somewhat upon their imaginations for their facts, as is the case with
this Antelope, of which Topsell gives the following description:--“They
are bred in _India_, and _Syria_, neere the River _Euphrates_, and
delight much to drinke of the cold water thereof. Their bodie is like
the body of a _Roe_, and they have hornes growing forthe of the crowne
of their head, which are very long and sharpe; so that _Alexander_
affirmed that they pierced through the sheeldes of his Souldiers, and
fought with them very irefully: at which time his company slew as he
travelled to _India_, eight thousand, five hundred, and fifty; which
great slaughter may be the occasion why they are so rare, and seldome
seene to this day, by cause thereby the breeders, and meanes of their
continuance (which consisted in their multitude) were weakened and
destroyed. Their hornes are great, and made like a saw, and they, with
them, can cut asunder the braunches of _Osier_, or small trees, whereby
it commeth to passe that many times their necks are taken in the twists
of the falling boughes, whereat the Beast with repining cry, bewrayeth
himselfe to the Hunters, and so is taken. The vertues of this Beast are
unknowne, and therefore _Suidas_ sayth an _Antalope_ is but good in
part.”
THE HORSE.
Aldrovandus gives us a curious specimen of a horse, which the artist has
drawn with the slashed trunk breeches of the time. He says that
_Fincelius_, quoting _Licosthenes_, mentions that this animal had its
skin thus slashed, from its birth, and was to be seen about the year
1555. Its skin was as thick as sole-leather. It was, probably, an ideal
Zebra.
Topsell gives us some fine horse-lore, especially as to their love for
their masters:--“_Homer_ seemeth also to affirme that there are in
Horsses divine qualityes, understanding things to come, for, being tyed
to their mangers they mournd for the death of _Patroclus_, and also
shewed _Achilles_ what should happen unto him; for which cause _Pliny_
saieth of them that they lament their lost maisters with teares, and
foreknow battailes. _Accursius_ affirmeth that _Cæsar_ three daies
before he died, found his ambling Nag weeping in the stable, which was a
token of his ensewing death, which thing I should not beleeve, except
_Tranquillus_ in the life of _Cæsar_, had related the same thing, and he
addeth moreover, that the Horsses which were consecrated to _Mars_ for
passing over _Rubicon_, being let to run wilde abroad, without their
maisters, because no man might meddle with the horses of the Gods, were
found to weepe abundantly, and to abstaine from all meat.
[Illustration]
“Horsses are afraid of Elephants in battaile, and likewise of a
Cammell, for which cause when _Cyrus_ fought against _Crœsus_, he
overthrew his Horse by the sight of Camels, for a horse cannot abide to
looke upon a Camell. If a Horse tread in the footpath of a Wolfe, he
presently falleth to be astonished; Likewise, if two or more drawing a
Charriot, come into the place where a Wolfe hath trod, they stand so
still as if the Charriot and they were frozen to the earth, sayth
_Ælianus_ and _Pliny_. _Æsculapius_ also affirmeth the same thing of a
Horsse treading in a Beare’s footsteppes, and assigneth the reason to be
in some secret, betweene the feete of both beastes....
“Al kind of Swine are enemies to Horses, the Estridge also, is so feared
of a Horse, that the Horsse dares not appeare in his presence. The like
difference also is betwixt a Horse, and a Beare. There is a bird which
is called _Anclorus_, which neyeth like a Horse, flying about; the Horse
doth many times drive it away; but because it is somewhat blind, and
cannot see perfectly, therefore the horsse doth oftentimes ketch it, and
devoure it, hating his owne voice in a creature so unlike himself.
“It is reported by _Aristotle_, that the Bustard loveth a Horsse
exceedingly, for, seeing other Beastes feeding in the pastures,
dispiseth and abhorreth them; but, as soone as ever it seeth a Horsse,
it flyeth unto him for joy, although the Horsse run away from it: and,
therefore, the Egyptians, when they see a weake man driving away a
stronger, they picture a Bustard flying to a Horsse....
“_Julius Cæsar_ had a horsse which had cloven hooves like a man’s
fingers, and because he was foaled at that time when the sooth-sayers
had pronounced that hee should have the government of the world,
therefore he nourished him carefully, and never permitted any man to
backe him but himselfe, which he afterwards dedicated in the Temple of
Venus....
“If one do cut the vaines of the pallet of a horse’s mouth, and let it
runne downe into his belly, it will presently destroy and consume the
maw, or belly worms, which are within him. The Marrow of a horse is also
very good to loosen the sinewes which are knit and fastned together, but
first let it be boiled in wine, and afterwards be made cold, and then
anointed warmly either by the Fire, or Sun. The teeth of a male horse
not gelded, or by any labor made feeble, being put under the head, or
over the head of him that is troubled or startleth in his dreame, doth
withstand and resist all unquietnes which in the time of his rest might
happen unto him. The teeth also of a horse is verye profitable for the
curing of the Chilblanes which are rotten and full of corruption when
they are swollen full ripe. The teeth which do, first of all, fall from
horses, being bound or fastned upon children in their infancie, do very
easily procure the breeding of the teeth, but with more speed, and more
effectually, if they have never touched the ground....
“If you anoint a combe with the foame of a horse, wherewith a young man
or youth doth use to comb his head, it is of such force as it will cause
the haire of his head neither to encrease or any whit to appeare. The
foame of a horse is also very much commended for them which have either
pain or difficulty of hearing in their ears, or else the dust of horse
dung, being new made and dryed, and mingled with oyle of Roses. The
griefe or soreness of a man’s mouth or throat, being washed or annointed
with the foame of a Horse, which hath bin fed with Oates or barly, doth
presently expell the paine of the Sorenesse, if so be that it be 2 or 3
times washed over with the juyce of young or greene Sea-crabs beaten
small together.” But I could fill pages with remedial recipes furnished
by the horse.
THE MIMICK DOG.
[Illustration]
“The Mimicke or Getulian Dogge,” is, I take it, meant for a poodle. It
was “apt to imitate al things it seeth, for which cause some have
thought that it was conceived by an Ape, for in wit and disposition it
resembleth an Ape, but in face, sharpe and blacke like an Hedgehog,
having a short recurved body, very long legs, shaggy haire, and a short
taile: this is called of some _Canis Lucernarius_. These being brought
up with apes in their youth, learne very admirable and strange feats,
whereof there were great plenty in _Egypt_ in the time of king
_Ptolemy_, which were taught to leap, play, and dance, at the hearing of
musicke, and in many poore men’s houses they served insteed of servaunts
for divers uses.
“These are also used by Plaiers and Puppet-Mimicks to worke straunge
trickes, for the sight whereof they get much money; such an one was the
Mimick’s dog, of which _Plutarch_ writeth that he saw in a publicke
spectacle at Rome before the Emperor _Vespasian_. The dog was taught to
act a play, wherein were contained many persons’ parts, I mean the
affections of many other dogs; at last, there was given him a piece of
bread, wherein, as was saide, was poison, having vertue to procure a
dead sleepe, which he received and swallowed; and presently, after the
eating thereof, he began to reele and stagger too and fro like a drunken
man, and fell downe to the ground, as if he had bin dead, and so laie a
good space, not stirring foot nor lim, being drawne uppe and downe by
divers persons, according as the gesture of the play he acted did
require, but when he perceived by the time, and other signes that it was
requisite to arise, he first opened his eies, and lift up his head a
little, then stretched forth himself, like as one doth when he riseth
from sleepe; at last he geteth up, and runneth to him to whom that part
belonged, not without the joy, and good content of _Cæsar_ and all other
beholders.
“To this may be added another story of a certaine Italian about the
yeare 1403, called _Andrew_, who had a red Dog with him, of strange
feats, and yet he was blind. For standing in the Market place compassed
about with a circle of many people, there were brought by the standers
by, many Rings, Jewels, bracelets, and peeces of gold and silver, and
these, within the circle were covered with earth, then the dog was bid
to seeke them out, who with his nose and feet did presently find and
discover them, then was hee also commaunded to give to every one his
owne Ring, Jewell, Bracelet, or money, which the blind dog did performe
directly without stay or doubt. Afterward, the standers by, gave unto
him divers pieces of coine, stamped with the images of sundry princes,
and then one of them called for a piece of English money, and the Dog
delivered him a piece; another for the Emperor’s coine, and the dog
delivered him a piece thereof; and so consequently, every princes coine
by name, till all was restored; and this story is recorded by Abbas
Urspergensis, where upon the common people said, the dog was a divell,
or else possessed with some pythonicall spirit.”
It is curious to note some of the remedies against hydrophobia--and I
only give a portion of the long list.
“For the outward compound remedies, a plaister made of _Opponax_ and
Pitch, is much commended, which _Menippus_ used, taking a pound of Pitch
of Brutias, and foure ounces of _Opponax_, adding withall, that the
_Opponax_ must be dissolved in vinegar, and afterwards the Pitch and the
vinegar must be boiled together, and when the vinegar is consumed, then
put in the _Opponax_, and of both together make like taynters or
splints, and thrust them into the wound, so let them remaine many dayes
together, and in the meane time drinke an antidot of sea crabs and
vineger, (for vineger is alway pretious in this confection). Other use
_Basilica_, Onyons, Rue, Salt, Rust of Iron, white bread, seedes of hore
hound, and triacle: but the other plaister is most forcible to be
applyed outwardly, above al medicines in the world.
“For the simple or uncompounded medicines to be taken against this sore,
are many: As Goose-grease, the roote of Wilde roses drunke; bitter
Almonds, leaves of Chickweed, or Pimpernell, the old skinne of a snake
pounded with a male sea Crab, Betony, Cabbage-leaves, or stalkes, with
Persneps and vineger, lime and sewet, poulder of Sea-Crabs with Hony;
poulder of the shels of Sea-Crabs, the haires of a Dog layed on the
wound, the head of the Dog which did bite, mixed with a little
_Euphorbium_; the haire of a man with vineger, dung of Goates with wine,
Walnuts with Hony and salte, poulder of fig tree in a sear cloth,
Fitches in wine, _Euphorbium_, warme horse-dung, raw beanes chewed in
the mouth, fig tree leaves, greene figs with vineger, fennel stalkes,
Gentians, dung of pullen, the Lyver of a Buck-goate, young swallowes,
burned to poulder, also their dung; the urine of a man, an Hyæna’s skin,
flower de luce with honey, a Sea hearb called _Kakille_, _Silphum_ with
salt, the flesh and shels of snayles, leeke seeds with salt, mints, the
taile of a field mouse cut off from her alive, and she suffered to live,
rootes of Burres, with salt of the Sea plantaine, the tongue of a Ramme
with salt, the flesh of al Sea-fishes, the fat of a sea-Calfe and
Vervine, besides many other superstitious amulets which are used to be
bound to the Armes, neckes, and brests, as the Canine tooth bound up in
a leafe, and tyed to the Arme. A worme bred in the dung of Dogges,
hanged about the necke, the roots of _Gentian_ in an Hyæna’s skin, or
young Wolfe’s Skin, and such like; whereof I know no reason beside the
opinion of men.”
Let us now see what medicinal properties exist in dogs themselves; and,
here again, I must very much curtail the recital of their benefits to
mankind.
“The vertues of a Dog’s head made into poulder, are both many and
unspeakable, by it is the biting of mad dogs cured, it cureth spots, and
bunches in the head, and a plaister thereof made with Oyle of Roses,
healeth the running in the head. The poulder of the teeth of Dogges,
maketh Children’s teeth to come forth with speed and easie, and, if
their gums be rub’d with a dog’s tooth, it maketh them to have the
sharper teeth; and the poulder of these Dogs teeth rubbed upon the
Gummes of young or olde, easeth toothache, and abateth swelling in the
gummes. The tongue of a Dogge, is most wholesome both for the curing of
his owne wounds by licking, as also of any other creature. The rennet of
a Puppy drunke with Wine, dissolveth the Collicke in the same houre
wherein it was drunke,” &c., &c., &c.
THE CAT.
Aldrovandus gives us a picture of a curly-legged Cat, but, beyond saying
that it was so afflicted (or ornamented) from its birth, he gives no
particulars. Topsell, too, is singularly silent on the merits of Cats;
but yet he mentions some interesting particulars respecting them:--“To
keepe Cats from hunting of Hens, they use to tie a little wild rew under
their wings, and so likewise from Dove-coates, if they set it in the
windowes, they dare not approach unto it for some secret in nature. Some
have said that cats will fight with Serpentes, and Toads, and kill them,
and, perceiving that she is hurt by them, she presently drinketh water,
and is cured: but I cannot consent unto this opinion.... _Ponzettus_
sheweth by experience that cats and Serpents love one another, for
there was (sayth he) in a certain Monastery, a Cat norished by the
Monkes, and suddenly the most part of the Monkes which used to play with
the Cat, fell sicke; whereof the Physitians could find no cause, but
some secret poyson, and al of them were assured that they never tasted
any: at the last a poore laboring man came unto them, affirming that he
saw the Abbey-Cat playing with a Serpent, which the Physitians
understanding, presently conceived that the Serpent had emptied some of
her poyson upon the Cat, which brought the same to the Monkes, and they
by stroking and handeling the Cat, were infected therewith; and whereas
there remained one difficulty, namely, how it came to passe the Cat
herself was not poisoned thereby, it was resolved, that, forasmuch as
the Serpentes poison came from him but in playe and sporte, and not in
malice and wrath, that therefore the venom thereof being lost in play,
neither harmed the Cat at al, nor much endangered the Monkes; and the
very like is observed of Myce that will play with Serpents....
[Illustration]
“Those which will keepe their Cattes within doores, and from hunting
Birds abroad, must cut off their eares, for they cannot endure to have
drops of raine distil into them, and therefore keep themselves in
harbor.... They cannot abide the savour of oyntments, but fall madde
thereby; they are sometimes infected with the falling evill, but are
cured with _Gobium_.”
THE LION.
Of the great Cat, the Lion, the ancients give many wonderful stories,
some of them not altogether redounding to his character for bravery:--“A
serpent, or snake doth easily kill a lion, where of _Ambrosius_ writeth
very elegantly. _Eximia leonis pulchritudo, per comantes cervicis toros
excutitur, cum subito a serpente os pectore tenus attolitur, itaque
Coluber cervum fugit sed Leonem interficit. The splendant beautie of a
lion in his long curled mane is quickly abated, and allayed, when the
serpent doth but lift up his head to his brest._ For such is the
ordinance of God, that the Snake, which runneth from a fearefull Hart,
should without all feare kill a courageous Lyon; and the writer of Saint
_Marcellus_ life, _How much more will he feare a great Dragon, against
whom he hath not power to lift up his taile_. And _Aristotle_ writeth
that the Lyon is afraid of the Swine, and _Rasis_ affirmeth as much of
the mouse.
“The Cocke also both seene and heard for his voice and combe, is a
terror to the Lion and Basiliske, and the Lyon runneth from him when he
seeth him, especially from a white cocke, and the reason hereof, is
because they are both partakers of the Sunnes qualities in a high
degree, and therefore the greater body feareth the lesser, because there
is a more eminent and predominant sunny propertie in the Cocke, than in
the Lion. _Lucretius_ describes this terrour notably, affirming that, in
the morning, when the Cocke croweth, the lions betake themselves to
flight, because there are certain seedes in the body of Cockes, which
when they are sent, and appeare to the eyes of Lions, they vexe their
pupils and apples, and make them, against Nature, become gentle and
quiet.”
THE LEONTOPHONUS--THE PEGASUS--THE CROCOTTA.
The Lion has a dreadful enemy, according to Pliny, who says:--“We have
heard speak of a small animal to which the name of _Leontophonus_[36]
has been given, and which is said to exist only in those countries where
the Lion is produced. If its flesh is only tasted by the Lion, so
intensely venomous is its nature, that this lord of the other quadrupeds
instantly expires. Hence it is that the hunters of the Lion burn its
body to ashes, and sprinkle a piece of flesh with the powder, and so
kill the Lion by means of its ashes even--so fatal to it is this poison!
The Lion, therefore, not without reason, hates the Leontophonus, and,
after destroying its sight, kills it without inflicting a bite: the
animal, on the other hand, sprinkles the Lion with its urine, being well
aware that this, too, is fatal to it.”
We have read, in the Romances of Chivalry, how that Guy, Earl of
Warwick, having seen a Lion and a Dragon fighting, went to the
assistance of the former, and, having killed its opponent, the Lion
meekly trotted after him, and ever after, until its death, was his
constant companion. How, in the absence of Sir Bevis of Hampton, two
lions having killed the Steward Boniface, and his horse, laid their
heads in the fair Josian’s lap. The old romancists held that a lion
would always respect a virgin, and Spenser has immortalised this in his
character of Una. Most of us remember the story given by Aulus Gellius
and Ælian, of Androcles, who earned a lion’s gratitude by extracting a
thorn from its paw, and Pliny gives similar instances:--
“Mentor, a native of Syracuse, was met in Syria by a lion, who rolled
before him in a suppliant manner; though smitten with fear, and desirous
to escape, the wild beast on every side opposed his flight, and licked
his feet with a fawning air. Upon this, Mentor observed on the paw of
the lion, a swelling and a wound; from which, after extracting a
splinter, he relieved the creature’s pain.
“In the same manner, too, Elpis, a native of Samos, on landing from a
vessel on the coast of Africa, observed a lion near the beach, opening
his mouth in a threatening manner; upon which he climbed a tree, in the
hope of escaping, while, at the same time, he invoked the aid of Father
Liber (_Bacchus_); for it is the appropriate time for invocations where
there is no room left for hope. The wild beast did not pursue him when
he fled, although he might easily have done so; but, lying down at the
foot of the tree, by the open mouth which had caused so much terror,
tried to excite his compassion. A bone, while he was devouring his food
with too great avidity, had stuck fast between his teeth, and he was
perishing with hunger; such being the punishment inflicted upon him by
his own weapons, every now and then he would look up, and supplicate
him, as it were, with mute entreaties. Elpis, not wishing to risk
trusting himself to so formidable a beast, remained stationary for some
time, more at last from astonishment than from fear. At length, however,
he descended from the tree, and extracted the bone, the lion, in the
meanwhile, extending his head, and aiding in the operation as far as it
was necessary for him to do. The story goes on to say, that as long as
the vessel remained off that coast, the lion shewed his sense of
gratitude by bringing whatever he had chanced to procure in the chase.”
The same author mentions two curious animals, the Leucrocotta, and the
Eale, which are noticeable among other wonders:--“Æthiopia produces the
lynx in abundance, and the sphinx, which has brown hair and two mammæ on
the breast, as well as many monstrous kinds of a similar nature; horses
with wings, and armed with horns, which are called pegasi: the Crocotta,
an animal which looks as though it had been produced by the union of the
wolf and the dog, for it can break anything with its teeth, and
instantly, on swallowing it, it digests it with the stomach; monkeys,
too, with black heads, the hair of the ass, and a voice quite unlike
that of any other animal.”
THE LEUCROCOTTA--THE EALE--CATTLE FEEDING BACKWARDS.
“There are oxen, too, like that of India, some with one horn, and others
with three; the leucrocotta, a wild beast of extraordinary swiftness,
the size of the wild ass, with the legs of a Stag, the neck, tail, and
breast of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven hoof, the mouth slit
up as far as the ears, and one continuous bone instead of teeth; it is
said, too, that this animal can imitate the human voice.
“Among the same people there is found an animal called the eale; it is
the size of the river-horse, has the tail of the elephant, and is of a
black or tawny colour. It has, also, the jaws of the wild boar and horns
that are moveable, and more than a cubit in length, so that, in
fighting, it can employ them alternately, and vary their position by
presenting them directly, or obliquely, according as necessity may
dictate.”
The Eale, with its movable horns, is run hard by the Cattle of the
Lotophagi, which are thus described by Herodotus:--“From the Augilæ at
the end of another ten days’ journey is another hill of salt and water,
and many fruit-bearing palm trees, as also in other places; and men
inhabit it, who are called Gavamantes, a very powerful nation; they lay
earth upon the salt, and then sow their ground. From these to the
Lotophagi, the shortest route is a journey of thirty days: amongst them
the kine that feed backwards are met with; they feed backwards for this
reason. They have horns that are bent forward, therefore they draw back
as they feed; for they are unable to go forward, because their horns
would stick in the ground. They differ from other kine in no other
respect than this, except that their hide is thicker and harder.”
ANIMAL MEDICINE.
We have already seen some of the wonderfully curative properties of
animals--let us learn something of their own medical attainments--as
described by Pliny. “The hippopotamus has even been our instructor in
one of the operations of medicine. When the animal has become too bulky,
by continued overfeeding, it goes down to the banks of the river, and
examines the reeds which have been newly cut; as soon as it has found a
stump that is very sharp, it presses its body against it, and so wounds
one of the veins in the thigh; and by the flow of blood thus produced,
the body, which would otherwise have fallen into a morbid state, is
relieved; after which, it covers up the wound with mud.
“The bird, also, which is called the Ibis, a native of the same country
of Egypt, has shewn us some things of a similar nature. By means of its
hooked beak, it laves the body through that part by which it is
especially necessary for health, that the residuous food should be
discharged. Nor, indeed, are these the only inventions which have been
borrowed from animals to prove of use to man. The power of the herb
_dittany_, in extracting arrows, was first disclosed to us by stags that
had been struck by that weapon; the weapon being discharged on their
feeding upon this plant. The same animals, too, when they happen to have
been wounded by the _phalangium_, a species of spider, or by any insect
of a similar nature, cure themselves by eating crabs. One of the very
best remedies for the bite of the serpent, is the plant with which
lizards treat their wounds when injured in fighting with each other. The
swallow has shown us that the _chelidonia_ is very serviceable to the
sight, by the fact of its employing it for the cure of its young, when
their eyes are affected. The tortoise recruits its powers of effectually
resisting serpents by eating the plant which is known as _cunile
bubula_; and the weasel feeds on _rue_, when it fights with the serpent
in pursuit of mice. The Stork cures itself of its diseases, with _wild
marjoram_, and the wild boar with _ivy_, as also by eating _crabs_, and,
more particularly, those that have been thrown up by the sea.