CHAPTER XVI.

Secrets to work upon the senses of animals — ^Ancient and modem examples — Of the power of harmony— »-The power of good treat- ment — Crocodiles and snakes tamed — ReptQes whose venom can either be destroyed or extracted — ^Ancient Psylli — The hcvlty which they possessed of braving the bites of serpents put beyond doubt, by the frequent recent, and repeated experi- ments in Egypt — ^This fieusulty proceeds from odoriferous emana- tions, which affect the senses of the reptiles, and escape those of man.
Almost as terrible in, their effects as fire, and often more difficult to avoid, are venomous reptiles, and fero- cious animals : it may be asked do they lose their power to injure, at the command of a man, aided by a supernatural science ? Many of the recitals of the ancients upon this subject have aroused the increduKty of the modems. The history of Orpheus passes with many for a pleasing allegory; and it was believed that those men, those Manades who played with tigers and panthers, and who, in the representations of the initiations, handled serpents with impunity, were merely Jugglers,
It is not, however, denied that there existed occult methods of acting on animals who are free from our empire by their natural independance. The odour of
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Cat'tnintj^ and that of marMW,t exercises so powerful an influence on the sense of smelling of cats, particu- larly in warm climates that it appears marveflous to any one who witnesses the effects of it for the first time. It is easy to take advantage of these and similar plants for enticing the animals whom they affect. If we may believe ancient observers, the elephant loves sweet odours, such as those of flowers and perfumes,} and she-goats of the Caucasus are so delighted with the odour of cinnamon, that they will eagerly follow the hand which presents it to them.|| In London, at this day, some men possess the art of enticing rats from their holes, and constraining them, in broad day, to enter into a rat- trap ; the charm consists in some of the straw placed in the trap with the oil of cumih,$ and of anis.^ Iti
* NepeCa miaria, a perennial plant, common on gravelly and dtsa&Y banks, and on road sides, flowering in July. It is a soft, hoary plant, with the upper part of the flower white, but the lower lip spotted with crimson. The whole plant exhales a strong, pungent odour, peculiarly grateful to cats. — Ed.
t Teucrium marum, Cat-thyme, a native of the shores of the Mediterranean. Cats are so fond of the odour of this marum, that they tear the plant when they meet with it. Our author might have added Valerian to his list of plants. — Ed.
X Aelian. de Nat. Anim. Hb. i. cap. xxxviii-. lib. xiii. cap. viii.
II Philostrat. vit. Apollon. lib. iii. cap. i.
§ Cuminum Cyminum, a native of Upper Egypt, and cultivated in Sicily and Malta. The fruit resembles carraway, and has a powerful aromatic odour, depending on its volatile oil, the odour of which is not agreeable to men, although extremely delightful to cats. — Ed.»
% Pimpinella Anisum, a native of Scio, Egypt, and Asia, The
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the last century, a man might have been seen walking covered with a swarm of bees, which spread them- selves over his hands and face, and seemed to have forgotten the use of their wings and their stings. It is probable that his secret resembled that which we have pointed out.
Exposure to ferocious beasts was an ordeal used in the Roman Empire; consequently, secrets proper for lulling the ferocity of ravenous animals were, most probably, well known. Maricus, who under Vi- tellius, endeavoured to restore the Grauls to freedom, passed himself off for a God. Being captured in battle, he was delivered up to wild beasts; but he received no injury from them ; an event which appeared to confirm his pretensions, until Vitellius caused him to be devoured.* The Egyptian Serapionf predicted a simi- lar death to Caracalla ; a famished lion was let loose upon the prophet : he presented his hand to the animal, who retired without injuring him. Another ordeal, however, proved fatal to hinLf When wild beasts were let loose upon Thecles, some of the women having
volatile oil has a powerful, not unpleasant aromatic odour. It is poisonous to pigeons. — £o.
* Tacit. Hktor. lib. ii. cap. lxi.
t Serapion was a physician of Alexandria, in the third century. His prediction was drawn forth by the vices and cruelties of Cara- calla, who, in consequence of a joke, which likened him to CEdipus and his wife to Jocasta, slaughtered many thousands at Alexandria. He was assassinated at Edessa, by Macrinus, a.o. 217, in the forty-third year of his age. The author, therefore, labours under a mistake in attributing his death to an ordeal. — ^£d.
X Xiphilin. in Anton, Caracal.
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thrown upon him spikenard;* others cassia ;t a third set precious aromatics ; and a fourth perfumed oil ; the beasts were as if overcome with sleep, and The- des escaped untouched. This recital, borrowed from a work which dates from the commencement of Christi- anity, is probably founded on a real incident ; and affords a proof that the use of penetrating odours has some- times been able to save the wretches condemned to satiate the hunger of carnivorous animals. Prom a fact related with some details, by Athenaeus, it would appear that, in Egypt, the juice of the citron ; taken internally, was used to work this assumed miracle. The experi- ment that he relates is the more striking ; as on repeating it, one of the wretches, who had escaped death, was permitted to use this precaution, a favour which was
* Spikenard, Nardastach3rs latamansi of De CandoUe, the Nard of the Bible, and the Nardo-stachys of the ancients. It is known in India by the name bal-chur. It is a mountain plant, belonging to the natural order, Valerianacese, and has a close affinity to the Celtic Valerian, which is foimd on thp mountains of Austria; whence it is exported to Egypt, on account of its powerful, yet agreeable odour, for perfuming baths. In India, the latamansi is used for scenting oils and perfumes. — Ed.
t The name Cassia is here probably intended for Cinnamon, as the oil of the Laurus Cassia has not an agreeable odour. The term Kaschu-manis, sweet wood, derived from two Malayan words is frequently used for Cinnamon in India. The wood of the tree, without being barked, was anciently carried into Greece by the Phoenicians, who, at the same time, probably also imported the oil : and it is more likely that, in the ceremony referred to in the text, neither the Spikenard nor the Cinnamon was used, but merely the volatile oil of these plants. — ^Eo.
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denied to another. The first was spared by the ferocious beasts; the second perished, being immediately torn to pieces.* It may be rationally doubted whether the Citron has ever been thus efficacious ; but the rind might serve to inclose more powerful ingredients.f Accord- ing to Aelian a coating of elq)hant's grease is an infalli- ble preservative,} the odour, as penetrating as it is foetid,- peculiar to the carcase of this great quadruped, renders this less incredible. A similar secret will doubtless explain the security of the jugglers who, says TertuUian, are seen, in public places, exposed to the fury of ferocious beasts, whose bites they defy and avoid with wonderfiil agility. Krmus, who was invested for a time with the imperial purple at Alexandria, swam amongst croco- diles with impunity ; it is supposed that he owed this preservation to the o^our of the crocodiles' grease with which he had rubbed his body.|| It is probable that the knowledge of an analogous secret having become common, was the cause of a similar ordeal formerly em- ployed in Hindostan falling into disuse. The accused was obliged, in the presence of Brahmans, to swim across a river frequented by the Moudela (crocodile) ; and was only absolved when he escaped from the jaws of this
* Atken. lib. iii. cap. v.
t The juice of the Citrus Medica is not unlike that erf the Orange. The odour of the rind is grateful, but not very power- ful ; it is, therefore, more probable that, the fruit after the abstrac- tion of the juice, was filled with strong odours, than that the juice of the fruit itself taken internally, was employed for the pur- pose mentioned in the text.— Ed.
X Aelian. de Nat. Animal, lib. i. cap. xxxvii,
II Vospic. Ill Firmo.
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amphibious animal.* The Mexican priests robbed the body with a pommade to which they attributed magical virtues; and at night they wandered, in desert places, without fearing ferocious beasts ; . the odour of this unguent keeping them at a distance. There still exists a method of making animals, generally formidable, fol- low any one without danger ; a feat commonly practised by men, who make a trade of enticing away dogs for sale to supply anatomists; and sometimes by hunters, who wish to allure wolves into a snare. It consists in striking the sense of the male by odours resembling the emana- tions which the female exhales in the time of rutting. It has been mentioned, in detail, by one of the most original and the most philosophical writer of the six- teenth century.f Galen| has also mentioned it ; but it
. * Paulin de St. Barth^emi, Voyage, &c. vol. i. page 428. — ^The Crocodile of the Ganges differs from tiiat of t^e Nile, and is placed by Cuvier in that division of tiie tribe, named Glaviales ; but it is equally voracious as the Egyptian reptile. As the Egyptian priests possessed the secret of taming their crocodiles, it is not improbable that the Brahmans also tamed the Moudela. The ordeal mentioned in the text, was performed in their presence : and when they were desirous of exculpating the accused, a part of t^e river containing the tame crocodiles might be e^elected. The tame crocodiles in Egypt were fed with cakes, and sweatmeats ; and rings and pre- cious stones were himg in the opercula of their ears, which were pierced for the purpose, and their fore feet adorned with bracelets when they were presented tor the veneration for the people : a de- monstrative proof of the tameness to which they were reduced. —Ed.
t Rabelais. Hist, de Gargantua et de Pantagruel. liv. i. chap.
XXII.
X Galen, lib. i. Aphorism, xxii.
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was known long before the time of that celebrated physician. In the temple of Olympus, a bronze horse was exhibited, at the sight of which real horses expe- rienced the most violent emotions. Adian judiciously observes that the most perfect art could not imitate nature sufficiently well to produce so strong an illusion : like Fliny and Pausanius,"^ he, consequently affirms, that in the casting of the statue, a magician had thrown some Hippomanes upon it ; and thus we have the secret of the apparent miracle. Every time they desired to work it, they duly covered the bronze with liquid Hippomanes, or with a drug which exhaled the odour of it.t
A similar artifice attracted the bulls towards the brazen heifer, the masterpiece of Myron ; as it is not probable that these animals were sensible of the beauty of the sculpture ; a less perfect representation, would under similar circumstances, have equally provoked their de- sires.
The same secret shows, perhaps, the origin of the dream by which, it was said, a mortal favoured by the Gods drew after him lions and tigers, who were thus deprived of their ferocity. This mirade has' been attri-
* Pausaoias. Eliac. lib. i. cap. xxvii. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib.