Section 8

Mice
i8 Natural Magic k. j3oo{i.
Mice are generated of putrtfaBion.
Diodorut faith, that neer to the CityThebais in Egypt, when Nilus overflowing is paft, the Sun heating the wet ground, the chaps of the earth fend forth great ftorc cf mice in many places ; which aftonifheth men to fee, that the fore-part of the mice fliould live and be moved, whereas their hinder parts are not yet fliapen. *P/;»; faith, that after the fwaging of Nilus, there are found little mice begun to be made of earth and water, their fore-parts living, and their hinder parts being nothing but earth. tAHianta faith, that a little rain in Egypt, engenders many mice, which be- ing fcattered everywhere in their fields, eat down their corn, and devour it : And fo it is in Pontus ; but by their prayers to God, they are confamed. LMacrobittt and Avicennafo], that the mice fo generated, do encreafe exceedingly by coupling to- gether. Ariftotle found out, that a kind of field-mice encreafed wonderfully-} fo that in fome places they did fuddenly eat up whole fields of corn : infomuch that many Husband men appointing to reap their corn on the morrow, when they came with their reapers, found all their corn wafted. And as thefe mice are generated fuddenly, fo they are fuddenly confumed, in a few dayes ; the reafon whereof can- not be fo well afligned. Pliny could not find how it fhould be ; for neither could they be found dead in the fields, neither alive within the earth in the winter time. Diodorus and tAitianus write, That thefe field-mice have driven many people of Ita- ly out of their ownCountrey : they dtftroyed Cofas,aCity of Hetruria: many came to Troas, and thence drove the inhabitants. Theoyhraftm va&Varro write, That mice alfo made the inhabitants of thelflind Gyarus to forfake their Country j and the like is reported of Heraclea in Pontus, and of other places. Likewife alfo
Frogs Are wonderfully generated of rotten daft and rain ;
for a Summer fhowre lighting upon the putrified fands of the fhore, and duftof high-wayes, engenders frogs. tABlianus-, going from Naples in Italy, to Puteoli, faw certain frogs, that their fore-parts moved and went upon two feet, while yet their hinder parts were unfafhioned, and drawn after like a clot of dirt : and Ovtd faith, one part lives, the other is earth ftill : and again, mud engenders fregs that fometimes lack feet. The generation of them is fo eafie, and fudden, that feme write it hath rained frogs ; as if they were gendred in the Air. FhyLrckm in Atke* nam writes foj and HeracUdeshembm writes, that it rained frogs about Dardany and Pceonia, fo plentifully, that the very wayes and houfes were full of them: and therefore the inhabitants , though for a few dates at the firft they endured it, killing the frogs, and fhutting up their houfes, yet afterward when they faw it was to no purpofc, but they could neither ufe water, nor boil meat, bur frogs^would be in it , nor fo much as tread upon the ground for them, they quite forfook their coun- tries, as Diodorus and Exftathitu write. The people Autharidx in Thefprtaia, were driven out of their Country, by certain imperfect frogs that fell from heaven. But it is a ftrange thing that
%jd Toads are generated of dirty and of women s flowers,
InDariene, a Province of the new world, the air is .moft unwholefome, the place being muddy and full of ftinking marifhesmay, the village is it felf a marilh, where Toads are prefently geodred of the drops wherewith they water their houfes, as *Pete r Martyr writes. A Toad is likewife generated of a duck that hath lyen rotting under the mud, as the verfe fhews which is afcribed to the duck ; When I am rotten in the earth, I bring forth Toads : happily becaufe they and I both, are moitt and foul creatures. Neither is it hard to generate Toades of womens puirified flowers; for women do breed this kind of cattel, together with their children, as Celius Aurelianus *nd Plateariut all them, frogs, toads, lyzards , and luchlike: and the women of Salerium, in times paft , were wont to ufe the juice of Patfleyand Leeks, at the beginning cf their conception, and efpecially about the time of their quickening,thereby to deftroy this kind of vermin with them. A certain
woman
Of the (feneration of Animals \ 19
woman latelytmrri-d, being in all mens judgement great with child, brought forth in Head of a child, four Creatures like to frogs, and after had her perfeft health. But this was a kind of a Moon-calf. Paracelftutod, that if you cur a ferpent in pieces, and hide him in a veflel of glaffe, under the mud, there will be gendred many worms, which being nourifheci by the mud,will grow every one as big as a Serpent J fo that of ouc ferpent may be an hundred generated : and the like he holds of other creatures. I will not gainfay it, but only thus, that they do not gender the fame ler- pents. And fo, he faith, you may make them of a womans flowers ; and fo, he faith, you may generate a Bafiiisk , that all (hall die which look upon him : but this is a ftark lie. It is evident alfo, that
Serpents may be generated of mans mayrow^ of the hairs of a menfirmus woman,
and of a horfe- feftf, or mane.
We read, that in Hungary, by the River Theifa, Serpents and Lyzards did breed in mens bodies, fo that three thouland men died of it. Tlinj writes, that about the be- ginning of the wars againft the Marti, a maid-fervant broughtforth a ferpent. Avi~ cenna in bis book of deluges, writes, that ferpents are gendred of womens hairs e- fpedaliy, bccaufc they are naturally moifter and longer then mens. We have expe- rienced alfo, that the hairs of a horfes mane laid inthewaiers, will become fer- pents: and our friends have tried the fame. No man denies but that ferpents are eafily gendred of mansflefh, efpecially of his marrow. vj£i%anm faith, that a dead mans back-mirrow being putrified , becomes a ferpent: and fo of the rneekeft living Creature arifes the moft favage: and that evil mens back-bones? do breed fuch monfters after death; Ovid (hews, that many hold it for a truth. Tlinj received it of many reports, that Snakes gendred of the marrow of mens backs. Writers alfo (hew,
Hot* a Scorpion may be generated of Baft I.
Fkretttinus the Grecian faith, That Bafil chewed and laid in the Sun, will engender ferpents. P//»;addeth ; that if you rub it, and cover it with a ftone, it will be- come a Scorpion ; and if you chew it, and lay it in the Sun, it will bring forth worms. And fome fay, that if you ftamp a handful of Bafil, together with ten Crabs or Cre- vifes, all the Scorpions thereabouts will ccme unto it. Avtcenna tells of a ftrange kind of producing a Scorpion ; but Galen denies it to be true. But the body of a Crab-fifn is ftrangely turned into a Scorpion : Pliny faith, that w hile the Sun is in the fign Cancer, if the bodies of thofe fifties lie dead upon the Land, they wil be turned into Scorpions. Ovid faith, if you take of the Crabs arms, and hide the reft in the ground, it will be Scorpion. There is alfo a
Creature that lives but one day9 bred in vineger ;
as t&liamti writes ; and it is called Ephemeras, beciufe it lives but one day : it is gendred of the dregs of fowre wine ; and as foon as the veflel is open, that it comes into the light, prefently it dies. The River Hippantsy about the folftitial daies, yields certain little husks, whence iflue forth certain four-footed birds, which live and flic about till noon, but pine away as the Sun draws downward, and die at the Sun-fcc- ting $ and becaufe they live but one day, they are called Hemerobion, a daics- bird. So the
Tyrigones be generated in the fire ;
Certain little flying beads, fo called, becaufe they live and are nourifhed in the fire ; and yet they flieup and down in the Air. This is ftrange ; but that is more ftrange, that as foon as ever they come ouc of the fire, inco any cold air,prefcAtly they die. Likewifcthe
Salamander
*o Natural Mag ick. hoof{i»
Salamander is gendred of the water j
.fcr the Salamander u felf genders nothing, neither is there any male or female among!) them, nor yet amonglt Eeels, nor any kind elie j which doth not generate of thernfelves eicher egge or young, as TUny noteth. But now we will fpeak of a molt excellent generation, namely, how
Bees are generated of an Ox.
t/EHar>tu writes. That Chen are commodious many wayes; amongft the reft, this ison6 excellent commodity, that being dead, there may be generated of them a very profitable kind of Creamers, namely Bees. Ovid faith it, that as allputrified bodies are turned into tome i'mall living Creatucrs, lo Oxen putrified do generate Bees. Fhrentmm the Grecian faith, that Julias King of Africa, taught how to make Bees in a wooden Ark. Vemocrittti and Varro fliew a cruel manner of making Bees in a houfe: but it is a very ready way. Chufeahoufe ten cubits high, and tencu* bits broad, fquare every way : but let there be but one entrance into it, and four windows , on each fide one. Putin this room an Ox, about two or three years old; let him be fat and fleftiy : then fet to him a company of lufty fellows, to beat him fo cruelly, that they kill him with their cudgels, and break his bones withal: but they muft take great heed that they draw no blood of him, neither muft they ftrike him too fiercely at the firft : After this, flop up all the paflages of the Ox, his noiirils, eyes, mouth, and neceffary places of evacuation, with fine linen clouts befmeared with pitch : Then caft a great deal of honey under htaa, being laid with his face upwards, and let them all go forth,and daube up the door and the windows w'nh thick lome, fo that no wind, nor Air can get in. Three weeks after, open the room, and let the light and the Air ccme in, except there where the wind would blow in too violently. And when you fee that the matter is through cold, and hath taken air enough, then (hut up the door and windows as before. About eleven daies after,open it again, and you fhall find the room full of Bees clotted to- gether, and nothing of the Ox remaining, befide the horns, the bones and the hair. They fay that the Kings of the companies are generated of the brain, theo- ther of the flefh, but the chief Kings of all, of the marrow ; yet thofe that come of the brain, aremoftof them greater, handfomer , and better-coloured then the reft. When you open the room firft, you fhall find the flefh turned into finall,white, and unperfect creatures, all of the fame ftiape, but as yet only growing, and not moving. Afterward, at the fecond opening, you may fee their wings grown, the right colour of Bees in them, and how they fit about their Kings, and flutter about, especially toward the windows, where they would enjoy their denied light. But it is beft to let them light by the windows every other day. This fame experiment, firgi/hath very elegantly fet down in the fame manner. Now as the beft kind of Bees are generated of a young Ox, foamorebafe kind of them is brought forth of the dead fkfh of bafer creatures j z/Elianns faith,
"That JVufpes are generated of an Horfe ;
when his carcafe is putrified, the marrow of him brings forth Wafpes ; a fwift kind of fowl, from a fwift kind of beaft. Ovid faith, that Hornets are thence generated ; and Ifiodore derives crabronemacabo^id eft caballoyt hornet of a horfe, becaufe they are brought forth of horfes. Vlinj and Virgil fay, that wafpes and hornets both, are generated of the flefh of dead horfes. In like manner
. - . '.^i.tr'-mulK' • • 3.mx • ' nrvftoh'il usiisO
Dronts cmt of MhIis> :
as
Of the (feneration of Animals. }i
as Ifiodore zfnimcth : and the Drone is called Fuctts quaf Fagos, bscaufe he eats that which he never laboured for. But others hold that Locu(is,and not Drones,are Generated of Mules fkft* So alfo, of the baieft bead cometh the bafeft fowl :
The Beetle is generated of the lAfsy
as Vltnj write?. If odor e faith, they come of fwifc dogs : zAllianus faith, they have no female, buc lay their feed in a clot of earth for 2 8dayes, and then bring forth young out of it.
Chap. III.
Of certain Birds^ which are generated of theTmrcfaclion of Plants.
fllatts Magnus, in the defcription of the North-countries of Europe, reports, thac about Scotland, there be certain birds generated of the fruit of a Tree. Mmfiet faith, there be certain Trees which bring forth a fruit covered over with leaves ; which, if it fall into the water under it, at the right feafon, it lives, and becomes a quick bird, which is called Avis arborea. Neither is this any new tale • for the antient Cofmographers, efpecially Saxo (jrammatictu mentions the fame Tree. Late Writers report, That not onely in Scotland, buc in the River of Thames alfo by London, there is a kind of Shel-fifh inatwo-lcaved (hell, that hath a foot full of plans and wrinkles : thefe fifh are little, round, and outwardly white, fmooth and brittle (helled , like an Almond (bell ; inwardly they are great bellied, bred as ic were of mofs and mud: they commonly flick on the keel of fomeold Ship, where they hang together like Muftirome-ftalks, as if they were thereby nourifhed. Seme fay, they come of worms, fome of the boughs and branches of Trees which fall in- to the Sea ; if any of thefe be caft upon fhore, they die ; but they which axe fwal- lowed ftill into the Sea, live,and get out of their (bell, and grow to be ducks or fuch like birds. (Jcfner faith, that in the Iflands Hebrides, the lame
Birds are generated of putrified wood.
If you caft wood into the $ea,firft after * while there will certain worms breed in it, which by little and little become like ducks, in the head, feet, wings and feathers ; and at length grow to be as big as Geefe: and when they are come to their full growth, they flie about in the Air, as other birds do. As foon as the wood begins firft to be put rifled, there appears a great many wormes,fcme unfhapen, others be- ing in fome parts perfect, fome having feathers, and fome none. Paracelftu faith ; As the yelk and white of an egge, becomes a chick by the heat of an Hen ; fo a bird burnt to afhes, and (but up in a veffel of glafs, and fo laid under the mixen, will become a flimy humour ; and then, if it be laid under a Hen, is enlived by her hear, and reftored to her felf like a Phoenix. Ficinnt reportet b, and he had it out of AlbertusyTaix. there is a certain bird, much like a Black-bird, which is generated of the putrefaction of Sage } which receives her life and quickning from the general life of the whble world.
Chap. IV. Of Certain fifkes which are generated of putrefaction.
HAving firft fpoken of earthly Creatures, and then of Fowlesj now we will (peak of Fifties fo generated. And firft how
Seles are generated.
Amongft them there is neither male or female, nor egges, nor *ny copulation j nei- ther
31 Natural Magick , "Bool^i.
cher was there ever fecn in any etThem,any paffage fit to be a womb.They have bred oft-times in certain muddy pools, even after all the water and mud hath been gone ; only by rain-water: neither indeed do they ever breed wkhouc rain, though they have never fo much water otherwise ; For it is the rain, both that begets and nou- iifhesthem, zsArifietlewint'?. They are alfo generated of putrified things. Ex- perience hath proved, that a deadhorie thrown into a Handing pool, hath brought forth great ftore of Eeles ; and the like hath been done by the carcafes of other creatures. Artftotteii'uh, they are generated of the garbage of the earth, which he faith,arifeth in the Sea, u\Rivers,ar>d in pools,by reafon chiefly of putrefa&ionjbuc it ariies in the Sea by reafon of reeds ; in Pools and Rivers , it arifes by the banks- fide, for there the heat is more forcible to caufe putrefaction. And a friend of mine filled certain wooden veflels with water ,and Reeds, and fome other water-herbs, and fet them in the or/en Air, hav ing 6ift covered them with a weighty Rone, and lo in fhort time generated Eeles. Such is the generation of
Groundlings out of fome and frothy
which fifli the Greeks call Aphya, becaufe rain breeds it. Many of them breed of thefomc thatrifes out of the fandy chanel, thatftill goesand comes at all times, till at laft it is diflolved j fo that this kind of fifh breeds all times of the year, in fha- dowy and warm places, when the foyl is heated ; as in Attica, neer to Salamnia, and in Marathon, where Themiftocles got his famous victory. In fome places, this fifh breeds of feme by the help of the rain ; and fwims on the top of the water in the fome , as you fee little wormes creep on the top of mud. A then aw faith, This fifh is confecrated to Venus , becaufe (he alfo comes of the froth of the Sea,whence fhe is called Aphrodites. t/EUanw faith, Thefe fifhes neither do beget, nor are be- gotten, bnt only come of mud : for when dirt is clotted together in the Sea, ic waxes very black and flimy, and then receives heat and life after a wonderful man- ner, and fo is changed into very many living Creatures, and namely into Ground- lings. When the waves are too boiftrousfor him,he hides himfelfin the cliftol fome rock; neither doth he need any food. And Opptar.w makes the very famedefcri- ptionofthem, and of their generation. There is a kind of thefe fifhes, called a Mullet- Groundling, which is generated of mud and of fand, as hath been tried in many imrifli places, amongft the reft in Gindus ; where in the Dog-daies, the Lakes being dried up, fo that the mud was hard; as foon as ever they began to be full cf rain-water again, were generated little fifhes, a kind of Mullets, about thebignefs of little Cackrels, which had neither feed nor egge in them. And in fome parts of Afia, at the mouth of the Rivers into theSea,fome of a bigger fize are generated. And as the Mullet-groundling comes of mud, or of a fandy lome, as jirifiotle writes ; fo it is to be thought, that the Cackrel-groundling comes thereof alfo. It feems too, that