The xviii. Chapter.
How to produce or make monsters by art magike, and why Pharaos magicians could not make lice.
S TRATO,Naturall conclusiōs. Democritus, Empedocles, and of late, Jo. Bap. Neap. teach by what meanes monsters may be produced, both from beast and also from fowle. Aristotle himselfe teacheth to make a chicken have foure legs, and as manie wings, onlie by a doubled yolked eg: whereby also a serpent may be made to have manie legs. Or any thing that produceth egs, may likewise be made double membred, or dismembred: & the viler creature the sooner brought to monstrous deformitie, which in more noble creatures is more hardlie/221. brought to passe. There are also prettieTo produce anie fowle out of an eg, without the naturall helpe of the hen. experiments of an eg, to produce anie fowle, without the naturall helpe of the hen: the which is brought to passe, if the eg be laid in the powder of the hens doong, dried and mingled with some of the hens fethers, & stirred everie fourth houre. You may also produce (as they saie) the most venomous, noisome, and dangerous serpent, called a cockatrice, by melting a little arsenicke, and the poison of serpents, or some other strong venome, and drowning an eg therein, which there must remaine certeine daies; and if the eg be set upright, the operation will be the better. This may also be doone, if the eg be laid in doong, which of all other things giveth the most singular and naturall heate: and as J. Bap. Neap. saith is *Mirabilium* The mother of marvels. rerum parens; who also writeth, that Crines fæminæ menstruosæ are turned into serpents within short space: and he further saith, that basill being beaten, and set out in a moist place, betwixt a couple of tiles, dooth ingender scorpions. The ashes of a ducke, being put betweene two dishes, and set in a moist place, dooth ingender a huge tode: Quod etiam efficit sanguis menstruosus. Manie writers conclude, that there be two maner of todes, the/314. one bred by naturall course and order of generation, Two kind of todes, naturall & temporall. the other growing of themselves, which are called temporarie, being onlie ingendred of shewers and dust: and (as J. Bap. Neap. saith) they are easie to be made. Plutarch and Heraclides doo saie, that they have seene these to descend in raine, so as they have lien and cralled on the tops of houses, &c. Also Aelianus dooth saie, that he sawe frogs and todes, whereof the heads & shoulders were alive, & became flesh; the hinder parts being but earth, & so cralled on two feete, the other being not yet fashioned or fullie framed. And Macrobius reporteth, that in Aegypt, mice growe of earth and shewers; as also frogs, todes, and serpents in other places. They saie that Danmatus Hispanus could make them when & as manie as he listed. He is no good angler, that knoweth not how soone the entrales of a beast, when they are buried, willMaggotts ingendred of the inwards of a beast are good for angling. engender maggots (which in a civiler terme are called gentles) a good bait for small fishes. Whosoever knoweth the order of preserving silkewormes, may perceive a like conclusion: bicause in the winter, that is a dead seed, which in the summer is a livelie creature. Such and greater experiments might be knowne to Jannes and Jambres, and serve well to their purpose, especiallie with such excuses, delaies, and cunning, as they could joine therewithall. But to proceed, and come a little neerer to their feats, and to shew you a knacke beyond their cunning; I can assure you that of the fat of a man or a woman, lice are in verie short space ingendered: and yet I saie, Pharaos magicians could not make them, with all the cunning they had. Whereby you may perceive, that God indeed performed the other actions, to indurate Pharao, though he thought his magicians did with no lesse dexteritie than Moses worke Giles. Alley: See the poore mans librarie. miracles and woonders. But some of the interpretors of that place excuse their ignorance in that matter, thus; The divell (saie they) can make no creature under the quantitie of a barlie corne, and lice being so little cannot therefore be created by them. As though he that can make the greater, could not make the lesse. A verie grosse absurditie. And as though that he which hath power over great, had not the like over small.//