Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions Part 31

Upon which the party disperse:

The Louse to the claith, And the Mouse to the wa', Little Rede behind the door, And licket up a'.[1082]

ORDER XII.

ARACHNIDA.[1083]

Acaridae--Mites.

The white spot on the back of a certain species of Wood-tic (_Acarus_) is said to be the spot where the pin went through the body when Noah pinned it in the Ark to keep it from troubling him.

Phalangidae--Daddy-Long-legs.

A superst.i.tion obtains among our cow-boys that if a cow be lost, its whereabouts may be learned by inquiring of the Daddy-Long-legs (Phalangium), which points out the direction of the lost animal with one of its fore legs.

In England, the Phalangium has been christened the Harvest-man, from a superst.i.tious belief that if it be killed there will be a bad harvest.[1084]

Pedipalpi--Scorpions.

Concerning the generation of the Scorpion, Topsel, in his History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents, printed in 1658, treats as follows:

"Now, then, it followeth that we inquire about the manner of their (Scorpions') breed or generation, which I find to be double, as divers authors have observed, one way is by putrefaction, and the other by laying of egges, and both these ways are consonant to nature, for Lacinius writeth that some creatures are generated only by propagation of seed--such are men, vipers, whales, and the palm-tree; some again only by putrefaction, as mice, Scorpions, Emmets, Spiders, purslain, which, first of all, were produced by putrefaction, and since their generation are conserved by the seed and egges of their own kinde. Now, therefore, we will first of all speak of the generation of Scorpions by putrefaction, and afterward by propagation.

"Pliny saith[1085] that when Sea-crabs dye, and their bodies are dried upon the earth, when the sun entereth into Cancer and Scorpius, out of the putrefaction thereof ariseth a Scorpion; and so out of the putrefied body of the crefish burned arise Scorpions, which caused Ovid thus to write:

Concava littoreo si demas brachia cancro, Caetera supponas terrae, de parte sepulta Scorpius exibit, caudaque minabitur unca.

And again:

Obrutus exemptis cancer tellure lacertis, Scorpius exiguo tempore factus erit.

In English thus:

If that the arms you take from Sea-crab-fish, And put the rest in earth till all consumed be, Out of the buried part a Scorpion will arise, With hooked tayl doth threaten for to hurt thee.

"And therefore it is reported by aelia.n.u.s that about Estamenus, in India, there are abundance of Scorpions generated only by corrupt rain-water standing in that place. Also out of the Basalisk beaten into pieces and so putrefied are Scorpions engendered. And when as one had planted the herb basilica on a wall, in the room or place thereof he found two Scorpions. And some say that if a man chaw in his mouth fasting this herb basill before he wash, and afterward lay the same abroad uncovered where no sun cometh at it for the s.p.a.ce of seven nights, taking it in all the daytime, he shall at length finde it trans.m.u.ted into a Scorpion, with a tayl of seven knots.[1086]

"Hollerius,[1087] to take away all scruple of this thing, writeth that in Italy in his dayes there was a man that had a Scorpion bred in his brain by continuall smelling to this herb basill; and Gesner, by relation of an apothecary in France, writeth likewise a story of a young maid who, by smelling to basill, fell into an exceeding headache, whereof she died without cure, and after death, being opened, there were found little Scorpions in her brain.

"Aristotle remembreth an herb which he calleth sissimbria, out of which putrefied Scorpions are engendered, as he writeth. And we have shewed already, in the history of the Crocodile, that out of the Crocodile's egges do many times come Scorpions, which at their first egression do kill their dam that hatched them, which caused Archelaus, which wrote epigrams of wonders unto Ptolemaeus, to sing of Scorpions in this manner:

In vos dissolvit morte, et redigit crocodilum Natura extinctum, Scorpii omnipotens.

Which may be Englished thus:

To you by Scorpions death the omnipotent Ruines the crocodil in nature's life extinct."[1088]

The remarks referred to by Topsel in the last paragraph in his history of the Crocodile are as follows:

"It is said by Philes that, after the egge is laid by the crocodile, many times there is a cruel Stinging Scorpion which cometh out thereof, and woundeth the crocodile that laid it.[1089]

"The Scorpion also and the crocodile are enemies one to the other, and therefore when the Egyptians will describe the combat of two notable enemies, they paint a crocodile and a Scorpion fighting together, for ever one of them killeth another; but if they will decipher a speedy overthrow to one's enemy, then they picture a crocodile; if a slow and slack victory, they picture a Scorpion."[1090]

"Some maintain," says Moufet, "that they (Scorpions) are not bred by copulation, but by exceeding heat of the sun. aelian, _lib. 6_, _de Anim.

cap. 22_, among whom Galen must first be blamed, who in his Book _de ft. form._ will not have nature, but chance to be the parent of Scorpions, Flies, Spiders, Worms of all sorts, and he ascribes their beginning to the uncertain const.i.tutions of the heavens, place, matter, heat, etc."[1091]

Topsel further says: "The princ.i.p.all of all other subjects of their (the Scorpions') hatred are virgins and women, whom they do not only desire to harm, but also when they have harmed are never perfectly recovered.

(Albertus)....

"The lion is by the Scorpion put to flight wheresoever he seeith it, for he feareth it as the enemy of his life, and therefore writeth S.

Ambrose, _Exiguo Scorpionis aculeo exagitatur leo_, the lion is much moved at the small sting of a Scorpion."[1092]

Naude tells us that there is a species of Scorpions in Italy, which are so domesticated as to be put between sheets to cool the beds during the heat of summer.[1093] Pliny mentions that the Scorpions of Italy are harmless.[1094]

Among the curious things recorded by Pliny concerning the Scorpion, the following have been selected: Some writers, he says, are of opinion that the Scorpion devours its offspring, and that the one among the young which is the most adroit avails itself of its sole mode of escape by placing itself on the back of the mother, and thus finding a place where it is in safety from the tail and the sting. The one that thus escapes, they say, becomes the avenger of the rest, and at last, taking advantage of its elevated position, puts its parent to death.[1095]

According to Pliny, those who carry the plant "tricocc.u.m," or, as it is also called, "scorpiuron,"[1096] about their person are never stung by a Scorpion, and it is said, he continues, that if a circle is traced on the ground around a Scorpion with a sprig of this plant, the animal will never move out of it, and that if a Scorpion is covered with it, or even sprinkled with the water in which it has been steeped, it will die that instant.[1097]

Attalus a.s.sures us, says Pliny, that if a person, the moment he sees a Scorpion, says "Duo,"[1098] the reptile will stop short and forbear to sting.[1099]

Concerning Scorpions, Diophanes, contemporary with Caesar and Cicero, has collected the following several opinions of the more ancient writers: If you take a Scorpion, he says, and burn it, the others will betake themselves to flight: and if a person carefully rubs his hands with the juice of radish, he may without fear and danger take hold of Scorpions, and of other reptiles: and radishes laid on Scorpions instantly destroy them. You will also cure the bite of a Scorpion, by applying a silver ring to the place. A suffumigation of sandarach[1100] with galbanum, or goat's fat, will drive away Scorpions and every other reptile. If a person will also boil a Scorpion in oil, and will rub the place bit by a Scorpion, he will stop the pain.[1101] But Apuleius says, that if a person bit by a Scorpion sits on an a.s.s, turned toward its tail, that the a.s.s suffers the pain, and that it is destroyed.[1102] Democritus says that a person bit by a Scorpion, who instantly says to his a.s.s, "A Scorpion has bit me," will suffer no pain, but it pa.s.ses to the a.s.s.[1103] The newt has an antipathy to the Scorpion: if a person, therefore, melts a newt in oil, and applies the oil to the person that is bitten, he frees him from pain. The same author also says that the root of a rose-tree being applied, cures persons bit by Scorpions.

Plutarch recommends to fasten small nuts to the feet of the bed, that Scorpions may not approach it. Zoroaster says that lettuce-seed, being drunk with wine, cures persons bit by Scorpions. Florentinus says, if one applies the juice of the fig to the wound of a person just bitten, that the poison will proceed no farther; or, if the person bit eat squill, he will not be hurt, but he will say that the squill is pleasant to his palate. Tarentinus also says that a person holding the herb sideritis may take hold of Scorpions, and not be hurt by them.[1104]

Dioscorides, among many other remedies for the sting of the Scorpion, prescribes "a fish called _Lacerta_, salted and cut in pieces; the barbel fish cut in two; the flesh of a fish called _Smaris_; house-mice cut asunder; horse or a.s.s dung; the sh.e.l.l of an Indian small nut; ram's flesh burnt; mummie, four grains, with b.u.t.ter and cow's milk; a broiled Scorpion eaten; river-crabs raw and bruised, and drank with a.s.ses' milk: locusts broiled and eaten," etc. Rabby Moyses prescribes pigeon's dung dried; Constantinus, hens' dung, or the heart applied outwardly; Anatolius, crows' dung; Averrhois, the bezoar-stone; Monus, silver; Silvaticus, from Serapis, pewter; and Orpheus, coral.

"Quintus Serenus writes thus, and adviseth:

These are small things, but yet their wounds are great, And in pure bodies lurking do most harm, For when our senses inward do retreat, And men are fast asleep, they need some charm, The Spider and the cruel Scorpion Are wont to sting, witnesse great Orion, Slayn by a Scorpion, for poysons small Have mighty force, and therefore presently Lay on a Scorpion bruised, to recall The venome, or sea-water to apply Is held full good, such virtue is in brine, And 'tis approved to drink your fill of wine.

"And Macer writes of houseleek thus:

Men say that houseleek hath so soveraign a might, Who carries but that, no Scorpion can him bite."[1105]

The natives of South Africa, when bitten by a Scorpion, apply, as a remedy, a living frog to the wound, into which animal it is supposed the poison is transferred from the wound, and it dies; then they apply another, which dies also: the third perhaps only becomes sickly, and the fourth no way affected. When this is observed, the poison is considered to be extracted, and the patient cured. Another method is to apply a kidney, scarlet, or other bean, which swells; then apply another and another, till the bean ceases to be affected, when they consider the poison extracted.[1106]

There is a vast desert tract, says Pliny, on this side of the Ethiopian Cynamolgi--the "dog-milkers"--the inhabitants of which were exterminated by Scorpions and venomous ants.[1107]

Navarette tells us, in the account of his voyage to the Philippine Islands, that there was there in practice a good and easy remedy against the Scorpions which abound in that country. This was, when they went to bed, to make a commemoration of St. George. He himself, he says, for many years continued this devotion, and, "G.o.d be praised," he adds, "the Saint always delivered me both there and in other countries from those and such like insects." He confesses, however, they used another remedy besides, which was to rub all about the beds with garlic.[1108]

Navarette[1109] and Barbot[1110] both tell us that a certain remedy against the sting of a Scorpion, is to rub the wound with a child's private member. This, the latter adds, immediately takes away the pain, and then the venom exhales. The moisture that comes from a hen's mouth, Barbot says, is also good for the same.

The Persians believe that Scorpions may be deprived of the power of stinging, by means of a certain prayer which they make use of for that purpose. The person who has the power of "binding the Scorpion," as it is called, turns his face toward the sign Scorpio, in the heavens, and repeats this prayer; while every person present, at the conclusion of a sentence, claps his hands. After this is done they think that they are perfectly safe; nor, if they should chance to see any Scorpions during that night, do they scruple to take hold of them, trusting to the efficacy of this fancied all-powerful charm. "I have frequently seen,"

says Francklin, "the man in whose family I lived, repeat the above-mentioned prayer, on being desired by his children to bind the Scorpions; after which the whole family has gone quietly and contentedly to bed, fully persuaded that they could receive no hurt by them."[1111]