MYTHS-Un-natural History of Myths of Ancient Science. A collection of
Vqueer tracts on the Basilisk-Dragon, Leviathan, Satyrs, etc. Now first translated
com the Latin, with quaint decorations. 4 vols, 12mo, vellum. Only 275 copies
Lorinted privately. Edinburgh, 1886.
DV
First edition. $2 50 to 1.50.
LONGFELLOW, H. W.-The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems.


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.663
V.1
LECTANEA ADAMANTÆA.-XV.
Un=Natural Ibistory,
OR
(ID V Tbs
OF
ANCIENT SCIENCE;
Being a Collection of Curious Tracts on the
Basilisk, Unicorn, Phænix, Behemoth or
Leviathan, Dragon, Giant Spider,
Tarantula, Chameleons, Satyrs,
ITomines Caudati,
NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM
THE LATIN,
AND
Edited, with Hotes and fllustrations,
BY
EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S.,
F.S.A. (Scor.)
IN FOUR VOLUMES,
VOL. I.
PRIVATELY PRINTED.
EDINBURGH.
1886.


Collectanea Adamantæa.]
Myths of Ancient science.


This edition is limited to 275 small-pafer copies,
and 75 large-paper copies.

[COLLECTANEA ADAMANTÆA.--XV.)
Wn=lPatural History,
OR
CII D T 1b
OF
ANCIENT SCIENCE;
Being a Collection of Curious Tracts on the
Basilisk, Unicorn, Phenix, Behemoth or
Leviathan, Dragon, Giant Spider,
Tarantula, Chameleons, Satyrs,
Homines Caudati,
&c.
NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM
THE LATIN,
AND
Edited, with notes and fllustrations,
BY
EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S.,
F.S.A. (Scor.)
IN FOUR VOLUMES.


VOL. I.
PRIVATELY PRINTED.
EDINBURGH.
1886.
Museums
아
​89
6663
7. 1



Museums
Gift
Bartlett Coll
10-25-72
965959-154

Introduction

*%%%%
T HAS seemed to me that the follow-
ing tracts, on myths so strange, yet
so widely credited in ancient times,
could not fail to prove interesting, espe-
cially as the tracts themselves, written
in the 17th century by German savants,
and printed (very badly, by the way) at
Wittemberg, Frankfort-on-Oder, &c., are
quite unknown, not only in this country,
but even in the land of their production.
Of course, some few may have heard of
Kirchmayer, but how many know even the
names of Grübe or Schoochius?

vi
Introduction.
The myths treated of in the following
treatises are : the Basilisk, Unicorn,
Phænix, Behemoth, Dragon, Giant Spider,
Tarantula, Chameleons, Satyrs, Tailed
Men, and the Shining Lilies of Palestine.
George Caspard Kirchmayer, the author
of the first six tracts, was born at Uffein-
heim, in Franconia, in 1635. He became
Professor at Wittemberg, and was a Fel-
low of the Royal Societies of London
and Vienna. His principal works are :
(1) Commentaries on Cornelius Nepos,
Tacitus, and other classical authors ; (2)
Orations and various poems, of little value ;
(3) De Corallo, Balsamo et Saccharo
(1661, 4to); (4) De Tribulis (1692, 4to);
(5) Pathologia Vetus et Nova; (6) Philo-
sophia Metallica ; (7) Institutiones Metal-
licæ; (8) The six Treatises here translated
and printed, under the collective title of
Hexas disputationum Zoologicarum, at Wittem-


Introduction.
vii

berg, in 1661. This extremely rare
volume, purchased by me at the Maidment
sale, is a small 8vo. of some 180 pages.
It is written in Latin, with numerous
quotations in Greek, Hebrew, and Low
German. Kirchmayer died in 1700.
Hermann Grübe was born at Lübeck, in
1633. He studied at Leyden, and became
Professor of Medicine at Frankfort. He
is said to have published several medical
works, none of which are now ever read.
His treatise, “De Ictu Tarantulæ,” here
translated, is, I believe, quite unknown to
Bibliographers. It is a small 8vo tract of
some 90 pages, published at Frankfort in
1679, and is bound up with my copy of
Kirchmayer.
Martin Schoochius was born at Utrecht
in 1614. After studying at that University
he became successively Professor of Lan-
guages, of Eloquence and History, of


viii
Introduction.
Physic, of Logic, and of Practical Philoso-
phy at Utrecht, Deventer, Groningen,
and lastly at Frankfort-on-Oder, where he
died in 1669. He was a man of powerful
energy and extensive knowledge, and
took a delight in out-of-the-way researches;
but by dint of trying to show erudition, he
often lost sight of his subject which was
swallowed up in long disgressions. He
was, it appears, extremely satirical, and
certainly managed to touch Vossius to
the quick, for the latter calls him Impu-
dentissima Bestia (In Append. Guidiana, p.
329). He wrote a prodigious amount of
criticism, philosophy, history, general
literature etc. Those works which are
either known from the existence of copies
in various libraries, or from allusions in
the writings of others are: (1) Exercita-
tiones Variæ, 1663, 4to, reprinted in 1688
under the title of Martini Themidis Exercita-


Introduction.
ix
tiones ; (2) A treatise on Butter ; (3) On
the aversion of some people for cheese ;
(4) On the egg and the chicken ; (5) On
inundations ; (6) De Harengis, seu
6
Halecibus, 8vo, 1667; (7) De Signaturis
Fætûs ; (8) De Ciconiis ; (9) De Scepti-
cismo ; (10) On sneezing ; (11) De
Cerevisia, 12mo, 1648 ; (12) De Turffis ;
(13) De Statu Reipublicæ Federati Belgii;
(14) De Imperio Maritimo; (15) De
Natura Soni ; (16) De Nihilo ; (17) De
Lingua Helenistica ; (18) An attack on
Descartes entitled Admiranda Methodus
Novce philosophice and numerous religious
tracts, of which all that can be said is, that
they prove that Shoochius could write
better about Butter, Satyres, Cheese, and
Tailed Men than about matters of religion.
The treatise which is here translated seems
utterly unknown to all Bibliographers. It
is a small 4to, abominably printed on



х
Introduction.
atrocious paper, and bears the imprint of
Frankfort-on-Oder, 1680. The only copy
I know of is the one in my possession.
To me these learned and eccentric
tracts have ever been extremely interest-
ing. I trust they may prove so to my
readers, and I have tried to increase their
value by tracing out in the notes the
various allusions of the text, and amplify-
ing from such sources as I have had at my
disposal, the subjects suggested rather than
dwelt upon by these sage and quaint old
writers of the 17th century.
EDMUND GOLDSMID.


EDINBURGH, 14th March 1886.
I.

Dn the Basilisk,
BY
GEORGE CASPARD KIRCHMAYER.
(1691.)




ANS
I.
On the Basilisk,
BY
GEORGE CASPARD KIRCHMAYER.
(1691.)

CHAPTER FIRST.
CONTENTS.
1. The frequent mention of the basilisk in sacred as well as in
profane writings.
II. The etymology of the word. The kings of the brute creation
---their names.
III. A list of similar words with different meanings.
IV. Different names of the basilisk.
An Eccount of the Term “Basilisk.”
1. The very frequent mention of the basilisk in
sacred as well as profane writings demands some
account of the word. This Isaiah, chap. xi. v. 8,
has " The sucking child shall play on the hole of
the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand
on the cockatrice' den." Megalotheander's
Bible has, “He shall put his hand on the hole of
the basilisk.” In the same prophet, chap. xiv, 29,
we read, “Out of the serpent's root shall come


14
MYTHS OF
forth a cockatrice.” Similarly, Luther's Bible has
the words, “From the root of the serpent shall a
basilisk come.” Again, chap. lix. 5, “They
hatch cockatrice' eggs.” In Theander, again, we
find, “They hatch basilisk's eggs.” Compare
Jeremiah, chap. viii. 17, and Proverbs, chap.
xxiii. 32. The term basilisk was not unknown to
the most ancient writers of heathendom, a fact
which becomes clear from an inspection of the
works of Pliny, Solinus, Lucan, Dioscoris, Galen,
and others.

II. We hare first of all to touch on the
etymology of the word. The term basilisk arose
in Greece, came into constant use in Latium,
and remained among the Teutonic peoples.
“Basilisk” is a diminutive from "basileus”
(king), which is so termed from the king being
the “basis” of the nation. We know, at least,
that the king is the foundation of his people.
This extremely poisonous serpent, therefore, gets
its name of basilisk, or regulus, either from its
virulence or through some fancied analogy from
the diadem which it is said to carry on its head.
The former derivation is probable from the
fact that the basilisk is the most virulent of all
the lesser kinds of reptiles, while it has, as a
further characteristic, the extremely rapid action
of its venom. For this reason it is thought to be

ANCIENT SCIENCE.
15

shunned and feared by many of the animal crea-
tion. Among the greater kinds of reptiles we give
the foremost place to the dragon, while we call
the lordly eagle king of birds, the lusty lion, or
rather, perhaps, the elephant, king of quadrupeds,
and the dolphin prince among fishes. The fancied
analogy between its crest and a crown, alluded to
above, arises from three whitish excrescences,
with which its head is so distinctiy marked as to
give the creature the appearance of carrying a
cockscomb before it. John Eusebius says: “Its
length is three hand's breadths, its body yellow,
its head narrow and pointed, on which it has three
excrescences, with whitish spots and in the shape
of a crown, by reason of which it has been called
the king of reptiles.” *
III. We proceed to give a list of different
meanings of the word. The term basilisk is
hampered by many disadvantages arising from
ambiguity. To such an extent is this the case,
that we can neither place any reliance on the
word itself nor on the thing denoted by it. In
the first place, the term is applied to a little bird
which we commonly call the trochilus, or golden-

* John Eusebius, a Jesuit, born at Nuremberg, and
who became Professor of Physiology in the Academy
of Madrid, is the author quoted. The passage occurs
in the sixth book of his Historia Natur. folio 102.

16
MYTHS OF
crested wren. The trochilus or regulus (in Greek
βασιλισκος), is that timid bird which breeds in
thorny copses, and is ornamented with a bunch of
small reddish upright feathers on its head. It is
half the size of the common sparrow, the har-
binger, especially in May, of an unseasonable
change of temperature, and is considered a cure
for stone.
Secondly, the term is given to a certain kind of
crowned or crested fish, which is called alaudæ
or galeritæ by ornithologists. The first of
zoologists, Ulysses Aldrovandus, * philosopher and
doctor of Bologna, in his work on Fishes, bk. i.
chap. 25, p. 42, has the following words: “Any
one who wishes to refer the crowned or crested
fishes, or any one of them, to the basilisks of
Oppian, which he describes as living round the


* Was born at Bologna in 1525. He spent his life
in researches in natural history, and, assisted though
he was by several sovereigns, by the Senate of Bologna,
and by his nephew, Cardinal Montalba, was reduced
in his old age to comparative poverty. He died in
1605. His works fill 13 volumes folio, of which six
only were actually written by him, the rest being
composed by sundry learned men, according to his
plan, by order of the Senate of Bologna. His works
contain much that is superfluous, and show little
method in arrangement. It is the dunghill of Ennius,
and yet, in spite of all faults, natural history owes
much to Aldrovandus.


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
17

rocky coast; he, in my opinion, would make no
absurd mistake. Just as Rondeletius called his
fish the galeritæ from its crest, and just as others
have called the reptile which is marked by a white
spot on its head, the basilisk, so also is a fish
called the basilisk on account of a similar mark on
its head."
Thirdly, the word is also applied, as Nurem-
bergius * somewhere points out, to a kind of shrub.
On this point botanists must be consulted.
Fourthly, as a proper name, the word basilisk
belongs to a certain famous family in Spain, which
gets the name of Basilisk or Blaskus, by reason of
the bravery of its members, the meaning of the
name being that, by a mere look, they can throw
their enemies into confusion. The learned
Nurembergius is our authority on this point.
IV. We subjoin a brief list of synonyms of the
word. In Hebrew it is called Tzeph'a and
Tziph'oni. These words are translated by Buxtor-
fius, in his lexicon, into regulus, basiliskus, and
hoemorrhois, the most venomous of all the serpent
tribe. In ancient Greek, it is called the basilisk,
as we have mentioned above. In Latin it bears
the names of regulus, gallo-bufo, crested asp,
death-glancer, deadly reptile, &c. t
* This is John Eusebius, mentioned above, called
thus from the place of his birth.
+ For a description of the basilisk or cockatrice,



B

18
MYTHS OF
CHAPTER II.
ARGUMENT.
1. The basilisk is assigned a place in the (animal) creation.
II. Passages in Scaliger and Cardanus referred to.
III. A basilisk seen in Marcia. The existence to this day of
monuments at Halle, in Saxony, at Basle and Zwicca, wit-
nessing to basilisks having been seen. The basilisk most
common in warmer countries.
IV. A basilisk seen at Warsaw, in Poland, by more than two
thousand persons.
V. The story taken from D. Mosanus and John Pincierus,
VI. An enquiry into the opinion of Sperlingius.
VII. The same continued. Matthiolus noted. Sebizius praised.
On the Existence of the Basilisk.
1. To deny the existence of the basilisk is to
carp at the evidence of men's eyes and their
experiences in many different places. Accordingly,
we allow the basilisk a place in nature, as the
most deadly and venomous creature and plague in
the animal creation.


taken from Topsell's “ History of Serpents," published
in 1658, see appendix. The Hebrew Tzeph'a was a mon-
ster more deadly than the Pethen (Gr. aspis, asp), which
is variously translated in the authorised version of the
Bible as cockatrice (Isaiah lix. 5), adder (Job xx. 14, and
Proverbs xxiii. 32), and as serpent (Proverbs xxiii. 32,
and Isaiah xi. 8). Shakespeare alludes to it at least
twice ; first in Cymbeline---
“ It is a basilisk unto mine eye
Kills me to look on’t."


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
19

We would have it understood we are not here
maintaining that ridiculous and more than mon-
strous story of the manner of its birth, nor the
deadly effect of its look, nor those other points
which are more like old wives' stories than any-
thing else. It is for the existence of this most
venomous reptile that we are now contending. *
Many, unless I am mistaken, will oppose us, but
surely such men contradict the evidence of their
own senses. To gainsay our senses and seek
reasons for our position is surely nothing but
folly and ignorance. We shall produce evidence
not merely of a hearsay, but also of an ocular
character; the evidence of men who have seen
the basilisk themselves.
And in Richard III :-
RICHARD-Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected
mine,
ANNE-Would they were basilisk's, to strike thee
dead!
In his note on this passage, Mr Aldis Wright suggests
that the name cockatrice is a corruption of crocodile.
* Of course we all know that Basilisks (a genus of
Lizards) exist; they belong to the Iguana family, and
are confined to America. The basilisk of ancient
times was "the King of Dragons and Serpents, whose
breath withered up all vegetation, and whose very
look was fatal to man." After this it is very
disappointing to find that the Basilisk of modern
naturalists, despite the formidable appearance of one
variety, Basiliscus mitratus, is absolutely harmless!


20
MYTHS OF

II. Julius Cæsar Scaliger* in order to remove
the suspicion of its being a myth, writes the
following words :-“Since some have suspected
that the stories told of the basilisk are fabulous,
I shall write down what I have read in modern
authors. When Leo was Pontifex Maximus,
there was found lodged under the arch near the
Temple of Lucia a basilisk, by the breath of
which Rome was afflicted with a terrible plague,
&c.” Again, Hieronymus Cardanus + has the fol-
lowing passage :-"A certain pedlar had a serpent,
which he had found in the ruins of a house that

* Born near Verona in 1484, he was first page to
the Emperor Maximilian, then a successful soldier, and
afterwards practised medicine in Guienne. He was a
learned, honorable, charitable and truthful man, but
conceited and wanting in good taste. The quotation
above given is from his “Exercitationes contra Cardanum,
No. 246, sect. 4. He died at Agen in 1558.
+ Cardanus was an illegitimate child, born at Pavia
in 1501. He was an extraordinary character; of a
brilliant intellect, he was inconstant and obstinate,
spiteful, extravagant and a lover of wine, women, and
gaming. Having exhibited his wonderful knowledge
and wild folly at Padua, Milan, Pavia and Bologna, he
got himself locked up in the latter city; as soon as he
was free, he went to Rome, obtained a pension from
the pope, and starved himself to death in 1576, to
accomplish his own prophecy that he would not live
beyond the age of seventy-five. His principal works
collected in 10 vols. folio, 1663) are: I. De Subtilitate
ANCIENT SCIENCE.
21

had been pulled down at Mediolanum.* Its head
was the size of an egg, and very large in propor-
tion to its body. I have preserved one of its
bones. The teeth in each jaw are those of a viper.
Its body is the size of a lizard, and of a similar
shape, but it has only two feet, and its legs are too
small for its size, which gives it a somewhat odd
appearance."
III. Christopher Encelius, a man, in the opinion
of Ulysses Aldrovandus, of the highest excellence
in general culture, in his book on Metals (bk. iii.
chap. 54) writes : “In the Marchest and in the
jurisdiction of The Abbot of Zinnia, near the town
of Luckenvald, I I had the good fortune to see
such a serpent, which had been killed by a
shepherd. The creature had a pointed head, was
of a yellow and almost saffron colour, and had a
length of three hand-breadths or more.” Simi-
larly, George Agricola § mentions that at Vienna,
(folio, 1550); II. De rerum varietate, (Basle, 1557,
folio); III. His autobiography ; etc., etc.
* Milan.
+ Province of Brandenburg, Prussia.
#On the Nüthe, 30 miles south of Berlin.
$ Born at Glauchen in 1494. He acquired a
wonderful knowledge of minerals and fossils, which
was given to the world in a work De re metallica,
Basle, 1561, folio, written in very elegant Latin. He
died at Chemnitz in 1551. The allusion in the text
is to a passage in a rare work of his, De ortu et causis
subterraneorum, Basle, 1558, folio.


22
MYTHS OF

in Austria, there was once such a serpent, and
that a picture of it could still be seen in the wall
of a certain house. He says somewhat the same
of the towns of Basle and Zwickau.* At Halle,
in Saxony, there still stands a monument of unim-
peachable authenticity, to commemorate the fact
of a basilisk having been seen there. It is in
warmer climates, especially where the most poison-
ous kinds of serpents find a home, that this deadly
crested adder is most common. The Egyptians
placed it among their hieroglyphics.† When they
wished to indicate a man of evil tongue, they drew
the picture of a basilisk. This gave rise to Lucan's
verses : “ Breathing forth its hisses, and striking
out its poison, that contains every plague, the
basilisk drives all the people far from its path, and
reigns over the desolated sands.” I Even the
Ethiopians and Moors were far from being ignorant
of the creature, for Lucan says: "What boots it,
ye wretched Moors, to transfix the basilisk with

*A small town in Bohemia, at the foot of the
Lausitz Gebirge. There is another town of the name
in Saxony, on the Mulde.
+ This passage would support Mr. Aldis Wrights'
contention, mentioned in the note on page 19.
Sibilaque effundens cunctasque tenentia pestes,
Ante venena nocens, latè sibi submovet omne
Vulgus, et in vacua regnat Basiliscus arena,
ANCIENT SCIENCE.
23

your spear? Swift up the blade the poison speeds,
and invades the hand."*
IV. But evidence more trustworthy and quite
beyond cavil is forthcoming. At Warsaw, in
Poland, in the sight of more than two thousand
persons, a basilisk was seen, which had been taken
from the rubbish of a fallen house, by means of an
iron rake. D. Mosanus, Cassellanus, and John
Pincier (Guesses, bk. iii. 23) have given a full
account of this most remarkable event in all its
details. The account, however, of each of these
writers is extremely prolix; accordingly, not to
weary the reader with a too full account, and in
order not to appear to heap up a mere empty crop of
a
words, it is our intention to adduce, with a strict
regard for truth, only such particular points as
bear on the present subject.
V. "In the year 1587, there lived at Warsaw,
in Poland, a certain man named Machæropaeus.
To pass the time, a child of this man, together
with the little girl of a neighbour, as is the way
with children of the tender age of five years,
thought of an amusing game. They determined
to enter the underground cellar of a house which
had fallen into ruins 30 years before. As soon as
they entered it, however, they fell to the lowest
* Quid prodest miseri, Basiliscus cuspide, mauri,
Transactus ? Velox currit per tela venenum,
Invaditque manum.



24
MYTHS OF
steps, and expired. When the dinner-hour came
round, their respective mothers asked if any one
knew where their children were. No information
could be got. The wife of Machæropaeus sent her
maid to call in the children. She went out, and
spied the children lying on the lowest steps of the
cellar. Thinking they were overcome with sleep,
she called again and again, and shouted to waken
them. Her shouts, which had almost made her
hoarse, produced no effect. What could be the
matter? The woman took courage, and went
down the steps to waken the children who were
sleeping too deeply for any shaking to wake
them. And, lo! at once (as was noticed) she
herself sank down beside the children, and
breathed her last. The mistress, who had seen
her servant enter, ran to the place in astonishment,
and out of her senses, not knowing what she ought
to do, stood stupefied. A rumour at once got
abroad, the citizens ran together, they were in a
state of doubt, and deliberated what was to be done.
The affair, meanwhile, was brought before the
Consul and Senate. They gave orders to have the
bodies drawn out with fire-hooks.* When this
had been done they were found to be swollen like
drums, their tongues had swelled, and the colour
* Long poles with iron hooks at the end, which
were used by firemen on the continent in the 17th
century.


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
25

of their skins was dark, while their eyes protruded
from their sockets, as large as half an hen's egg.
At the request of the Consul, the Chamberlain and
an old man, physician to the King, called Bene-
dictus, came to see the tragic spectacle. The
latter's conjecture was, that a serpent of most
deadly kind was living in the deserted cellar, and
that the air in it was poisoned by its deadly breath,
which was prevented from escaping. Seeing,
moreover, that the weak nature of man could
not stand against it, he concluded that it was a
basilisk which had its den in the cellar.
On being asked by what means the truth of the
affair could be found out, he replied that some one
should be sent into the cellar, furnished with a
covering of mirrors, facing in all directions. For,
said he, the basilisk will at once die if it sees its
own image. There were there, at that time, two
men lying under sentence of death, which were to
be executed within three days, one a Pole, the
other a Silesian. The name of the Silesian was
John Faurer. An offer was made to these men, to
see if one would descend into the cellar, and hunt
for the serpent, on condition of obtaining a pardon.
The Silesian at once embraced the offer. Accord-
ingly, his whole body was covered with leather,
his eyelids fastened down on the pupils, one hand
was armed with an iron rake, and the other with
a blazing torch. In the presence of MORE THAN

26
MYTHS OF
TWO THOUSAND PERSONS, who looked on in the
highest excitement, the man descended into the
cellar, a mass of mirrors from head to foot. After
an hour's examination of every chink and corner of
the cellar, without any trace of the serpent being
found, he asked for a fresh torch to be thrown
down to him. On being asked his reason for this
request, he said that there was another cellar next
to the one he was in, but approach to it was barred
by rubbish. Whilst endeavouring to penetrate
this, he happened to move his eyes to the left, and
suddenly spied the long looked for serpent, lying
in a niche of the wall. On signifying the fact by
shouting to those who were crowded round the
entrance, the chief physician bade him take the
brute up with the iron rake, and carry it out of the
darkness of the cellar into the broad daylight.
This was done and seen by all. The Chief
Physician, as soon as he saw the creature, pro-
nounced it a basilisk. It was the size of an
ordinary fowl. In its head it had somewhat the
appearance of an Indian cock. Its crest was like
a crown, partly covered with a bluish colour. Its
back was covered with several excrescent spots,
and its eyes were those of the toad. It was covered
all over with the hues of venomous animals, which
gave it a general tawny tinge. Its tail was curved
back, and bent over its body, of a yellowish hue
beneath, and of the same colour as the toad at its


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
27

extremity.” This description, though somewhat
diffuse, is perhaps, gentle reader, not unwelcome.
VI. From this story some estimate of this most
venomous creature may be formed. That incom.
parable student of Nature, Sperling, * had too
great an insight into the subject to attempt to
deny absolutely the existence of the basilisk.
But while he observed that by this creature was
to be understood a poisonous asp, he at least had
the sense to refute those old wives' stories which
are connected with the subject, and which will be
found refuted in our subsequent investigations.
Thus, in his public lectures on Zoology (Bk. vi.,
chap. iii., sect. 2), in speaking of the asp, he
comes to the following conclusion :-“If there is
such a thing as the basilisk, it is an asp. Now,
the poison of this creature is most deadly, especially
in warm climates. It is man's nature to exaggerate
everything, and to make two or three false addi-
tions to every simple fact.”
VII. Again our beloved Professor, in the year
1637, in which he first became known to the
world, and in the fortieth public discussion which
he held on the mysteries of nature, wished the
following question to be propounded :-“Is the
basilisk or cockatrice able to kill men by looking
* Born at Zeuchfeld, in Thuringia, in 1603 ;
became Professor of Physics at Wittemberg, where he
died in 1658.

28
MYTHS OF
at them?” The answer was made on the authority
of Pliny (Bk. 8, cap. 21) and Ælian (Book vii.,
cap. 2), to the effect that there is a spring among
the western tribes of Africa, called the Niger, and
considered by some to be the source of the Nile,
where these creatures are found, and that they are
capable of causing death by being looked on, by
reason of the bright rays of light which they emit.
Bodinus gives an opinion nearer the truth in his
third book of his Theatrum Naturale, when speak-
ing of the breeding of serpents; and Neander* is
right in approving it in the following words :-“I
cannot think that an animal should have been
created by the Great Artificer, of such a deadly
kind as to cause the death of the rest of the
animal creation merely by looking at them. But
we are safe in believing that the basilisk, the most
deadly of all reptiles, causes death by its breath,
which is of the most noxious and pestilential
nature. This poisonous breath is of the most
subtle kind, and may be inhaled into the body,
and as soon as it penetrates the system, it rushes
to the vitals
and destroys the spirit of life, etc.”
* John Neander must not be confounded with
either of the two Michael Neanders. John was the
author of Tobacologia, a curious and very scarce work
on Tobacco and its uses. It is a 4to volume, published
at Leyden in 1622. The allusion in the text is to a
passage in his Syntagma (folio, 1623). He was a
doctor at Bremen. Nothing else is known of him.



ANCIENT SCIENCE.
29
We cannot but wonder what grounds Mathiolus*
has (Comment., Bk. vi., last chapter) for giving
credence to the fabulous tales that have been
handed down by tradition concerning this creature.
Although Mathiolus has adduced three petty
reasons in support of his position, yet he has been
satisfactorily answered by Melchior Sebizius, t a
most learned man, in his Appendix to his Treatise
on Medicine, applied to the case of diseases among
young men. There, among other things, he brings
forward the evidence of Hieronymus Mercurialis I
* Peter Andrew Matthiolus, a celebrated doctor and
elegant litterateur, was born at Sienna about 1500,
His Commentaries on Dioscoris (Venice, 1548, 4to) and
other works show much research but considerable
credulity. He died of the plague in 1577.
+ Sebizius, born 1578, died 1674, canon of Strasburg,
was created Count Palatine by Ferdinand II. His
principal works are :--I. Commentaries on Galen ;
II. Exercitationes Medicæ ; III. Miscellaneæ ques-
tiones medicæ ; IV. Speculum medicinæ practicum
(2 vols. 8vo, 1661.)
Born at Forli, (ancient Forum Lirii), in the
province of that name on the Adriatic, in 1530, died
there in 1596.
He was celebrated for his knowledge
of Medecine, Unlike most men of talent, he left
behind him a huge fortune for those days, 120,000
crowns. He was a good aud a wise man. His
principal works are :-I. De arte gymnastica, Venice,
1587, 4to, a curious book on the gymnastics of the
ancients; II. De Morbis Mulierum, 4to, 1601;
III. De Morbis Puerorum, 4to, 1584 ; IV. Medecina
practica, folio, 1627.

30
MYTHS OF
Bk. i., chap. 21, on Poisons and Poisonous
Diseases), who declares that, at the Court of the
Emperor Maximilian, he saw the body of a
basilisk, which was preserved among the treasures
of the Palace. Having proved now that we must
assign a place in creation to the basilisk, we have
still to investigate its character. We shall deal
briefly with the matter, in order to pass on to the
discussion of other subjects. Let us set to work.

CHAPTER III.
CONTENTS.
1. A description of the basilisk,
II. Falsehood of the statement that the basilisk springs from the
egg of an old cock
III. Reasons adduced.
IV. The empty contradiction of L. Lemnius on this point,
V. The position of Eucebius and Ferrantes Imperatus. We
must not believe everything we hear from any quarter with-
out consideration and reason. The source of error.
VI. The false and fabulous story of men being killed by the mere
gaze of the basilisk. This not even true of the wolf.
VII. Natural antipathy between the basilisk and the weasel and
cock,

The nature and properties of the
Basilisk,
I. The basilisk is a crested asp, the most deadly
of its kind, and the greatest enemy of man. It is
marked by many white excrescences, has a some-
ANCIENT SCIENCE.
31

what large head, and is full of most virulent
poison. By means of this (i.e., by exhalation and
by vitiating the circumambient air) it impregnates
the surrounding space with its deadly property.
This poison, by an obscure antipathy which it
bears to all created things, at once chokes and
suffocates anything warmblooded. The above is
not a definition, but somewhat of a description,
containing more than is essential to a definition.
It is an asp, as we said, by reason of its deadly,
virulent, and cunning nature, though it has not
the same length of body as the rest of the asp
tribe. We do not believe the basilisk is a common
reptile, nor, except in the deserts of warmer
climates, is it largely found.
Again, we have called it “crested” not literally,
as we speak of the barnyard cock, but analogically,
It has, as may be seen by a comparison of authors,
something analogous to a crown or crest. Hence
it gets the name of regulus or basilisk. It is
called a “most deadly” asp from the effect of its
poison, seeing that the injury it inflicts with its
terrible venom is the most deadly of all. Every
serpent is an enemy of man and every living
creature, but this creature takes the palm for dead.
liness.
The punishment of mankind, in retribution for
the crime committed against the great Creator, is
that the very serpents should be armed against us.


32
MYTHS OF
Had our first parents remained in the state in which
they were originally created, the power of subduing
these creatures in common with the rest of creation
would have remained in their hands without
injury or danger. So terrible is the significance to
man of a sin against his Creator. Such is the
terrible bane which serpents are to us now; for it
was disguised in their form that that preter-
natural old Dragon, the slanderer of God and man,
originally made his assault upon mankind. We
need not give an explanation of the other words
which were used in our description of the basilisk,
It is a matter of mere experience, and will become
clear from the subsequent remarks. In order,
however, to enable us to distinguish with safety
between true metal and dross, between false and
true, we must remove from our conception of this
creature those traditions, whether they go under
the name of dreams or serious facts, which have
been handed down to us on the subject.
II. The story, which is commonly credited, of
the basilisk springing from the egg of a decrepit
cock, nine years old, and being hatched by a toad,
is utterly false, and without foundation, We
shall give the story which men of little brains tell
us. They say the basilisk is born from a cock.
The cock, they say, when decrepit, brings forth
an egg, from which the basilisk springs. Many
things, however, must conduce to this end. The


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
33

egg must be placed in a warm heap of dung, which
hatches the creature; another version is that the
hatching is done by a repulsive toad.
Then a
chicken is hatched, which has a tail like a snake,
but the rest of its body is that of a cock. Those
who say they have witnessed the production of
this creature, declare that the egg has no shell, but
a skin of such extreme strength, that it can with-
stand the severest blows, &c. We know this much,
that if this is the case, there never has been, is, or
will be, anywhere, such a creature as the basilisk.
Who is so bereft of reason as to allow himself to
be persuaded That a real egg can come from a
common cock? Real, I mean, for it cannot be
denied that in some cocks there is found a small
globule of whiteish excrement formed by putrefac-
tion. “For it is quite possible” (I use the words
of John Eusebius, of Nuremberg, Royal Physician
at Madrid, in Spain) “that when cocks have
passed the time of life when they are able to
perform their functions, the excrement inclosed
within their bodies is coagulated into an egg by a
process of putrid concoction,” &c. (Hist. Nat.,
lib. 6, fo. 102.) The learned Peter Lauremberg
says :-“There does indeed exist in the body of
the cock a growth with a white skin, but without
a shell. But the cock does not produce this as
the hen its egg, nor can anything living come out
of it. The hen lays eggs, not the cock.”

с


34
MYTHS OF
III. Who, in fact, can easily believe that a
cock, the most wholesome of animals, can possibly
produce a creature of the most loathsome and
hideous kind? Who can listen for one moment
to this nonsensical and most monstrous story of
birth? A serpent comes from a serpent, a cock
from a hen, but a basilisk from a cock, never !
Can any one believe that a cock when grown old,
and with its powers destroyed, when almost no
further strength is left it, can possibly conceive
and produce an egg? What is this hideous toad
that can possibly come to the spot, led by the
scent, and in the regular order of nature sit on the
egg at the right moment to hatch it? Whoever
you are that can tell such a barefaced falsehood
without blushing, tell us, in sooth, have you ever
seen such things? Have you watched them care-
fully? Have you studied them? No, no. Let
this cock’s egg, which you have hauled in head
and ears, crumble into lime or dung.
IV. Lævinus Lemnius, * a most excellent doctor,
tells us, however, that he maintains it as a fact,
proved from his own experience, that the cock
not only produces an egg, but itself sits on it.
He says :- In the State of Ziriczee, and in the


* Born at Ziriczee in Zeeland in 1505; he was the
author of I. “De occultis natura miraculis 8vo ;
II. De astrologia, 8vo ; III. De plantis biblicis, 12mo,
1591.-He died in 1568.
ANCIENT SCIENCE.
35

limits of this island, there are two old cocks
which not only sat on their own eggs, but were
with difficulty driven with sticks from the work of
hatching them.” And he adds that the people of
the place, having conccived the idea that the
basilisk comes from such an egg, smashed the
eggs and strangled the cock. The answer of
Ulysses Aldrovandus to these words is, as usual,
most judicious. “What this writer and others
affirm I could never be persuaded to believe by
any number of oaths. I am so far from being able
to believe either that a cock should place its egg
amongst dung to let it be fecundated by its heat,
or that a basilisk is generated by toads who hatch
it, that I would rather consider the whole thing a
joke. At the same time, I do not deny that the
cock secretes within itself, especially at the end
of its life, when no longer able to perform its
function, something like an egg, which is produced
by a process of putrefaction. But that it brings
forth an egg, complete and furnished with a shell,
I cannot possibly believe. Reason tells us this
can only be done in the womb. Just as no one
thinks of maintaining that a complete foetus can
be produced by a man, so neither can one come
from a cock."
V. The boasting, therefore, of Lævinus and
Christopher Encelius, no less than of the Neapolitan
physician, Ferrans Imperatus, whom they men-



36
MYTHS OF
tion, is useless. They said they had not only
seen, but had in their possession, such eggs, which
had been laid by cocks. Surely not every one
who makes a boast of the wonders of nature is to
be trusted. Besides, they who believe in anything
easily are easily deceived also. We must take
Nature into our confidence. Her powers must be
explored; their nature, effcacy, and antipathies
will become clear after an intimate inquiry. I
suspect the fable of Hermes gave rise to this
falsehood. Hermes had said that the regulus was
produced from the egg of the cock in the womb
or in dung. This, however, he did not intend to
be understood about the true basilisk, but about
the elixir which changes metals. We may com-
pare Eusebius (Hist. Nat., Bk. iv., chap. 20,
fo. 120).
VI. But it is a false and groundless statement,
that the basilisk is able by a mere look to kill
either a man or any other animal which it is the
first to see. Galenus, in his book on the action
of antidotes, says :--" The basilisk is a yellowish
creature, furnished with a threefold crown on its
forehead, and is of such a nature that merely by
being seen or heard when hissing it kills those
who see or hear it. And any animal whatsoever
touching it, even when dead, dies immediately."
The fictions which Pliny, who in his writings is
more celebrated for style than for accuracy of



ANCIENT SCIENCE.
37
statement (Nat. Hist. Bk. 8, cap. 21), and
Ælian tell us of, are of the same nature. Much
confusion and obscurity accordingly reign in
regard to the strength and poison of the regulus,
as Pliny calls it. The remark of Bodinus * is a
good one. He says, “Who has ever seen it, if it
kills by merely being seen?” As if, forsooth,
vision took place by emission of rays, and not
rather by the reception of sensible particles. The
great Scaliger asks for nothing but stripes for such
collectors of falsehoods. The vulgar have some
stories like these about the wolf, which Cardanus
was neither tired nor ashamed of defending. This
was the reason of the severe criticism he received
at the hands of Schaliger. “Be wise in time,” he
says, "and let this be a mark of my affection for
you. I want to hear none of these many silly

*Jean Bodin, born at Anger in 1530, was a
favorite of Henry III. In 1589, he followed the
Duke of Alençon to England, where his great work,
De Republicâ, became a text book at Cambridge. One
of his most curious works is La Démonomanie, cu
Traité des Sorciers, Paris, 1587, 4to, wherein he
maintains that he had a familiar spirit that used to
touch him on the right ear when he did a good
action, and on the left when he did a bad one.
Having convinced himself that one could not catch
the plague at 60 years of age, he took no precautions,
and died of that disease in 1596. The quotation is
from his Theatrum Naturce, bk. 3, p. 306. (1596, 8vo).
This book was suppressed, and is consequently rare.

38
MYTHS OF
stories you have included in your books." He
continues, “But let us treat of the subject of
sympathy, which you have touched on both coldly
and in a childish manner. In this respect you
require some help. For what is its nature? Why
do men grow dumb when they see a wolf? Because
there is a power in its eyes, you say. But is there
any if I do not see its eyes? Its eyes do not
penetrate a man's back, do they? or pass through
his head to his tongue? I should like these asser-
tors of falsehood to be beaten with as many rods
as the times I have been seen by a wolf without
any harm to my voice. I know for certain I have
been seen no less than three times by a wolf when
hunting. Once by one which was crouching in
the middle of a thicket, again by one on the brow
of a mountain. The third occasion was when one
had carried off a little child, and the wolf, while
hidden in a crop of hemp, fully grown, every now
and then raised its head to get a view of the hunters.
One of the poor child's companions exclaimed:
“Oh, what a large dog !” My companions and
myself were seen by the beast, while none of us
saw it. We were so far from being struck dumb,
that by shouting at the top of our voices we first
of all scared it away, and then, following it up,
secured its victim, though unfortunately no longer
in life." Let a similar test be made in the case of
the basilisk, that death-glancer, forsooth! It will



ANCIENT SCIENCE.
39
be an easy thing to show what constitutes an act
of vision. When looking on an object no particles
of matter are made to vibrate from our eyes, but,
on the contrary, we receive the images of objects
which are represented in the crystalline lens.
The chief authority to consult is Athanasius
Kircher * on the Magnetic Art (Bk. iii., part 9,
chap. I, p. 777).
VII. If the story is really true, it is a singular
fact that the basilisk flees from the presence of a
weasel or cock. Men are to be found who, if

* Kircher was a Jesuit of Fulda, in Hesse Cassel.
He was a good Mathematician and a very learned
man, and was Professor at Witzburg, in Franconia
till driven out by the Swedish armies. He retired to
France, and ultimately to Rome, where he died in
1680, at the age of 70. His writings were extremely
numerous, some being very curious and others very
rare. To the former class belong the book men-
tioned in the text, Prolusiones magneticce, Rome, 1654,
folio ; Arca Noë, folio ; Turus Babel, folio, Amster-
dam 1679. To the latter, Ædipus Ægyptiacus, Rome,
1652-3, 4 vols, folio, on Hieroglyphics. He was an
enthusiastic antiquarian, and some good stories are
related of him. One might be taken as the original
of the famous stone story in Pickwick. Some young
men, knowing his weakness, engraved a number of
meaningless signs on a stone and buried it where they
knew Kircher was about to build. It was of course
found and carried to Kircher, who, after many days
and nights of labour, produced a most interesting
reading of the unknown symbols !

40
MYTHS OF
they enter a room in which there is a cat, though
the latter be shut up in a basket, will yet begin to
tremble, perspire profusely, and sometimes faint.
In the same way cattle, on coming to a place at
which two or three days previously one of their
kind was slaughtered, begin to bellow, and are
seized with fright. So mysterious is Mother
Nature! Thus do the greatest curiosities lie hid
in the smallest facts. On the subject of the deadly
enmity between the cock and the basilisk, Ulysses
Aldrovandus quotes a passage from Solinus. *
“ It is said that this creature (wonderful to relate),
should it happen to see a cock, begins to tremble,
and on hearing it approaching, is struck with such
terror as to die on the spot. Travellers through
the vast tracts of Cyrenia, which are infested with
this singular pest, recognising this fact, take with
them as a companion a cock. The object of
carrying this cock is to drive away this deadly
reptile by its crowing."
Thus there is no evil so great or serious as not
to have some antidote to it. Death alone would
be invincible, did not the mind despise it and
look forward with eagerness to hopes of future
* Solinus, a writer of the end of the first century.
He has been surnamed “ Pliny's Monkey,” as he apes
the style of the master. Aldrovandus quotes him, as
stated in the text, in the 14th book of his Ornithologia,


fol. 115
ANCIENT SCIENCE.
41

joy, and thus triumph even over the greatest hard-
ships destiny has in store. Of the weasel, John
Eusebius, of Nuremberg, gives a definition in the
following terms :-“ The wisdom of Providence,
in order to avoid leaving a pest of this nature
without a deadly enemy, created the weasel, which
is as powerful a foe to the basilisk as the latter is
to man.” So much for the basilisk, that most
extraordinary of all creatures.

Ten Additional Zoological Dicta.
I. The serpent by and in itself cannot pos-
sibly understand the incantation of poisoners,
whether male or female, did not that old dragon,
the betrayer of the world, the slanderer of man-
kind, the Devil, lurk disguised under the outward
form of a serpent, and play off his wonderful
tricks of deceit and imposture on those less
cunning than himself.
II. The tales told about that unique bird, the
Phenix, if accepted literally, are quite fabulous ;
if otherwise, they become mere parables. Won-
der should never lead to credulity, as is so truly
pointed out by Julius Cæsar Scaliger in his 233rd
exercitation.
III. We shall deal very shortly with the ques-
tion as to whether the Griffin should have a place
in the animal creation, a question which is raised

42
MYTHS OF
by B. Franzius * (Hist. Animalium, c. 38), who
says this winged quadruped is of such strength
and courage, that it can overcome eight lions and
one hundred eagles, and carry an armed man up
into the air. The words of Gabriel Rollenhagent
are enough. He says, “When the Saxon and
Scythian armies entered Greece, and had landed
on the coast panting for spoil, they used to plun-
der, beyond the walls of the towns, where they
could not be rescued, men of the country, who
fled before them. These they pursued and fol-
lowed on horseback as fast as they could, shouting
* Greiff, greiff den Kerl!' The term, accord-
ingly, does not owe its origin to the form of any
living creature, but to a poetic expression, and
does not apply to a product of nature, but to a
product of song."
IV. The opinion of those who believe the
whole race of unicorns to have perished in the
flood is ridiculous. I
* This is an error : the Christian name of Franzius
being Wolfgang. He was a Lutheran theologian,
born in 1564, at Plaven, in Voigtland, and Professor
at Wittemberg, where he died in 1620. The work
alluded to is his “ Animalium Historia sacra," 12mo.,
1665, a curious but rare book.
+ I cannot find the quotation. The only work of
Rollenhagen I can trace, besides a few plays, is his
Froschmunster, an epic in the style of Homer's Batra-
chomyomachia. Rollenhagen died in 1609, aged 57,
# This statement is the text of our next tract.


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
43

V. We have come to the conclusion that the
song attributed to the swan (when dying) is a pure
figment. Many reasons induce us to take this
view, and we have the support of Scaliger and
that most learned man Sperlingius.
VI. Although the renewal of moulted feathers
is one thing, and the renewal of vigorous youth
quite another, yet Judeus Appella believes that
eagles renew their youth. (In support of this
fable, consult R. Dav. Kimchi,* ex R. Subadia,
super. chap. 40, Esai.)+
VII. It would be the part of a very weak man
to believe that brute beasts can naturally converse
among themselves. Melampus f and Hieronymus

* Rabbi David Kimchi, a Spaniard, one of the most
learned Hebrew scholars of the 13th century, was the
selected arbitrator between the synagogues of Spain
and France in the dispute about the books of Mai-
monides. His principal works are Michlol (that is,
Perfection), a Hebrew Grammar, printed at Venice in
1541, 8vo; Dictionarium Talmudicum, Venice, 1506,
folio, and a work on Hebrew roots, 1555, 8vo.
+ The most curious book, on the question of the
possible renewal of youth, I have met with, is “Her-
mippus Redivivus," which I have reprinted in this
present series.
I A famous sage of ancient times, said to have lived
about 1380 B.C. Many works were printed from the
15th to the 17th centuries as his. One of these is
probably here alluded to.
44
MYTHS OF ANCIENT SCIENCE.
Fabricius,* of Aquapendente, among modern
writers have opposed this theory.
(See the
latter's "Treatise on the language of animals.)
VIII. Man alone can, properly speaking,
laugh, weep, or talk in a natural manner. Neither
ape, crocodile, magpie or nightingale can do so in
the same way.
IX. To assign a place in the animal creation to
what are called the Ephemeridæ, which are born
in the morning and die at night, is such an absurd
doctrine that we dismiss it without further words. +
X. To believe that the Pelican, a bird with a
curved beak, tears its own breast, and restores its
young to life by bleeding itself, is to dream.


* Jerome Fabricius, better known as Aquapendente
(the place of his birth), was the pupil and successor of
Fallopius in the Chair of Anatomy at Padua. His
anatomical works were printed at Leyden in 1738,
folio, and his surgical writings were collected and
published in 1723, folio. He laboured more for glory
than interest, and his friends having made him various
presents as a reward for his disinterestedness, he placed
them in a cabinet with the inscription :
“Lucri neglecti lucrum.”
He died in 1603
+In spite of Kirchmayer, we know that the
Ephemeridæ, of which our English genus is the
may-fly, only exist a few hours when they have
reached this final stage of life.


II.
Dn the Unicorn,
BY
GEORGE CASPARD KIRCHMAYER.





PREFACE.

A
MONG the pleasant sights of
Paradise, the picture of the
animal creation, both small
and great, obeying the nod of primeval
man, is by no means the least pleasing.
There one might see lordly lions, huge
and strong elephants, Rhinoceroses and
Monoceroses, at the word of command,
making their appearance, and allowing the
yoke to be placed on them by the hand of
man. Again, one might see other animals
with faculties innumerable, and beauty

48
Preface.
unspeakable, coming at the command of
the glorious Creator, and receiving the
names corresponding to their natures. This
was the first meeting of the animal creation.
The second was a mournful one indeed;
but even it was wonderful in the extreme.
For when Divine Justice changed to severe
anger, on account of the grievous crimes
of men, and determined to destroy the
wicked from the face of the earth by a
flood of avenging waters, which was to
sweep away the guilt of mankind, at the
instigation of the Most High many pairs
of animals were collected (of fishes there
was no need), and received into the ark,
which had lately been built, until it was
quite full.
What were your thoughts, Noah, when
you acted as host to the crowds of the
whole animal creation? or when the
stench from the interior oppressed your



Preface.
49
senses, and, without, the heaps of dead
men and animals floated about, and the
huge waves threatened you with instant
death. You did not, methinks, revile
your God, but repeated your prayers night
and day. With Him as your stay, not
only could you be free from anxiety, but
safe in the fullest sense of the word.
God consoled you, He helped you, He
was the constant guardian of you and
yours. Tell us, is it not wrong to think
,
that a single species perished and became
extinct then, when such a great God took
in hand the charge of all. But just as
there is no kind of creature so beautiful
as not to perform the filthy functions of
nature, so there is nothing so sacred as to
escape the violation of the audacious.
Over the whole world it is a common
saying that the unicorn perished and
became extinct at the flood, and that not a


D

50
Preface.
single individual of the Monoceros species
survived. We shall correct this injustice,
and shall, with God's help, find a means
of putting a stop to this universal blas-
phemy.




On the Unicorn.

++++++
CHAPTER I.
ARGUMENT.
1. Nature and formation of the term Monoceros.
2. A part of Christ's Cross is called “Unicorn,"
3. The term applied to a mineral.
4. Explanation of analogous uses of the word continued,
5. The existence of unicorn fish.
6. Unicorn birds seen by the Lusitanians.
7. The one-horned vipers used by Cleopatra. Cardanus censured.
8. Single-horned beetles seen by Partholinus between Salerno and
Naples.
9. The one-horned ass of India.
10. A one-horned horse presented to the late John George I.,
Elector of Hanover. Similar creatures seen freqnently by
other persons.
11. Single-horned oxen and cows found. To this head the wild
oxen of Russia are to be referred.
12. An account of the wonder.ul animal called the oryx.
13. The rhinoceros, the deadly enemy of the elephant.
14. The rhinoceros not to be confounded with the monoceros.
Cardanus blamed and defended. Scaliger praised.
15. An inquiry into the term unicorn, both as a substantive and
as a creature, Various synonyms of the term.
1. The term monoceros is originally of Greek
origin, and comes from monos, meaning one, and
keras, meaning a horn. In the Attic method of

52
MYTHS OF
pronunciation the word is accented on the ante-
penultimate syllable. Among the Latins the term
unicorn (i.e., furnished with only one horn) has
exactly the same meaning. By some writers, such
as Bartholomew, of England, Nicolas Perotta,
and Eusebius, of Nuremberg, the word unicornuus
is used instead. Nestor, of Novarre, under the
word unicorn, page 102, says that it can also be
declined as unicornium, John of Japua speaks
in almost the same terms, when he proves that
mon.cerus and monoceri are possible terms. Such
matters are, however, to be left to philological
scholars to decide. It is our duty to explain with
care and accuracy the common signification of the
word. Our exertions in this respect must be con-
ducted with greater perseverance when we consider
what a great advantage it is to have truth cleared
of the labyrinths of falsehood. It is my opinion,
indeed, that the majority of the false stories about
the monoceros, which are not only monstrous but
obscure, could not have arisen except through an
indistinct apprehension of what the term signifies.
II. The term unicorn is one in universal use,
not only in matters of art but in those of nature.
That it belongs and is applied to the first of these
two classes is clearly seen by the evidence of
Irenæus, Justinus, and Tertullian, according to
whom the middle part of the main beam of
Christ's Cross was called "the unicorn." A

ANCIENT SCIENCE.
53
passage in Deuteronomy, chap. xxiii. 17,* afforded
Tertullian an opportunity of making this state-
ment. The following are the words he uses in
chap. xi. of the book written against the Jews :-
“Christ,” he says, “was therein meant to be
represented by the bull, by reason of his double
attitude towards men—his attitude of severity to
some as their judge, his attitude of clemency to
others as their Saviour. The horns of this bull
were the extreme points of the cross-beam, while
the 'unicorn' was the middle plank of the main
beam.” These words of Tertullian have not,
however, been able to withstand the close scrutiny
of criticism.f Not only D. Georgius Calixtus, in
his notice of the Cross, written at Leipsic, but
Dn. Dibberrus, in his account of the Crucifixion,
have given the meaning of the word. The Cross
was called unicorn partly because it had a sharp
curved point, partly because it was placed in the
middle of the beam, as the horn is in the forehead
of the animal, and had no other part of the
structure to correspond to it. (See Magnus, son of

*“ His glory is like the firstling of his bullock,
and his horns are like the horns of unicorns, with
them he shall push the people together to the ends of
the earth : and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
+ Balzac used to say that the obscurity of Tertullian's
style was like the blackness of Ebony, very brilliant.

54
MYTHIS OF
Bartholinus Magnus, On the Unicorn, chap. 23,
page 149, and following.)
III. The term is applied to natural products,
both mineral" and "natural.” For instance, in
Bohemia, Thuringia, Moravia, and in certain
districts of Misnia, stones are dug from some of
the mines, which possess a powerful virtue against
Epilepsy, against malignant fevers and other
diseases of less note.
Sennertus, * the great doctor of Germany, is
worth quoting on this point. He says, “ Among
porous stones, that species deserves notice which
is commonly said to be the unicorn's horn. Others
call it a fossil-horn. In Thuringia, Bohemia, and
other places, such horns are found, and not only
horns but other bones which have the name of
being good for healing wounds and broken bones,
and for curing sores.” Especially are the following
words to be considered: “These horns, experience
has taught us, possess great power, especially in
curing Epilepsy, malignant fevers, plague, bowel


* Daniel Sennert, or Sennertus, was the son of a
shoemaker of Breslaw. He was born in 1572, became
Professor of Medecine at Wittemburg, and died of
the plague in 1637. His works, in 3 vols., folio,
Venice 1640, or in 6 vols., folio, Lyons, 1676, are a
complete compendium of Medical Science up to his
day, and are far more valuable than many highly-
raised modern productions.
ANCIENT SCIENCE,
55

complaints in children, and other diseases. From
this circumstance they are commonly sold as
unicorn's horn.” The story that the whole race of
unicorns perished at the Flood derives plausibility
from the fact that, at the present day, horns,
which were covered over with the sediment left by
the waters of the Flood, and which have lain all
this time buried in the earth, are in many places
dug up again. With this remark, however, we
will deal later on.
IV. At the present point we have to give a clear
and systematic account of the different cases in
which the term Monoceros is applied to animals.
We cannot gain the desired haven of truth until
we pass over the distortions and ambiguities that
intercept our path.
Creatures that swim, that fly, that creep, that
wade, besides insects, all claim the name unicorn.
As far as the first of these divisions is concerned,
the claim seems just, as certain Batavians, on
returning from the East Indies, in 1601, brought
with them a huge sea-beast, which had a large
single horn. The great Clusius has left us a picture
of it. (Bk. i.)* The existence of a kind of

* The Narwhal (Monodon Monoceros), or Sea
Unicorn is evidently meant. In the male, one tooth,
usually the left, is developed into a long, straight-
pointed tusk or “horn" of solid ivory, the surface
being marked with spiral ridges or grooves. This


56
MYTHS OF
creature called the Hippopotamus is affirmed by
some, but doubted by others. Whatever the truth
may be, it is a fact that in the year 1576 Martin
Frobisher * came across a fish-unicorn among the
huge ice-fields, which had a horn that protruded
about two cubits in front of its nose. (History of
East India, Book ii, chap. 26.) Olaus Magnus, f
Bk. xxi. chap. 1o, on the Monoceros, says: “The

enormous tusk varies from six to eight feet in length,
Occasionally both teeth are developed into tusks. The
Narwhal varies from ten to sixteen feet in length, and
the tusk is generally more than half the length of the
body. It has been conjectured that the horn is
employed in spearing fish, or in stirring up food from
the bottom ; but this would place the females at a
great disadvantage. As the tusks are frequently found
broken, they may be weapons used for fighting,
developed like the horns of ungulates through sexual
selection.
*Martin Frobisher was of a Devonshire family. In
1575 he sailed on his first voyage of discovery, and
reached the latitude of 63°. In 1577, he undertook
a second voyage, but returned without accomplishing
his object. He subsequently greatly distinguished
himself against the Armada. In 1594, he landed in
Brittany, to besiege the fort of Cordon, near Brest,
but was wounded, and died of his wounds at Plymouth.
+ Olaus Magnus was Archbishop of Upsala, in
succession to his brother. His great work, Historia
Gentium Septentrionalium, Rome, 1555, folio, contains
much that is curious, but the author was undoubtedly
very credulous. Olaus died at Rome about 1560,


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
57
Monoceros is a sea-monster” (I would have pre-
ferred if Olaus had abstained from the use of this
word, which casts a slur on Nature) “which has
on its forehead a very large horn, by means of
which it can pierce and wreck vessels with which
it comes in contact, and destroy a large number of
persons who may be on board. But in this case,
the love of a Divine Providence gives a source of
escape to the seaman, for in spite of its ferocity, it
has such an extreme slowness of motion, that, if
seen before it reaches the vessel, the terrified sailors
can easily evade its approach."
Albertus M. Rondeletius * has also made men-
tion of this fish in his book on the Monoceros,
while there are many who have noticed it when
writing on the subject of fishes. We may compare
also Olearius, Persian Journeys, Bk. I, chap. 4,
fol. 175.7
* William Rondelet was born at Montpellier in
1507, and practised medecine there. His principal
work is :- A Treatise on Fish, 1554, 2 vols., folio.
Rabelais is said to have satirised him under the name
of Rondibilis. He died of a surfeit of figs in 1566.
+ Adam Olearius was the son of a tailor of Steenwick
in the Netherlands. He became secretary to the
embassy sent by Frederick to the Czar and the Shah
of Persia. The journey lasted six years, from 1633 to
1639. On his return, he wrote a history of his
travels, as exact as it is detailed. He also issued a
collection of stories, maxims, etc., drawn from Persian
authors. He died in 1671, at the age of 68.
58
MYTHS OF
VI. Ælian (Bk. 17 of History of Animals, chap.
10), has introduced unicorns under the head of
flying creatures. In the same way Duro, a writer
of Persian history (as we learn from the Conon of
Cornelius Nepos, and also from Athenaeus) men-
tions that unicorn-birds were found in Æthiopia.
When Solimannus Eunuchus was bringing round
his fleet to port, after having sailed over the Red
Sea, there was seen on the coast of Portugal a
unicorn-bird, a statement which is testified to by
Lewis de Urreta, a monk of the Franciscan Order.
(History of Ethiopia, p. 344.) The statement
tendered by Thomas Bartholinus, * son of Caspard,
page 50 of the book above quoted, is worthy of
notice: “Rome, the mother of Nations, produced
a basilisk ornamented with a single horn in its
head, of the same appearance as the engraver has
shewn in the woodcut. He, in fact, gives a picture
of the creature.
VII. Among the many races of Reptiles,
several cases, and these of an agreeable nature,
could, by the exercise of diffuseness be quoted
from Albertus Magnust and Ulysses Aldrovandus.


* There were three writers named Bartholinus,
Caspard, Thomas the elder, and Thomas the younger,
father, son, and grandson. This is Thomas the
elder.
+ Thus called, not because he was really a great
man, but because his family name was Groot, the



ANCIENT SCIENCE.
59
First of all however, we must quote that passage
of John Veslingius * which is a source of wonder
to the anatomists of our age. In this passage he
states that in the suburbs of Cairo he had several
times seen one-horned vipers of a most deadly
nature. The Egyptians give them the name of
Mamelukes or Regias, and say that Cleopatra, in
times gone by, had applied them to her breasts.
Cardanus mentions a little worm in his book
on subtilties, which springs from the leaves of the
nightshade, which is marked by a green and
yellow tinge, and carries a horn on its forehead,
more than an inch in length. It is my opinion
that Cardanus had confounded the mouth and
what corresponds to the cartilage. The question
is whether it has a horn, whence the animal may
derive its name, or only some material, stiff and
prickly, which by the lapse of time becomes
transformed into cartilage. There is nothing new
or wonderful in this; it happens to capons, or
castrated cocks, as well as to this creature.
Now shall we here delay long over the horned
slug of Fabius Columna, which he calls by the
name “Boucampe” or ox-foot, from its charac-
Dutch for great. He was born in 1205 and died in
1282. His works were collected in 1651, and form
21 large folio volumes.
* Veslingius died at Padua 1649.
He was a
celebrated anatomist.
60
MYTHS OF
teristic feature of being bent like the curved foot
of an ox, and which is said by the Latins to be
destructive to nuts.
VIII. Even among insects there are certain
kinds furnished with only one horn. The species
of beetles of this kind (not those double horned
creatures which the German call Schröter) is
admitted to be somewhat rare, and although less
treated of by Authors, it is yet very common in
Illyria. Next to Olaus of Worms, we must quote
the words of Bartholinus, who was an eye-witness
of the fact recorded and is a man of the greatest
attainments. “When journeying between Salerno
and Naples” he says “we came across a creature
of the kind I have described. I have called it
Unicorn, in opposition to the opinion of these
most learned men Aldrovandus, and Imperatus,
to whom it seems to be better described by the
appellation Rhinoceros.” But, dismissing these
instances and that of the amphibious animal
called the Camphor, we must call attention to
quadrupeds, and enquire whether, perhaps, the
vague meaning of the word may not be explained,
as the result of petty mistakes and errors, more
than anything else.
IX. In this branch of our subject such variety
meets our view that I can no longer wonder at
the fact that authors nowhere agree with one
another in describing the nature of the monoceros.


ANCIENT SCIENCE.
61

This is the reason why many are suspicious of the
stories told of the creature, why very many men
are sceptical on the point, and more than one is
reduced to a state of misgiving on the subject.
For (1) there is said to be a one-horned ass or
unicorn of India. This species is very often
referred to by Pliny (Bk. ii., chap. 37, Nat.
Hist.) and by Aristotle (Bk. ii., chap. 1; Bk. ii.,
chap. 2). And although Andreas Marinus, the
sworn foe of the unicorn, considers this one-horned,
one-footed creature in the light of a chimera, on
the ground that none of the present generation of
those who have travelled over the Indies, and
other countries unknown to the ancients, have
ever seen or heard of it, yet he is completely and
fully refuted by Bartholinus (page 118).
X. Again, (2) the existence of one-horned
horses is beyond all manner of doubt. It is
only a very few years ago since the Elector of
Saxony, the late John George I., of most glorious
memory, was presented by a man named Kracchius
(who had served his full term of military service
in the Imperial army, and cannot be unknown to
the inhabitants of Krackow) with a one-horned
horse, which lost and renewed its horn annually.
We shall here pass no remark on the testimony
of Pliny, Strabo, and Solinus, since their authen-
ticity is suspected by some (though we should
remind these latter that accusation is quite a
62
MYTHS OF
different thing from refutation). John Eusebius,
of Nuremberg, a great authority, Professor of
Physics at Madrid, in Spain (Nat. Hist., Bk, vii.,
chap. 2), says he saw, at the Court of Philip, a
horned horse which had been brought from India.
In the stables of the Prince of Sicily, Leo Allatius
saw a horse some years previously, of very meagre
proportions, but of the greatest ferocity. This is
on the testimony of Thomas Bartholinus.
XI. There are also oxen possessed of only one
horn. Any one who pleases may consult Pliny,
Bk. viii., chap. 21. His inconsistency, however,
in at one time stating there are only Indian asses
which are one-horned, and at another that there
are oxen also, cannot be got over. Still, Ethiopia
and India are the native places of this creature.
Caesar, also, in his “Gallic War,” states that
in the Hercynian Forest, oxen were to be found
which had a kind of high straight horn in the
middle of the forehead. It is moreover true that
in some places cows with only one horn are reared.
On this point we may quote Scaliger. He says :
“In the same field as I mentioned above, at the
town of Zeila, in Ethiopia, there are cows of a
black colour, with stag's horns. I have called
I


*A native of Chios, who became Professor of
Greek at Rome in 1600. He was afterwards
Librarian to Cardinal Barberini, and later still, of the
Vatican Library. He died in 1669, aged 83 years.

ANCIENT SCIENCE.
63
these creatures therefore “Cervines.” Some have
the horn in the middle of the forehead, and it
forms a greater angle than the foot does with the
leg, when at rest.” Scaliger gives us the above
statement on the authority of Lewis Vertomannus, *
who saw, at the Sultan's court at Zeila, cows of
the description given above. Under this head
it may be well to bring the one-horned wild ox of
Russia, which the Germans commonly term die
Uhrochsen.f See, on this point, Erasmus Stela
Bk. 1. Bartholinus, in his remarks on Ancient
Russia, thinks these wild one-horned oxen to be
* Lewis Vertomannus was a Roman, who in 1503,
undertook a voyage to the East. His extraordinary
account of his journey was translated by Richard Eden
in 1579, and reprinted by me for the Aunger vyle
Society (300 copies only) in 1884. The following is
the passage referred to. It will be seen that either
Kirchmayer or his authority, Scaliger, have somewhat
misquoted Vertomannus. “There are also certaine
kyne with hornes lyke ynto Hartes hornes, these are
wylde ; and when they bee taken, are giuen to the
Soltan of that citie (Zeila) as a kyngly present. I
sawe there also certayne kyne, hauing only one horne
in the middest of the forehead, as hath the Vnicorne,
and about a spanne of length, but the horne bendeth
backwarde; they are of a bryght shynyng red colour.
But they that haue hartes hornes, are enclynyng to
blacke colour.” (Bk. ii., Cap. 14. p. 94.)
+ This is probably the “Urus” of Chancellor.
(See Bibliotheca Curiosa, Chancellor's Voyage, p. 41.)

64
MYTHS OF
the same as those which Caesar says he saw
wandering in the Hercynian forest.
XII. But we must not pass over without mention
the one-horned oryx. The oryx, to explain the
word, is so-called from its power of burrowing,
either from a desire of being undisturbed, or be-
cause, from a petulant nature, like a boar, it
digs up the earth, not with its head or mouth, but
with its feet, with the intention of covering itself
over with a blacker coating, so as not to see the
rising sun or moon. The greatest divergence of
opinion reigns as to what class of animals we are
to refer the oryx to. Pliny (Bk. iii., chap. 37)
and Columella (Bk. i., chap. 1) refer it to the deer,
others to the ass tribe. However that may be,
the oryx is a one-horned creature. Its habitat is
а
Syria, Palestine, and Getulia, in Africa. We learn
from Juvenal and Martial that it was considered a
great delicacy. Juvenal writes :-
Et Scythiae volucres, et Phænicoplerus ingens,
Et Getulus oryx.
Martial, again, Bk. 13, Epigram 95:-
Matutinarum non ultima praeda ferarum
Saevus oryx constat quod mihi morte canum.
The oryx has a very great power of withstanding
thirst : its size is medium, and its colour very like
that of the goat. The Kings of Egypt, in order
to find out with accuracy the moment of sunrise

ANCIENT SCIENCE.
65
were accustomed to mount the oryx, and make
use of a wonderful horologue. I know, however,
that the learned Salmasius * denies that the oryx,
on account of the slimness of its body, can possibly
support a rider. This point, however, we have
nothing to do with here.
XIII. The rhinoceros is now, if I mistake not,
the only subject left to deal with. The term
itself, and the confusion of it with the monoceros,
must be explained. Rhinoceros is derived from
rhinos, a snout, and keras (cornu) a horn. This
horn grows from its nose, and is a most deadly
weapon, and the mortal dread of the elephant.
Hence captious persons, who are very ready to
blame others, and find fault with everything, are
said to have a rhinoceros's nose. (See Martial,
Bk. i., Epig. 3.)
The rhinoceros, though somewhat lower than the
elephant in stature, and shorter in length, is yet
his match. It has a divided hoof, a hide the
colour of box-wood, and is protected by a double
fold of this covering (I use the words of Came-
rarius,† Book i., chap. 25), “which, like a solid
breast-plate, forms an impenetrable shield.” It is

* The well-known opponent of Milton.
+ This is Camerarius the younger, born 1534, died
1598. Besides works on natural history and botany,
he wrote a Life of Melancthon, 1655, 8vo.
F
66
MYTHS OF
armed with a horn of bone like its hoof, placed on
its snout, with which its custom is to strike and
pierce the belly of the elephant, its irreconcilable
enemy. Nature has placed an insurmountable
antipathy between the rhinoceros and the elephant,
In the year of Grace 1513, May Ist, one was
brought to the King of Portugal. This king, two
years after, for the sake of making a show at
Ulyssipona, let this creature and an elephant loose
together, and the Rhinoceros came off victorious.
This is so much an ascertained fact that it is quite
beyond the possibility of doubt.
(See Paulus Jovius, Cardanus, book x. folio 328,
Scaliger, exercitation, 205, section 1. Franzius,
and also Thomas Bartholinus, on the Unicorn,
amongst the addenda on page 147.) In the 43rd
chapter of Suetonius, we are told the same thing
of Octavius Augustus. Hence those that deny it,
deny it in vain. In 1515, a Portuguese knight,
Damianus à Goës, saw a like spectacle at the same
place, in the reign of King Emmanuel.
XIV. Care must be taken, however, not to
confound the Rhinoceros with the Monoceros, a
mistake the student of ancient times frequently
falls into. Scaliger accuses Cardanus of this same
mistake (Exerc. 205, sec. I.), in these words. “Of
what ill destiny are you the victim, that in spite
of the frequent castigations you receive from the
rod of the grammarians, you should now fall



ANCIENT SCIENCE.
67
under the censure of the naturalists? You are
past any help, Cardanus, when you describe the
monoceros under the heading of rhinoceros,
although these creatures are quite distinct.” Such
are the words of Scaliger, a man for whom we
have as much reverence as the great Conqueror of
the world had for his own Home; for, in my opinion
there is no thinker more deep or more accurate
than Scaliger. Although, then, I wish his memory
every good, I cannot defend him in the present
instance. There is no doubt he has thrown an
undeserved slur on Cardanus, who has taken quite
the opposite view to that here imputed to him.
(Bk. X., folio 326 ; Basle, H. Peter's Edition.)
For after giving a definition of the rhinoceros, and
clearing the way for the connection between it
and the monoceros, he makes the following inter-
polation :-“It is clear that this creature (i.l.,
the rhinoceros, of which he was till then speak-
ing) is quite distinct from the monoceros, with
which its only relation is a similarity of name."
Unless, perhaps, Scaliger really has in his mind
some other passage of Cardanus, which I can
nowhere find in his works.
XV. Up to this point we have considered many
kinds of monoceros, though using the term rather
as an adjective than a noun. Now, after our
general statement about one-horned animals, we
have still to investigate what, par excellence, was


68
MYTHS OF ANCIENT SCIENCE.
meant to be implied by what the Latins called
unicornu, the Greeks monoceros, the Hebrew
r,em, the Germans Tag Ginhorn, the French
lycorne, the Italians alicorno and lioncorno, and
other nations by other names. Now, therefore,
we have to investigate what the unicorn is, where
it exists, and the qualities with which it is
endowed. This we proceed to do.


END OF VOL. I.

Printed by E. & G. Goldsmid, Edinburgh.

나 ​144