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The Toad
Toads were always considered venomous and spiteful, and they had but one redeeming quality, which seems to be lost to its modern descendants: —
“Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”
(As You Like It, Act ii. sc. 1.)
Pliny says of these animals: – “Authors quite vie with one another in relating marvellous stories about them; such, for instance, as that if they are brought into the midst of a concourse of people, silence will instantly prevail; as also that, by throwing into boiling water, a small bone that is found in their right side, the vessel will immediately cool, and the water refuse to boil again until it has been removed. This bone, they say, may be found by exposing a dead toad to ants, and letting them eat away the flesh; after which the bones must be put into the vessel one by one.
“On the other hand, again, in the left side of this reptile there is another bone, they say, which, when thrown into water, has all the appearance of making it boil, and the name given to which is ‘apocynon’ (averting dogs). This bone it is said has the property of assuaging the fury of dogs, and, if put in the drink, of conciliating love, and ending discord and strife. Worn, too, as an amulet, it acts as an aphrodisiac, we are told.”
Topsell writes so diffusely on the virtues of these “toad stones” that I can only afford space for a portion of his remarks: – “There be many late Writers, which doe affirme that there is a precious stone in the head of a Toade, whose opinions (because they attribute much to the vertue of this stone) is good to examine in this place… There be many that weare these stones in Ringes, beeing verily perswaded that they keepe them from all manner of grypings and paines of the belly, and the small guttes. But the Art, (as they term it) is in taking of it out, for they say it must be taken out of the head alive, before the Toade be dead, with a peece of cloth of the colour of redde Skarlet, wherewithall they are much delighted, so that while they stretch out themselves as it were in sport upon that cloth, they cast out the stone of their head, but instantly they sup it up againe, unlesse it be taken from them through some secrete hole in the said cloth, whereby it falleth into a cesterne or vessell of water, into the which the Toade dare not enter, by reason of the coldnes of the water…
“This stone is that which in auncient time was called Batrachites, and they attribute unto it a vertue besides the former, namely, for the breaking of the stone in the bladder, and against the Falling sicknes. And they further write that it is a discoverer of present poyson, for in the presence of poyson it will change the colour. And this is the substaunce of that which is written about this stone. Now for my part I dare not conclude either with it, or against it, for many are directlie for this stone ingendered in the braine or head of the Toade: on the other side, some confesse such a stone by name and nature, but they make doubt of the generation of it, as others have delivered; and therefore, they beeing in sundry opinions, the hearing whereof might confound the Reader, I will referre him for his satisfaction unto a Toade, which hee may easily every day kill: For although when the Toade is dead, the vertue thereof be lost, which consisted in the eye, or blew spot in the middle, yet the substance remaineth, and, if the stone be found there in substance, then is the question at an end; but, if it be not, then must the generation of it be sought for in some other place.”
The Leech
The Leech has, from a very early age, been used as a means of letting blood; but, among the old Romans, it had medicinal uses such as we know not of now. It was used as a hair dye. Pliny gives two receipts for making it, and it must have been powerful stuff, if we can believe his authority: – “Leeches left to putrify for forty days in red wine, stain the hair black. Others, again, recommend one sextarius of leeches to be left to putrefy the same number of days in a leaden vessel, with two sextarii of vinegar, the hair to be well rubbed with the mixture in the sun. According to Sornatius this preparation is, naturally, so penetrating, that if females, when they apply it, do not take the precaution of keeping some oil in the mouth, the teeth, even, will become blackened thereby.”
Olaus Magnus gives us the accompanying picture of the luxurious man in his arm-chair by the river-side, catching his own leeches, and suffering from gnats; and also his far more prudent friend, who makes the experiment on the vile body of his horse, and thus saves his own blood; but he gives us no account of its habits and customs.
The Scorpion
Of the Scorpion, Pliny says: – “This animal is a dangerous scourge, and has a venom like that of the serpent; with the exception that its effects are far more painful, as the person who is stung will linger for three days before death ensues. The sting is invariably fatal to virgins, and nearly always so to matrons. It is so to men also, in the morning, when the animal has issued from its hole in a fasting state, and has not yet happened to discharge its poison by an accidental stroke. The tail is always ready to strike, and ceases not for an instant to menace, so that no opportunity may possibly be lost…
“In Scythia, the Scorpion is able to kill even the swine, with its sting, an animal which, in general, is proof against poisons of this kind in a remarkable degree. When stung, those swine which are black, die more speedily than others, and more particularly if they happen to throw themselves into the water. When a person has been stung, it is generally supposed that he may be cured by drinking the ashes of the Scorpion mixed with wine. It is the belief also that nothing is more baneful to the Scorpion than to dip it in oil… Some writers, too, are of opinion that the Scorpion devours its offspring, and that the one among the young which is most adroit avails itself of its sole mode of escape, by placing itself on the back of the mother, and thus finding a place where it is in safety from the tail and sting. The one that thus escapes, they say, becomes the avenger of the rest, and, at last, taking advantage of its elevated position, puts its parents to death.”
Topsell has some marvels to relate concerning the generation of Scorpions: – “And it is reported by Elianus, that about Estamenus in India, there are abundance of Scorpions generated, onely by corrupt raine water standing in that place. Also, out of the Baziliske beaten into peeces, and so putrified, are Scorpions engendred. And when as one had planted the herbe Basilica on a wall, in the roome or place thereof hee found two Scorpions. And some say that if a man chaw in his mouth, fasting, this herbe Basill before he wash, and, afterwards, lay the same abroade uncovered where no sun commeth at it for the space of seaven nights, taking it in all the daytime, he shall at length find it transmuted into a Scorpion, with a tayle of seaven knots.
“Hollerius, to take away all scruple of this thing, writeth that in Italy, in his dayes, there was a man that had a Scorpion bredde in his braine, by continuall smelling to this herbe Basil; and Gesner by relation of an Apothecary in Fraunce, writeth also a storie of a young mayde, who by smelling to Basill, fell into an exceeding head-ach, whereof she died without cure, and, after her death, beeing opened, there were found little Scorpions in her braine.
“Aristotle remembreth an herbe which he calleth Sisimbriæ, out of which putrified Scorpions are engendered. And wee have showed already, in the history of the Crocodile, that out of the Crocodile’s egges doe many times come Scorpions, which at their first egression doe kill theyr dam that hatched them.”
There is a curious legend, that if a Scorpion is surrounded by fire, so that it cannot escape, it will commit suicide by stinging itself to death.
The Ant
No one would credit the industrious Ant, whose ways we are told to consider, and gather wisdom therefrom, was avaricious and lustful after gold; but it seems it was even so, at least, in Pliny’s time; but then they were abnormally large: – “The horns of an Indian Ant, suspended in the temple of Hercules at Erythræ (Ritri) have been looked upon as quite miraculous for their size. This ant excavates gold from holes, in a country to the north of India, the inhabitants of which are known as the Dardæ. It has the colour of a cat, and is in size as large as an Egyptian wolf. This gold, which it extracts in the winter, is taken by the Indians during the heats of summer, while the Ants are compelled, by the excessive warmth, to hide themselves in their holes. Still, however, on being aroused by catching the scent of the Indians, they sally forth, and frequently tear them to pieces, though provided with the swiftest Camels for the purpose of flight; so great is their fleetness, combined with their ferocity, and their passion for gold!”
The Bee
The Busy Bee, too, according to Olaus Magnus, developed, in the regions of the North, a peculiarity to which it seems a stranger with us, but which might be encouraged, with beneficial effect, by the Temperance Societies.
The Bees infested drunkards, being drawn to them by the smell of the liquor with which they had soaked their bodies, and stung them.
The Hornet
So also, up North, they seem to have had a special breed of Hornets, which must have been ferocious indeed, sparing neither man nor beast, as is evidenced by the corpses, and by the extremely energetic efforts of the yet living man to cope with his enemies.
