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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    Swine. The Swine froteth [rubs] and walloweth in dirt and in fen [mud], and diveth in slime, and bawdieth himself therewith, and resteth in a stinking place. And some Swine be tame, and some wild. And among the tame the males be called Boars and Barrows, and the females be called Sows ; and they dig and root and seek meat under earth. A Swine dieth if he loseth an eye. And Swine have many sicknesses, and hold their heads aside ; and lie more on the right side than on the left ; and wax fat in forty days; and fat sooner, if they suffer hunger three days in the beginning of the feeding. Swine love each other, and know each other's voice, and therefore, if any cry, they cry all, and labour to help each other with all their might. Tame Swine grunt in going, and in lying, and in sleeping, and namely if they be right fat. And Swine sleep faster in May than in other times of the year, and that cometh of fumosity that stoppeth their brain that time. The male hath more teeth than the female. And when Swine be great, it doeth them good to eat berries, and also bathing in hot water delighteth them. And they be let blood on the vein under the tongue. Bartholomew {Berthelet), bk. xviii. § 87 Sycamore. Romeo and Juliet, i. i, 128. Sycamore is a nice fig-tree, as it were a fool, and beareth certain sweet fruit that is never ripe at the fall. Bartholomezv {Bertkelet), bk. xvii. § 148. It bringeth forth fruit three or four times in one year, and oftener if it be scraped with an iron knife, or other like instrument. We call it in English, Sycamore-tree, and also mulberry-fig-tree. Gerard's Herbal, s.v. Tadpole. King Lear, iii. 4, 135.