Natural history in Shakespeare's time : being extracts illustrative of the subject as he knew it / Made by H. W. Seager, M. B., &c. Also pictures thereunto belonging.

  • Seager, H. W. (Herbert West), 1848-
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Natural history in Shakespeare's time : being extracts illustrative of the subject as he knew it / Made by H. W. Seager, M. B., &c. Also pictures thereunto belonging. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    And in Ethiopia is another kind of Magnes that forsaketh iron, and driveth it away from him. Also the same Magnes draweth iron to it in one corner, and putteth it away in another corner. And the more blue the Magnes is the better it is. [He then ascribes to it the same virtues as belong to the Adamant—of reconciling men and their wives, and testing women's chastity.] If the powder thereof be sprung and done upon coals in four corners of the house, it shall seem to them that be in the house, that the house should fall anon. And that seeming is by moving that cometh by turning of the brain. And there be mountains of such stones, and there- fore they draw to them and break ships that be nailed with iron [of which Sir John Mandeville also speaks]. Bartholomezv (^Berthelet), bk. xvi. § 63. [It is evident from these quotations that Shakespeare and Lylly confused the Adamant or Diamond, which was supposed to repel iron, with the iron-attracting Magnet, being no doubt misled by the similarity of their other properties.] If this stone be placed on coals in the four corners of the house, I say, if it be pounded and sprinkled on the coals, sleepers will flee the house and quite forsake it, and then thieves can see after all that they please. Albertus Magnus, Of the Virtues of Stones. Adder. ^ Is the adder better than the eel, Because his painted skin contents the eye ? Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3, 179, 180. Art thou like the adder waxen deaf? ii. King Henry VI., iii. 2, 76. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; And that craves wary walking. Julius Ca:sar, ii. i, 14, 15. Each jealous of the other, as the stung Are of the adder. King Lear, v. i, 56, 57. An Adder dwelleth in shadows, he slideth and wriggleth in slipper draughts and wrinkles, and in slimy passing..