Book I.

So they fay cucumbers hate oil. And the gall of a crow makes even men fearful, and drives them from the place wherein it is placed. A diamond dis- agrees with a loadjione ; that being prefent, it buffers no iron to be drawn to it. Sheep avoid frog-parfley as a deadly thing ; and, what is more wonderful, Na- ture hath depitrtured the Sign of this antipathy upon the livers of (heep, in which the very figure of frog-parfley doth naturally appear. Again, goats hate garden-bafil, as if there was nothing more pernicious. And, amongfi animals, mice and weafels difagree ; fo a lhard is of a contrary nature to a fcorpion, and induces great terror to the fcorpion writh its very fight, and they are therefore killed with the oil of them ; which oil will likewife cure the wounds made by fcorpions. There is a great enmity between Scorpions and mice ; therefore. if a moufe be applied to the bite of a fcorpion, he cures it. Nothing is fo much an enemy to fnakes as crabs ; and if fvvine be hurt by them, they are cured by crabs ; the fun, alfo, being in Cancer, Serpents are tormented. Alfo, the fcorpion and crocodile kill one another ; and if the bird ibis does but touch a crocodile with one of his feathers, he makes him un- moveable. The bird called a buftard flies away at the fight of a horfe ; and a hart at the fight of a ram, or a viper. An elephant trembles at the hearing of the grunting of a hog ; fo doth a lion at the crowing of a cock ; and a panther will not touch them that are anointed with the fat of a hen, efpecially if garlick has been put into it. There is alfo an enmity between foxes and fwans •, bulls and jackdaws. And Some birds are at a perpetual variance, as daws and owls ; kites and crows ; turtle and ring-tail ; egepis and eagles ; alfo, harts and dragons. Amongfi: water animals, there is q great antipathy between dolphins and whirlpools ; the mullet and pike ; lamprey and conger ; pourcontrel and lobfter, which latter, but feeing the former, is nearly firuck dead with fear ; but the lobfter tears the conger. The civet-cat cannot refill the panther 5 and if the fkins of both be hung up againft each other, the fkin or hairs of the panther will fall off. Apollo fays, in his hieroglyphics, if
any one be girt about with the fkin of a civet-cat, he may pafs fafe through his enemies. The lamb flies from the wolf ; and if the tail, fkin, or head of lupus be hung up in the fheeps’-cot, they cannot eat their meat for very fear.
And
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Chap. VII.
And Pliny mentions the bird called the marlin, that breaks the eggs of the crow, whofe young are annoyed by the fox 3 that (he alfo will pinch the whelps of the fox, and the fox likewife, which, when the crow fees, they help the fox againfl her as again!! a common enemy. The linnet lives in, and eats thir- ties 3 yet !he hates the afs, becaufe he eats the thirties and flowers of them. There isTo great an enmity between the little bird called efalon and the afs, that their blood will not mix 3 and that, at the rtmple braying of the afs, both the efalon’s eggs and young perirti together. There is, alfo, a total antipathy of the olive-tree to the harlot 5 that, if lhe plant it, it will neither thrive nor profper, but wither. A lion fears lighted torches, and is tamed by nothing fooner. The wolf fears not fword or fpear, but a ftone 3 by the throwing of which a wound being made, worms breed in the wolf. A horfe fears a camel fo much that he cannot endure the picture of that heart. An elephant, when he rages, is quieted by feeing a cock. A fnake is afraid of a naked man, but purfues one clothed. A mad bull is tamed by being tied to a fig-tree. Am- ber attracts all things to it but garden-bafil, and things fmeared with oil, be- tween which there is a natural antipathy.
CHAP. VII.
OF THE OCCULT VIRTUES OF THINGS WHICH ARE INHERENT IN THEM ONLY IN THEIR LIFE-TIME, AND SUCH AS REMAIN IN THEM EVEN AFTER DEATH.
IT is expedient for us to know that there are fome things which retain virtue only while they are living, others even after death. So in the cholic, if a live duck be applied to the belly, it takes away the pain, and the duck dies. If you take the heart out of any animal, and, while it is warm, bind it to one that has a quartan fever, it drives it away. So if any one fhall fwallow the heart of a lapwing, fwallow, weafel, or a mole, while it is yet living and warm with natural heat, it improves his mtelle6t, and helps him to remember, underftand, and foretel things to come. Hence this general rule, — that what-
ever
38 NATURAL MAGIC. Book I.
ever thing's are taken for magical ufes from animals, whether they are (tones, members, hair, excrements, nails, or any thing elfe, they mult be taken from thofe animals while they are yet alive, and, if it is poflible, that they may live afterwards. If you take the tongue of a frog, you put the frog into water again ; — and Democritus writes, that if any one (hall take out the tongue of a water-frog, no other part of the animal flicking to it, and lay it upon the place where the heart beats of a womin, die is compelled, againft her will, to anfwer whatfoever you fhall afk of her. Alfo, take the eyes of a frog, which mull be extracted before fun-rife, and bound to the Tick party, and the frog to be let go again blind into the water, the party fhall be cured of a tertian ague ; alfo, the fame will, being bound with the flefh of a nightingale in the fkin of a hart, keep a perfon always wakeful without fleeping. Alfo, the roe of the fork fifli being bound to the navel, is faid to caufe women an eafy child-birth, if it be taken from it alive, and the fifh put into the fea again. So the right eye of a ferpent being applied to the forenefs of eyes, cures the fame, if the ferpent be let go alive. So, likewife, the tooth of a mole, being taken out alive, and afterwards let go, cures the tooth-ache ; and dogs will never bark at thofe who have the tail of a weafel that has efcaped. Democritus fays, that if the tongue of the cameleon be taken alive, it con- duces to good fuccefs in trials, and likewife to women in labour but it mufl be hung up on fome part of the outfide of the houfe, otherwife, if brought into the houfe, it might be molt dangerous.
There are very many properties that remain after death ; and thefe are things in which the idea of the matter is lefs fwallowed up, according to Plato , in them : even after death, that which is immortal in them will work fome won- derful things : — as in the (kins we have mentioned of feveral wild beads, which will corrode and eat one another after death ; alfo, a drum made of the rocket-fifh drives away all creeping things at what diftance foever the found of it is heard *, and the firings of an inflrument made of the guts of a wolf, and being drained upon a harp or lute, with drings made of fheep-guts, will make no harmony .
CHAP.
Chap. VIII.
NATURAL MAGIC.
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CHAP. VIII.
OF THE WONDERFUL VIRTUES OF SOME KINDS OF PRECIOUS STONES.
IT is a common opinion of magicians, that ftones inherit great virtues, which they receive through the fpheres and a6tivity of the celeftial influences, by the medium of the foul or fpirit of the world. Authors very much dif- agree in refpe6t of the probability of their actually having fuch virtues in potentia, fome debating warmly againft any occult or fecret virtue lying hid in them ; others, as warmly, fhewing the caufes and effects of thefe fympa- thetic properties. However, to leave thefe trifling arguments to thofe who love cavil and contentions better than I do, and, as I have neither leifure nor inclination to enter the lifts with fophifts, and tongue-philofophers ; I fay, that thefe occult virtues are difpofed throughout the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, by feeds, or ideas originally emanating from the Divine mind, and through fuperceleftial fpirits and intelligence always operating, according to their proper offices and governments allotted them ; which virtues are infufed, as we before faid, through the medium of the Univerfal Spirit, as by a general and manifefl fympathy and antipathy eftablifhed in the law of Nature. Amongft a variety of examples, the loadflone is one moft remarkable proof of the fympathy and antipathy we fpeak of. However to haften to the point. Amongft ftones, thofe which refemble the rays of the fun by their golden fparklings, (as does the glittering ftone aetites) prevent the falling-fick- nefs and poifons, if worn on the finger ; To the ftone which is called oculis folis, or eye of the fun, being in figure like to the apple of the eye, from which fhines forth a ray, comforts the brain, and ftrengthens fight ; the carbuncle, which fhines by night, hath a virtue againft all airy and vaporous poifons ; the chryfolite ftone, of a light green colour, when held againft the fun, there fhines in it a ray like a ftar of gold ; this is Angularly good for the lungs, and cures afthmatical complaints ; and if it be bored through, and the hollow filled with the mane of an afs, and bound to the left arm, it chafes away all foolifh and idle imaginations and melancholy fears, and drives away folly.
The
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