Curious Creatures in Zoology

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…

“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 Leontophonus35 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.

“The snake, when the membrane which covers its body, has been contracted by the cold of winter, throws it off in the spring, by the aid of the juices of fennel, and thus becomes sleek and youthful in appearance. First of all it disengages the head, and then it takes no less than a day and a night in working itself out, and divesting itself of the membrane in which it has been enclosed. The same animal, too, on finding its sight weakened during its winter retreat, anoints and refreshes its eyes by rubbing itself on the plant called fennel, or marathrum; but, if any of the scales are slow in coming off, it rubs itself against the thorns of the juniper. The dragon relieves the nausea which affects it in spring, with the juices of the lettuce. The barbarous nations go to hunt the panther, provided with meat that has been rubbed with Aconite, which is a poison. Immediately on eating it, compression of the throat overtakes them, from which circumstance it is, that the plant has received the name of pardalianches (pard-strangler). The animal, however, has found an antidote against this poison in human excrements; besides which, it is so eager to get at them, that the shepherds purposely suspend them in a vessel, placed so high, that the animal cannot reach them, even by leaping, when it endeavours to get at them; accordingly, it continues to leap, until it has quite exhausted itself, and at last expires: otherwise, it is so tenacious of life that it will continue to fight, long after its intestines have been dragged out of its body.

“When an elephant has happened to devour a chameleon, which is of the same colour with the herbage, it counteracts this poison by means of the wild olive. Bears, when they have eaten of the fruit of the Mandrake, lick up numbers of Ants. The Stag counteracts the effect of poisonous plants by eating the artichoke. Wood pigeons, jackdaws, blackbirds, and partridges, purge themselves once a year by eating bay leaves; pigeons, turtle-doves, and poultry, with wall pellitory, or helxine; ducks, geese, and other aquatic birds of a similar nature, with the bulrush. The raven, when it has killed a chameleon, a contest in which even the conqueror suffers, counteracts the poison by means of laurel.”

The Su

Topsell mentions a fearful beast called the Su. “There is a region in the new-found world, called Gigantes, and the inhabitants thereof, are called Patagones; now, because their country is cold, being far in the South, they cloath themselves with the skins of a beast called in their owne toong Su, for by reason that this beast liveth for the most part neere the waters, therefore they cal it by the name of Su, which signifieth water. The true image thereof, as it was taken by Thenestus, I have heere inserted, for it is of a very deformed shape, and monstrous presence, a great ravener, and an untamable wilde beast.

“When the hunters that desire her skinne, set upon her, she flyeth very swift, carrying her yong ones upon her back, and covering them with her broad taile; now, for so much as no dogge or man dareth to approach neere unto her, (because such is the wrath thereof, that in the pursuit she killeth all that commeth near her:) The hunters digge severall pittes or great holes in the earth, which they cover with boughes, sticks, and earth, so weakly, that if the beast chance at any time to come upon it, she, and her young ones fall down into the pit, and are taken.

“This cruell, untamable, impatient, violent, ravening, and bloody beast, perceiving that her natural strength cannot deliver her from the wit and policy of men, her hunters, (for being inclosed, she can never get out againe) the hunters being at hand to watch her downfall, and worke her overthrowe, first of all to save her young ones from taking and taming, she destroyeth them all with her own teeth; for there was never any of them taken alive, and when she seeth the hunters come about her, she roareth, cryeth, howleth, brayeth, and uttereth such a fearefull, noysome, and terrible clamor, that the men which watch to kill her, are not thereby a little amazed; but, at last, being animated, because there can be no resistance, they approach, and with their darts and speares, wound her to death, and then take off her skin, and leave the Carcasse in the earth. And this is all that I finde recorded of this most strange beast.”

The Lamb-Tree

As a change from this awful animal, let us examine the Planta Tartarica Borometz– which was so graphically delineated by Joannes Zahn in 1696. Although this is by no means the first picture of it, yet it is the best of any I have seen.

A most interesting book36 on the “Vegetable Lamb of Tartary” has been written by the late Henry Lee, Esq., at one time Naturalist of the Brighton Aquarium, and I am much indebted to it for matter on the subject, which I could not otherwise have obtained.

The word Borometz is supposed to be derived from a Tartar word signifying a lamb, and this plant-animal was thoroughly believed in, many centuries ago – but there seem to have been two distinct varieties of plant, that on which little lambs were found in pods, and that as represented by Zahn, with a living lamb attached by its navel to a short stem. This stalk was flexible, and allowed the lamb to graze, within its limits; but when it had consumed all the grass within its reach, or if the stalk was severed, it died. This lamb was said to have the actual body, blood, and bones of a young sheep, and wolves were very fond of it – but, luckily for the lamb-tree, these were the only carnivorous animals that would attack it.

In his “Histoire Admirable des Plantes” (1605) Claude Duret, of Moulins, treats of the Borometz, and says: “I remember to have read some time ago, in a very ancient Hebrew book entitled in Latin the Talmud Ierosolimitanum, and written by a Jewish Rabbi Jochanan, assisted by others, in the year of Salvation 436, that a certain personage named Moses Chusensis (he being a native of Ethiopia) affirmed, on the authority of Rabbi Simeon, that there was a certain country of the earth which bore a zoophyte, or plant-animal, called in the Hebrew Jeduah. It was in form like a lamb, and from its navel, grew a stem or root by which this Zoophyte, or plant-animal, was fixed attached, like a gourd, to the soil below the surface of the ground, and, according to the length of its stem or root, it devoured all the herbage which it was able to reach within the circle of its tether. The hunters who went in search of this creature were unable to capture, or remove it, until they had succeeded in cutting the stem by well-aimed arrows, or darts, when the animal immediately fell prostrate to the earth, and died. Its bones being placed with certain ceremonies and incantations in the mouth of one desiring to foretell the future, he was instantly seized with a spirit of divination, and endowed with the gift of prophecy.”

Mr. Lee then says: “As I was unable to find in the Latin translation of the Talmud of Jerusalem, the passage mentioned by Claude Duret, and was anxious to ascertain whether any reference to this curious legend existed in the Talmudical books, I sought the assistance of learned members of the Jewish community, and, amongst them, of the Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler, Chief Rabbi Delegate of the United Congregations of the British Empire. He most kindly interested himself in the matter, and wrote to me as follows: ‘It affords me much gratification to give you the information you desire on the Borametz. In the Mishna Kilaim, chap. viii. § 5 (a portion of the Talmud), the passage occurs: “Creatures called Adne Hasadeh (literally ‘lords of the field’) are regarded as beasts.” There is a variant reading, Abne Hasadeh (stones of the field). A commentator, Rabbi Simeon, of Sens (died about 1235), writes as follows, on this passage: ‘It is stated in the Jerusalem Talmud that this is a human being of the mountains: it lives by means of its navel: if its navel be cut, it cannot live. I have heard in the name of Rabbi Meir, the son of Kallonymos of Speyer, that this is the animal called Jeduah. This is the Jedoui mentioned in Scripture (lit. wizard, Lev. xix. 31); with its bones witchcraft is practised. A kind of large stem issues from a root in the earth on which this animal, called Jadua, grows, just as gourds and melons. Only the Jadua has, in all respects, a human shape, in face, body, hands, and feet. By its navel it is joined to the stem that issues from the root. No creature can approach within the tether of the stem, for it seizes and kills them. Within the tether of the stem it devours the herbage all around. When they want to capture it, no man dares approach it, but they tear at the stem until it is ruptured, whereupon the animal dies.’ Another commentator, Rabbi Obadja, of Berbinoro, gives the same explanation, only substituting ‘They aim arrows at the stem until it is ruptured,’ &c.