HARUWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Jesus Christ ; one God he is aud shall be, and was 

 aud will coutinue so. He placed himself in the 

 virgin, and took ilesh for man's sake ; aud for vir- 

 ginity to show chastity ; to a virgin he appeared, 

 aud a virgin conceived him ; a virgin she is, and 

 will be, and rem;\in always." 



Fig. I . Seal of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, on a letter to 

 her brother, Henry the Eighth, dated April 11, 1513. (Cot- 

 tonian Library.) 



I will not try your patience any further with the 

 signification of the various animals our author de- 

 scribes. I would, however, call your attention to 

 one or two forms not known to modern naturalists. 



" Thus saith Solomon of the ant riglitly, and of 

 the idle man who waits for fine weather : ' Be not 

 slothful; look at the ant.' 



"This say writings— that the ant has three natures. 

 It has such a nature wlien it issues from its hole 

 orderly in the moruing right on its way, and when 

 it has found grain of all sorts of corn it knows well 

 which is wheat by the smell alone ; it does not care 

 for grain of barley, but if it is a grain of wheat it 

 takes it in with its mouth, carries it to its nest, and 

 is supported in the winter. 



"Also, Isidore speaks of another ant. In Ethiopia 

 there is a river, there the grain of gold is produced 

 in it, which they collect with tlieir feet, and defend 

 it from the people. People dare not approach them 

 to take or touch it. Wiiom the ants bite, they die 

 immediately ; no one dares approach these ; the 

 ants are so fierce if any one will have some of that 

 gold to make his treasure of. By a stratagem 

 tli^y contrive, they have great plenty of tlie gold. 

 They keep without food mares which have newly 

 colted. Then on the third day, as you will find, a 

 little basket on the backs of the mares : they bind 

 it firmly. They make them pass the river to bring 

 gold, and draw them to a meadow which has plenty 

 of grass. The ants nre thci'c where the mares go. 

 They make their cells in the basket, and load the 



mares. Wiieu they are satisfied, charged, and filled, 

 they repair back behind them. They run to the 

 colts, where they are neighing, which the men have 

 attached by the river. Thus, truly, that people get 

 gold. There is also a beast which is master of the 

 ant. It is the forniicaleon. It is the lion of ants ; 

 whence it is thus named. It is a very little beast. 

 It puts itself in the du:jt where the ant goes, and 

 does it great outrage. But of this matter I will 

 no more discourse, because I will now begin to treat 

 of another." 



Time will not allow of further examples of this 

 singular composition ; but a short account of the 

 remainder of the treatise may be of interest. Many 

 of the forms are fabulous. Thus he speaks of an 

 animarcalled Osida : " It has two feet of a camel aud 

 two wings of a bird (perhaps an ostrich). And of a 

 Siren, that is, like a woman to the waist, with the 

 feet of a falcon, and the tail of a fish." 



Among the birds described is of course aPha?nix. 

 After treating of birds he says : " Now ends this dis- 

 course, and we will speak of stones." The following 

 is a specimen of his mineralogical knowledge. 



" There are twelve stones in this world which have 

 great signification, which I will not omit briefly to 

 tell you. 



" Red Jasper shows love, open, weakness, sweet- 

 ness. 



"Sapphire shows faith in God. 



" Chalcedony shows that we shall be neighbours 

 with God. 



" Sniaragdus shows faith which the Christian has 

 in him. 



"Sardonyx shows chastity and humility. 



" Sardius shows sorrow which the saints had on 

 earth for God's love. 



" Chrijsolife, the celestial happiness which they had 

 with the terrestrial life." 



And so on with the beryl, topaz, chrysoprassus, 

 jacinth, and amethyst. He also speaks of the Unio, 

 or pearl, as a stone, and says that it represents eight 

 good things, — life, youth, holiness, love, repose, joy, 

 peace, light. "Unio will give that without end. May 

 Saint Mary give us these eight gifts of life, and may 

 God give his majesty to her, for whom this book is 

 made ; and may all those Mdio will pray for that 

 and say a Paternoster for it, have the merit of 

 Saint John ; may they be in the bosom of holy 

 Abraham. Unio is the Father and Son ; Unio is 

 the Holy Ghost ; Unio is beginning ; Unio is end ; 

 Unio is Alpha and Omega. Benedicamus Domino. 



" 1 have shown of three kinds of beasts, of birds, 

 and of stones, that of each of these there is a king, 

 which shows that God is king; in person he is 

 trinity, and one only in divinity. May this God be 

 our aid, and the Virgin Saint Mary. May this God 

 give ns true sense and life everlasting. Amen." 



With these pious ejaculations the learned na- 

 turalist concludes his treatise, and 'although his 



