre as if there were not other things enough that did counterfeit and resemble it Made it is of a certain greene chalky earth is worth but one Sesterce a pound The second new colour is a white called Anulare being that which in womens pictures giues a lightsom carnation white this also is made of a kind of chalk certain glassy gems or bugles which the common sort vse to weare in rings thereupon is called Anulare CHAP. VII ¶ What Colours refuse to be layd vpon some grounds with what colours they painted in old time and when the fight of Sword-fencers was first proposed to be seen at Rome OF all colours Roset Indico Azur Tripoli or Melinum Orpiment white lead or Cerusse loue not to be laid vpon plaister-work or any ground while it is moist yet wax wil take any of these colours abouesaid to be imploied in those kind of works which are wrought by sire so it be not vpon plastre parget wals for that is impossible whether they be inameld or damaskd yea and in their painting of ships at sea as well hulks hoies of burden as gallies and ships of war for now wee are come forsooth to inamel and paint those things that are in danger to perish be cast away euery houre so as we need not maruel any longer that the coffin going with a dead corps to a funerall fire is richly painted and we take a delight when wee mind to fight at sea to sail with our fleet gallantly dight inriched with colours which must cary vs into dangers either to our own death or to the carnage of others And when I consider so many colours those so variable as be now adaies in vse I must needs admire those artificers of old time and namely of Apelles Echion Melanthius and Nicomachus most excellent painters and whose tables were sold for as much apiece as a good town was worth and yet none of these vsed aboue foure colours in all those rich and durable workes And what might those be Of all whites they had the white Tripoli of Melos for yellow ochres they took that of Athens for reds they sought no farther than to the red ochre or Sinopie ruddle in Pontus their black was no other than ordinarie vitriol or shoomakers black And now adaies when we haue such plenty of purple that the very walls of our houses be painted all ouer therwith when there commeth from India store enough not only of Indico which the mud of their riuers do yeeld but also of Cinnambre which is the mixed bloud of their fel dragons and mighty elephants yet among all our modern pictures we cannot shew one faire piece of worke insomuch as wee may conclude All things were done better then notwithstanding the scarsitie that was of stuffe and matter But to say a truth the reason is Giuen wee are now as I haue oftentimes said to esteem of things that be rich and costly neuer regarding the art that is imployed about them And here I thinke it not amisse to set down the outragious excesse of this age as touching pictures Nero the emperor commanded that the portraict of himselfe should be painted in linnen cloth after the maner of a gyant-like colosse 120 foot high a thing that neuer had been heard or seen before But see what became of it when this monstrous picture which was drawne and made in the garden of Marius was don and finished the lightning and fire from heauen caught it and not only consumed it but also burnt withall the best part of the building about the garden A slaue of his infranchising as it is wel known when he was to exhibit at Antium certain solemnities and namely a spectacle of sword-fencers fighting at sharp caused all the scaffolds publique galleries and walking places of that city to be hung tapissed with painted cloths wherein were represented the liuely pictures of the sword-players themselues with all the wifflers and seruitors to them belonging But to conclude the best and most magnanimous men that for many a hundred yeares our country hath bred haue taken delight I must needs say in this art and set their minds vpon good pictures But to portray in imagery tables and painted cloth the publick shews of fencers sword-plaiers and to set them vp to be seen in open place to the view of the world began by C. Terentius a Lucan for this man to honour his grandfather who had made him his
CHAP. XXI ¶ Of the foure kindes of the Aegle-stone Aëtius of the stone Callimus of the stones Samnus and Arabus and of Pumish stones THe Aegle-stones called Aëtites be much renowned in regard of the very name they carry found they are in Aegles nests as I haue shewed already in my tenth book it is said that they be two together to wit the male and female also that without them the Aegles cannot hatch which is the reason that they neuer haue but two young Aegles at one airie Of this Aegle-stone there be foure kinds for one sort thereof is bred in Africk and is very small soft containing within it as it were in a wombe a certaine clay which is sweet pleasant and white the stone it selfe is brittle and apt to crumble and this is thought to be the female sex The second which is taken for the male groweth in Arabia hard this is and resembleth a gall-nut in fashion and the same otherwhile is of a reddish colour hauing inclosed within the belly thereof another hard stone The third is found in the Island Cypros for colour much like to those that be engendred in Africke otherwise bigger and made more flat and broad than they The rest be vsually round in manner of a globe This hath also within the wombe a sweet sand and other small grauelly stones but it selfe is so tender that a man may crumble it betwixt his fingers The fourth kind is named Taphiusius for that it is bred neere vnto the cape Leucas in a place neere Taphiusa on the right hand as men saile from the said Taphiusa toward Leucas there is found of it in riuers but the same is white and round within the belly of it there is another stone called Callimus and there is not a thing more tender than it But to come to the properties of these Aegle-stones They are commended as singular for women with childe or four-footed beasts that are with yong for being hung about their necks or otherwise tied vnto any part within the skin of a beast sacrificed they will cause them to go out their full time but remoued they must not be but at the very time of deliuerance for otherwise the very wombe or matrice would slip out withall and vnlesse they be remoued then they shall neuer be deliuered Within the same Isle Samos wherin we praised the goldsmiths earth Tripoly there is a stone likewise called Samius very good to burnish and polish gold the same serueth also in physicke together with milk for vlcers of the eies beeing applied in manner aforesaid and in that sort it cureth also their weeping and watring which hath continued a long time the same being taken in drinke helpeth the infirmitie and other accidents of the stomack it cureth the dizzinesse of the head restoreth those to their right sences again who be troubled in their brain Some are of opinion that it is wholsome to be giuen to those that are subject to the falling sicknesse or difficulty of making water besides it is one of the ingredients that go to the making of those medicines which be called Acopa for to know whether it be good see that it be passing white and heauy withall It is said that if a woman weare it hanging or tied about her it will keep her from vntimely slips of her abortiue fruit and withall containe the matrice though it were giuen to fall downe too low Touching the stone Arabus like it is to yvorie a proper thing for dentifrices if it be calcined and reduced to pouder a peculiar property it hath besides to cure the haemorrhoids beeing applied thereto in lint so that there be fine linnen clothes laid afterwards thereupon I must not ouerpasse in silence the treatise of pumish stones and their nature I am not ignorant that in architecture and masonrie they vse to call by the name of Pumices or Pumishes those hollowed stones or bricks as if they were eaten into which hang downe from those vaulted buildings which they call Musea to represent a caue or hollow vault artificially made But to speake more properly of those Pumishes which are vsed by women for to smooth and slicke their skin yea and by your leaue by men also in these daies also for to pollish books as Catullus saith the best of them are found in Melos Scyros and the Islands of Aetolia and those ought to be very white and according to their proportion exceeding light the same should bee also as spungious as is possible and dry without easie to be beaten to pouder in the rubbing between the fingers not apt to yeeld from them any sand As for their medicinable vertues they do extenuat and dry after 3 calcinings so that regard be had in the torrifying that it be done with cleane charcoles that burn cleare and that they be euery time quenched with white wine which done they are to be washed like to Cadmia or the Calamine stone and being dried again they would be laied vp in some dry place which is in any wise dank or giuen to gather mouldinesse The pouder of this stone is commended principally in medicines for the eies for a gentle mundificatiue it is and clenseth the vlcers and sores incident to them it doth incarnate hollow skars maketh them euen with the rest about them Some after the third burning suffer them to coole of themselues and not by quenching and chuse rather to beat them afterwards with some sprinckling of wine among they enter likewise into those emollitiue or lenitiue plastres which are deuised for the sores of the head or vlcers in the priuities The best dentifrices for to cleanse or whiten the teeth be made of the pumish Theophrastus writeth that great drunkards who drink for a wager vse to take the pouder of the pumish stone before-hand for then they may nay they must quaffe lustily indeed for vnlesse they be filled with drinke they are indangered by the foresaid pouder To conclude he saith that so exceeding refrigeratiue it is that if new wine do work or purge neuer so much cast but a little pumish stone into it you shall see it giue ouer immediatly CHAP. XXII ¶ Of stones which be good for Apothecaries to make their mortars of of soft stones of the glasse-stone of flints and the shining stone Phengites of whetstones and grindstones of other stones that serue in building which resist the violence of fire and tempests OVr antient writers in old time were carefull to finde stones fit for mortars and not onely to serue Apothecaries for to beat and puluerize their drugs or painters to grinde their colours but the cooks also in the kitchin for to pouder their spices and in very truth they preferred the Ephesian marble before all others and next to it that of Thebais in high Aegypt which I called before Pyrrhopoecilon though some there be that name it Psaronium in a third degree they place a kinde of Chalazius named Chrysites
the sumptuous and superfluous expences in vessels made of it The first inuention of Cassidoine vessels and the excesse that way the nature and properties of those Cassidoins And what vntruths the writers in old time haue deliuered as touching Amber TO the end that it may appeare more euidently what the triumph of Pompey wrought in this respect I will put downe word forword what I find vpon record in the registers that beare witnesse of the acts which passed during those triumphs In the third triumph therefore which was decreed vnto him for that he had scoured the seas of pyrats and rouers reduced Natolia and the kingdome of Pontus vnder the dominion of the Romans defeated kings and nations according as I haue declared in the seuenth booke of this my history he entred Rome the last day of September in the yere when M. Piso and M. Messala were Consuls on which day there was carried before him in shew a chesse-boord with all the men and the same bourd was made of two precious stones and yet it was 2. foot broad and 4 foot long and lest any man should doubt hereof and thinke it incredible considering no jems at this day come neare thereto in bignesse know he That in this triumph hee shewed a golden Moone weighing thirtie pounds three dining-tables also of gold other vessell likewise of massie gold and precious stones as much as would garnish nine cup-boords three images of beaten gold representing Minerva Mars and Apollo coronets made of stones to the number of three and thirtie a mountaine made of gold foure square wherein a man might see red deare lyons fruit-trees of all sorts and the whole mountaine inuironed and compassed all about with a vine of gold moreouer an oratorie or closet consisting of pearle in the top or louver whereof there was a clocke or horologe Hee caused also to be borne before him in a pompous shew his owne image made of pearles the pourtraiture I say of that Cn. Pompeius whom regall majestie and ornaments would haue better beseemed and that good face and venerable visage so highly honoured among all nations was now all of pearls as if that manly countenance and seueritie of his had beene vanquished and riotous excesse and superfluitie had triumphed ouer him rather than hee ouer it O Pompey ô Magnus how could this title and syrname Le-grand haue continued among those nations if thou hadst in thy first victorie triumphed after this manner What Magnus were there no means else but to seek out pearles things so prodigal superfluous and deuised for women and which it had not beseemed Pompey once to weare about him and therewith to pourtray and counterfeit thy manly visage And was this the way indeed to haue thy selfe seeme precious doth not that pourtraiture come nearer vnto thee and resemble thy person farre liker which thou didst cause to be erected vpon the top of the Piraenean hils Certes a foule shame and ignominious reproch it was to be shewed in this maner nay to say more truly a wonderfull prodegie it was presaging the heauie ire of the gods for so men were to beleeue and euidently to conceiue therby that euen then and so long before the head of Pompey made of orient pearle euen the richest of the Leuant should be so presented without a bodie But setting this aside how manlike was all the rest of his triumph and how answerable to himselfe For first and foremost giuen freely by him vnto the chamber of the citie there were a thousand talents secondly vpon his leutenants and treasures of the campe who had performed so good seruice in defending the sea-coasts he bestowed two thousand Sestertia apiece thirdly to euery souldiour who accompanied him in that voiage he allowed fiftie Sestertia Well this superfluitie yet of Pompeies triumph serued in some sort to excuse Caius Caligula the Emperour and to make his delicacie and excesse to be more tollerable who ouer and besides all other effeminat tricks and womanly deuises wherof he was full vsed to draw vpon his legs little buskins or starlups made of pearle Pompeies precedent I say in some measure justified Nero the Emperour who made of rich and faire great pearles the scepters and maces the visors also and maskes which players vsed vpon the stage yea and the very bed-roumes which went with him as hee trauailed by the way So as wee seeme now to haue lost that vantage and right which we had to find fault with drinking-cups enriched with pearls yea and much other houshold stuffe and implements garnished therewith since that wheresoeuer we go from one end of the house to the other we seem to passe through rings or such jewels at leastwise which were wont to beautifie our fingers only for is there any superfluitie els but in regard and comparison hereof it may seeme more tollerable and lesse offensiue But to return vnto the triumph of Pompey this victory of his brought into Rome first our cups and other vessels of Cassidoine and Pompey himselfe was the first who that very day of his triumph presented vnto Iupiter Capitolinus six such cups and presently from that time forward men also began to haue a mind vnto them in cupbourds counting tables yea and in vessell for the kitchin and to serue vp meat in and verily from day to day the excesse herein hath so far ouergrowne that one great Cassidoine cup hath been sold for fourescore sesterces but a faire and large one it was and would containe well three sextars id est halfe a wine gallon There are not many yeres past since that a noble man who had been Consull of Rome vsed to drinke out of this cup and notwithstanding that in pledging vpon a time a lady whom he fancied he bit out a piece of the brim thereof which her sweet lips touched yet this injurie done to it rather made it more esteemed and valued at a higher price neither is there at this day a cup of Cassidoine more pretious or dearer than the same But as touching other excesse of this personage and namely how much he consumed and deuoured in superfluities of this kind a may may estimat by the multitude of such Cassidoin vessell found in his cabinet after his death which Nero Domitius tooke away perforce from his children and in truth such a number there were of them that being set out to the shew they were sufficient to furnish and take vp a peculiar theatre which of purpose he caused to be made beyond the Tyber in the gardens there and enough it was for Nero to behold the said theatre replenished with people at the plaies which he exhibited there in honor of his wife the Empresse Poppaea after one child-bed of hers where among other musicians he sung voluntary vpon the stage before the plaies began I saw him there my selfe to make shew of many broken pieces of one cup which he caused to be gathered together full charily as I take it to
much for why there is some good vse thereof in Physicke But I must tell you againe our women regard not that one whit that is not it wherfore they take so great a liking to Ambre True it is that a collar of Ambre beads worne about the neck of yong infants is a singular preseruatiue to them against secret poyson a countercharme for witchcraft and sorcerie Callistratus saith That such collars are very good for all ages and namely to preserue as many as weare them against fantasticall illusions and frights that driue folke out of their wits yea and Amber whether it be taken in drinke or hung about one cures the difficulty of voiding vrin This Callistratus brought in a new name to distinguish yellow Ambre from the rest calling it Chryselectrum which is as much to say as gold Ambre And in very truth this Amber is of a most louely and beautifull colour in a morning This property it hath besides by it selfe that it will catch fire exceeding quickly for if it be neer it you shal see it will soon be of a light fire He saith of this yellow Amber that if it be worn about the neck in a collar it cures feauers and healeth the diseases of the mouth throat and jawes reduced into pouder and tempered with hony and oile of roses it is soueraign for the infirmities of the ears Stamped together with the best Attick hony it makes a singular eie-salue for to help a dim sight puluerized and the pouder thereof taken simply alone or els drunk in water with masticke is soueraign for the maladies of the stomacke Furthermore Amber is very proper to falsifie many pretious stones which are commended for their perspicuity and transparent clearenesse but specially to counterfeit Amethysts by reason that I haue already said it is capable of any tincture that a man would giue it The froward peeuishnes of some Authors who haue written of Lyncurium enforceth me to speak of it immediatly after Amber for say that it be not Electrum or Amber as some would haue it yet they stand stiffely in this that it is a pretious stone mary they hold that it commeth from the vrine of an Once by reason that this wild beast so soon as it hath pissed couereth it with earth vpon a spight and enuie to man that he should haue no good therby They affirme moreouer That the Once stone or Lyncurium is of the same colour that Ambre ardent which resembleth the fire that it serueth well to be engrauen neither by their saying doth it catch at leaues only and strawes but thin plates also of brasse and yron and of this opinion was Dimocles and Theophrastus For mine own part I hold all to be mee re vntruths neither do I think that in our age there hath been a man who euer saw any pretious stone of that name Whateuer also is written as touching the vertues medicinable of Lyncurium I take them to be no better than fables namely that if it be giuen in drink it wil send out the stone of the bladder if it be drunk in wine it will cure the jaundise presently or if it be but carried about one it wil do the deed but ynough of such fantasticall dreames and lying vanities and time it is now to treat of those precious stones wherof there is no doubt made at al and to begin with those that by al mens confession are most rich and of highest price In which discourse I wil not prosecute this theame only but also for to aduance the knowledge of posterity in those things that may profit this life I meane eftsoones to haue a fling at Magicians for their abhominable lies and monstrous vanities for in nothing so much haue they ouerpassed themselues as in the reports of gems pretious stones exceeding the tearms and limits of Physick whiles vnder a color of faire and pleasing medicines they hold vs with a tale of their prodigious effects and incredible CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Diamants and their sundry kinds Their vertues and properties medicinable Of Pearles THe Diamant carieth the greatest price not only among pretious stones but also aboue aâ—… things els in the world neither was it knowne for a long time what a Diamant was vnlesse it were by some kings and princes and those but very few The only stone it is that we find in mines of mettal Very seldome it is and thought a miracle to meet with a diamant in a veine of gold yet it seemes as though it should grow no where but in gold The writers of antient time were of opinion that it was to be had in the mines only of Aethiopia and namely between the temple of Mercurie and the Island Meroë affirming moreouer that the fairest Diamant that euer was found exceeded not in bignesse a Cucumber seed whereunto also it was not vnlike in color But in these daies there be known six sorts of Diamants The Indian is not engendred in mines of gold but hath a great affinitie with Crystall and groweth much after that manner for in transparent and cleere color it differeth not at all neither yet otherwhiles in the smooth sides and faces which it carrieth between six angles pointed sharpe at one end in manner of a top or els two contrary waies lozengewise a wonderful thing to consider as if the flat ends of two tops were set and joined together and for bignesse it hath bin knowne of the quantity of an Hazel-nut or Filbard kernill The Diamants of Arabia be much like to the Indian only they are lesse they grow also after the same order As for the rest they are of a more pale and yellow color testifying out of what country and nation they come for they breed not but in mines of gold and those the most excellent of all others The triall of these Diamants is vpon a smiths Anuill for strike as hard as you will with an hammer vpon the point of a Diamant you shall see how it scorneth all blowes and rather than it will seeme to relent first flieth the hammer that smiteth in pieces and the very anuill it selfe vnderneath cleaueth in twaine Wonderful and inenarrable is the hardnesse of a Diamant besides it hath a nature to conquer the fury of fire nay you shall neuer make it hot doe what you can for this vntameable vertue that it hath the Greekes haue giuen it the name Adamas One of these kinds the said Greekes call Cenchron for that it is as big ordinarily as the millet seed a second sort they name Macedonicum found in the mine of gold neer Philippi and this is that Diamant which for quantity is compared to the Cucumber seed After these there is the Cyprian Diamant so called because it is found in the Isle Cyprus it enclineth much to the color of brasse but in cases of Physick as I will shew anon most effectual Next to which I must raunge the Diamant Sideritis which shines as bright as steele
be like vnto a Lions skin they haue the name to be powerfull against scorpions In Persia they are persuaded That a perfume of such Agaths turneth away tempests and all extraordinarie impressions of the aire as also stayeth the violent streame and rage of riuers But to know which be proper for this purpose they vse to cast them into a cauldron of seething water for if they coole the same it is an argument they be right but to be sure that they may do good they must bee worne tied to the haires of a Lions mane for as touching those Agates which seeme to haue the print of an Hyaenes skin the Magitions cannot abide them as causing discord in an house But they hold That the Agath of one simple colour causeth those wrestlers to be inuincible who haue it about them And a proof hereof they take by seething it in a pot full of oile with diuers painters colours for within one two houres after it hath sivered and boiled therein it will bring them all to one entire colour of vermilion Thus much of Achates or the Agath The stone which is named Acopis resembleth Sal-Nitre hollow and light it is in manner of the pumish stone howbeit spotted with golden spots or drops in manner of starres Seeth this gently in oile and therewith anoint the body it riddeth away all wearinesse and lassitudes if wee may beleeue the Magitions The stone Alabastrites is found about Alabastrum a city in Egypt and Damasco in Syria white of colour it is and intermedled with sundry colours This beeing calcined with Sal-gem and reduced into pouder is said to correct a stinking breath and strong sauor of the teeth In the gesiers of cocks there be found certaine stones called thereupon Alectoriae which in shew resemble Crystall and be as big as beans Milo that great Wrestler of Crotone vsed to carry this stone about him whereby he was inuincible in all the feats of strength or actiuitie that hee tried as Magitions would seem to persuade vs. Androdamas is a stone of a bright colour like siluer and in manner of a Diamant square and alwayes growing in a table Lozenge-wise The Magitions suppose that it tooke that name of repressing the anger and furious violence of men As touching Argyrodamas whether it be the same or another stone Authors haue not resolued Antipathes is a stone all blacke and nothing at all transparent You shall find whether it bee a true stone or no by seething it in milke for no sooner is it put in but it causeth the milke to look like Myrrh The Magitions would haue vs to thinke That it is good against Witchcraft and eye-biting especially Arabica is passing like vnto Ivorie and for Ivorie might it go but that it is so hard which bewraieth it to be a stone It is thought that as many as haue it about them shall finde ease of the paine of the sinues The stone Aromatites is thought principally to grow in Arabia and yet it is found in Egypt about Pyrae but wheresoeuer it is to be had a hard stone it is in colour and smell both resembling Myrrhe in which regard it is much vsed of queenes and great ladies Asbestos is ingendred within the mountaines of Arcadia and is of an iron gray colour As for Aspilate Democritus saith that it is bred in Arabia and of a fiery colour which by his saying ought to be tied with camels haire and so hung fast about them that be troubled with the schirrosities of the spleen also if he say true it is found in the neast of certain Arabian birds Another also of that name groweth there in the cape Leucopetra but it is of a siluer colour and glittereth withall excellent to be worne about one against the phantasticall feares and imaginations in the night season The same Democritus saith That in Persis India and the mountaine Ida there is a stone found named Artizoë glistering bright as siluer three fingers thicke formed in manner of a Lentil and of a pleasant and delectable sauor The Sages of Persia neuer go about the election and ordering of a King but they thinke it necessarie to haue it about them As for the Augites many be of opinion that it is no other stone than Callais to wit the Turquois Amphitane is a stone knowne by another name also Chrysocolla found it is in that part of India where the Pismires-Volant do take out gold where it resembles gold and is in fashion foursquare It is reported constantly that it hath the same force naturally that the Loadstone hath but that it draweth gold to it as well as iron Aphrodisiace is partly white and partly reddish Asyctos being once heat at the fire will continue a seuen-night after hot blacke it is and ponderous hauing certaine veins that diuide it it is thought to be good against cold As touching Aegyptilla Iacchus taketh it for a white stone with a veine partly of a Sard or Cornalline and partly blacke passing through it ouerthwart howbeit the common sort take Egyptilla to be blew with a black mote in the bottome As for the stone Balanites there be two kinds thereof to wit of a greenish colour and resembling Corinth brasse the former commeth from Coptos the other out of the region Troglodytica and they haue a fierie vaine cutting them just in the mids The same Coptos sendeth other stones to vs besides to wit those which be called Batrachitae the one like in colour to a frog a second to yvory the third is of a blackish red Baptes how soeuer otherwise it be soft and tender yet an excellent odor it hath The stone called Belus eie is white and hath within it a black apple the mids wherof a man shall see to glitter like gold this stone for the singular beautie that it hath is dedicated to Belus the most sacred god of the Assyrians There is another stone named Belus growing as Democritus saith about Arbelae to the bignesse of a wall-nut in manner and forme of glasse As for Baroptenus or Baroptis it is black interlaced as it were with certain knots both white and also of a sanguine red after a strange and wonderfull manner Botrytes is found somtime black otherwhiles red like it is to a cluster of grapes when it beginneth first to knit As for it which is more like to the hair of women Zoroastres calleth it Bostrychites Bucardia resembleth an oxe heart and is to be found onely about Babylon Brotia is shaped in manner of a Tortoise head it falleth with a crack of thunder as it is thought from heauen and if we wil beleeue it quencheth the fire of lightning Bolae are found after a great storm or tempest resembling a clod Cadmitis were the very same which they cal Ostracitis but that otherwhiles it is compassed about with certain blew bubbles Callais comes very neere to the Saphir but that it is whiter and resembleth rather
sundry names of it ibid. the description and vertues 238. k. l. why called in Greeke Erigeron ib. l. why some name it Aâ—…s others Pappos ibid. Grylli what insects they be 378 h. 379. d. their me â—…ble vertues ibid. Gryllus the picture of a foole with his bel bable c. 544. l Grylli all such pictures to make sport withall ibid. of Guirlands 80. h. i. why they were called Strophion 80. i Guirlands and nose-gaies called in Latine Serta and Serviae and wherefore ibid. Guirlands Aegiptian what they were 80. l winter guirlands what they were ibid. Tusean Guirlands what they were ibid. the vse of Guirlands representing health 82. i ordinances concerning Guirlands woon at solemne games 81. c the honour belonging to such Guirlands ibid. abuse in Guirlands 81. e Guirlands of floures how they were imployed 82. g Guirlands platted were the best ibid. superfluitie and excesse in Guirlands 82. h costly Guirlands or chaplets of silke perfumed with daintie odours ibid. Guirlands consist properly of floures and hearbes 89. e Gums in generall their vertues medicinable 194. a Gums soone dissolue in vinegre 176. k Gum of Chamaeleon called Ixias venomous 39. d. the remedies proper therefore ib. 64. h. 153. b. 157. b. 182. m 277. c. 323. a. 323. d. 431. b. Gumbs of young infants pained how to be eased 449. e Gumbs flaggie how to be knit and confirmed 161. c Gumbs swelled and impostumat how to be allaied and cured 161. e. 238. h. 249. c. 419. b. Gumbs sore cankred and exulcerat how to be healed 159 c 160 i. 287 d. 351 b. 509 a. for Gumbs pained or otherwise diseased generall medecins 51. e. 63. g. 70. g. 102. i. 156. m. 158. k. 165. d. 169. c 177. f. 178. l. 184. g. 195. f. 197. d. 238. i. 272. i. 376. k 443. b. 509. c. Gurrie in horses other beasts how to be staied 41. c. 78. h for the paine wrings and corosion in the Guts proper remedies in generall 37. e. 53 b. 60. i. 61. a. d. 62. i. 66. h 77. b. 187. e. 263. d. 41. d. 52. g. 72. l. 76. l. 77. e. 78. k 102. l. 105. c. 106. k. 109. b. 111. a. e. 174. k. 238. m 318. g. See more in bellie ach and Wrings of Guts Guts exulcerat how to be cured 38. i. 76. c. 107. e. 200. k 207. e. 249 c. 272. k. See more in Dysenterie and Bloudie flix grinding of the Guts in young children how to be assuaged 318. i. to cleanse the Guts proper remedies 272. k. 283. a. 443. a Gutti the name of certaine people 606. i G Y Gylding of marble 466. g Gylding of wood 466. h Gylding of brasse ibid. Gylihead the fish Aurata what medicines it doth affourd 433. d. H A HAbergeon of K. Amasis wrought of imnen twist exceeding fine 3. d Haddocke fish hath a stone in the head medicinable 445. e Hamachates a pretious stone 623. c Haemaetites a red Bloudstone 367. d Haematites the Bloudstone described 587. b Haematites a meere minerall 589. e. how calcined ibid. how sophisticated ibid. wherein it differeth from the stone Schistos ib. the medicinable vertues that it hath ibid. fiue kindes of Haematites or Bloud-stone 590. g Haematites a pretious stone 627 e. why so called ib. where it is found ibid. the wonderfull properties there of according to the vaine magicians 627. 〈◊〉 Haemorrhis a worme or serpent 352. g. why so called ibid. against the hurt of the serpent Haemorrhois what remedies 43 e. 69 e. 148 k. 150 l. 153. b. 196 g. 352 g. Haemorrhoid veins how to be opened 42 k. 200 k Haemorrhoid veins running immoderatly how to be stopped 193 b. 256 g. 272 i. 511 b. 516 k. 519 d. 470 k 591. b. Haemorrhids aching how to be eased 199. f. 351 e Haemus a mountaine yeelding springs of water sodainly by occasion of a fall of wood 410 k. l Haile-water hurtfull 406. i Haire shedding how to be retained and recoucred 39. f 42 h. 47 e. 50 h. 56 i. 74 l. 78 m. 103 a. 113 c. 122 g 127 a c. 128 h. 130 i. 163 c. 166 m. 174 k. 177 b 178 i l. 183 d. 185 d. 191 c. 196 l. 205 c. 212 h 232 i k. 239 d. 249 d. 272 h. 290 m. 291 a. 320. g 323 f. 324 i. 364 m. 437 f. 438 g. 446 l. 450 i 516 h. 521. a. 531 c. Haire of mans head medicinable 301 b. of a womans head in what cases effectuall 307 b means to cause the Haire to grow thicke on head or beard where it was thin 146 l. 161 d. 172 i. 185 d. 199 f 290 m. 316 l. 324 g h i. 364 i. Haire of eye-lids gorwing crooked into the eyes how to be rectified 397 f. 438 i k. 557 d Haire of eye-lids how to be kept from growing 236 l. how to be taken away 312 k. how it may grew 324. g how preserued 320 g Haire of eyelids how to be kept from growing 438 k. 439. e Haire of eyebrowes how to be trimmed 102 k. how to haue a louely blacke 397 d. how to be setched off 302. g how it shall grow no more 324. l Haire how to be curled 127 a. 128 l. 181 b. 311 c how Haire shall come vp blacke 365 a Haire how to be coloured blacke 43 d. 71 c. 127 a. 143 d 163 c. 170 g. 174 i. 175 b. 178 g. 179 a. 184 h. 186 g 190 h. 194 m. 196 m. 268 g k. 277. e. 324 i. 438. g 560. g. what coloureth the Haire yellow 162 g. 268 k 328 l 432 k. what giueth haire a red colour 158 h. 192 k Haire how to be washed bright 475. a Haire growing vpon a mole or wert of the face some make scruple to clip or shaue 300 g Haire how it shall grow vpon scarred places 364. l Haire what hindereth it in growing 339 f. 379 e. f. 397 b c. 449 c. Haire how to be preserued from hoarinesse 249 e. 324. g 397 d. Haire of a man-child not yet vndergrowne thought to bee medicinable 301 a b Halcioneum what it is 441 c. the sundry kindes ibid. their description ib. which is best 441 d. their properties ibid. Halicacabus a dangerous hearbe commended by some 112 l. the description thereof ib. h. the hurtfull qulities that it hath ibid. k Halicuticon a booke of the Poet Ouid 427. d Hallowing of houses against ill spirits and sorcerie with brimstone 557. a Halmirax or Halmiraga what it is 420. h. where found ibid. Halmirida a kinde of Colewoort why so called 27. a Halum what hearbe 248. h Hams of the legs pained how to be eased 30â—… b Hammâ—…tes a pretious stone and the description 627. d Hammochrysos a pretiâ—…us stone 630. k Hammons horne a pretious stone 627. d. the description and properties ibid. Hanch See Loins Hand swolne or broken out how to be healed 106. m to sit with one Hand in another and crosse fingred what effect it worketh 304. m Harefoot an hearbe 250. i seeding
or women painted or died therewith in old time 114. l VVooll reuerently regarded among the ancient Romanes 349. e. the side posts of the bridegrooms doore bedecked with wooll by the bride on the wedding day 349. e the vse of VVooll ibid. 351. h VVooll vnwashed medicinable 351. k VVooll of a sheep greasie is medicinable 350. g. h. i VVooll vnwashed and greasie doth mollifie 424. g VVooll greasie of a ram is effectuall in Physicke 350. h VVooll of the necke is best ibid. from what countries ibid. Wooll greasie how to be ordered for vse in Physicke 350. i. k how it is calcined 350. k the ashes thereof is medicinable ibid. fleece VVooll washed and the vse thereof 351. b Woooll-beards or Caterpillers called Multipedae described 369. e. a Wolues snout why it is set vsually vpon the gates of countrey ferme houses 323. a VVolues dung medicinable 324. k the bones found in their dung likewise 332. i the strange operations of the VVolfe and parts of the bodie 323. a Wolues how they may be kept out of a territorie 342. l Wolues greace much esteemed in old time 320. k the bride therwith striked the dore sides of her husbands house ibid. Wolues i. sores how to be cured 149. d. 300. m. 265. d See more in Vlcers cancerous and eating deepe Wombe See Bellie and Guts Women with child longing and hauing a depraued appetite how to be helped of that infirmitie 155 d. 277 a 307 c. 164 i l. Womens breasts aking how to be assuaged 340. g Womens breasts or paps enflamed swollen hard sore and impostumat by what means cured 167 d. 143 b 148 i. 182. h. 183. e. 266 k. 279. c. 307. d. 320. g. issue of bloud out of Womens breast heads how to be stanched 263. f Womens breasts ouer big how to be brought downe 340. g haire springing about their breast nipples how to be rid away 268. i for all infirmities of Womens breasts in generall conuenient remedies 70. g. 72 h m. 104 h. 108 h. 138 m. 142 g 157 d. 161 a. 164 g. 172 h. 169 i. 274 g. Womens purgations vpon their new deliuerance how to be procured and helped forward 59 b. 63 e. 65. a. d 340. g Womens infirmities of the matrice in generall how to be remedied 266 i k. 276 h. 290 k. See more in Matrice Womens infirmities following child-birth how to be cured Womens flux of whites or reds immoderat how by what means staied 39 a. 59 d. 102 k. 110 i k. 130 h. 267 g 340 l. 396 g. 516 i. 529 b. Women with child their swawms and faintings how to be helped 146. k Women how they may preserue the skin of their faces faire 149. b. 276. h. 286. l. Women by what meanes they shall looke young faire and full without freckles and wrinkles 440. m. 559. f Women who cannot deliuer their vrine but dropmeale and with difficultie how to be cured 395. d how a Woman shall forme and bring forth a boy child 395. d. Women how they may keepe their skin supple and soft 319. e. Women by what meanes they may cleanse the skin of their face from morphew 149. b. 276. h. 286. l Women become soone barraine by hard trauaile in child-birth 340. k how a Woman may haue speedie deliuerance of childbirth 395 d. e. what comforteth a Womans backe and loines in labour 395. c. Women hauing an inordinat itch in their secret parts how to be eased 396. i hauing vlcers and vntoward sores in their priuities by what meanes to be cured 449. b Womens bodies yeeld medicines 307. a a Womans haire-lace or fillet what it is good for 308. h Women in time of their monethly sickenesse worke wonders 308 i. Womens lazie feuers how to be cured 74. l Women more skilfull in witchcraft and fitter instruments therefore than men 210. k Women and ancient matrons at their deuotions what Imageurs delighted to expresse in brasse 503 e f. 504 i Womens excesse and prodigall wast of gold in Plinies time taxed 462 g h i c Women excellent paintresses 551. a Wood-evill in sheepe how to be helped 218. k Wood-soure or wood-sorrell an herbe See Oxys Woodbind an herbe 288 g. the description ib the vertues ibid. h Words pronounced in charms or spels whether they should be strange or familiar 296. l whether Words barely vttered auaile not in curing diseases or no 294. k a set forme of Words in praier inuocations and exorcisms held to be materiall in many respects 294 k Worms of diuers sorts medicinable 393. f Worms in the bellie how to be killed and chased out 39. e 41 e. 44 i. 45 f. 47 a. 71. e. 55. e. 56 h. 59 c. 60 h. 70 i 105 b. 108 l. 122. g. 124 g. 126 i. 143 c. 160 k. 165 b 166. g. 170. g. 172 i. 179 e. 190 g. 192. g. 249. b 250 l. 253 c. 277 a. f. 281 c. 332. h. 419 c. 443 d 511. b. Wormewood an herbe 276 i. the sundry Linds ibid. Santonicum why so called ibid. Ponticum why so named ibid. Seripl ium why so named 277. e in Pontus the sheepe feed fat with wormewood 276. i Wormewoâ—…d not so common but it is as wholesome 276. i Wormewood why it was giuen in drinke to the winners at the charriot running 276. k Wormewood wine ibid. Wormewood drinke how it is made by way of decoction ib. the vertue thereof 277. a the infusion of Wormewood 276 l the iuice of wormewood by way of expression ibid. a syrrup of wormewood made of the iuice 276. m hurtfull to stomacke and head 277. a the manifold vertues of the ordinary drinke or decoction of Wormwood 277. a how it was giuen for apurgatiue 277. b Wormewood Seriphium called likewise See-wormewood 277 f. the description ib. an enemy to the stomacke ib. it looseth the belly ibid. decoction of Wormewood how to be made 278 g Wounds in the head how to be healed 183. a. 192. i. 233. 〈◊〉 301 b. 307 c. 365 e. 412 m. Wounds fresh made how to be kept from inflammation 423 e. how from swelling 338. k symptoms following vpon Wounds how cured 72. l paine or Wounds and their smaâ—…t what assuageth 302. k Wounds how to be cleansed 471. e. 511. c Wounds bleeding excessiuely stanched with a charme by Vlyxes 297. m Wound-salues or vulnerariâ—… medecins 160 l. 182. l Wounds more angry by the presence of those that haue been stung by serpents or 〈◊〉 by mad dogs 299. b Wounds-greene by what meâ—…s healed 38 h. 43 b. 45 b 49 a. 50 l. 52 i. 63 b. 68 〈◊〉 70 k. 73 a. 103 b. d. 104 i 111 d. 146 k. 159 d. 163 b. 169 f. 177 〈◊〉 178 h. 185 c d 193 b. 194 h. 197 b. 253 e. 263 c. 264 l. 265. b c. 266 g 272 i. 277. a. 283 e. 289. c. 290 k. l 305 c. 338 g 350. g i. 370 l. 393 c. f. 394 g h i. 403. b. 404 g. 418 i 516 i. 557 c. Wounds made by swordor edge