190 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of help, and watch there until the sun of righteousness rises with 

 healing power and removes thy spiritual blindness."* 



Mixed in with real animals come those whose existence is more 

 doubtful. Great stress was laid upon the unicorn, and John of 

 Herse, in his pilgrimage to Jerusalem toward the end of the four- 

 teenth century, declares regarding the river Mara, whose bitter 

 waters Moses made sweet, that "even now, evil and unclean 

 beasts poison it after the going down of the sun; but in the 

 morning, after the powers of darkness have disappeared, the uni- 

 corn comes from the sea and dips his horn into the stream, and 

 thereby expels and neutralizes the poison, so that the other ani- 

 mals can drink of it during the day. This fact, which I describe, 

 I have seen with my own eyes." 



Naturally, among the animals which first attracted the atten- 

 tion of those who thus expounded the ways of God to man was 

 the elephant. First, as to its birth, we are told that it takes place 

 in the water, and that this fact symbolizes baptismal regenera- 

 tion. Then, too, we are told that the elephant "always sleeps 

 standing, and leans for support against a tree. The hunters take 

 advantage of this fact and saw the tree almost asunder, so that 

 the tree gives way, the elephant falls, and is captured. This evi- 

 dently symbolizes Adam, whose fall was caused by a tree." 



The serpent, of course, comes in for a large share of this kind 

 of interpretation, and therefore appears most frequently among 

 the carvings in wood and stone, both within and without the 

 cathedrals. 



As to the lessons thus taught, one of the first is that " when 

 the serpent has grown old it fasts forty days and forty nights 

 until its skin shrivels and loosens. Thereupon it squeezes itself 

 through a narrow crevice in the rocks, and thus casts its skin and 

 renews its youth. And thou, O son of man, if thou desirest to 

 put off the old Adam and be regenerated, must pass through the 

 strait gate and walk in the narrow way which leadeth unto life." 



And again: "When the serpent goes to a spring to drink 

 water, it leaves its venom behind in its den ; so he who would re- 

 fresh his soul with the waters of eternal life must leave behind 

 him every sin of his carnal heart." f 



Of course, in any such pious treatises the eagle naturally came 

 in for a considerable share of attention, and we are informed that 

 " the eagle, when it has grown old and its eyes become dim, flies 

 upward toward the sun until it has purged away the film from 

 its eyes; it then descends to the earth, plunges three times into a 

 spring of jjure water, and thus recovers its sight and renews its 

 youth " ; so the Christian should " fly aloft on the wings of the 



* See work cited, p. 94. f See work cited, p. 114. 



